lawpoop

Information about the hoodia cactus extract

2007-12-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

We could have certainly heard of the Hoodia cactus plant extract from the moment in which it was transmitted by numerous sources major media such as the “BBC”, “The Today Show”, “CBS” and much more. For this reason, Hoodia Gordonii products have quickly risen to become one of the segments in the fastest growing of the "diet supplement market."

Before choosing a product Hoodia you should know that there are many types of Hoodia plant, but only Hoodia Gordonii guy has an amazing 'appetite suppressing quality. These properties have been known for centuries by a primitive tribe, known as "Sans Bushmen. During the middle of 1990 an institute called CSIR" Council for Scientific and Industrial Research "was a study of native plants eaten by the" Sans Bushmen ' . In essence, the study was to see what food, "Sans Bushmen 'were assuming that the protected toxic compounds. When the CSIR Designed Hoodia Gordonii, which has been found not only non-toxic, but also helped to suppress the appetite Animal feed is used.

Finally, the CSIR Solitary the active ingredient responsible for the suppression of appetite 'effects and called it "P57." That is the "Hoodia cactus extract." They then sold the rights to the P57 is a pharmaceutical company British called 'Phytopharm. You may ask how can there be so many Hoodia products on the market only if "Phytopharm' rights' P57 '. The answer lies in the patent laws. You know that just 'Phytopharm is able to extract the active molecule called P57 from Hoodia Gordonii and use it in their product line. But an entire natural plant-in this case the Hoodia Gordonii plant can not be patented. Consequently, other companies "may very well produce supplements or products containing Hoodia Gordonii and sell them legally.
The important thing for consumers at this time is to ensure that they are buying a product that contains true South African Hoodia Gordonii.

Direct Democracy

2005-10-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

I see this and future use of internet voting as steps toward direct democracy. I predict that within this century, some countries will use direct democracy as the legislative body on the local and regional level. Direct Democracy is where citizens can directly propose and vote on legislation, making representatives redundant.

When democracy was first proposed, it was long argued by the elite that peasants were not smart enough to rule themselves; they needed kings to keep society from collapsing. Even the first democracies were collections of wealthy land-owning males -- almost 90% of the population, including women, slaves, and peasants, were not enfranchised into the government. Well, those naysayers were wrong, and commoners are perfectly capable of running representational democracies.

The thing is, representatives are a compromise anyways. In days when farmers worked 14 hour days 6 days a week, no one had the time to travel meet up with everyone else to discuss politics. The American legal system is based on how long it takes a person travelling on horseback to transmit information.

Now with the advent of the internet and other communication technologies, representatives are redundant. We could propose and vote on laws ourselves, over the internet. Problems such as authentication and verification have been solved in various communication systems. As soon as the general public gets the hang of internet discussions, people will see direct democracy as a reasonable alternative to representational democracy. This could happen within a generation or two.

Of course, current politicians will resist direct democracy, because it puts them out of their incredibly powerful positions.

Roland Piquepaille == rolling pigpail

2005-06-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

I just coined this humorous nickname after a roundly reviled slashdot editor posted a story people didn't like. I'm so clever. So as not to burn karma, I posted my clever invention anonymously under inflammatory replies! But I still need credit, so here I am. Exposing myself. Again.

Willie Wonka arrested on child molestation charges

2005-06-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Candy magnate Willie Wonka has been arrested on several charges, including child abuse. LA prosecutors say they are currently searching the Chocolate Factory. A spokesperson for Wonka has released this statement: "Mr. Wonka loves children and has dedicated his life to bringing children joy. This fact does not make him a pedophile. We fully expect Mr. Wonka to be cleared of all charges." Wonka is currently free on $1 million dollars bond.

Are we winning the War on Terror?

2005-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

September 11th, 2001. It's almost four years later. Are we winning the war?

If you're not being purposefully ignorant, it's become obvious over the years that the Bush Administration has created an anti-terror program that violates the cultural norms of middle eastern countries.

Middle Eastern prisoners are made to simulate homosexual acts, even perform them. Many sources has reported the desecration of the Koran. Anti-terror squads break in to the private quarters of Afghani women -- a violation that is close to rape in the middle-eatern mind. These are the ultimate insults to someone from a Middle-Eastern culture.

Bin Laden struck at the heart of our military industrial culture -- the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The Bush Administration has chosen to demonstrate to anyone sympathetic to Bin Laden that the United States can strike more terror inot the lives of people in the Middle East. The Bush Administration will never admit this publically. Supporters of the Bush administration will tacitly admit that we need to fight fire with fire.

Are we winning? We haven't been attacked successfully in 4 years. Tapes and videos from Bin Laden are a rare occasion these days. The administration haven't given any kind of report as to how many plots have been foiled. Have we caused the next suicide bomber to rethink his actions? Are we winning the war on terror?

FTC creates list of most offending spammers

2005-04-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Federal Trade Commission has created a list of those individuals it claims are most responsible for unsoliticted commericial email, or spam. The top five offenders are

1. Infinity Wyatt
2. Soiling L. Republished
3. vozslwernv
4. c6c,mkl2
5. I Stanton Firm

Why black and white?

2005-04-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Why are black and white photographs so mysterious and captivating? My guess is that when we view black and white images, we are using only our rods to percieve the image.

Rods are light receptive structures on our retinas that respond to intensity -- the amount of light. They are what entable our night vision. Cones, on the other hand, allow us to percieve color. However, they aren't sensitive enough to percieve color at night, so rods are doing most of the work after the sun goes down.

Night time is mysterious and dangerous. We have evolved to be afraid of the night. We rely primarily on light to understand the world around us, and no sun puts us at a serious disadvantage.

When we look at black and white images, we are looking at a lit-up night -- a strange scene where we can know much more than we should be able to with the incoming information. Our rods tell us that we are experiencing a kind of night, yet we can percieve much more detail than we normally do at night. Anything that comes within our gaze has all the mysterious aura of being about at night, yet we can somehow understand it. I believe this is why a black and white image are so magical.

Linux mascot 'Tux' balloons to over 400 lbs.

2005-04-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Tux the penguin, mascot for the Linux computer operating system, has let his weight balloon to dangerous levels, say close friends.

"He's had a productive month on the CryptoGate project, but he really needs to get out and exercise" says Larry Scott, lead developer of the open-source CryptoGate software project.

"All he does is sit on his fat ass in front of the computer, typing and eating herring" says colleague David Mothman. "His place is disgusting. He never cleans. He should move back in with his mom. Has anyone ever seen him doing any physical activity?"

Postmodern wikipedia, version II

2005-04-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the text of a letter I emailed to the wikipedia-l list:

I'm pitching an idea for a postmodern wikipedia. What I mean by that is that there are multiple concurrent versions of an article. Instead of a zero-sum game where only one text can inhabit a title at any time, a user can choose from different branches. The user basis this decision on who the authors are, and how many people agree with the text.

A PGP sign-off system will keep track of who wrote what, and who agrees with it. Authors who have had a lot of people sign off on their word will get bonus scores on their texts, and articles that well-reputed authors sign off on will get also get bonus scores.

A 'troll pit' of low-rated articles by low-rated authors will be automatically filtered from casual browsers.

The immediate wikipedia problems that this solves are:
- Edit wars. This is common with articles covering controversial topics, such as abortion. Proponents of different truths will build and maintain their side of the story, including counter arguments, instead of trying to destroy the other side. There is no negative sign-off, so the only thing the article measures is how many people agree with it, not how many disagree.
- Grafitti. Small, hard-to-detect changes to articles will not be signed off on by many people, so they will not survive a reputation filter. Those branches will go into the troll pit.
- Trolling. See graffiti. Giving a definition of trolling that makes it distinguishable from grafitti is left as an exercise for the reader.
- Lack of attribution.With a pgp sign-off system, articles can be attributed to authors, even if they are anonymous.
- Public perception. The steady maintanance of well-respected articles by reputable authors will make wikipedia a trusted source of information.

A postmodern critique of wikipedia

2005-04-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

I've been watching and using wikipedia for about a year now. I know there's been a lot of discussion on impriving wikipedia, and I would like to throw in my two cents.
I think it would improve wikipedia to allow forking of articles, and maintain these forks. Philosophically, I think postmodernism is mostly BS, but I think a postmodern critique of wikipedia would improve it.

- Wikipedia contains no authorship information. This creates a false sense of authority and objective knowledge. I find 'neutral point of view' to be an oxymoronic statement. A point of view is by defition a perspective; a bias.

- Contested truths are fought in a zero sum game where only one text can inhabit an article at any time.

So instead of 'the definitive' article, a 'contested tree' of an article.

Additionally, I recommend installing a 'signing off' system, where authors sign off on their works, perhaps using pgp keys. Users who sign a lot of articles in agreement with other signers get a higher reputation system. If someone updates a text, the text has a higher reputation if its ancestral authors sign off on the updates.

Filtering works by reputation would make a better wikipedia experience for casual users. Unpopular authors can maintain their own branches, and controversial topics might maintain several concurrent branches. This would relive edit wars as proponents of particular truths would be more intersted investing time and effort into crating and maintaining those truths than destroying others'. Furthermore, if someone's work is vandalised, in their perspective, that author can apply filters which ignore the updates of proponents of a competing truth.

Open-Source Project Logs 4000 Mon-Hours on Porn Viewing

2005-04-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Gary Hinderman, lead developer of the open-source project 'TelMeme', announced that the project has logged over 4000 hours of porn viewing last month. "These numbers are just incredible. It's amazing how much porn can be viewed by 4 very motivated hackers," Gary said in the monthly update.

Desktop Linux: OS on a CD

2005-03-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

The main problem with Linux as a desktop OS is installing applications. ./config, make, make install? What a pain in the ass. I have tried and given up on using a linux desktop because of the difficulty in installing new applications. It's always some problem with X configuration, rpm dependencies, etc.

But, everytime a new version of the a live CD comes out, I'm sure to download it and give it a spin. Download times are reasonable with cable internet and bittorrent; burnable CDs are $0.50 to $0.20. It's fun to have someone do all the heavy lifting for me while I reap the rewards of a highly polished KDE desktop.

If you like the live CD enough, most have applications that will let you install it on the hard disk of your computer. Wow, a live CD that installs and everything. If you use a live CD to install your system, and bork it somehow, how easy is it to re-install? As easy as running the live CD again!

So why make users go through all the trouble of installing linux apps? You can get almost anything you want on a live CD without the hassle of installing a distro and then compiling apps.

Take it another step, and you can have all linux software distribution via live CDs. These little buggers will run on computers with Windows installed, Linux installed, or even nothing installed. You want to play games? Run a games live CD. You want a recording studio? Run a recording studio live CD.

Sure, it's a tight squeeze to get all the data on a single CD, but DVD drives and burners are getting more ubiquitous.

It would be a great step for the average computer user to not have to install and configure applications themselves.

Bin Laden's strategy is working

2004-12-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

During the cold war, Reagan pursued the strategy of bankrupting the Soviet Union in the arms race. Our economic system was more productive, and we spent them into oblivion as they kept trying to one-up our weapons system. They simply couldn't keep up with what we were able to produce.

Now Bin Laden is using the same strategy against us. With minimal cost an organization, Bin Laden, has forced to overreact and shoot ourselves in the foot. We have blown out national budget for the forseeable future. We have stretched our military to the breaking point. If there were now an actual national security threat, we would not be able to respond.

With the unjustified war in Iraq, and the absolute stupidity of torture, Bush has turned the entire world against us. We are now a rogue nation. How can we prevent future terrorist attacts when other nations will not share information with us?

We have fallen right into Bin Laden's trap. We cannot afford to send our military all over the globe, yet that is just what we have done. If we continue this course, we will be bankrupted by the terrorists.

Terrorism can only be fought by international cooperation and police action. We need to rejoin the international community. We will not be safe if we choose to act alone.

Howard claims he invented blogging.

2004-12-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

AP -Famous radio deejay Howard Stern has claimed to have invented "blogging" in 1976 -- When he first aired his program. However, he says he was first blogging on the radio, instead of the internet.

6 DISAPPEAR FROM GWB ROAST

2004-12-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

AP - Families of six comedians who "roasted" US President GWB have banded together to file a "Freedom of Information" act against the US Administration. The families claim that the dissapearances are related. Comedians Max Feltmann, Odessa Slifer, Hillary Casterline, Kelly Velardi, Allie Ramero, Earlene Pero, have all been missing since late October.

Howard Stern moves to Sirius...

2004-11-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

... and converts to Islam. His new radio program will feature recitations from the Koran.

Reaction to 'The Believer'

2004-11-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Did you hear the joke about the Jewish Nazi? He killed himself in the temple! Oy veh!

Leadership, not weinership

2004-11-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

I remember during the Iowa caucuses, interviews with the democratic party members went something like this: "I'm voting for John Kerry because it seems like other people would vote for him." Other people!? Who would you vote for?! Now we have a candidate from Massachusettes who couldn't carry a southern state.

Bush supporters say they like his direct, plain speech, especially in the debates. Kerry seems like a performer -- always bellowing as if on stage. Sure, he's a better rhetoritician, but that's not what people want. People want a plain-spoken candidate.

The guy who should have ran, Howard Dean, gets shot down for this infamous scream. I saw him on an interview with Bill Maher recently. He was handsome. He was charming. He was well spoken, and plain spoken. Why the hell wasn't he running? Instead, the democrats gave us Mr. Rogers. A safe, nice candidate. Please. This is a guy who refused to defend his Vietnam record against the Swift Boat Liars for 3 weeks in August at the behest of his advisors. What?! Who the hell are those advisors? They cost you the presidency.

'Clean Room'

2004-10-31T21:10:00.000-08:00

I found an old to-do list in my room. One of the items was "clean room". I thought, "what project was I working on that I needed to build a clean room for?"

Apparently I made a note to my self at one time to clean my room.

I got hacked!

2004-10-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

I booted up an old server that I had decomissioned for a while. When I pulled up the home directory, I found a folder 'sambauser' -- who the hell is Sam Bauser? Why would a hacker leave such an obvious trail like creating a home directory with his name on it?

A google search pointed out that it was actually 'samba user'.

A fresh new look at a typewriter

2004-09-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I was at my grandparent's house. My grandpa keeps a typewriter in a room. My cousin had her two daughters over, probably about 5 and 7. One of them asked my grandpa if he can turn on the 'old computer' for her so she could use it.

Prosumer Scanning Electron Microscope

2004-09-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Canon has announced that it will release a prosumer model scanning electron microscope (SEM), expected to cost $8,000-$10,000. That's a microscope that uses electrons instead of photons (in a scanning way) to create an image.

The unabashed eroticism of BurgerTime

2004-08-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Boobly Eggs!

Weiners!

Getting squished in giant buns!