my random rants

WTF North Korea

2012-01-15T18:45:00.000Z

This is probably the first post of a new "WTF Asia" series. Asian cultures have always fascinated me but have also led me to so many WTF moments. The latest one, from North Korea: First the hysterical mourning from North Koreans about the death of Kim Jong II :| ..and then the punishment of people that did not sufficiently mourn :|

WTF

Pakistan bans 1600 terms and phrases from texting

2011-11-26T05:00:00.001Z

"The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has handed down a ban on about 1,600 terms and phrases it has deemed obscene". Some picks from the list: breast, budweiser, condom, crap, damn, deeper, deposit, devil, dumbass (lol), fart, gay, harder, hell no/yes, idiot, jesus christ, no sex, pee, poop (LOL), sex, shit, showtime, spit, tit, titty, tongue, urinate

[ source, related ]

The TV That Watches You

2011-08-20T12:16:00.002+01:00

"A new type of Internet-connected television, due out before the end of the year, has built-in software and hardware that send data about what is on-screen to an Internet server that can identify the content. Web pages being viewed using the same Internet connection as the TV set can then tap into that information. The system can identify any content onscreen, whatever the source, whether live TV, DVDs or movie files playing from a computer"

So, my calls are monitored, my texts, my emails, my web surfing, my use of public transport, any acivity I have outside the house, my money transactions, my reading, and now my TV. What's next? My cooking?

[ source ]

China extends surveillance into supermarkets, cinemas and classrooms

2011-08-07T12:43:00.004+01:00

I've been trying to refrain from writing too many surveilance/privacy posts since I realised that half of the the posts I have up here are about that. And believe me, I have tried.

I saw this article a few days ago and tried not to post it. But it's been playing in my mind. The numbers mentioned are terrifying..

...a team of 4,000 monitor its surveillance feeds to ensure round-the-clock coverage...

...plans to add 200,000 cameras by 2014 because "310,000 digital eyes are not enough"...

...17,000 high-definition, riot-proof cameras last year to ensure "seamless" surveillance...

...plans to have 400,000 units by 2012...

...one for every 10 inhabitants...

...believes that more than 10m cameras were installed in China in 2010...

...hitting a value of $1.7bn...

Liberté, égalité, fraternité, surveillance

2011-07-19T11:30:00.002+01:00

[ source ]

Dear human

2011-07-14T09:57:00.004+01:00

So funny and true

Banks Find Way To Sell Consumers' Shopping Data

2011-07-12T22:49:00.002+01:00

"Banks plan to compete with Groupon and LivingSocial by targeting coupons and deals at credit card holders based on their shopping habits. They found a way to do it without violating financial privacy laws: 'They're "selling" shopping habits the same way Facebook "sells" personal data about its users: in-network. It's a clever privacy work-around. Just as Facebook allows advertisers to specifically target certain kinds of users based on their profile information (without actually providing that profile information to the advertisers), banks plan to allow advertisers to send deals and coupons to their customers based on what they've bought before. That way, no user data actually leaves the network — instead, deals just enter the network. Each time a customer cashes in on one of those deals, the bank gets a commission"

[ source ]

Woman dies at her own funeral

2011-06-25T10:41:00.001+01:00

"...a Russian woman who was declared dead after collapsing with chest pains awoke at her own funeral and promptly died of a heart attack caused by the shock of waking up at her own funeral"

[ source ]

Scientists create first memory expansion for brain

2011-06-23T21:21:00.002+01:00

I could do with a memory expansion!

"After studying the chemical interactions that allow short-term learning and memorization in rats, a group of scientists lead by Dr. Theodore Berger—from the University of South California's Viterbi School of Engineering—have built a prosthetic chip that uses electrodes to enhance and expand their memory abilities. The chip is capable of storing neural signals, basically functioning as an electronic memory, allowing rats to learn more and keep it in the devices".

[ source ]

Cows Producing Human Breast Milk

2011-06-11T12:20:00.001+01:00

"Amidst all the concern going around that cows' milk is bad for you, Chinese scientists have found a way to fix the problem: By genetically engineering cows to produce human breast milk."

[ Source ]

Bin Laden's death/"death"

2011-05-03T18:41:00.000+01:00

The end of terrorism, or the start of it?

Cloud Girlfriend :|

2011-04-15T09:56:00.002+01:00

"More details have come in about Cloud Girlfriend, a California-based startup with an incredulous premise: it will match you to your ideal girlfriend for an Internet-only relationship.

According to co-founder David Fuhriman, the site that launches on April 26 will not be like the one described in March.

For starters, the service will be free ("unlike your last date," the slogan says.) So are additional cloud girlfriends."

[ source ]

The power of now

2011-02-23T12:42:00.001Z

"All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry -- all forms of fear -- are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence."

[ Eckhart Tolle ]

Every email and website to be stored

2010-10-29T09:30:00.003+01:00

"It will allow security services and the police to spy on the activities of every Briton who uses a phone or the internet.

Moves to make every communications provider store details for at least a year will be unveiled later this year sparking fresh fears over a return of the surveillance state.

The plans were shelved by the Labour Government last December but the Home Office is now ready to revive them.

It comes despite the Coalition Agreement promised to "end the storage of internet and email records without good reason".

Any suggestion of a central "super database" has been ruled out but the plans are expected to involve service providers storing all users details for a set period of time.

That will allow the security and police authorities to track every phone call, email, text message and website visit made by the public if they argue it is needed to tackle crime or terrorism.
The information will include who is contacting whom, when and where and which websites are visited, but not the content of the conversations or messages."

[ source ]

Irony 2 - Segway Inc. owner rides over cliff to his death

2010-10-10T10:43:00.003+01:00

"UK businessman Jimi Heselden, the man who believed in the Segway so much that he went ahead and bought the company, has died after reportedly driving a ruggedized version of the scooter off a cliff and into a river. He was found early on Sunday morning in the River Wharfe, having earlier been touring his estate in the personal transporter. The cause of the accident is not yet known. Mr. Heselden was 62 years old and, true to our geeky hearts, generated his fortune by coming up with an innovative design for wire cage walls that has since become standard equipment for NATO, American, and British forces. Our thoughts are with the good gent's family, and please, behave yourselves in comments."

[ source ]

Google nabs patent to monitor your cursor movements

2010-07-28T11:33:00.001+01:00

Scary :|

"Google has been awarded a patent for displaying search results based on how you move your mouse cursor on the screen.

While it sounds initially bizarre, Google's plans are to monitor the movements of the cursor, such as when a user hovers over a certain ad or link to read a tooltip, and then provide relevant search results, and ads, based on that behaviour. It means that it does not require users to actually click a link to know that they were interested in it, opening a world of opportunity for even more focused ads, which are Google's main source of income."

[ source ]

Bounds

2010-07-08T13:20:00.001+01:00

My bounds.

Your bounds.

Our bounds?

What motivates us

2010-06-09T09:15:00.000+01:00

Nothing is original

2010-05-23T21:28:00.001+01:00

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

[ Jim Jarmush ]

Freedom = responsibility

2010-05-08T09:58:00.001+01:00

"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility."

[ Sigmund Freud ]

Irony

2010-04-18T21:33:00.002+01:00

[source]

Asok sold his soul

2010-02-20T13:00:00.005Z

[source]

Mother guilty of murdering disabled son

2010-01-20T23:19:00.002Z

The mother of a severely disabled 22-year-old man was today convicted of murder despite her claim that she had injected him with a lethal shot of heroin to bring his suffering to an end.

Frances Inglis, 57, insisted throughout the two-week trial that she was innocent because she had killed her son with love in her heart, and not malice. She was given a life sentence and told she must spend a minimum of nine years in jail.

[source]

Why the rush?

2009-11-04T22:47:00.003Z

Why can't we stop running from one place to another, from one job to another, from one friend to another, from one lover to another..

Why can't we stop stressing about when we'll finish something, or when the kids will graduate from school, university..

Why can't we just BREATHE and enjoy?

Breathe, breathe in the air.

Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.

For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.

Pink Floyd - Breathe

Knowledge

2009-09-08T22:42:00.001+01:00

"Unless it grows out of yourself no knowledge is really yours, it is only a borrowed plumage."

[D.T. Suzuki, "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism"]

Yes/No

2009-09-08T11:22:00.004+01:00

"When we say "yes", we assert, and by asserting we limit ourselves. When we say "no", we deny, and to deny is exclusion. Exclusion and limitation, which after all are the same thing, murder of the soul; for is it not the life of the soul that lives in perfect freedom and in perfect unity? There is no freedom or unity in exclusion or limitation."

[D.T. Suzuki, "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism"]

The dog ate my homework!

2009-08-09T19:02:00.003+01:00

Or... the cat downloaded the perverted pictures on my hard drive!

"Police are charging Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach, Florida with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after finding more than 1,000 images on his personal computer.

Griffin told police he had been downloading music, and that his cat jumped on the keyboard when he left the room. He said "strange things" appeared on the computer when he returned."

[source]

Leaving work

2009-07-31T11:12:00.001+01:00

Today it's my last day at work, and I just got the daily dilbert email...

A new mission

2009-07-24T19:33:00.007+01:00

I kind of felt bad for "having a go" at the British in my previous post, specially when Britain is a country that gave me so much, including a bank holiday every year for the first 18 years of my life to celebrate the liberation from the British, and, well, a future. And I didn't even mention the Scottish and deep fried mars bars and stuff..!

Anyway, my guilty thoughts reminded me how interesting it is to compare nations/countries. So, I just found a new purpose in life: blog the good, the bad and ugly I see across countries. I tend to move around a lot so it should be interesting. Then again, I need to pack and I'd do anything but!

The mayo conspiracy

2009-07-24T09:43:00.014+01:00

[Disclaimer: If you’re squeamish/a bit on the fat side/a swelled-headed British or a fat squeamish swelled-headed British..... fuck off! :)]

There are a lot of different reasons why someone could be fat* but I can't help myself from seeing some common reasons across nations. Taking Greeks, most of the fat people are fat because they enjoy food so much; it’s one of the top pleasures in life. And I think Italians are pretty much on the same page, it’s like a form of art for them; They can talk about it for endless hours.

British on the other hand, despite Orwell’s excellent effort to support the English cooking, haven’t shown me any signs of love for food. I mean, fish and chips? Seriously? And it makes me wonder how Britain can be the first country in Europe with worst rates of obesity. After thinking long and hard, I’ve come to a conclusion on Britain’s main obesity reason:

How can they eat all those frozen ready meals or the long lasting packed sandwiches or even the readymade so called salads? Stuff it with mayo and maybe a bit of ketchup and wow it’s magic, they taste like something you can (sort of) eat. So, we have an easy equation:

readymade meals (full of fat-free fat)
+ mayo (which is just fat with flavour)
= heart attack. Sorry I mean obesity.

Anyway, I have nothing against the British – they’re just too drunk to realise. Ok sorry, that’s not true (well, maybe it is a bit), I understand that every country has its + and - but seriously stop eating shit and get yourselves in the kitchen.

*hmm should I use overweight, chubby, large, heavy, santa, jolly, fatsinator, chubalito, chunky, blubber belly, Buddha belly, lard, tubby, pudgy, baby elephant, fatso, chubba bubba..... I'll just use fat.

Cows that burp less methane to be bred

2009-06-25T21:29:00.003+01:00

"Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, with most of the gases coming from burps which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

Stephen Moore, a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, is examining the genes responsible for methane produced from a cow's four stomachs in order to breed more efficient, environmentally friendly cows."

[source, for greeks (sec 18)]

British court rules against blogger anonymity

2009-06-17T21:18:00.004+01:00

"In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of the NightJack blog. The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.

In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were unaware that he was using information about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions."

Orwell prize to him, orwell prize to them.

[souce]

Memory

2009-06-13T22:53:00.004+01:00

“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all, just as an intelligence without the possibility of expression is not really an intelligence. Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing.”

Luis Bunuel

UK Police Want Plug-In Computer Crime Detectors

2009-06-04T10:27:00.003+01:00

What a surprise - a big brother post.

I still don't think it's me though, there's something wrong with this country.. and my pessimist side is almost convinced the rest of the world ain't much better.

Apparently now they are looking to get plug-in USB devices that can copy/scan any device they are attached to. I believe I've heard of something similar for US airports a while ago, but still it can do nothing but annoy me, specially after someone telling me about human "incident recorders", policemen walking in the streets of England that hold a camera and a mic and record anything they want. The latter has been spinning in my head the last couple of days - how can we just swallow all that stuff?

[source]

Last.fm doesn't share data!

2009-06-02T23:33:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure how much I believe it but according to this, Last.fm and CBS deny sharing any user data with the RIAA. I'm wondering how much longer they're going to be playing this game with Techcrunch.

[title ref, full story]

Butterfly effect

2009-05-31T14:05:00.004+01:00

"Down through the centuries, much philosophical ink has been spilled over the question of whether human beings are free to decide and act or whether our decisions and actions are determined by external forces: heredity, environment, history, fate, Microsoft." :)

From Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.

There's still hope

2009-05-14T12:07:00.002+01:00

"ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A privacy watchdog has banned Google Inc. from gathering detailed, street-level images in Greece for a planned expansion of its panoramic Street View mapping service until the company provides additional privacy safeguards."

Also, I *think* Greece's Data Protection Authority have stopped the government using street cameras to "fight crime and terrorism".

[source]

Nevada fights insects with Rock-n-Roll

2009-04-29T22:25:00.004+01:00

"The residents of Tuscarora, Nevada are getting ready to fight the annual invasion of mormon crickets with the power of Rock-N-Roll. Trial and error has shown that the crickets don't think much of Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones. The residents circle the town with boomboxes at regular intervals to drive off the millions of crickets"

Brilliant.

[source]

The country of George Orwell

2009-04-27T21:16:00.003+01:00

I read a while ago that the UK government was planning to track all communications and hold everything in a massive database. I tried to zip it and say nothing as it wasn't really news. And it was really a big effort for me.

Today I see this. ISPs and mobile phone companies will be holding the "details". How nice of the government, they'll only track who, when and how, not what you're saying. For the "fight against terrorism, pedophiles and organized crime", we're giving the chance to almost anyone who wants to become an O'Brien. And it won’t be long before our selfish species shouts “Do it to Julia, don't do it to me, do it to her” betraying the last things we actually give a shit.

To text is to sin

2009-03-18T22:31:00.005Z

The Italian Catholic church is "urging" people to give up texting, Facebook, iPhones, Twitter, computer games and all those joys of online life.

Two reactions:
1. Laughed my ass off - how can people listen to stuff like that?
2. Stopped for a second and started realising the truth - those idiots are right :| "The danger is that we might spend so much time following other people on Twitter, or checking their updates on Facebook, that we don't get around to doing anything original"

Pill to erase bad memories

2009-03-11T20:40:00.003Z

"A drug which appears to erase painful memories has been developed by scientists.

The astonishing treatment could help sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder and those whose lives are plagued by hurtful recurrent memories.

But British experts said the breakthrough raises disturbing ethical questions about what makes us human.

They also warned it could have damaging psychological consequences, preventing those who take it from learning from their mistakes"

[source]

And another one

2009-02-21T01:51:00.005Z

[source]

London

2009-02-19T20:58:00.003Z

Are they trying to find the limits? :|

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J6KsSuvpAMk/SZKhauiQEEI/AAAAAAAAA_o/99dVBk5CiH0/s1600/safety.jpg

Google Latitude

2009-02-04T22:36:00.005Z

Another very big-brotherish invention.. this time from Google..

"Once you've opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you."

....

"Fun aside, we recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application. Everything about Latitude is opt-in. You not only control exactly who gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they see."

Yes, it's great, go use it people, get crazy like facebook, show (off!) everything :|

[source]

Today's dilbert

2009-01-25T21:04:00.006Z

Brilliant.

[dilbert.com]

PC Sales Slump Over Economic Crisis

2009-01-15T22:07:00.004Z

Sometimes I like this so called global financial crisis :|

"The damage isn't just limited to the United States. Shipments of PCs in Europe, the Mid-East, and Africa dipped to records posted around the turn of the century. It was even worse in Asia, which according to Gartner, posted its worst growth rate ever — just 1.8 per cent. Within the industry, desktops took the hardest hit, as was expected. Sales of non-portable computers were down about 16 per cent as consumers opted instead for the rising 'netbook' and similar hybrids. That fact alone is troubling for PC makers, given that $300-$500 netbooks offer a far lower profit margin than more expensive and more powerful laptops and desktops."

[source]

Pale Blue Dot

2008-12-22T13:55:00.000Z

[ Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot ]

Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot

Brain Power

2008-12-02T19:26:00.002Z

There have been many stories about reading people's thoughts, mostly in science fiction movies, and we always have thought of it as something way far-off the reality. It seems that it isn't though. A new technology called "Brain Power" is being developed in a number of laboratories in the US that directly connects the human brain to a computer. People are able to control the cursor without doing any movements, just thoughts. And if someone can access the cursor on a computer, they can control anything a computer is connected to.

Of course there are many benefits for the disabled as this video shows, but I cannot help myself from wondering how dangerous this can be in the wrong hands. And if there are devices like that out there, I'm afraid to think of what goverments really own.

"Obama is change"

2008-11-30T19:39:00.002Z

Oh dear

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

2008-11-28T22:20:00.004Z

"A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground"

[source]

Monty Python channel on YouTube

2008-11-22T10:15:00.003Z

Another fantastic move from the Monty Python's

[ www.youtube.com/MontyPython ]

Hello

2008-11-18T21:09:00.000Z

I must start this with my favourite Dilbert