November 2004 Archives
One of the problems with SPAM is that it's free. Spammers can send emails at virtually no cost to as many email addresses as they want. This is different from the companies that send you stuff in the mail to refinance the house you just bought, or to get another credit card. They have to pay postage, so their reach is limited by cost. It would seem that as long as spam is free, it will continue to flood our inboxes. The CAN-SPAM Act (which took effect Jan 2004) didn't seem to help much either.
However, Lycos has come out with an interesting solution. It's a program that runs on individual users' PCs that adds traffic to the spam websites. It doesn't send anything to the place the spam originated from because that is probably an unrelated website. But spams are advertising a website that they want you to go to so you can buy stuff from them. That's the target. If there is a lot of traffic on those websites, they'll have to pay for it. Bandwidth on the internet isn't free.
So the screensaver, in concert with the Lycos database and website, constantly sends requests to those websites to use up their bandwidth. It's not a DoS (Denial of Service) attack because Lycos monitors the servers to ensure that they never go down. Just a nice, persistent stream of requests. An article in "The Register" says that the problem with this solution is that it can add terabytes of useless traffic to the internet. As far as I'm concerned, there's already terabytes of useless traffic out there called spam.
You can download and run the program which functions as a screensaver from Lycos - Make Love not SPAM. There is also more information on their website to answer all your questions. Just thought this was an interesting thing to share.
[update: this has since been discontinued. The screensaver will no longer work, and there are several viruses going around that use the same name.]
(sources: Lycos - Make Love not SPAM; The Register - Lycos screensaver to blitz spam servers)
I read today in a blog that regarding "the rights of homosexuals [the case] is simply that there are enough laws on the books to make sure they enjoy the same rights that all Americans enjoy." This particular part of the blog was about "special rights." The blogger thinks that there should be no special rights for anyone. I would tend to agree.
I commented the following: One would think that section one of the 14th Amendment would be enough to guarantee rights for all Americans, no matter what makes them unique. However, it would seem that it's not enough right now. I agree with you about special rights. I don't want anything "special." I want to be equal. And right now it's the straight folks who have the special rights. They're allowed to marry the person that they love, and then get over 1000 state and federal benefits to protect them and their relationship. At the same time, gay folks are being catagorically denied those rights. Perhaps equality has become a special right...
From the "Voice of the People" in my local newspaper: "This is America, where the will of the few should never be imposed on the majority." I thought ours was a nation of majority rule, with minority rights. Otherwise our great nation hasn't progessed much past the 18th century. I have to wonder what perception of America led to that statement.
Also from the same section, a letter about saving marriage. Ban divorce. Gay people haven't ruined straight marriages, straight people have. "After all, some of the most vocal ... proponents for marriage and family values have destroyed their own marriages and families by divorce: Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Steve LaTourette, Dick Armey, Phil Gramm, Bob Dole and Bob Barr." And as close as gay marriage is to gay couples, perhaps banning straight divorce would put things in perspective for heterosexuals. Can you see it? A proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution banning divorce... I can see the yard signs in opposition now.
I'm not saying that I really favor this proposition, but it would shine the light where it needs to be.
Why does Windows XP cost so flippin' much? I'm about to build a new computer, and I'm going to need a copy of XP Home. I'm using XP on a Dell laptop, but of course I can't transfer that over. But it's about $90 for XP! Makes me seriously consider Linux. But I don't have the patience for that...
I bought the hard drive last week for the new system, and next week I'll be getting a new motherboard and video card. Then all I'll need is the processor and memory. Oh, the anticipation that comes with new electronics.
Lights are going up outside on the house. Very snazzy looking. I have to climb up the ladder later this week to add a few more things. At least I don't have to climb on the roof this year. The Christmas tree went up this weekend, and like a big geek I X10ed it.
I watched a little of the movie French Kiss last night - you know the one with Meg Ryan. A line I noticed last night that I hadn't before was, "When people say they are happy, it makes my ass twitch." Work that into a conversation today...
ACLU sues school for censoring gay teen
Makes me glad I became a member of the ACLU. Free speech is free speech, even as much as I can't stand to listen sometimes.
It was dark when I got to work this morning, but people were already lined up to come in right as the store opened. By the time we opened the doors the line went around to the back of the building. I think about 200 people came trampling in. Only one incident today when a woman was carrying something she wanted to buy and another person took it out of her hands. It was a stupid $6 item. And I'm just going to take a moment to be amazed at the amount of cash people were carrying on their persons today. It's great not to be using credit cards and all, but no one should see that wad.
I was incredibly impressed and proud of my staff today. Their energy level was infectious, and they kept people moving as quick as possible. We got a lot of complements today about how well run and organized we were. So nice to hear that as lines grow out to Zimbabwe!
A woman found $112 in the parking lot and turned it in. Another moment that restored my faith in humanity. She was really hoping that the person would realize they lost it in our parking lot and come back. I thought that was really nice. Well, the person came in to claim it. I told her about the nice woman who brought it in. The claimer said that it looked like she took some for herself. What a bastard. Maybe that was all that was left when she found it. If she was going to take some,. why not just keep it all for herself, ya know?
I just watched a program that I TiVoed called Gay Republicans. (watch for yourself on Trio 12/18, 12/19, or 12/31) I think I left more confused than before I watched it. I thought that perhaps there was a rationale that I would understand, and it would make the whole thing make sense. I know that being gay is only one part of life, so I figured that they must think other things more important and have reasons for ignoring the anti-gay part. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I still don't get it.
One of the guys in the program was driving along when he saw a sign that read, "Kerry is unfit." He said, "nice sign there." As the truck turned the corner another sign came into view that read, "Homosexuality is sin." (And also a picture of the twin towers burning with the inscription 'Islam' below it.) Then the man said, "I'm willing to ignore that." I think perhaps this is the core of the entire program, and the rationale for this particular man's unwavering support of the Republican platform.
Later he makes the following statements:
"When we start changing definitions of word that have meant things for thousands upon thousands of years to suit 'a group,' what if certain organizations decide that stop should mean go? Are we going to change every stop sign in the world?"
"Why do you feel like a second-class citizen? You do have the right to marry. You just can't marry someone of the same sex."
"Once we open Pandora's Box then where does it ever stop? Somebody wants to marry their cat because they love it..."
"My question to all those people that got married: how different is your life today? It's not one bit different except you have a worthless piece of paper."
I'm not going to go through and debate all of this. But a gay man said this. What circumstances exist for a person to compartmentalize so fully that you can promote insulting rhetoric against yourself? I could never compare my relationship to that of one with a cat and say it seriously. Rhetoric is a powerful tool. And from what I see, self-hate and internalized homophobia are as well.
As I read through my blogroll this afternoon, I was horrified to read that a fellow blogger had been hospitalized overnight. He is in critical condition, having been deliberately hit by a car. They're not sure who did it, but they suspect someone who did not agree with his views from his blog. They're asking for anyone who might have information to send it in. How terrible in this day and age that something like this still happens. I don't know him very well, but we've exchanged comments and emails through our blogs for awhile. Often we share the same ideas and feelings about world events and issues.
I hope for a full recovery for him, and my thoughts are with him, his boyfriend, and his friends.
[update: It turns out that someone hacked his website while he was away, and made up the whole story. He's worried that his online reputation has been tarnished. Frankly, I'm just glad he's really ok.]
I got a call today from a man who said that since the female manager didn't know what he was talking about, he needed to speak with a male manager. I really wanted to turn him over to the store manager who would have wrung him out. But I picked the call up and realized why there had been confusion. This guy was not looking for cassette tapes, but for the old plastic cases that you put them in. Woah! What decade are we in? Does anyone still sell cassettes anymore? I told him that we no longer carry accessories for 8-tracks, vinyl, or cassettes.
I remember back in high school when I would go to Camelot Music (now FYE I think) and check out the new singles on cassette. They were usually 99¢ and since I had little money that's what I would get. Funny now you can download songs for the same amount. But that was a story I'll tell my kids about one day. Back in my day we had a magnetic tape in a cartridge. Sometimes it would get stuck in the tape player and the tape would go all over the place! Ah, those were the days...
I'm feeling old now, so I'm going to go exercise my inner child.
One week from tomorrow I will be enduring the hellish spend-fest that almost every retail worker fears - the day after Thanksgiving. Normally I handle this as part of my job, and I'm ok with it. But after today I wonder if I'll make this, my 9th year in retail, holiday season.
At about 1pm I think an institution of some sort had a security breach, and everyone who broke out came to my store. I had some of the most ridiculous, angry customers for the last few hours of my shift that I could have torn my hair out. One came in to pick a fight. She started going off at the cashier because she wanted to make sure that her clothes were handled properly. From what I could see everything was being done correctly. When I asked her is there was a problem she said there wasn't, but she wanted to tell us so there wouldn't be one. No, see, when you tell your voice is usually a few decibels lower. Then it turned out that she brought up a broken item, so I nicely told her to wait a moment and I would have another one brought up for her. She was angry about that. Then there was a dispute about a price, and in the middle of that a man fell on the floor. Which is more immediate? I went to see if the man was okay. It turned out he was fine and I went back to the angry customer. She exclaimed that she couldn't understand why I had been hired since I obviously had no idea what I was doing.
She continued her ranting diatribe at me and my cashier for several minutes, and I finally had to tell her to stop being abusive to my employees. Later she came back with yet another problem, and she told me she was going to report me. I told her that was just fine with me, and I gave her the information on exactly how to report me. I hope they don't laugh too hard.
After that 3 more people were angry about one thing or another, and mostly all at the same time. Will I make it through the next 5 weeks? Stay tuned and we'll see...
As the holidays approach, I'm seeing more catalogs and brochures from every store and company that has my name and address. Today I see a flyer with "gift ideas" in it. As I never know what to buy anyone, I took a look through it. One of these "cool... affordable gadgets" is a deluxe booklight. It really doesn't look that deluxe to me - it looks like any booklight. But you call it deluxe and somehow it becomes extraordinary. I mean, if you call a keyboard a "deluxe keyboard" then will it write your blog for you?
Then there's the talking pedometer. I have a little pedometer because I wondered once how far I walk at work each day. (I walked 11 miles across the store one day!) But I'm not sure I'd want a pedometer to talk. What would it say? "Get moving slowpoke!" "What's wrong ya' lazy ass! Get a move on!" "You tryin' to put weight on there buddy?" "Is that as far as you're going to walk today?" What would yours say to you? Regardless, I don't think I'd give it as a gift.
As I sit here writing, I have to keep stopping to blow my nose. Kinda puts a crimp in your writing. This morning what I thought was allergies turned into a full fledged cold. Yuck! My first one of the season. Tonight at work I felt like I was floating through the day. Must have been the Tylonol Sinus. Or maybe it was just me.
Which reminds me of a customer who came up to me and yelled at me this weekend. It was like the Twillight Zone. I was innocently standing there with a coworker when this woman came from nowhere and just started yelling. Something about a watch battery from a watch that she bought at a different store 4 years ago. She yelled, "I'm pissed! This is ridiculous!" She was being so obnoxious that other people started staring at her. Maybe she was British and she meant she was drunk. Another interesting customer cried the other day when her boombox broke. I felt bad for her, and wondered at the same time what was really going on. I get attached to things, but not that attached.
And may I also thank the trucker who decided to swing across 3 lanes in front of me tonight. He apparently wanted to get off at the exit, and swerved from the farthest lane from it no less. I had to slam on my brakes at 65mph, and then downshift to 2nd gear to speed back up so the oncoming cars wouldn't rear-end me. That'll get your blood pumping.
I've heard a few rogue stories about strange election results in Florida. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to them at first, thinking that it's better to look forward than backwards. But I read something over at Postcards from Nowhere that made me look twice. There's an interesting article there about how many of Florida's heavily democratic counties went strongly for Bush. And they were all counties on which votes were tallied on optical scanners.
For instance, in Calhoun County where 82% of registered voters are registered democrats, 63% of all voters there voted for Bush. In Franklin County where 77% are democrats, 58% of all votes there went for Bush. In Liberty County, the repulican vote was 712% over the number of registered republicans. In no cases was the actual turnout of republicans less than the expected number while democratic votes were up to 70% less than expected. Something just doesn't seem right about that.
You can take a look at the charts from Florida at UsTogether. If someone finds these charts to be phony or flawed, please let me know. Otherwise, they are rather startling.
On Alan Colmes radio show tonight a woman called in to question the thought that liberals or people unlike the religious right are less moral or patriotic than others. She was a lesbian. I don't know who the man was than Mr. Colmes had on his show, but he went on about how lesbians have a higher mortality rate than heterosexual women. I thought, where did that come from? Is the health care of the gay community really bad?
So I googled, and there are a few studies that show that lesbians have poorer health habits than their straight counterparts. Some of this was due to a lack of needed health coverage. "Lesbians and bisexual women were less likely than heterosexual women to have health insurance, more likely to have been uninsured for health care during the preceding year, and more likely to have had difficulty obtaining needed medical care."1 So maybe if queer folks could get married it would help out a bit. The we could cover our partners. How awful would that be? Other factors included fear of seeing a doctor who might have an adverse reaction to someone being homosexual. Homophobia sucks. So if it's harder for gays and lesbians to get health care, and it's harder to find a doctor who you can trust, it would make sense that we might have higher mortality rates. But the reason isn't simply that we're gay and that makes us die sooner. It's not that we made some choice to live as a gay person so we have to pay for our choice in life. It's societal influences and internailzed homophobia that prevent us from receiving the same health care as everyone else, and living with a higher stress level certainly doesn't help.
"Studies have shown higher lifetime rates of depression, attempted suicide, psychological help-seeking and substance abuse among homosexuals. This is attributed to chronic stress from societal hatred, or to the ascription of inferior status that homophobia imposes."2 Promoting homophobia has real and tangible consequenses. Can we sue the conservative right for damages?
(sources:
1 http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/9/10/1043
2 http://www.ohanlan.com/phobiahzd.htm)
The advertisement on the front of the box for the electric leaf blower boasts "Hurricane Force Wind." And I think to myself, yes this will surely take care of the leaves in my yard. But then I recall something about a Volvo being blown about in a hurricane. I put the leaf blower down and decide on a rake with a lovely padded handle.
I was reminded today that while the country is divided and many are angry, anger is not what represents my core beliefs. I will continue to stand up for what I believe in, and I have to make my case as one who is compassionate and real. Being angry is a great motivator, but used in trying to convince someone it is a poor weapon. While fear and anger are loud and obnoxious, they are fleeting. Compassion is quiet, yet it is enduring and persistant.
Many thanks to Nancy Arnold.
There has been a lot of talk on the news and in the blogosphere about Americans moving to Canada. I feel your pain. We look around at our country, and don't recognize some things anymore. Where is the moderate center that always balances things out? Where are my civil liberties? Where is the justice? I understand where you're coming from. Just this past Tuesday I looked at real estate in Ontario.
But that cute Victorian house I found lasted on my screen only a minute. I've thought about leaving the United States a few times. The last time I seriously considered it was earlier in the year when many states were gearing up to ban gay marriage. I kept thinking that if my country doesn't want me then fine, I'll leave. But then the rainbow fatigues peaked out from the closet and the fight welled up in me. I will not leave what is rightly mine. And as long as I still have the right to protest and express my opinions then there is still hope.
I will always look to Canada as a beacon of hope and freedom, much as people from decades ago looked at the USA. Canada's Charter of Freedoms is working quite well, while we're still struggling to remember the Bill of Rights. Learning from history is not America's strong suit.
But I am wholly American, and plan to be for as long as I can live my life in a reasonably free and independent manner. There is still much fight left in me, and although I get frustrated I am far from done. There is still so much work to be done here. There is so much more potential to realize. Looking at the big picture, things are better than they have been. I have to be a part of the solution for America. For myself, for everyone.
On the way home from work tonight I heard Dr. James Kennedy on Alan Colmes (Air America). He was speaking about why gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. I tried to call in about a dozen times to a busy signal. He insinuated that gay people are gay because someone raped them involuntarily [sic] or their parents did something bad to them. That always makes me mad - for someone to say that my parents did anything wrong infuriates me. My parents are wonderful parents, and I if I could choose who I wanted for parents I would choose my wonderful family. I suffered no serious trauma of any sort as a child. I did not choose to be gay. In light of the 11 states recently writing discrimination against my family into their constitutions, I thought I'd sum up Kennedy's arguments and respond, one by one. I'm sorry but he has a full 12 arguments. In my opinion, they are in direct opposition to the US Bill of Rights, and are too full of mistruths and distortions to be considered a real argument against gay marriage.
I haven't posted much about my thoughts on the election. So here it is, and we'll get it over with.
I'm afraid of what the next four years will bring for our country. I don't trust Bush. I'm sorry if that offends you, or if you do trust him. But from where I'm sitting I don't see him as representing what I believe in or where I want the country and the world to go. I worry about what policy decisions he will make, both domestic and foreign. I worry about America coming to be under more corporate control. I worry that human and civil rights will be eroded in the name of terror and "Christian" values. I worry that America will not be the world's beacon of freedom of liberty. I worry for the unity of America. People want to be connected to those around them. Despite the horrors of 9/11, Americans felt more together than we have in a long time. And now I feel that we are more deeply divided than before.
I want to be a part of the process that allows us to bridge the gaps between different views. I wish I had answers that would help us to find common ground on issues that we disagree on. At the same time, I won't sacrifice my basic views of what is right and wrong. And the side that wants to limit my rights will not compromise either. Where does that leave us? President Bush said the other day that he would reach out to all those who share his goals. That sounds hollow - a limited promise to unite the already united. Someone said to me yesterday that was the most polite "fuck you" she's ever heard.
I'm afraid that the next few years are going to be as bitter as the past 8 months have been. I sincerely hope not. I'm not one that thrives off of the stress of politics. And there are some things on which I think we can find compromise and creative solutions, but fundamental rights and the truth are not among them. I will not compromise on my rights as an American, and the fact that they were used for politcal gain this election will not be easily forgotten or forgiven. </rambling venting>
PRESIDENT BUSH: Now that I've got the will of the people at my back, I'm going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three questions.PRESIDENT BUSH: Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously you didn't listen to the will of the people.
I don't remmeber voting on that. Did you get to vote on the "one question rule?" It certainly would make it easier for candidates to not fully explain themselves. But again, I did not get to vote so it wasn't my will.
Just seen on CNN... Kerry concedes.
The day after the elections I got a letter in the mail telling me of something I didn't get to decide. Time Warner has decided to raise their cable rates! Why didn't they tell me that before the election? I might have voted differently on the levy! They said that their expenses have increased by more than the 5% increase in rates. I suppose I can understand with the high gas prices - transporting cable signals must cost a lot more now. And I guess they need to be more competitive with the satellite services, and making their service more expensive certainly makes me want to switch from DirecTV. Sensible business practices...
And in the "What's the Point?" category: The rate for a digital set is going up by 1¢ and the cost for the remote control is going down by 1¢. huh? Maybe the additional expense could be alleviated by a reduction in paperwork.
And they're still charging for the remote control?
Yesterday at the polls, one interesting man had a conspiracy theory about his ballot. He claimed that if he didn't vote for one of two candidates for an office that someone would come along and mark his ballot for him. Then later he came back because he forgot to vote for president which was on the very first page of the ballot. I think the conspiracy was him. And there was the woman who when asked for her last name (3 times) gave me her whole name, first and last. But the way she said it sounded like one long last name. I even spelled the first few letter out to her when I repeated back her "last name." So I couldn't find her in either precinct at our location. Finally when she was talking to someone else I heard her say her name again, and we finally figured it out.
OK, so 14 hours was a lot longer than I thought it would be. The last hour was really slow, but our precinct had about 85% turnout. It was amazing to be a part of the process, although I gave a spiel about using both machines in the voting booth over 500 times. It started to sound like the teachers in Charlie Brown - wah wah wah... I did see a lot of first time voters - many who were not in the 18-30 age group. Our group did a great job of getting people in the right place to vote, helping people use the machines properly, and move voters through as quickly as possible. I'd like to thank my fellow poll workers for making the day both productive and fun.
I'm a poll worker today. After the 2000 election and all, I wanted to participate in the process. I also wanted to see how everything works. There are a lot of rules and procedures to follow, but I'm with a group that has been working the polls for several years so things are going well in our little precinct.
It's a long 14 hour day, but it's worth it. I'm on my lunch break now. Lots of people are turning up to vote, and there's been quite a few people who have said they are voting for the first time. Soon after we opened the polls at 6:30am there was a long line out the door and into the parking lot. I hope to be very busy for the whole day! Don't have much time now... more later.
