Archive for February, 2009

Pixelmash theater!

Friday, February 27th, 2009

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For those of you who have played old school PC games from the 64k days, I have a neat site for you to check out. Its called Pixelmash theater. Some ingenious fellows named Foldsfive took the time to recreate classic movies in their pixelated glory. Think of it as an 8 bit cliffnotes versions of classics like Raiders of the Lost ark and Star wars! Ah, these little cinematic gems hearken back to the days of the Commodore 64 and the Atari 2600! Oh the memories…

If you’ve got some time to burn and your waiting for code to compile or even if your in a boring meeting or something, take a minute to check it out. Good stuff!

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Posted in Art, Cinema, Computers, Entertainment, Media |

XBOX live DDOS attacks allow players to kick fellow opponents off the network

Friday, February 27th, 2009

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From Arstechnica:

In the latest series of unfortunate events for the Microsoft corporation, the Xbox live network is suffering from malicious attacks from hackers that allow them to flood fellow opponents connections with a Denial of service attack that kicks the victim off of the Live network.

To exacerbate the situation, the hackers that discovered this exploit are selling their services to fellow X-bots for $20 dollars an attack. From the article:

Since Xbox Live games connect to the Internet like everything else, using an IP address, it’s possible for hackers to discover your address using underground packet-sniffing software, then flood the Xbox port with incoming data to boot you off. Other offenders are reportedly asking for an IP address by sneaky means before opening the denial-of-service floodgates.

Wow, am I glad I don’t have to pay $8 bucks a month for my PS3 online playing time…

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Posted in Technology, Video games, web |

Wikileaks cracks Pentagon’s encryption key for Afghanistan operations

Friday, February 27th, 2009

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In a recent events, the controversial site Wikileaks.org, has managed to crack the encryption key to multiple documents related to the U.S. led war in Afghanistan. The documents dated October 6th, detail the “official” story that NATO members are to tell the press when asked about operations in the Afghan region.

In response, the Pentagon has taken the website offline completely. The password is progress and among several revelations, it mentioned the country of Jordan, still being a member of the coalition even though it officially pulled out of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in 2001.

Check out the wikileak post to read on the other minor tidbits of information. Although, not a big deal in the whole scope of things, still an interesting read if your into the geopolitical goings on in the world, not to mention its fun to poke at the government a bit…

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Posted in Government, War, World |

Weird anti Marijuana ads

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

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From the Designerhigh website, it looks like ads from the “above the influence” campaign urging folks not to smoke marijuana. Pretty amusing. I’m just waiting for their next “Smoke weed and become the greatest Olympic champion in the history of the games” ad.

Also theres a bonus link! How to build your own Bongsaber! American ingenuity at its best here people!

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Posted in Bizarre, comedy, Media, Society, web |

U.S. States are declaring sovereignty from the federal government

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

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Hey, what do you know? More relevant news that the Mainstream media isn’t reporting. They would rather have you wring your hands over Michael Phelps’ olympic sized bong hits and totally remain oblivious to the fact that 8 different state legislatures have drawn a line in the sand and are introducing bills declaring sovereignty from the United States!

So far the tally is includes the following:

1. Washington

2. New Hampshire

3. Arizona

4. Montana

5. Michigan

6. Missouri

7. Oklahoma

8. Hawaii

The main precedent on the claims by the states are recited by the 9th and 10th amendment of the Constitution (part of the bill of rights). Most of this legislation is in the preliminary stages and is not earth shattering news but this is definitely something that should be a blip on the medias’ radar. The most serious and tangible of these eight are surprisingly, New Hampshire of all places.  From Pat Dollard’s blog:

The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a “breach of peace” with the states themselves that risks “nullifying the Constitution.”

This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war!)

The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress “That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever;. . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force;”

Federal gun crime laws? Void. Federal drug crime laws? Void. The gazzillion other federal criminal laws that deal with anything other than the specific enumerated crimes? ALL VOID.

Looks like states are fed up and no longer trust the federal government to look out for our best interests as a nation. Just look at California…

Maybe the federal government knew this was coming? I can’t help to think that this is why Northcomm plans to deploy 20,000 active duty troops in the United States by 2011 (“Just in case” of some civil unrest!?!?). Coincidence?

Stay tuned chiiiildren!

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Posted in Government, Law, Liberty, Politics, Society, Tyranny |

He called it over 100 years ago!?!?

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

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Posted in Finance, Government, Literature, Society, World |

DIY eye glasses could help millions see better

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

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Josh Silver, a retired physics professor from Oxford University, has a quest to allow all the poor people in the world to see. In one of the most ingenious inventions ever devised, he created a pair of glasses that the wearer could “tune” to allow themselves to see without the aid of an optometrist. From the article:

Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.

The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.

The glasses cost $1 USD to manufacture. The goal is to produce 1 million pairs to distribute throughout the third world every year. What a simple and elegant solution to a widespread condition throughout the world. This has the potential to be a world changing invention much like the automobile or airplane. Read the full article HERE.

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Posted in Health, Science, World |