In the past few days, a whole list of things have made me want to hold my nose. Just for starters:

Toilet texting on the rise

Neal Augenstein, wtop.com

WASHINGTON — With today’s smartphones, more people are taking their work and personal lives wherever they go — even to the toilet.

A new study of mobile phone habits shows 75 percent of people have texted, emailed, used apps or surfed the web while nature calls.

More than 90 percent of people between 28 and 35 will return a call or text while sitting on the toilet.

One in five men joined a conference call while sitting on the toilet, despite the possibility of people on the other end hearing noises or accidentally hitting the FaceTime video conferencing button…

How about leaving your cell phone in your pocket or, better yet, at your desk?
If you use your cell phone on the toilet, you will most likely contaminate the phone. (All the more so if you DROP the phone.) Suppose you wash your hands, then pick up that phone again. You’ve just gotten the germs back on your hands.

McDonald’s drops use of ‘pink slime’ ammonium hydroxide in hamburger meat

Kristin Annable  Jan 26, 2012 – 9:24 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 27, 2012 11:13 AM ET

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver can claim one more victory in his food revolution after McDonald’s stopped using what he called “pink slime” in its burgers.

On Thursday, McDonald’s USA announced it was discontinuing the use of ammonium hydroxide in its beef.

The Naked Chef had publicly denounced the use of the additive on his show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. He questioned how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could allow the compound to be used in foods.

Ammonium hydroxide is made of water and ammonia and is used to kill bacteria. Typically it is used in household cleaning products.

On one episode of his show, Mr. Oliver said that beef producers take beef “trimmings” that would normally go to dog food and wash it with the compound until it is fit for human consumption.

“Imagine how happy an accountant is, you just turned dog food into what can potentially be your kids’ food,” he said on the episode…

Yep, ammonium hydroxide is household ammonia – the stuff you use to clean windows, and janitors use to clean floors. It isn’t McDonald’s decision to stop using the ammonia “meat makeover” treatment that bothers me, but rather, the fact that they sold adulterated food to begin with. All of that nanny-state “nutritional labeling” has proven to be useless, when we aren’t even told the truth about what the ingredients are. How many people would buy a burger if the label disclosed that it contained meat scraps treated with ammonia?

More details from Yahoo News.

Breitbart: Hate Radio Host Berates And Belittles Black Republican

Memphis talk radio host Thaddeus Matthews insulted and humiliated Republican congressional candidate Charlotte Bergmann during a recent interview. He ended the interview by saying, “get your stupid, ignorant ass up out of my studio.” As Bergmann was leaving the studio she extended her hand to the host and Matthews refused to shake hands because he didn’t want the “whiteness” to “rub off” on him.

Note: The video of the incident was clearly made by someone who doesn’t favor Republicans or members of the Tea Party.

Commenter claspur links to Thaddeus Matthews’ rap sheet.

Further details at The Blaze. See comments for contact information. (h/t: Sara Dipindy)

Jesus said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” (Matthew 15:11 KJV) Indeed, Thaddeus Matthews defiled not only himself and his talk show guest, but also the entire citizenry of Memphis. I question the judgment and common sense of anybody who would advertise on Matthews’ show or even listen to it more than once.

I found this link about a serious violation of privacy in the State of Michigan in a worrisome Blogmocracy article about another significant threat to our electronic privacy, namely Apple iPhone secretly records owners’ every move. It followed another article, Exiting Detroit, about the endless and evidently irreversible decline and fall of the city of Detroit. It sure looks as though there are fewer and fewer reasons to visit, do business in, or live in, Michigan, and more and more reasons to avoid the entire state.

Similarly, if Apple shows so little regard for their customers’ privacy, I would suggest buying from a competitor until such time as Apple changes its ways. Vote with your wallet and vote with your feet!

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

(h/t: Da_Beerfreak)

ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.
[...]
A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

“Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,” a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device’s capabilities. “The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps.”

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

“With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity,” Fancher wrote. “A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched.”
[...]
Read it all.

But that’s not all, folks!

(Updated 9:33 AM EST April 22, 2011)

Jury to decide if Pastor Terry Jones can protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Last I checked, the First Amendment is not subject to jury disapproval.

Just for fun, click this link to see the Meowmania application by Jacqueline Steck. It is available on the iPhone and on the Internet.

Launch Meowmania

Blogosphere Victory over Jihadist Mole

Hesham Islam, if you recall, is the Islamist mole who maneuvered his patron and mentor, Gordon England, into firing Steve Coughlin, the Pentagon’s only expert on Islamic law.

Winds of Jihad: Hesham Islam gets the boot

Hesham Islam’s ‘resume didn’t add up,’ official says

Thanx to Weasel Zippers

In a stunning turn of events, a high-level Muslim military aide blamed for costing an intelligence contractor his job will step down from his own Pentagon post, WND has learned.

Meanwhile, his rival, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a leading authority on Islamic war doctrine, may stay in the Pentagon, moving from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the office of the secretary of defense. However, sources say a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey is trying to block his new contract.

The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say.

Islam and Coughlin recently quarreled over intelligence briefings Coughlin presented showing a close connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism. Coughlin’s contract with the Joint Chiefs, which ends in March, was not renewed.

The Power of the Bloggers:

But as a result of the ensuing firestorm that played out in the conservative press – led by Washington Times Pentagon reporter Bill Gertz – Islam was put under a microscope, and questions were raised regarding his background…

Blue Collar Muse:
Hesham Islam to Leave Government in March

Hesham Islam has been in the new recently. Well, not really. He has been covered by conservative news sites like World Net Daily, NRO and The Washington Times but there’s been precious little MSM coverage outside of that. Bloggers have also covered the news.

I wrote about it here. You can catch other stories at 1389 Blog, Atlas Shrugs, The Jawa Report and elsewhere.

Hesham is a close friend, confidant and advisor to Gordon England. England is the #2 man at the Department of Defense. The problem is that Hesham is also something of a mystery. Despite a DoD published biographical profile which described his early life as akin to a Hollywood thriller, there was more to Islam than met the eye. It all came to light after Hesham Islam used his influence to punish Stephen Coughlin, possibly the best Islamic analyst at the Pentagon. Coughlin’s contract was not renewed after Islam described him as a “Christian zealot with a poison pen”. That statement came after Coughlin’s Pentagon reports became increasingly alarmist with respect to Islamic activity which precipitated an ideological conflict with Hesham Islam…

Blogosphere Victory for Ezra Levant

Ezra Levant has been prosecuted by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for having published the Muhammad cartoons.

Doctor Bulldog: Oh, Happy Day! —
Muslim Leader Drops Complaint Against Ezra Levant

Excellent! Chalk one up for freedom of speech. Also, Ezra Levant says he is going to sue Syed Soharwardy for the thousands of dollars in legal fees! Go get ‘em, Ezra!!!

Muslim leader drops Ezra Levant cartoon complaint
Western Standard publisher plans to launch a civil lawsuit

Graeme Morton, Canwest News Service February 12, 2008

National Post —CALGARY — Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy says he is withdrawing his Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant.

The complaint was launched in February 2006, after the Western Standard and the Jewish Free Press reprinted cartoons from a Danish newspaper that many in the Muslim world felt insulted the prophet Muhammad. The cartoons sparked violent protests in a number of countries…

Atlas Shrugs: Brilliant Rant from Levant!

This guy is the greatest.

HUDNA! (hat tip Josef)

Today Syed Soharwardy told the Calgary Herald editorial board that he is withdrawing his human rights complaint against me that he filed two years ago when I published the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. (Seriously, if you haven’t done so, you’ve really got to look at his hand-scrawled complaint here. I know dyslexic ten-year-olds with ADD who are more coherent.)

If he’s really withdrawing the complaint, this is the first I’ve heard about it; and when I spoke with my lawyer this afternoon, the complaint was still proceeding against me.

It might be a lie — it wouldn’t be Soharwardy’s first, but then again, lying to an infidel newspaper isn’t immoral to someone like Soharwardy. It’s called taqqiyah.

But even if Soharwardy withdraws his complaint against me, an identical complaint filed by the Edmonton Muslim Council still proceeds.

So why would Soharwardy do this — and why now?

The answer lies in another Arabic word: hudna. A hudna isn’t a peace treaty. It’s a temporary truce called by a Muslim warrior who’s losing in battle. It’s pretty easy to understand how hudnas work by watching Israel fight Hamas and Hezbollah. Those two terrorist groups lob rockets and send suicide bombers into Israel for months; then, every once in a while, Israel deploys its military and flattens Hamas and Hezbollah, who then call for a hudna. The UN intervenes, saving Hamas and Hezbollah to fight another day. That’s a hudna: a tactical truce for a strategic advantage.

Soharwardy wants a hudna because he’s osing badly. Not financially: he hasn’t spent a penny to further the complaint against me — that has been done courtesy of Ed Stelmach’s government and the taxpayers of Alberta, to the tune of $500,000, I’d guess. Nor has Soharwardy had to spend hundreds of hours battling against me at the commission — Alberta government employees do that for him. It’s because over the past two years — and the past month in particular — Soharwardy has become known for what he is: an Islamofascist imam, who’s trying to bring Saudi values to Canada. Though I’m being pummelled in a kangaroo court, he’s being pummelled in the court of public opinion. He didn’t expect it, and he hates it.

He hates that hundreds of bloggers ridicule him. He hates that my video clips, in which I describe his illiberal nature, have been viewed almost 500,000 times. He hates that his own enemies within his mosque have taken advantage of this media coverage to shine a light of scrutiny on the way he runs his mosque - from his financial irregularities, to his abusive treatment of women.

There’s much more. Go!

What does the Afghan Constitution really say?

Does the new Constitution of Afghanistan actually mandate shari’a law – including the death penalty for blasphemy – or not?

Judicial Interpretation Blamed in Afghan Blasphemy Case

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
February 11, 2008

(CNSNews.com) – The death penalty given to an Afghan journalist accused of insulting Islam has more to do with judges’ interpretation of the country’s laws than with a constitutional provision entrenching Islamic primacy, according to a leading scholar in Islamic law.

The Afghan government has reiterated its assurance that President Hamid Karzai will “find a just solution” to the case of Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh. A statement released by the Afghan Embassy in Washington said that this would be done “in accordance with Afghan law and our nation’s international obligations.”

A three-judge court in northern Afghanistan on January 22 sentenced the 23-year-old to death, after he was accused of distributing to students an online article questioning why Muslim men may have more than one spouse while women may not…

Broadcast Radio Talk Show Censorship

Fuhrman Hit

Silencing the truth tellers – run amok.
From my comrade Ron over at Rocket’s Brain:

Need I say more re the political hit and removal of the Mark Fuhrman Radio Show. 

Mapleton LLC  is the group that bought these stations from Citadel Broadcasting.  A key factor in this sale was the termination of the Mark Fuhrman Show. 

Not available on the Net yet but from the today’s S-R’s Business
Section:

S-R to broadcast on Mapleton Stations

The Spokesman-Review will begin producing radio news reports that will be broadcast over stations owned by Mapleton Communications LLC in
Spokane under an agreement announced Tuesday.

At least four daily
newscasts, plus a weekend talk show and a week-in-review program, will be broadcast from the Spokesman-Review building . . .

Isn’t it enough that it is estimated the Cowles Co control 80% of the local media in our market?  As I write in a reply (draft form) to the new Spokesman-Review Ombudsman: 

Because of the significant amount of property that the Cowles Co owns or controls in Downtown Spokane and along the Spokane River to the Idaho border, there inherently is a conflict of interest regarding its involvement in development projects and reporting by the S-R.   A close analogy is the period genre movie Chinatown. River Park Square is only one of several projects where there is a similar pattern and practice in quasi public/private developments where the public was defrauded.

Friends of Mark Fuhrman Radio Show

The unofficial fan site of Mark Fuhrman Radio Show that was squelched in my opinion by the "usual suspects." This list is dedicated to pursuing among other things the River Park Square fraud et al in Spokane, WA and other related topics that you will never read about in the Spokesman-Review.  Read regular updates from Fuhrman Show regulars, Larry Shook, Tim Conner, Cherie Rodgers, former Spokane Mayor John Talbott, Dick Adams, "Ron the Cop" and others.

nar9350@gmail.com

Recent posts at the blog Rockets Brain:

A complaint for the new S-R Ombudsman
To the Citizens of Spokane – Time to take a stand!
An Army of Davids Strikes – Spokane, WA

"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing"

As many of you now know the Mark Fuhrman Radio Show was axed by KGA1510 AM (Citadel Broadcasting) in Spokane, WA.
. . .
I have information from a reliable source that the Fuhrman Show was in play from the very first contact by Mapleton representatives with Citadel about purchasing KGA. IMHO this was a "hit" plain and simple by a criminal enterprise to cover its ongoing robbery of the citizens of Spokane. This criminal enterprise has so thoroughly and systemically corrupted the political and governmental bodies in Spokane to a level I’ve never witnessed before in my entire thirty-five year law enforcement career. . .

Other News and Commentary:

• EuropeNews: Background: Muhammad cartoons controversy
• Cristy Li: Michael Savage Case Against CAIR
• Winds of Jihad: Canuckistan: Lying Scumbag Imam [Syed Soharwardy] Falls Into His Own Trap
• Bruce Bawer: Hege Storhaug: Fighting for Human Rights in Norway
• Pajamas Media: Meet Norway’s Answer to Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Triggered by cellular phones?

Remember all of the discussion in the summer of 2007 about wildfires in California and in Greece? Many people raised questions about whether some of those fires were, in fact, ecoterrorism. There was also some evidence that devices made from cellular phones may have been used to ignite wildland fires. This is plausible enough, considering that remote bombs triggered by cellular phones have been used in other terrorist attacks. But after the fires were extinguished, the story disappeared from the news.

These mysterious remote cell phone bombs have now surfaced – in California.

Undercover Op Leads To Cell Phone-Triggered Bomb

San Jose and Santa Clara police chiefs announced Wednesday the results of a massive sting operation in their cities. Operation Meltdown, as the joint effort was called, netted investigators hundreds of criminals, tons of stolen copper, dozens of stolen cars and weapons, and in one case, homemade bombs.

A Fremont man was arrested in October as part of Operation Meltdown. He is accused of trying to sell the officers improvised explosive devices capable of being denoted remotely by a cell phone. During a news conference at San Jose Police headquarters Wednesday morning, police showed a video, recorded by hidden camera, of the suspect demonstrating the technology to officers by detonating a bomb for them.

Operation Meltdown was begun in March 2007. Undercover officers from both departments opened a fake metal-recycling business in the city of Santa Clara called Jose Clara Co-Op.

Within days, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis said, customers started showing up offering to sell what appeared to be stolen copper. Over the course of the next year, the undercover officers purchased 14 tons of copper with a street vale of almost $100,000. Soon after the officers began buying the copper, though, Davis said visitors to the recycling shop started offering to sell other stolen goods. The officers eventually purchased 40 stolen vehicles and 74 firearms, including 21 assault weapons.

Over the life of the operation, Davis said, 273 suspects were investigated, 63 of whom were arrested over the course of the investigation. Another 73 suspects were picked up during a sweep Tuesday. There are still another 70 suspects with outstanding warrants yet to be arrested…

Vehicle theft was also part of the picture, including some mighty fancy rides:

40 stolen vehicles were purchased. The vehicles include a BMW, Porsche Carrera, Nissan 350Z, Audi, Toyota MR2, SUV’s, sedans, motorcycles and a new Ford Edge SUV.

Who is involved?

The article mentioned that “many of the suspects were identified as gang members,” but no suspects were named, nor were the gangs identified.

In case you have any doubts:

Forest Fire Jihad Being Threatened on Terrorist Websites

U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.

A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.

The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”

The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”

The posting quoted imprisoned Al Qaida terrorist Abu Musab Al-Suri, as saying “Jihad is an art just like poetry, music, and the fine arts. There are people that draw and there are others that are jihadists. They both act upon inspiration.”

(h/t Scarlett Crusader)

That’s right: Air France to begin study of inflight cell phone use.

But don’t get too excited. The test will run for just six months, only within Europe, and only on the Airbus A-318. And the experience will be just as regimented and micromanaged as everything else having to do with air travel in the twenty-first century:

During the first three months of the study, passengers will be allowed only to send text messages and e-mails. But during the second three months (originally the study was scheduled to last a year), passengers will be allowed to make voice calls. According to Wi-Fi Net News, calls can only be made above 10,000 feet and depending on passenger feedback, cabin crew can disable the service at any time. As you may expect, the satellite calls will be $2.50 per minute. Also, passengers will not know they’re flying on the test aircraft until after they board.

Hmmm…wonder what would happen if a flight attendant were to overhear a passenger using a cell phone to complain to someone about the airline, the plane, or the flight crew?

Also see:

• Air France and OnAir launch World’s First In-Flight Mobile Phone Service on Board International Flights

• Cell phones on planes: Part three

  Since cell phone towers don’t reach thousands of feet into the air the cellular signals will be converted into satellite communications that will vault into space and then connect to a ground network.

• Computerworld: Why cell phones are still grounded

This just in (1/8/08):

How a backseat driver could bring terror to new Dreamliner

The technology used by the new generation of aircraft is now so advanced that aviation officials fear that terrorists could use it to fly the plane.>

Aviation regulators have refused to certify Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet until it redesigns its computer system to protect against such an event, The Times has learnt.

The Federal Aviation Authority is concerned that terrorists could use the Dreamliner’s in-flight internet system to connect to “systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the aircraft”.

In a report released last week, the FAA said that Boeing had left the pilots’ computers open to attack by connecting the Dreamliner’s entertainment system to the pilots’ controls.

A hacker with a computer and some IT training potentially could hijack the system from his seat.

(Updated 11/17/07)

Click here to view the embedded video.

What the Google Phone is, and what it is not

• No, you can’t go to the Google menu and order a fancy new phone! Google is not providing cellular phone service at this time, nor is Google manufacturing or selling phone handsets.
• The Google Phone is a project under development. No new products or services are ready to be offered to consumers.
• The Google Phone project, code-named Android, is to create a new cellular phone software platform. This will consist of a cell phone operating system, together with mobile applications, that will run on many different cell phone handsets offered by various major service providers.
• Unlike proprietary products such as the Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Nokia/Symbian, and RIM’s Blackberry, Android will be based on Linux and other open-source software.
• At this time, 34 vendors are involved in the Android consortium.

What will Google’s Android project mean to you?

The Android project will introduce more competition into the cellular phone marketplace. To keep their market share, other smartphone vendors that are not part of the Android consortium will have to lower their prices, open up their proprietary software to outside developers, or both.

This project will undoubtedly encourage more experimentation and innovation in terms of what can be done with cellular phone devices.

Google to bid on wireless spectrum – What does Google plan to do with it?

CNET News: Don’t expect Google to take on AT&T

Google is lining up financing to bid on wireless spectrum in the Federal Communication Commission’s upcoming 700MHz auction, and it’s already built a small high-speed wireless network at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to test out what it could do with the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Journal cited sources saying the company is planning on bidding in the auction, set to take place early next year. Google has obtained a test license from the FCC that it’s using to test technology on a small wireless network on its campus, the article said. And it’s supposedly using prototypes of handsets that use the company’s newly announced Android software…

After all the fuss and hoopla surrounding Google and the auction, it would seem ridiculous if the company didn’t bid. Google lobbied the FCC hard for rules to be passed as part of the auction that would require license winners to allow open devices on that part of their network.

CNET News suggests that Google will probably lease this spectrum to other wireless providers to use with the Android project, rather than attempting to build its own wireless network from scratch.

Google’s Android Project – Media Coverage

• Bold Investors: Hello, Android! (The Google Phone)
• ZDNet News: From Danger’s realm come Android’s makers
• ZDNet Blogs: Google launches Android SDK and $10 million contest
• ZDNet Blogs: Here are six reasons why Google could buy Sprint-but the BIG reason they won’t
• WSJ: Can Google-Powered Phones Connect With Carriers?
• WSJ: Google Phone: A Business-Tech Nightmare Waiting to Happen
• WSJ: Google, Bidding For Phone Ads, Lures Partners
• Engadget: Symbian, Nokia, Microsoft, and Apple downplay Android relevance

Learn More From These Official Sites

• Android – An Open Handset Alliance Project
• Android Developers’ Channel on YouTube
• Open Handset Alliance
• Google Groups – Android Developers
• Android Developers Blog

Technorati : Google, cellular, mobile computing, mobile web, tech industry
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Think It Couldn’t Happen Here?

Hat Tip: bamapachyderm

Also see:

• Burma-Myanmar stories on 1389 Blog
• Resource Page: Stop Blog Censorship!
• Censorship articles on 1389 Blog

Technorati : Burma, Myanmar, activism, blog censorship, cell phone, censorship
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Maldives Explosion Triggered by Cell Phone Card

Minivan News has been covering the Male’ Explosions, the arrests, and the aftermath. The important thing to remember, of course, is that Islam is not to blame (?!)

This is yet another way to do evil. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are terrorist training videos on YouTube or sold on DVD to show how to do this. Next time, they’ll use a stolen card so that it will not be traced back to the perpetrator, but to the rightful owner of the phone. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you!

Take-Home Lessons for Everyone:

1. If your phone is lost or stolen, report it immediately.
2. Send unwanted or obsolete cell phones to a recycling facility that will wipe out all of the information in the phone pertaining to you, and either resell or destroy the phone.
3. Be on the lookout for suspicious videos. See the 1389 Blog Reference Material Page for where to report them.

Technorati : IED, YouTube, cellular, jihadism, terrorism
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Myanmar: Virtual revolution via Internet

Credit for this goes not to international media but to the efforts of hundreds of Myanmar’s citizens using the Internet and mobile phones to send first hand accounts, photographs and video footage to the rest of the world…this time technology is playing a crucial role in helping subvert the Myanmar government’s attempts to control the media meaning that the eyes of the world are on Myanmar and its oppressive regime like never before.

US Blasts Myanmar for Silencing Internet

The White House criticized Myanmar on Friday for cutting off Internet access and called on “all civilized nations” to pressure the military-run government to end its violent crackdown on protesters.

“They don’t want the world to see what is going on there,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said….(more)

Myanmar’s main Internet link not working: official

…Myanmar’s Internet service is tightly controlled and only sporadically available even in the best of times, but the military has tightened its controls amid anti-government protests.

In Bangkok, an official at a Thai telecom that provides satellite services to Myanmar also said some Internet service inside the country had been cut….

Myanmar: Internet Blocked

There have been massive support from Myanmar bloggers for the current protest activities, and the whole Myanmar blogosphere is overwhelmed with news and photos. Because of that, Myanmar Junta got chickened out and banned the political blogs, almost immediately followed by banning the whole blogger domain hence all other Myanmar blogs. A few bloggers tried to bypass proxy and blog using email-to-blog techniques….

Junta tries to shut down internet and phone links

The Burmese junta was last night desperately trying to shut down internet and telephone links to the outside world after a stream of blogs and mobile phone videos began capturing the dramatic events on the streets.

In the past 24 hours observers monitoring the flow of information have noticed a marked downturn, with the reported closure of cybercafes and the disconnection of mobile telephones.

Yes, but Myanmar is a Socialist nation, we’re all thinking…that could happen waaaay over there, but not here, in the west, where we have freedom of speech. You think? The methods may be different, but the results are the same. Check out these ongoing updates about internet censorship:

• FHK – resist! censorship
• Burma-Myanmar articles on 1389 Blog
• Resource Page: Stop Blog Censorship!
• Censorship articles on 1389 Blog
• :Gates of Vienna: Modoggies
• Foehammer on Censorship
• My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• Burma or Myanmar: That’s not the question
• Real Citizen Journalism in Myanmar

Update – for Facebook users: Consider joining or supporting the “Support the Monks’ Protest in Burma” group. More info on Mashable.

Technorati : Burma, Jenn Sierra (author), Myanmar, blog censorship, cell phone, censorship, censorware
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Arson by cell phone?

We don’t have all the evidence in yet, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Just because a few of the local outbreaks of fire appear to have been caused by simple carelessness does not mean that all of them were.

Greek broadcasting station SKAi reported that arson devices triggered by cell phones were found. Where have we heard of that before?

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Who is setting Greece on fire?
• Greek Fires Blamed on Arson, Olympic Antiquities Saved
• Are Greek Fires a Terrorist Attack?
• Greek government points to arson for fires
• 63 dead in Greek forest fires
• Foreigners help fight Greek fires
• Greek fires blamed on “culture of arson”

Photos from Space

Here are some photos from space, showing how widespread these fires are:

• Scientific Blogging: The Fires In Greece As Seen From Space
• My Way News Photo: Greece Fires
• Der Spiegel: Satellite Photos of the Greek Catastrophe

Updates:

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
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The sign-up is quick and easy. You’ll need to validate your e-mail address and phone number, then start Jotting.

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What is Twitter, anyway?

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging environment. If you’re wondering what this means in real life, Twitter is a place where you can let your friends know what you’re doing, network and meet new people, and keep a shared record of interesting things that you encounter on the Internet and in real life. There are even “tweetups” in various locations where Twitterers can get together in person.

How does Twitter work?

When you bring up the first Twitter screen, it asks you, “What are you doing right now?” Although people do use Twitter to answer that question, Twitter is far more than that.

Once you have signed on, you can recount your daily activities, share news items and links, or converse with other Twitterers, in messages of up to 140 characters each. Messages are sometimes known as “tweets” or “updates.” If your text is longer than that, you can continue it in the next 140-character message.

Each user can page back to see earlier messages. This means that you can communicate either in “real time” or by posting messages that others will see when they sign on later.

How do I access Twitter?

You can access Twitter from just about any device that has an Internet browser or messaging capability: a PC, Mac, or Linux machine; a smartphone or PDA such as Blackberry or iPhone; or any cell phone that has a web browser and/or text messaging (SMS or IM). Once you have a user ID, you can use any combination of these methods.

To access Twitter from a desktop or laptop browser, enter http://twitter.com in the address field. That’s all you need.

It’s free; just follow the simple instructions for signing up.

For those who prefer other user interface styles, various downloadable desktop clients are available, including a plugin for Facebook.

To access Twitter Mobile from a cell phone or other mobile device, simply enter http://m.twitter.com in the browser address field. Here again, there are other interfaces you can use, depending on the type of device. If you wish, you can also associate your cell phone number with your Twitter user ID, so that you can send SMS text messages to 40404 and have them appear with your user ID. This also lets you receive “tweets” as text messages on your cell phone. If the text messages get to be too much, you can turn that feature on or off at your convenience.

Tech Tip: If you plan to use Twitter from any mobile device, make sure that you have a service plan that allows for unlimited web browsing and a sufficiently large number of text messages per month. Keep an eye on the amount of data traffic through your account. Even if the company’s television ads claim that they offer “unlimited access,” read the fine print on the service agreement before you sign!

Who will see my messages?

Twitter lets you send two kinds of messages: normal “tweets” that can be viewed by anyone, and direct messages that go to one specific individual.

Direct messages are useful if you want to send someone an email addy or a personal invitation, or if you are communicating with family members or business associates. To send a direct message, enter a “d” followed by a space and the other Twitterer’s user ID (e.g., d 1389 for a direct message to me).

Anyone can see your normal “tweets” if they are watching the public timeline or if they view your profile page. You have the option of preventing this access by locking your updates for access only by friends, but most people choose not to do that.

To direct a normal “tweet” to a specific Twitterer, put an at-sign followed immediately by the Twitterer’s user ID in the message (e.g., @1389 for a message to me). Everyone else can still see the “tweet,” but it will also appear in the other user’s Replies tab.

The real question is not who could potentially see your messages, but who actually will be reading them. Twitterers generally stay on their own home page most of the time. Your home page shows you only the messages from other Twitterers whom you are following. In order to have a conversation, the “following” relationship needs to be mutual. This structure helps to make Twitter self-policing, in that spammers, trolls, and other bad actors find themselves tuned out. On the other hand, it does make it more difficult for a new Twitterer to begin establishing a network of friends.

So how do I start building a network on Twitter?

Once you have your user ID, you can start the process by choosing to follow other Twitterers whose messages you find interesting. To see another user’s profile, you can click on that person’s user ID or enter http://twitter.com/their_ID, substituting the other Twitterer’s actual user ID for their_ID. On the profile page, you can click on a button if you want to begin following that user. Whether other users choose to follow you in return is up to them; some will and some won’t, for whatever reason.

It helps if you already know someone who is an active Twitterer. Some people display their Twitter user IDs in MySpace or Facebook or their blogs. Once you have set up an account on Twitter, you can begin following him or her, and perhaps send an email asking the other user to start following you on Twitter and to help you get started by introducing you to others.

If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can always follow me by clicking on http://twitter.com/1389, or you can leave a comment here asking for my assistance. I check my follower list regularly and will follow anyone in return who is not a spambot and who behaves in a civil manner. Let me know what your interests are, and I’ll try to introduce you to other Twitterers who share those interests.

What are some of the “unwritten rules”?

• You gotta “tweet”! If you don’t interact with the people who are following you, they’ll figure that you aren’t on the system any more and they’ll drop you. Get to know people, say hello or good morning, remember who they are and ask them about things that they are interested in. Check your direct messages and your “replies” tab regularly.
• Don’t “spam.” People do converse about what is going on in their workplace, and about products, services, or intellectual property that they or their company are offering, and that’s generally okay. But people will block Twitterers who spew out blatant sales pitches or advertisements. By the same token, feel free to block and/or report any user that appears to be a “spambot” or is abusing the system.
• It’s okay to send links to interesting news stories or blog posts, whether on your blog or someone else’s. Twitter uses Tiny URL to convert long URLs to shorter ones. This allows the link to fit into a short text message, but the downside is that other Twitterers won’t be able to see where the link is going until they click on it. So be sure that your message includes a few words explaining what the link is all about. If you want people to visit your blog, tell them what you posted there!
• Don’t be shy about inviting people! There are some prominent Twitterers, including media people, politicians, campaign managers, well-known bloggers, and tech industry innovators. Go ahead and follow them; many of them will follow you back, and some will converse with you if you have something to say with regard to their areas of interest.
• Controversial topics are not off-limits. This may surprise you, but prominent Twitterers generally will not flame you or drop you just because you expressed a point of view that they don’t happen to agree with. It’s true that Silicon Valley and media people have a reputation for being left-wing, but some of them are willing to hear other points of view, if expressed in a civil manner. If you speak your mind, and back up your statements with verifiable facts and logic, a few people will drop you, but a far greater number will begin following you!

Anything else that would be helpful to know?

Tech tip: Did you know that you can claim your Twitter account as a blog on Technorati?
It’s very easy to do. It will make your tweets searchable and it will give you more of a presence on Technorati. After you do this, be sure to ping your blog(s) on Technorati regularly to keep Technorati up to date.

Also see:

• Twitter FAQ
• Twitter Fan Wiki (highly recommended by Twitterer Thiothixene)
• Top 10 Twitter Apps from Readwriteweb
• Twitter vs. Pownce – Comparison with Rolling Updates
• Paper: Why We Twitter (hat tip to Twitterer Jeff Quinton)
• Updated: Two MORE Takes on Twitter
• Why Bloggers Need to Ping
• In Disasters, Everyone, Not Just Bloggers, Should Use Twitter

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The goal of the FHK project is to assist politically-conservative bloggers, social-networkers, and citizen journalists to navigate the wild, wild world of Web 2.0 more effectively.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Ft. Hard Knox Project, here are the links:

• Ft. Hard Knox Main Page and Blog
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum Chat
• Ft. Hard Knox Wiki

“Wiki…What?” A Wiki is a user-supported and continuously-evolving hypertext encyclopedia. Thus, by definition, a Wiki is always “under construction.” The Ft. Hard Knox Wiki has recently been established within the Wikispaces environment, and it already has some useful articles. Its purpose is to offer an easy way to access tech tips and information, to help conservatives use the Web more effectively.

Using the FHK Forum and Chat Room:

The Ft. Hard Knox forum is hosted on Delphi, so you’ll need to register for a Delphi user ID if you don’t already have one. Registration for the basic functions is free, and that’s all you need to leave messages on the forum or to use the chat room. Prompts will appear when you click on the link. It takes just a minute to sign up!

Updated 7/17/07:

Meet with us on Twitter!

• The Monday night FHK forum chat has been discontinued for now. That’s because it’s too difficult to get everybody in different time zones all over the world to meet at the same time, especially in the summer when so many people are traveling.
• Instead, we’re encouraging fellow conservatives and antijihadist activists to meet with us on Twitter. You can use Twitter both in “real time” for chatting with people who are online at the same time, and as a forum for communicating with people who will be online at other times.
• Click here to view all of our articles about Twitter. We’ll have many more articles about Twitter in the future!
• So how do I get started on Twitter? The easiest way is to ask an established user to introduce you to other Twitterers. Whom to ask? Me, of course! Don’t be shy. Just go to the Twitter site, register an account, click on my profile at 1389, and add me as a friend. I’ll “friend” you back soon afterward. Then send me a message introducing yourself, and I’ll begin introducing you to others. I hope to see you there soon!

Updated 7/2/07:

• We’ll be discussing the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki during tonight’s Forum Chat, so please stop by if you’d like to know more, or if you think you might be interested in working with us!

Updated 6/26/07:

• The main page and blog for the Ft. Hard Knox project have moved to a new address, http://forthardknox.com/
• From the new URL, the Ft. Hard Knox blog can be accessed via a cellphone or PDA browser as well as from a conventional browser.

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TinyURL for this blog post: http://tinyurl.com/yo8og9

For quite a while, I’ve been keeping a separate “scratch pad” blog, called 1389 Message Blog. Throughout the day, I post various links, along with comments and messages, sometimes through the blog editor, but mostly by cell phone. I use this later on as raw materials for other writing that I do, including articles on 1389 Blog, the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki, and other places.

Well…I finally realized that I am not going to get around to using all of this material myself, so I’ve decided to open it up to public viewing.

Please don’t expect anything fancy! I treat 1389 Message Blog as a workspace, so it’s always “under construction.” The posts that come directly from my cell phone might not have titles or tags. If I happen to be testing something new, I might change or delete a blog post. If I’ve used the material in an article, I may move everything to another blog or to a Wiki page and link to the new article from the post in 1389 Message Blog, so that I don’t have to update it in two places.

Thus, if you find a link on 1389 Message Blog to something interesting that you want to do some serious writing about, I suggest that you link directly to the source, not to the post in 1389 Message Blog.

Here’s the 1389 Message Blog feed.

Other 1389 Message Blog features:

• Both 1389 Mobile Blog and 1389 Message Blog are on Technorati. However, individual posts on 1389 Message Blog are not tagged or labeled by subject matter. In fact, the subject matter on that blog can be literally anything at all!
• Comments on 1389 Message Blog are open, so feel free to communicate!

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