Day: March 27, 2008

Whoa, Sorry About Those Nuke Fuses

RobotPirateNinja asia, Doh, ninja, tech Tags: , , , Leave a comment

The Associated Press: China Protests US Missile Fuse Mistake

BEIJING AP — China strongly protested to the U.S. on Wednesday over the mistaken delivery of fuses for long-range missiles to Taiwan, the latest incident involving arms sales to the island to roil relations between Beijing and Washington.In a statement posted on the Foreign Ministrys Web site, spokesman Qin Gang said China sent a protest to Washington expressing “strong displeasure.”

“We … demand the U.S. side thoroughly investigate this matter, and report to China in a timely matter the details of the situation and eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created by this incident,” Qin said.

He reiterated Chinas long-standing demand that the United States halt all weapons sales and military-to-military contacts with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing has claimed as its own since the sides split amid civil war in 1949.

Yea, uh, sorry about those nuke fuses. The funny part is the whole thing was a mistake. China loves to have something to distract everyone from what is going on in Tibet.

It’s true that monks and ninjas aren’t always the best of friends.  But we do have respect for one another, and I hate to see the cute little monky cry.

Lhasa (AsiaNews) – A group of Buddhist monks blocked a tour of 26 foreign journalists in Lhasa, led by the Chinese government, crying out that there is no freedom in Tibet and that the Dalai Lama is not responsible for the recent violence there.  Some of them after having cried “Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!”, broke down in tears.

The surprise encounter occurred this morning while the group of journalists visited the Jokhang Temple. The monks interrupted the temples’ chief administrators address.  Government representatives tried to drag the journalists away.  Some of them however, succeeded in exchanging a few words with the demonstrators.

[full story]

Is This Like Scryentology?

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Davenetics* : Frontline: Bush’s War

Frontline is always good. But they have outdone themselves with a remarkably detailed documentary on the incredibly disturbing lead up to, and execution of, what they call Bush’s War.

It really was a perfect storm of bad judgment, malicious intent, a power structure out of balance, a weak Natl Sec Adviser, a marginalized secretary of state, an all-powerful veep, a lazy Congress, and outplayed British PM, a foolishly managed French foreign policy, an ignored military leadership, an Oedipal complex hall of fame President, and a media that focused on Rumsfeld’s funny press conference delivery instead of highlighting the fact that he was wrong, horribly wrong, on just about any point that mattered.

Watch the documentary here.

Even today, the least focused on part of the story is that Osama bin Laden may very well end up dying of old age.

Catch up to the last 5 years in 2 hours.

Pay Me First

RobotPirateNinja advice, us Tags: , , 1 Comment

Unclutterer » Archive » The Real Cost of Financial Clutter on the Road to a Remarkable Life

De-clutter your debt. Make a list of every single debt you have – credit cards, student loans, car loans, mortgages, and anything else you have. Write down the total amount you owe and the interest rate you’re paying on that debt. Order them by interest rate. Then, each month, make the minimum payment on each of them, then make a substantial extra payment on the highest interest debt. When that debt disappears, move on to the next one on the list until they’re all gone.

My interest rates are out of control.

Clinton Wants to Kill the Democratic Party (or so it seems)

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CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Clinton backers scold Pelosi on superdelegate comment « – Blogs from CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Nearly 20 high-profile Hillary Clinton backers strongly criticized Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday over her recent suggestion that Democratic party superdelegates should not overturn the pledged delegate outcome at the party’s convention this August.In a letter to the House Speaker dated Wednesday, the backers said that position is at odds with the party’s original intent on what the role of superdelegates should be. (Read full letter [PDF])

“Superdelegates, like all delegates, have an obligation to make an informed, individual decision about whom to support and who would be the party’s strongest nominee,” the backers wrote.

“Both campaigns agree that at the end of the primary contests neither will have enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination,” they also said. “In that situation, super-delegates must look to not one criterion but to the full panoply of factors that will help them assess who will be the party’s strongest nominee in the general election.”

In an ABC interview earlier this month, Pelosi said it was her belief whichever candidate ended the round a primaries with the pledged-delegate lead should be awarded the Democratic nomination by the superdelegates. That argument would benefit Barack Obama, whose current pledged delegate lead of 171 is virtually insurmountable given the party’s proportional delegation allocations, even if Clinton were to win each of the remaining 10 primary contests.

You lost, girl.  Now deal with it.

Here Comes the Wave

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Photos: Massive ice shelf collapsing off Antarctica | CNET News.com

Scientists are citing “rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica” as the cause of an initial collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The damage got started at the end of February when an iceberg dropped off and triggered the “runaway disintegration” of a 160-square-mile portion of the 5,282-square-mile shelf.The ice shelf, which scientists speculate has floated in the Antarctic region for hundreds of years, is succumbing to recent rises in temperature in the area–an average of 0.9 degree Fahrenheit every 10 years for the last 50 years.

Personally I love ice in my drinks.

My 2000+ Point Are Safe

RobotPirateNinja gaming Tags: , , 3 Comments

Microsoft gets Tough on Xbox Gamerscore Cheating

Today Microsoft got out the mini-ban hammer and showed off their new anti-Gamerscore cheating tools and procedures on Xbox Live. Now they have the ability to reset the Gamerscore on an Xbox Gold account to zero and display a message explaining that they have been caught cheating.This is a digital equivalent of tacking of a big red “C” for Cheater on the Gamertag Profile on Xbox.com. They can still win future achievements or start a new account but once they have been found to have been cheating at an Xbox achievement for that game they will not be able to get that achievement again until they renounce their ways and start a new account. They did not do a mass banning but they did mark a handful of egregious cheaters to make a good example.

Cheating at games is not something endorsed by RPN, especially since all my points are well earned.

/RobotPiratNinja (no ‘e’) on XBoxLive

Can Your Fear Me Now?

RobotPirateNinja asia, tech, terror, us, war Tags: , , , 2 Comments

TheStar.com | World | Now Taliban regrets cellphone disruptions

Mar 26, 2008 04:40 PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSKABUL–Taliban attacks on telecom towers have prompted cellphone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan, angering a quarter million customers who have no other telephones.

Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies.

The communication blackout follows a campaign by the Taliban, which said the United States and NATO were using the fighters’ cellphone signals to track them at night and launch pinpoint attacks.

About 10 towers have been attacked since the warning late last month – seven of them seriously – causing almost $2 million in damage, the telecom ministry said. Afghanistan’s four major mobile phone companies began cutting service across the south soon after.

I could have sworn we defeated these terrorists a while back. I guess the modern tech is inspiring new thugs.

/headline blatantly lifted from fark.com discussion

Robot Must Know

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The risk for Apple iPhone users: They know too much – Los Angeles Times

When she whipped out her iPhone, Erica Sadum could feel her husband’s eyes roll. But she had a point to prove. And in less than a minute, she was able to report to the skeptics around the dinner table that Menno Simons, whose followers are known as Mennonites, was in fact born in 1496.

Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which went on sale nine months ago, isn’t the only so-called smart phone that provides itinerant access to the Web. But its wide screen and top-quality browser make it easy to use and read, which means it can in seconds change a lighthearted conversation into the Pursuit of Truth.

A little access to knowledge goes a long way.  As a robot, I know to know.  As a pirate, I occasionally make stuff up.  And well, ninjas just love the iphone.

Druggies *are* Terror, right?

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Kansas.com | 03/25/2008 | Patriot Act used in drug case; lawyer riled

The lawyer for a man accused of being a major cocaine supplier for the Wichita Crips gang contends that a secret search of the man’s house under the Patriot Act was illegal.

In a recent motion to suppress any evidence from the search, defense lawyer Charles O’Hara argued that the Patriot Act was meant for “serious matters involving national security,” not drug cases like the one involving his client, Tyrone Andrews.

“I thought that this Patriot Act was something passed to protect us all from these terrorist acts, and it would be used very judiciously,” O’Hara said Monday. “This doesn’t seem to be one where these secret searches would be used.”

Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita, said the office “believes the evidence in this case was legally obtained.”

As a pirate and ninja, I’ve long known that laws targeted one type of malcontent eventually get used to go after all the others. 

What?! A Bit of Truth on Fox?!

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Crooks and Liars » Chris Wallace backpedals on Fox News criticism

Enter “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “Hey, listen, I love you guys but I want to take you to task, if I may, respectfully, for a moment,” Wallace said on the air. “I have been watching the show since six o’clock this morning when I got up, and it seems to me that two hours of Obama bashing on this ‘typical white person’ remark is somewhat excessive, and frankly, I think you’re somewhat distorting what Obama had to say.”

Wow, it’s pretty incredible to call out the hyenas.  Nice ethics, maybe Wallace isn’t such a good pirate.

The follow-up

On Monday afternoon — with clips of the confrontation having seemingly ricocheted to every far-flung corner of the Web and with everyone from official Obama bloggers to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews rushing to pat Mr. Wallace on the back — [The Observer] caught up with Mr. Wallace via phone. The longtime newsman said that in retrospect he had mixed feelings about making the remarks.

“I didn’t have any second thoughts about the substance because I still believe what I said was right,” said Mr. Wallace. “But after the fact, you do think to yourself — on a professional level with colleagues I very much like and respect — should I have done that off camera?”

“It’s a close call,” said Mr. Wallace. “I’m not sure I’d do it again.”

All right…as you were.   I can almost think sometimes that Wallace wants to be a legit journalist, then he always falls back in line.