Palentine's Day: a celebration of guy friendships (because good buddies deserve gifts too)

This is a real email:

Hello Mike,  

My name is Alexandra Kubal and I'm the community manager at Man Crates. We are a new company that ships awesome gifts for men in custom wooden crates that you open with a crowbar (forget tube socks and tie clips — we sell the manliest gifts around!). At Man Crates, it is our mission to end the difficulties that have long been associated with finding great gifts for men!  

I'm contacting you because we are looking for bloggers to help us introduce, and celebrate, a new holiday. This holiday is "Palentine's Day" — a celebration of guy friendships (because good buddies deserve gifts too). We've intentionally designated Palentine's Day to be 6 months after Valentine's Day, squarely the middle of baseball season, BBQ grilling season, golf season, fishing season, football pre-season, and all the things guys love!  

At Man Crates we don't think it's fair that Hallmark gets to launch commercial holidays like with Valentine's Day… why should they have all the fun? So we decided to do one better and create a gifting holiday just for men! We are looking for bloggers like yourself to spread the word by creating a post on your blog about how you plan to give back to your best pal, and celebrate your friendship. Whether it's buying him a beer, spending the day at the ballpark, or enjoying a good steak, we want to hear it!  

Let me know if you are interested and I will send along a few more details!  

Alexandra

This seems legit

Ferguson Township Community Bill of Rights is a Bill of Disaster

In September, I blogged briefly about a proposed "community bill of rights" on the ballot in Ferguson Township, Pennsylvania. I didn't spend much time on it because 1) from a constitutional perspective, it was a complete disaster; and 2) frankly, I didn't think it would pass.

The township considered an injunction to allow the measure's constitutionality to be tested in court before appearing on the ballot, but decided to allow the vote first.

Anyways, I should mention that it did pass: 4,272-3,896.

The cruel irony of this "bill of rights" is that many of the provisions are extremely hostile to individual rights, especially property rights. Additionally, other provisions assert power that the township has no authority to assert in the first place. All in all, a disaster of epic proportions.

I would be surprised if any significant portion of this "bill of rights" goes into effect. If it does, the slippery slope will have gotten a lot steeper.

Ferguson Township Community Bill of Rights

Ferguson Township is a mostly rural township in Centre County, Pennsylvania, just west of State College. This fall, the citizens of Ferguson Township gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the November ballot to amend the township's home rule charter to create a Community Bill of Rights.

Here's the text. There are so many problems with this thing I stopped counting.
Ferguson Township Petition for Community Bill of Rights

Oh joy, a Craigslist scammer

Within one hour of posting my Jeep for sale on Craigslist, I got the following email (my comments are in parentheses):

From: "mah90250@sbcglobal.net"
Is it still for sell?.
(Nice grammar)

Me: yes

From: "Rebecca Rebarich"  (note different email address than the original email)
Thank for your mail. Am satisfied with your advert price (who says "advert price"?), as am requesting this transaction should be done via PayPal so the Pay Pal charges is on me. If my offer is accepted, Get back to me with your PayPal email and your name or send me PayPal invoice so i can pay you right away as soon as i conclude with my shipper. I am always busy at work and do not have much time around me to make or answer calls. Make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item to be picked at your residence location. Confirm the sales to me by removing it from the CL post.

My reply: cash only.

Her reply: Try and see reason with me, i don't have access to a post office over here (where is "here"?), i can't send you a check (I didn't ask for a check). I wish i have access to western union money transfer it would have been a very good option (but it's only a very good option for scammers) but am still on the base right now (the base? a military base?) the only access i have is by effecting the payment via my online paypal account. However, paypal is the world leading payment master that protects both buyer/seller interest (nice ad for paypal). You are on a secured transaction with paypal. Above all, it's like instant cash (oh instant cash! I've always wanted that!). Please i need you to visit their web site at www.paypal.com and sign up for your free personal paypal account, they will activate your email address to your paypal account and link it with your bank account so you can transfer and receive money online via you paypal account. Please go and activate yours it will actually cost you no money to do this. Do try and see reasons with me. I will await you update. Thanks.

Me: Please stop wasting my time with your scam.

Not that it will matter, but I flagged the initial reply as a scam.

Quiz time: Can you answer this question?

See if you can answer this test question:

Q: When operating in a building which uses a standpipe system, it is necessary for a firefighter to maintain adequate pressure at the nozzle of the firefighting stream. The correct nozzle pressure is calculated by adding an additional 5 psi (pound per square inch) for each length of hose that is being used, to a constant starting base of 50 psi.

A firefighting team is operating in a building with a standpipe system and is in the process of using 4 lengths of hose. The correct nozzle pressure that needs to be applied in this situation is: A) 50 psi, B) 60 psi, C) 70 psi, D) 80 psi.

Answer below the break...

Lighting a pure hydrocarbon distilled from crude oil is not exactly environmentally friendly

These are Greenpeace activists at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. I wonder if they realize that those nice little candles are hydrocarbons distilled from crude oil, and that they're responsible for more carbon emissions than a 40W light bulb? Stop lighting candles for Earth Hour! You're making the problem worse.

Apple #FAIL in the App Store

Yesterday came news from Apple and app developers that WiFi scanning apps were being banned from the App Store. The reason? "[U]sing private frameworks to access wireless information," which seems to be code for anything that is using the iPhone's 802.11 radio. Any of these such apps have been removed, including WiFiTrak, WiFiFoFum, yFy Network Finder, WiFi-Where, WiFi Get and WiFi Get Plus. It is interesting to note that among them, WiFiFoFum has been available on the App Store since September 2008.

To me, this means either that 1) Apple's security process is incredibly flawed (having an allowed an app that used a "private framework" since 2008); or more likely 2) it's not about security at all, and more about DRM, control and changing the rules at their own whim (which, frankly, also says a lot about their security process).

I don't have my phone with me at the moment, but I am assuming that any such apps already installed should continue to work (I have read about the rumored Apple remote kill switch for apps, but that they have apparently never actually used it). As a result this will just add momentum to the reasons to jailbreak; the developer of yFy Network Finder has signalized his intent to make his app available on Cydia.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Apple probably won't be refunding money to the people who paid for these apps, either.

#FAIL

TSA closes the barn door after the horse has gone (again)

Not since December 2001 when Richard Reid tried to light an explosive in his shoe has the TSA so blatantly closed the barn door long after the horse has gone. Because of Reid we are now, even eight years later, more likely than not required to take off our shoes when going through security, even though there is no evidence to suggest that any idiot would follow this same course of action.

The new TSA policy is stated below:

TSA issued a directive for additional security measures to be implemented for last point of departure international flights to the United States. Passengers flying into the United States from abroad can expect to see additional security measures at international airports such as increased gate screening including pat-downs and bag searches. During flight, passengers will be asked to follow flight crew instructions, such as stowing personal items, turning off electronic equipment and remaining seated during certain portions of the flight.

Based on the observations of people that have flown in the last few days, this has generally been perceived to mean that (at least for international flights inbound to the United States) during the last hour or so of the flight, passengers will be confined to their seats, with no access to the lavatories or their carry-on bags. Further, passengers will probably be prohibited from having anything on their laps or person--no pillows, blankets, laptops, etc. Apparently this because this is exactly what the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly did. Because as you know, the next terrorist will do the exact same thing.

Surely, there is someone among the higher-ups in the TSA who is shaking his or her head at the absurdity of these new policies. Also, these measures will only serve to allow the public to further alienate themselves from flying in general; the nameless figureheads at TSA will be subject to criticism from afar (as I have done here), but the flight attendants will unfortunately bear the brunt of it up close and personal.

By the way, the explosive used by both Richard Reid and Umar Abdulmutallab was PETN, which would not be detected by a magnetometer. Not in 2001, not in 2009. So keep taking off those shoes for the nice folks in the security line.

Some Guantanamo prisoners could be released in U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners could be released into the United States while others could be put on trial in the American court system, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday.

Is this the "hope" and "change" people voted for?!

You want to go where?!

I was at the gas station yesterday (ugh) filling up the Metro before I headed home from work. A woman pulled alongside me and asked, "How do I get to Tyson's Corner?" You'll forgive me if I chuckled a bit, but I'm in central Maryland, not on a major highway, and someone is asking for directions to Virginia. Google Maps shows it as 35 miles driving distance, and 40 minutes (I guessed 40-45 minutes), but at rush hour it might take twice that.

Now I obviously live in Maryland, not Virginia, but am vaguely familiar with the Tyson's Corner area (BAH HQ is there), and could easily get there without a map. I gave the woman directions (Google Maps agreed) twice before she decided to take out a pen and actually write down what I was saying.

Who decides to go somewhere where they obviously haven't been before without figuring out how you plan to get there?

"Oh say can you..." what?!

Is this what we can expect when the Democrats meet in Denver for the Democratic National Convention?

Obama's uncle liberated Auschwitz?!

WTF?

A judge in New York City finds two black police officers and one Hispanic police officer innocent in the shooting of a black man. The crowd outside chants, "PBA (Police Benevolent Association), PBA, KKK, KKK!" Yeah, that's it. The PBA is the KKK, protecting two black police officers and one Hispanic police officer. Tell me how this makes any sense at all.

WakeupJohnEdwards.com

Senator John Edwards (D-NC), former Vice Presidential candidate of Senator John Kerry (D-MA), is a frequent and vocal critic of Wal-Mart and supporter of the nutcases at WakeUpWalMart.com. That didn't stop him from trying to use his influence to get a Sony PS3:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that a staff member for former Sen. John Edwards — a vocal critic of the retailer — asked his local Wal-Mart store for help in getting the potential 2008 presidential candidate a Sony PlayStation 3.
...
Wal-Mart had noted in a news release Thursday that on the same day Edwards was criticizing the company in a conference call with union-backed activists, the volunteer staff member had asked a Raleigh, N.C., electronics department manager to obtain a PS3 for the ex-senator's family.

From Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., company spokesman David Tovar said the person who called left a voicemail at the Raleigh store and identified himself as an Edwards staff member. When the manager returned the call, the staff member again identified himself as working for Edwards, and Wal-Mart said it confirmed that with Edwards' office.

The retailer's news release accused Edwards of not wanting to wait his turn.

Edwards claimed it was all a misunderstanding:

"My wife, Elizabeth, wanted to get a Playstation3 for my young children. She mentioned it in front of one of my staff people," Edwards said. "That staff person mentioned it in front of a volunteer who said he would make an effort to get one. He was making an effort to go get one for himself.

"Elizabeth and I knew nothing about this. He feels terrible about this. He made a mistake, and he knows he should not have used my name," Edwards said.

Edwards said the volunteer was "a young kid" unaware of what he called flawed Wal-Mart policies. He called the Wal-Mart statement an effort to divert attention from its own problems.

Special favors for the Senator, eh? I don't buy his excuse. Just another example of how a millionaire trial lawyer is out of touch with the American people.

Today's quote is fresh from the WTF file

Ahh yes, celebrities and their political opinions...

"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.

But there are so many people I know who are gay and love their religion. From my point of view I would ban religion completely.

Organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."
-- "Sir" Elton John

Fresh from the WTF file

From Yahoo! News:

Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government.
...
The move was lead by three recently elected student trustees, who ran for office wearing revolutionary-style berets and said they do not believe in publicly swearing an oath to the American flag and government at their school. One student trustee voted against the measure, which does not apply to other student groups or campus meetings.

Now you see what your kids are doing when you send them off to college.

Fresh from the WTF file: Kanye West

I usually stay away from the "rap" and "hip hop" scene as it is not my type of music, but some people have a tendency to attract unnecessary attention. You all remember Kanye West's tirade from the Katrina special:

West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

Myers: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors' will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.

West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!

Well, Kanye West is at it again. At least this time, it's about his music. Sort of:

Rap star Kanye West was named Best Hip Hop artist but still came off as a sore loser at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

Kanye apparently was so disappointed at not winning for Best Video that he crashed the stage Thursday in Copenhagen when the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends."

In a tirade riddled with expletives, Kanye said he should have won the prize for his video "Touch The Sky," because it "cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons."

"If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility," Kanye said.

Wow.

Fresh from the WTF file: Open mouth, insert foot

Senator John Kerry belittles U.S. troops:

Fresh from the WTF file: Nuremberg for global warming deniers?

If you aren't convinced the global warming crowd isn't serious about their religion, consider the following:

A U.S. based environmental magazine that both former Vice President Al Gore and PBS newsman Bill Moyers, for his October 11th global warming edition of “Moyers on America” titled “Is God Green?” have deemed respectable enough to grant one-on-one interviews to promote their projects, is now advocating Nuremberg-style war crimes trials for skeptics of human caused catastrophic global warming.

Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”

Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.”

Gore and Moyers have not yet commented on Grist's advocacy of prosecuting skeptics of global warming with a Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Gore has used the phrase "global warming deniers" to describe scientists and others who don't share his view of the Earth's climate. It remains to be seen what Gore and Moyers will have to say about proposals to make skepticism a crime comparable to Holocaust atrocities.

The use of Holocaust terminology has drawn the ire of Roger Pielke, Jr. of the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. “The phrase ‘climate change denier’ is meant to be evocative of the phrase ‘holocaust denier,’” Pielke, Jr. wrote on October 9, 2006 "Let's be blunt. This allusion is an affront to those who suffered and died in the Holocaust. This allusion has no place in the discourse on climate change. I say this as someone fully convinced of a significant human role in the behavior of the climate system,” Pielke, Jr. explained.

The article Global Warming: The Chilling Effect On Free Speech last week in Spiked Online addresses this new found penchant by environmentalists and some media members to charge skeptics of human caused catastrophic global warming with “crimes against humanity” and urge Nuremberg-style prosecution of them.

You can't make this stuff up!