The profess to teach everyone about the dangers of Smart Meters.

Here is some choice excertps:

“The meters are watching you.”

No, they are only monitoring the electricity consumption.

“They see how many watts your electric toothbrush uses”

No, they have no way of knowing what is consuming the power.

“They send information about [when you use your toothbrush] over wireless networks”

No, they send a continuous feed of the current amount of electricity consumed. They do not record when appliances are turned on or off.

“They send the information to the power company, where they keep record of all your power consumption, volumes and patterns, and store it forever on computers that you have no access to”

Utility companies already store this information, and have done for many years. It is how they bill you. Data cannot be stored forever, it will be archived, just like your credit card information and your driving record.

“The data shows when you were at home, when you were sleeping, when you’re on vacation, when you have visitors, when you turned on a lamp, a power tool, some extra computers, and if you look like you are running a business out of your home.”

Usage patterns can be used to infer alot of things. The meters will not record exactly when you go to bed or turn on a lamp, but the usage over time creates a pattern that can be recognised. Power companies already have illegal usage detection to prevent grow ops in your neighborhood.

“It even senses when you ‘bootleg’ energy off the grid”.

For shame! They should turn a blind eye to that!

“This is not electrical metering. This is personal surveillence. It is a search without a warrent every day.”

“The smart meters are radio transmitters which can easily be intercepted by a hacker to gain intimate personal knowledge of your life”.

No. The information is encrypted. Just like every time you use your debit card at the store, your banking information “shoots through the air to some institution somewhere.”

“Your power company can give or sell your personal information to whoever it wants.”

Then pick a better power company with a privacy policy you agree to.

“Any abnormal use is considered just cause … for a raid … to bust you for illegal activities in the privacy of your own home that they otherwise wouldn’t have known about.”

Getting away with a crime does not make it legal. It makes it hidden. If the power company used meter data to bust a grow-op in my neighbourhood that attracted dangerous criminals, I’m ok with that.

“Smart meters are no different than wire tapping devices.”

They are very different. Wire tapping devices intercept your communications and allow the attacker to know exactly what was said. Smart meters only watch electricity consumption.

The new immigration law, implemented last month, allows police officers to check the residency status of anyone who is being investigated for a crime or possible legal infraction if there is reasonable suspicion the person is an illegal resident. Critics, including Holder, have said the law will promote racial profiling.

So police officers now can, on suspicion of a crime, and on suspicion that you are not a citizen, request your proof of citizenship.  They should just be made to get a green-card tattoo on the wrist to make them easier to spot, and easier to keep an eye on.

And what, pray tell, is “reasonable suspicion”?  And how does this not lead to racial profiling?

I suppose this is OK if you can prove to me that there are no racist police officers.

But here’s a question: When does repeatedly having to show your green-card to paranoid racist cops become harassment?  What recourse would you have then?

“It’s like twitter. Except we charge people to use it.”.

Imagine a religious movement that makes geographic maps of where demons reside and claims among its adherents the Republican Party’s most recent vice presidential nominee and whose leaders have presided over prayer sessions (one aimed at putting the kibosh on health-care reform) with a host of leading GOP figures.

… a religious network of elites drawn from the ranks of business and government throughout the world. But the movement we’re imagining encompasses the humble and the elite alike, supporting a network of “prayer warriors” in all 50 states, within the ranks of the U.S. military, and at the far reaches of the globe — all guided by an entire genre of books, texts, videos and other media.

[Their videos] “demonstrate the taking control of communities and nations through large networks of ‘prayer warriors’ whose spiritual warfare is used to expel and destroy the demons that cause societal ills. Once the territorial demons, witches, and generational curses are removed, the ‘born-again’ Christians in the videos take control of society.”

This link is blocked: http://www.rotronic.co.uk/content/humidity_feuchte/index.php  The resulting page said it was in the “pornography” category.

Out of frustration, I typed in “Dirty Sex Sluts” into Google and selected the first link.  Can you guess what happened? I wasn’t blocked!  Boom! Full-on porn right there, on my screen, in the middle of the cube-farm!

And yet, I’m told that I can’t have the RDP port opened between internal offices on an intranet because of security concerns.  Right.

The security guard wouldn’t let me in.  He said because I don’t have an access card yet, he cant let me in until 8am.  Forgetting the obvious question (“Gee Jake, you’ve been there a few months now, why don’t you have an access card?”), the real question is why can’t you let me in until 8am?  And what am I supposed to do until then?

I was pretty pissed.  But I was also (and still am) quite tired due to all the overtime and so on.   So let me ask you, does it make any sense to you?  If he can let me in at 8am without a card, why cant he let me in at 7am without a card? I guess I’ll have to wait an hour before I do all my stealing.

Anyway, all I did was walk down the car ramp into the carpark, and tailgate someone in through the security barriers down there. Yeah, heaps secure.

The development of the Centre is a key strategy in the delivery of the Operations vision, which will deliver significant efficiencies over [the investment period]. The Operations Business Plan delivery through [the current investment period] is predicated on a major shift in the culture, approach and business model that has begun to be put in place through 2009/10.

I think I vomited in my mouth a little bit.
If this guy was ever in a meeting, I think I would set new buzzword bingo records. Which is to say that I would exceed my value-based and quality driven pivot-word recognition count, thereby leverage key synergies in my key portfolio areas.

The bureaucracy deepens, and we were hit with further paperwork requirements while we were in Calgary. Unfortunately, these are going to take a ridiculously long time to fulfill.

The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have only one office that can authenticate a document. This is the act of stamping a document with an official seal that says that the notarisation of the document is legit. If you take the document to them in person, they can do it while you wait, otherwise you mail it to them and it will take 5 weeks, plus postage time.

Oh, but it doesn’t cost anything. Except if you are in a hurry, then it will cost you a flight and a hotel room.

/* Commented out because… WTF!? – L.D.

if((gcAtlSlots+gcIntlSlots)!= MAX_ATL_NODE)
//Atl+Intl slots = MaxSlots. If user defines wrongly then the error validation is here
{

#undef gcIntlSlots
#define gcIntlSlots (MAX_ATL_NODE -gcAtlSlots)

}

*/

This reminds me of when a lecturer at university suggested that comments in code not be too long, as it increases the size of the compiled binary….

No alcohol, therefore no DUI laws, but plenty of drinking going on, and plenty of drunk driving accordingly.

A lot of people who like it there seem to running from something, hence the wild west kind of atmosphere.

The wealth is obvious: high end cars, well dressed people, expensive adornments, but it is all set against the backdrop of a country whose civil infrastructure is barely hanging on.
We drove by roadworks that started years ago, and haven't progressed further than a hole in the ground. Sidewalks out the front of buildings that just end in mid-air because no-one thought to make sure that the next building's ground level was the same.

The war was a long time ago now, there was no evidence of it. It was long enough ago that things should be back to normal by now.

The apartment we stayed at was not connected to city water. A water tanker came every night to fill the building's tank on the roof, which incidentally gets so hot in the summer, that you use the cold water as hot, turn off your hot water system and use it as cold, because it is inside the air conditioning.

The parking lot was filled with luxury vehicles, but the road leading up to the parking lot was dirt, and filled with rubbish.

The flight in over the tank farm lasted minutes, and the dessert just behind it looked like someone had dropped pickup-sticks everywhere: the pipelines were all randomly crisscrossing the dessert.

Mobile phone towers were all of the temporary, trailer kind. All fenced in, and burning diesel to keep the and equipment running inside an air-conditioned mobile hut.

A confusing mix of swaggering and excessive wealth, utterly wasteful use of resources, and all still trying to catch up to the rapid growth of the country.

If you are a lawyer, listen up: Why can you not get along? It seems that a lawyer's idea of negotiation is to simply strike out what the other lawyer said, and reinstate what the other lawyer struck. It's like Word Document Ping Pong.

After lamenting about this to a friend, a friend at work pulled out this gem from a Microsoft EULA:

• Disclaimer of Warranty. The software is licensed “as-is.” You bear the risk of using it. Microsoft gives no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws which this agreement cannot change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, Microsoft excludes the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
• Limitation on and Exclusion of Remedies and Damages. You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to U.S. $5.00. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect or incidental damages.
  This limitation applies to …

$5. Awesome. And you'd have to prove direct loss.

After having gone upstairs and spoken to the occupant the music has been turned down, but there is no change the demeanor of the guests. In fact, the noise grew louder on the balcony until there seemed to be actual screaming.
Update: 1:10 am and the noise continues. Music on again.
Update: 1:18 am, two girls left nosily, party upstairs continues
Update: 1:30 am, piano starts.
Update: 1:45 am, noisy people getting into cars downstairs. Potty-mouth loud girl insists on getting into boot of car. Intrigued, I actually went out and watched this happen. This has reduced the number of people considerably, and has brought the noise level down to a point where I might be able to get some sleep now.

Damn, I'm getting old. Not only am I complaining about the crazy kids upstairs, but I'm blogging about it.

To put [ the issue of un-decided voters into ] perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.'

Through some great research, it appears that Harry has also discovered the Motto of the US Treasury.

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

The rest is here.