Hacking Controversy

Now this is interesting as it is a good place to start when trying to understand what is going on with the hacking which has been in the news lately.

When Julian Assange was the topic of mass controversy in the news last year for releasing classified US Government documents, what was the centre of the discussion - the fact that he dared obtain and post them and how he was immoral for doing so or the actual content of the documents published ?
It was, of course, the former.

This bring me on to Lulzsec (Lulz Security). In the last few months, Lulzsec have been 'hacking' into many large corporations and releasing data which they obtain.
One of the first and most notable was that of Sony's Playstation Network. Lulzsec managed to get into Sony's systems and compromise millions of user accounts - ultimately forcing Sony to close down the PSN temporarily and face huge public embarrassment as well as profit loss.

The point however is, Sony is a massive corporation which almost all of us have used. Many of us trust this company to store our personal information with integrity and security - and its outdated security breaks that trust. This can be said for all of the corporations which Lulzsec have breached. Shouldn't we be glad that security breaches are being exploited and making the companies focus on fixing them to further protect our sensitive data in the future of this digital age?

Apparently not.

The way I see it is that it raises a moral question for governments, in particular US and UK, of how to handle this Robin Hood approach:

1.) They let Lulzsec continue to exploit these massive corporations since they aren't really abusing any individual user's data - this isn't their agenda, but rather the security of the company as a whole. This means the companies will need to pay out millions of dollars to fix and update their security so it is sustainable for the future.

2.)Instead of allowing the companies to use their profits as stated in point 1, the governments pay out millions of taxpayers money to fund law enforcement agencies to apprehend the Lulzsec group, leaving the security of these companies still outdated and our information insecure.

See here for the approach which was ultimately taken. I don't see how this can be justified, call it vigilantism or hacking - the consequences of what will happen if it is not supported are far greater.

Starbucks

I like the coffee and when I am there I get a Hazelnut Americano, which is essentially just a black coffee with a hazelnut shot in it. Starbucks don't do just a 'coffee' - the equivalent is the Americano, so named because the Americans in Europe in WW2 would pour hot water into their espresso for coffee.

The reason I started drinking this is because when I worked at a local guitar store 2 years ago, I always came in with just an Americano. One of the guys I worked with always came in with a Hazelnut Americano - which smelled amazing. So I went and asked for one and it tasted as good as it smelled. To me - this is a normal drink.

Now for my point - I can't stand people who go into Starbucks and order really fancy drinks. It's those people who work in an office and decide to have 'coffee meetings' and come in on their lunch to look cultured and order really long complicated drinks which just makes them look pretentious and ridiculous. Either that or students who, also, are pretentious twats.

I've been studying a lot recently and I was in Starbucks the other day and the woman who was behind me in the queue ordered an extra wet triple shot grande skinny latte. No joke.

In my relatively greater than average knowledge of coffee, I will write what I take this drink to be:

Extra wet - No idea. I think it is with regards to the amount (or lack of) foam in the drink?
Triple shot - 3 times the espresso shot, ie. stronger.
Grande - Medium sized.
Skinny - Skimmed milk?
Latte - A common drink made with a wee bit of coffee and mainly steamed milk.

S0, what she ordered was a stronger milk based coffee with skimmed milk. To me, the weakness of the latte is compensated for by the triple shot to make it..well, a coffee and in essence, the ostentatious woman behind me asked for a skimmed coffee.

What. An. Asshole.

I blame Starbucks for inventing this form of scum by encouraging it:

Music

Since I moan a lot about music, I thought I'd try make a short list of 3 or 4 of my 'favourite songs'.

Iraq

There are some statistics which I have found which I believe truly show the importance of Iraqi occupation;

So far, roughly 55000 Iraqi civilians have died due to the war with a further 50000 - 100000 Iraqi insurgents killed.

316 casualties from non-US troops. 179 of which being British.

Does this sound like a war?

Since the start of the war, 141 journalists have been killed, 14 of which by American Forces.
Yes, 10% of the journalists killed in Iraq were killed by the US.

In fact, for every 12.8 British soldiers killed in Iraq - the Americans killed a journalist.

And one more;

'Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies - 70%'

That is fucking absurd !

This info is correct as of 23rd August 2010, take a look at the statistics.

Irony

" Do not have any other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20:3-6

Catholic Schools

In Glasgow there are hundreds of Catholic Schools, where pupils can receive a Catholic Education. Religious Studies are taught in a manner which largely favours the RC church.

I have no idea why this is allowed...

The Catholic church expressed great discontent at the voice they had in government a few months ago, Cardinal O'Brien said:

"A tangible example by the government over the last decade that it acknowledged or endorsed religious values would also have been welcomed. Instead we have witnessed this government undertake a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values. "

They have their own schools where they can influence the education our children attain , what more influence do they want ?!
Try responsibility, the schools are state-funded. In my view, this shouldn't be legal. Why doesn't the government fund Jewish Schools, Muslim schools, Hindu Schools etc. ? That way all the children can receive an education based upon their given religion all courtesy of the British taxpayer and we can all grow up 'separate but equal'.

How can the government slam sectarianism so strongly with one hand yet fund separate Catholic schools with the other?

"It's tradition, Catholics worked hard for those schools" -Okay, granted they did work hard to achieve education for their children when they immigrated to Glasgow, and schools were built onto churches. Celtic Football Club started out as a charitable club to fund meals for Catholic children whose families were too poor too afford them. But that was then, and this is now and separation in education is nothing but a fuel for the ongoing hatred between ignorant Catholics and Protestants in the country.

It's a surprise that they even teach about the existence of other religions. Or science - I would have imagined the RC church to replace science with creationism. Sexual Education to be replaced with Celibacy Lessons. The pope last year went on a tour of Africa to preach that condoms were bad, come on...that's just fucked up. Why do we allow this ?!

I believe that all children should be entitled to a free and equal education, even the smelly ones, and it's up to the child what they make of it. It's up to the person to receive the facts and both sides to the stories and to make up their own mind based on what they believe to be right, Biased education is just a total backwards hypocrisy now.

TGI Fridays

TGIs have succeeded in ruining a perfectly good meal of mine due to how petty I am when it comes to topics I feel strongly about. I wrote a letter of compaint to them and am optimistically awaiting a reply, the letter itself will sum up my complaint:

Dear TGI Fridays,

I must start by stating that I am not the type of person to complain about anything. Whenever I receive bad service or bad food somewhere I attribute it to an unfortunate ‘one-off’ and so leave it at that. However I saw something in your restaurant recently which really confused me – and so felt the necessity to point it out to you.

There is a wall (at the Gordon Street side) of your restaurant with pictures of iconic artists and bands. On the wall is a ticket from The Police, Woodstock, The Rolling Stones and pictures of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Led Zeppelin and Lady Gaga.

Can you spot the odd one out?

May I ask what Lady Gaga is doing on that wall? I’m sorry to sound petty – but musical technique and artistic integrity is something which I am rather passionate about. “But Lady Gaga has both of those!” you might say…well, true – but not quite on the scales of the artists on that wall. She’s no Bruce Springsteen is she?

Lady Gaga, at best, is just this generation’s Madonna. She is the product of corporate imperialism and musical demand of 15 year old girls with too much birthday money. She may be ‘unique’ and ‘something different’ but not on the bigger scale of things. Not like Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson were unique.

She does not fit in on that wall. She stands for something entirely different than the rest of the artists did. They have a passion and they play from their hearts - they set foundations for music that all the artists of today, the Lady Gagas and all the other pop artists, have risen up within.

As I say, just an observation…

Yours faithfully,

Josh

Reality TV

Although this blog is titled Reality TV, it is really about entertainment today. What exactly has become of it? So called 'celebrities' are televising their every move and people doing whatever it takes for any form of fame - however good or bad that may be.

Where has the integrity gone? Whatever happened to Jimi Hendrix? Bill Hicks? Jeff Buckley? It seems that integrity is an ever distancing subject and soon, it will be a thing of the past.

Let me quote Bill Hicks:
"Any performer that ever sells a product on television is now and forever and for all eternity removed from the artistic world, I don’t care if you shit Mona Lisas out of your ass on cue. You’ve made your fucking choice.”

If Bill Hicks were alive today to see What Katie Did Next...

Who watches this? Who finds watching society's finest on Big Brother entertaining? If one of these people sat next to you on a train would you give them the time of day?
It's perverse, to watch scum live their lives - every single move.
Philo Farnsworth would be so proud...

Where did it all go wrong ? When did our musicians and other celebrities become this obsessed with any form of short term fame that they had to completely sell out ?

Corporate Imperialism. Everything has become about advertising, morals and money. I wish I grew up in an era when music was about passion, integrity and artistic merit.


I'll keep this short and finish with a video clip of the Extras christmas special, I think Ricky summed it up rather nicely: