ramblings of a {sys,net}admin…

Thanks Tony!

We all know the impact that Ham radio can have in emergencies, but that often slips by the public and the authorities. Not so in Oregon, where a day after getting inundated with torrential rains and winds and suffering from the usual calamities those cause, Oregon’s Governor called the local Ham radio operators heroes. When discussing how the storm affected communications, the governor stated: “I’m going to tell you who the heroes were from the very beginning of this…the ham radio operators.” Kudos to the Oregon Ham operators for helping out in a bad situation, and getting the recognition they deserve.

[ Click here to continue reading… ]

For anyone interested in global politics (and for those of you who were screaming for everyone to not buy gas on May 15th), take a look at this (thanks to The Economist):

Unlike Vince McMahon, Chris Benoit IS dead.

I don’t follow wrestling (haven’t watched it in years), but in case you did not already know… Vince McMahon, Chairman of the Board of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., is not dead.

WASHINGTON–The Bush administration on Thursday blasted a congressional proposal that would shield a broad swath of news gatherers, including some bloggers, from revealing their confidential sources.

The latest draft of the Free Flow of Information Act would pose a grave threat to national security and federal criminal investigations by protecting far too large a segment of the population, a U.S. Department of Justice official told Congress.

[ Read more… ]

CBS Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur:

“It’s not about taking Imus down,” (Reverend Al) Sharpton said. “It’s about lifting decency up.”

Bullshit, Reverend. If that were the case, you would’ve left the offices of CBS, walked into the offices of Viacom (which owns MTV) and demanded they pulled off the air all the videos of African-American “rappers” which is indecent. I’m referring to the videos of the “rappers” sexually exploiting women and calling themselves by these same racial slurs.

Sheila Johnson, owner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and, with her ex-husband Robert, co-founder of BET, called Imus’ comments reprehensible in an interview with The Associated Press. She said she had called Moonves to urge that CBS cut all ties with the veteran radio star, and was worried that what he said could hurt women’s sports.

“Co-founded of BET”? Are you shitting me? She needs to take a look at what BET is airing as well.

I’m not racist, but this is bullshit (and a huge double standard). Now, off to figure out how to make a donation to Imus’ Radiothon.