Morgan Freeman: Stop Talking About It

Morgan Freeman's comment about racism makes sense to me. When our speech relegates skin color to the same level of importance as hair color, then we are probably not profiling people. On the other hand, when we see injustice, and especially if the injustice is racially motivated, we HAVE to speak up.

I used to believe that racism was dead except in the minds of people who were paranoid about discrimination. Then my family drove through South Carolina on a trip to Disney World, and I saw the ugliest form of racism I have ever seen face-to-face, as a black Walmart employee was scolded in front of me, and in front of all the other (white) employees for speaking to a white man. I was so shocked I'm ashamed to say I was dumbstruck. The white woman had taken over the sale and had the gall to apologize to me for the black employee's behavior. Then I recovered somewhat, and I said it was HER behavior that offended me. Then I apologized to the original sales person, who was obviously afraid to acknowledge my apology. After our vacation, I wrote a lengthy email to Walmart about the incident. I do not recall seeing a response...

Brain Injury

Location of accident

There is a reason this blog has been inactive. Last June (2011) I was hit by a car while I was bicycling for exercise. Initially it seemed I was fine other than suffering from severe vertigo and the nausea that comes with vertigo, but over time, my abilities have progressively continued to decline, or so others tell me. I still hope for eventual recovery.  For every new symptom that appears, older symptoms seem to gradually improve. An example of improvement is my ability to write this post without having to correct severe grammatical errors caused by dropped words and phrases. (I will grammar-check this post before publishing it just in case.)


As I recover, I am building a new blog entitled Resources for Traumatic Brain Injury in which I am building a journal of my experiences. Eventually, I plan for this journal to become part of a larger website that will help others work through the kinds of difficulties I have faced.

Grammar checking for this post was provided by SpellCheckPlus (2012).




Resources:

Give it Up: Lent 2012

Lent Calendar (UCCGU, 2012)

The following Bible verse was copied from the New King James version of the Bible. The words “Jacob” and “Israel” were replaced with “(insert name)” as suggested in an article I read on a United Church of Christ resources website (Robinson, 2010).



Isaiah 43:1-7
New King James Version (NKJV)

The Redeemer of Israel (Isaiah 43:1) 
But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O (insert name),
And He who formed you, O (insert name):
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4 Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

Originally, I planned to blatantly copy all of the material from this page of the UCC website and republish it, but when I attempted to get permission, I was asked to pay a small and reasonable fee for the privilege, which I’m too cheap to do, so instead of republishing their material, I will just provide links to their website. (Notice the calendar image and its caption link to the full calendar, and the credited references below.)


(Use of this material should not be understood as a general endorsement of the United Church of Christ denomination.)

References:

Robinson, Anthony B. (2010, March 5). Give up emptiness [Web log post]. https://secure3.convio.net/ucc/TPP/Lent-Devotional-Preview_Page_2.gif

UCCGU. (2012). Give it up: Lent devotional 2012. The Pilgrim Press: UCC Resources. Retrieved from
https://secure3.convio.net/ucc/site/Ecommerce/364127688?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=40821&store_id=1401

I LOVE ECONOMIC INEQUALITY!

Wow! I LOVE Santorum's line in the sand. What a way to distinguish himself from Obama! 

Inequality is as essential to life as pain. We might win votes by promising to eliminate pain, but we would be lying if we promised we could do it, and to what ever extent we DID eliminate pain, we would be creating useless junkies who have no reason to live. Embrace the pain! 

Love economic inequality. It is the air, food, and water that lets us live! Inequality enables motivation; it is the music and soul that makes life worth-while. Join Santurom, and declare your love for economic inequality!

Big Media's Continuing War Against Free Expression

In response to an article I read today about yet another encroachment on our rights, I decided to revisit my complaints about unreasonable changes to copyright laws over the last 25 years, and the even more unreasonable encroachments on our rights in the name of enforcement.

Big Media is a threat to free speech and free expression. In 1980 they successfully lobbied to double the time before copyrights expire, then in 2000, they doubled the time again. Slowly the encroachment on the public's rights continues to grow in the name of protecting authors who will never live as long as their copyrights. It's time to stop the encroachment on our rights, limit copyrights to their traditional lifespans, and protect consumer rights and fair use.

Big Media does not need Government protection. We don't need an entertainment monopoly. We need freedom so that individuals have the ability to compete. Please DO NOT support bills that encroach on the public's rights to make fair use of various media on the internet, and please REPEAL the recent unreasonable extensions of copyrights that have been made in the last 25 years.

Windows 7 Private Vs.Public Network Security Problem

For some time now I have been struggling with an annoying problem with my Laptop computer. I am confident my home network has adequate security for wireless use, and I want to be able to share resources on my computer with other computers on my home network. However, when I take the computer to a coffee shop, I don't want those services to be available. The simple answer was to set up very strict security rules for "public" networks, and to leave them relaxed for my home network.

Last May or so, Windows 7 security decided that my home network is a public network, apparently because I connect to it wirelessly. It did not provide me with any means to change that setting. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling my wireless drivers several times. Eventually, I started relaxing my public security settings so I could use my computer at home.

Finally I decided to research the problem. Apparently Microsoft decided that since the most common private network address range is used almost universally in coffee shops, that the default address range commonly used by home wireless routers is public by definition. (viper1ab, 2010)

Fortunately, I found instructions to override this setting. These instructions are my adaptation of Bill Grant's solution to a similar problem reported on Microsoft's TechNet support forum: (The first four items were copied directly from Bill Grant's post. I removed some details that did not apply to my situation, and I added the fifth instruction.)

1. Start --> run --> MMC --> press enter
2. In MMC console , from menu file select Add/Remove Snap-in
3. Select Group Policy Object editor --> Press Add --> select Local computer --> press OK -->press OK
4. Open Computer configration -->Windows Settings -->Security Settings -->select Network list manger policies on the right side you will see options for your home network.
5. Double-click your home network, and change the status of the network to private in the properties form.

(Grant, B., 2010)

Now I can re-assert my strict security rules for public networks, and enjoy relaxed rules on my home wireless network!


Resource:

viper1ab. (2010, February 1). Home Network changes to Public when enabling ICS for Wireless Broadband connection [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/826902d9-8fee-47fe-8e5d-99be6f7e60c0

Grant, B. (2010, February 2). Home Network changes to Public when enabling ICS for Wireless Broadband connection [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/826902d9-8fee-47fe-8e5d-99be6f7e60c0

How I disabled in-text advertising from Infolinks

I frequently do internet research. A frequent annoyance that costs me time and has even caused me to loose important articles has been the in-text "pop-up" advertising scripts from Infolinks.com. Today the problem happened again, and I decided to do something about it. First, I right-clicked on the web page (using Chrome) and I selected "view source." Then I looked for the name of advertiser "infolinks" in the code. I found the hard-coded address in a javascript link.

I tried adding the address to my hosts file, linking it to the loopback address of my own computer, <127.0.0.1>. In previous versions of Windows, that addition would have been sufficient to block an address. (Don't edit the hosts file without researching the topic first. You can disable web access entirely if you do it wrong.) I have used the hosts file in Windows 7 to enable my computer to find addresses on my own home network, but I had never used it to block an address. In Windows 7, it appears this method does not seem to work as a way to bock addresses.

I had to add the address to my firewall. In this case, I added the address only to my local computer's firewall, but I may choose to block it from my router as well.

To add the address to my firewall, I needed the actual IP address. To get the IP address, I "pinged" the URL . I typed "cmd" in the search/run text box from the start button form, using this command to open a console window (DOS emulator). In the console window, I typed "ping resources.infolinks.com" I wrote down the address. Then I typed "ping www.infolinks.com," and I wrote down that address also.

I opened my firewall program, selected "advanced," added a new outbound rule, and accepted all the default values. Then, under the "Scope" tab on the firewall "properties" window. I added the two numeric addresses I had pinged.

Previously an article I could not read because it was littered with advertising "land mines," is now readable!

I support internet advertising. I especially like Google's unobtrusive ads like the ones on this page that don't get in the way of reading, and help pay to provide a free internet experience for all of us, but ads must never impede access to information.

Popup ads should be illegal. They never serve consumers. They impede or sometimes even prevent access to information. Sometimes they masquerade as the information they prevent users from accessing. By causing users to legitimately attempt to block their unwanted intrusions, popup ads cause legitimate popup response forms to be blocked as well.

I want to encourage my fellow internet users to avoid accessing sites or purchasing products that make use of popup advertising. Please pass this information along to others. Together, we can make the internet the productive and useful tool for education, communication (and business) that it was designed to be.