America 2012-2016

 I'm going to present my not-totally pessimistic scenario of where I see America headed in the near future. These are all assumptions, my opinions, and you are welcome to challenge any or all of them.


First, the conditions that underlie my scenario:

1. Nothing of any significance will occur nationally or socially to improve Obama's popularity between now and the 2012 election. The approval rating bump he got from killing Bin Laden and the one he'll get by pulling the troops out of Iraq won't last long enough to push him anywhere near 50%. 
2. The Democrats will only grudgingly support Obama in 2012. He's lost a lot of favor with Democrats over failed promises and his ineffectiveness in standing up against Republicans. I see a change in vice-presidential running mate in 2012 but don't see a possible candidate for the job that would assure a Democratic victory at the polls.
3. By the end of 2011 a clear leader will emerge from the pack of Republican candidates that most if not all Republicans can support. 
4. The Tea Party and "Occupy" movement will both remain marginalized and won't have a real impact on the presidential race.

2012-2015


In 2012 the Republican candidate will win the presidency. I think this will happen due in part to Democratic apathy over Obama's presidency and the Republican's appeal to God, patriotism and financial stability, all of which resonate with the majority of voters right now. Specific plans for improvement won't be forthcoming, but that will be excused in 2012 for the same reason they were in 2008; Any change from the current situation has to be better than imagining a continuation of our current economic and social problems. 


A more fundamental form of Christianity will flourish under the new administration. Science, especially in education, will be less emphasized and more effort will be put into integrating Christian dogma and principles into government and education. The concept of a separation between church and state will largely be ignored solely in favor of Christianity. 

Conservatism will be the rule in economics and policy making, except in the case of military expansion. Entire federal departments will be eliminated or under-funded into non-existence in an effort to save the federal budget, with little or no thought as to how vital programs to millions will continue. 


Abortion will once again be outlawed in most if not all cases. Most if not all wildlife areas and national parks will be opened to resource exploitation. Little or no effort will be put into weaning Americans off their dependency on oil. Instead new oil deposits will be sought and/or new alliances to obtain foreign oil will be created. 


The economy will slightly improve for just enough Americans for the government to take credit for having stopped our decline into economic disaster. Thanks primarily to efforts to reduce the role of legislation in our lives, the same industries that created the problem in the first place will continue to conduct their businesses unregulated and unhampered. Fewer rules will be imposed on businesses, so wages will decrease and part-time work will prevail. Benefits will be available for only those few full-time jobs that remain. Profits will still be banked off-shore and even larger tax breaks will be given to big businesses. America will shift from being a nation "of the people, by the people, for the people" to one "of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations". 


Individual liberties will continue to erode. The threat of foreign and domestic terrorism will continue to be used as an excuse to employ tighter controls on the activities and movements of the citizens. The underlying xenophobia in the immigration issue will be used to excuse law enforcement from observing search-and-seizure laws and ignore the need for warrants. With the practices of Abu Ghraib as precedent, arrests and detainment without cause and without due process will be allowed in "certain" cases, and slowly expanded to any case in which the local, state or federal government can claim just cause, even secretly. Privacy will lessen to the point of non-existence. Phone and Internet traffic will all be routinely monitored, though it will still be nearly impossible for any government agency to properly assess the intelligence gathered as there will simply be too much to sort out. Key words will become the favored tool of the monitors and citizens will learn not to use certain words at all, just as we've learned how foolish it is to joke about hijacking a plane in the airport.  


Programs such as Medicare and Medicaid will be abolished as too expensive. Seniors will become a huge burden on society and many families will go broke trying to care for their elders. College tuitions will increase resulting in most middle and lower income class kids not attending college. Families will have to deal with stay-at-home kids in addition to caring for their parents and grandparents. The personal option of elective euthanasia will not be a legal alternative for the elderly. 


During this period the Democrats will remain largely ineffective in saving vital social services, protecting the rights of citizens or in improving the economy. They will continue to lack the resolve and power to challenge the Republicans on almost every issue. They will snipe and complain, but that's about all they'll do.


2015-2016


The promises of the Republicans to right the economy will be seen as efforts only to enrich the already wealthy, their biggest supporters, and corporations. The citizens will not be any better off financially than they were in 2010. The citizens will also realize that the freedoms they've sacrificed have not made our nation any safer nor have they contributed to the quality of their lives. After three years of entitlement, Christians will in large numbers become politically apathetic and the Republicans will lose the support of many big churches. The Republican's transparent support of big business will become a burden for those same businesses as their own employees begin to revolt against them. Businesses will consider it in their own best interest to provide better working conditions for all their employees and they will blame the Republicans for fostering the anger towards them. Businesses will also suffer from a less well educated work force. Any industry that relies on mathematical, engineering or scientific skills will be especially hit hard by the low numbers of college graduates with those skills. Meanwhile fast food franchises will appear on every block in every town just to take advantage of the huge number of unemployed, willing-to-do-anything-for-a-paycheck people of all ages. 


But those who decide to no longer back the Republicans won't have much of a viable option. During the previous three years the Democrats will have failed to develop any realistic strategies of their own for fixing what ails America. Indeed, the majority of Americans may have, by this point, concluded there is no way to fix all the problems facing their nation. 


The elections of 2016 may be the end of business as usual for America. With neither major party trusted and no emergent party with enough power to exercise change, Americans could very well lose all hope that the country will ever again be financially solvent and the home of freedom and liberty. At that point its likely that America will become a true corporatetocricy, owned by and run as a corporation. Citizens will be considered employees and the federal budget will be based solely on profits. 


2017 could be a very interesting year in the (if they still are) United States. 

10 Commandments for Atheism

A lot of people enjoy Penn and Teller's magic, but not that many realize that Penn is an outspoken atheist. While not every atheist, or every theist for that matter, will agree with his take on the 10 Commandments, they are worth considering.

Penn Jillette's "10 Commandments for Atheism," a list he created and turned into the best-selling book God, No! after Glenn Beck asked him to come up with a list of moral dictates for non-believers. Here they are:

1. The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.

2. Do not put things or even ideas above other human beings. (Let's scream at each other about Kindle versus iPad, solar versus nuclear, Republican versus Libertarian, Garth Brooks versus Sun Ra— but when your house is on fire, I'll be there to help.)

3. Say what you mean, even when talking to yourself. (What used to be an oath to (G)od is now quite simply respecting yourself.)

4. Put aside some time to rest and think. (If you're religious, that might be the Sabbath; if you're a Vegas magician, that'll be the day with the lowest grosses.)

5. Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children. (Love is deeper than honor, and parents matter, but so do spouse and children.)

6. Respect and protect all human life. (Many believe that "Thou shalt not kill" only refers to people in the same tribe. I say it's all human life.)

7. Keep your promises. (If you can't be sexually exclusive to your spouse, don't make that deal.)

8. Don't steal. (This includes magic tricks and jokes — you know who you are!)

9. Don't lie. (You know, unless you're doing magic tricks and it's part of your job. Does that make it OK for politicians, too?)

10. Don't waste too much time wishing, hoping, and being envious; it'll make you bugnutty.

(Source)

Computing on the go

It seems these days nearly everyone has a smart phone. We once had to wait until we got home to catch up on email or read our favorite websites. Now there are people who surf the web and text with their phones far more than using them to make phone calls.

The dramatic growth of the mobile lifestyle isn't just due to the increase in ownership of smart phones. One major factor is the unpredicted success of the iPad and similar tablets. I don't know anyone who is influential in the tech world who would have guessed ten years ago that tablets would finally catch on. They'd been introduced and failed so many times it appeared to be a form factor that would never be more than a niche product. These days I know several tech-heads who don't even own a desktop. All their web needs are met with a laptop, smart phone and tablet. They all seamlessly interconnect, file transfers are dead simple and websites are becoming more mobile friendly every day.

Another factor in the growth of the mobile web is the increase in application programming interfaces (API). Many of us don't even visit a browser-based website anymore, we access their app on our phone or tablet. Even social networks are releasing APIs so that developers can create apps for them.

If we put these recent trends in computing together I think it indicates that the mobile web is going to, very soon, eclipse the desktop, browser-based web. Why should I have to wait until I get home to reply to that last comment in a forum that I'm involved with when I can just whip out my iPhone or Android phone or even my iPad and reply right now, almost wherever I am. Connectivity is becoming available in more locations through WiFi, 3G and 4G networks.

The increase in involvement with social networks shows that people still have a need to connect with their friends and families, but now they can do so regardless of where they're located on the globe. You can even video conference with them right from your mobile device.

I'm still impressed that I can be on a website and without leaving the site I can send a friend a link to it, can post the site to my Facebook wall, store a bookmark to it on a cloud-based site, save a quotation from the site to my notebook and even search terms I'm not familiar with on Google or Bing. And the options for what we can do from a single site are only going to increase.

It's an exciting time for those of us who spend a fair amount of time on the web but aren't always at our desk.

Is theism on the rise in America?

Today over on Ayloo, a new social site that encourages conversations centered on specific topics raised by its members, I was asked if I thought theism was on the rise in America, on the decline or unchanged from years past. Here's the reply I posted there.

I perceive theism as being on the rise here in the U.S., but not a compassionate theism or even a primarily religious theism. By that I mean that the theism that I see becoming more popular these days is more political than spiritual. Theists are embracing conservative political values and infusing them with their theological beliefs, creating a conservative movement that unashamedly defers to the Bible as the basis for deciding national and foreign policy. It's ironic that George Bush was lambasted for saying that part of the reason he went to war in the Middle East was because he thought god told him to and now we have candidates openly calling for prayer to end the drought in Texas and the teaching of creationism in schools as an "alternative" to evolution, and the press and public seem unconcerned.

It's been said for years that an atheist would have no chance to be elected to the presidency, or any public office for that matter, but now we have evangelical Christians running for office that don't accept or endorse the notion first put forth by Thomas Jefferson that there ought to be a wall of separation between religion and the government. I'm amazed that Perry, Bachmann and their fellow conservative Christians have convinced their followers that the economy and crime will both be straightened out if only America becomes a more Christian nation in light of the fact that America has always been a primarily Christian nation. Considering their percentage of the population it's reasonable to conclude that the economy was wrecked by people who call themselves Christians and most crime is committed by people who would describe themselves as Christians. Bars and sex shops would have gone bankrupt long ago if their only patrons were non-believers. The state that consumes the largest amount of Internet porn is Utah, home to some of the most conservative Christians there are, many of whom must have had to dip into their porn allowance to send money to their church in opposition of California's Proposition 8. It appears this massive hypocrisy not only doesn't bother American Christians but is completely ignored by them. Despite all evidence to the contrary they think that if only they can get a conservative Christian candidate elected president the nation will somehow be blessed by god and everything will get better.

The theism I see on the rise is a form of fundamental Biblicalism combined with a devotion to profit and a deference to the wealthy. This is understandable in the case of politicians, they follow the money. But it would be hard to explain in the case of the average citizen. I think this is why religious belief is being emphasized so much. Religious citizens naturally follow strong religious leaders. It's a part of their training. Perry and Bachmann, even Palin, are attempting to portray themselves as religious leaders as much as political leaders.

The primarily religious theism that is increasing is in reaction to the perception that civilization is going to hell at an increasing rate and that end-time predictions are coming true. People unfamiliar with history can easily be fooled into thinking that times like these have never occurred before. Plato credited Socrates with complaining "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." Nothing we see today is new or unique to our age. But once again, as they have many times before, Christians have decided that these must be the end times and many quasi-religious people, worried that they may be among the "left behind", are becoming more committed to the claim that they are religious. Not that they are attending church any more often or have increased their caring for the poor among us. They are less interested in following the dictates of Jesus than they are interested in avoiding hell. It's a convenient Christianity, and in my opinion a useless one. Another minor factor in the increase of theism is as a reaction to the perceived increase in the number of Muslims in the U.S. The "Us or Them" mentality of the Middle East has waded ashore here.

9/11/01 - 9/11/11 Lessons learned

So what have we as a nation learned in the ten years since 9/11/01?

I submit the primary lessons have focused on fear and hate.

Had we been attacked by radical Christian fundamentalists, like those who kill doctors who perform abortions or encourage the suicides of their followers, we would have been assured that these killers did not represent the goals and attitudes of the vast majority of Christians. We wouldn't have protested the building of Christian churches in this country, we wouldn't look nervously at everyone who wears a crucifix or worships the Christian god. We would not have been tempted to consider every Christian a potential mass murderer.

But those who flew the planes on 9/11 were Muslims, and Americans don't understand Islam or Muslims. We fear what we don't understand, especially when we believe it can hurt us. That's human nature. Fear, in some cases, can preserve our lives. And fear, nurtured over time, becomes hate. We hate that which makes us afraid.

Those who attacked us ten years ago hated us then and hate us now. They hate us because they fear us. They fear our religious beliefs, they fear our Western attitudes, they fear our motivations for being in their countries.

There's a solution to the cycle of fear and hate; knowledge. The more we understand something the less reason we have to fear it. The less we fear it the less reason we have to hate it.

It should be obvious by now that terrorism will never be defeated with guns and bombs. A militaristic approach simply provides more fuel to the fire of fear and hatred. We need to fight fear and hate with education and enlightenment. We need to encourage people to learn about each other, to meet and exchange their thoughts and opinions. They may never agree on much of what they believe, but in gaining understanding they will be less likely to fear and hate each other.

Besides coming to fear and hate Muslims, what did the events of 9/11/01 teach us?

It's Friday!

The power has been restored here in San Diego and I'm off for my last day of work at Cartridge World.

In 3 weeks Cleo, Liz-Beth, Sara and I will be headed for Virginia.

What will you do to remember 9/11?

Here are some ideas.

Please join the 9/11 Tribute Movement by briefly describing what you will do this year, a good deed, charitable activity, or other plans, to honor the 9/11 victims, survivors and those that rose in service in response to the attacks.

I will, will you?

911day.org 

The "smaller government" argument deconstructed

One of the most popular catch-phrases in politics these days is "smaller government". People from every party acknowledge the expensive and often useless bloat in the American government. The fix appears to be simple, reduce the size of government which will in turn reduce spending and, as many predict, lead to a stronger economy.


However, like in the case of most political catch-phrases, looking at the details behind the simple idea exposes the difficulty of implementing this apparently simple plan.


"Government" is people, folks like you and me, sitting at desks, at their computers, doing basic office work. Reducing the size of government inevitably means closing departments and agencies and turning their employees into more unemployed workers. 


According to the July employment report from the Department of Labor, "The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1 percent) changed little in July. Since April, the unemployment rate has shown little definitive movement. The labor force, at 153.2 million, was little changed in July. Job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, manufacturing, and mining. [B]Government employment continued to trend down[/B]." (emphasis added)


We already have at least 13.9 million people without a job, and government employment is already slowing. Admittedly many of those government job reductions are taking place at the local and state level. "Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-37,000). Employment in state government decreased by 23,000, almost entirely due to a partial shutdown of the Minnesota state government. Employment in local government continued to wane over the month."


Evidently the "job creators", those who have benefited most from tax exemptions and bail-outs, are failing to fulfill their roles as providers of increased employment. New industries are not being established, new opportunities are not being provided for the unemployed. What we have seen is an increase in profits to shareholders, money which could theoretically benefit the economy if it was spent on commodities produced in the U.S. or paid to employees. Looking at our economic state it appears neither of these are occurring. Instead big oil subsidies (amounting to about $4.4 billion), for example, produced first-quarter profits totaling more than $35 billion on the back of sky-high crude prices. How and where is this money finding its way back into the economy?


So it seems the country wants to eliminate jobs and at the same time not require those who have benefited most from low taxation and subsidies to create new jobs or industries. This lack of accountability coupled with a lack of foresight bodes ill for the future of our country. I have yet to hear any politician present a plan that acknowledges the fact that decreasing the size of government will result in higher unemployment and provide a means to deal with that.

Scientists don't understand everything

Lately I've been encountering a number of posts by theists claiming that evolution and cosmology are seriously flawed but that scientists will never concede that fact.

The theists claim that this is because those researching and experimenting physics and biology all toe the scientific line, that dissent and disagreement are not allowed. They claim that funding would be withheld from any scientist who presented conclusions or interpretations that differed from the mainstream dogma.

In other words theists want us to believe that scientists are just as "religious" in their adherence to doctrine as any god-believer.

To those theists I offer this in rebuttal.

Newly released observations of the top quark — the heaviest of all known fundamental particles — could topple the standard model of particle physics. Data from collisions at the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, hint that some of the top quark's interactions are governed by an as-yet unknown force, communicated by a hypothetical particle called the top gluon. The standard model does not allow for such a force or particle.

The results, presented¹ today at the Europhysics Conference on High-Energy Physics in Grenoble, France, could help researchers to understand the origins of mass. According to one theoretical interpretation, a top quark bound by to its anti-matter partner, the antitop, would act as a version of the elusive Higgs boson, conferring mass on other particles.

Regina Demina, a physicist at the University of Rochester in New York, and her colleagues sifted through eight years' worth of particle-collision data recorded by one of the Tevatron's two detectors, known as DZero. Top quarks produced during collisions can fly off in the direction of the accelerator's proton beam or its antiproton beam; Demina and her team discovered that more travel towards the proton beam than is predicted in the standard model of physics. A different model would seem to be needed to explain the discrepancy. 

Dan Hooper, a theoretical physicist at Fermilab, notes that the top-quark asymmetry is just one of many cracks in the standard model of particle physics. And although Schwartz agrees that it is unlikely that any one theory will explain all the defects, he says that accounting for the odd behaviour of the top quark would be a promising start. (Source)

Join me on Google+

If reading this blog has piqued your interest in Google+, I have quite a few invitations to share with you.

Click on the "Email Me" link in the sidebar and send me the email address you'd like the invitation sent to. I will not retain your address or use it for any other purpose than to send you the invitation.

As you may have read, Google+ isn't like Facebook or Twitter. I would compare it more with Friendfeed, if you're familiar with that site.

Once you've joined Google+, you might want to read this link. It's a "how-to" guide for the site.

Would you like an even easier alternative? The first 150 people clicking this link can get an invitation.
https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DJif0A0QlOy4%3AI7jqa81J-fc

Will liberals support Obama in 2012?

If Obama fails to secure a second term as president, and I think it's quite likely he will be a one-term president, it will be largely because he's lost the support of his liberal base.

He's not likely to win over any Republicans, conservatives or members of the tea party. They despise him as a person and president; that has been evident since he was sworn in. So extreme is their disdain that they have not even attempted to disguise their hostile rhetoric in the cloak of patriotism.

And he can't rely on support from progressives. They don't even have a party to represent their opinions. They are dedicated more to an ideology than any particular candidate. If the Republican candidate offers a more progressive agenda than Obama they'll back him/her over the Democratic incumbent.

Obama has lost the good faith and trust of the American liberal. His campaign promises appealed to the goals of the liberals. He envisioned an America where everyone would be welcome to share in our prosperity and freedom. He promised greater governmental transparency. He pledged to undo most of the damage done to our image and economy during the Bush years.

Once elected, he failed to follow through on those promises and pledges. He didn't close Gitmo, he didn't immediately end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", he didn't put an end to tax loopholes enjoyed by the wealthiest of our citizens. Transparency in government never saw the light of day. Federal powers to snoop and spy on American citizens weren't curtailed, they were expanded. In many ways he became more "Bush" than Bush himself had been.

If Obama can't win back the hearts, and more importantly the minds, of liberals before the campaign gets well underway, where are liberals to turn? Certainly not to any Republican, conservative or tea party candidate.

The Republican party and their followers in the conservative and tea party clans have shown that they don't share the same vision for America that liberals do. They are beholden to and do the bidding of corporations and the wealthiest among us. They support big business because big business supports them. When was the last time a middle-class person dropped a check for a million dollars into a Republican's campaign chest?

It most likely won't be another Democratic candidate. Who else besides Obama can the Democrats hope to put into place before the 2012 election season kicks off? Not to mention how much credibility the Democratic party has lost in the recent debt debates. The only way they could have capitulated even more would have been to offer Obama's resignation on the spot. The Democratic party has been effectively neutered, primarily by their own inaction and inability to stand up to the opposition.

We could be seeing the end of a liberal perspective in American politics. In the near future we may no longer have a counter opinion to those voiced by the more conservative elements in our government. We may well be witnessing the end of governmental checks-and-balances. And where there is but a single party, a single ideology, a single candidate with any real hope of being elected, we no longer have a representative democracy.

I'm not saying liberal ideals are always the most beneficial for our country. The liberal ideals of caring for even the most destitute citizen and trying to ensure that no one goes unfed, unclothed and uncared for have to be paid for, and yet Democrats are loath to suggest an increase in taxes even for the wealthiest among us. The Democrats are as afraid of pissing off the money merchants as the Republicans are, and for many of the same reasons. Yet taxes are how we Americans pay for the services we receive from the government, from the local level to the federal. To suggest that we can receive benefits without having to pay for them is the height of folly.

So where do liberals turn for a champion for their liberal ideals and goals? I honestly don't know. But I do know this country needs at least two parties in power. We need opposing opinions and debates over proposed spending. We cannot afford to become a one-party country, not unless we're willing to scrap the Constitution and invent a new corporate-sponsored image for the nation.

Readin' and writin'

A friend of mine made me realize yesterday that as hard as it is to keep up with reading all the blogs of interesting people I know, the real challenge is creating the content, writing the posts, for the blogs I own.

Honestly I much prefer to read other people's ideas than to write down my own. My own ruminations don't surprise me or cause me to think of things in a new light. Other people's ideas often make me pause and reconsider my own opinions.

I one of those people who think more than speak, and when I do speak, I try to say something thoughtful and considered. I value words and interpersonal communications. I dislike idle talk and babbling. Foolish though it may be, I tend to waste money and time more than words. In the past I've usually only posted something after I've thought about it a good deal and have a conclusion I can defend. As a result I tend to keep most of my random thoughts to myself.

Yet I realize that if I keep my own thoughts to myself my blogs will get really boring really fast.

Until Google sees fit to allow me to import my postings to Google+ into this blog, I'll make every effort to post a little something more often than has been my past practice. Some days it may read more like Twitter postings. I may only post seeds of ideas, stray thoughts that haven't fully been considered. Perhaps they'll serve as a means to a broader conversation.

Googlfied

(Reposted from October 2007)

In the next few years, after Google buys up Microsoft and Intel, and owns a controlling amount of stock of the internet, they'll want their piece of the real world. Real estate, literally. So somewhere in the mid-West will blossom Googleville, a beta community. I, of course, will be among the first in line to apply for residence. Landscaping be damned, we'll all be in our lovely Googlehomes, sitting in front of our GoogleMachines computers with broadband access via our Google ISP, 24 hours a day. Blooging this, gmailing that, searching for even more entertainment. Once a week I'll trek down to GoogleMart for my supplies, maintaining my net connection with my Googleberry device. On the way back I'll stop to fill the tank of my Googlemobile at GoogleGas, then hurry back home to surf/blog/email/search some more.


Soon I'll be at Mecca, Google headquarters, heaven on Earth. I shall bathe in Googloodness. I shall feast on Googlisms. I shall share my dream of the future and secure my place in it. I will be reborn as BetaBoy©, a registered Google property.


Behold, I am Googlfied.

10th Anniversary

Ten years ago I joined Blogger.

That doesn't make it my oldest blog, but it is a milestone for my affiliation with the Google empire.

There isn't one of the services shown in this image I haven't at least tried during the last decade. Many I still use on a daily basis.

Google has become the AOL of the 21st century and web 2.0. But to be fair, it's AOL done right, or at least better for productivity.

Someday soon I expect Blogger entries to automatically show up as posts to Google+. Eventually all of Google's widespread services will interconnect. I'll be able to link to videos at YouTube, pictures at Picassa, documents from Google Docs and you'll be able to find them all using blog search. While the current debate is centered around Google+ versus Facebook, the larger debate will be over a Google identity versus a Facebook profile and which will become a more ubiquitous passport to every website and service. And the biggest winners in that debate will be the advertisers.

Jeber's is dead, long live Jeber's

After many years of posting to my blog at jebers.com and evidently far too many updates to the WordPress framework, that site is totally broken. Years of posts have been lost, site functionality is completely borked (a technical term meaning damaged beyond repair) and I have run out of ideas as to how to restore it to its former self.

For now and possibly well into the future I'm redirecting jebers.com to this blog, one I've been using almost as long as the former jeber's site. It doesn't appear that I can import any of the posts to the other site into here, they're just gone.

I went through this with another blog not long ago, one that was pretty popular if my host's stats can be trusted. It was a traumatic loss at the time but I've gotten over it. No doubt I'll get over the loss of jebers.com as well.

I've also lost a lot of trust in the WordPress platform and my host, 1and1. Since Google owns Blogger I doubt I'll encounter the same problems here I'm experiencing on my 1and1 site. I may even move my tech blog over here. Why not. I've pretty much become a commodity of Google's anyway. It almost feels like I'm back in the 1990's and Google is AOL.

For a blog, content is king. When my content disappears I get irritated. If Google can offer the kind of stability others cannot, then I'll put my trust in them and divorce myself from WordPress and 1and1.

So let me welcome those of you who have bookmarked jebers.com and are wondering how you wound up on jackcarlson.net. I appreciate your interest and support. I welcome your comments and feedback.

Jebers.com may be down for the count, but Jeber will survive.

Dear readers

Just a quick note.

In the next day or two this blog will have a new URL: www.jackcarlson.net.

As soon as the DNS records update the old URL will redirect to the new one. You will want to update your bookmark for this blog.

Thank you for continuing to read and respond to my blog.

Jack (Jeber)

I'm still alive, I think

I've just been a bit distracted.

There's this new service called Google+ and since I joined up a couple of weeks ago I've managed to log out of it for several minutes at a time.

Realizing that real-time conversations beat the heck out of blog posting (then waiting sometimes forever for a comment or reaction), I've cut down dramatically on the number of blogs I maintain, from more than 8 to just four. Now when something comes up on a social network that I want to expand on I can blog about it in whichever blog is most appropriate. And since it's highly likely that Google will at some point incorporate Blogger into the Google+ family of related sites, this blog is the most obvious one in which to expound on topics first raised in Google+.

So this blog will cease being my "everything that interests me" blog. That honor is bestowed upon jebers.com, my primary personal blog. I also will begin keeping jebersblog.com updated more frequently with tech tips and discussions, especially about Macintosh, since my MacBook and iPad have become my primary computing devices. I'm keeping my jeberjabber.typepad blog for purely sentimental reasons. While not the first blog I started, it was the first blog I started (in 2004) that still exists.

Stick with me, folks. I think the year ahead is going to be one wild ride for social networking and the ever growing Google empire.

Introducing the Google Small Business Blog - Google Small Business

Introducing the Google Small Business Blog - Google Small Business

Another good resource small and home businesses.

A new presidential tactic

Let's all close our eyes and pretend nothing bad is happening anywhere in the world.

New Wi-Fi Standard Promises Blazing Fast Data Speeds | Gadget Lab

via wired.com

After nearly five years in draft, the next-generation Wi-Fi standard is set to be finalized in September. Officially known as 802.11n and often referred to as “Wireless N,” the new standard paves the way for blazing fast high definition video and data at home.

Posted via web from jeber's found items

Where the web shines

When Tim Berners-Lee first conceived of the world wide web and pondered the potential for such a thing, he made the hyperlink the center of the online universe. It was only able to be a web due to hyperlinks.

True to his vision the web has evolved into a vast, link connected source of information on a scale and impacting our everyday lives like no technology before it. The telegraph, telephone and television (Tim, thanks for not calling it the teleweb or telenetwork. "Tele" has been beaten to death) all pointed the way for technology to progress, but the web was a quantum leap forward in its immediacy and reach.

Discounting for the moment porn and games, the web really shines when it comes to making us aware of important and relevant information when we need to know it. Built-in to the structure of the web is a means to find out more, to explore a topic further and deeper. We can link to images and websites that broaden our understanding of those things we need to know.

When there's a tragic situation, the web allows us to link to details and inform others. In the case of missing persons, having more sites spread the word increases the odds that the situation will have a definitive outcome. We always hope for a positive one.

If you live in the following areas, please help by being observant and aware.

(images courtesy of LostNMissing)

Don't screw with me

Between 250 and 350 monkeys

I'm just sayin'...

No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high.

But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.

These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.

“Sniggering at double entendres is a loved and time-honored tradition in this country,” Carol Midgley wrote in The Times of London. Ed Hurst, a co-author, with Rob Bailey, of “Rude Britain” and “Rude UK,” which list arguably offensive place names — some so arguably offensive that, unfortunately, they cannot be printed here — said that many such communities were established hundreds of years ago and that their names were not rude at the time.

“Place names and street names are full of history and culture, and it’s only because language has evolved over the centuries that they’ve wound up sounding rude,” Mr. Hurst said in an interview.

25 things about me you may not know/care about/want to read

I wrote this on January 19th, 2009. 

It's still accurate.

I miss FriendFeed, even though it was like CoSo but less secure. 

 

OK, here's the deal.

Over at FriendFeed, there are these things called memes. This time it's a list, arbitrarily 25 items long, on "25 things you may not know about me".

This latest meme raises some issues for me. I've read some lists that were very revealing and some that were quite facile. Nearly all gave me insight into my fellow FriendFeeders, those I follow anyway, that I didn't have before.So I'd like to contribute to this one, since it actually achieves a worthwhile end.

But I question my own participation, partly because I don't make a habit of getting caught up in these all that often anyway, and partly because I'm not sure just how candid I want to be with this particular crowd. It is a social group, one of several I belong to. Not many of them overlap, there are only around 15 people I know on FriendFeed who I also know in other venues. Still, if I choose not to be totally candid to this group, just how selective should I be? Most of the people who follow me in FriendFeed don't know me from Adam (he's the one on the left)

On the other hand, those who read this blog are mostly a whole other group, people I know through Lockergnome or Scot's forum. That's the tech and comedic side of me. In FriendFeed I expose the more social and psychological me. I'm not sure these two worlds should interact. It could be like matter and anti-matter, you know? Like peanut butter and jelly.

So I decided to post an honest list (meaning that everything on the list is true, but not everything that's true is on the list). Nothing on the list should shock the sensibilities of anyone in either group. Those things about me that would I just won't mention. None of you need to know me that well.

I do take solice in knowing that in less than 5 minutes after reading this, most people will forget all or nearly all I post. This is a very transient medium, populated by far more people with ADD than any group should have to deal with.

In no particular chronology:

1. I'm usually about twice the age of most people interact with daily online. The same situation exists at work. I'm older than my boss's father.
2. I'm still surprised, every time I think about it, that I'm as old as I am. In two weeks I'll be 55. I have a pretty firm mental image, have had the same image for nearly 55 years now, of 55 as being the beginning of old-manhood. People that age have always been girlfriend's fathers, not my peers. Crap, I've always disliked old people. Now I are one.
3. I still smoke de' erb, mon. But other than the occasional toke and an addiction to cigarettes I'm much cleaner now than I was years ago.
4. I spent 13 years in Idaho. I went there to get a bit of money to travel on to Alaska. Stayed way too long and never got further North. Never regretted missing the chance. Froze my ass off well enough in Idaho to convince me that freezing my ass off was not the best life had to offer. After all, I'm a San Diego native, I've lived here for all but 17 years of my life. 
5. The San Diego (a.k.a. The Padre or the KGB) Chicken is the only famous person in my high school graduating class. 
6. For a decade I was a cocaine addict with a full time job living on my own. I can't even recall much about that time. Actually it screwed up my memory which is why... I quit cold turkey and haven't looked back. That was over 10 years ago.
7. I'm very reluctant to discuss gayness with my tech friends but not at all reluctant to mention it in FriendFeed or on other blogs. It has to do with being bisexual. Those who are exclusively gay or exclusively straight both look down, or at least sideways, at bisexuals. Because they aren't, they don't appreciate how anyone could be. If totally gay and totally straight are the extremes, I'm about 65% gay/35% straight, and that percentage can fluctuate by the hour some days. 
8. Speaking of my social handicaps, I'm also blonde (well, was), left-handed, an Aquarian, an atheist and a moderate in nearly everything. 
9. I went to the Regionals in (roller)skate dancing as a ten year old. 
10. In high school I was a wrestler and gymnast, performing both with stunning mediocrity. My passion was my position as news photographer for the school paper, later the yearbook and as the official campus radical. 
11. In high school I published an underground campus paper, called The Crotch, and ran off each issue on the mimeograph machine in the teacher's lounge. I had great circulation until I got nabbed and threatened with expulsion. But I could still write for the legit campus paper. 
12. I went into the Army because the girl I was dating then went in first. I had a great job but the company folded and she'd just enlisted. I figured, "what the hell, I need a job". 
13. My job in the Army was the best job I've ever had, the kind of job that fits your own interests and skills perfectly. I was a fool not to re-enlist. Most of my time was spent at NSA at Ft. Meade, Md. I was working with computers and sound systems in 1975. I was involved in cool secret work, much like working at Apple is today. Our outfit, the Army Security Agency, was a small unit within the Army, with our own command structure and our own rules. We rarely wore uniforms. Did I mention we got to play with computers? Oh, to still be there. I miss that job. 
14. My second favorite job was as a manager for Sam Goody (retail music chain-store). For two out of my 8 years I held the position of official greeter and man-servant for any celebrity who came into the store. We were Southern Cali's newest and biggest store at the time. We were also right under Planet Hollywood. I met hundreds of artists I would never have had the chance to chat with (man-servant = green room attendant as well) otherwise. But yeah, only 2nd best job. I'll take a computer over a celebrity any day.
15. My favorite physical activity used to be free rock climbing. I've always loved climbing things. I am the transitional form between great apes and humans. Or was, before I got a belly and started working jobs that required me to sit too much.
16. That belly is my biggest physical embarrassment. I used to be skinny, or thin as everyone used to say...with a forced smile. I had a 32" waist until I was in my mid-40s. In my late 30s my favorite pair of jeans were ones I'd worn in high school.
17. My last real relationship with a woman ended 24 years ago. We broke up, a couple of weeks later I moved to Idaho, a couple of months later I got a call from a mutual friend letting me know that Susan had quickly married a man she barely knew within a couple of weeks of my leaving. The day before his call her husband shot Susan to death at her workplace (Motorola) in a jealous rage. I'm still blown away when I think of the terrible mistake that all was. My feelings for her got sort of cemented in place that day, and I still remember her fondly. 
18. I was a city cop for two years. I was a terrible cop. Good job though for a person who can't stand routine. And I despise routine. Working in an assembly plant would kill me quickly. 
19. I was a motorcycle driving instructor for the local safety council and sponsored by Yamaha. Got some nice schwag but also got run over a time or two. Even had a hot exhaust pipe run into my arm. I said some very unkind things to that lady. I regret none of them.
20. I have a bunch of books and a few keepsakes of George Catlin, early American painter of Indians. He's in my mom's family. I idolized him as a kid. He got to do all the cool things I wished I'd done. I adopted his journal style of notekeeping, but I can't paint for shit.
21. My last vote for president was in 1972. For a variety of reasons I voted for Richard Nixon that year. I was at the height of my anti-establishment ferver and I voted for Nixon. I knew it was wrong, I knew I'd regret it and I regretted it. If on the first day you take driver's training and you manage to crash the car into a tree causing mild injuries to everyone inside and killing a neighborhood dog tied to the tree, you should perhaps dedicate yourself to memorizing the bus schedules and swear off driving yourself. Voting for Nixon was my collision with the reality I was a crappy voter. Best I just take the path wide of a voting booth. Best for all of us. 
22. I had the opportunity while in Idaho to raise a gray wolf. She was part of the reintroduction program. She was a breeder, pretty much humanized but not completely. Still, I could sit next to her while she ate an entire chicken and not worry. I had a young silver-colored male huskey that became her boyfriend. He was neutered, so no problem there.
23. I sang tenor in choirs from preschool through college. I love classical music but really love Gregorian chant and polyphonic motets. I have all the Anonymous4 CDs. I'm an atheist who loves early church music. So? They got one thing right. 
24. I'm an ordained minister. Yes, it was an online ordination, but I (and the state of California) take it seriously. I do appreciate the mystical. I just don't get carried away.
25. While living in Idaho I was surprised to discover that I could easily have been a cowboy. The Western rural lifestyle really appealed to me.

I'm only reposting for those who may be curious. 

But it's my life, no one else's. At no point has it gone as planned.  

How to confuse an idiot

63 trillion Florida voters can't be wrong...again

My family grows by one

Meet Cleo, my new roommate.

After nearly a year of dog-less existence I once again have a canine companion. Cleo is a 15 week old Cocker Spaniel. Her previous owners have been reassigned to Japan and Cleo can't go along. So she's decided to share my life and home.

She's a doll. She enjoyed the truck ride home, she couldn't be less interested in cats and gets along with other dogs. After a quick tour to become familiar with the layout of her new home, she's laid down next to my chair, completely relaxed. She seems to know when to be playful and when to relax. Monday we'll see how she does at work. She'll have a bed and kennel she can sleep in there, frequent walks and plenty of attention from the staff and customers.

My last Cocker couldn't make the trip back to San Diego with me due to not getting along well with Mariah, the alpha female that had been with me for years prior to the move. I found her a good home in Idaho, but regretted having to leave her behind. That was in 1995.

Thirteen years later there's once again a Cocker around the house. Of all the breeds I've owned, Cocker Spaniels have to be among the most mellow, the most naturally well behaved of any of them. They are trusting, loyal and easy going, good traits in dogs and humans alike.

We're going to relax for a little while then go for our first walk around the neighborhood. We'll see what she thinks about her surroundings.

Today is a good day.

Wal-Mart says, "Vote Republican or Else"

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

The actions by Wal-Mart -- the nation's largest private employer -- reflect a growing concern among big business that a reinvigorated labor movement could reverse years of declining union membership. That could lead to higher payroll and health costs for companies already being hurt by rising fuel and commodities costs and the tough economic climate.

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.  (Source-WSJ)

Spam, wonderful spam

Here are my favorite spam email subject lines for the last week.  Keep 'em coming, guys.  I can always use new material.

You've got male

The Loin King

The legend in bagger's pants

See the cockasian at work


Meanwhile, spam in a video...

Ping.fm's UI appears to me to be a sidebar in Facebook.

35 Rules for Good Writers

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually)
unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used unless you don't want to seem too formal.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not always apropos.
13. Do not use more words, phrases, sentences, or other linguistic elements than you, yourself, actually really and definitely need to use or employ when expressing yourself or otherwise giving voice to what you may or may not be thinking when you are trying to say how many words you should use or not use when using words.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, i.e. etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill excessive exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others elude to them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate distracting quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson is said to have once remarked, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
And finally...
34. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Teen Sells 17328 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies

This item was stuck in between the OMG and WTF files:

Thin Mints, Samoas and Do-Si-Dos have helped a 15-year-old Girl Scout not only satisfy thousands of hungry tummies desiring the perfect sweet treat, but has also helped fund Jennifer Sharpe’s trip to Europe. The Michigan teen sold an amazing 17.328 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, a number that likely set a national record. Sharpe peddled her irresistible cookie collection on street corners and raised about $21,000, enough cookie dough (hee hee) to fund Troop 813’s 10-day trip to Europe.

Who needs a cat tree?

 
Cats never cease to amaze me. I have no idea how Lizbeth can get onto the second shelf above the toilet without causing anything on the rack above her to fall over. I envy her grace.

On the downside, I'm going to have to launder those towels again.

In the dark

A slice of (real) life

Question of the day

The compliment of suburban is urban.

Why isn't the compliment of a suburb an urb?

Code Monkey Dance

I ran across this video on The Uncredible Hallq's blog and enjoyed it so much I had to share. I cannot fathom why I like it, I just do. I think I'll do the Code Monkey dance at random moments at work tomorrow.

First impressions

Poking a little fun at some of my favorite tech bloggers. Click on the image to view.

S'truth

Trying too hard

Every President's Day local companies produce ads to entice buyers to purchase their products. Nothing unusual about that. What amazes me is the length some stores will go to in order to relate their product to the presidents. How do you sell furniture in relation to a federal holiday celebrating two U.S. presidents? You offer "presidential-sized savings". Are those Taft sized savings (he was so fat, weighing 330 pounds, that he got stuck in the White House bathtub) or are they only James Madison sized (5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed under 100 pounds)?

What the hell, presidential-sized saving? And we wonder at the illiteracy rates among our children.

Four faces of Samuel Barber

One of my favorite classical pieces is Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. It is in turn melancholic, inspirational, profound and restful. I've put together four videos featuring different musician's interpretation of this beautiful melody.


I can't honestly say I prefer one to the other. In their own way each version illustrates another facet of the work.


The first is the traditional, classical version. Second, a vocal version performed by The Choir of Trinity College,Cambridge,UK.Directed by Richard Marlow. Third, an electronic interpretation by William Orbit and finally, Dj Tiesto presents the Adagio in a techno style.


I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Jeber loves LOLcatz

You can now order a book of the original LOLcat cartoons from the original artist.

Limited edition signed drawing copy of Meet the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, available from Hobotopia.

Kubuntu on an HP dv2000

I recently got an HP dv2410us and finally got tired of Vista, so I wiped the drive and installed Kubuntu 7.10. I was jazzed, all the major components worked immediately.

The only hardware that didn't work was the built-in webcam (no great loss), my bluetooth mouse (OK, I have a USB one as well) and the wireless (uh-oh).

It just so happened I was on my way to the KDE 4.0 release event at Google the next weekend, so I left it alone and waited to see if one of the great minds there could offer a suggestion.

To my surprise and pleasure, I had two great minds take a look at it. Jonathan Riddell (Jonathan is the only Canonical employee who works full-time with the Kubuntu project and is the lead maintainer and KDE developer) and a VP from AMD both examined my laptop and reached the disappointing conclusion that the Broadcom chipset in it is too new for Linux to have developed drivers for it.

So now I'm dual-booting Kubuntu with Vista and have the best of both worlds (well, on the Windows side that's open for debate).

My visit to Nirvana

 
I just got back from three days at the Google campus attending the release event for the Linux KDE version 4.0 desktop. The event itself was great. I got to meet quite a few very smart people from all over the world, united by our interest in Linux and the KDE desktop manager. But I don't think any of us could get over the fact that we were at Google, geek heaven, the holy of holies for the internet crowd.

We were "asked" not to say much about the Google campus, so I'm afraid I can't go into much detail about the place. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, only outside and only when accompanied by Google security or staff. Let's just say that having spent a few years working at the NSA I didn't feel that out-of-place at the Googlplex.

Vote for Stephen

Marimo-All About a Dog

For anyone who has ever lived with, and loved, a dog.

BBC NEWS | Obituary: Oscar Peterson

One of the jazz world’s greats has died. Oscar Peterson was a truly gifted pianist. He’ll be missed by all of us who love jazz.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Obituary: Oscar Peterson

Lessons learned...the hard way

1) Do not under any circumstances microwave a full cup of coffee with sugar already added.

2) Keep a roll of paper towels handy near the microwave.

3) Do not attempt to drink the coffee you made in the process of learning rule #1.

Do not push the Red Button

Put The Big Red Button on your site

Polish off your week

...with this music video. Everybody, on put your shoes for dancing into disco.



Don't blame me if this gets stuck in your head all weekend.

Microsoft shuts down Santa for talking dirty

And Bill O'Reilly's upset about store clerks who say, "Happy Holidays"?

Microsoft Corp. quickly shut down Santa Claus’ Web privileges after it found out the automated elf it created for kids to instant message with was talking naughty, not nice.

(MSNBC is a joint Microsoft - NBC Universal venture.)

Last year, Microsoft encouraged kids to connect directly to “Santa” by adding northpolelive.com to their Windows Live Messenger contact lists. The Santa program, which Microsoft reactivated in early December, asked children what they wanted for Christmas and could respond on topic, thanks to artificial intelligence.

The holiday cheer soured this week when a reader of a United Kingdom-based technology news site, The Register, reported that a chat between Santa and his underage nieces about eating pizza prompted Santa to bring up oral sex.

One of the publication’s writers replicated the chat Monday. After declining the writer’s repeated invitations to eat pizza, a frustrated Santa burst out with, “You want me to eat what?!? It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else.”

The exchange ended with the writer and Santa calling each other “dirty bastard.”

Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn said the company’s engineers tried to clean up Santa’s vocabulary, but even after making changes to the software, the company wasn’t comfortable keeping him online.

“It’s not like if you say, ’Hello Santa,’ he’s going to throw inappropriate stuff at you,” said Sohn.

Sohn said Santa’s lewd comment was sparked by someone “pushing this thing to make it do things it wasn’t supposed to do.”

Santa is just one of many “agents,” or automated IM programs, that computer users can chat with on Live Messenger. Some are useful — customer service agents, for example — while others are frivolous, like an alien that responds to IMs with burbling extraterrestrial noises. Sohn said some of the bots are programmed to fend off inappropriate messages.

“If they’re meant to be cheeky and have fun with you, they may repeat certain things back,” he said, or respond to certain words with “that’s naughty.”

Sohn said Microsoft was not aware that the Santa code included the foul language, but insisted the company did not suspect an employee prank.

Microsoft disabled Santa Tuesday. On Wednesday, northpolelive.com appeared to be online in one reporter’s essenger contact list, but Santa did not respond to her messages.

(Source)

This almost makes Vista seem benign.