Random Rants and assorted other thoughts on headlines I saw today

33 Miners get rescued from a deep mine shaft in Chile

• My immediate reaction is “Yeah ! Alright!.” And then I think, I cannot begin to imagine or fathom what it must be like to be that far underground, for that long , and I have nothing but respect for those guys. I would never work a job like that, but then again , I am not them. I’m glad they made it out.
• Miners make it out alive !

CVS to pay 77.6 Million dollars in Meth case

• 77.6 million dollar fine in Meth case
• In a case from 2008 (and / or 2007 depending upon which version you read) CVS has been fined 75 million dollars and ordered to refund 2.5 million in profits because they did not adequately monitor pseudoephedrine, which is / was a major ingredient in the manufacture of meth.
• The problem is that even though now you can’t buy this product in any substantial quantity (think Sudafed) , you can make meth without it. So this does nothing to stop or even slow down the production of meth.
• The sad part of all this is that you can make it in as little as 6 hours or so and virtually anyone can do it. The recipe is on the internet and a simple google search is all you need.

Facebook introduces one time passwords to help with account hijacking etc

• People figure out ways to get around anything that is in their way.
• This won’t work, because this usually is not how your account gets hacked to begin with ! (Facebook one time passwords)
• As long as some mutt is employing social engineering tactics on naïve unsuspecting folks, no measure that they take will prevent this.
• Some old fashioned customer service would help though.
• Talking to a live person at Facebook is seemingly against the rules, or they have deemed it to be cost-prohibitive.
• Either way if your account gets hacked, your pretty much on your own to fix it.

Pentagon will abide by order banning “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell”

• First, read my post from yesterday about this. (http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/2010/10/dont-ask-dont-tell-dont-know-dont-care.html)
• Second, in its current from this order has almost no chance of succeeding. Politicians will muck this up, trust me. (/pentagon-will-abide-by-order-against-ban-on-gays)
• Third, 4 letters. UCMJ (stands for Uniform Code of Military Justice). Nothing she says applies to the military rule of law, unless specifically suspended by the Supreme Court or changed by Executive Order unless the Congress also passes new rules, which changes the UCMJ. Her ruling does not address the UCMJ at all.
• The Justice Department almost certainly will appeal this ruling , because they are constitutionally bound to uphold duly passed laws of the United States. Even if the Attorney General doesn’t like it, precedence says he has to appeal this ruling. This will end up in the supreme court several times before it is settled.

Christine Aguilera driven to divorce.

• Uh, So what? This isn’t news.(christina-aguilera-divorce)
• Neither is Miley Cyrus, Brittney Spears or anyone called a “celebrity” (cyrus-criticized-new-video-sexy)
• Big Deal. 50 % of all marriages end in divorce.

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

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