help!

For the past summer, ive been posting hilarious and ludicrious links/photos and various stuff onto the facebook account of a girl I know. After posting the lyrics to the song from the Hungry Hungry Hippos tv spot however… I have run out of ideas. Anyone who can help me out by sending me links, or phots, or crossposting this to their blog would be vastly appreciated.

-eddie

ps.

“It’s a race, it’s a chase, hurry up and feed their face!

Who will win? No one knows! Feed the hungry hip-ip-pos!

Hungry hungry hippos! (open up and there it goes!)”

Homeland ‘Security’

So I feel it’s time to tackle Homeland ‘Security’, which is a term I use loosely and, at times, with vast contempt.

Tales from my adventure at the airport today:

We show up with something like 7 bags for 2 people. Nobody should travel on a plane with this much luggage. That is not a plane, that is a house.

After checking in the luggage, my cousin proceeds open his luggage and repack everything IN FRONT OF THE CHECK-IN COUNTER before having it scanned for explosives.

My aunt decides that one person repacking in front of the check-on counter and takes off her purse to help out.

Luggage/bomb scanning commences. This is about the time that TSA guard decided to open and hand inspect an unopened dvd player. Because Al-Qaeda works in this capacity, no doubt.

After scanning is done, we sit around and talk for 20 minutes, which is only worth mentioning because my able bodied cousin decided to chill in a wheelchair for the whole time.

After this span of probably 1/2 an hour, my aunt realizes that ‘hey my bag is missing because it’s been sitting over there, near the checkout counter and all those people for half an hour.’ At no point during the 1/2 hour span does anyone from TSA, Southwest Airlines, the airport or any of the passengers say anything about this bag that is just hanging out in a crowded area. I know, because I was hanging out, waiting for someone from DHS, the CIA, or the airline to freak out and call in a bomb squad.

On the way back from getting her bag, my aunt has the bright idea to tell us all, ‘They probably didn’t think I had a bomb!‘ from 15 feet away. Yes, she actually yelled this in a crowded airport, at 7am, within earshot of 3 TSA officials, 4 Southwest Airlines employees, 6 family members,countless strangers and who knows what else. No one said a word or moved a finger.

After sitting around some more, I noticed another TSA official walking through the airport. Reading a book. Reading. A. Book. Not, ‘out to lunch’ or ‘on a break’. Reading a book.

Homeland Security my ass. This is what the administration wants to destroy our civil liberties for. Call me a useless pinko liberal (please don’t actually, because I’m not) but I don’t have any faith in airport security, and I don’t trust any leadership who tells me I should have faith in TSA.

-Eddie Martinez

Edit: I realized that I left out an important disclaimer, and I wanted to give one final note out to anyone who reads this. I will not disclose the name of the airport which I was in. Of course everyone with an internet connection can do a Google Search and find relevant information about me, and work from there. With enough resources, I’m sure that person could even find the videotaped proof which shows where I was in the airport. But I have no reason to voluntarily disclose any information about any specific airport. Should I? Is there any inherent design to specific airports which make them more or less safe? Even IF there was, those in charge would never tell us, nor even admit to such an instance. This is the Internet however. This is public domain. This is for everyone. So I will keep my words broad and unspecific, because I see no logic in assuming that TSA is different in any other airport.

Questions

Now that I did a sudo-apt get install Jabber and ’sudo apt-get install beryl’ I have two questions.

What is the next step to take with Jabber.

Where are the Beryl setting exported/saved to?

-Eddie

The P-Word

In terms of politics, I am going to (very soon) be a free agent. Look for an open letter to the American public on this blog.

-Eddie m.

To come….

The Ubuntu Chicago Loco is planning to meet the 11th of August.

Afterwards, we will merge with the Chicago Gnu/Linux  Users Group.

School will start soon, and I’m in the midst of buying books.

There are plans for a Chicago Free Software Conference, roughly titled ChiCon 2007. Details to come as they sound available (yes I know I sound like Ron May).

-Eddie

The future

I’m wondering if all the talk of blanket/universal licenses, the internet, piracy, blah blah blah will one day create a culture of information sharing in which the user has too much access and doesn’t know what to do with it?

-Eddie