Friday, March 28, 2008

Comcast pretending to do the right thing.


In case you're not aware, comcast were caught out last year cancelling all bittorrent traffic. Their method for doing so was by illegally injecting their own data in to all torrent traffic on their network. The data they injected ended all torrent downloads as though no more data was available even though it was. It is not known how long they were doing this for before they got caught red handed.

Comcast, under federal inquiry over its throttling of BitTorrent traffic, said Thursday it will deploy a so-called "agnostic" approach to traffic management and treat all data equally by year's end.

So it takes an entire year to flick a switch and turn off an illegal data injector?
Comcast said it was working with BitTorrent Inc. of San Francisco, to develop a neutral, traffic management protocol, and said government intervention was unnecessary.

They have to work with the creators of bittorrent to figure out how to stop themselves from purposefully interfering with a protocols data?

This is all a load of shit, it makes you wonder what new dodgy deeds they are planning. I feel sorry for those in the US, generally you're limited in ISP options depending on where you live so some people have no choice but dial-up or comcast.

Source: Threat Level.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Happy Bunrum day, everyone.


THE LEGEND OF BUNRAM, THE RATIONAL RABBIT

Bunram was a rationalist rabbit who brought himself into conflict with the strictly theist majority, the Order of Gallus. The Gallusians were chickens who subscribed to the belief that by simply pondering the question of which came first -- the chicken or the egg -- one could attain perfect grace. Resolution to the question was considered impossible for any creature to attain, and the very asking of it was an affront to the Feeder.

This perfect mystery was reaffirmed, the Gallusians believed, by the existence of the Ovum, an unhatched egg that was said to contain an eternally self-replenishing supply of shelled corn, soybeans, oats and alfalfa (this is now only subscribed to by the orthodox sects, whereas the 'modern' or 'reform' denomination supports the later high-fructose corn syrup creeds of the Council of Cadbury).

Bunram, by contrast, believed this approach led only to infinite regression and raised far more questions than it answered. He felt the creation question was a scientific one, and that it could be answered definitively by rationality, reason, and, of course, scientific experimentation on unfertilized eggs.

In response to this 'haresy', the Gallusians waged a campaign of persecution against the minority population of rabbits (now ethnically reclassified as Bunrammites, or simply 'bunnies'). Being faster than a tortoise was considered incontrovertible proof of haresy, and punishable by being pecked to death. Rabbits were often accused of tempting innocents to follow them down into holes, where all manner of unnatural phenomena was said to occur, and suspicion of this activity could also result in death. It soon became apparent that if a rabbit could get by with a simple pecking off of the foot ('keychaining'), they could consider themselves among the lucky.

This dark epoch achieved its zenith with the massacre of twelve newborn chicks ('The Extirpation of the Peeps'), which was blamed on Bunram. He was mercilessly pecked, covered in a rich layer of chocolaty excrement, placed in a basket (some accounts say the basket was pink, others yellow, and still others make no mention of the basket at all), wrapped in cellophane and left in a field to suffocate.

According to the legend, Bunram broke free of the trap (The 'Decampment'), stole the Ovum, and disappeared to the East. The chickens' attempts to find Bunram and their sacred egg have remained fruitless for more than two millennia. It seemed that no matter how far East they travelled in search of him, they could never be 'more East' than Bunram.

Now, we celebrate Bunram's heroic defense of logic and scientific inquiry by boiling the unfertilized eggs of the Gallusians' descendants and playfully hiding them, consuming the likeness of Bunram in excremental chocolate (the Lapin Transubstantiation) and watching 'Bugs Bunny vs Foghorn Leghorn', which ABC-TV plays every year on this day.

Happy Easter, Bunramists!

Source: RRS.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Profit.


The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001. Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.

The film was described by its producers as a work of fiction, meant to educate the public about cults and con men. It was widely seen, however, as a parody of the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The main character L. Conrad Powers leads an organization called the "Church of Scientific Spiritualism", and many elements about both the Church portrayed in the film, and Powers' life have been compared to Scientology and Hubbard. The film was mainly produced and shot in Tampa Bay, Florida, and the cast included actors from the area and cameos from a few Scientology critics.

More Information: Here.
Torrent: Here.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Bastard Exclusive: Vatican ahead of japan in android technology.


The vatican has shown today that it is the world leader and years ahead of Japan when it comes to cybernetic and android technology, many think thanks to secrets held in their vast library.

Shown here is their cream of the crop, the best kept secret the vatican have had for the last 40 years - their Joseph Ratzinger android. The Joseph Ratzinger Mk.XVI (development name), also known as Pope Benedict XVI or Emperor Palpatine (production names) is a return to the tried and tested older wind-up technology. Shown (left) is a bishop demonstrating the cap-winder.

They made this move due to the slow failure and meltdown of their previous battery operated attempt, Pope John Paul II. Others say they should have just used Energizer instead of Duracell.

Blu-ray made usable.


The next-gen DVD war was won unfortunately by sony, a company renowned for proprietary formats, not playing well with other products/companies, and rootkits.

Fortunately, the good people at SlySoft have worked their magic and made the Blu-ray format usable.

Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group will have to revise his statement from July, 2007 regarding BD+: "BD+, unlike AACS which suffered a partial hack last year, won't likely be breached for 10 years". It is worth mentioning that since he made that statement only eight months have gone by.

Source: BoingBoing.

Australian Racketeering Industry Assosication strikes again.


The ARIA/RIAA are getting one step closer to their greatest wish - a world without music. The latest method is by increasing the amount pubs and clubs have to pay for music. But it's ok, it's not much. They only want it to go from 7c per song per person ($1.05/hour/person) to $1.05 per song per person ($15.75/hour/person) over 4 years, a mere 1400% increase. They initially sought $2.32 per song per person ($34.80/hour/person).

Honestly, if anybody here still listens to any bands who are represented by an ARIA/RIAA affiliated company, you're a fucking moron. That's all there is to it.

Source: SMH.