SOPA comes about because big money interests like media companies buy political votes like human beings buy groceries at the store. Please stop wasting valuable political airtime on issues that are meaningless to regular humans and only of interest to non-human people like corporations and such.
Instead please put forth a constitutional amendment banning all direct and indirect contributions of money and time to politicians by every person who is not a human being. Also, please require full and prompt disclosure upon the Internet of ALL direct and indirect contributions of money to politicians and political campaigns. Do these things and you will get my vote again for sure. Such an amendment is the ONLY way to put a stop to political corruption and time wastage on issues like SOPA.
In your email to me:
From: Al Franken
To: Lyno
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 6:36 PM
Subject: Let’s talk about intellectual property
You say “there are millions of Americans whose livelihoods rely on strong protections for intellectual property: middle-class workers – most of them union workers – in all 50 states, thousands of them here in Minnesota, working in a variety of industries from film production to publishing to software development.” Adequate protections are already in place in laws going back decades. As you well know, the Internet is a game changer regarding distribution of copyright works. The recent Justice Department shutdown of Megaupload.com proves my point and affirms that SOPA’s trifling with the Internet is entirely unnecessary. The recent Washington Post article “Federal indictment claims popular Web site Megaupload.com shared pirated material” proves that existing laws are adequate.
Just so you know, I find the obfuscating phrase “intellectual property” to be intellectually offensive because it presumes that copyright, patent, and trademark laws are somehow similar, which they are not. I prefer when copyright is not lumped into such a meaningless phrase and is named directly when it is being discussed.
Why would a grown man name his newest pet computer Black Tortoise? There’s mystery in that and perhaps a story worth telling. In the meantime check out the wikipedia page concerning Black_Tortoise which is sometimes called the Black Warrior of the North. The Black Tortoise (xuanwu) is the sign for the northern quarter of the sky. The follwoing image on the grounds of the Beijing Ancient Observator is copied from the wikimedia.org website.
Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols are four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations. They are:
Azure Dragon of the East
Vermilion Bird of the South
White Tiger of the West
Black Tortoise of the North
Each one of them represents a direction and a season of the year, and each has its own individual characteristics and origins. They have been portrayed in many historical Chinese and Korean myths and fiction, and also appear in many modern Japanese comic books and animation. The origin of those 4 symbols are from China.
All of these mysteries will unfold and be told. All in due time. But first we must dive down into the details of actually selecting those computer parts to be assembled into the black tortoise computer.
SELECTING COMPUTER PARTS
This document configures my 2012 dream machine based around the AMD 8 core FX-8150 processor.
AMD FX-8150 PROCESSOR
Processor Model
FX-8150
CPU Base
3.6GHz
CPU Turbo Core
3.9GHz
CPU Max Turbo
4.2GHz
TDP
125W
Cores
8
L2 Cache
8MB
L3 Cache
8MB
Max DDR3
1866
PKG
AM3+
NB
2.2GHz
Black tortoise needs a fair bit of CPU horsepower. I chose AMD. The obvious alternative is Intel. I wanted AMD because I have a fondness for their lower hardware prices and openness to overclocking. I found the following review to be helpful. http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-fx-8150-processor-review/. For a demonstration of extreme overclocking, just for fun I watched the following techno music backed video “AMD FX-8150 @ 7.0GHz (LN2 overclocking & benchmarking)”, featuring cooling by liquid nitrogen.
AMD FX-8150 CPU
Having decided upon the AMD FX-8150 CPU I searched YouTube for a closeup video and found "AMD Bulldozer FX 8150 8-Core CPU Processor Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips".
COOLER MASTER HAF X CASE
First stop was the case. I chose a COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case as featured at the coolermaster.com website. I found the video “Cooler Master HAF-X Video Review” worth a complete watch.
CORSAIR CPU COOLER
Next I needed a high quality CPU cooling solution and initially selected "Hydro Series™ H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler" which includes a double-thick radiator and two 120mm fans,hydro series water cooling cpu cooler.
THE WINNER: "Hydro Series™ H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler" Featuring a full 240mm radiator (20 fins per inch) and two 120mm fans (high static pressure), the Corsair Hydro Series H100 extreme performance liquid CPU cooler includes a proprietary connector for Corsair’s Link Commander. (NOTE that there are only enough screws to mount two fans to the radiator. If you want to mount two additional fans you need eight more 6-32 x ~1 1/8" screws.) This introduces an extensive range of customizable features to systems as demonstrated hydro series h100 extreme performance liquid cpu cooler. This unit is reviewed at Corsair H100 CPU Cooler Review
Excellent video: "Unboxing & First Looks: Corsair H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler"
ASUS MOTHERBOARD
ASUS SABERTOOTH MOTHERBOARD
I originally chose the Sabertooth board because of its long warranty and its being constructed of military grade components.
ASUS CROSSHAIR MOTHERBOARD
I settled on the ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Gaming Motherboard with 3-Way SLI/CrossFireX Support and UEFI BIOS. ASUS has released two motherboards based on the new AMD 990FX chipset, the Crosshair V Formula and the Sabertooth 990FX. Both have similar specifications and feature four PCI Express x16 slots, but the Crosshair V Formula comes with better audio, two additional USB 3.0 ports, a better networking chip, and more overclocking options. The ASUS Crosshair V Formula has four memory sockets allowing up to 32 GB with this motherboard if you use four 8 GB modules. "ASUS Crosshair V Formula Motherboard" hardwaresecrets.com ASUS Crosshair V Formula Motherboard
JJ from ASUS unboxes the new AMD AM3+ Bulldozer ready ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard. Find out why the Crosshair V Formula from the ASUS Republic of Gamers is the perfect formula for AMD in "ASUS Crosshair V Formula Motherboard Hands-on Review"
The ROG connect feature is an interesting feature. In future videos the ROG interface will allow me to overclock black tortoise and produce a high quality video of the results. ROG Connect for the ASUS Crosshair V Formula Motherboard
MOTHERBOARD DDR3 MEMORY
The ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard Memory supports four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to DDR3-2133, 32 GB maximum). It uses DIMM sockets one and two as the first channel, and three and four as the second channel.
Hardware for 25mm wide fan housings are — 6-32 x 1-1/4" Black Oxide Pan Head Phillips Machine Screw at fastenal.com
and at microfasteners.com
and many other locations searchable on the Internet.
and the newest Noctua NF-P12 — The NF-P12 has been specifically developed for applications such as CPU coolers that demand superior pressure and airflow performance. Thanks to psychoacoustic optimizations like the Vortex-Control Notches, the new SCD drive system and Noctua’s premium-grade SSO-Bearing, the NF-P12 achieves exceptional quietness and long-term stability.
Concerning 4-pin PWN (Pulse Width Modulation), there existsa 4-pin Y-cable which allows you to connect two 4 pin PWM fans to a single header
Nigh unto two thousand years ago, Jesus threw the moneylenders out of the temple. He did this for a reason. 2012 is our year to do likewise. It has become self evident that moneylenders are corrupting politics. When faced with this truth, what must we do? We must throw moneylenders out of our politics. And while we are at it lets throw out the corporations and similar non-human persons. We must clean our political temple of its non-human pollution.
If you think you might want to make a movie about the events of the spring and summer of 2012 and are looking for high quality DSLR camera equipment costing less than a small car, this might be a useful beginning page to scroll. Even if all you are aspiring to is making a movie of the best sunset of 2012, this still might be the page for you. If you are looking for information that will help you decide where to spend money for Canon DSLR movie making equipment, then you have found the best page I have seen. I created this page to guide my own buying decisions and be a useful reference link. This article explores the Canon EOS product lineup from the perspective of some affordable best of breed DSLR movie making equipment. This page records the journey beginning with a Canon T2i and culminating in the desire for a 21.1 Megapixel Full-Frame Sensor Canon 5D 35mm full frame camera and settling back on the eventual tentative purchase of a professional quality 18.0 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor based Canon 7D camera and some of the supporting accessories listed on this page.
by Lyno, Thursday, November 24, 2011, Thanksgiving Day
DSLR Movie Making, Thanksgiving Day 2011
INTRODUCTION
Where does any journey of life begin? It begins with a dream culminating in a vision. Sometimes it happens in the blink of an eye. Other times it happens bit by bit, unfolding over many days, weeks, and months. The journey told of in this tale begins with me wanting to make a movie and, as part of that quest, to find a camera with which to shoot the footage of that movie.
As is the case with any Internet quest, the framing of the question is paramount. Many hours were invested in seeking a video camera by searching Google and YouTube.
THE SEARCH
Searches on Google yielded
video camera and on YouTube yielded
video camera, neither of which was all that helpful in shedding light on the pathway. I have a special fondness for Canon cameras so “Canon Vixia” caught my eye. Many hours of research later
confirmed that the $400 Canon Vixia HF M41 might be the camera for me.
It is a maxim of the Internet Age that “as ye shall seek, so shall ye find”. Having begun my search for a video camera, it is no surprise that I found one. However along the way I encountered the term “DSLR camera” which stands for “digital single lens reflex camera”. In addition to a video camera I wanted to upgrade my 6 megapixel Canon SLR and was focused upon the Canon T2i based on the recommendation of a friend who is a professional photographer.
PHILIP BLOOM ON DSLR MOVIE MAKING
Along the way I happened upon the search
Canon DSLR video making and found the following video which led me to explore the idea of using a DSLR instead of a video camera to make a movie. “Philip Bloom on DSLR Movie making” 20:51. An
interview with cinematographer Philip Bloom. Done while he was visiting Oslo for his workshops and master classes.
15:14 “The number one accessory is a viewfinder for the camera and the one I recommend is a (Zacuto) zed finder pro because it doesn’t fog up. … Other than that plug in a (LCD) monitor.”
16:01 A general discussion of lenses. At 18:10 recommends $2500 Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens Bloom is a proponent of Zeiss glass for cinema photography. He
endorses the Canon L series glass and elaborated on a House episode shot
almost entirely on the the primes and zooms listed below with prices as of November 22, 2011.
Having watched the Bloom interview video I began researching the 5D and watched a series of videos, beginning with “Philip Bloom setting up a Canon 5D Mark II for video ” Mode = M; Shutter speed
= 50; ISO = 160, 320, 640; 1250; F4 is too dark, set personal profile; picture style = neutral; sharpness = 0, contrast = 0; saturation = down 2;
“DSLR Rig & Gear for Video Production & Filmmaking ” This is a nice video that walks through the contents of a small camera travel pack that fits as carry on. 10:20
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the following video which established the 7D as a viable alternative. “Canon 5D Mark II vs Canon 7D Field Test Hands-on Review” 12:12
The following video is the best I encountered for going through the controls on the camera. It is long running but worth going thru. 18:58 “Canon 7D Digital SLR Camera and 28-135MM Lens
Bundle”
The following comprehensive video goes through the controls. The background music blasts into the right channel stereo while voice is in the left channel. “Canon EOS 7D – Hands-on
Review”
This URL provides the starting point for a video autoplay list of Canon EOS 7D videos PLAYLIST.
CANON 7D LENS ALTERNATIVES
The fellow in the next video has lots of interesting videos on the Canon 7D. He believes that expensive glass is not so important when shooting movies with a DSLR. He produces lots of videos
around the Canon 7D. He says “the most important thing is getting the fastest lens possible for video mode; it’s not the sharpness its the speed of the lens”. Some of his recommendations from
various videos are listed below. “7. Canon 7D (primes) Advanced Lens Selection – Video Mode Interactive Tutorial” is below and be sure to watch his other video titled “Canon 7D (zooms) Advanced
Lens Selection – Video Mode Interactive Tutorial”. Be sure to read the lens reviews carefully because there are reasons why each of these lenses are less expensive than the Canon’s L series
glass.
This document cites a series teaching how to diagram systems using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The series was originally created for the Virtual Training Company and was uploaded to YouTube where it is available for viewing. The original series is at http://www.vtc.com/ and, specifically, http://www.vtc.com/products/UML_tutorials.htm.
The YouTube series is viewable at the URL below. When you enter YouTube for rmb1905′s Channel the movies are listed on the right side of the screen. Sort the movies by the “Date Added” sort criteria. In this manner you can select each movie in order.
A great evil lurks in the heart of Wall Street. It is echoed in the heart of Washington. That evil arises from the absurd notion that profits earned outside the United States should not be fully taxed when they enter the domestic books of United States companies.
It is perhaps equally absurd, in the face of the sentiment behind Occupy Wall Street and similar protests elsewhere in the United States, that the whole notion of a foreign tax holiday will somehow fly under the radar of the American people. Even President Obama may become caught up in this evil by suggesting a foreign-profits tax holiday based on the premise that companies could repatriate foreign-made profits with little or no tax payment as long as they used the money for U.S. investment and job creation. Once again the American people are being betrayed by Washington and Wall Street doings. It was Henry David Thoreau who said “there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” The Occupy Wall Street movement is an attempt to strike at the root of evil.
I say that, as patriotic Americans, Wall Street and Washington ought to propose instead that these profits be brought home and the taxes paid. Then let them buy back their stock and, with the remainder, do some good. Meanwhile the taxes raised from these repatriated foreign profits will go a long way towards paying for President Obama’s jobs program.
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/09/07/overseas-tax-break-may-backfire/ “Overseas Tax Break May Backfire” at the Wall Street Journal, of all places, fesses up to the fact that a new Homeland Investment Act won’t help the U.S. economy much. The Homeland Investment Act of 2004 provided for a one-time tax holiday on the repatriation of foreign earnings, thereby allowing U.S. multinationals to access earnings retained abroad at a lower cost. Firms responded to this act by significantly increasing repatriations from foreign affiliates.
This whole corporation shell game of moving taxes from state to state and nation to nation, designed to deny the nations and states tax revenues, creates great disruption to local economies devastated by companies moving from state to state and from nation to nation.
If I were President Obama I would invite U.S. corporations to bring home these profits, pay the taxes, and then begin a plan to buy U.S. bonds as a way of repatriating ownership of the United States national debt.
When I was a young man (40 years ago) my version of the so called “Great American Dream” was pretty simple. My dad had said to stay in school and graduate with a college degree, which I did by getting a dual degree in Computer Science and Economics. I was not drafted into the Viet Nam War, deciding instead to serve my country and humanity in the Peace Corp. I came back to the United States and got my first job working as a computer programmer in government. I was taught to have a credit card for convenience and pay it off monthly, start saving immediately and continuously for retirement, avoid buying on credit except for a house and car, and pay cash for everything else. I was taught that, if I did all of these things, then I would be financially well off in retirement. That was the 1972. I did those things for decades. By 2011 my dream for a worry free retirement has been spoiled by a bunch of greedy wall street bankers who speculated the stock market into a nose dive and then turned around and stole billions of dollars from the housing market. In essence, Wall Street banker’s and lawyer’s greed stole the retirement of my generation of Americans.
In 2011 we now have an American Dream destroying Congress led by a radical right wing agenda designed to dismantle government. I have the feeling that “We the People” who are human are being eaten alive by the “We the People” who are not human–so called “people” like corporations, for example.
So where the heck are “We the People” who are human these days? We are busy voting into office wackos who chant pathological mantras. Phrases like “no new taxes” seem to have taken hold and operate independent of mathematics, common sense, and anything resembling reason. What’s up with that bit of political pathology?
Wall Street backed corporations are now busy foreclosing on millions of homes. “We the People” who are human are getting daily tossed us out of our homes. Once the corporations’ work is done, what little will remain of the American Dream?
Why are the right leaning corporate sponsored talking heads in Congress muttering pathological mantras like “no new taxes”? It is because these messages and actions have been bought and paid for by corporate contributions. Corporations know very well that their profits will be taxed to pay back the deficit caused by their tax cuts during the Bush Years (which created the deficit in the first place) and that it will be tax increases on the corporations that will pay off their national debt. They understand very well the principle that it is vastly cheaper to buy a few politicians a public office in Congress than to pay the taxes that will result when sanity is restored.
Common wisdom says the United States and many other nations now have an unsustainable national debt. Common wisdom among even our polarized political parties is that jobs are the key. Only the sad truth is that there seemingly aren’t new jobs to be had unless governments create them. Wacko notions persist that government regulation is to blame and that if regulations are removed we will the people will be somehow better off — what an absurdity.
Foreclosures in the owner occupied housing market, among my generation are commonplace — there goes one cornerstone of the American Dream. Unemployment for people my age is increasing and prospects for being rehired grow dim. There goes another cornerstone. Social Security supplemental income was supposed to be there for my generation and probably will be though heaven help future generations.
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream defines:
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.[1] The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Health care fits in under the “Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” category of inalienable rights. Health care costs are rising and are unaffordable without insurance. Fortunately for “We the People” health care reform was enacted by the Congress and signed into law by President Obama — at least one cornerstone of the American Dream will live for as long as there is a Democrat in the White House.
Now here’s the dirty truth. Many wealthy “We the People” in the form of corporations don’t want to provide health care for “We the People” who are humans. These corporations are buying the political votes necessary to dismantle worker health care program. This massive corporate led deconstruction of the progress made towards the American Dream has been happening for years. It plays out now in the polarized political arena of the United States government. “We the People” who are corporations don’t vote. Instead, the corporations buy the political campaigns of those politicians who will run their agenda.
Perhaps President Obama’s full employment plans include an infusion of oil pipeline construction jobs and significant new tax revenues (maybe even targeted to pay off the national debt) collected from the flow of Canadian tar sands oil under U.S. soil. If I were him I would DELAY the Keystone Project permit into next years election politics.
See http://www.transcanada.com/keystone.html for project details.
I like this idea. It raises the per transaction cost of Wall Street speculation. I’d like to see these new sales tax revenues being dedicated to paying off the national debt. Maybe the Wall Street sales transaction fee goes away when the national debt is paid off and comes back automatically when new debt accrues. This would up the ante for taking on new debt … good news for the political and economic systems.
Owner occupied housing is in crisis. The problem is solvable by the Federal Reserve Bank. If the Federal Reserve Bank fails to act correctly, then the crisis will deepen. If the Federal Reserve Bank creates a correctly operating housing market, then the floundering owner occupied housing market will snap back into a long-term stable growth pattern. The choice of either the stability or the continuing collapse of the owner occupied housing market rests in the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank.
