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.: LarsonsWorld :.
just another persons waste of time
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others,
are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams

14 May 2008
.: a new circumventor :.
Peacefire newest Circumventor site:
Remember, always try https://www.stupidcensorship.com first.
The big list.
Use them wisely!
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Posted by: dimbulb - 7:03 AM MDT
Tags: Circumventor
| | Permalink
.: context in out of context :.
Non Sequitur by Wiley - 12 May 2008
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Posted by: dimbulb - 7:01 AM MDT
Tags: Comics
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13 May 2008
.: flippin' the car :.
Jim Borgman - 12 May 2008
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Posted by: dimbulb - 8:33 PM MDT
Tags: Editorial Cartoons
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.: all of a sudden, it's dusk on planet earth :.
Earth at 350
By
Bill McKibben
The Nation
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be
a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary,
a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start--even
for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It's not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It's that
gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff
that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn corn
into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and
starts food riots on three continents. It's that everything is so
inextricably tied together. It's that, all of a sudden, those grim Club
of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the
"limits to growth" suddenly seem... how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.
There's a number--a new number--that makes this point most powerfully.
It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per
million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago, our foremost climatologist, NASA's Jim Hansen,
submitted a paper to Science magazine with several co-authors. The
abstract attached to it argued--and I have never read stronger language
in a scientific paper--"if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar
to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is
adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that
CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350
ppm." Hansen cites six irreversible tipping points--massive sea level
rise and huge changes in rainfall patterns, among them--that we'll pass
if we don't get back down to 350 soon; and the first of them, judging by
last summer's insane melt of Arctic ice, may already be behind us.
more ...
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Posted by: dimbulb - 5:47 PM MDT | Updated: 13 May 2008 5:49 PM MDT
Tags: Environment
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12 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
Deep packet inspection under assault over privacy concerns - Ars Technica
Add the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) to
the list of groups concerned about the privacy implications of
widespread deep packet inspection (DPI) by ISPs. CIPPIC has filed an
official complaint with Canada's Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer
Stoddart, asking her office to investigate Bell Canada's use of DPI (and
we're flattered to be quoted as an expert source in the complaint). In
addition, the group would welcome a wider investigation into possible
DPI use at cable operators Rogers and Shaw, as well.
more ...
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Posted by: dimbulb - 4:10 PM MDT
Tags: Civil Liberties Computing News
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11 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
Broadband: other countries do it better, but how? - Ars Technica
One of the ironies of the current broadband situation in the US is that
staunch free marketeers defend the status quo even though the result of
their views has been duopoly and high prices. Meanwhile, other countries
(including those with a reputation in some quarters for "socialism")
have taken aggressive steps to create a robust, competitive,
consumer-friendly marketplace with the help of regulation and national
investment.
more ...
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Posted by: dimbulb - 7:18 PM MDT
Tags: Computing News
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09 May 2008
.: a couple new circumventors :.
Peacefire newest Circumventor site:
http://www.roachtummy.com/
http://www.ironmilk.com/
Remember, always try https://www.stupidcensorship.com first.
The big list.
Use them wisely!
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:51 AM MDT
Tags: Circumventor
| | Permalink

08 May 2008
.: the farmer and the car dealer :.
There was a farmer, Perley Moore, who had recently bought a truck and found that the "basic price" was only the beginning. Once the salesman had added on all the extras - towing package, toolbox, fifth-wheeler attachment, etc. - the price was quite a bit higher. Well, by a strange turn of fate, that same salesman stopped by Perley's farm one day to buy a cow. The dealer examined the herd, picked out a likely specimen, and asked about the price.
"That's a hundred-dollar cow," Moore replied directly.
"That's fair enough," said the salesman. "I'll take her."
"Well, now, that's the basic price," Moore added, getting out pencil and paper. "There are one or two extras, of course." He made a few notes and handed the paper to the dealer. Here is the final invoice:
Basic cow $100
Two-tone exterior $45
Storage compartment and dispensing device $60
Four spigots @ $10 each $40
Genuine cowhide upholstery $75
Dual horns @ $7.50 each $15
Automatic fly-swatter $35
Total $370
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Posted by: dimbulb - 7:03 AM MDT
Tags: Humor
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07 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
The computer security paradox - Raiden's Realm
One of the most prized rights of any American is the right to privacy
and security. It's something people in some countries would kill for.
Yet now there appears to be a very frightening trend growing. Your
privacy and security are being thrown out the window wholesale in favor
of easier access by law enforcement. A recent example of this can be
seen with the announcement that Microsoft has been providing a tool to
investigators that can effectively rip your Windows security to shreds
in seconds, exposing all your private data to whoever wants to look at
it.
more ...
IBM, Microsoft Trounce Apple on Climate Friendliness Scorecard - Wired
Scorecard IBM earned top honors among electronics manufacturers on a
recently-updated climate friendliness scorecard (.pdf), earning 77 out
of a possible 100 points to beat runners-up Canon, Toshiba, Sony and HP
in a ranking of the companies' responsiveness to climate change. IBM,
which makes big, hulking servers and mainframe computers, even beat out
Microsoft (38 points) and Google (55), whose products are composed
entirely of electrons. Apple, which has taken heat from Greenpeace for
the allegedly toxic chemicals in its iPhone, scored a pathetic 11 out of
100.
more ...
Viacom, Google set for fight to bitter end over Safe Harbor - Ars Technica
It has been just over a year since Viacom launched its $1 billion
lawsuit against Google for "brazen disregard of intellectual property
laws" on YouTube. Although we haven't heard much news about the case as
of late, some fightin' words have come out of both sides recently to
indicate that the case is still going strong. There's no sign of an
impending settlement, either, as Viacom is still beating the piracy drum
and Google continues to stand its ground. Because of this, the eventual
outcome of the Viacom suit may set a legal precedent that could send
ripples throughout the entire Internet.
more ...
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Posted by: dimbulb - 4:49 PM MDT | Updated: 07 May 2008 5:04 PM MDT
Tags: Civil Liberties Computing Environment News
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03 May 2008
.: do not go after the past, nor lose yourself in the future :.
Do not go after the past,
Nor lose yourself in the future.
For the
past no longer exists,
And the future is not yet here.
By looking
deeply at things just as they are,
In this moment, here and now,
The
seeker lives calmly and freely.
You should be attentive today,
For
waiting until tomorrow is too late.
Death can come and take us by
surprise--
How can we gainsay it?
The one who knows
How to live
attentively
Night and day
Is the one who knows
The best way to
be independent.
Bhaddekaratta Sutra
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Posted by: dimbulb - 11:08 PM MDT
Tags: Buddhist Wisdom
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01 May 2008
.: like the moon reflecting in water ... :.
A person getting enlightened is like the moon reflecting in the water.
The moon does not get wet, the water is not disturbed. Though it is a
great expanse of light, it reflects in a little bit of water; the whole
moon and the whole sky reflect even in the dew on the grass; they
reflect even in a single drop of water. Enlightenment not disturbing the
person is like the moon not piercing the water. A person not obstructing
enlightenment is like the dewdrop not obstructing the heavens.
Dogen, "Flowers Fall"
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:17 PM MDT
Tags: Buddhist Wisdom
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.: the future of energy :.
Our New Energy Crisis - Mother Jones
Almost four years ago, when oil was trading at around $40 a barrel, Paul
Roberts wrote a story for Mother Jones on a bleak scenario gaining
currency among energy insiders, but not yet in the mainstream
consciousness: peak oil, basically the notion that the world's petroleum
resources are nearing exhaustion. If the theory held true, Roberts
warned, oil prices could soon leap to "perhaps as high as $100 per
barrel - a disaster if we don't have a cost-effective alternative fuel
or technology in place."
Welcome to the disaster: $100-a-barrel oil is in the rearview mirror,
and no cost-effective (or even cost-prohibitive) alternative has
emerged. The most dire consequences of this failing - hurricanes,
drought, extinction - are occurring far more rapidly than even Slideshow
Al could have predicted four years ago. And then there's the war.
It's easy enough to blame Dick Cheney, Big Oil, Detroit - all of whom
have done their part in obstructing progress. But their chicanery
distracts us from the far greater problem, one that, unfortunately,
comes down to Organic Chemistry 101. Every technological advance of the
last 150 years has been powered by a unique, extremely energy-dense, but
finite - and, as it turns out, planet-killing - source of fuel.
Switching away from fossil energy requires an economic and social
transformation at least as great as the Industrial Revolution. And we
have to build this new economy on the fumes of the old, hoping that we
don't run out of gas, or ice caps, before we get there. As Roberts
points out in this special issue on energy, if we sit on our hands or
let the process be hijacked by vested interests, "there may not be
enough crude left in the ground to fuel a second try."
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:39 AM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
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.: the choices the media makes :.
Ann Telnaes - 01 May 2008
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Posted by: dimbulb - 6:20 AM MDT
Tags: Editorial Cartoons - Ann Telnaes
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.: use them wisely :.
Peacefire newest Circumventor site:
Remember, always try https://www.stupidcensorship.com first.
The big list.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:16 AM MDT
Tags: Circumventor
| | Permalink

28 April 2008
.: let go into the clear light :.
Remember the clear light, the pure clear white light from which
everything in the universe comes, to which everything in the universe
returns; the original nature of your own mind. The natural state of the
universe unmanifest.
Let go into the clear light, trust it, merge with it. It is your own
true nature, it is home.
Tibetan Book of the Dead
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Posted by: dimbulb - 4:29 PM MDT
Tags: Buddhist Wisdom
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;) Troy High School 1982 Culinary Institute of America October 1984 ;)