The Citgo sign is under attack

Boston pol takes aim at Citgo sign after ‘devil’ comment – Boston.com

Sadly, I first heard about this story when I logged onto my Facebook account and saw that one of my friends had joined a group called Keep the Citgo Sign. Having grown up in Eastern Massachusetts, I immediately knew what it referred to. My curiosity was piqued. What could possibly be going on that would cause such a group to be formed? I clicked the group link, and what I read disgusted me.

We’re living in a world of politics. Everything is driven by it. People have to get up on their soap boxes and rant and rave about whatever comes to mind. People need to make issues out of nothing. Politics is where creativity, happiness, peace, goodwill, honor, and productivity go to die. You want something to get taken care of in a timely manner? Better hope that politicians don’t get involved.

I think just about everyone in this country has heard something about this Chavez guy in Venezuela and his comments about Bush. He seems to be interested in showing up the U.S. government (hence his commitment to giving the northeast heating oil for cheap during the winter season). Lately, he seems to enjoy verbally attacking President Bush. Again, politics. He’s been playing the name calling game with Bush (I think it’s basically been one-sided, I think Bush has been publicly ignoring it), and I didn’t really think anyone cared. Until I saw the Facebook group.

I don’t know how many of you remember way back in the day when the U.S. government got pissy with France’s decision to go against us over the Iraq war. You probably do, it wasn’t that long ago. Remember the whole “Freedom Fries” and “Freedom Toast” thing? Yeah, a pathetic attempt by some politicians to accomplish God-knows-what…might have been some patriotic nonsense, I don’t think anyone really knows.

So, here we have this same situation. Some dumb ass politician…well, some dumb ass city councilor named Jerry McDermott (whoever the hell that is) has taken “serious” offense Chavez’s words, and assumes the rest of Boston and New England feels the same way. Since Citgo is a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company, the giant Citgo sign in Kenmore Square in Boston is the target.

Sadly, this man is a moron. He seems to think that Bostonians see the sign as advertising for Citgo gasoline…which it is. But, not too many people see it that way. Whenever I see it, I think of home, I think of Boston, I think of Fenway Park, and I think of the Red Sox (not necessarily in that order). So, I suggest that anyone and everyone who thinks this guy and the people who agree with him are schmucks, I suggest you sign this petition and speak your mind. If these people were really this patriotic, they should go down to the local recruiting office, pick up a rifle and some fatigues, and head over to Iraq.

Protecting our internet rights

Gonzales calls for law to require Internet companies to preserve customer data

It seems that the federal government thinks that the only way to protect us these days is to encroach on civil liberties. Every time I open my browser and read through the headlines, there is some talk about enacting some law to “protect” American people in some way or another. Usually, it’s to keep us from being blown up by some guy who has a bomb strapped to his chest. Of course, the methods that would be used always seem to cause some sort of controversy.

Post-9/11, the government seems to feel that casting a wide net in order to catch a few small fish is the best way to go. Treating every person in this country like a criminal should be accepted and embraced. And many people do embrace that thought. We see it with the wiretapping issue. In order to catch the bad guys, the feds need to listen to all of our phone calls.

Same thing with the above story. ISPs need to keep all of our surfing data for a minimum of 2 years so the feds can go back and rummage through data in child pornography cases. There aren’t too many non-pedophiles out there who wouldn’t agree that child pornography is bad, and I certainly can’t. But, just like the wiretapping issue, having internet companies hold our data and turn it over on command is just asking for trouble. You give someone an inch, they’ll take a foot, or more.

I’m just not comfortable with the government being able to get any kind of information on me when they want. Some of you might say “But, if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear!” That’s true, I and anyone else who have been keeping our “noses clean”, sorta speak, shouldn’t have anything to worry about. But, that’s not the point. It basically boils down to the principal of the thing. This country was based on the government serving the will of the people. Sometimes our wants and desires aren’t necessarily the best for the country, but it’s what we want.

Unfortunately, politicians these days have learned how to manipulate the people into wanting things they shouldn’t. Like I was saying about post-9/11: politicians, especially those in and around the White House, have been doing their best to scare the American people. By scaring the American people, politicians are getting the American people to accept legislation that would never even be thought of before the events of 9/11. They’ve used our fear to start wars, they’ve used our fear to accept compromises over our liberties, and they’ve used fear to get away with some immoral acts (like detaining “suspected” terrorists indefinitely).

And that’s what this internet child pornography thing is about. Fear. People are afraid of kids being mistreated, abused, etc. and nod their heads vigorously when the Attorney General makes child pornography sound like a rampant epidemic that will consume us all. Would anyone even be supporting anything like this if we were just being told “We want these records kept…just in case they’re useful in the future”? No, politicians like that would be run out of town.

Fear is humanity’s greatest enemy. And unfortunately, too many people know how to manipulate this.

Hold off on iTunes 7

Well, I’ve been using iTunes for a few years now, and I’ve loved it. Until now. I’ve never had any problems with iTunes before. In fact, I switched from Winamp over to iTunes because of playback issues with Winamp. Interesting how things can come full circle.

I, like most of the iTunes using world, am having problems with the playback. It’s the most horrendous thing to have happen to your music while you’re listening to it. Distortion. Songs sounding all scratchy. It makes me want to cry. This new version of iTunes has been out for about a week now, and so far, just about everyone else is having this problem. It’s actually quite shocking that there is a problem like this with an Apple program. This has always been the appeal of Apple products, they seem to just work better than Windows based technology.

Yet, despite the obvious flaw so many people seem to be having with this latest version of iTunes for Windows, Apple has yet to even make a statement about the bug. This is shocking, too, since Apple has always seemed to be a company that prides itself in it’s products.

I’m not sure if Mac users of iTunes are having the same problem us Windows people are having. Maybe this was intentional. Maybe Apple wants to be able to come out and say “Well, it’s nothing wrong with out technology and programming, it’s Windows that’s screwing this up.” I don’t believe that, but stranger things have happened.

So, if you are a Windows and a iTunes user, I suggest you stick with version 6.05 and hold off on updating to version 7. If you’ve already made the fatal mistake of updating (apparently, a few people have had HDDs screwed up over this and song libraries lost), either download the previous version, or do what I did: go back to Winamp. Full circle…

*EDIT* I went with Winamp. My explanation HERE.

Bundled software

In this-day-and-age, you can get a lot of software for your computers, handhelds, cell phones, etc. for free. Some of this free software is pretty damned good, sometimes even better, than something similar that you have buy to use. Of course, I’m sure the majority of the free stuff out there is crap, either because it just doesn’t work as well, the lack of support for it, it’s riddled with spy/adware and/or viruses, or some other thing is wrong with it. The good news is, there are plenty of people and websites on the internet who are more than happy to promote the free stuff that’s so good, you’d gladly pay for it. Sometimes, you get what you don’t pay for.

Of course, a lot of the “good” free software is distributed by companies who sell versions that happen to have more bells and whistles. Basically, the free stuff is stripped down to the bare necessities. Most of us can probably get by on the small number of features on free software. I for one feel that some programs are just overkill, having features the average person has no real use for.

When it comes to security software, there are a lot of programs out there to protect you from a lot of different threats. Some companies, like Norton, package many of these different features into one complete, well, package. All you have to do is install one program, and you’re golden. Well, the problem with that is, it seems to me that when you have one company with many different seurity products, it feels like their software just protects you in general, not specifically. Don’t follow me? I’m going to try and explain.

Take Norton. It’s a great security company. Depending on how much money you spend depends on how many little things you can protect yourself against. They don’t necessarily bundle everything they offer together into one tiny CD, but they come close to doing that. The problem I have with something like that is, the program is too general. Instead of focusing on one or two aspects of computer security maintenance, they have a blanket picture when it comes to, say, Systemworks, and it seems like there are pieces missing, the software just doesn’t feel like it’s complete.

The great thing about all these companies these days is the concept of “free-trials”. Kind of helps you pick out which program suits you the best, since every security program has their pros and cons. This is another problem I have with bundles, since you might really like the, say, spyware part of Bob’s Internet Security but hate the rest of it. Would you spend money for the whole thing, knowing you’re only going to use a 1/3rd of the entire program or less? Me, I’ve got the free version of AVG for virus protection, the free version of Zone Alarm for firewall protection, and several free versions of spyware protection (I’m a free loader, what can I say?). All from different companies because they all have what I like, need, and they work.

Unfortunately, staying loyal to one company for all your software needs can be a bad move, too. This little scenario happened to my parents over the summer: For their computer, they’ve been buying Norton products. Not a bad idea, since Norton is a solid product and it gets the job done. They had a version of Systemworks, and a version of one of their internet security programs. Well, my parents decided to upgrade one of them to the most recent version, and all hell broke loose…sort of. Basically, the newer version didn’t want to play nice with Systemworks, causing all sorts of lovely little errors that can only be solved by either shelling out more money to upgrade Systemworks or to uninstall Systemworks. Somewhat of a lose-lose situation.

All-in-all, you do what’s easiest for you and what makes you the most comfortable. I, for one, like the mixing and matching. Makes me feel like I have a say in life.

I can laugh at things like this now

If you know me and some of my past history with women, you may find the humor in this, too.

I was looking at the National Hurricane Center Tropical Prediction Center to check out this new Atlantic storm that may turn into a hurricane soon. I scrolled down a little farther and I saw the title for the next storm: Tropical Depression Kristy (which is in the Pacific, by the way). Cloooooooose enough.

The similarities are uncanny!