Aug 17 2007

CIA And The Vatican Exposed!

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...ChrisM @ 4:54 am

Wikipedia Scanner – doing the leg work most of us can’t be bothered to go through…

As you will know if you are at all interested in Wikipedia, for most pages, anyone can edit them. This of course leads to issues when two sets of people have different views on what is reality. This leads to some pages requiring a login before you can make changes. Wikipedia Scanner is a tool that matches already existing information (the IP address of who made specific edits on any page) with the name of the company that own the IP, from a table of reverse look ups, I assume…
Anyway, Wikipedia Scanner shows that the CIA, or more accurately someone using a computer connected to the CIA’s network, edited a page relating to Iran’s president. The Vatican has also been shown to have made changes to a page on Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader.
No word from the Vatican as of yet, though a CIA spokesperson appeared to whimper a little, then trot out the flag waving, are you a patriot or the enemy style …. “I’d like in any case to underscore a far larger and more significant point that no one should doubt or forget: The CIA has a vital mission in protecting the United States, and the focus of this agency is there, on that decisive work.”
Ahhh, so thats all right then :rolleyes:

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Aug 15 2007

CSI Plotline Prediction

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The MediaChrisM @ 4:34 am

I enjoy watching NCIS, CSI, and Waking The Dead (the first two via some Swiss satellite channels, with the 2nd audio channel selected to retain the original English sound track, and the 3rd program from BBC Prime). Anyway, according to a Daily Telegraph article, the science behind finger print analysis has just jumped forward. Basically, it is now possible to gauge someone’s sex, race, and even diet from fingerprints lifted from a crime scene.
The good aspect of this news? The TV programs I mentioned will soon be able to deviate a little from their standardised plot lines, and who knows, maybe in real life we will even see more criminals put behind bars? The bad news? Well given the lengths police officers have gone to in the past to frame people not guilty of a crime they are accused of, if juries are presented with this sort of evidence in the future, I can see it being a lot easier to jail people who have done nothing wrong, and I’m only really considering places like Britain. In countries with less reputable policing, hard labour or even executions could be punishments handed out in cases where this method of investigation is used. That is just considering the judicial side of things, when it comes to profiling done by non-police forces, with data collation in mind, I imagine the hard core conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day with this. Forget the tin foil hats, be prepared to see people with latex gloves on 24/7, when outside the house.

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Aug 10 2007

How Not To Handle Customers

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,PersonalChrisM @ 6:22 am

Just prior to my hard drive crashing, I came across a post on an Irish blog, that really caught my attention. The main reason is that I will be flying out to Amsterdam, then Britain, then a little while later, making the return journey. To save a few hundred dollars, the trip is actually over 3 legs, with the Amsterdam>Britain>Amsterdam sections with a different company to the Astana>Kaliningrad>Amsterdam>Kaliningrad>Astana section. Given that I will need to transfer the luggage myself, I was a little concerned when I read about the level of customer service that Damien Mulley received from an Irish luggage handling company called Sky Handling Partners. Anyway, check out his post on how a staff member signed him up to several gay dating sites, after he complained about his luggage being lost.
If you get a moment, check the rest of the blog out as well – there were quite a few interesting posts, and worthy links there as well.
(Nope, not a sponsored post, just liked his blog enough to link to it 🙂 )

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Jul 26 2007

Malaysian Bloggers Beware

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,PersonalChrisM @ 5:11 am

I have linked to quite a few Malaysian bloggers in the past, and some have linked back, so when I discovered how the government over there is once more cracking down on them, using anti-terrorism laws(!), it came as sad news. Not shocking really, just a tad depressing.
If bloggers (one would assume their would be a cut off point re. readership) are thought to have insulted Islam as a religion, or the country’s King, they could face prosecution. This section is not new, however I believe that the fact bloggers could now be put in prison, indefinitely, and without a trial or even any formal charges, is new.
Most people believe that the upcoming general election has been the catalyst to the governing party’s decision, as is intended to draw a line that bloggers should not cross, when it comes to critical analysis and condemnation of the government’s actions.

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Jul 24 2007

Kazakh Company Wants To Invest

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,Kazakhstan,VideosChrisM @ 12:50 am

Just caught this report over on the BBC World news channel.
Apparently the American government and GreenPeace (for differring reasons) is not very happy at the prospect of KazAtomProm (the Kazakh Nuclear Company) wanting to buy an 8% stake in an American company, WestingHouse Nuclear.
KazAtomProm is a Kazakh state company that produces Uranium. Anyway, here is the report itself…

On a related subject, I found a video on the BBC website reporting that Kazakhstan has announced plans to build a uranium enrichment facility in conjunction with Russia. Here is the direct video link. If that direct link does not work, or you have a dial up connection to the internet, you could try the following official link instead.

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Jul 18 2007

Signs That Your Business Plan Is Not Working

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,PersonalChrisM @ 9:39 am

My last job in Britain, before leaving for Kazakhstan would have ended 4 days after I emigrated anyway, but it appears that some of the staff whose roles took over some of our responsibilities are not happy with the current setup…

The following has been taken from a thread at the PPP forum. This is an area for those involved in the aircraft industry to talk with other people from the same sort of business. See the original thread here.

The names of those involved have already been removed to protect their identities.

Subject: cheery-bee

Well folks, my time here has come to an end…

I’ve had just about as much as I can take of this place. Never in my puff have I worked in such a bizarre environment.

We get trained on the systems through emails! (what’s that all about? no wonder none of us have a clue!)

We can’t swap shifts, even though we all do the same job and have the same skills.

We can’t take holidays, even though we put in for them 5 weeks in advance. We can’t even speak to CST ourselves, god forbid we should distract them from their tea/coffee and finger buffet (what do they actually do?) and why we have to go through management is beyond me!

And speaking of management… How any of the supervisors got where they are is a total mystery to me! They know absolutely nothing about anything. (but then if they had the same training as me, two weeks of playing solitaire, that would explain it)

You ask ******* (anyone got a breath mint?) for assistance and all you get is either a blank look or told she’s busy (once again, what does she actually do?)

You ask ******* for help and you’re given the most false smile I think I have ever seen, and she has no clue what you’re talking about.

And ******* just as bad!

You’ve got ***********, now I’ve never seen anyone so misguidedly full of their own self importance! He thinks he’s a pure stud, am I the only one that thinks he’s a greasy little weasel? He’s gross! He’s just a total plamf. It’s sad!

And then there’s ******** who seems to think he’s a supervisor, but is actually not! But he seems to have delusions of grandeur because his signature on his emails says “supervisor”. Why this has never been picked up by higher management is a mystery, but then they’re hardly the brightest bunch of people are they?

They actually seem more interested in meeting their stats than focusing on staff morale or providing a decent service to the folks that are out there fighting for our country! I’ve honestly never seen anything like it… we get three calls in the queue and they all start flapping and running about looking for folks to stick on the phone.

I remember one day I was in “work” because my JPA wasn’t working and the calls went up to like 4 in the queue and they all started flapping their wings and put people on the phone to answer calls, just to put them back into the queue… now is it just me, or is that not the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard?

But hey, all in the name of stats eh! Who cares that we’re not providing a good service to the punters, so long as management look good… tis a joke!

But hat’s off to the team leaders that actually go out of their way to help us when we’re stuck! Though there aren’t many of you, we salute you!

Anyways…

I’d love to say it’s been a blast, but to be honest it has been one of the worst jobs I have ever had. And I won’t miss it one little bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some cracking people along the way. But that doesn’t take away from the fact this place is soul destroying!

So, I’m off and I aint looking back… but finally before I shoot the craw…

Here’s to all beautiful people (you know who you are)

Here’s to all the weirdos (we know who you are)

And here’s to the supervisors (karma’s round the corner)

And finally… here’s to pushing your staff out the door!

Cheery bee peeps, be seeing ya

x

***********

JPAC EC Agent

So it would appear that yet another business has become solely focused on statistics and presenting a rosy picture of the situation to management above them. What a shock that is to hear about 🙁
My sincere sympathies to those still working at the coal face…

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Jul 15 2007

Robocop v0.02a

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,PersonalChrisM @ 2:14 am

British Police To Don Head Cams

I read about this over at a FoxNews page (I tried to find a less objectionable site to link to, but, right now at least, this article was the best quality!)

In an effort to cut down on some of the paperwork and red tape inherent to court cases, more police officers will be wearing the helmet or head cameras, and recording when suspects are breaking the law. If I had recently been the victim of a crime, I would probably feel relieved to read this. As it is, I just see this as another nail in the coffin of any sort of privacy in Britain. We already have more of our day recorded by CCTV cameras than anywhere else on earth. (Assuming you live and work in a town or city). The idea that footage from one or two viewpoints is always going to portray the full story is also a bad assumption to work towards. I think it could become far too easy to rely on video evidence rather than actual investigations.

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Jun 18 2007

New Blog And A PS Video

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,Personal,VideosChrisM @ 12:22 am

Whilst browsing through the PayPerPost forums, someone linked to their blog (Call Me When You Get There), which caught my attention, as this is the sort of thing Ira often says to anyway leaving our flat when it is dark outside.

Anyway, whilst browsing through her recent posts, I came across this video –

Basically it demonstrates just how much can be done with Photoshop, when the original model is not quite what you wish to present. Many thanks to Jackie for finding it.

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Jun 16 2007

Cornwall Nationalists

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,PersonalChrisM @ 12:53 am

Militants in Cornwall (where my brother attends university) have issued a statement warning two celebrity chefs that their businesses are at risk.

There is history of rebellion in Cornwall, reaching back centuries. In some areas, there also strong ties to the Brittany area of France. Around 1500, a protest march was taken to London by Cornishmen unhappy at the extra taxes King Henry VII was imposing, in an attempt to finance the struggle in Scotland. (Any fans of the movie Braveheart might want to actually check what really happened sometime.) Anyway, needless to say Henry was having none of it, and sent his troops out to defeat the Cornish.
The rebellion was put down, and all the leaders executed. Why all this explanation? Because one of the executed was Michael An Gof, and the An Gof group are believed to have combined with the Cornish Liberation Army to form the Cornish National Liberation Army. This group has threatened both Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver’s businesses, complaining that the ‘newcomers’ are responsible for a surge in house prices in the locality, causing true locals to not be able to afford houses in areas that they have lived in for generations.
A couple of apparent flaws in their logic though – 1) Stein has lived in the area, on and off, for a long time, and both he and Jamie Oliver bring a lot of business to agricultural and dairy farmers in the area, not to mention fishermen. Both chefs are proud of the produce they use being locally reared/harvested/caught 2) Jamie Oliver’s business was setup to help dis advantaged youths in the area, with the idea of training them up to be professional chefs themselves.

Neither people really seem to be fairly targeted, perhaps it is simply because they are high profile, and so will bring publicity to the Cornish Independence cause? Either way, I’m hoping the restaurant Nick is currently working in is safe from such threats…

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Jun 13 2007

Google Responds To Criticism

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,PersonalChrisM @ 9:02 pm

Following on from the damning report that Privacy International released, and similar concerns from Article 29 (an EU based advisory body), Google has now cut the length of time that they will save data pertaining to their user’s searches. Instead of the original two years, personally identifiable information will be erased after 18 months, although the unidentifiable sections of the data will be kept for analysis.
OK, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be sleeping more soundly in my bed tonight… 🙁
Check the original post here.

Yes, I may moan about Google (especially since their actions with my AdSense account), but they are still the search engine I use, but I have disabled the personal search history feature within my account there.

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