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Just like gambling

Posted by christian on
Ah yes, that's the stuff: 
 > We are Wall Street. It's our job to make money. Whether it's a commodity, 
 > stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn't matter. We
 > would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America 
 > complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k 
 > doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, it’s not a problem until you lose.
 > I've never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they 
 > won too much in Vegas.
...and so the leaflet from the financial traders goes on to explain why everything is just OK the way it is. Oh well, that's a relief. I was kinda worried, but not anymore...

Copyright Infringement & Tor

Posted by christian on
Yes, I've blogged about this earlier. And now, almost a year after setting up a Tor exit-node, I've got my 5th Copyright infringement notice. Apparently I have infringed(?) upon:
  • 2010-03-16 - Harry Potter audio books
  • 2010-05-16 - Iron Man 2
  • 2010-09-29 - Eureka
  • 2010-12-24 - Despicable Me
  • 2011-01-03 - Naruto
  • 2011-01-05 - House MD
...to be continued?

Again, for the record: half of the stuff up there I didn't even know (and, in retrospect, I would've been happier to not have looked them up). Also, with the configured exit policy in place, BitTorrent downloads are not even possible. But how to explain this to a lawyer?

Update: OK, I'm giving in. After another notice only 2 days after the last one and only two weeks after the 4th notice, I've decided to run a bridge node. As I cannot use any of those good hints for running an exit node, I see no other choice than running a bridge. It's better than nothing, I guess :-\

$ diff torrc{.exit,}
19c19
< SocksListenAddress 192.168.0.106:9050
---
> SocksPort 0
24,25c24,25
< SocksPolicy accept 192.168.0.0/24
< SocksPolicy reject *
---
> # SocksPolicy accept 192.168.0.0/24
> # SocksPolicy reject *
168,169c168,169
< #BridgeRelay 1
< #ExitPolicy reject *:*
---
> BridgeRelay 1
> ExitPolicy reject *:*

Popcorn!

Posted by christian on
A bit late in the game, but here's a linkdump covering the recent Wikileaks Cablegate events - don't forget your popcorn!

Update:
Say No to Online Censorship!

Balsamic vinegar, unleaded please!

Posted by christian on
Today I came across the following sign while shopping for aceto balsamico: 
   CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING
   The red wine vinegars and balsamic vinegars on these shelves contain lead,
   a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other
   reproductive harm.
Wait, what? Of course, by now I've searched the tubes and these signs have been there for quite a while. And it's widely discussed too, and people go on raving about these bad vinegars and if there are good vinegars and so on - but I did not find the answer to the question: why? Why would anyone still buy lead-containing vinegar, when it's clearly stated that it's harmful to the (human) body. Well, for Californian bodies, that is. As if lead was not toxic in other states :-)

I don't get it. At all.