BlogRolling Security Warnings

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am well aware of the security warnings that people are getting when visiting your site... and so is BlogRolling.   Before I get into the bad news, the good news is that there is no threat as you can see in the message below.  

The bad news?  Well, it appears BR will be shutting down soon, meaning our lovely blog collection (in this software) will die with it.   I'm scrambling to look for some solutions or alternate systems, but I'm doubtful in finding something as good as what BR is (or was).  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Stay tuned.  In the meantime, here's that update from BlogRolling:

Update on BlogRolling
We’re aware that there is an issue with BlogRolling blogrolls causing some browsers to display a security warning.

There’s nothing really wrong with BlogRolling itself but the way we connect your blog to the sites in your blogroll makes some security algorithms think there is.
If you find yourself in this situation, we recommend you remove the Blogrolling code from your site.

We’re probably going to be shutting the service down soon.  We’ll post more information here and on our Twitter account (@blogrolling) as we decide on next steps.
We’re hoping we can give you enough time to get any data you need out of your blogrolling account before we shut down, but if you really need that data, you might want to get it now just in case.

Why aren’t we just fixing it and letting you continue using the service?

BlogRolling has largely been on auto-pilot for the last six months or so. The people who built it for us don’t work for us anymore. Even though it doesn’t make us any money, we wanted to keep it running because we know folks like it.  But we’re not really comfortable with the code causing security warnings and that means it’s probably time for the service to end.

Thanks for your support. Stay tuned for more details in the next few days.

The Noble Fight Against Duck Hunters

The noble fight against duck hunters has found a new soldier:

A third New Democrat MP says he's changed his mind and will vote against a bill to do away with the long-gun registry.

Claude Gravelle, the member for Nickel Belt, says he wants the registry fixed, not killed.

His reason for his newfound enlightenment? He's perturbed at Tory "hardball" tactics.

“The mounting rhetoric and divisive debate egged on by Conservative MPs has convinced me that I needed to make a decision sooner, rather than later..."
(...)
“There are problems with the long-gun registry which could easily be fixed to address the concerns of hunters, farmers and First Nations communities..."
(...)
“Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Conservatives had no interest in working collaboratively with other parliamentarians because they had intended all along to use this bill as a fundraising tool, and as a cynical way of dividing rural and urban Canadians.”

This is a weird argument for registry converts to use. I now support the registry, not because it's a good idea, or because I now believe in it, but because the other side is mean.

The other side suggests conspiracy theories like "cops just want to get rid of all our guns." How crazy is that? Just looney isn't it?

Except that really it isn't. I would bet dollars to pesos that if you took a poll of gun registry supporters and asked them whether banning all long guns was a good idea a good chunk of them would agree.

I don't see what's so shocking about this statement. It's like saying that someone who wants lower taxes really wants even lower taxes than that. In my case I'm guilty as charged.

These new converts to the Crusade Against Duck Hunters must know this. I refuse to think otherwise. Their logic makes no sense. My beliefs and my opinions in certain positions do not change based on the bad behavior of some fellow arguers.

This leads me to conclude that this MP and others are finding a convenient sword to fall on.

Yes it's the horrible mean Tories and their divisive rhetoric that changed my opinion. I wouldn't have supported the registry if those mean old Tories had just been a little more polite. See constituents - If I voted against the registry those damned crazies would win.

Baloney.

Don't Worry...

...It's coming back.

To all those waiting to be added, you'll get there.

Stay tuned...   :)

Recycle This!

Residents of Cleveland Ohio (Hello Drew Carey) are being introduced to a new type Big Brother. This time he's "green":

Cleveland residents, beware: Your recycling bins may be watching you. The city of Cleveland is introducing a $2.5 million Big Brother-like system next year to make sure residents are recycling.

Chips embedded in recycling carts will keep track of how often residents take the carts to the curb for recycling. If a bin hasn't been taken to the curb in a long time, city workers will go rummaging through the trash to find recyclables. And if workers find that over 10% of the trash is made up of recyclable materials, residents could face a $100 fine.
(link)

Of course, my immediate reaction was to fantasize about how many recyclables I could junk in the dumpster in protest at this ridiculous invasion of personal property rights.

Isn't trash after all your property? How I use, dispose or recycle my stuff I would think is my own business. You have a right to your trash. If trash didn't belong to someone I guess these people made art they can't sell:



No government has the right to tell anyone what they can do with stuff they own... so long as they don't harm anyone else.

I suppose that's exactly what those members of the Green police will argue - by not recycling people cause harm. But do they?

A New York Times article published in 2008 suggests that some forms of recycling cause more harm to the environment: "Recycling is supposed to be good for the environment. But if it’s not carried out properly, certain kinds of recycling — notably the dismantling of electronic circuit boards, which contain lead, zinc, copper and other metals — can cause environmental harm." Ok, but when Cleveland talks about curbside recycling they are no doubt not generally talking about electronics.

Discover though also published an article in 2009 describing how recycling can be harmful for the environment if sorting is done improperly. I can't tell you the number of times I've found it next to impossible to judge just which recycling bin to throw what into. Should I be fined for choosing to throw that piece of plastic away instead of causing more harm by possibly throwing into the wrong bin?

To make matters worse recyclers in Asia have faced recent criticism for their poor environmental practices. "Recycled products made from plastic from these enterprises are often of poor quality and harmful to health..."  Although these problems aren't generally reported here in North America, can we really be sure that recycling operations here aren't causing some similar harm?

We also know that with most curbside recycling, a second truck is used for collection. This means more pollution not less - and the CO2 global warming kind.

It hardly sounds like recycling is so clearly a better choice for the environment. And it seems perfectly reasonable for someone to take differing view that shouldn't automatically be considered a "green crime."

Apparently not so in Cleveland. Those poor Comrades are living in a Green version of 1984, where we all love Big Green Brother - or else!

h/t PowerBlog

A Very Special Place In Hell

I truly believe that a very special place in hell is reserved for those inflexible rigid sociopaths in business and government that refuse to apply common sense and good judgment when applying rules:

He wasn’t a health officer; he was a bylaw officer. Yet he demanded to know what the guests had for lunch. In the name of the law!

Armed with this devastating information, the officer charged Peter’s parents with running an illegal “commercial conference centre,” which carries a fine of up to $50,000. The officer, a burly, tattooed, six-foot-something man, told Peter’s mom to “be very careful.” She burst into tears.

I phoned that bylaw officer to ask him about the Jaworskis. I found a man on a mission, boasting to me that his next step would be to take down the street sign for the family’s small bed and breakfast.

He was particularly pleased that he could do that without issuing a summons, or even receiving a complaint. When he sensed my sympathy for the Jaworskis, he hung up on me.(link)

What a hollow hollow soul killing man. His only concern is enforcing an arbitrary set of rules. A set of rules he can use to satisfy his own sick need to dominate over other people.

When he meets his maker he'll have his mountain of rules and his overblown ego - nothing else. His never ending need to push down others to feed his selfish pride will be stuck without an outlet. It'll be like an itch he can never satisfy. A horrible urge he can never stop.

I couldn't think of a worse hell.