Windows Genuine Advantage

Recently, alot of people have been throwing fits about the Windows Genuine Advantage mess that Microsoft Started. It sneaks in with your windows updates and becomes a bit of an anoyyance. Here's a few ways that you can keep it from becoming a problem.

1) Don't run windows. Go to www.kubuntu.com and download the latest version of Kubuntu Linux. If you don't have a high speed connection, they'll send you CD's for free. There's several other versions of Linux out there, but it's the easiest around to use.

2) I run Windows XP with service pack 2, Kerio firewall, Spybot, spyware blaster, and Antivir antivirus software(all free except Kerio). I use Mozilla Firefox for a web browser. I do not update windows. There could be a threat of a credit card number stealing virus that takes advantage of a flaw in windows and I don't run updates. If you protect yourself properly, there's little risk of getting a virus/malware on your system. Nearly all of the crapware internet users today see can be avoided just by switching away from Internet Explorer. In my opinion, downloading windows updates only causes problems. It slows your computer down and lets Microsoft install whatever they want.

I recommend solution #1 if it is at all possible. See my post here for more info about linux. If you must run windows, such as I do for gaming, solution #2 is your best bet. I've seen methods of cracking WGA floating around on the web, but who wants that hassle? Nobody even ran MS updates before the MSBlast virus a few years ago. Know what? A good firewall would have stopped it.

The Media is a Bunch of Stinkers (and so are you)

By now, you should be aware that several newspapers (not just the NY Times) published information regarding the monitoring of money transfers related to terrorist activity. If you're not up to speed on this subject, you should spend more time reading the news and less time reading my two-bit blog. Being a nice guy, I'll link you to the article that the NY Times ran. Similar articles were printed by the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal, among others.

Now that I'm done pissing off any new readers that come across this blog, let's open up this can of dirty media worms. As I'm sure many of you will mention, yes, the government was sifting through private bank records. Yes, it is a breach of our privacy. Want to know a secret? For a small fee, a private investigator can get similar information. Another one? It's a damn good way to catch terrorists. If you don't remember, they're those guys who want to cut your head off because you're not one of them.

The focus of this article, however, is not to question the legitimacy of the government's actions, but to question the media. Whatever happened to "loose lips sink ships?" Leaks of information through the media are nothing new, but this is quite a blow on our effort to thwart global terrorism. These headline whores will publish anything that they consider to be a top story, even at the expense of our safety.

The typical zombie under the media's thumb would assume that this story was run with the intentions of informing the American people and preserving their right to privacy. Only a moron would believe that the mainstream media gives a damn about anything other than profits. Am I making anybody angry yet? Read this. (The original article from Sept. 24, 2001 is here, but you'll have to pay if you want to read it. ) These folks would eat baby seal bacon for breakfast, then drive to work in a Hummer H2 and write an article about environmentalism.

I can think of two good reasons about why the media whores pull stunts like this. Number one is simple, money. Bad news makes for good profits. That's why you never see news stories about the Boy Scouts cleaning up litter for your local park. Instead you get articles about the controversy of homosexual Scout Masters. I don't watch the news anymore. Why would I want to hear the graphic details about how some poor old man was mugged and thrown in the river right before I go to sleep, followed by some bullshit claiming that our brave soldiers are murderers? We need to be informed not only about the problems in the world, but also about the good things that are happening as well.

Reason number two is that the NY Times is a rather liberal publication. The general tactic of the left is to do whatever they need to in order to gain power and influence. In 2001, it was convenient to bash the conservative President Bush for not adequately monitoring banks for terrorist transactions. Now that everyone is in an uproar over their personal freedoms being taken away, they can bash him for that. I don't take sides in this liberal/conservative mess that we've become mired in because I have views on both ends, but I absolutely hate typical liberal tactics such as this.

In the end, the real problem is that we the people will believe whatever we read in the papers and see on the news. If society wants to become more than just puppets, we need to think for ourselves. Form your own opinions for once. For the sake of our future, stop paying attention to which celebrity is knocked up by who and spend some time getting to know what's going on in the world. If this nation is to be salvaged, it must be done by a free-thinking people.

The Problem With Our Political System

I have a very firm opinion about why our political system is made up of corrupt, self-serving scumbags. To put it simply, being a politician is too profitable. Between "gifts" and "donations" (bribes) from "special interest groups" (big corporations) and outrageous salaries, becoming a political figure has become a rather financially rewarding venture.

A would-be politician today has three goals. 1) Get in office. 2) Do whatever you have to do in order to stay there. 3) Pass legislation that benefits you and your cohorts. So much for representing the people by seeing to their wants and needs. There might be an exception or two out there, but I don't know who they are.

The answer is simple. We make political office a more middle-class paying carreer. If we base wages on the average post-taxation earnings of the area presided over by the politician in question, suddenly there is incentive to do what is best for the people. There is incentive for lower taxes, a stronger economy and a better living environment.

In reality, it will never happen. Why? Because the people collecting the big, fat paychecks to "represent" us are the ones who would have to sign such a bill. There goes my plan for saving the country.

One more reason...

It's been a rough couple of days for Microsoft. Their security bulletin for June, 2006 lists a flaw that effects just about every single M$ product out there. To be perfeclty honest, I was going to list them, and upon seeing the mess it made of my blog, decided to leave it out.

To anybody who doesn't understand the article, or doesn't care to read it, this is no run of the mill every day little flaw. Any unpatched machines are volnurable to "remote code execution" as MS calls it. Know what I call it? One more reason to switch to Linux.

How can anyone trust an operating system from a company who can't even make a text editor work right? (Thanks to Mark for the link.) Notepad was the one thing that I could count on to work. So much for that.

Want to do something about it? Try the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. It's free for download from Ubuntu.org. If you don't think you can download and burn the ISO image, they'll mail you a CD for FREE, no strings attached (honest).

Pop the disk in your computer and reboot. Ubuntu will boot from the CD and load a preview of the operating system. Things will run alot slower this way, but you can get a feel for what's there. The controls are intuitive and everything is right where you'd expect it. Like what you see? Click the "Install Ubuntu" icon on the desktop. 10 minutes later, you've got an up to date operating system with an excellent web browser (Firefox), and a powerful office suite (Open Office) that is compatible with MS(uck) office and just about every other that's out there.

Did I mention the free part? Ubuntu has something unheard of in the windoze world called a package manager. The program titled Adept will find software and install it for you.... for free.

How many hundreds of dollars have you spent on running Windows? You buy the OS for around $200 (XP PRO), then you pay another $300 or so to get Microsoft Office. I can buy a decent new computer for $300, and a very nice one for $500.

MS products don't cost more because they are better. They cost more because people will pay for them. Microsoft has virtually no quality control because people will use windows no matter how bad it gets because they don't know that there are alternatives.

Think about that the next time you get a virus on your feeble windows machine. (I think there's been about three virii in the history of Linux.)

So he does have some testicular weight after all....

Just when I thought Bush was a big pansy, he finally decided to pay a visit to Baghdad. What this tells me is that even though the liberal media wants us to beleive that things are either getting worse, or at least not improving in Iraq, something must be getting better. Raise your hand if you thing W. would stop in for a visit if the place was as much of a mess as they'd like us to beleive.

Or maybe he was just on the way past in Air Force One and wanted to stop by to top off the tanks at $0.25 a gallon.

Reply to Eduardo

Recently, a fellow named Eduardo Davalos left a very short reply to my "On Immigration" blog. It's really the only thing I've written here that's gotten the attention of outside readers other than a few friends of mine who just like to listen to me rant.

Eduardo's comment and my article are here.

At 6/07/2006 12:44 AM, eduardo davalos said...

hey zeb, deberias darle una leida a esto...
especialmente al articulo 13

saludos desde Mexico!!

My Spanish is a little rusty, but I beleive that the message is something along the lines of "You have to have a look at this, especially article 13." The document in question is the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Let's have a look at article 13, shall we?

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

At this point, I'm really not sure if Eduardo is agreeing with me, or if he thinks that I'm some sort of idiot. In the spirit of equality, I'm not going to either support or berate our buddy Ed. Instead, I'm going to spend a little time on the document he is referencing. Article 13 up there is pretty self explanitory. To paraphrase, everyone has a right to become a citizen of another member country. Fair enough. If you read On Immigration, you'll know that I agree with this, so no more explanation is necessary.

Let's move on and take a look at a few other articles. Here's a good one:

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Every resident of a country should be viewed as equals under the law. That means that if you break the law, you go to jail. For the record, entering a country illegally is breaking the law.


I like #21 also. It speaks more about equality.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Did you see the part about how "Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country?" A country is not yours until you become a legal citizen of it. My personal opinion is that not only must you be a legal citizen, but you must also respect the country and be patriotic towards it. I seem to see something about the "will of the people" in there also. The people I'm talking about are the ones who pay their taxes and make a contribution to society. If you've read any public polls lately, you can see that the citizens of this country are tired of seeing their hard earned tax dollars being spent on health care for illegals who make a decent wage, but don't contribute anything at all to society.

While we're on the subject of contributing to society.....

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

This might just be my favorite. Everyone has duties to the community. While the majority of us work hard to make a living, support our families and pay taxes, we have people coming here illegally and leeching off of our hard work.

I am a firm beleiver in equal rights. However, as my favorite bumper sticker reads, "Equal rights are not special rights." I don't know who quoted that first, but it is a message that needs to be repeated and followed. Coming to this country, disrespecting our laws and draining the working society of its resources does not make anyone a citizen. That is written into our laws. There is no argument that can be made which justifies breaking the law for personal gain. I cannot make this any more clear. I hope that clears things up for you, Eduardo.

Cleveland, the Anus of Ohio

I grew up in a small town of about 5000 people. If you travel all the way through BFE, you'll hit it about 100 miles past the far side of the border. I used to think that dirt roads were just something that you saw everywhere and took for granted that everybody was nice to you.

Unfortunately, everybody has to grow up some day. Pursuing a career in IT meant that I had to move closer to a city to find a decent paying job. I worked around Youngstown for a while and while it's no small town USA, the people there are decent for the most part, except for that guy who used to peak in my windows when he thought I wasn't watching.

About two months ago, I got married and moved to a suburb of Cleveland because it was halfway between my job and my wife's. I can honestly say that I have never met a society more infested with rude, inconsiderate assholes in my life and I've traveled a lot. People say that French Canadians are a rude bunch, but I found them to be friendly enough. You want to see people who make you want to kill puppies? Go to Cleveland.

I've driven in a lot of major cities and have yet to see road rage on par with what Ohio's Anus has to offer. Because this posting is inspired by my drive home from work yesterday, I'll use that story as an example. Please feel free to laugh at my misfortune. Unless you're one of the rude individuals that I'm ranting about. In that case, you may feel free to chew on glass.

5:00PM: I leave work on schedule (as usual) and head for the highway. I work about 35 miles away from The Anus, so traffic isn't bad.

5:20PM: Traffic is starting to pick up, there are commuters weaving about fighting each other to get one car ahead. A semi truck begins to merge into the left lane, which is where I happen to be and forces me onto the berm. Amazing how little noise your horn makes at 70mph.

5:35PM: I exit the highway onto State Route 8, or as I call it, "Dickhead Lane." For the most part, 8 has two lanes each direction with a speed limit of around 50mph and traffic lights every few hundred yards. I'm going about 65 to keep from being run over.

5:40PM: Coming up to the first light, a cheerleader-type high school idiot with her idiot jock boyfriend in the passenger seat cuts in front of me. She's driving a Sunfire convertible, which for those who don't know, are easily eaten by Jeeps with steel tube bumpers going 65mph (such as mine). Cheerleader doesn't seem to know this and I slam on my brakes to avoid killing them. They start to make out and I have to give my horn a "happy toot" when the lights turn green to get them moving.


5:43PM: Next traffic light. One more intersection and I can take a side road off of 8 and get out of the traffic. Cheerleader and Jock are a little farther into their foreplay and Jock has his shirt off (I couldn't make this shit up if I tried). Light turns green and I give the horn a good honk. They give me a dirty look and start to move. I can't pass them because traffic is bumper to bumper.

5:47PM: Finally it's time to get off of Dickhead Lane. I must have angered some deity today because the junior pornstars are turning the same way I am. Still can't pass because now the road is only one lane each way. This time, when the light turns green, I lay on the horn and don't stop until they start to drive. Jock must not have wanted to pull out just yet.

5:54PM: No lights on this road for a while, so the jp's have to settle down. They stop and get ready to turn left. There is a string of traffic in the opposite lane, so it could take a while. The birm on our side of the road is wide and filled with murky puddles from the recent rains. I laugh maniacally as I splash around them on the right side, throwing mud around and hoping some makes it inside the pornmobile's open top.

5:59PM: Almost home. I'm waiting at the last traffic light before I get to my apartment complex. In the opposite lane, there's a guy in an H2 getting ready to turn left. I can see his big, useless yuppie wagon bobbing up and down as he powerbrakes. I've seen this before, Mr. Yuppie McShittypants is planning to floor it as soon as the light turns green and cut in front of me. Instead of idling in neutral as usual, I shift into 1st gear. The light turns green and I give Petunia (my jeep) all she's got. Mr. Yuppie doesn't stop and we both slam on our brakes. He yells at me through his rolled up window, which just makes it look like he's singing the theme to the Muppet Show. I smile and drive home. Another day in paradise.