I’m getting so tired of… wait.. not getting, i am tired of all these politically correct donkeys that are determined to steal the joy from everything we have. Who the hell are you to start crying foul that saying Merry Christmas could offend someone.
Offended, seriously? No one is forcing you to say it, just like no one forces me to say Happy Kwanzaa, or to celebrate Ramadan. I have the choice, and that’s the most important part of this… i have the choice to acknowledge, or partake in this. Why would I be offended if someone else chooses to display their celebration of these times? If a store has a display that I don’t like, I have the choice not to go there.. What kind of an asshole would I be to tell them they can’t sell it?
Soon enough there will be no more holidays… the risk of offending someone is too great.
I’m just flat out irritated as I sit here and listen to these news stories…

This one kills me…

a ban on Santa, candy canes, stockings, and all Christmas, Hanukkah and other “religious items.”

Red and green tissue paper to wrap presents was also crossed off the list because it looked too “Christmasy,” McMillan said.

“One of the parents said, ‘If we allow Santa, what do we say if a child brings in a swastika? Do we allow that too?’”

When did Santa become offensive? Who in their right mind compares Santa to a swastika? You should be ashamed… oh, and let’s not pick colors that are “too christmasy”?

Why can’t we just allow the kids to continue enjoying the holidays for what they are, how we remember them, and focus on having time together with our families instead of wasting so much time with these ridiculous battles to prove your own ignorance. Remember, there’s alot of people who cannot be home with their families these holidays, because they’re out fighting to protect your freedoms to run your fat mouth. Stop stealing the smiles from the kids and get your ass home & spend some time with them.

This goes right in line with all these kids sports where “everyone wins”… Oh man, that’s a whole other topic.. but these kids grow up with a false sense of reality.. no sense of accomplishment, or understanding of competition.. You want to win, work for it…

Ok, i got work to do, have a good day.. and in case I don’t post before then, Happy Thanksgiving. Keep our soldiers in your thoughts.

…dá ban no Habbo Hotel! Já são alguns os fãs do episódio criado por mim, #showdokakonoob no twitter. Este kako a que me refiro é o kako do Habbo Hotel e actual dono do fã-site CaféDourado. Este mesmo indivíduo tem a pior escrita que alguma vez vi. Para além disso, é dono de um fã-site conhecido pelo seu bom português. Eu próprio já trabalhei lá e foi este mesmo que me demitiu por razões absurdas. Admito que lhe chamei noob mas as verdades por vezes devem ser ditas.

E ontem, visto que o kako escreveu algo no CaféDourado, deu lugar a mais um episódio. Como sou muito boa pessoa, decidi eu mesmo mostrar ao kako esta obra de arte que ele me estava a proporcionar com a sua péssima escrita e então deixei um recado no seu livro de visitas do Habbo Hotel. Este, como não gosta de ouvir verdades, decidiu babar o egg dos seus amigos Moderadores do Habbo Hotel e banir-me. Descobri isto no dia seguinte, hoje, e quase me parti a rir. Foi bom para começar o dia. Mas aqueles que gostam desta maravilhosa crítica, não a perderão!

You can’t do it in many bars, restaurants, any government building and hundreds of other random places. And now you can’t do it on the internet. Yes, not on the internet…well, maybe that is too extreme way to say it, ’cause it’s just on a particular site. I’m a Gaian from GaiaOnline and they have just banned smoking items. All smoking items are now no longer to be sold in stores and the ones that people already own are soulbound to their accounts.
We’re not sure what they think will happen…but I do know that just about everyone who owns a smoking item is wearing it in protest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/22/churches-lift-ban-homosexual-staff

A footballer who crashed his car on a night out is fined 2,500 and banned from the roads for 17 months for drink-driving…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: english football. The blog is also related to: holland soccer.

Sadly, the people “speaking out in defense of pit bulls” did nothing to lessen the pit bull and pit bull owner stereotype; the residents were a group of breeders, and their dogs were featured on the news wearing spiked collars, being restrained on thick logging chains. A comment from below the news story reads: “I hear all these people tell how safe their pit bulls are, and then see that one’s using a heavy chain for a leash! Give me a break!!”

Previous alert for Genesee County: http://stopbsl.com/2009/11/09/2488/

Although the Flint City Council president does not expect a pit bull ban to be proposed, that doesn’t mean some other type of BSL isn’t a possibility.

Next city council meetings: November 23 and December 14

Contact info for Flint City Council:

City Council Office, Rm 310 City Hall, Flint, MI  48502
810-766-7418
Fax: (810) 766-7032

Delrico J. Loyd – 1st Ward
President
810-766-7418 ext. 3160
dloyd@cityofflint.com

Jackie Foster Poplar – 2nd Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3162 

Bryant W. Nolden – 3rd Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3159

Joshua M. Freeman – 4th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3161

Bernard Lawler – 5th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3164

Sheldon Neeley- 6th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3165
sneeley@cityofflint.com 

Dale K. Weighill – 7th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3163

Michael J. Sarginson – 8th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3167

Scott Kincaid – 9th Ward
810-766-7418

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=380765

Pit bull debate continues as communities deal with dangerous dogs

Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 7:09 p.m.

A group of Genesee County residents is speaking out in defense of pit bulls.

They want to make sure this area doesn’t follow the lead of other communities across the state, and ban the breed.

Flint City Council President Delrico Loyd says there has been casual talk among city leaders about what to do about dangerous dogs, but he doesn’t expect a ban on any specific breeds.

For the full story, click on the video icon above.

Unfortunately, this is another poorly researched, poorly reported news article that fails to address the bigger picture of non-pit-bull-related bites and lacks any hard numbers. Youngstown already had BSL in the form of Ohio’s vicious dog law (wherein all “pit bulls” must be treated as “vicious” dogs) before they instituted the ban.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091123/NEWS02/311239966

Results mixed in Youngstown’s pit bull ban

Published: November 23. 2009 1:15AM

A series of violent attacks in Youngstown, Ohio, led that city to prohibit pit bulls in 2007.

“We certainly had an initial backlash when it was proposed,” said Jay Macejko, the city prosecutor. “Now people seem to accept it.”

The ban outlawed all pit bulls in the city that had not been registered in prior years.

The ban has had mixed results, Macejko said.

“When it’s used, it’s very effective,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s only used when something bad happens. We don’t have dog wardens or police out actively looking for these animals, so we only encounter them in cases of complaints or attacks.”

But when there is an attack or complaint, the ban has been enforced, he said.

Macejko said recently a man’s pit bull, one of three, attacked a woman’s dog near the man’s house.

“We told him he was staring down the barrel of major fines and jail time and he had to come into compliance,” he said. “He agreed to get rid of the dogs.”

A first-time offender of the law could receive six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Macejko said.

Macejko said the frequency of attacks has been reduced since the ban went into effect.

“But not to the extent any of us are happy,” he said. “One is too many.”

– Kara Murphy

NAGPUR: IT has been over four years since the state government banned plastic bags of below 50-micron thickness. Still, anyone going shopping can easily get their grocery items or vegetables in one of these ultra thin plastic bags that are blamed for choking up drains as well as cattle that ingest them from garbage heaps. The menace remains strong. Reason: Nagpur Municipal Corporation, which is supposed to enforce the ban, has miserably failed in its job.

Barring leading departmental stores, almost all shops were using plastic bags of five to 10 micron thickness, NMC sources said. The sale and use these bags were continuing unabated across the city. However, now civic body has decided to take action against the erring manufacturers and dealers. Civic officials have once again started conducting raids on various shops, plastic units and even roadside vendors. Since last two months, during such raids 2128 kg of banned plastic bags were seized from various establishments and over Rs 55,000 were recovered from the violators as fines.

The NMC squads, by health officer (sanitation) Dr Milind Ganvir and officials of health department from various zones, were conducting the raids. The a health department official informed that in a recent raid on a plastic bag manufacturer at Itwari, the flying squad had seized over 2025 kg bags below 50 microns. For the first time, the accused manufacturer was fined Rs 6,000. However, if found repeating the offence, he would be fined Rs 10,000 and may also earn imprisonment of six months, he added.

From TOI

The article is poorly written, but the gist is this: stereotypes about ”pit bulls”–not any real behavior or incident–prompt the vast majority of calls to animal control about “pit bulls.” To quote the city environment director: “The issues with pit bulls do not support the number of investigations. But it’s the fear of pit bulls that’s still with us.”

The statistics provided by the article are relatively worthless in terms of assessing the ban’s effect on public safety, as they don’t cover overall dog population or dog bite trends–they are focused entirely on “pit bulls.”

And I have no idea why there’s a list of bullmastiff “facts” at the very end of the article, but I will try to find out.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/11/21/11848396-sun.html

Pit bull complaints still high

By PATRICK MALONEY

Last Updated: 21st November 2009, 3:47am

Four years after Ontario slapped a ban on new pit bulls, concerns about the squat, muscular dogs still prompt nearly one in every five animal complaints in London.

Fears remain high about the controversial breed, a new city report suggests, even though the population of pit bulls has shrunk significantly since 2005 — now making up less than 3% of all licensed London dogs.

“There’s still that concern with a pit bull,” said Jay Stanford, the city environment director whose latest report to politicians on animal control statistics is now out.

“Over the last couple of years, the issues with pit bulls do not support the number of investigations. But it’s the fear of pit bulls that’s still with us,” he said yesterday.

A string of vicious attacks on people, including one particularly high-profile one on a Toronto man, prompted Ontario’s then-attorney general, Michael Bryant, to introduce a ban on pit bulls, which he dubbed “ticking time bombs.”

The agency contracted by London to handle animal-related complaints fielded 11,758 in 2008 — more than 2,000 of which involved pit bulls. There were 681 licensed pit bulls in London.

In several cases, the callers were mistaken about the breed, Stanford says.

Another concern in Stanford’s report relates to rogue owners who refuse to license their pit bulls. Those owners are “consistently delinquent” and contribute to “significant workload” for enforcement officers, the report says.

Stanford says the city knows of 35 unlicensed pit bulls. City hall has no power to force the hand of owners, beyond issuing tickets.

The “transient nature” of some owners also makes it difficult to keep track of the location of all pit bulls in the city, the report notes.

“We have no idea how many pit bulls are out there that have never been licensed (but) we don’t believe it’s very large at all.”

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

—

PIT BULLS BY THE NUMBERS

681: Licensed pit bulls in London in 2008

974: Number in 2005, when Ontario banned new ones

2,045: Pit bull-related complaints in London in 2008

11,758: Total number of animal-related calls that year

35: Known unlicensed pit bulls in London

—

ABOUT BULLMASTIFFS

Bred to immobilize poachers

Males weigh about 50 kg.

Bite stronger than a wolf’s

Shell fishing beds in Southampton Water are closed following a problem at a nearby sewage works…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: go fishing. The blog is also related to: fishing trips.

Stepping up its drive against use of hazardous plastic bags in the capital, Delhi government has asked the enforcing agencies to crack down on the owners of the shops selling the items within the market areas, including those in the walled city.

The officials have been asked to carry out intensive enforcement drive at the wholesale markets of plain plastic bags at Sadar Bazaar, Kharibowli and Khurshid Market.

“So far, the drive had been focussed on prosecuting the consumers of the plastic bags. But for effective implementation of the law there is a need to curb the source. Hence, now we have asked the enforcing agencies to keep an eye on the shops selling plastic bags in the market areas,” a senior official said.

At a meeting held recently, Delhi Environment Secretary Dharmendra also stressed that the local bodies like MCD, NDMC, and the Sub Divisional Magistrates should implement the ban vigorously in their area.

Pulling up the agencies for poor implementation, the Secretary also categorically told them that the sale, storage and use of all kinds of plastic bags are prohibited in the notified places. “This is irrespective of the size labelled as more than 40 microns or even if it is bio-degradable,” a senior official said.

PTI – HINDUSTAN TIMES

Pada saat ini mungkin masih banyak orang Indonesia yang menganggap remeh sebuah ban dan kurang terlalu memperhatikan hal ini. Akan tetapi tahukah anda sebuah ban mungkin saja dapat nyawa anda melayang. Saya pernah membaca sebuah artikel yang mengatakan bahwa sebagian kecelakaan di jalan raya disebabkan oleh ban yang mungkin selama ini kita anggap remeh.

Mungkin ada beberapa hal yang mengakibatkan banyak orang yang malas merawat ban dan mengganti ban mobilnya apabila sudah rusak seperti harga ban yang mahal. Khusus untuk harga ban yang mahal terkadang masih banyak orang Indonesia yang pelit untuk membeli ban baru dan lebih memilih ban bekas yang harganya lebih murah walaupun kualitasnya tidak terjamin dan mungkin saja dapat membahayakan dirinya sendiri maupun orang lain. Dan terkadang ada kala banyak pula para pengendara mobil yang kurang memperhatikan muatan kendaraannya khususnya truk. Contohnya saja mungkin tonase kendaraan tersebut hanya 4 ton terkadang muatan kendaraan itu dimuat sampai dengan 8 ton atau mungkin lebih sehingga tidak heran kalau ban tersebut mengalami kerusakan seperti pecah ditengah jalan sehingga merepotkan anda sendiri.

Jadi saran saya janganlah pernah anggap remeh bagian mobil anda yang satu ini karena mungkin saja hal ini dapat membahayakan nyawa anda sendiri.

AHMEDABAD: Next time you go to the market to buy vegetables, fruits or grocery, carrry your own cloth bag. The state government is planning to ban sale and use of plastics which are thinner than 40 microns and measure less than 30cm x 45cm.

It also intends to ban multi-layered plastic bags and metallic pouches. Officials said that the new guidelines which have been sent by the Union ministry of environment and forests are being studied and will be implemented soon. The ban is likely to become effective in the next two months.

Officials said that the Centre has asked the state authorities to study Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 and implement these in Gujarat. The new guidelines spell out that manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bags thinner than 40 microns and measuring less than 30cm x 45 cm will be prohibited.

The guidelines further state that non-recyclable laminated plastic or metallic pouches, multi-layered packaging and other non-recyclable plastics will be banned. Bio-degradable plastic carry bags, containers and pouches will have to be made as per Bureau of Indian Standards norms, the guidelines underline.

Officials said that each carry bag will have to be made of either virgin, recycled or bio-degradable plastic. Also, the manufacturers will be required to print their names and addresses on each bag.

They pointed out that earlier plastics of 20 microns and 25cm x 30cm were banned.

The state government officials said that the notification quotes a series of research which indicate that plastic bags are left littering, finally finding their way into garbage dumps and drains, choking the water outlet system. SK Nanda, principal secretary forest and environment, said, “We are studying the guidelines and will soon implement them.”

From TIMESOFINDIA

Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism, a 215-page book published by Sisters in Islam has been banned for reasons which are unclear, especially since it has been alleged in court that then Home Affairs Minister, Syed Hamid Albar who ordered the ban to be issued has not read the book, though he said he based his decision, that the book was “prejudicial to public order”, on guidelines provided by JAKIM (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia). However, evidently JAKIM is not fit to dictate Islamic law.

I wonder how the issue of public order in Malaysia need to be argue on the basis of Islamic law in this case. Or is counsel trying to argue two things at the same time – that the book was not “un-Islamic” whatever that means, and at the same time, but separately, not prejudicial to public order?

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2009/11/20/prescott-ark-council-no-pit-bulls-in-tow-39.php

Prescott, Ark.: Council:No pit bulls in town

Ordinance passes after toddler’s death

By: Jim Williamson – Texarkana Gazette – Published: 11/20/2009

PRESCOTT, Ark.—The recent death of a 2-year-old boy motivated the Prescott City Council to approve an ordinance banning pit bull dogs from the city, said Mayor Howard Taylor.

The ordinance, approved Monday night, makes Prescott the fifth town in Southwest Arkansas to ban the dogs. Similar ordinances have been approved by Nashville, De Queen, Dierks and Mineral Springs.

The council was going to consider the ordinance banning pit bull dogs in the December meeting, but decided to declare an emergency and approved the ordinance Monday night.

If by any chance some IT expert comes around tell me how can i ban IP addresses of a country on WP from a blog because at the moment it would be helpful as hell. No i don’t want to ban anyone from here… i need it for something else.

Will be alone the whole next week…oh well at least until Thursday… i’m leaving to go home again. I hate that it’s such a long road with train, and have to make it twice but still…

Next week it’s also the release for the Best of 2001-2009 of The Rasmus and i shall receive it around Friday if everything goes fine, but by then i will be at home, so Monday will pick it up hopefully. Ahh, can’t wait to have it… all the great songs on one single CD and a 32 pages long book with pics of the guys that have not yet been published, at least that’s the way it’s mentioned. We’ll see.

I’m not in the mood to introduce a shitty week like this was… and seemingly won’t get any better in the future either…so hoping for the best that maybe the next week will compensate for everything…oh well at least for a part of it…with a The Rasmus gig on Monday things can be only better than this week.

Over half of U.S. workplaces are banning social media networks for their employees. Most companies fear that interacting on social media networks might distract employees to do the “real” work. The question remains how important sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are for the exchange of useful ideas, thoughts and knowledge in the Web 2.0 era. So what is the real power of social media?

According to Nielsen Wire, two thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites:

• Facebook currently has more than 300 million active users, 50% of which log onto Facebook in any given day. The fastest growing demographic is 35 years and older.

• LinkedIn, considered a professional networking site, has 45 million users representing 150 industries around the world.

• Microblogging site Twitter’s largest user group are adults 35-49. In May 2009, it had 18.2 million unique visitors with the lowest retention rate of all sites mentioned, but the fastest-growing percentage points of all networks.

Countless books have been written on the power of social media. P&G run a test in March 2009, where social media experts, digital masterminds, and experienced interactive marketers created a scenario that generated 1,200 hits for a site within 60 minutes: P&G Tests the Power of Social Media

And we, the “young folks”, would virtually not exist without a Facebook profile (and probably miss a lot of very important things). Traci Armstrong talks about the benefits for employers when Facebook access is granted to employees: Give Employees Facebook Time

Through being part of social media networks we communicate today. Plus, given the information stream available, social networks provide information and educate us all. Rather than being afraid that employees are distracted, companies cannot ignore the power of social media networks as information providers and revenue generators anymore.

Remember the times when we ran into a problem at work and the only way to fix it was to ask a colleague (btw, how did we manage to be successful back then?). Well today, you can ask a colleague and the Internet. So banning social media is counterproductive – companies might as well ban the whole Internet. And that’s too outdated to even talk about.

Venezuela To Ban Violent Video Games

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wjw-news-venezuela-bans,0,6176663.story

Reading this reminded me of something that happened a while back. In 2004 I managed to make it to E3, the largest video game conference in North America. Besides running around to see all the game previews, fan fun, and tech demos, I attended a couple of game industry seminars where guest speakers discussed a variety of topics such as creating good games, and evaluating game markets.

One seminar I attended discussed the burgeoning video game market in China. This seminar only had one speaker, and instead of sending a game developer or someone at least connected in some way to the field to speak to the audience, the Chinese government sent a Communist bureaucrat. The bureaucrat explained how all games developed in China first had to receive approval by his office before they were allowed to be created and released. To this man censoring ideas and words was not only acceptable, it was natural.

It was something I had personally never witnessed before, but it was important to understand. This was different from occasionally hearing a few loud mouth U.S. politicians crying “Won’t somebody please think of the children!” and blaming the ills of society on things like a nameless pixilated space marine who blasts hordes of monsters with a chaingun. This was real censorship, real oppression: bold and shameless.

I value freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I feel that it must be protected, because there are people in the world that would take it away from you in an instant. Never forget it.

Oh and by the way, video games have a rating system. Developers are not responsible for what your children play, you as a parent are.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

Counter Strike for Kids!