Greek Problems.

It’s interesting to see a Rodney King incident in another country. I’m normally not interested in things like this but it seems to be one of those things that will be part of our World history so maybe it’s time I pay attention to the details here.

• The officer failed to express any remorse over the students death, claiming the bullet was a stray bounce that killed him.
• Then the police said it was in response to an attack.
• All witnesses, and apparently there are many, say it was a cold blooded killing.
• Six plus days of rioting, starting on Saturday evening around 9pm (12/06/08), so far.
• Over a hundred schools and fifteen campuses are shutdown and occupied by activists.
• Tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of students took to the streets or are perhaps still on the streets.
• Police were locked in while kids threw bottles and such at them during the following week unable to respond to such a mass movement.
• Two of the officers involved in the shooting have been arrested.
• The Conservative Right Wing Government only has a one person majority and this incident will probably put an end to it.
• Apparently this conservative party has been very hard on the students raising their costs much like Reagan did to the UC system.
• The Socialists are already demanding a vote.
• Many other countries have and are showing solidarity with the students.
• Apparently the anti terrorist campaign pushed on them by the Bush administration during the 2004 Olympics kicked off these problems.
• Since the Olympics illegal wire tapping, abductions, etc., have been the norm there.

Big Brother Proof?

Unfortunately TOR is slow. Very slow. And if there is no google to index it how is anybody suppose to find anything? It’s all very confusing. In this world of big brother I like the idea but have no idea how I would personally make use of it. Or why I’d need such privacy. Still I like privacy and so this seems like it has potential in some way.

Aaron Swartz, a Reddit founder, and Virgil Griffith, creator of WikiScanner, have created a new service called tor2web that gives users access to website hosted anonymously on the Tor network.

Though Tor — “the onion router” — is more famous as a privacy tool designed to prevent tracking of where a web user surfs on the internet, since 2004 the system has allowed users to host servers as well. Unlike conventional servers, these Tor “hidden services” cannot normally be traced to the person operating them.

Dubai Vs Disney

Why can’t I be a billionaire and live in Dubai? Sniff sniff.

Published: December 13, 2008, 00:20

Dubai: The malls of Dubai already provide residents and tourists the opportunity to go skiing, ice skating and rock climbing.

But shoppers will soon be able to experience a brand new adrenaline rush with the city’s first indoor skydiving centre due to open at Mirdif City Centre next year.

Dubai already has Ski Dubai and Magic Planet from the Majid Al Futtaim Group’s Leisure and Entertainment division. But their latest venture, an interactive simulation experience, is their most ambitious project yet.

The IFly facility will feature two identical flight chambers employing the latest technology allowing thrillseekers to float, spin and fly in three dimensions. The new centre will be one of the flight chambers in the world to give members of the public the chance to learn how to fly without wings.

There will be no harnesses or wires to hold in extreme sports enthusiasts; just an ultra-smooth column of 200 km/h air. The facility will be suitable for people of all ages and indoor skydiving requires no previous training or experience.

Do Werewolves Increase By 15%, 30% Or?

I’m not much of a stargazer so this is news to me. I suspect if I thought about it for a few moments I’d have figured it out. It’s one of those things that never made it out of my subconciousness though. I found the explanation on tides a bit perplexing.

It’s no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and this Friday’s is a whopper. Why? The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other.

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. On Friday, why not let the “Moon illusion” amplify a full Moon that’s extra-big to begin with? The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset may seem so nearby, you can almost reach out and touch it.

The Bush Legacy?

You’d think 2 trillion dollars down a black hole would get some attention. Will it at some point become a talking point? Will it at some point be what this administration is remembered by?

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act requesting details about the terms of 11 Fed lending programs, most created during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The Fed responded Dec. 8, saying it’s allowed to withhold internal memos as well as information about trade secrets and commercial information. The institution confirmed that a records search found 231 pages of documents pertaining to some of the requests.

Or how about the torture? You’d think such moral depravity would gravely disgust anybody viewing it resulting in a lasting memory the administration would never recover from!

Reporting from Washington — A bipartisan Senate report released Thursday concludes that decisions made by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were a “direct cause” of widespread detainee abuses, and that other Bush administration officials were to blame for creating a legal and moral climate that contributed to inhumane treatment.

The report, endorsed by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is the most forceful denunciation to date of the role that Rumsfeld and other top officials played in the prisoner abuse scandals of the last five years.

Of course FDR is not remembered for his misdeeds. Nor is Washington or Lincoln. Will Bush go down in history as one of the greatest presidents of all times? It’s starting to look like it. When “up” is “down” and “down” is “up” the person with the biggest ___ usually writes history. As long as he continues to boldly face down reality he’s on the path to being one of the greatest presidents of the United States.

As an aside Bush just bought a house in a private walled-in racist Texas community having bylaws stating colored people are not allowed except as servants. The community just changed that law, during his administration, but buying a house there after Obama wins certainly sends a signal.