OPM Announces More Than 21 Million Affected by Second Data Breach

As long as the Government uses Microsoft Windows We will get hacked. Time to switch to the NSA hardened version of Linux.

Only use when you are on the Moon.
Michael & Son's has a TV advertizement where a man with no space suit on then drills a hole for planting the USA flag. IMHO, there are way too many people on this planet that think that man has not yet been to the moon We do not need to support people that enforce that false impression. so I will not use Michael & Son's services unless it is on the Moon.

We will Boycott, the folly and misuse of Net neutrality

The Internet is for the people, not to be abused by the corporations.
Web servers pay to put data on the net. It is folly to make them pay
more for people to get access.
We will figure out who the bad people are and you will lose
your customers.

What is all the buzz about Glass and privacy
I mean people have been going around taking pictures
with there phone for years, Go get the people with
phones for taking away my privacy. I mean can I take
there phone and stomp on it. No! I do not think so.
so stay off the Google Glass. its the same thing.

Take my picture with out my permission
you should be breaking the law.

Everyone where you work Everyone you know should watch [this on Hulu]So ask your self are you watching this on a computer or and typewriter/tv?

It is Wikipedia blackout day.

We are protesting the SOPA and the PIPA acts.

For people from Maryland keep this name, Benjamin Cardin [D-MD], in mind. He is one of the 40 Cosponsors that are supporting this bill and thus a congress man that has no understanding of how to treat our Internet rights. There is simply more to running a government then blindly doing what the lobbyists tell you to do.

The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable.

"Net neutrality is 'the First Amendment issue of our time" -- Al Franken

Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are "hoping to destroy" the Internet. He has issued a call to arms to preserve net neutrality.

Way to go Al! Thats about what I was saying two weeks ago. Al Franken continued: "I came here to warn you, the party may be over," Franken said. "They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”

This is not a Liberal Issue, its a peoples issue. Big Business wants to take over the Internet And put any competition out of business. This will be done by trying to double bill the competition and make they own content more desirable by slowing others data feeds down to a trickle.

Good luck Al keeping the Internet free, but at least we can permit a level playing field, so that we can get the best value for our dwindling dollar. Oh, ya ... I know Al, when you say free you mean free speech, not free beer. You are correct Sir. But we need to also keep the Beer affordable. We need Public Radio access to many ISP's. We need local phone traffic without and ISP intervention. For that we need Roof Top Routers.

Remember Net neutrality is our only hope for an Open Free Internet. With no Net neutrality the Internet will just be more cable TV.

Do you Live in a Free Country?

“That as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.” — Benjamin Franklin

You may, but the software you run more then likely does not. If you want to know more about just how to escape the tyranny. Just read this interview: Cell phones are 'Stalin's dream,' says free software movement founder.

I just saw this whlie I was posting the above. GNU Free Call Announced. Free Call is a open VoIP software that may turn out to be the future. Programs like Skype right now seem free, but there owners could turn on us, of the product could be sold to a less friendly sort. and then where will be? Free Call may solve the problem.

And here is the real problem. On Apple's iOS 4.3, HTML5 and JavaScript apps are running significantly slower when they're run from the iPhone or iPad. This makes the apps sold at the Apple store, wherer Apple gets a 30% cut, Run much faster and thus are more desired. Then other apps that can run on many different platforms.

The End of the Interner is planed by House Speaker John A. Boehner

“We see this threat in how the FCC is creeping further into the free market by trying to regulate the Internet,” Mr. Boehner said.

Letting the Feudal Lords that are our Internet providers pick and choose the content we get will simply end any chance for capitalism on the Internet. Mr. Boehner can't you see even that? Net neutrality is the ONLY hope for a free market on the Internet. Wake up man, and stop talking to the Lobbyists.

What You will get is Comcast on demand spolling 1080i fast to your TV while Netflicks will not keep up with 288p downloads. You will get NBC no problems Comcast bought NBC, but you will not get CBS, ABC, or FOX in a timely manner.

The result will be you will need to subscribe to ALL the ISP's and pay them all $100 a month. Since each will be allowing you access to a different part of the Internet. The rest of the Internet that does not own an ISP, well that will just fade away.

Version is all ready complaning that Netflicks is taking all the band width and will simply dial them back unless Netflicks pays not only there ISP, but you local ISP too. Version wants to put there hand in all the pockets.

John, if the government is going to be as useless as you are You might was well shut it down.

Maryland: State tests dimmer highway lighting

  According to state highway officials,
  about 75 lights along Route 100 between
  Coca-Cola Drive and U.S. 29 have been 
  "deactivated" as part of a pilot project
  to evaluate whether the state can cut 
  its power use along state roads without
  compromising safety.

Don't people know by now that no matter how much we cut power usage the rates will just go up, and we will pay the same amount. True in the end, it will be "Green"er but that's just a drop in the bucket.

The Real result will be a lot less light pollution. Putting up partitions between lanes will help more to allow drivers eyes to adjust to the lower light levels and lives will be saved without all the lights.

Perl6 Is here

I

People have asked what do we use now that Oracle owns Java? The answer is use PERL6. its all Java was and more. For web pages do not write "my page goes here.". Get a good template perl template program and call perl functions. A good function is one that call your data base and reads SQL off of a web page and a template program that know how to use the output of the SQL to write the report. Forms can be derived from tables and insert and update can also can be written once and for all. Not for each web page not for each application. Once and never more. Well, there might be a special case, but that should not be the rule.

It is time to stop Feudalism in our current times.

Where is the Feudalism you say? Just look around.

We have Microsoft: Apple is hardly a contender. It is a full up Monopoly and other corporations bow down to them, see DELL for an example. Other smaller corporations are simply swept away with corporate combat. To call this acquisition. if that wont work then men at arms from the legal division are called in to do battle. When our cash is gone you roll over dead.

Another example is Adobe. There system of conquest is based on the shareware model. They give away the watered down PDF reader. so that the people that buy in to the shareware can publish. Just today I was sent a email to a sight that was to give me a sample voting ballot. But unless you sell out to the shareware you can't read the PDF. Why is the goverment promoting a Monopoly that is based in shareware. When there are tools like Open Office that would do the job.

Just look, TV is another Feudal system. Run by local Nobles, the cable providers, who bow down to the likes of Time Warner.

Your ISP is another, the Lords here are playing games with us with price setting as they battle running pipes down the right of way.

Cell phones are complete thieves. They steal the air waves that the FCC should have never been given the right to sell our data space. Don't let them tell you there is not the bandwidth. Just look at 4G. There is the bandwidth. If the FCC defined the correct type of radio routers we could have free 4G. And the local Internet pipes would not be needed. With personal 4G, local Internet service providers would not have to compete running wire down the street. We would just take a few hops across the roof tops to the local Interstate, where fast Internet pipes would be ( are ) available for many ISP's to compete.

Death blow dealt by the courts.This could be the end of the Internet as we know it. Will we put up with Dictator control of the Internet?

Court: FCC has no power to regulate Net neutrality

6 April 2010 cnet.com: The Federal Communications Commission does not have the legal authority to impose strict Net neutrality regulations on Internet providers, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

A three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. unanimously tossed out the FCC's August 2008 cease and desist order against Comcast, which had taken measures to slow BitTorrent transfers and had voluntarily ended them earlier in the year.

If the FCC can not regulate Net neutrality there will be no Net. Just yet another consumer money pit. This is Yet another blow to to the modern printing press. And we now have controlled access to the town square. And thus a more limited freedom of speech.

Last word It is about time the FCC did what it does best regulate the air waves. We need radio bandwidth for roof top routers and by pass the Dictator ship that controls Internet access. Only then We get free cell phone time, not the hardware. and access to more then 1 or 2 Internet providers. Since the right of way to lay the last mile of cable will no longer be needed.

Oh My, could it be the FCC got it right?

"This is a pivotal moment," said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers' access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service. from the washingtonpost.com

The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium. same source.

The article go on about the federal appeals court grilling the FCC lawyer about its possibly acting out side of its authority.

I can only hope that this goes to a place where the judges understand the intent of the Constitution and the intent of the freedom speech issues. I can't say the bill of rights covers privately owned copper and glass. The the airwaves are the property of the people and should not be sold to the highest bidder. The last mile access to the Internet should not be owned like it was glass and copper.

If we are given our, I say, constitutional right to bandwidth to put a router on our roof and thus giving the last mile access to the people. and not money grubbing big corporations. We will find that there will all of a sudden be many broadband providers, not the one or perhaps two we have become use to. Having real competition will allow capitalisation to function properly. And local cell phone traffic will only be the cost of the hardware.

How often do you travel to places where there are no roof tops. Places there there are no roof tops for miles is where you might have local calling access problems. Not putting a router on your roof will be less common then people that have no phones. local cell phone costs should not be per packet or per minute rather the cost should only cost of the hardware and power to run that hardware.

You see the Internet was first designed as a fail safe system that can self correct when a roof top radio drops off the grid. The Internet was also originally based on a radio network. And we are so familiar with the low power WiFi that the Old FCC limited us to. now add power and take back the public broadcast spectrum and we can change the world for the better.

I am not saying to take away the land lines. for those that want them. I am simply saying we don't need to pad the pockets of fat corporations with local phone and text last mile of the Internet.

If anything comes of this, and I am sceptical, it may be the first positive thing that this administration can do to make the USA a better place.

This is an Open letter sent to John McCain. In respounce to his “THE INTERNET FREEDOM ACT OF 2009”

'The Internet Freedom Act of 2009' is giving the people's Freedom over to the ISP's who in turn will make one of the most important resources of the 21st century over to the people would would make monopoly's for there own greed.

I do not know who has miss informed you But Is not the John McCain I voted for.

Its time to put an end to the one or two players that are simply ripping off the consumer and providing substandard access to the Internet. We don 't want the Internet to become just another broadcast media like TV. None the less this is the direction the Internet is headed.

You will never build a public forum when people like Verizon and Comcast can throw a bag over peoples head and shut them up. That's not Freedom. its censorship and it Deny's our first amendment. Do you think the founding fathers would have allowed this sort of this sort oft thing in the town square? The smart answer is "No". And where is the town square in the 21st century it is none other then the Internet.

So don't call it Freedom. When its actual censorship and denial of our first amendment rights.

The thing that needs to be done is to open up the bandwidth for wireless roof top devices that use the power of the network designed for cold war stile failures and self correction. Yes that is the DEARPA TCP/IP Internet we are using today.

Give the last mile back to the people. We are better off buying cellphones rather then renting them through a so called service plan.

We can run the wireless infrastructure for the last mile our selves. With wireless routers that can transmit 5 to ten miles from roof to roof. This grid of connections is exactly the sort of thing the Arpa designers had in mind.

What needs to happen is for the FCC to simply define the correct protocols to the hardware producers and we will buy it. This should have started in 1994, but AT&T put a stop to Apple computers petition to the FCC.

Its time to reverse that and give the Internet back to the people of this great country. This in turn will allow local ISP's to better compete for connection to the back bone of the Internet. With 100s of ISP's in an area, not just two. If the Big boys can't play in this level field to provide a backbone to the new ISP's, then perhaps the government will at that point need to step in and like the highway system build the Internet backbone.

I would personal find it hard for the players like AT&T to give up maintaining the backbone. rather then roll over dead. And let others like Google do it.

So don't lie to the people, what you proposed is not the peoples Freedom. Oh and much of the network infrastructure you talk about was payed for my the government. in the form of tax breaks. Given to build the last mile. But it seems most of that funding was not to provide the best possible solutions for the people. But rather to build the Monopoly's that exist today.

Sing to Don McLean's American Pie -- 06-12-09

"The day the TV died."

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Plughed my TV in the converter. But the single was was fried.
And them good old boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singin, this'll be the day You subcribe.
this'll be the day You subcribe.

FCC Will Test Internet Over TV Airwaves, Again

But you we think that this will lead us to roof top boxes that will replace local cellphone fees and last mile Internet Monopolies? , Or just another subscriber pay to the nose corporate feed.

/.

Steal This Wi-Fi and make the world a better place.

Unfriendly WiFi spot near Bel Air Maryland

McShanes coffee shop (was called The Cup) - 2217 Churchville Rd - 410-734-0622 Is listed as a Free WiFi access spot. But it is an unfriendly neighborhood. I got there late and they closed up on me. And 10 minutes later the Sheriff's deputy told me that someone had called them and I was told to wrap things up and move on. So I suggest not patronizing that establishment.

Football Field-Sized Kite Powers Freighter

Found on /.

A new freighter set to launch in December will be receiving a hefty dose of power from a kite the size of a football field. The 460-foot ship, owned by the Beluga shipping company, hopes to see as much as a 50% drop in fuel consumption during optimal conditions.

My Little Cat will not quite as big a Kite, but A nice big kite will be nice to get a handle on winds aloft. The SkySail uses a Pod at the end of a single Toe. This Pod in turn controls lines that maintain the shape of the sail. For me, I can see running a few lines to control such a kite would make for better trimming. And a recovery line that when pulled will take most of the air out of the sail.

Solar Cells: 30 cents a watt; Printed on a roll.

Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt.

News: popsci , biodieselnow , gadgets.boingboing ,

$1 per Watt is a great price for Solar Panels.
I just love how much development is being put in to Solar Panels. That should be on the market by 2010. This is just in time for the big sail boat I want to get in 2012.    /.       industryweek
As a comparison my Northern Tool + Equipment catalog shows a 15 watt panel selling for $99.99 USD. Now can I find the surface area for a kilo-watt on the boat.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a posting titled Publicly owned networks are the key to universal access and healthy competition.

Where there are 5 main points in the Executive Summary.

1. High-speed information networks are essential public infrastructure.

2. Public ownership ensures competition.

3. Publicly owned networks can generate significant revenue.

4. Public ownership can ensure universal access.

5. Public ownership can ensure non-discriminatory networks.

I have to admit I did not read the paper, but the web pages summery is going in the right direction.

Go Skype Go

Skype asks FCC to open up cellular networks

We need not only network neutrality. The right to use the network within the law, and not to be required to use the network as the provider intended. But we need wireless network neutrality as well. where our phones are not "crippling features on phones, locking handsets to operators, limiting consumers' ability to install third-party applications, and limiting the terms of service with bandwidth caps and restrictions on what content can be accessed through the network".

The reality is this is only one step in the right direction to un-encumber the on ramp to the information super highway. We don't want all the bazaar toll booths .

What we Need is a free to use wireless Internet with the range we have on our wireless phones. The bandwidth is there. The oligopolies want to convince you differently... HA ha. Then all we need do is buy an Internet phone, looks like acts like a cell phone, and We can call anyone, anywhere. The Internet knows no internal boundary's. Do you think its to much for the US Post Office to offer a phone exchange so we can look up peoples phone number. Don't you thing Google would do that for us. I know Versign wants to sell that to us, but we can buy Internet domain names for $10 from register.com SO why would I pay $100 for the same thing.

Software Patent Debate

"The court is now debating whether or not software is actually patentable."

Its about time.

The court needs to redefine software as something that is actually soft. Software should be that set of programs that are deliverer with the source code and making that completely un-patentable. Some of have a new term for this its called open source. But in reality its the only software that deserves to be called soft. You can still buy commercial-ware, if you want to. Lets just call commercial-ware, commercial-ware. There is nothing soft about it.

I am not surprised that US Lags World In Broadband Access, And the FCC's is at fault.

The cable Co. and the phone Co. don't provide Broadband Access for my house. Seems if I lived in England or even China this would not be the case. The real solution is to bypass the monopoly ISP's and use a grid of Radios to make up the local network. If the FCC had not outlawed the use of WiFi with a 10 to 15Km range we would not have all the problems we have now. I have my FON router and no place to go... But God bless the local Pizza place with the open AP. That's where you will find me. Yummm love that Gyro.

In case you didn't know the original Ethernet protocols where based on the ALOHAnet, a radio network at the University of Hawaii, that communicate across the campus from island to island. The bandwidth plan that Apple Computer proposed to the FCC way back in 1995 included hundreds of 10Mb channels in the Gigahertz bands. Here is the PETITION FOR RULEMAKING of the "NII BAND". The US would be a different place with an Internet freedom we currently do not enjoy.

Since then this radio bandwidth has been given out to cell phone companies that charge us the big bucks to use. So rather then to progress into the 21st century the FCC keeping us back in the dark 20th century w/ out open Internet access. Most Highways don't have toll booths any more why should the Internet. At least the FCC should not be giving the airwaves away to corporations that simply want to take a buck.

Here is some history of things the FCC took away from us.

Don't forget that Al Gore was Vice president then. He was Inventing the Internet for us back then. So you can see what a mess he left us with to clean up. Just think what he would do to Global Warming. It boggles the mind.

Don't be the loser here. Bill has everything to win when you spend too much money on bandwith. He owns large shares of many Internet providers. It was only a few years ago when he bought 40% of the chares of Comcast cable.

Gates Proclaims Internet to Revolutionize TV in 5 Years

TV is a broadcast media!

The Internet is a send me one, now, media.

Even with peer to peer file sharing getting TV over the net will not be the way to go, unless you want to pay to the nose to the TelCo's and CabCo's for the bandwidth.

We all are better off with MithTV ,or TVo, for time shifting the broadcast media. Rather then spending all that money on unneeded bandwidth. It not like your going to miss anything. Right now most shows are broadcast twice a week and there are marathons to catch you up with shows like 24.

The bandwidth we need is for playing World of Warcraft.

Give us Digital Free Speech

I don't care about some dumb paper work.I want the Public to have a share of the radio spectrum. My Wifi FON router should have a 10 to 15 km range. not 100 to 500 foot range. It should be illegal/unconstitutional that we don't have reasonable Free Speech in digital spectrum.

But no We have to pay the Teloc's, the King ( of England ). This is the sort of thing that created this country. But some how the government has lost sight of this,

Its time to throw your cell phones (Tea) into the harbor.

I got a Free FON router this year.     Yaaaa!

I am like most Foneros, I am a Linuses. That means that we share our WiFi at home and in return get free WiFi wherever we find a FON Access Point.

I sent this to Bill Moyers about the PBS show that aired last night called The Net at Risk

The hype on Fiber is/was overrated.

The real problem was in 1994 was the FCC Took away our freedom of speech over the wireless Internet. Apple computer asked the FCC for the bandwidth over the airwaves for networking over 15 kilometers per hop at speeds of 2.4 gigabit w/ enough channels for a metropolitan area. So why waist $ on fiber.

If Al Gore and any awareness at the time we would have Internet routers on our roofs. the Last mile to connect to the Internet would have been free. The last miles for cellphones should be free.

I would rather pay for hardware. then pay for my freedom to speak. Yes, the radio waves must be regulated but not to the point that citizens don't have free use of a substantial share.

After that the backbone of the Internet must have common carrier status, but you covered that part quite well.

The Internet is payed for by the bit to connect. Each connection to the next backbone pays the same and passes on the cost to those that connect.

At the other end the customers, using WiFi(max) connect for free, since without customers there is no one to sell your services to. Anything beyond that is simply piracy.

After watching your show the fact that I do not own a telephone, witch can only be provided by pirates, has been reinforced.

Its time to put the telco's out of business, since they offer no benefit. other then the backbone, and perhaps the government should be providing that. The limiting factor is the FCC and the legislature.

As you can tell I am not a writer, I have been a computer scientist and network engineer for over 25 years.

Here is a new use for that old Box Kite. I guess I will have to get my old sewing machine out.

Down wind sailing was never so good.

The time for Social Networking is Now!

But Don't take my word for it read: slashdot, FON or PBS's Robert X. Cringely

No more ISP/Phone/Cell Bills.

BBC Tests Pre-Commercial Toshiba Fuel Cell Laptop, found on /.

Any thing about Full Cells get me to Googling.

At least I found One that is actuly forsale at Max Power/full cell. Perhaps its not quite ready for prime time. At 5000 euro it delivers 100A dc power per day.

It uses a 4.4kl proprietary cartrage of Methanol. So the efficiency of the fule cell is lost in acquiring the cartrage. There are more issues, but I am out of time at the moment.

FireFox -- Tab Killer

Finaly I can upgrade my FireFox v0.8 web browser. I have reclaimed my middle button. It now opens new windows and not the lousy tabs. Yes, the forefox extension is called Tab Killer. If you too are want to stop right clicking and clicking on "Open Link in New Window" then go install the Tab Killer. Woo Who.

---

Apr 24,

Where did my key bindings go? Last week I could use emacs control key bindings to edit stuff in firefox, but now the keys do IBM stuff. Very bad. perhaps I will have to go back to my old v0.8 firefox :( go figure.

Just what my sail boat needs!

Here is the feed line from /.

"CNN has an article in which they talk about Dean Kamen's latest inventions designed to provide water to rural villages. His goal is also to provide electricity and opportunities for entrepreneurship. From the article: 'Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water,' says Kamen. 'The water purifier makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns.'"

And the price goal of 1000 to 2000 USD per machine is just right. I hope its light weight and not to big. I think a Kwatt should power two electric drive motors for the twin screws on my catamran. This is the kind of freedom I am looking for.

Do No Evil

That is Googles motto.

I am so glad I use a search engine that will not give out anything to just any one.

Need I say more?

World of Warcraft.

I am online for christmass. So this year it will be the World of Warcraft. Look for me on Elune. I am InetD an undead warlock. Yes I am named after .../sbin/inetd. That would be the Daemon that starts all the other daemons. -- StrCat

Avast Me Mate'y

Being Pirates are Cool. check out this Comic.

What brought this on? Well I it's my state of mind I guess. Heres the scoop, I was answering a letter to my Cousin. where he was asking for a boat ride. He may have mised part of the story, a few weeks ago. I am saving up for a boat. I do not have a boat yet. here is an excerpt:

Its an 8 year plan. I will retire in 2013. That should be the first Year of the boat. I am looking forward to it. Yep, Temporary crew is a good thing, I will let you know. If I get a smaller boat sooner it will only be a day boat.

I took a sailing class 3days last week. It was mostly review. 5 Days next week I am taking another. :-)

After that I will be ready for the Blue water class where we will sail out around the Delmarva Peninsula. That's out the Delaware Bay, turn south passed Ocean City and back up the Chesapeake Bay. That will be when the weather get nice, this after winter.

Speed of a snail. I took my Jeep Liberty into Adams Jeep of Maryland on Churchville road cross Carsons Run road close to Aberdeen's service center 8 days ago on Wednesday. It's taking forever for them to even take a look at my jeep. My rental car is costing $50US a day. They are going to find out time is money.

Some how I must have gotten in the queue. 15 days from the start, I got my working car back.

First post

First post: Got to see how this works first, then we will think of something to say.

I First tryed to create the account StrCat. That was taken, so I tryed StrFry, that as you can see worked. Then I tryed to get StrFry.blogspot.com. That was taken. So as you can see my URL is http://strcat.blogspot.com/ ... I am so confused.