American Senator Larry Craig is Trapped in the Closet

It has recently been brought to my attention that Idaho Senator Larry Craig was caught soliciting sex in an airport in Minneapolis. It is interesting to note that Larry Craig’s has been known to be an established homophobe and once called Bill Clinton a “naughty…nasty….bad naughty nasty boy” when expressing his views on the Lewinsky sex scandal.

That video pretty much sums up the entire situation in all its details. It’s one thing to get caught in a police sting for soliciting sex, but lying about it by claiming to have a wide stance and picking up dirty toilet paper is another thing.

It was even worse when he used a press conference to continue denying his actions and what this actually means for him

Just like the Avenue Q song, not too many people would think differently of Senator Craig, though it does shed light on his hardcore anti-gay policies. It’s OK if he is gay because he can still do a decent job as a US Senator and he should be glad he didn’t try hitting on young boys through emails like Senator Mike Foley did last year.

It’s good to understand that gay is another word for “happy”. So yes, Larry Craig is right about not being gay because he is unhappy about this entire debacle though he did thank everyone for “coming out” to his press conference.

As a result of his steadfast denials, he has trapped himself deeper into the closet and now he feels he must resign to avoid these questions about his orientation. Then again, he should not of tried soliciting sex in a public bathroom if he didn’t want to be in such a bad position in the first place. I am sure there are many safe places where he can conduct himself in extracurricular activities with like-minded people.

Facebook disables Everyone

I had recently learned that facebook has been disabling accounts on a wide basis in these past months. This appears to be the case when they discreetly added rate limits to their platform in their recent update package. Some users were disabled simply for sending out too many facebook messages, wall posts or discussion posts at any time, which is automatically considered spam. A few others were simply disabled for attempting to change their account names.

So far this mass shutdown has affected the “heavy users” or those who frequently post on group discussions. In large groups with heavy activity a user can produce about 10-50 posts in less than an hour, which is flagged as abuse or spam in the facebook automated bots. It really seems odd that facebook would impose post limits when the ability to socialise in a wide setting seems to be the SNS’s ultimate goal.

Plus, this heavy activity allows Facebook to acquire loads of data that can be used to mine for information that could be applied to marketing agencies, ongoing platform development, and even sent to the CIA (Facebook’s original backers). It seems odd they would just penalise a wide array of users just for helping them generate information and users through their actions.

After doing a blog search on google with the keywords “facebook disabled account”, I found several posts just from the month of August discussing the disabled accounts. Many of these accounts were largely due to facebook being unable to handle too many messages, too many wall posts, or discussion posts. A few of these disabled accounts involve developers creating applications that were just sucking up capacity in the facebook platform. So after hours if not months of work creating a killer facebook application, a developer suddenly learns his account is deactivated because his facebook app was so well-received.

Note: There is no customer service telephone number for this organisation, and my calls and subsequent messages to their Palo Alto headquarters went unreturned. We are imprisoned by the current facebook monopoly. All of the contact information that we ever need is on this site and so much more information too.

Here is how one blogger summed up the problem:

Oh well. I doubt anyone will get to read or see this because my blog won’t be fed into my mini-feed… because I don’t even have an account let alone a mini-feed right now! Come to think of it – that’s one other lesson to learn from this…. how many email addresses of your friends that you have found on facebook do you have backed up? Im guessing it’s a similar percentage to me… Maybe if you read this, you should also take out of it that your next ‘note’ posted on facebook, is to ask them to all send you their proper emails to have as a back-up outside of the Facebook wall.

It’s a problem when users are suddenly disabled without real warning. Sometimes random messages will flash saying you are abusing or spamming the group boards, yet all members are responding within seconds in an active thread. How can this be spamming, when a topic is generating such enthusiasm, adding to the discussion, and populated by nearly a quarter million users? The worst part about facebook’s arbitrary and uncoordinated disabling of accounts is that none of these users are even aware there are limits on using facebook, especially when it was constantly marketed as a social network that encourages activity..

Here is something another blogger said about all of this:

Dear Bloggers, and the Facebook Staff

I am somwhat tired of this charade.

So, this is a message to Facebook and the Facebook staff, start to consider that perhaps you are destroying countless hours of work, and are now starting to agitate a large number of powerful users.

You have limited time to re-active those accounts that you have mindlessly disabled before you will encounter a rather ferocios shit-storm like you have never encountered before. Trust me, we all just want to be happy, but your mechanistic failure to adapt will leave you with a gaping hole.

Never underestimate the power of large groups of angry people

Here are some other blogs that go futher on the problem

http://nthambazale.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-facebook-account-is-back.html – A university professor details the problems he had when he was trying to find information on facebook

http://chrisbrinkworth.com/digital/media/?p=17 – A Digital Media marketer is abruptly disabled after sending out group messages to members.

http://www.sidneymorsels.com/2007/08/people-vs-facebook-final-showdown.html - A writer details his problems dealing with Facebook Customer Support and for being disabled just for reverting to his real name

http://prez.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/facebook-has-a-post-limit/ – A blogger’s genuine shock on learning posting limits actually exist on facebook

http://thatkathryngirl.typepad.com/that_kathryn_girl/2007/08/why-is-facebook.html – A professionals shock over network limits and learning his colleagues dealings in disabled accounts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-handley/too-popular-for-facebook_b_59105.html – A Huffington post exploring how a facebook user was unjustly banned just for inviting his contacts to join facebook

Taiwan angered by US criticism of UN referendum plans (Roundup)

Taiwan angered by US criticism of UN referendum plans (Roundup)
By DPA
Aug 28, 2007, 10:11 GMT

Taipei – Taiwan on Tuesday expressed regret over US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte’s criticism of the island’s planned referendum seeking UN membership.

‘We regret Negroponte’s remark and think this is a misinterpretation (of Taiwan’s UN referendum),’ Taiwan press quoted Foreign Minister James Huang as saying.

‘The referendum is the most democratic and most peaceful way to express our wish to join the UN. We cannot understand Negroponte’s remark,’ he said.

In an interview with Hong Hong’s Phoenix Satellite TV on Monday, Negroponte criticized Taiwan’s plan to hold a referendum in 2008 on whether it should seek to rejoin the UN.

The US is firmly opposed to it because Washington sees it as Taiwan’s first step towards declaring independence and altering the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Phoenix TV quoted him as saying.

Negroponte urged Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian to honour his inauguration pledge that he would not seek independence during his term, and take a responsible attitude in promoting Taiwan’s democracy and economy.

David Wang, spokesman of Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, refuted Negroponte’s remarks, saying the UN referendum has nothing to do with Taiwan’s desire to change its status.

‘It has nothing to do with changing our national title or status quo. Nor is it anything provocative,’ Wang said in a news conference in Taipei.

He said the referendum is just a way for people to express what they like or not and should not be misread as the first step to declaring independence.

Negroponte’s remark is the strongest warning US officials have made so far against Taiwan’s upcoming UN referendum. The US has warned Taiwan and China against unilaterally changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and raising cross-Strait tensions.

President Chen wants to hold a referendum on joining the UN when Taiwan holds its presidential election in March 2008.

Chen claims that holding the referendum can unite Taiwan people and promote consensus on the UN issue, but China sees its as Taiwan’s plot to seek independence.

The referendum will be particularly sensitive to China because it will ask Taiwanese if the island should apply for UN seat under the name of ‘Taiwan.’

Taiwan’s formal title is the Republic of China, the name of the government which lost mainland China to the Communists and moved to Taiwan to set up is government-in-exile in 1949.

China is worried that Taiwan is taking small steps to change its official name from ROC to Taiwan to achieve formal separation from China.

China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and has warned that it would recover Taiwan by force if Taipei indefinitely delays unification talks or declares independence.

So there you have it: the United States does not support Taiwan independence.  It has said it time and again as the Americans no longer have enough resources to spare for Taiwan due to Iraq and they require whatever military that remains to be ready for their future war with Iran.  If the Americans decide to destabilise Iran, Taiwan Province is screwed in any potential conflict with China as many pro-Taiwan pundits pointed out.

With that said, China is no longer afraid to use force if Taiwan decides to play stupid and declare independence.  After all, China has been spending the last 15 years modernising their armed forces to deal with Taiwan and developing ties with the Americans to finally resolve the Chinese Civil War.   It also doesn’t help that Taiwan Province did nothing in their recent trip to Central America but give bribe money to random countries in return for nominal support for a UN seat and against China.

2 Days in the Valley

“2 Days in the Valley” was a 1996 film starring Charlize Theron, James Spader, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Teri Hatcher and Eric Stolz.  The ensemble flick is a largely a story about a hit gone wrong with many different characters getting together through a series of random events.  It was also noted for being one of Charlize Theron’s early films, where she still has a noticeable Afrikaner accent, and one of Teri Hatcher’s early move to films when she was still in “Lois & Clark”.  Some interesting scenes were the catfight between Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron’s character and Danny Aiello cooking dinner for his hostages.

After watching the film, it’s safe to say Danny Aiello is an underrated actor while Charlize Theron is still very attractive after all these years.

Miss Teen USA – Miss South Carolina Represents the Best of America

Here is Miss South Carolina’s response to a question during the final round

The question:

Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Her response:

I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh…people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, uh…our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.

Can someone please explain what she meant by her response?  It sounds like something from Bush’s response in the first SNL Gore-Bush debates back in 2000.  Despite giving this incredibly retarded response, Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina, still made Third Runner-Up in the Miss Teen USA pageant.  This shows you how sad this pageant can become since a girl can win just for looking pretty regardless of intelligence or lack thereof.

Did you notice how Mario Lopez cut her off before she said anything dumber?

This should of been the response by the judges (from “Billy Madison”):

What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

Regardless of the stupidity coming from Miss South Carolina, I am sure she will have a bright future as a “US American”.  After all a retarded man by the name of George W. Bush did take power in 2000 and went on to bring ruin and chaos to “The Iraq”.

China to act on gender imbalance

China to act on gender imbalance
The Chinese government says it is drafting new laws to tackle the growing gender imbalance caused by the widespread abortion of female foetuses.

The practice is already banned, but new rules are expected to set out specific punishments for parents and doctors.

China’s Family Planning Association (CFPC) has revealed the extent of the imbalance – in one city there are eight young boys for every five girls.

Experts fear the phenomenon could have unpredictable social consequences.

Some believe that with millions of men unable to find a wife, there could be risks of increasing anti-social and violent behaviour.

Boys preferred

China’s one-child policy, and a traditional preference for male heirs, has led many couples to try to ensure that their single offspring is a boy.

Some pay for illegal ultrasound tests to discover the sex of a foetus, and abort it if it is female.

“The root cause is traditional thinking that boys are better than girls, especially in poverty-stricken areas,” Song Jiang, a population expert at Beijing’s Renmin University, told the Xinhua news agency.

“Those people expect boys to support the family.”

On Friday it was revealed that the eastern city of Lianyungang had the most skewed population. Among children under four years old, there are 163.5 boys for every 100 girls.

Ninety-nine cities had gender ratios higher than 125, state-run news agency Xinhua quoted the CFPA as saying in a report.

The UN recommends a gender ratio of no more than 107.

The One Child Policy was a bad idea in hindsight.  Soon, there will be sausage parties all over China and the only way to resolve this problem is through mass emigration or war.

Pretentious kids are truly unsophisticated

Work was slow with a job interview around 5:00 PM at Keyport, which seemed like a nice small town.  There I learned that my benefits would decline and I would be mostly working on lead generation.  It seems like at some point the head interviewer was probing questions as to why I wanted to switch jobs when I had so much responsibilities and similar work to what they were describing while the other interviewer asked hard questions because she didn’t want to work with me.  In any event, I don’t think I will be getting an offer from them anytime soon.

I had heard from a Ted Hart not too long ago because I accidentally sent him a group invite.  Still as pretentious as before, he tried justify inter-racial marriages by implying they will produce culturally superior children.  It’s ironic because I am under the impression he knows very little tagalog and thinks the Philippines is a backwater compared to Japan.  Plus, I think he already decided to lean towards being White at another point.  Well his pretentious response only reaffirms to me that he is indeed narrow-minded and compensating for his actual limited sophistication.  I think I have moved on from associating with narrow-minded Japanophiles and immature Japanese-Americans.

I also think my tinted glasses worked against me in the Smith Barney interview since it was at odds with their monolithic corporate culture.  At the same time, the glasses seemed to make me look more youthful with the iCIMS crowd.  Hopefully things will pan out when Mark becomes my boss within the end of this year.

Verve shows Ford’s small-car vision

Verve shows Ford’s small-car vision

August 23, 2007

By SARAH A. WEBSTER

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Ford Motor Co. gave its first hints of its future small-car design vision in the new Ford Verve Concept, photos of which were revealed today.

The bullet-shape concept is bold, sporty and in a design style that Ford calls “kinetic,” for the visual effect that makes the vehicle look like it’s in motion, even when standing still.

Martin Smith, executive director of design for Ford of Europe, which is leading Ford’s small-car development for major world markets, called the style “bold, even radical.”

The Verve, which will be revealed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, is the first of three subcompact concept vehicles that will debut in key regions: Europe, Asia and North America.

North America, in particular, has been longing for a subcompact, or so-called “B”-sized, car from Ford since gas prices soared to $3 a gallon in recent years. Ford left the ultra-efficient subcompact car segment in 1997, the last model year for the Ford Aspire, and hasn’t said when it’s coming to market with a replacement since then.

Subcompact cars are those smaller than compact cars, such as the Ford Focus and Honda Civic, and the category is still very small, accounting for a sliver of the 16 or so million cars and trucks sold in the United States each year.

But it’s growing fast. The market for those affordable, fuel-efficient vehicles — such as the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Kia Spectra and Chevrolet Aveo — has been booming in the increasingly gas- and green-conscious market.

Contact SARAH A. WEBSTER at 313-222-5394 or swebster@freepress.com.

So that’s Ford Europe’s new concept car that will give hints of the upcoming Fiesta. Based on the same platform as the Mazda2, the Ford Verve concept again shows off Ford Europe’s “Kinetic Design” that has graced Ford Europe models such as the Mondeo, S-Max, and an upcoming crossover. Although buyers outside of North America will get a new Fiesta that will more or less resemble what is shown on these images, the Americans will get a dumbed-down version of this subcompact that will have the bold styling and three-bar grille currently seen on the Ford Taurus and Ford Fusion.

All is great, but it would of been better to just import the Ford Europe cars with “Kinetic Design” and badge them as Mercuries while recycling some of the global platform used on other Fords on the American models. Ford Motor Company still doesn’t have a clue about what to make of Mercury other than positioning it as a car for female young professionals, but Alan Mulally was able to get the powers-that-be at Ford to have the next generation Focus and Fusion share its underpinnings with global platforms. However, these models will of course be dumbed-down and restyled with the three-bar grille since Americans apparently can’t handle “kinetic styling” and superb road performance.

According to autoblog:

Ford execs have said that these cars will wear different styling and be tuned differently, but we’ve heard from inside the Blue Oval that a conflict between U.S. and Euro designers is growing, with the former group upset that its delicate balance of three-bar grilles will be upset by the Fiesta, and possibly other models, arriving with FoE’s “Kinetic Design” theme.

And people wonder why Ford was bleeding cash all these years until recently…

U.S. naval chief tours defense facilities in China

U.S. naval chief tours defense facilities in China
By David Lague
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

BEIJING: Amid repeated calls from the Bush administration for China to be more transparent about its military buildup, a visiting senior U.S. naval commander praised his Chinese counterpart here Tuesday for allowing a revealing tour of defense facilities and exercises.The U.S. chief of naval operations, Admiral Mike Mullen, said he had organized a comprehensive visit to the United States in April for the Chinese naval chief, Admiral Wu Shengli.

“What I asked in return was for him to do the same thing,” Mullen said. “He has done that. What I have seen is actions, not just words, which have met that standard, and I consider that to be very positive.”

Mullen, who will become the top U.S. uniformed military commander when he becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, said that communication and exchanges between the two militaries needed to improve further but that he had reached a better understanding of China’s goals during his six-day visit, which ends Wednesday.

He said his Chinese hosts had told him that he had been granted access never before given to others. He held talks with senior Chinese officers, went to sea to observe air and sea exercises and met students at the Dalian Naval Academy, a naval officer training school.

The United States has repeatedly called on China to be more open about its defense spending and military plans as a step toward reducing tension in Asia as the People’s Liberation Army continues a rapid and sustained modernization.

Double-digit increases in annual defense outlays over most of the last 15 years have allowed the 2.3 million-strong army to increase its firepower sharply. It has trimmed manpower from what remains the world’s biggest standing force while continuing to deploy a wide range of modern weapons, including warships, strike aircraft, missiles, tanks and artillery.

U.S. and other foreign military analysts say that a top priority for the Chinese military is to prepare for the possibility of conflict over Taiwan. The ruling Communist Party regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has threatened to use force against the self-governing island in response to a number of possible contingencies, including any move toward formal independence.

Most foreign military analysts say that the PLA is attempting to build a force that could defeat Taiwan while at the same time deterring or slowing any U.S. intervention. Chinese naval forces would be expected to play an important role in this type of conflict, and Washington has been closely monitoring the efforts Beijing is making to deploy ships, submarines, missiles and aircraft that could challenge U.S. forces in Asia, particularly aircraft carrier battle groups.

Naval experts say that stealthy, Chinese-built Song-class submarines, along with Kilo-class conventional submarines purchased from Russia, could pose a potent threat to U.S. forces coming to Taiwan’s assistance.

Mullen said he had seen an exercise involving a Song-class conventional submarine.

“That submarine in particular was a very capable submarine,” he said. “Certainly I have a better understanding of that having seen it on the trip.”

The U.S. commander said the Taiwan issue had been raised in most of his discussions with Chinese military leaders. He said he had reaffirmed that the Bush administration would not support Taiwan if it made any unilateral move toward independence. But he added that it was encouraging the island to bolster its military forces as a deterrent to China.

So there you go: the Americans will not support Taiwan Province’s bid for independence but are more than happy to sell them obsolete arms to make some money on the side for their defence companies. One the other hand, China’s military buildup is largely implemented to deter Taiwan Province’s attempt atindependence with the Americans supplying Taiwan with arms to maintain the status quo and for their own benefit.

The Taiwan Relations Act claims the US of A will sacrifice American lives to defend Taiwan Province should it ever secede. However, the Americans will not support Taiwan if it is the one who provokes war but only if China magically invades out of nowhere, which is unlikely given the procedures outlined in the Anti-Secession Law. I don’t think Americans would be too keen on throwing away lives to help a backwater island fight a war it provoked in the first place, especially since the Americans are gearing up to invade Iran.

Some will keep talking about how Taiwan Province is filled with freedom and human rights, but it’s just a double-standard. China’s current reforms at this time resemble those made in Taiwan Province during the 1970s to transform itself into an economic powerhouse. The only reason why major news organisations and publications classify Taiwan Province as a country is largely because of it’s economic relevance, which is gradually diminished by the “Democratic Progressive Party”’s mismanagement (please don’t let the party’s name mislead you).

In regards to freedom and human rights, Taiwan Province still has problems dealing with the indigenous Aborigine population (not the ethnic Chinese who hijacked their identity and call themselves Taiwanese in public), the current power structure is out to legislate reprisals at the so-called Mainlander population for 50 years of dictatorial rule under the KMT, and it uses legal mechanisms to indict anyone that is seen opposing the government as seen by Shih Ming-teh’s recent indictment for protesting Chen Shuibian’s corruption. It doesn’t help that most of these people who praise Taiwan’s freedom have never been to China, never traveled to other real countries that have better human rights/freedoms, or believe whatever their anti-Chinese Taiwanese friends tell them.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 — Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA), each announced today that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.

The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit “Blades of Glory” on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year “Transformers” and “Shrek the Third”. These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide.

“The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD,” stated Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, which is currently the leading studio in domestic box office. “Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount.”

“We decided to release “Shrek the Third” and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience — families,” stated DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. “We believe the combination of this year’s low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home.”

With the rapid increase of HD TV screens in households, and audiences wanting to enjoy the total entertainment experience, HD DVD has emerged as the most affordable way for consumers to watch their movies in high definition. In addition to pristine quality, HD DVD also offers consumers the chance to personalize the movie-watching experience, to interact with their movies and even to connect with a community of other fans.

Paramount Home Entertainment will issue new releases day and date as well as catalog titles exclusively on HD DVD. Today’s announcement does not include films directed by Steven Spielberg as his films are not exclusive to either format.

To Paramount and DreamWorks SKG – Regarding the decision by Paramount Pictures and co. to release movies exclusively on HD DVD: You have made a terrible mistake. The only possible reason to do this would be money. The $150 Million that you all profited from this will eventually come to nothing.

Target is only selling Blu-Ray players, Blockbuster will only rent Blu-Ray movies and current market sales indicate that Blu-Ray outsells HD DVD 2:1. Myself and many hundreds of thousands of others will never invest in HD-DVD, and many have stopped buying normal DVDs altogether. Therefore, their $1.5 billion in ticket sales will be released on a format that 2 out of every 3 Hi-Def consumers will never purchase.

Thank you Paramount and DreamsWorks for taking away many movies that I would have otherwise enjoyed watching on Blu-Ray, such as “Transformers”, “Iron-Man”, and many more. I will not be buying or renting these on DVD. All they have done is to prolong a dispute that should have ended by now between the competing formats. Had they gone Blu-Ray exclusive, they would have made much more money not only in the short term, but also in the long run.

There are rumors of a $150 million payout by the HD-DVD consortium to nab the Viacom exclusivity, which sure would help explain the move more than the officially given reasons despite all market data showing Blu-Ray gaining market share over the HD video market.

Everyone needs to band together and send as much mail to them as possible regarding their poor decision. They do not supply an email address, they only accept snail mail. I’ve written to Paramount in the past and this is the address I have:

Paramount Home Entertainment
5555 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA
90038-3197

I received a response from them when I wrote about another matter. If anyone has a different address then add it to the comment box.