Clipmarks | rwbehne1's clips

High-earning spammers face tougher sentences

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:34:40 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: About time!

More big-time spammers may find themselves doing longer stretches behind bars if a federal judge's first-of-its-kind sentencing decision in a Denver case becomes widely applied.

At issue in this case, which featured testimony from Microsoft anti-spam experts, was the thorny matter of determining the actual financial harm to ISPs done by a particular spammer over a particular period of time. When Congress enacted the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 it anticipated this difficulty and included language allowing for a spammer's profits to be considered in sentencing when financial damages caused by his crimes could not reasonably be calculated.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock accepted a Colorado prosecutor's contention that this case, the United States vs. Min Kim, represented just such a situation. Microsoft says this is the first time a judge has applied CAN-SPAM sentencing guidelines in this manner.

Tags: spam

Scientists Get Rare Look at Dinosaur Soft Tissue

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:50:43 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

A high school student hunting fossils in the badlands of his native North Dakota discovered an extremely rare mummified dinosaur that includes not just bones but also seldom seen fossilized soft tissue such as skin and muscles, scientists will announce today.

The 25-foot-long hadrosaur found by Tyler Lyson in an ancient river flood plain in the dinosaur-rich Hell Creek Formation is apparently the most complete and best preserved of the half-dozen mummified dinosaurs unearthed since early in the last century, they said.

"When you actually look at the detail of the skin, the scales themselves are three dimensional. . . . The arm is breathtaking. It's a three-dimensional arm, you can shake the dinosaur by the hand. It just defies logic that such a remarkable specimen could preserve."

Tags: dem bones, dinasaur, deism, science, dead things

Deserters lose Canada asylum bid

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:02:10 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Two US army deserters who fled to Canada in protest against the Iraq war have lost a fresh asylum appeal bid.

The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey against a decision by officials to deny them refugee status.

The decision backs up refusals by lower courts to hear their cases.

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled in 2005 that the two were not refugees in need of protection and that they faced no risk of persecution in the US.

The two men deserted their units and went to Canada when they learned they were to be deployed to Iraq.

Both have said they believe the war to be illegal and immoral.

Tags: , corruption, democracy sucks, evil empire, political science, national socialism, politics, restricting your rights, violating your rights

Japan's melody roads play music as you drive

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 06:52:14 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Motorists used to listening to the radio or their favourite tunes on CDs may have a new way to entertain themselves, after engineers in Japan developed a musical road surface.

A team from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has built a number of "melody roads", which use cars as tuning forks to play music as they travel.

The concept works by using grooves, which are cut at very specific intervals in the road surface. Just as travelling over small speed bumps or road markings can emit a rumbling tone throughout a vehicle, the melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes.

Tags: weird science

Germany Seeks Expansion of Computer Spying

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:11:28 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: The purpose of government is to govern, not rule as a master.
Good government doesn't need to spy on citizens. Ruling masters do. Democracy in actin?
Now ask yourself, do you have a government, or a master?
Sigh!

Clip Source: yro.slashdot.org

"The LA Times reports on a proposal to secretly scan suspects' hard drives which is causing unease in a nation with a history of official surveillance. Along with several other European countries, Germany is seeking authority to plant secret Trojan viruses into the computers of suspects that could scan files, photos, diagrams and voice recordings, record every keystroke typed and possibly even turn on webcams and microphones in an attempt to gain knowledge of attacks before they happen."

Tags: national socialism, violating your rights, political science, government spying, corruption, democracy sucks

Blogger Wins 1.5 Year Legal Battle

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:33:43 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: Way to go! One thing I find very interesting is that Philip Smith won his case pro se, (that is, without an attorney,) ---smart move on his part!

Clip Source: yro.slashdot.org

"After nearly one and a half years of harassment from a relentless attorney, it seems that quietly a blogger in South Carolina has won a monumental ruling in favor of bloggers. In a summary judgement requested by the Defendant, Philip Smith was able to obtain a special sanction after the Plaintiff attorney put a 'notice of lien' (called lis pendens) on Smith's residence. The judge also reprimanded the Plaintiff attorney for abusive deposition and court procedure. The case set forth the following; 'It's not the format; it's the content and intention that make text journalism / reporting.'"

Tags: 1st amendment right, freedom of speech, freedom of press, corrupt attorneys

On Death (A Letter to Andrew Dean)

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:40:50 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: "While man keeps to the belief of one God, his reason unites with his creed. He is not shocked with contradictions and horrid stories. His bible is the heavens and the earth. He beholds his Creator in all His works, and everything he beholds inspires him with reverence and gratitude. From the goodness of God to all, he learns his duty to his fellow-man, and stands self-reproved when he transgresses it. Such a man is no persecutor.

But when he multiplies his creed with imaginary things, of which he can have neither evidence nor conception, such as the tale of the Garden of Eden, the Talking Serpent, the Fall of Man, the Dreams of Joseph the Carpenter, the pretended Resurrection and Ascension, of which there is even no historical relation - for no historian of those times mentions such a thing - he gets into the pathless region of confusion, and turns either fanatic or hypocrite. He forces his mind, and pretends to believe what he does not believe. This is in general the case with the

Clip Source: www.fordham.edu

The Christian religion is derogatory to the Creator in all its articles. It puts the Creator in an inferior point of view, and places the Christian devil above Him. It is he, according to the absurd story in Genesis, that outwits the Creator in the Garden of Eden, and steals from Him His favorite creature, man, and at last obliges Him to beget a son, and put that son to death, to get man back again; and this the priests of the Christian religion call redemption.

The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles, which is a parody on the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the eastern world, is the least hurtful part.

Everything told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday - in Latin Dies Solis, the day of the sun;

Tags: deism, christianity, judiasm, islam, bible, koran, testament

Comcast blocks some file sharing

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:17:33 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Comcast actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.

It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.

BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.

Each PC gets a message invisible to the user that looks like it comes from the other computer, telling it to stop communicating. But neither message originated from the other computer — it comes from Comcast.

Comcast's approach to traffic shaping is different because of the drastic effect it has on one type of traffic — in some cases blocking it rather than slowing it down — and the method used, which is difficult to circumvent and involves the company falsifying network traffic.

Free Press, a Washington-based public interest group that advocates Net Neutrality, opposes the kind of filtering applied by Comcast.

Tags: evil empire, comcast, censorship, file sharing, internet

13 reasons why Linux should be on your desktop

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:03:12 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: There's probably several hundred more reasons, but this is a start.

Clip Source: www.desktoplinux.com

A couple of years ago, the Linux desktop was a pimply adolescent with half-baked ideas. Today we see a handsome, well-dressed grown-up who handles a range of tasks with confidence and even performs fancy tricks.

The timing couldn't be better. Vista is a Wagner Opera that is usually late to start, takes too long to finish, and is spoilt by floorboards creaking under the weight of the cast. Mac OS X Leopard, meanwhile, is the late show in an exclusive nightclub where the drinks are always too expensive. In contrast, the Linux desktop is the free show in the park across the street -- it imposes some discomforts on the audience, but provides plenty of entertainment.

The good news is that installing Linux is no longer a challenge that rivals splitting the atom. With a handful of mature distributions designed for simple users, the benefits Linux offers are much easier to verify. And there are plenty:

Tags: open source, micro$$$oft, o$10, linux

13 reasons why Linux won't make it to a desktop near you

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:59:39 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: www.desktoplinux.com

Spread the word:
digg this story

You're a marketer who finds an exciting new product developed by some really smart people. A great product few people have heard of is the Holy Grail of marketing -- all you have to do is tell everyone about it, and the world will beat a path to your door.

Isn't that the theory?

When you look more closely, you find it's not that simple. In fact, you find a set of insurmountable obstacles. Here's a short list:

Tags: open source, micro$$$oft, o$10, linux

Interesting profile

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:07:54 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: I clipped this page to freeze it for future reference. (Just in case the owner edits anything out in the near future.)
I just find something in this profile interesting, although right now, others might not. No problem, as long as it remains available as is.

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

I am a 39 year old recovering alcoholic and recovering liberal. Going on 8 years of sobriety and 15 years of political and social clarity. I have been married 10 years and have a 1 year old daughter that was a miracle due to the fact my wife and I, after several years of practice and

doctor's help, had come to believe our efforts futile. I have been employed in the past in sales, managemet, and human resources. I am presently contracted by a major university to conduct social research on a specific federal program. My interests include:history, philosophy, astronomy, music of almost all types ( I play guitar and am struggling mightily to play piano), cooking, personal finance/investments, and photography. I read voraciously, about 2 or 3 books a month. I spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, camping, and/or traveling in general.

Tags: dry-drunk syndrome

Dry Drunk Syndrome

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 00:18:37 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: Someone you know, (or someone stalking your ClipMarks,) may be a dry-drunk.

Clip Source: www.minnesotarecovery.info

The phrase "dry drunk" has two significant words for the alcoholic. "Dry" refers to the abstinence from drinking, whereas "drunk" signifies a deeply pathological condition resulting from the use of alcohol in the past. Taken together these words suggest intoxication without alcohol. Since intoxication comes from the Greek word for poison, "dry drunk" implies a state of mind and a mode of behavior that are poisonous to the alcoholic's well being.

OBVIOUS TRAITS Persons experiencing a full-blown DRY DRUNK are, for that period, removed from the world of sobriety; they fail, for whatever reason, to accept the necessary conditions for sober living. Their mental and emotional homes are chaotic, their approach to everyday living is unrealistic, and their behavior, both verbal and physical, is unacceptable.

Tags: acoholism, christianity

The problem with politics

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:29:02 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1

Clip Source: fredericksburg.com

The problem with politics isn't the money, it's the power. As long as politicians have the power to grant favors, exemptions, and business protection, people will find a way to subvert them--if not with money now, then with promises to take care of them later.

The only way to clean up campaign financing isn't by limiting third parties and trampling the rights of the voters. It's by taking power away from the politicians and reducing the federal government to just the functions specified in the Constitution.

Tags: political science, campaign finincing, corruption

7 years later: I told you so!

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:18:53 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: We're no longer hearing much about third parties in Amerika. What happened to them? Why don't we hear from them anymore?
It's because they can no longer legally raise enough money to get their word out. The misnamed `campaign finance reform' actually outlawed the ability of all challengers to effectively raise funds for their campaigns.
A better name for this heinous law would be `the Incumbent Protection Act', since that's precisely what it really does. And it does NOTHING to stop corruption in campaign financing. Rather, it has increased it, if anything.
I warned about it years ago here:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2002/022002/02152002/524933
So now that enough time has passed for everyone to see the results of this law, I can honestly say:

I told you so!

Clip Source: fredericksburg.com

Politicians can rig elections in two ways: They can engage in vote fraud, risking scandal and imprisonment, or they can pass election laws that give themselves an unassailable, fully legal advantage. Election-rigging through vote fraud may occur from time to time, but election-rigging through law-making is safer, more effective, and far more prevalent.

Paul Jacob writes, "Senator [John] McCain [R-Ariz.] says of himself and others in Congress, 'We are all corrupt.' Why then should we have campaign rules written of, by, and for the corrupted?" [04/09/01]

Tags: political science, election rigging, restricting your rights, campaign finance

The Song That Is Irresistible: How the State Leads People to Their Own Destruction

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:00:13 GMT

clipped by: rwbehne1
clipper's remarks: More at http://www.mises.org/story/2749

Clip Source: www.mises.org

States, by their very nature, are perpetually at war — not always against foreign foes, of course, but always against their own subjects. The state's most fundamental purpose, the activity without which it cannot even exist, is robbery. The state gains its very sustenance from robbery, which it pretties up ideologically by giving it a different name (taxation) and by striving to sanctify its intrinsic crime as permissible and socially necessary. State propaganda, statist ideologies, and long-established routine combine to convince many people that they have a legitimate obligation, even a moral duty to pay taxes to the state that rules their society.

Tags: political science, reason, common sense