Tag: You’re Doing it Wrong

You Just Don’t Get it Do You

Wikileaks wikileaks Wikileaks… did you hear about Wikileaks? The Air Force has decided that they will prove themselves to not be hypocrites and only block Wikileaks. Now they’re blocking several publications that released information on the leaked cables:

Air Force users who try to view the websites of the New York Times, Britain’s Guardian, Spain’s El Pais, France’s Le Monde or German magazine Der Spiegel instead get a page that says, “ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored,” according to a screen shot reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The notice warns that anyone who accesses unauthorized sites from military computers could be punished.

The Air Force said it had blocked more than 25 websites that contained the documents, originally obtained by the website WikiLeaks and published starting late last month, in order to keep classified material off unclassified computer systems.

I don’t think the Air Force really gets it. Once something is online you can’t censor it, you can prevent people from seeing it by blocking a few sites, the information has spread out to more sites than you can ever hope to censor. Once information has his the Internet it’s game over as far as controlling it. The only real option available to the Air Force is the creation of a white list of sites that it’s employees can access as opposed to their current blacklist of sites you can’t access.

Stasi App

I don’t know what to think about this one but the implications are frightening. Via Dvorak Uncensored I was lead to an article on a site I generally take with a grain of salt. The only reason it’s getting mentioned on here is the article is about a Stasi App for the iOS platform and I actually found it.

I’m calling it the Stasi App because the claim of the application developers is the app is integrated with services from various departments in the United States government. If the app does what it claims to do then it runs akin to the secrete police of the East Germany. Basically the app is supposed to follow the Department of Motherland Fatherland Homeland Security’s, “If you see something, say something” program. It supposedly allows you to report “suspicious activity,” “report crime,” and generally become a member of the secret police.

You’ll notice I’ve been careful with my language and constantly saying things in a tense that isn’t accusatory. The reason for that is because I doubt this app does what it claims to. I’d actually have to download it and try it to know for sure but there is no way in Hell I’m putting something like this onto my devices. One of the red flags is the fact the terror threat Crayola color guide is included even though that’s been dumped as the only color in the crayon box was orange.

Still such an idea is frightening to say the least. The fact somebody thought this was a good idea, made an application, and then made it available for download is scary. It’s good to see it’s been rated very poorly with people citing 1984 (why does our government have such a hardon for that book?). I do agree it is very 1984-esque right down to the doublespeak name of the app.

Honestly if I were Apple I’d have rejected such an app on grounds of it being too reminiscent of actions taken in socialist nations to control citizenry. Apple has rejected applications for less after all.

A Job Well Done

I don’t know if I can even add anything to this:

Kansas City police officers mistook a backfiring van for gunshots and shot at the van and eventually shot out the windows of their patrol car Thursday night at Interstate 435 and Gregory Boulevard.

Officers said around 6 p.m., police responded to a report of shots being fired. When two officers arrived, they heard what they believed to be shots fired in the area near a white van.

During the incident, it was discovered the sounds were not gunfire but the van backfiring.

Congratulations boys on a job well done. I predict medals being passed all around for your heroics.

Because He Was Shot Robbing a Coffee Shop You Should Support Gun Control

A short while back there was a story about a Dutch Brothers Coffee employee who shot a piece of shit armed robber. The company doesn’t appear to be upset with the actions of their employee:

A Dutch Bros. spokeswoman said the barista is still on paid leave and will return to work when he is ready. She did not know whether the gun belonged to the employee or not.

“We are extremely thankful that our employee was not injured in the robbery on Nov. 24 and are appreciative that no charges will be filed,” Travis Boersma, CEO/Co-Founder of Dutch Bros. Coffee, said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “We work closely with our employees and do our best to ensure they are safe and protected while at work and will continue to do so. All procedures will be reviewed and evaluated as a result of this incident.”

So the employee will return to work, excellent. What I found funny through was looking up the scum bag’s obituary, specifically the last paragraph:

The Celebration of this wonderful young man’s life will take place at the Musgrove Family Mortuary, Friday, December 3rd, 2010 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family would love donations made to a charity that speaks to you about Sirus. We would like his passing to inspire contributions to causes like gun control, Food for Lane County or DARE, that help people who have fallen through the cracks.

Emphasis mine. The family’s desire is to support gun control causes even though Scum Bag McGee was shot because he was using a gun to rob a coffee shop. Why not have donations put in for the family to do a speaking tour on why it’s a bad idea to commit armed robbery? Oh well you know what they say, criminals love gun control.

Priorities

The Minnesota Vikings are whining that they want a new stadium or they may search for a new home. Caving to sports teams is like caving to terrorists, if you do it once they all expect you to do it again. Needless to say since Minnesota caved to pay part of the Twin’s new stadium with tax money the Vikings want the same:

There have been discussions about raising liquor taxes or possibly using “racino” money to help finance the project. Bennett has even suggested going to the old blackout days and charging people a small fee to get the game on TV, but he’s been told that can’t happen.

Oh, did I mention Minnesota is facing a $6.2 billion deficit? Priorities… we have them.

What Censorship Breeds

Censorship is a slippery slope no matter who you are. The main problem when you censor something is the fact you will inevitably get support from some and be damned by others. Recently Apple pulled an app from their App Store that related to some sort of declaration by a Christian group. I linked to this specific article because I found the comments most interesting. There are those who support Apple’s decision and those who detest it but the best part of the comments is the back and forth going on between several Christians and several Atheists.

Since Apple has declared that censorship will occur in the App Store they have set themselves up to be criticized by all camps. Those who found the app to be hate speech are applauding Apple’s decision while those supporting the right to all speech are decrying the removal of the app. You can’t win with censorship because at some point you will anger a group of people.

Basically if you want to do perform censorship you’re setting yourself up for a world of hurt.

Trying to Ban Spelling Mistakes

If guns kill people then pencils cause spelling mistakes. Apparently a North Brookfield teach decided to try and ban spelling mistakes because she sent out a memo to every sixth-grade student alerting them that they would no longer be allowed to bring pencils to school. What? Well he reasoning is classic dumbassery:

The memo said students would no longer be allowed to bring writing implements to school. It said pencils would be provided for students in class and any students caught with pencils or pens after Nov. 15 would face disciplinary action for having materials ‘to build weapons.’

Of course the administration of the school is saying nobody authorized the teacher to release this memo but frankly it’s still sickeningly funny. Zero tolerance ladies and gentlemen means we must all wear Velcro shoes because shoe laces can be used to strangle people. On second thought shoes can be used to bludgeon people so I guess all students must go bear foot from here on out.

Incorrect Diagnosis

It seems that 911 is getting with the times so to speak as the FCC is updating the 911 system to handle text messages. I can see it now we can have quality texts such as:

OMG SUM DOOD SHOOTIN DA SKOOL, SEE PIGS

I’m guessing a dispatcher will be wasting more time trying to decipher most peoples’ text messages than sending actual help to an emergency. What really puts the icing on the cake for this story though is the reason the FCC is updating the 911 system:

“The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,” the release said. “During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.”

That’s an incorrect diagnosis if I’ve ever read one. The problem with Virginia Tech was the fact there was a gunman walking around killing people. There aren’t a lot of solutions prevent such a case, you can only strive to make the situation end quickly. I highly doubt being able to receive text messages would have allow the police to arrive any faster. What would have had potential to end the situation faster would be to allowed students and faculty to legally carry their firearms on campus. Even to this day if a student or faculty member has a carry permit they are not allowed to carry at Virginia Tech. This limitation means any guy walking around shooting people on campus has several minutes at the last until the police are able to arrive.

If the FCC wants to limit the impact of these types of situations they should be placing their support behind a law to abolish the concept of the “gun-free zone.” Obviously that’s not the FCC’s area of jurisdiction so it’s best if they just stay out of it all together but it’s the only real solution to the problem they’re claiming to address at the moment.

Improper Use of a Firearm

Look I understand the desire to MacGyver tools into solutions for problems those tools don’t normally solve. Firearms are not tools you should be MacGyvering with. For example if you have a bout of road range pulling a gun on the person angering you is not the right thing to do. Remember the only time you should be pulling your gun is when you need to use it to defend your life or the lives of your loved ones.