I feel that I really need to mention this site: RescueTime Time Management –> http://www.rescuetime.com/

it is simply amazing. I lose track very easily of what i’m doing, and i get distracted very easily. It is a recognized problem that I have, and being that I work from home, i am even more prone to procrastination. These last 7 months or so have been a new challenge for me, and i havent adapted well. I have become depressed and lost track of things, i have offset my sleep cycle, and i have lost touch a few times in my relationship and also with friends. Time managment is a hurdle i have yet to cross, but I’m working on it. this little app has been a companion this past weekend, and so far i LOVE it. it installs a small app on your system, and that reports back to their website what youre doing. kinda big brother, on yourself. I belive it also has the ability to create reports for project managers and companies. there is a paid subscription, but for the common user its free. either way, its WORTH it.

It manages which websites you go to, you can tag them and rate them on how productive they are, based on a -2 to +2 scale. it also reports which apps you use, and those are taggable also. its fairly good at auto tagging for you also!

The dashboard (online) has graphs and charts for you, and works well and fast. you can set up goals you want to meet, and it also has an alert service by email, SMS or in RSS format.

for free, you really have to try this out. i highly recommend it. again..

http://www.rescuetime.com/

Twice now, I’ve received an IM message from “ImplicitTrout”. The first, I ignored. I blocked, and was done with. Alas, that was on my laptop. I just now sign on to IM on my desktop, and low and behold, Mr Trout shows back up.

This caught my interest a little, because random bots usually don’t contact the same person twice, with the same screen name, so.. i asked who it was, and they replied with, “someone who doesn’t want to talk… going to sleep!”

They told me that I had messaged them first, which i clearly did not, and now im intrigued.With a little search, and very few results, i found out that this is actually a bot that takes 2 random screennames found on livejournal or devianrtArt (possibly others) and messages them both with a random phrase. then sends the replies to eachother. it filters out any attempt to tell the other your really screenname, and even the word “bot”

Its an interesting attempt to get two random people to talk to eachother. Keep an eye out for “ImplicitTrout, GeneticTrout, HellishTrout, PetTrout, etc… basically, “<randomword>Trout”

It is a bot, but on the other end is a real person. if you wish to tell the other party your real screen name, space out the letters or wrap it in XX or soemthing to obscure it from the bot’s filter.

you can also point them to this post, or Trout Mystery: Solved « The Chaos Fold

seriously guys. we warned you about Katrina, now here’s your warning about Gustav. if you stick around and “ride it out” youre just gonna die, drown, get flooded, or waste more tax dollars. learn from your mistakes.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE

Holy shit man! there is something weird going on in down here on earth. Dead celebrities all week.. Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes (Chef), the tallest lady. Now we find out some dudes in Northern GA found a bigfoot body!

and now, and NOW there’s a fucking chupucabra video in Texas? What the hell!

Chupucabra, the Texas Goat Sucker

I swear, the aliens are coming for bush, and the animals are running. We’re fuct.

I’m not usually the one to fall under the category of the “classic nutjob conspiracy theorist”, but an article that i just read did get some wheels turning. I’d made me think, “what if”

Here is the body of the article, it was written by Edgar J. Steele:

War Alert

This is going to be quick and dirty today. No cute cartoons. No philosophizing. We haven’t time for any of that today.

____________

War Alert!
By Edgar J. Steele
8-9-8

This is going to be quick and dirty today. No cute cartoons. No philosophizing. We haven’t time for any of that today.

I believe we are on the verge of the outbreak of World War III. Right now.

If I’m wrong, then so be it. I’ll apologize for being overreactive later. Too much hangs in the balance if I am right. Treat it as an exercise if you like. A practice for when the real thing happens, because you can be sure the real thing will happen … and soon.

For those who follow my writings and know just how right I usually am, be advised that I consider this to be very likely in the very near term (within the next week or two), highly likely within the next month or two and dead certain within the next year or two. I am uncertain only about the timing, not the outcome. The outcome is worldwide war, of course, and the likely defeat of America.

There is a convergence of factors just now that, taken together, suggest something momentous in the offing. Do your own googling and research to pull up articles. Today, I am just going to rattle them off, rather than tie in URLs for your ease in reference.

Huge Naval Armada Steams for Persian Gulf

The largest US/EU naval armada assembled since the start of Gulf War I now is taking up station just outside and inside the Persian Gulf, with significant battle groups just coming off an extensive joint military exercise timed to end just now. America never will be more ready to take on Iran, or so it thinks.

The US has announced its intention to emplace a naval blockade of Iran. That, in itself, is an act of war under international law. Never mind that Iran has done nothing to deserve this. Neither Russia nor China, strategic trading partners of Iran’s will take this lying down.

Russia Invades Georgia - Does this stymie Russia for a time?

Georgia, the ex-Soviet province, now is a member of NATO. We are bound to protect NATO members, don’t forget. Georgia just attacked its own breakaway province of Ossetia, which has aligned itself with Mother Russia, despite Ossetia’s being guaranteed independence since 1992. Russia has responded with a military incursion of its own that can be expected to include all of Georgia. Was this orchestrated at this strategic time to occupy and distract Russia from an Iranian invasion?

Russia is a superpower still, make no mistake, capable of fighting on several fronts. Russia has stated that an attack on Iran, due to Russia’s own national interests, will be viewed as an attack on Russia. This is not complicated, except in the drug- and alcohol-addled mind of George W. Bush.

Just-Completed Israeli War Games Simulated Iran Invasion

Israel just completed a massive military war game exercise that simulated the full-on invasion of Iran. Israel never will be more ready to take on Iran.

Us Anti-Iran Rhetoric Just Ratcheted Up Several Notches

American traitor and main Jewish cheerleader for Israel, Senator Joe Lieberman, just called for the invasion of Iran, saying that its rhetoric constitutes a “war crime.” Dick Cheney just amped up his own rhetoric and has gone on the circuit, plumping for an invasion of Iran. General US anti-Iran rhetoric has gone up significantly in the past few weeks and days.

Olympic Games Just Began - Does this stymie China for a time?

China, the perennial wild card, now is on center stage for the world during the coming two weeks’ Olympic Games, with its hands tied. No matter what goes on elsewhere, China simply cannot afford either to move against Taiwan (widely expected during the next military over-extension by America) or pop up in defense of any country being savaged by the US or its minions.

Whatever happens in the next two weeks, rest assured that China then will have a free hand to do whatever it wants. China depends upon Iran for a goodly amount of oil imports. Do the math.

US Stock Market Suddenly Boosted When It Should Have Dropped Precipitously

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both just announced multi-billion-dollar quarterly losses, along with record losses being reported by most corporations. Together with world events and the dollar’s weakening, the foreclosure crisis, massive bailouts on every front and mounting unemployment, the stock market should be crashing. Inexplicably, suddenly US stocks are soaring. Go figure.

Manipulation, of course. More of what they’ve been doing since 1995, designed to delude American investors and the public in general. Move along. Nothing is happening here. Yeah, right. Well, plenty is happening here and this house of cards quite simply cannot stand much longer.

Precious Metals Hammered Unmercifully and Unaccountably

Oddly enough, though money is being created at a record rate, thereby diluting the purchasing power of the existing money supply, the dollar suddenly is soaring, having risen from the ashes now to stand tall at nearly 76. Just a week or two ago, the dollar was in danger of slipping beneath 70. Obviously, the dollar is being artificially manipulated by the government, largely at the expense of precious metals prices, which have been hammered down at record rates in the past few days, the dollar belies its inherent weakness. Again, this cannot long endure.

What to do? Buy physical silver and do it now - this is the last time you will see silver in the $15 range.

US Economy About to Crash and Burn

It daily becomes more obvious just how precarious is the American economy. The bad news can be papered over with market manipulation just so long, then the manipulation actually accelerates the decline. We are very near the tipping point, I believe. The catastrophic result, Depression II, now is baked into the cake. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Traditionally, war is used to distract a population saddled with economic catastrophe, don’t forget.

US Air Force Joins the Others with a Jew at the Head

The US Air Force’s commanding general has just been replaced with a Jew. The army long has been in the hands of one Jewish general after another and the Marine Corp’s top general was replaced with a Jew recently, too. I don’t care just how anti-Semitic you might take my pointing this out as being. Facts are facts. Consider how obvious the fact is that our current Middle East warmongering is in support of Israeli (Jewish) interests. Now there is no chance whatsoever that American military units will act against Israel’s interests.

Obama May be About to be Elected

I think the possibility of Obama being elected has the powers that be scared, in that they cannot be certain that he will dance to their tune. This accelerates the need to do something while Shabbats Goyim George W. Bush still occupies the White House.

Next, look for a US aircraft carrier to be sunk with all hands lost.

This is the classic ploy, just as in all past wars. Sunk by Israelis, most likely, but blamed on Iran to provide the pretext for a coordinated attack. Which is the oldest, most obsolete carrier now on station in the Gulf? Like all the obsolete iron left out to dry by Roosevelt in Pearl Harbor, America will lose a symbolic asset while the key will be the loss of life: about three or four thousand dead Americans is the way they think now, in order to get the American public on board in full outrage - the full complement of one of our carriers today.

Then - Martial Law and a National Draft

Expect some incident within America, possibly just as home-grown as was 9/11, to justify the imposition of martial law. Prepare your children for the prospect of a national draft.

What to Do?

Get out of the cities. If I were Iran, I would have prepositioned nuclear weapons throughout the US at strategic locations, most of which coincide with metropolitan areas. Keep in mind that Iranians are not Arabs - they are Aryan. They cannot be expected to roll over and react with nothing but rhetoric, as we have seen before, most notably in Iraq.

Stock up on food and water. It is too late to order from the dehydrated food suppliers, though I have just received an order from Alpine Aire, thanks to the good folks at http://www.homestylemercantile.com/ . Call them and see what they might be able to do for you in whatever time might be left. Go to your supermarket and stock up on canned and dried foods. Put as much away as your funds and storage space will allow. A year’s worth is not out of the question.

Keep your vehicle gas tanks filled and fill up some spare 5-gallon containers with fuel, as well. Have your way out of the city planned in advance.

Though prices have risen dramatically and supplies are much curtailed, get the other white metal - lead - well stocked, along with several weapons for self defense.

Get ready for a possible viral pandemic, similar to the 1917 Spanish Flu - this means, be prepared to quarantine your family for weeks, if not months.

If, after all preparations noted above, you happen to have any money left at all, convert it into anything silver or gold. The dollar is toast.

How will things go for America? Badly. Reread Defensive Racism for my take on things, which so far are playing out just as I have foreseen them.

Good luck and God bless us all, every one. See you on the other side.

New America. An idea whose time has come.

-ed

I’m just wondering, What if? What if he’s right? What if we will see WWIII, before the end of Bush’s term. Will obama even be elected, will he be able to stop the balls in motion? It’s just a little unnerving to think that we may actually be on the virge of the biggest depression ever. I might in 6 months be converted from sitting here in my A/C office to a shanty town with nothing. I might be a Vagabond driving with family from town to town, bartering for food and valuables. The economy is down, thats no lie. But the stocks are up? whats with that, how does that even happen? Will I be forced into a draft? will I be fighting across the seas in an epic battle that bush and cheney dreamed up? this doesnt feel like a story book, it feels like the visions of a future history book. i dont like this.

I should probably go to the ammo store and buy some rounds just for peace of mind.

Oh, here is a link to the originating website:
http://dprogram.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/war-alert/

In a recent effort to track RSS clicks and see who’s subscribing to my feeds in my GA control panel, i thought of something interesting. Flash/Flex doesn’t really have a way of communicating actions to the Google Analytics urchin to tell the tracking system what the user is doing. since google perceives it as one object.

I’m sure they’re working on something, but in the mean time.. chew on this:

Flash buttons/Movie clips, anything can have an action associated ot it. you can use the getURL() function to call a javascript within the page, so try it. Attach this to a button in flash and see if it shows up in your GA account as a recorded hit:

javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/something/i/want-to-track');

It’s just an idea, i havent tried it yet, but it should work.Just make sure the script source and GA code they provide is on the page before the flash object.

Hopefully everyone remembered you today!

I never really understood the idea of jacking up prices or buying low and selling high. I know its price and demand, but its stupid.

For example, the only true way to make a profit (i believe) is to work. One cant buy Shitty Product A and turn around, with no work, and sell Shitty Product B.  Most people aren’t stupid enough  to buy it. You have to put some work into it.

Example: (bad)
Online Scammers. The lowlifes they are, they buy a shitton of names and email addresses, dump them in a database and mass email for viagra. Do they ever really sell anything from those? I doubt it. The people that do buy will just end up covering their cost of the name purchase.

Example: (good)
Car Dealers. Buy a car at low price(wholesale), clean it up a little, wash it, maybe fix something wrong with it. you put some labor in it, and then sell it for 50% markup. I can understand that. As dishonest as most dealers are, thats an honest living.they can make a profit.

I see making a profit as payment for your work ethic and dedication. you can be paid for your product, and thats business. but its a 1 = 1 scenario. if you want profit, you have to put something in to get something out. as with EVERYTHING in life. we all want 1 = 2.

Recently everything is revolving Net Neutrality, Internet Privacy Laws, or Protecting our rights and privacy online. I agree we should be focusing on that, but maybe we need to go about this privacy thing in a different way. For example, I am pro-gun. I uphold our right to bear arms and protect my house and home. I don’t go waving an ak47 around in children’s faces and sit in camo behind tinted windows saying “Ahm protectin’ mah famuhlee” while drinking a miller. I dont think taking guns off the street and outlawing firearms for law abiding citizens is a good idea. in fact i think its probably by-far the dumbest thing the liberals and left wing crack jobs have ever come up with. However, this isnt about guns, this is about privacy.

Instead of hiding our information online, we need to find a way to protect it better. Someone can go through our trash and steal credit card slips and piece together our common purchases, where we shop, when we shop, how much we spend, how many cards we have, anything and everything.
Its becoming increasingly easier for anyone to do that online, and not have to get all messy with last nights spaghetti to sort through.

Face it, if you buy things on the web, log into an account somewhere, view an ad.. click on anything. Someone, somewhere knows something about you.

Scenario 1) you buy something on eBay (with paypal, an ebay owned corporation) from a home computer. You have default browser settings, and you have an out of date anti virus software, and you don’t have any anti-spyware app.

What’s required to do this:

• You need a paypal account
• you need an ebay account
• you need a credit card (a debit card with a VISA/MC logo works)
• you have an online bank account (what bank doesn’t have this now)

Here’s what happens:

• your IP is recorded with your 3 accounts. Bank, PP, and ebay.
• your general geographic location can be found
• ads are shown on all 3 websites.

As that plays out, the ads shown on each page you view record a few things. typical things. Your IP, Time and Date, the referrer(the previous page), your browser and Operating System, Your last visit to the current site.. and a few others.

The ad company now knows that someone with the IP: 123.321.45.67 does this:

Shops at eBay, has a bank account at Bank of America, has a pay pal account, bought a ceramic dish on ebay, shops usually around 8pm, and last visited ebay in the last 14 days 8 times. say your last referrer was Google, and you searched for “ceramic dishes” and then went to eBay and made your purchase.

they also know you primarily use Google. because of the referrer info.  they know you use windows vista, and internet explorer 7. you also have Norton anti virus installed. (its a plugin for IE7 too)

they left a cookie on your computer, and it said all of that. then it sits and waits to be read again, by another ad from the same company.

you then go and google your name “Jane McDoe orlando” you added orlando because theres another jane mcdoe somewhere. Now they know jane mcdoe, in orlando, who uses bright house for internet (the ip gave that info) uses google, shops online, uses bank of america, and all of the other stuff. They now know who you are and what you do. All you did was make a few clicks.

Well fuck. Sorry jane, you are now the target of online advertising and since you agreed to let ebay sell your information you gave them, including your email address.. don’t be surprised if you start getting spam regarding ceramic dishes in the next few days. oh, and since it was shipped to your home address, paypal knows that, and well, they sold it too.

But wait, “they respect our online privacy”

Yeah, they do, they don’t sell it all or any “personal details” to anyone.

You remember legos? you could mix and match and piece fomr any set and eventually you could build this really cool house. Well, its kinda like that. the scandalous comapny were trying so hard to protect ourselves from is buying sets of legos (our info) in pieces. eventually they can build that house all together and there you are. an entry in a database. everything about you, what you like, what you dont like, EVERYTHING.

What about that spyware bot thing Jane installed? Sorry Jane. its a joke. you created an account, you gave them your password that you use for everything, and you also gave them your email address. just another lego set.

So what can we do about this?

I’ve been fairly safe for years online. I have never had my online privacy broken into (knock on wood), and i have never had my identity stolen. Here’s what Ive done to protect myself.

• Don’t use the same password. Use variations of the similar base, and use symbols. Longer passwords are safer. Every account i have created i have used a different password. Yes its hard to remember, but if you categorize and organize what types of passwords you use, its easier to remeber sets.
• Use a spam email. (gmail works great) youre gonna get spam. youre not gonna get around it, everyone and their third cousin will try and sell youre 3 yr old viagra. if you want a private email, dont give it out. sign up for new accounts with your spam account and let gmail filter the crap out. they do a damn good job.
• pay attention to WHO you give your information to and WHAT information your giving. Nearly every website now will require javascript, cookies, and an account. don’t be so frivolous with your info. you can leave javascript and cookies on, just take out the trash when you’re done. you can set your browser to delete cookie on regular intervals (every 10 days, every day, every time you close the browser, or not at all) you can also tell the browser to accept cookies from only the domain you are on. what this means is that ad in the top, it wont be allowed to store a cookie if it didn’t come from the website your on, and 99% of the ads out there don’t. they are run by ad manager programs. not everything you see is FROM that website you’re looking at. developers use something called an iframe and load data from somewhere else. its for tracking purposes. TRACKING YOU.
• use an up to date browser. Dont give me any fucking excuse. i dont care who you are or what youre doing. if youre using IE6, or firefox 1.5 you need a good smack in the head. there are so many reaosn you need the most up to date browser that i don’t have enough battery life left in my keyboard to type them all. I hate IE7 with a passion, but some of you are so thick headed that you don’t get it and still use IE. for the rest of you that might still have a brain cell left, you need to upgrade Firefox from 2.0.0.14 to 3.0 it came out, its wonderful, and its free.
  • on the note of browsers: you need to consider this. a browser is a doorway to the internet. you can have a large metal one with rivets and carbon steel, or you can have a creeky old wooden door with holes in it big enough for a small bear to get through. Imagine that as the front door to your house. what do you want protecting you?
  • AOL = screen door thats rusting
  • Internet explorer = creeky wooden door with a few holes. still works, but just isnt safe in general.
  • Firefox = Steel Vault door
  • Safari = Thick Metal door that we dont know where the handle is
  • Opera = your typical metal front door.
• clear your cache! its easy to do, it goes along with clearing cookies and history. simple settings all browser do it.
• forward phising attempts to the support/abuse emails at the corresponding company. Fight back agains these assholes that are trying to steal your life. fake paypal email and you know it? forward it to their abuse line:
  • paypal: spoof@paypal.com
  • bank of america: abuse@bankofamerica.com
  • chase: fraud@chase.com
  • ebay: spoof@ebay.com
• use your instincts. no one from nigeria wants to give you money. don’t fall for it. please?
• STOP CLICKING THE X IN POPUPS! Windows XP doesn’t need to install Spywarebot on your computer. be very careful of what you click! popup ads are disguising themselves as native OS popups. usually theres something blinking or flashing.  True Native OS popups dont do that. when in doubt press ALT+F4 it will close the window and you don’t have to worry about clicking ANYTHING.

this list can go on forever. but in all reality, i do three common things when im on a computer.

• I install Firefox, the newest version.
• I install Avast Anti-virus
• I install Spybot Search and Destroy (notice its SPYBOT, not spyWAREbot. It’s specific. it means the difference between safe computing and a gaping hole.)
• i set Firefox’s options to clear history and cache on exit. I accept only cookies form same domain.
• I turn off windows firewall.
• I let Spybot clean the system and IMMUNIZE (this will add entries in your hosts file and block known bad ads. )
• i follow the above steps.

again, for you few out there that still don’t get it.

do this, at the bare minimum. Install firefox and Spybot S&D, and for fucks sake…. STOP USING IE6

be safe out there people. its a new world and its only getting worse online.