Great Poetry Reading Day and Kiss-Your-Mate Day – April 28

April 28th
Great Poetry Reading Day and Kiss-Your-Mate Day

Always kiss my mate so that part is covered….but the great poetry reading…I enjoy poetry but it’s not been my big fortes in reading, however…

The following poem at first reminded me of Boromir from Lord of the Rings Book One – The Fellowship of the Ring. I am sure that Tolkien and Walt Whitman were fans of each other, one way or another. Even if not, it still reminded me of the character of Boromir in the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. You remember the scene? When Boromir was dying and the conversation between Aragorn and Boromir?

I would have followed you my brother … my captain … my King. Boromir to Aragorn – The Fellowship of the Ring movie – winter-minds Tumblr

O Captain! My Captain! 

by Walt Whitman

1

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

2

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

3

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain! – Famous Poets and Poems

Yeah, I know. It’s not truly related, in fact the roles are almost reversed, but there are similarities between the poem and the movie in the feelings they both invoke.

In the poem, the Captain is the one who dies, but there are still the same feelings; tragedy, loss, reverence, affection, brotherhood, love.

In the movie, Boromir gives his allegiance to ‘my brother, my captain, my King.’ at the point of death, as Aragorn gives an oath he would not have given in times past. A terrible fate for such a hero, despite his being lured by the ring off and on during the journey. I think everyone knew it was the ring and that he wouldn’t have done that otherwise. A failing that he more than made up for by giving his life defending Merry and Pippin. Of course, it was also the turning point for Aragorn as he begins his long journey to become King; a fate he would not have previously chosen for himself.

Am I the only one who made some connection between these two upon seeing the movie?

Confrontation With TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa’s Ashes On Floor

Confrontation With TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa’s Ashes On Floor – RTV6 ABC – TheIndyChannel.com

“They opened up my bag, and I told them, ‘Please, be careful. These are my grandpa’s ashes,’” Gross told RTV6′s Norman Cox. “She picked up the jar. She opened it up.

“I was told later on that she had no right to even open it, that they could have used other devices, like an X-ray machine. So she opened it up. She used her finger and was sifting through it. And then she accidentally spilled it.”

Yeah, she opened it alright. She opened it, sifted through it with her finger and proceeded to spill some of the ashes on the terminal floor. Then laughed at him as he tried to scoop them up.

The man wants an apology from the TSA and the woman who violated his grandfather’s remains and to know how they get off treating people like this.

I would further add that it is abhorrent that anyone should have to pay for this kind of abuse just to fly home with the human remains of their grandfather.

This and so many other incidents since the TSA took over securty at airports — and they are expanding their reach! Unbelievable that this type of thing could happen in a “free” country.

I guess this abusive behavior will forever be linked with all the other insane treatments of airline passengers — PAYING CUSTOMERS — American Citizens — at airports in their own country like the ones in this article:

TSA Government Manipulation and Humiliation

A list of items that the TSA has done over time. And yes, there have been more! And this one will now be linked with it as well.

I will have to update the above article to include this new one, and add some of the other more recent TSA events to keep them all on one place.

Why can’t Siri announce caller name

Everyone is so hyped about the possibility of an iWatch. An iWatch certainly would be awesome, especially if Apple does it. But they still haven’t been able to get a built-in standard feature.

Seems to me it would be more important to get Siri to announce a caller’s name like any old LG phone like the enVTouch can do.

Why should I have to trust a third party app that takes forever to assign individual ringtones to each Contact’s ID… just to get it to do something as standard as speaking the caller ID, even if it only did the caller ID as a Contact name it would be awesome.

The only other way apparently is to turn on VoiceOver in the Settings > General > Accessibility. Whenever you receive a call it will automatically speak the callers name. This from the Verizon Announce Caller forum posting and the person also said,

But as a heads up, the Voice Over feature is designed to speak everything you touch on the phone and will change the way your phone is used.

Sigh…

Google Chrome and Safari Certificate insecure

I have had a few issues with certificates over time in Google Chrome and Safari.

NOTE: Firefox and Opera had no such issues. This was truly a Mac OS X Keychain issue that affected both Google Chrome and Safari.

They both trust the Mac OS X Keychain.

OK, so what was this all about. LastPass.com is something that some folks have started using because it just makes life easier. And it has been thoroughly tested by many geeks that I know. So I wanted to test it out as well.

I recently had an issue with LastPass.com’s certificate and it is from a well-known certificate provider. And not one of the less inexpensive ones either.

I searched and got a bunch of possibilities, none of which worked.

I finally went back to Safari to see if they had a way to fix the certificate issue since Google Chrome was a dead end on any possible fix.

Sure enough. There was a way to fix it using Safari. And voila now it works great  in both Safari and Google Chrome. Just have to look at the Certificate and it offers the fix by changing the settings through Safari’s Certificate viewer.

Basically does the same thing as opening the OS X’s Keychain Access in the Utilities folder. I had already tried that earlier several times with password lock open and it even prompted for password, but it didn’t work! And I know that you have to make at least a single change for it to actually fix anything you try to fix in the Keychain Access App. But as I say, it didn’t work.

But doing it through Safari did. Now I can get to LastPass.com with no problems and securely … no more complaining about the certificate that was already working fine in Firefox and Opera.

Even after syncing on iOS with iTunes after fixing it in Safari and Google Chrome, no go on LastPass app working though.

Likely need Premium. And no way to test that, since no trial available like there is on Android Google Play.

Yep. That’s what that was apparently. The Premium LastPass app works fine. Just deleted the iOS 6 LastPass Wallet after it auto populated with the Premium LastPass. I don’t keep any financial stuff in there but for personal prefs for some sites it’s a very nice program. And everything is encrypted and if I lose the password … then it’s my own daggone fault.

Quote by Martin Luther King

“When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.”

~ Martin Luther King

 

Quite the thought there…

Internet Freedom Day

Internet Freedom Day

One year ago we defeated SOPA.
Today, celebrate your freedom of expression.
January 18th is #InternetFreedomDay
What’s something you love on the net that you’d never want to see censored?

There are lots of great things we can do to celebrate this very important anniversary of
beating SOPA one year ago today! Check out a few of them at:

www.InternetFreedomDay.net

and do what you can to
celebrate the one year anniversary of beating SOPA today!

And don’t forget: Aaron Swartz was instrumental in helping to beat SOPA!

____

Not sure what it’s all about? Check out the following article:

The Day Wikipedia Went Dark - Boston Review

Many sites, including all of my websites went dark that day!

As was noted in the article:

The free Internet will rise or fall on the involvement and ingenuity of the people, not on courts or lawmakers.

Internet Freedom Day: Coming together a year after SOPA/PIPA – EFF.org

Internet Freedom Day: Celebrate SOPA/PIPA Victory One Year Later!

Reform Draconian Computer Crime Law

Reform Draconian Computer Crime Law – EFF.org

The tragic death of Aaron Swartz, a 26-year-old coder and social activist, has shone a light on the sad truth about America’s misguided computer crime law, the breadth of discretion given to overzealous prosecutors, and the unjust results that can occur when these two things work together. For instance, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has vague language that broadly criminalizes accessing a computer without “authorization,” but doesn’t explain what that actually means. It also contains heavy-handed penalties and shows no regard for whether an act was done to further the public good.

With Aaron Swartz, we saw the very real cost of these draconian laws: a young programmer and freedom-fighter committed suicide rather than face the potential of years in prison for a victimless act performed out of the belief that all people — not just those in ivory towers or with financial means — deserve access to academic and scientific knowledge.

While there are always many factors when someone takes their own life, the specter of being incarcerated for years should never have been one that haunted Aaron.

Over the past two years, Aaron was forced to devote much of his energy and resources to fighting a relentless and unjust felony prosecution brought by Justice Department attorneys in Massachusetts. His alleged crimes stemmed from using MIT’s famously open computer network to download millions of academic articles from the online academic archive JSTOR, allegedly without “authorization.” For that, he faced 13 felony counts, mainly under the CFAA. The charges carried the possibility of decades in prison and crippling fines.

Brilliant, talented, visionary people should be spending their time building our future, not worrying about wasting away in prison. Congress must start by updating the CFAA to ensure the penalties actually make sense in light of the behavior they’re meant to punish.

“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. I think a lot of what people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.” ~ Aaron Swartz (1986 – 2013) (image from EFF.org)

“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. I think a lot of what people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.”

~ Aaron Swartz (1986 – 2013)

 

Reform Draconian Computer Crime Law – EFF.org

The Truth about Aaron Swartz

The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime” by Unhandled.com

If the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, so be it, but in the meantime I feel a responsibility to correct some of the erroneous information being posted as comments to otherwise informative discussions at Reddit, Hacker News and Boing Boing. Apparently some people feel the need to self-aggrandize by opining on the guilt of the recently departed, and I wanted to take this chance to speak on behalf of a man who can no longer defend himself. I had hoped to ask Aaron to discuss these issues on the Defcon stage once he was acquitted, but now that he has passed it is important that his memory not be besmirched by the ignorant and uninformed. I have confirmed with Aaron’s attorneys that I am free to discuss these issues now that the criminal case is moot.

I was the expert witness on Aaron’s side of US vs Swartz, engaged by his attorneys last year to help prepare a defense for his April trial. Until Keker Van Nest called iSEC Partners I had very little knowledge of Aaron’s plight, and although we have spoken at or attended many of the same events we had never once met.

This posting is well worth reading by everyone! Thanks so much for this posting. I think we all need to hear this.

It is so sad to see another young talented hacker gone now under this type of sad situation. The loss to the world I think will be great in the long run.

My deepest condolences to Aaron’s family and friends. I couldn’t believe it when I read about this and we did discuss it during our show last night over at CNIRadio.com (JimmyLee and Bambi Show).

It is so frustrating when lies and half truths are what seem to get out to the general public. Thankfully I had read several accounts about it at DemandProgress Support Aaron Swartz Petition (which I signed when it came out), and postings and articles after his death on Slashdot, Reddit and at Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow so it was clearer what was doing on. Cory’s posting was very helpful.

And of course this posting on Unhandled.com. Thank you for posting it Alex Stamos.

Rest in peace, Aaron Swartz. A man of many talents and one who just wanted to see the injustices of the world resolved in the best possible way.

When there’s a problem, you shouldn’t get angry with the gears—you should fix the machine.
~ Aaron Swartz (via Aaron Greenspan)

Aaron is dead.

Wanderers in this crazy world,
we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.

Hackers for right, we are one down,
we have lost one of our own.

Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,
parents all,
we have lost a child.

Let us all weep.

timbl

EDIT: Added links –

Official Statement – Josh Marshall – January 12, 2013 – TPM (TalkingPointsMemo)

The inspiring heroism of Aaron Swartz – Glenn Greenwald – theguardian

Aaron Swartz – Wikipedia

Posthumously pardon Aaron Swartz – Petition – Whitehouse.gov

Aaron Swartz’s memorial service – Boing Boing

Prosecutor as bully – Lessig Blog, v2

The Death of Aaron Swartz – Aaron Greenspan ~ Writing

Remembering Aaron Swartz – FreePress.net

Family of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz accuse ‘bully’ lawyers and MIT of driving him to suicide as he faced 30 years in jail – dailymail.co.uk

Farewell to Aaron Swartz, an Extraordinary Hacker and Activist – EFF.org

Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer, Found Dead Amid Prosecutor ‘Bullying’ In Unconventional Case – HuffingtonPost

Aaron Swartz (AaronSwartz.com) and Weblog – Aaron Swartz – Raw Thoughts (one of the items he pasted back in 2009 – A Life Offline)

Remember Aaron Swartz – Tumblr

Petition for MIT to apologize for role in Aaron Swartz prosecution – MIT Society of Open Science – January 14, 2013 Blog posting

Aaron Swartz, hero of the open world, dies – Internet Archive Blog

Remembering Aaron Swartz – Lawrence Lessig – CreativeCommons.org

Freedom to Connect: Aaron Swartz (1986-2013) on Victory to Save Open Internet, Fight Online Censors – DemocracyNow! (includes Aaron’s speech about Saving Open Internet, Freedom To Connect, SOPA, PIPA)

Remember Aaron Swartz – RememberAaronSW.com - In memory of Aaron, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. (includes Official statement from family and partner of Aaron Swartz)

A time for silence – Lessig Blog v2

Happy New Year!

Last year I posted a Happy Christmas Eve! posting. I hope everyone had a very Happy Christmas again this year. This year I figured I would do a Happy New Year one.

Some from around the world, Australia, New Zealand, the Islands, and maybe even some from the Far East have already experienced the 2013 New Year, and we will also be experiencing it very soon. Here Midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST) about eight and a half hours from now….So Happy New Year 2013 to everyone!

Happy New Year 2013!

And some words of wisdom from some great writers and thinkers:

He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool.
~F.M. Knowles

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. ~Mark Twain

Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. ~Oscar Wilde

New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. ~Joey Adams

Lunar Impact Site Named After Sally Ride

Lunar Impact Site Named After Sally Ride – Science@NASA

Dec. 18, 2012: NASA has named the site where twin gravity probes hit the Moon yesterday in honor of the late astronaut, Sally K. Ride, who was America’s first woman in space and a member of the probes’ mission team.

On Dec. 14th, Ebb and Flow, the two spacecraft of NASA’s GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission, were commanded to descend into a lower orbit and target a mountain near the Moon’s north pole. The formation-flying duo hit the lunar surface as planned at 5:28:51 p.m. EST and 5:29:21 p.m. EST on Dec. 17th at a speed of 3,760 mph. The location of the Sally K. Ride Impact Site is on the southern face of an approximately 1.5 mile-tall mountain near a crater named Goldschmidt.

“Sally Ride worked tirelessly throughout her life to remind all of us, especially girls, to keep questioning and learning,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. “Today her passion for making students part of NASA’s science is honored by naming the impact site for her.”

Much more in the article over at Science@NASA.

It was so sad to lose Sally Ride in July 2012.

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American physicist and astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978 and, at the age of 32, became the first American woman to enter into low Earth orbit in 1983.

SallyRideScience - Sally Ride Science™ is an innovative science education company. Dr. Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space, founded the company to educate, engage, and inspire all students. The company brings science to life through pioneering professional development, instructional solutions, and real-science investigations for students in 4th-8th grades.