HOW TO BLOCK TYNT ON A PC OR MAC

Update: 10:08 AM Monday, July 26th 2010


Got this neat trick through Don McArthur.com...
..via Daring Fireball

"Over the last few months I've noticed an annoying trend on various web sites, generally major newspaper and magazine sites, but also certain weblogs. What happens is that when you select text from these web pages, the site uses JavaScript to report what you've copied to an analytics server and append an attribution URL to the text."

[...]

...Here's the line I added to the end of my /etc/hosts file

127.0.0.1 tcr.tynt.com

After saving the hosts file, Tynt's clipboard-altering nonsense is disabled on all Tynt-using websites I've encountered, no matter which browser I use...

So here's a screen print of my Windows XP - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS

To find easily in windows: click 'start' ---> click 'run' ---> paste above in the window ---> click 'OK'.

I've added the line at the bottom: 127.0.0.1 tcr.tynt.com

(click to see larger image)



Whoops! I'm not good at following simple instructions. The way this works is to add the code (127.0.0.1 tcr.tynt.com), to the BOTTOM of the list!

Then it works.



Thanks to:

Don McArthur.com

Daring Fireball

LifeHacker.com - "Geek to Live: Ban time-wasting web sites" by Gina Trapani



mh

The Game of Life

BoingBoing twigged me to this neat mathematical game called, "Conway's Game of Life".



Sort of like the game "Mine Sweeper" every square on the grid can have a element in it; each element has rules governing it's behavoiur. For example, when one pushes the 'GO' button with only one square filled in black, the one element by it self will disappear, or die (as per the rules of the algorithm) - "as in life" says the info section. Two or three side by side will stay...

The instructions in the game itself explain it best:

Welcome to sixfoottallrabbit's implementation of John Conway's Game of Life, using the HTML 5 canvas element.

The Game of Life is a cellular automaton, which means that it consists of a grid of cells which can be in one of a finite number of states. Given any state, there are rules that govern what the next state of the grid will be.

Each cell in a grid can be either dead or alive. To find the next state of the grid, the following rules are observed:

• Any living cell with 0 or 1 neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation
• Any living cell with 4 or more neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation
• Any living cell with 2 or 3 neighbours survives, yay
• Any dead cell with 3 or more neighbours becomes alive, as if by reproduction

You can make some pretty cool patterns just by doodling all over the grid and hitting 'Go'. Or there are some examples all over the net of clever states. Try importing Gosper's Glider Gun:

I played with it for a couple of minutes and came up with a sustaining function on my third configuration. After one pushes the 'GO' button the pattern on the left becomes the function on the right. The four out-lying elements (three boxes in a line), are spinning forever, like wheels; while the pattern in the centre remains stable.



When I Push the 'GO' button the left configuration does about 200 machinations and then becomes the "Perpetual Wheely Gidget" (my term) :)



I found it interesting that circle like configurations tend to have long life cycles and spawn continuous, stable functions. Lines on the other hand - no matter if even numbered or odd - tend to flash out quickly leaving nothing; functioning or dead.

Follow the links to the "Glider Gun" article in Wikipedia ---> and then to "Turning Machine", for a full explanation.



mh

Cartoon: Your furniture is anthropomorphizing you

The New Yorker "Shrink-Wrapped" Cartoon Kit Contest ends July 18th - only four days!


The New Yorker Cartoon Kit page.

The backdrop and many irreverent characters and props are provided, this month by professional cartoonist Danny Shanahan; you just drag and drop the icons you want, re-size and place them, then write a caption and save. (I didn't add any.)

Five winners are selected each month and are presented in a slide show for the gratification of your uproarious ego (and to make people laugh).

See "FilterBlog's 'Humour' Label" for more submissions I've made to the NewYorker Cartoon Kit.

This Cartoon at The New Yorker.



mh

WHO GAVE THE G-20 COMMANDER HIS COMMANDS?

In this video essay, also published in print form at Canada.com, Paul Jay Senior Editor of The Real News Network outlines the reasons why Canada needs a Public Inquiry into policing at the Toronto G20 Summit.

It's a compelling oratory and sheds light on the command structure of the weekends events, arriving finally at the decision maker himself, Stephan "total information awareness" Harper. The Prime Minister of Canada.



Share this by going to this embed page at the Real News Network.

Join the Facebook group, "Canadians Demanding a Public Inquiry into Toronto G20"

Read the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's (CCLA) Call for Independent Inquiry into G20 Police Action.

Sign the call for an independent review at Amnesty International - Canada.

Send a letter or an email to the Office of the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

Send a letter or an email to Ontario Premier Daulton McGuinty.

Write to your MPP and your MP.

Vote against the Conservatives Federally, and the Liberals Provincially in Ontario.

*Remember.*


Related Posts: G20 label.



mh

Facebook represents 50 percent of mobile internet traffic in the UK

On the latest version of the popular, "Social Media Revolution", with the Fatboy Slim sound track "Right here, Right now", this frame hit me like a tonne of bricks...



To me this means, whether the ISP's like it or not (or anyone else for that matter), Facebook and the other exploding social media sites will soon, architecturally, as well as financially, be in a position to buy up the ISP's.

Take that to the bank - or cower in the corner - whichever.



Socialnomics
Socialnomics09's Channel



mh

Change Our Mode of Thinking!

Via BoingBoing: Econopocalypse: the Marxist animated whiteboard explanation

Cory Doctorow says, "Marxist sociologist David Harvey gave a great presentation analyzing the econopocalypse in Marxist terms at London's Royal Society for the Arts."



Can't think of anything to add. :)



mh

Tour de France Stage 2 - Bikes down all over the place!

------------------------------------------

July 19th 2010: I originally published this article at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog. I'm covering every stage race of the 2010 Tour de France there.

As I write this, the tour is up to stage 15. I've "Live Blogged" almost all of them - stages I haven't Live Blogged always get a race summery piece - plus I've written several interesting biographical sketches and some funny reviews of the race over all.

Have a look at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog, "Tour de France" tagged articles.

Thanks,
mh

------------------------------------------


Overall standings of all 193 riders.

The story today was once again, more crashes than we've ever seen in Tour de France. This time though it was not the wind (or the lack of it) that caused the carnage, it was intermittent rain, especially on the down hill side of a climb called the cote de Stockeu, the second last downhill, and the steepest of the stage.



Watch the video at this link (Versus won't allow embeds), at the 00:35 they go to Francesco Gavazzi of team Lampre who is just ahead of the peloton. The bike just shoots out from under him! If you watch closely he slides down the greasy road for what looks like about 6 metres! The camera bike behind him can't get traction to stop and steers off to the shoulder to avoid a collision.

As the Peloton hits the area riders trying to steer around go down and that's basically the end of the race for yellow.

I know from riding on city streets the roads are really slick when the rain is just beginning - especially after a prolonged hot, dry spell. I think the black top (which is essentially tar sands) percolates the oil that's in it (black top is a bi-product of gasoline refining) - and the oils sits on top. Add to that all the oil and grease dripping from the thousands of cars and trucks - and the first water that 'sheets' the road will have a thin layer of oil on top, because oil is lighter than water.

Now here comes the Peloton into a cloud burst and wham-mo! - bicycles all over the place.

Once while bike messengering, I was blasting east on King Street probably about 30 kph, and I took a wide corner north bound up Duncan Street, it had just started raining and I was scared, but I had a Direct on that was getting old. The bike came out from under me and as I was going down and I was thinking, 'Oh sh*t, here goes all the skin on my left side'. Happily, like on one of those water slides at an amusement park, I slid about 30 feet right up the centre of Duncan Street with oily warm water spraying in front, as my bike compassed off into the curb!

Not even a scratch. :]

Lance Armstrong said he was scared, "I think everyone was scared." he said.

Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) of team Quick Step made a sprint early to break away from the peloton - and today - it worked! Sylvain Chavanel wears the yellow jersey ... just for one day? The Versus commentators think he can hold it until the mountains on Saturday - what with his almost 3 minute lead on the next best time.

Leader board courtesy Tour de France site.

Tour de France Riders list of starters:



mh

Tour de France Stage 1 - Sprint Finish Caos

------------------------------------------

July 19th 2010: I originally published this article at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog. I'm covering every stage race of the 2010 Tour de France there.

As I write this, the tour is up to stage 15. I've "Live Blogged" almost all of them - stages I haven't Live Blogged always get a race summery piece - plus I've written several interesting biographical sketches and some funny reviews of the race over all.

Have a look at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog, "Tour de France" tagged articles.

Thanks,
mh

------------------------------------------


Individual Standing after Stage 1 - by total time (letour.fr)

These are screen shots I took of the Sunday July 4, Stage 1 video - available at oln.ca/tourdefrance.

The big story in Stage 1 was the number of crashes. There were five in Stage 1, a record for Le Tour.

This is crash one or two. I could only find footage of four of the five crashes in Stage 1.


The "Doggy" Crash

This guy likes to bite at the ankles of cyclists it looks like. 'O Goody', he's thinking, 'some bicycles!'

'Oh sh*t I wish I hadn't done this.'The dog amazingly, was not hit but in trying to avoid him several riders went down.

I guess lesson learned is remember to leash your dog when the peloton is coming through.


The medium to high winds that were expected all along Stage 1 never materialized. Instead the climbers (who are generally better in the wind) and the sprinters all stay together. At the end of the race the course is too narrow to accommodate all the riders who think they have a chance at the yellow jersey, and the extra points that go with it.

To reduce the number of crashes race officials introduced a new rule: three kilometres from the finish every one in a group gets the same time even if you crash out of your group.


Crash Three

This crash happens at about 2km from the finish, so the crashed riders get the same time as those who avoided the mayhem - as long as they can finish the stage.




Crash Four

This is the straight narrow run to the finish.



The forth crash of Stage 1 happens 300 metres from the finish, a hugh pile-up of the peloton which looks to include about 50 riders. Only 25 riders are in front of the crash and have a chance to get the yellow jersey. In the screen shot you can see the tip of the peloton pulling away from the crash.




Crash Five

As the leaders slice towards the left side of the course in the final sprint to the line - to safe guard one of their flanks - a rider is clipped, and down he goes...




The Finish

Fabian Cancellara wins the sprint, and the yellow jersey for a day.



Versus.com seems to be the over all producer of the English content that OLN.ca is drafting. All the content your seeing at OLN on cable television and OLN.ca online is content produced by Versus.com. Their website has more online options, and some content you can pay for - you lucky people. ;)

This article chronicles Le Tour, day two - Stage 1. (Saturday's prologue isn't labeled as a stage).



mh

Signs that this has not been all for naught

On TVO Allan Gregg Interviews James Laxer about his new book "Beyond the Bubble". Laxer presents his analysis of the global political economy, "dead politic" of the current Canadian political landscape - and a way forward.

Laxer's vision is a re-statement of Obama's super high efficient - post oil - economy, that starts with an end to the long commute suburbs, higher population density in the cities and a new transportation infrastructure based on high efficiency rail that will replace the truck and highway model.



In the last 1/5th of the piece Allan Gregg asks James Laxer if he sees a new electoral constituency that would support the economic vision he laid out in the first part of the interview. Laxer says he thinks it's going to take further economic collapse and related social crisis to kick us out of our rut.

I take issue with that in comments...

"At (permalink)4:18 PM, Michael Holloway said...

Allies in this vision.

I hope you are wrong that it will take crisis upon crisis to bring forth allies to your vision.

Many of them I believe are active now, but through different channels than those trapped in the current, irrelevant political circus. Channels the past epochs leaders can't/won't/don't acknowledge or even see.

I think they are the *everyone* who voted for Obama, and supported the movement world wide. I think they see the vision you outline - yet Obama is unable to even start the great infrastructure re-build that is key to the it. Congress is completely controlled still, through K-Street and the fine congressional art of positioning ones self at the centre the money stream.

But I was happy beyond words at the many scenes of young people on the streets this past Summit weekend here in Toronto, who showed a level of enlightened social wisdom I could not have imagined was out there.

A great example of this happened on Queen Street West across form Steve's Music store…



(Queen & Spadina Protest (original file/unedited) from Meghann Millard on Vimeo.

..where a group of Sunday sight-seers (seeing what the hell was going on in their neighborhood) found themselves in the sights of the riot squad.

Under the video in comments:

Freedom Bloc 13 hours ago

Hey guys I was here, this was not the Queen and Spadina protesters who were blocked in and shown on tv. this was another one that turned into a protest because the police attacked first. Here is my account of it, PLEASE read it.

reddit.com/r/canada/comments/ckpgz/g20_what_the_media_chose_not_to_cover/

(I reprint the entire eye-witness account below,)

Cornered and surrounded through a methodically executed exercise run by the integrated task force command - this enlightened group at one point choose to sing the national anthem and began sitting down on the street with their backs to the police line! [faith beyond reason - that's what we like to see! :) ]

This is the constituency I think will rise to it's feet when the ideals they take for granted are kicked to the ground. These are the ones who don't bother to vote in this current dysfunctional circus you describe - for they see it all too clearly and choose not to infect their young intellects with it's cancerous metrics. - imho -

Michael Holloway"

This is the eye witness count of the above incident. I think it was written on an iphone or a Blackberry, it's full typos and incomplete ideas, but it's the notes of what happened from the point of view of someone in the crowd - so it's worth reading.

"I was there, it was not the queen and spadina protest. It was near Queen and Soho. Why is this important? Because the major news media were paying attention at Queen and spadina. Here at Queen and soho, it was just normal folk who were just watching the protesters at QandS being taken one by one. Many of the people here at QandSoho were pro-police and were cheering "toronto, toronto, toronto!" when in the distance people were being arrested. Some of us would yell out "SHAME!" when we seen people being detained. The rest of the crowd told us to shut up and that the police are protecting us. But what happened next....

The riot squad line in front of us suddenly charged US, people panicked, old women, children, people who came out of the stores and bars. They all panicked and went into flight mode, trampling people. I was caught under there, but a person helped me. He lifted me up before the police with the batons swung and tried to get me. And i escaped with a bloody elbow.

Everyone was shocked. The few of us who knew that this is reality, police do this to people, were getting ready for the next push from the riot squads. They rushed again, grabbing some people and moved the front line up. Me and a few others, who are apart of the affinity groups of street medics, slowly but surely tamed the crowd after each rush by the police, by yelling "WALK... WALK... WALK!"... Slowly people started to hear us through their adrenaline and the environment of panic. They joined in, "WALK... WALK...WALK...!!". Now 10 people joined in. After the next push, 20 people joined in.Next 30... People calmed, and more started to walk. They had time to comprehend what just happened. They, who were pro-police, were just attacked and beaten by the police who in their minds were there to protect them. They realized the truth. And a patriotic resistance of human beings emerged.

What happened next brings tears to me, people gathered in front of the riot police. And started to sing the national anthem, they/we are canadians, this is not supposed to happen in CANADA. Why? Because we the people said so.

The police waited for us to reach the end of the anthem. They chose this time as the que for their next attack. Charging again. More people felt in their hearts, that to stand up to the riot squad now, is the right thing to do. Where was the major media?.... oh yea, watching queen and spadina. We were coming up to the actual intersection of Queen and Soho. There we can see behind us that now another riot squad line set up at the south side of soho in the intersection. But the crowd paid attention to the the west of queen. The police horses showed up as intimidation. TTC streetcars were in the middle of the road, and were told by te police to get the fuck out of there. They were gone in a matter of minutes.

We looked for injured people to care for, because we had our supplies in our bags. The only medical aid available to protesters, since the hospitals would not dispatch their units, for fear of "danger". While the crowd started to line up in front of the riot squad, showing resistance, fighting for their rights. A small unit of riot police came from behind from the south of soho and creeped on the side walk. I seen this and notified the crowd by yelling it out. Some people seen, and tried tot ell people to turn their cameras behind us. The small unit of about 8-10 "soldiers" threw a kid off his bike, pushed him against the wall, picked him up and quickly dissapeared behind their line. [I wish there were people who turned there cameras and got this, I hope they release it] This was a police tactic. Half the crowd in the back started to focus on us few who witnessed this quick and quiet snatch. And walked back away from the front lines to see what was going on. This police tactic worked. The front half looked back and seen people walkign away, and so they moved back. [im just writing this quick, skipping details.]

Now we are at Queen and Soho. The clouds started to get thicker, the smell of rain, of ions, of water started to fill the environment of oppression. thum, thum...thum,thum....thum,thum" somebody with a Djembe like this in the back, started to play, but slowly. People who were just watching got scared, and fled, grabbign their friends or children. This drumming, constant slow beat, thum....thum* calmed people's minds, but rallied their thoughts. Controlled the people's panic who were now confronting the police. The drumming stops. It was now quieter, and thick scent of tension was in the air. He would start again. Thunder cracked. This was a great psychological tool. The drumming, the sounds of the djembe. It was beautiful.

Slowly, people were showing up. The colour Black was becoming apparent. Black shirts, pants, shoes, bandanas. In all customizations, more showed up to support us, and to support the citizens who were suddenly attacked by police. The drumming stopped. Thunder cracked and it started to rain. It rained hard. Droplets the size of dimes. Drumming started again. thum, thum it picked up it's pace a bit. The police started to notice who the crowd morphed into. Many people did leave for the safety for themselves into the Bars and patios. Safety from the rain and from the intimidating police. People were crying, they did not know what to do. Why did the police do this?

We knew. We the protesters who marched for days, Lack of sleep, and strength. We knew. The police were protecting the people who are destroying this world. And with laws changed for the G20 with no civilian oversight, the police did what they wanted. The drumming kept going, people gathered in front of the police, who now faced a different crowd. A crowd they, the stormtroopers, created. Slowly the police were moving in, from the south of soho and the west side of the interseciotn of queen. We were all in the small parking lot in this location. The stormtroopers now taking a few metres at a time. They noticed this crowd now had a new mixed ingredient within them, people who came to the G20 meetings for change. The steady drumming was like a call out into the air, to people within earshot, to come, come. I really do not want to say the word anarchist right now. (because the word "anarchist" is and has been demonized by the media.)

But there was a stronger resistance now. The police started to point out to all of us, planning to snatch people dressed in black, or people who looked like they can have anytype of influence on the general crowd. They would then charge and grab some. But we just turned our backs, and everybody walked. Noone ran. We were all soaking wet. It was still raining, so much, that i thought it couldn't get any harder, but it kept getting harder. A CBC van came, but they weren't really set up.

I looked back, and on the north part of soho, i noticed a big white truck, and big fortified truck. No markings, with a radar dish coming out the top. Oh man, why didn't i notice this before. This was the police surveilance truck. I seen it before in a convoy heading to the location. They were wathching and listening to the crowd the whole time.

uggh wow i went on for so long, i wish i can go into detail. but i have to be up in a few hours. Eventually what happened was, a small group of people dressed in black went to another group and said outloud, to get out of the area, that it is a trap and they are coming. I will not go into detail. They were right, a line of riot police tried to box in the crowd from an alley way. ill just stop here. I will never forget this moment of witnessing people who did not want to have anything to do with the G20, realize the truth. You had to be there in the streets to experience this. Changed my life and strengthened my beliefs forever.

TL;DR : Do not believe what you hear and see on TV."

This is my old neighborhood, I lived in this area for 20 years; the apartment the video was shot from - I've probably been in. The streets around the area are 'mine' - I know every alley and every path.

To me it looks like the police 'managers' had no idea that they were confronting neighborhood people, people going about their normal Sunday routines. The police basically attacked a group of people in their own neighborhood and boxed them in, to practice their little 'incite to violence and arrest' tactic.

Shameful, absolutely shameful.



mh

Calling for a Public Inquiry into Policing at the G20 Summit

What is the Meaning of the Upside-down Canadian Flag?



A nations flag flown upside-down by a citizen of that nation is a symbol, it means one is in distress. So for example, if I'm at a Canadian place that place is under siege or has been taken over by an enemy, I would fly the flag upside down - if I had the opportunity - to tell my comrades, my compatriots that all is not well, I'm in distress, I need your assistance.

I've been flying the flag upside-down since 1995; but after this weeks events in Toronto, at the G20 Summit, it's time to put the flag up front and upside-down in a ceremony. I've added a upside-down flag and an action link list to the sidebars of all my online spaces.

Grab a copy for yourself! Just copy and paste the side bar element into your blogs side bar - or where ever you want.

If you need help, better instructions, please leave a comment or email me (address is in the side bar).



mh