http://randalflagg.net Your Source for Social News and Networking Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:16:48 CST en http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/coffee-you-can-inhale/ http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/coffee-you-can-inhale/ Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:16:48 CST http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/coffee-you-can-inhale/
A nutty Harvard professor has put a jolt in the java trade with a strange new inhalable espresso -- allowing caffeine fiends to breathe in their morning cup of joe.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/efa-responds-to-senator-conroy/ http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/efa-responds-to-senator-conroy/ Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:08:22 CST http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/efa-responds-to-senator-conroy/ During yesterday's Question Time, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy again faced questions about the Rudd Government's highly unpopular push to introduce mandatory, nationwide internet censorship. In his answer, the Minister accused this organisation of misleading the public and international organisations. We relish the opportunity to respond and set the record straight.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-trial-vendor-sceptical-over-internet-clean-feed/ http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-trial-vendor-sceptical-over-internet-clean-feed/ Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:49:04 CST http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-trial-vendor-sceptical-over-internet-clean-feed/ Internet filtering won't prevent people deliberately looking for inappropriate material from accessing blocked content, according to security vendor, M86 Security.

Six of the nine ISP participants in the URL-based Internet filter trial last year used M86's R3000 filtering kit.

"When the filter was first launched 10 years ago, I don't think anybody would have thought it would be applied on a national scale," M86 COO, Bruce Green, said.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-out-offensive-material/ http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-out-offensive-material/ Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:01:15 CST http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/filter-out-offensive-material/ I have seen a number of arguments from people who think censorship of the internet can be a good thing.
They make comments like "If it filters out the moronic an offensive things on the internet then I am all for it"
I can see where they are coming from in that there are a lot of things on the Internet that I don't like. But I have a choice of not going to those websites. Just like everyone else has a choice to not go to websites that may offend them.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/irish-american-priest-defends-expelling-schoolchild-of-lesbian-couple/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/irish-american-priest-defends-expelling-schoolchild-of-lesbian-couple/ Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:21:47 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/irish-american-priest-defends-expelling-schoolchild-of-lesbian-couple/ An Irish American pastor in Boulder, Colorado has defended his decision not to allow a child of a lesbian couple to continue to attend Catholic school in his parish. The child is currently in pre-school there.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/news/lesbian-panic-shuts-down-mississippi-high-school-prom/ http://randalflagg.net/news/lesbian-panic-shuts-down-mississippi-high-school-prom/ Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:38:31 CST http://randalflagg.net/news/lesbian-panic-shuts-down-mississippi-high-school-prom/ Mississippi's Itawamba County school district has cancelled a prom after Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old student, asked permission to bring her girlfriend as her date. The student planned to wear a tux. The school district's bureaucratic non-excuse for the cancellation is that it's "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events." The district appears to be tap-dancing around the reason for the cancellation in an effort to avoid openly saying "We are scared of teh ghey," since that would open them up to legal liability. The ACLU isn't buying it. They've told the school district that they've got until Wednesday to change the policy or else.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/epic-trampoline-skills/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/epic-trampoline-skills/ Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:08:30 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/epic-trampoline-skills/ IOSC4BpgVZ8

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/south-park-parodies-the-gingers-do-have-souls-kid-comedy-central-insider-blog/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/south-park-parodies-the-gingers-do-have-souls-kid-comedy-central-insider-blog/ Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:32:11 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/south-park-parodies-the-gingers-do-have-souls-kid-comedy-central-insider-blog/ After slamming South Park in defense of his carrot-topped brethren on YouTube to the tune of nearly four million views, the famous "Gingers do have souls" kid has now been immortalized by the very show he claims to hate in this preview clip from South Park's upcoming 14th season.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:03 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ Sometimes deleted scenes are cool, but often they're kind of a disappointment. "Oh yeah, I guess I can see why they cut out this 15-minute montage of Iron Man preparing and eating a pastrami hoagie." I don't know if that's why the upcoming South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season is going to be the series' first DVD set to include deleted scenes, but I do know that from the looks of this one, it was worth the wait.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:37:11 CST http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ Security researchers have found the Mariposa bot client pre-installed on a mobile phone handset distributed in Europe, and say that the malware looks to have been installed on the phone's memory card.

The phone, the HTC Magic, runs the Google Android mobile operating system, and is a low-priced handset distributed by Vodafone. A researcher at Panda Security received one of the handsets recently, and upon attaching it to her PC, found that the phone was pre-loaded with the Mariposa bot client. Mariposa has been in the news of late thanks to some arrests connected to the operation of the botnet.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:36:15 CST http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ Few people understand Microsoft better than Tandy Trower, who worked at the company from 1981-2009. Trower was the product manager who ultimately shipped Windows 1.0, an endeavor that some advised him was a path toward a ruined career. Four product managers had already tried and failed to ship Windows before him, and he initially thought that he was being assigned an impossible task. In this follow-up to yesterday's story on the future of Windows, Trower recounts the inside story of his experience in transforming Windows from vaporware into a product that has left an unmistakable imprint on the world, 25 years after it was first released.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:44:43 CST http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ Holland beamed. He usually doesn't deseed peppers, but today is a big day. Those 430 pounds of multihued peppers, along with 70 pounds of green onions and a couple of other secret ingredients, are being prepped before getting processed into more than 500 gallons of Holland's hot sauce, Gringo Bandito. It'll be the biggest single batch ever produced in the brand's four-year history.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:50:46 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ It's hard to believe there's anything these men don't say. They've taken on everything from abortion to molestation to cat orgies over the past 13 years and have not been delicate about it. They've only been censored once and that was during the Muhammad cartoon uproar last year, when they tried to insert a picture of the Islamic holy figure into their show.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/ http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:20:45 CST http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/
Today's "the day after". The day after Apple started a patent war with HTC and Google. Today, we have statements from both HTC and Google, and a number of other people have weighed in as well as to the possible ramifications of Apple's lawsuit.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:06:32 CST http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ g3XPUdW9Ryg

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:04:10 CST http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ Some conservative commentators are accusing the Obama administration of inviting "hate groups" into the White House by holding a meeting with a coalition of secularist and atheist groups.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:37:43 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ I REALLY hate it when someone comes along and says my 2,000 year old book says you should be put to death because of the way you choose to live your life.
What right do these people have to go around judging other people for how they choose to live their life. Now I know the bible, the Old Testament - Leviticus does say this, well kind of.

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them"

This wording also depends on the translation but basically it seems like the bible is saying, if your gay then you should be killed. What a wonderful loving god we have here.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:57:01 CST http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ One way to get noticed as a scientist is to tackle a really difficult problem. Physicist Sean Carroll has become a bit of a rock star in geek circles by attempting to answer an age-old question no scientist has been able to fully explain: What is time?

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:48:01 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ Oh, this is very good news: the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be based on Tim Powers's kick-ass, World-Fantasy-Award-winning novel On Stranger Tides, the greatest undead pirate story of all time. Go, Tim! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:38:16 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ Responding to a question from ABC host George Stephanopoulos about why a God "so involved in our daily life" would allow a tsunami to kill hundreds of thousands of people, Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, replied: "I don't think He reverses the laws of nature." That statement, on the May 1 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, conflicts with other meteorological comments by Robertson, who has repeatedly linked natural disasters to the will of God.

1 Flagg(s) ]]>