Recent Supreme Court Decisions - Property Rights

Many of you are wondering why I haven't written a thing about the Court's decision that effectively abolished private property. Well, I'm still collecting my thoughts on the issue. So far, here's what we have:

1) This is clearly in violation of the Constitution.
2) This destroys a large part of what makes America, America.
3) Seizing the justice's home in order to build a hotel is an ingenious idea.
4) Thomas Jefferson said that we should have a revolution every 200 years, just keep everything in check. He was right. We're overdue.
5) I find it interesting that GW Bush hasn't said anything about the court's decision.

Those five points are about it. Doesn't make for a very long post, now does it?

Crispy

US-CERT TA05-180A -- VERITAS Backup Exec Software is actively being exploited

Technical: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA05-180A.html

Crispy

US-CERT ST05-013 -- Guidelines for Publishing Information Online

Non-technical: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST05-013.html


Crispy

Survived, Again

Quick update:

Got back from vacation this evening.

Seems I have a knack for this shark thing. I met another one in the water this weekend. No injuries, thank God.

I have jury duty tomorrow. Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully they assign me to a case early in the day. I hate sitting around wasting time. My self-provided reading will be "Band of Brothers".

Thank you for reading, carry on.

Crispy

See, I Told You So

Note to readers: See the footnotes as you read through the post. Do not read the footnotes once you've read everything else, otherwise things will fly right over your head.

I live in one of the areas of Florida where the real estate values have gone up 40% in an extremely short period of time. Through my various travels about, I have run into people who are openly rejoicing that their $180,000 house is now "worth" $300,000.*

I was recently talking with an individual who I consider to be a spoiled numbskull. She has never worked a day in her life (20 or so years) & receives everything she has from mommy & daddy. While discussing some current happenings and playing a small game of "I care about what you have to say", she reveled that her father was going to sell their current house & purchase a new one. I questioned if this was the right time to be purchasing a new home since the already-normally-inflated-Florida housing market was in more than a 40% bubble. She dismissed my inquiry because her father "has been doing this stuff for a long time & he's really good at it". Oh, okay. So what you're saying is that even though our current situation mirrors that of the 1920's, prior to the Great Depression to the "T", ** this is still a great time to buy? So the mortgage that he is going to have to pay off, once this bubble either pops or begins to deflate, is going to be at least 25% over the then-value of the home?

When Greenspan says the same thing I'm saying, be afraid. Be very afraid.


*First off, something is only "worth" what another is willing to pay for it. Secondly, a house does not have equity until you have sold it and you are holding the cash in your hand. Until that time, "equity" is only an imaginary number, rather, it is only an idea. **One of the underlying weaknesses was the heavy reliance on credit throughout the US. Once families had maxed out their credit with various businesses, they refinanced their homes (remember our friend equity?) just to grab that last drop of cash. There was also the issue of uneven distribution of income & wealth. I do not have the exact figures in front of me but a clear majority of the money was control by a less than 10% of the population. Look around you. Do you see all these people driving new $40,000+ vehicles? Do you think they paid cash for that? Ever notice all of the sudden your neighbor gets two new cars/SUVs within a month of each other & suddenly they are getting a pool & granite counter tops installed? Where did that money come from? Reliance on credit & "equity".


Crispy

VD on Etiquette

Vox writes (in part):

Today, I found myself sitting ten feet away from a pair of bead-wearing hippy revivalists who were making out as if the sidewalk on the corner was the girl's basement couch. It took some self-control to resist the urge to walk over, unzip my pants and start taking a piss right next to them.

Hey, what's it to you, man? Just doing my thing, dig?

I love this guy. "Bead-wearing hippy revivalists", I need to add that one to my list.

Crispy

US-CERT TA05-165A -- Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

Technical: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA05-165A.html

Non-technical: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/alerts/SA05-165A.html


When I ran Windows Update, it contained 6 (security patches) critical updates and the Malicious Software Removal tool (monthly release). I recommend running Windows Update as soon as possible. Or, make the move the Linux.

Crispy

Where are the Feminists?

Just another one of my frustrated with stupidity posts...

Take a look at this film (Thanks Bareknucklepolitics.) and tell that Islam is a religion of peace. This was recorded back in 2001 and took place in the Afghanistan city of Kabul. Why aren't the FemiNazis complaining about this yet?

Crispy

US-CERT ST05-012 -- Supplementing Passwords

Non-technical: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST05-012.html

Crispy

P.S. - Now that I'm back in town for about a week, maybe I'll find something worthwhile to write about in the next few days. Check back soon.

Alas, I have been tagged

CD, over at Semi-Intelligent Thoughts, has virtually tagged Yours Truly. Standby for five short questions and five not-so-necessarily-short answers.



1. Total number of films I own on DVD/video:

I don't really keep a running inventory of such a thing, but I would guess around 30-40.


2. Last film I bought:

Too long ago to remember. Very few movies are worth purchasing these days. The next film I will buy will probably be Collateral or Boondock Saints.


3. The last film I watched:

They called that mistake, "Assault on Precinct 13". I was ready to Assault on the DVD Player at about ten minutes into it. Don't even waste your time to fulfill your curiosity.


4. List five films that I watch a lot of that mean a lot to me:

Terminator 2
Top Gun
Collateral; also see this page.
Black Hawk Down
Boondock Saints

If you had to check out any of those links to learn about those movies, I pity you.


5. Tag five people and have them put this in their journal/blog:

Since I don't believe in forwarding chain-emails (and I don't follow who reads), I'm not going to call out other people to make chain-blog entries. (See The Internet Soapbox). If you would like to participate, feel free to send in a trackback via Haloscan. It'll be interesting to see if I get any trackbacks on this, though.



I hope you all enjoyed that quick glimpse into the dark recesses of the place I like to call "My Mind".

Stay Safe,
Crispy