The freedom to drink Tea is such a basic right that we sometimes take it for granted.

You'd think that the freedom to read is just as an inalienable right as is the right to drink tea, but it's not.

Julian Assange
New Media Day/Peter ErichsenRape Allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a smear campaign?

Since last year I've been reading Greg Palast's Newsletter, so this morning I decided to follow it up by navigating to the Huffington Post website.

According to Wikipedia, "The Huffington Post is a liberal/progressive American news website and aggregated blog".

The first story that drew my interest was about rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The story in the Post reads like a chapter from some cheap political thriller.

I'm not saying that it is a smear campaign – how the hell should I know – but it sure reads that way.

Here's a link to the story in The Huffington Post – check it out yourself.

Alexander Reichle-Schmel announces Debian's 17^th birthday.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a copy of the Debian Newsletter announcing Debian's 17^th birthday.

Debian is considered by many to be the Grand-Daddy/Mommy of many of today's most popular Linux operating systems, including Ubuntu. – A Grand-Daddy at 17, go figure...

Just when I thought it was safe to go vacationing in the Gulf...

Here's a little Conspiracy Theory fodder. According to the video, the live-feed of the BP oil spill is a sham. If you check the position coordinates shown in the feed prior to capping, versus the feed shown after the final repair, the cameras, the live-feed, is seriously out of position. What gives....?
There is a link to a position calculator at the bottom of the page which you can use to check the results yourself.
Are the positions shown those of the ROV, or of the control ship?

What do you think? Is something afoot?

Resources:
ROV Distance Calculator
Alexander Higgins Blog: BP knew...
The Examiner.com: Matt Simmons: BP, CIA conspiracy...
A.H.Blog: The Crime of the Century

Contrary to popular belief, oil and water do mix - you just have to add enough dispersant.
I'm really pissed-off that the government said stop using dispersants and a foreign company had enough clout to say "fuck you".

Greenpeace recently marked the 25 year anniversary of the sinking of The Rainbow Warrior by French Agents.

A new Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior lll is being built at a Gdansk shipyard, and Greenpeace is actively fund-raising. Here's a link to their site:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/...

Seems the BBC News will sometimes feature items other than the eternal conflict in Africa. I came across this little story on their site about a new Indian-designed Tablet PC, aptly nick-named the IPad - (IndiaPad ?) - that they hope will retail for the paltry sum of $35.00.

India has made similar announcements in the past without delivering on promises, but the promise in itself is worth the while.

Like most people, I've followed the news about the BP Gulf Oil-spill since the Deepwater-Horizon oil well exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico.
The flow of oil into the Gulf has finally stopped, and having watched several million gallons of perfectly good oil escaping into the Gulf I'm left to wonder: Why was this well "abandoned"?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/07/gulf-awash-abandoned-oil-gas-wells/

Kickstarter Beta is new internet based service that enables project creators to gain financial pledges for their creative endeavors, and allows interested individuals and parties to back creative projects.

Kickstarter is fund-raising with a twist – and an inteligent way to gauge interest in your project.

Is Facebook a monetized Wikipedia pretender?
Facebook is a Cash-cow. Nothing more, nothing less. Facebook presents itself as something Wiki-like, a "public" institution. But is it, at all?

The issue with Flash-Cookies is not whether they be good or bad - for the most part they're a helpful tool - but the fact that many companies are using them semi-clandestinely, knowing that most users have no clue that "flash-cookies" exist and persist on their computers.

To check how many Flash-cookies are on your computer – and there's probably a lot – go to Macromedia Settings Manager and scroll through the list.
To control Flash-Cookies get the BetterPrivacy Plug-in for Firefox, or, if you're not using Firefox, use Adobe's Macromedia Settings Manager.

Original Report at: Social Science Research Network
So you think you cleared the Cookie cache on your browser? They're not tracking you? Think again! The insidious tracking of web users' activities reaches new levels of sophistication every year. The current favorite of some of the web-giants is the Flash-cookie. Modern browsers come equipped with privacy controls to protect users from the prying eyes of commercial and institutional interests. Yet, every time software vendors implement new security and privacy features, web companies find newer, more sophisticated ways of circumventing those protections. To wit - Flash-Cookies.

Are "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" based "Learn To Get Rich" seminars a rip-off, or just a way to see your fellow man as a sucker and think that it's normal to do so?

Ever heard of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter?
It's not a new book, it was published some ten years ago, has been widely read, and, for most part, was well received.

The book was so successful that Kiyosaki licenced his name to Whitney International, to be used in a series of financial self-help seminars and workshops.

These seminars have come under fire as nothing more than sales sessions designed to up-sell more expensive seminars and workshops in which nothing of real value is taught or learned.

CBC's Marketplace took a closer look at the current series of 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' based "Learn to get Rich" seminars which are being hosted throughout major Canadian cities. The report is less than favorable.