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Author: NiteMayr

Before:

Kevin was born on the mossy hills of Scotland and lived for a while in West Lothian before the mores of pre-Thatcher and REALLY pre-Oasis Great Britain sent his family across the ocean to North America. They moved here and there and Kevin did the same when he was old enough. Now he lives in London with his family and a Dog.

Kevin Wardrop is an amateur writer, amateur photographer and professional pain in the ass. He has worked in the PC support business for most of his adult life and has been accustomed to simply answering technical questions as a matter of fiat, it was his career choice after all. Now he herds cats and puppies for a living as well as babysitting the web enterprises at the heart of western industry.

Dear Candidates: I'm not Voting Liberal

On September 22nd, 2008 I sent this to the local Liberal Candidate:

Good Day Ms. Gauthier,

I live in your riding and would like more information about your stance on Personal Freedom, Government Transparency, Nuclear Power, Culture and Entertainment, Unions and International Trade.

Thanks for your time,

Kevin Wardrop.

Straight forward and simple, I was looking for responses from the three Candidates in my riding who most closely resembeled my political leanings.  The Candidates from the Green and NDP parties replied.  Daniel O’Neail’s Green Party most closely resembles the majority of my Political Leanings (save their enviornmental stance, which I do not agree with)  but Irene Mathyssen presented a more comprehensive and nuanced stance for the NDP.  The Liberal Candidate has yet to reply and with just a few short days left, they have made my decision all the easier, as my arbitrary timer has lapsed and I won’t vote Liberal now, simply over a local matter.  Stephan Dion’s “Democrat Light” approach to the Tories notwithstanding.

It falls to Jack Layton and Elizabeth May now to form an effective opposition to the Tories.  I’ll be watching.

Twitter Updates for 2008-10-03

  • It’s quite cold out. Not cold enough for an undershirt, but it’s heading into that neighborhood #
  • Last night the two garbage bags outside my house reproduced and produced a third bag. I wish I had seen whomever dropped it there. #
  • @alternaloser They left evidence of malfeasance, they tore my other bags and left bits and pieces all over my lawn. in reply to alternaloser #
  • Maybe I should have shaved, I feel kinda out of it, I had about 4 hours sleep last night then Jen woke me up coming to bed at 3 am. #
  • I’m guess he didn’t know the Xmas eve rule: http://tinyurl.com/4la958 #
  • @alternaloser What, Bush wasn’t? in reply to alternaloser #
  • Someone sneak over to Damon’s Desk and right “Psilons Paid me to Write this” on his board, pics or it didn’t happen #
  • @RevNathan were you “The Rev” or were you some established character? in reply to RevNathan #
  • @definetheline My mind works best in the shower. That’s when all the gears turn correctly and the neurons fire right. in reply to definetheline #
  • Your Sample is too small: “The married and unmarried focus groups of 10” #
  • I ended up not feeling like getting wet last night…maybe we’ll go out and shoot tonight if we don’t end up driving to Kincardine #
  • The laptop build I’m working on went Pop, trying again… #
  • hmmm, can’t get to the phone at home… phone is off the hook #
  • @happyguy Re: The Gaming Conference, maybe if I have the cash l8ter on. in reply to happyguy #
  • I was going to comment on a blog, but realized that I’m not sure that my NDA is up. Is it up? I don’t know. #
  • @happyguy I was complimented on my work emails recently, “English Major?” “10 years of emails and statements for a corp. web site” “Gotcha” in reply to happyguy #
  • That’s it, I think I am gonna vote, something. I asked for a copyright pledge from the locals in my riding, stay tuned! #

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Blowing the lid of voteforthemilf.com

Here’s where things get a great deal more interesting on this whole “Prank”

Usually, when you are going to perform a redirect as a prank, you use an A record to redirect the request, so domainnamenamevariant.com is redirected to someotherdomain.com via an A record. In this case the redirect is a highly disrecommended CNAME or Canonical Nam pointing to an IP address the record reads like this VOTEFORTHEMILF.COM IN CNAME 64.203.107.149.

This IP, whether you go to it via http:\\64.203.107.149 or voteforthemif.com (which now seems to redirect to google in some cases) goes to a special Palin greeting.

All of this is kind of known, but I’m providing a summation that makes the “It was a prank” angle seem like a stupid bit of misdirection.  How could the prankster have known that 64.203.107.149 led to a special palin message?  64.203.107.149 has no PTR record and is the A record of JOHNMCAIN.COM but NOT www.johnmcain.com.
The A Record for www.johnmcain.com points to an aliased address from his DNS hosting provider:

Name:    edgecastcdn.net
Address:  72.21.81.132
Aliases:  www.johnmccain.com

Johnmain.com does not

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    johnmccain.com
Address:  64.203.107.149

Visiting the IP of www.johnmcain.com in your browser http://72.21.81.132/ connects you to nothing.

Visiting the IP of johnmcain.com in your browser http://64.203.107.149/ connects you to a website.

Why would the webmaster of John Mcain’s website link a site to one IP and not the other?  That’s more than odd.  Here’s why, it’s the same amount of work to set it up, you can copy and paste one configuration to another and make it active so that WEB recquests for IP one and IP two will go to the same place, but in this case reqeusts initially bound for 64.203.107.149 end up going to a special palin greeting. How could the prankster have pre-knowledge that the greeting would be there?  I mean, if voteforthemilf.com was a simple redirect to the IP, and the IP (in the case of the more popular www.johnmcain.com) does not connect to a configured website why would they imagine it would magically connect to a Palin related website?

This story is not over, not complete and the “prankster” isn’t giving up their secrets at all.

In the end, this is just a distraction, but it’s a fun tech mystery too, and what’s more fun on a Friday night than a fun tech mystery, right?

There really are some racist bastards out there

According to parents and students in Greg Howard’s seventh-grade social studies class, Howard on Friday, Sept. 26 asked the class a question regarding Obama’s call for change, and proceeded to write out what the letters C-H-A-N-G-E stood for.

“She told me that he wrote on the board ‘Can You Help A (expletive) Get Elected, and then laughed about it,” said Shelia Christian, a mother of one of Howard’s students.

Marianna teacher ‘told students what ‘CHANGE’ stood for’

As if this isn’t enough;  this comment was added:

Posted by ( leroy ) on October 03, 2008 at 9:00 am

LOOKEY MOM I FIGGURED OUT WHAT THAT THERE CAPS LOCK IS FER.

I’M NOT FEELING ENOUGH OUTRAGE HERE I GUESS TO DO THIS UP PROPER WE NEED TO GET AL SHARPTON AND OLE’ JESSIE INVOLVED.

The Teacher was trying to make a joke (if the facts are presented correctly) a poor joke that might have been accepted from the mouth of a comedian, but not to a bunch of middle-school kids, right?  That being said, if the semi-anonymous comments on the article are accurate, the teacher in question (Greg Howard) has been making loaded comments for a while now, while protected by the complacency of the school administration.

Myself, I’m not outraged, people say stupid crap all the time and laugh or tell inappropriate jokes, that’s the way of the world.  I don’t think any one group is inferior to me because of how or to whom the are born; but I will certainly crack jokes at the expense of an individual or a group based on stereotypes, that’s kind of how humor works.  Fat people like to eat, Hard Core Christians are willfully ignorant, smart people are nerdy and so on.   Broad stereotypes form the foundation of some humor and I can’t condemn anyone for using them for humor’s sake.  I can’t, however, condone slurs for the sake of a joke, especially to kids.

So Greg, I don’t envy you, you’ve put your foot right in your mouth, it’s time to either face the music and step down or weather the storm (if you can) and work for forgiveness. However, if you have an axe to grind with Obama, and this is how you express it; you probably deserve what’s coming.

From a web article the looks like parody about Toby Keith Backing Obama:

PAarmyWife See Profile I’m a Fan of PAarmyWife permalink

Toby Keith is a country singer with an extreme conservative base. I just came from his concert tonight and just stumbled upon this possible fact that Keith supports Obama. IF this is true, and a big IF, he can be certain that backs will turn and it’s possible he will lose some of the very fan base he has created over the past few years built upon conservative principles. My husband is a military man and is not very fond of country music but has always respected Keith for what he has done for the troops and his outspoken patriotism. This would be a huge disappointment to my family if he was no backing a piece of filth. But then again, to mainstream Hollywood, it’s the “cool thing” to do. I have always assumed Keith was above all the Hollywood hype.

Did she call Obama a piece of filth?

Twitter Updates for 2008-10-02

  • I had to turn on the heater last night; for your records that is October 1, 2008; It’s set to 65 overnight and 70 in the AM for a bit #
  • @chris_johnson New West to the Coalition States? Why not traverse a Rift? (This random tweet brought to you by Palladium Games) in reply to chris_johnson #
  • Search for “Oh say can you rock” on google… #
  • @Avatarpress It did it here too, Summer will be back next week for a return tour I bet. in reply to Avatarpress #
  • Busy setting up laptops today #
  • @happyguy The King’s Diner? in reply to happyguy #
  • @happyguy That’s east of Richmond, sorry, near Galleria, but it is the best in reply to happyguy #
  • @HybridZero I’d suggested the Kings Diner near Galleria, but it’s just east of Richmond. in reply to HybridZero #
  • @brianshaler I usually stuff it under my chair. in reply to brianshaler #
  • I have to leave the building, on the clock and venture out to get AAA batteries. May go to Walmart to do it. #
  • @HybridZero You’re very welcome. If you get the chance, try their Chicken Salad Sandwich, it’s great. in reply to HybridZero #
  • The Batmobile hiccuped and died on the road today. It may not be long for this world #
  • I just gave myself a mild case of electrocution #
  • I should work on a video tonight… something. #
  • @joeljohnson Smokers tend to litter anyway, biodegradable plant seed smokes might be awesome. Patent it, do it now, now now now. in reply to joeljohnson #
  • @DVDQuotes No one watched House Party 2, not even Camron from the Young Black Teenagers, and he was in it. in reply to DVDQuotes #
  • Chicken Dinner tonight, any suggestions? #
  • oh, wait, curry. I’ll make curry #
  • @Ultramegakungfu I think those are halloween costumes in reply to Ultramegakungfu #
  • Laughing so hard that I’m crying at “Shoot the Messenger” #

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The Pat Robertson Prayer Challenge

In conclusion, it is my opinion that we have between 75 and 120 days before the Middle East starts spinning out of control.  If there was ever a time for fervent prayer, it is now.  Prayer can change the course of history!  The Bible says, “Seek righteousness, seek humility. … that you may be hid in the day of the Lord’s wrath.”  “… the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

The believing prayers of tens of thousands of God’s people can change the hearts of the leaders of Russia and Iran.  God can cause situations to arise which will save Israel.  He is Almighty.  With God all things are possible!

With that in mind, I urge you to fervently seek God’s intervention in the following areas:

  • Pray that God’s mighty angels would surround and protect our nation in these perilous times;
  • Pray for unity among the body of Christ as we intercede for our nation and our world;
  • Pray that America’s leadership will seek godly wisdom as they face critical events in the weeks and months ahead;
  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to sweep across the globe, preparing hearts to accept Jesus and enter God’s Kingdom before tragic events unfold;
  • Pray for God to change the hearts of leaders in Russia, Iran, and other nations who wish to do harm to Israel.

Hopefully, our Lord will intervene and head off the disaster that seems to be approaching.  Let us pray together.  With God all things are possible!

http://www.patrobertson.com/pressreleases/PatRobertsonRegardingGeorgia.asp

Okay folks, here it is.  The Pat Robertson Prayer Challenge, this is where the rubber meets the road on Christianity, Prayer and the Intercession of Faith.

As a Celebrant, you can say to the flock, “Pray for X or if you don’t U will happen” if X happens you can say “You Prayed well and have been rewarded” and if Y happens you can say “You didn’t show enough faith, next time you will pray harder or give more of yourself”.  As long as X is easy “No Fire Demons come From the Sky” and Y is likely “Someone’s house will Burn Down” it means that the celebrant can effectively use statistics and basic common sense to look like a conduit for Gods words.  When in all likelihood they are just an astute observer of statistics and human behavior.

The Prayer Challenge

Between today and January 1st, Pat Robertson says that the Middle East will erupt in chaos and a limited nuclear exchange may occur unless his followers pray for Russian and Iran to “back down” if they don’t he can say “See, your prayers saved Israel” and if they do he can say “You didn’t Pray hard enough” or if Barack Obama is elected President and they do he can say “It’s your fault for electing that man, this is your Punishment”

What about a Third outcome?  What it American invades Iran and touches off a real war with Russia?

What if American forces step in among the Balkans?

What if Isreal bombs Iran?

Prayer against a massively negative outcome is easy, especially if it is unlikely.  Praying that a comet won’t hit the world is easy, and likely to come true.  Prayer that you won’t get wet on a rainy day is stupid, as you are going to get wet on a rainy day if you go out without rain gear on.  So to is this prayer easy, it’s highly unlikely that either Iran or Russia would provoke a nuclear war “Just because” and let’s face it, if the rhetoric of our politicians was enough to provoke a real war, Iran would have bombed Isreal years ago.

If Prayer is REAL and the world is on the edge of massive nuclear war, then it is likely that it WILL happen, because as you know, America has fallen to the forces of evil already:

We have insulted God at the highest level of our government.  Then, we say, “Why does this happen?”  It is happening because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us.
Once that protection is gone, we are vulnerable because we are a free society.

http://www.patrobertson.com/PressReleases/TerroristAttack.asp

Twitter Updates for 2008-10-01

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My Little Christo-Fascist

Special Note: Yes, the title of this post is deliberately provocative.  Sometimes I just like to poke the bear and see if it really is asleep or just lying in wait.

I was raised Catholic and questions of faith and religion truly do enthuse me; I enjoy the debate and the conflict that surrounds religion. I willingly get into conflicts with my friends and family over religion and hope that my views on the matter have evolved over time in response to new information and my own personal growth as a person.  I also strongly believe that my brain wasn’t fully baked in place until my mid-twenties, and may still be cooling today.

Twitter Updates for 2008-09-30

  • Spencer the Cat woke me up by biting my hands and elbows this morning. This is his friendly good morning. #
  • Too. Much. Fibre. #
  • I dreamed last night that I was trapped in a grand hotel with no electricity or running water, the road outside was full of sand dunes. #
  • Theme Notes “The Comments need to be fixed” http://tinyurl.com/53xhfy #
  • Neat “Gapminder” http://www.gapminder.org/ #
  • @RevNathan you can finally finish some of that short fiction you’ve been flailing at. LoL in reply to RevNathan #
  • The main Difference between Suge Knight and Sarah Palin is Suge knight would have the sense to keep that kid away from his daughter. #
  • Suge Knight once developed a means to bring comic characters into reality, just so he could smack Superman around for kicks #
  • Once upon a time Suge Knight met the big bad wolf in the deep dark forest, now Suge has a wolf skin coat. #
  • When your cat just freezes and stares at nothing, they are watching out for Suge Knight, somewhere, out there…. #
  • Awaiting feedback. #
  • Please accept that I find Dexter and Trueblood to be very poorly written exercises in television. Also, I hate “Sassy” stereo-characters. #
  • While @warrenellis is like Tesla with Beer, Jack Black is like Emile Hirsch, with a face that ages naturally, as opposed to perpetual boyism #
  • Rogers Routing issues resolved in London #

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