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Posts tagged with "quotes"

Second-hand copiers can spill secrets & Recipe Calls for "Freshly Ground Black People"

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Second-hand copiers can spill secrets
At a warehouse in New Jersey, 6,000 used copy machines sit ready to be sold. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports that almost every one of them holds a secret.

Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive--like the one on your personal computer--storing an image of every document copied, scanned, or e-mailed by the machine.

In the process, it's turned an office staple into a digital time-bomb packed with highly personal or sensitive data.

See more here.


Recipe Calls for "Freshly Ground Black People"
(AP) An Australian publisher is reprinting 7,000 cookbooks over a recipe for pasta with "salt and freshly ground black people."

Penguin Group Australia's head of publishing, Bob Sessions, acknowledged the proofreader for the Pasta Bible should have picked up the error, but called it nothing more than a "silly mistake."

The "Pasta Bible" recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto was supposed to call for black pepper.

Read more here.



Controlling Our Food

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Controlling Our Food
On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television - a documentary that Americans won't ever see. The gigantic bio-tech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.
The World According to Monsanto is an in-depth Documentary that looks at the domination of the agricultural industry from one of the world's most insidious and powerful companies.

This is one of the most powerful, must see films for anyone interested in the behind the scenes world of the food industry, and how just one world dominating corporation holds the keys and patents to much of the worlds food supply. Monsanto, which started out as one of the planets largest chemical companies is also responsible for such chemical compounds as Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, PCBs and genetically-engineered crops.

I tried embedding the movie, but it wouldn't work. So here is, The World According to Monsanto.


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The Subscription Trap

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This is an update to an earlier post:

The Subscription Trap
If you've ever opened your credit card bill to find that you've inadvertently joined a club you've never heard of, at a cost of $10 or more a month, you're not alone. Millions of Web consumers have been snared by similar tactics. Our tips will help you fight back.
How can companies make more than a billion dollars selling a service that almost no one wants? By signing up millions of members who don't know that they're becoming members. A survey by credit card company Visa estimates that nearly three in ten Americans have been stung by a subscription trap. Here's how it works: You buy airline tickets or flowers or a digital camera at a site like Orbitz, US Airways, or FTD--and just when you think you've completed your transaction, you get an offer for cash back or free shipping. So you click the button, and a screen appears asking for your e-mail address in exchange for that attractive little benefit. It seems like a small price to pay, so you comply and then finish your purchase. Three months later, as you review your credit card statement, you discover that you've been dunned for $50 in membership dues by some company you've never heard of, for a club that you never knew you belonged to and that you've never received any benefit from. (Even when the offer promises something like cash back or free shipping, those promises often apply to your next purchase, not the one you just completed). Unfortunately, getting your money back isn't easy. According to some angry consumers, getting a full refund required writing a letter (the old fashion way) and waiting months to receive a credit card chargeback. Welcome to the world of posttransaction marketing, a billion-dollar industry that most people have never heard of.

Read the rest of the article here.

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Swine Flu is Officially Over: UK National Pandemic Flu Service to be Closed

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Swine Flu is Officially Over: UK National Pandemic Flu Service to be Closed

(NaturalNews) The UK Government has announced that, as of February 11, the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) is to be shut down, following a `steady decline` in the number of cases of swine flu. This has been taken by many to signal the end of the swine flu scare in the UK, and it is hoped that the incessant promotion of toxic antiviral drugs will finally begin to dwindle too.

Health minister Gillian Merron said: "The Department is today announcing the decision to stand down the NPFS with effect from 1am on February 11 2010. This is being done in response to the steady reduction in the estimated number of swine flu cases in the community and is in line with our overall aim of ensuring the operational response is appropriate to the level of threat posed by the virus."

Naturally, many are questioning how appropriate the Department of Health`s response was to the much-hyped threat posed by swine flu. In the spring of 2009, Health Minister Andy Burnham and Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson warned that more than 65.000 could die in Britain alone. Instead, the figure reached just 411. Whilst no doubt a tragedy for those involved, around 3,000 people die of seasonal flu in Britain each and every year.

Allegations have been made that the fearful stance taken by the Government was not one based on naivety, but a deliberate attempt to manufacture consent for the massive spending spree required to subsidise the pharmaceutical industry for another year. And estimated 256m pounds was spent on anti-viral drugs when, due to the financial crisis of 2009, public finances were under more scrutiny than usual. At the time, the World Health Organisation pointed out the raw data showed that the threat posed by swine flu was minimal for otherwise healthy individuals, and that all flu strains were prone to quickly developing resistance against anti-virals like Tamiflu.

Read the rest of the article here.

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When Schools Spy on Their Students, Bad Things Happen

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When Schools Spy on Their Students, Bad Things Happen
Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld

Sometimes even I am blown away by how mind-numbingly stupid people can be when it comes to technology. I'm not talking about people who can't find the "any" key. I'm talking about institutional stupidity, the kind you only get when you mix technophobic bureaucrats and geeks with no sense of boundaries.

In case you haven't been following the plot of Webcamgate, starring the Lower Merion School District in Southeastern Pennsylvania and a cast of thousands, here's the skinny.

Last week the Robbins family, whose son Blake attends LMSD's Harriton High, filed a class-action suit against the district alleging that it's been spying on its students via webcams on school-supplied MacBooks.

The suit came about after Blake Robbins was called into the assistant principal Lindy Matsko's office last November to discuss "inappropriate behavior" he was displaying -- at home. The proof? A snapshot of him taken with his laptop's Webcam.

Apparently Matsko thought Blake was popping pills. According to Robbins, he was merely eating candy: Mike-N-Ikes. (A classic gateway drug -- before you know it, he'll be deep into Good-N-Plenty and then totally hooked on Tic Tacs.)

The idea that the school could peer into the Robbins' home -- and by implication, the homes of nearly 2,400 other students in the district -- blew their minds. It also may have violated dozens of federal and state laws regarding privacy, wiretapping, and electronic communications, as alleged in their suit PDF.

The school district's response? Yes, we have the ability to activate students' webcams remotely, but it's strictly used for tracking lost or stolen laptops, says school superintendent Dr. Christopher W. McGinley. No, we didn't tell any of the students or their families about it. Oops. Our bad.


Read the rest of the story here.


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E-tailers linked to 'scam' blame customers & McAfee warns about '12 Scams of Christmas'

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E-tailers snagged in marketing 'scam' blame customers

First, the good news for consumers: the U.S. government's investigation into how dozens of well-known online stores worked with controversial marketers to "deceive" customers out of $1.4 billion has prompted some retailers, including Continental Airlines, to sever ties with the marketers.

Now, the bad news: the marketers--Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty--are still in business and judging from the responses of many of the retailers involved, such as Priceline, Classmates.com, FTD, Shutterfly, and Orbitz, it will be business as usual. They see nothing wrong with the marketing practices that millions of angry online shoppers and members of the U.S. Senate have called a "scam," "robbery" and "theft."

While the U.S. Senate Commerce committee produced a staggering amount of documentation during a hearing last week that appears to show consumers are misled into signing up for so-called loyalty programs, the retailers continue to suggest it's their customers who are at fault.

The controversy began last May, when the Commerce committee launched an investigation into the practices employed by Vertrue, Affinion, and Webloyalty. The committee's investigators found thousands of complaints going back years from people who said they discovered "mysterious charges" on their credit cards and struggled to discover how they got there.

Read the rest of the article here.

McAfee warns about '12 Scams of Christmas'

Retailers aren't the only ones gearing up for the holiday season. Criminals are also out in force.

To highlight the increased crime during the holidays, security company McAfee has come up with the "12 Scams of Christmas" ranging from bogus electronic greeting cards that deliver malware instead of cheer to fake charities that steal your money and your identity.

It's especially important to be extra careful this time of year, says McAfee's David Marcus. "The bad guys know people are spending more time online, they're paying more bills online so [the criminals] stand a chance of being a bit more successful this time of year.

In a podcast interview (scroll down to listen), Marcus counted down the 12 scams of Christmas starting with:

1. Charitable phishing scams: Marcus warns consumers to be wary of e-mails that appear to be from legitimate charities. Not only will they take your money and deprive charities of needed funds, but they will also steal your credit card information and identity.

2. Fake invoices from delivery services: During this period, scammers will send out fake invoices and delivery notifications appearing to come from Federal Express, UPS, the U.S. Postal Service or even the U.S. Customs Service saying that they were unable to deliver a package to your address. They ask you to confirm your address and give them credit card information to pay for delivery.

3. Social networking friend requests: Bad guys take advantage of this social time of year by sending out authentic looking friend requests via e-mail. Marcus recommends that you not click on those links but sign into Facebook and other services and look for friend requests from the site itself. Clicking on a link could install malware on your computer or trick you into revealing your password.

Read the rest of the article here.


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FTC Guns for Blogger Shills—and Misses

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FTC Guns for Blogger Shills—and Misses

Blogger payola is risible, but the new FTC guidelines are misguided, unenforceable, and utterly useless.

by Dan Costa

The FTC released guidelines designed to crackdown on the blogger payola—the risible practice of paying people to write favorable things about your products or company. As the editor who runs the Reviews team here at PCMag.com, I thought it would be worth my time to wade through the 81-page guide of regulations. After all, the penalty could be $11,000 per violation. Near as I can tell, the regulation will require every blogger to disclose payments, gifts, and professional interests for every tweet, post, or email that supports a given company. In other words, this mess of regulations misunderstands media, creates unenforceable rules, and, quite possibly, violates our First Amendment right to free speech.

For starters, let me review how PCMag.com does business. Vendors loan us products to review. We test them. We send them back. That's pretty much it. Staff can't take cash or gifts of value from vendors—although you will be hard-pressed to find a staffer without at least a dozen 512MB USB keys filled with press releases and images. There is also a drawer full of T-shirts. Our advertising department has no say in what we write and neither do vendors. Sometimes companies are upset about what we write, but they know the deal going in.

PCMag has been in business for longer than I have, and I take lot of pride in working here. Truth be told, many of our competitors also have rigorous editorial standards. A lot of established blogs have standards that are just as high. For that matter, I know individual bloggers who are informed, scrupulous, and utterly enjoyable to read. So why is the FTC setting up different types of rules for PCMag, or indeed, why is it setting up rules at all?

The new rules extend far beyond bloggers. Facebook updates, Twitter posts, Tumblr photos, even word-of-mouth marketing can be now be regulated by the FTC. Like most people, I despise this type of covert marketing more than anything. But, at some point, I think we have to let people post, blog, tweet, and say what they want to one another. We can decide whether or not to believe them.


Read the rest of the article here.


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Compelling Obama/Soetoro articles

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I found these following articles interesting, so here they are:

Ted Rall: It’s increasingly evident that Obama should resign

MIAMI — We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama’s inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.

From health care to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn’t have the nerve to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?

Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss.

I refer here to Obama’s plan for “preventive detentions.” If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in “prolonged detention.” Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama’s shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.

In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.

Preventive detention is the classic defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Because dictatorial regimes rely on fear rather than consensus, their priority is self-preservation rather than improving their people’s lives. They worry obsessively over the one thing they can’t control, what George Orwell called “thoughtcrime” — contempt for rulers that might someday translate to direct action.

Locking up people who haven’t done anything wrong is worse than un-American and a violent attack on the most basic principles of Western jurisprudence. It is contrary to the most essential notion of human decency. That anyone has ever been subjected to “preventive detention” is an outrage. That the president of the United States, a man who won an election because he promised to elevate our moral and political discourse, would even entertain such a revolting idea offends the idea of civilization itself.

Read the rest of the article here.
These "preventive detentions" proposed by Obama were also rightfully blasted by Rachel Maddow.

White House 'dialogue' site scrubbed of eligibility posts
Many Obama birth certificate queries yanked from 'transparency' debate
With more than 200 individual threads and thousands of comments on the eligibility issue alone, moderators of the White House website on "open government dialogue" have been working tirelessly to edit the dialogue about Barack Obama's elusive "long-form" birth certificate. Many of the top-rated threads are from citizens calling on Obama to release his birth certificate. The postings in the "top rated" category have received the most "looks promising" votes from users. New threads on the topic of Obama's constitutional eligibility to serve as president are appearing by the minute. WND observed the "Making Data More Accessible" section for several hours as more suggestions appeared and at least 60 were subsequently deleted on the first page alone – all requests for the president to submit proof of citizenship. One deleted post echoed many others in asking President Obama to "Prove that you are a U.S. citizen and valid president." The post asks why Obama doesn't simply release his "real birth certificate and end all of this controversy." "Are you a fraud?" it asks. "Is your election to the highest office in the land the largest scam ever pulled on the American people? Are you really not eligible for office? End the speculation and prove who you are."

Read the rest of the article here.

Dr. Orly Taitz wants people to comment on a post on the Open Government Dialogue site called, Obama MUST step down he is NOT-eligible per his own admission! NO Birth Certificate Required! NOT eligible even IF born in HA. She was born in the former Soviet Union and believes that Obama/Soetoro is ineligible to serve as POTUS. Wonder if that post about Obama/Soetoro's eligibility will be deleted soon along with all the others. I had previously done a post on this issue of Barack Obama's (aka Barry Soetoro, which was his name when he grew up in Indonesia) eligibility, or lack thereof, for the office that he currently holds. This issue has not gone away, but continues to pester Mr. Obama/Soetoro because he refuses to release his "long form" birth certificate and he also sealed his school records at American schools he attended. Those records would show whether he attended the schools as an American citizen or as a foreign student. Here is an article that has 26 Facts about Mr. Obama/Soetoro. During the campaign, John McCain released all his records when asked. Senator McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. He did release his records, so why hasn't Obama/Soetoro done the same? He has been repeatedly asked in the months since he had announced his candidacy. Is he hiding something that he doesn't want the American public & the world at large to know? Let's say that he was born in Kenya, thus making himself ineligible for POTUS, he has made himself open to blackmail by others who know and will use it against him & America. The Mike in the Morning show interviewed the Kenyan ambassador shortly after the election and asked him if they were planning to make Obama's birthplace in Kenya into a memorial. The ambassador admitted that those plans are already underway! You also go to his website where you can listen to the full almost 20 minutes long call for yourself. There are some people that say that Obama/Soetoro posted his "birth certificate" online, but there are allegations that the document is a forgery. You can also see a video on this subject posted by Dr. Ron Polarik here.


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Department of Homeland Security to destroy swine flu victims

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bigeyes

Department of Homeland Security to destroy swine flu victims
Harsh measures to combat pig plague
It's evident that the US of A's Department of Homeland Security is taking the H1N1 threat very seriously indeed, and we reckon that Secretary Janet Napolitano may have been taking some advice from Condoleeeeza "Waterboarding" Rice as to how to apply a "Guantánamo Bay" solution to the menace posed by swine flu. Here's an extract from Napolitano's statement yesterday on the current state of pig plague play: We're also actively monitoring travellers at our land, sea, and air ports. We're watching them for signs of illness, and we have appropriate protocols in place to deal with those who are sick. Precautions are being taken to protect travellers and border personnel. Anyone exhibiting symptoms is being referred to an isolation room where they can be evaluated by a public health official before proceeding to their destruction. Fair enough, and if that fails, here's Ms Rice's next piece of advice to Napolitano: "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." ®

This story was found here.


Unless you have been living under a rock lately, you have been hearing about the swine flu a lot in the news recently. People should not panic about this stuff. Even online scammers are getting in on the swine flu act hoping to cash in on people's fears. It has also been reported in the news, that 36,000 people each year die from "regular flu" though this has not been confirmed. There are also pictures of people wearing N95 masks to protect themselves from this virus, but they may be useless at protecting the wearers from the swine flu virus. There is also a possibility that there is known a smoking gun about the origins of this virus. I believe that if you take appropriate precautions, you don't have to worry about suffering from this or any other virus. Here are some suggestions at building natural immunity against the swine flu.


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P.S. I will be going on vacation for about a week starting tomorrow. Have a great weekend & coming week! See you all soon!

6 Notable Quotes

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I am more deadly than the screaming shell from the howitzer. I win without killing. I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My vitims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent. I never forget and seldom forgive. My name is Gossip.

- Morgan Blake

There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

- Adam Smith (1776), Wealth of Nations

A wise and prudent government does not take bread from the mouths of labor.

- Thomas Jefferson

The most pernicious form of tyranny is that which disguises itself as a benefactor to its victims.

- Robert L. Schultz

The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves.

A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat.When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.

- Dresden James, Author


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