My Eclectic Blog

FTC launches investigation of Google

2011-07-04T08:52:00.003-04:00

More scrutiny for Google. I hope it starts to filter through to people sometime soon that Google is a publicly traded corporation that is just like any other profit making entity. First and foremost they are there to make a profit for their shareholders and they will do whatever they need to to make that profit.

They are as ethical/unethical as any other such corporation. So keep that in mind when you use their services.

Here is the story: FTC launches investigation of Google.

How to get healthy

2011-05-22T11:19:00.004-04:00

Great video on the health and bad-health effects of food and how to improve your diet:

Google is at it again

2011-05-10T10:21:00.001-04:00

Google just seems to love violating people's privacy.

Google deflects PR firm's attack of Gmail privacy

Google Monopoly Under More Pressure to Obey the Law

2011-03-24T09:43:00.003-04:00

Google lost an important case related to their continuing effort to violate more copyrights than any entity in the history of the world: Judge echoes Google critics in digital book ruling.

You'd think they would have gotten the message by now that people don't want their books put online without their permission, but Google just doesn't seem to get it.

Clearly, part of the drive to put all books online is the intention to drive more people to Google's site and bump up their advertising revenue. But that's not something you'll hear from Google. Oh, no. All you hear from them is how philanthropic the whole effort is. Yeah right.

Blowing the Whistle on Big Pharma

2011-02-04T21:48:00.004-05:00

This is an awesome video! An ex-pharmaceutical drug rep tells you the truth about the intentions of big pharma:

Top Ten Violence Inducing Drugs

2011-01-17T12:18:00.003-05:00

A survey of the FDA adverse reactions database has produced a list of the top ten prescription drugs linked to violent behavior. You can see the list here: Study reveals top ten violence-inducing prescription drugs.

Not surprisingly the majority of the top ten are anti-depressants and all but one of the rest are psychiatric or psychiatric type drugs.

So next time you see an ad for the latest wonder drug that will save you from some terrible mental problem (addiction to cigarettes, depression, ADHD, etc.) realize that it's an ad. It's not reality. The reality is the FDA adverse reactions database.

Trouble with Google

2011-01-03T13:03:00.003-05:00

This is bad news and possible good news at the same time.

Google has a virtual monopoly on search. One sign of this is that there are people who blog exclusively about how to SEO Google and ignore everyone else because "everyone else" has such a low market share.

But last year, Google's search results began to deteriorate and it has been noticed: Trouble In the House of Google.

I sort of noticed it myself because a month or so ago I got fed up with not finding what I wanted on Google and I switched to Bing as my primary search provider.

So on the one hand, it is bad news that search results from "the" search engine are deteriorating but on the other hand maybe it will mean the end of the Google monopoly and the start of more options. Personally I'd like to see more choices.

Invictus

2010-06-19T18:36:00.004-04:00

I just saw the movie Invictus. The name is Latin for "unconquered, unconquerable, undefeated" and is the title of the very inspiring poem that helped Nelson Mandela survive 30 years of imprisonment by the apartheid regime in South Africa. The movie is very inspiring also.

I knew that Nelson Mandela was a remarkable man, but after seeing this movie I realize that he is not only an amazing statesman but also an incredible human being.

For me, one line in particular from the movie sums up Nelson Mandela: The night after visiting the prison where Mandela was held for 30 years and seeing the tiny cell he lived in and the yard where he did hard labor, the captain of the South African Rugby Team is staring out of his hotel window when his wife asks him what he is thinking about and he says, "I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison, and come out and forgive the men who did it to him..."

I highly recommend the movie.

Oh, and the poem, Invictus:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley 1849 - 1902

Big Pharma is lower key, but still in control at Psychiatric Convention

2010-06-11T14:22:00.003-04:00

As reported in the article, No Free Pens But Pharma Influence Still Felt at Psychiatric Meeting, Big Pharma is trying to be less noticeable, but is still in control of the psychiatric industry.

Google getting in more trouble over privacy violations

2010-06-03T12:17:00.003-04:00

I'm not particularly anti-Google, but when a for-profit company tries to put itself forward as primarily a public benefit entity, then I don't like it.

For many years the persona that has been promoted for Google has been one of anti-corporate and pro-user. They try to make themselves seem like "one of the boys". But the truth is that Google is in it for the money. An alarming example of this is the personal data harvesting activities that the Google Maps Street Scenes photographing cars were engaged in. Many countries around the world are now investigating Google for this.

So don't fall for it. If a company wants to be a public benefit entity then they need to change to a non-profit status and act accordingly.

Google's Wi-Fi data harvest facing more probes, lawsuits

And you thought "Men who stare at goats" was bad

2010-05-16T14:40:00.002-04:00

The movie "Men who stare at goats" was not very good. It had great potential - based on a true story of the military trying out "psychic warriors" - but it never delivered on the humor. However, we find that reality - what the military and the CIA were really up to - is even weirder and far worse than anything in the movie.

New documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that "human experiments … not easily justifiable on medical-therapeutic grounds" were not a problem for the CIA and its willing accomplices in the psychiatric community. Experimenting on unwitting subjects? No problemo. Pentagon officials are said to have “work[ed] directly with the CIA” and dosed “thousands” of military subjects with LSD and other drugs.

And what has changed to make us think they ever stopped?

Read more at: Chemical Concussions and Secret LSD: Pentagon Details Cold War Mind-Control Tests

Don't get complacent about Privacy

2010-05-15T13:02:00.004-04:00

Google is in the news again for privacy violations. Seems their cars that went around photographing your neighborhood so they could show them on Google Maps were also recording your personal Wi-Fi traffic.

Now that they have been found out they are very apologetic, but the point is that they did it.

It just goes to show that you can't relax when it come to privacy on the Internet. And you can't regard any company as totally trustworthy.

Google apologizes for grabbing personal info off of Wi-Fi networks

How to screw up a scientific study

2010-05-03T14:19:00.001-04:00

All too often the media publicizes the findings of a study without any sort of thought or logical analysis. A scientist says "this study shows that ..." and the press mindlessly repeats it. Never mind that the interpretation of the data is incorrect, a scientist said it, therefore it is gospel.

It reminds me of the middle ages where anything a priest said was blindly believed.

What this is all leading to is my comment on the recent idiotic media reports that fruits and vegetables provide only modest protection from cancer. Despite 50 years of research and over 15,000 studies that prove that fruits and vegetables provide major protection from cancer, a single, poorly executed and poorly interpreted study says otherwise and the media trumpets it. It just goes to show that you really have to pay attention and question everything.

For an accurate analysis of that recent study: Fruits and vegetables provide only modest protection from cancer?

Food: Healthy or Unhealthy

2010-05-02T14:14:00.002-04:00

Which foods promote health and which don't? Here is an article that gives you some accurate, science based data. I think you will be surprised.

What are true health-promoting and disease-promoting foods?

The big question: Organic or Conventional?

2010-05-01T14:10:00.003-04:00

Some people swear by organic produce, others say there is little or no difference between organic and conventional. Here is an article that helps clarify the issue: Which foods should we buy organic?

I'm mad as hell and ... they're giving me medication

2010-04-07T13:56:00.007-04:00

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is the "bible" of psychiatry. It is the book in which psychs list everything they think they can make a fast buck out of ... oops, I mean, in which psychs list all mental illnesses that can be billed against medical insurance.

Every new edition contains more and more illnesses and every new edition adds more and more normal behavior to the list of illnesses.

Take for example the famous monologue by Peter Finch that won him an Oscar in the movie "Network" (a must-see movie from the 1970's). According to the latest proposed DSM, rather than receive an Oscar, Finch would instead be put on psychiatric drugs because his speech clearly shows that he has a disorder. Yes folks, getting mad is now a psychiatric disorder: Psychiatrists say that being angry is a mental illness.

FYI: Here is the monologue:

Obama Health Care - Fact and Fiction

2010-03-26T12:10:00.004-04:00

Here is a great table of Myth vs Fact regarding the health care bill recently signed into law by President Obama. Scroll down a little to see the chart: Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill.

Personal Comment:
I grew up with the National Health system in Britain and I was very thankful that it existed. My personal opinion is that health care, like education is not something that should be run for profit. It is too intimate to the welfare of a country and its people.

The purpose of health care should be to help people get and stay well. The purpose of the US health care system is to may a big fat juicy profit. Making a profit in this field is at odds with helping people get and stay well. You don't make money from well people, you make a profit from sick people and from people who are forced to take a medication for the rest of their lives. This tends to make you ignore successful alternatives that don't cost a lot of money such as life-style and dietary changes.

Thus the system is not being run for the right reasons and thus the abuses that people complain about. So, I would support the introduction of a system in the US similar to those in other modern Western countries such as Britain.

Every system has its failings, but the current US system has way too many and should be drastically reformed. Unfortunately, the Obama Health Care bill simply puts more money into the pockets of the insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry and medical industry and does almost nothing for the people who need health care the most.

Assassinations R US

2010-02-27T11:52:00.002-05:00

It seems that the US Administration has a policy that assassination of both foreign nationals and American citizens is okay:

So much for civil liberties and human rights.

Green Mental Health: An Alternative to Toxic Psychiatric Drugs

2010-01-31T11:15:00.003-05:00

For more information go to Green Mental Health.

Worrying developments: Another reduction in our liberties

2010-01-09T11:42:00.004-05:00

A foreign police organization is now free to do what it likes in the United States without oversight from any US law enforcement body. If that doesn't sound scary enough then read the full article: Immunity for INTERPOL in the US.

Whilst the article is written in an overly alarming way which may put some people off, please try to get past that and understand the actual substance of what has happened and the possible consequences.

The key data I saw in the article are:

INTERPOL now can conduct its operations on U.S. soil with zero accountability to anyone in this country.

INTERPOL records are beyond US citizens' Freedom of Information Act requests and from American legal or investigative discovery

Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law-enforcement, the media, and the American people to scrutinize?

Has this action effectively bypassed the Freedom of Information Act? Only time will tell, but many small changes like this add up to big chunks taken out of our rights.

.

Lie Detectors really work

2009-10-23T08:24:00.001-04:00

My blog can get pretty serious sometimes, so here is something on the lighter side:

Get Your Flu Shot - End Up Disabled

2009-10-18T21:22:00.003-04:00

So is the risk worth the minor protection the shot gives you? Read this article to see just how small the benefits of the flu shot really are: Does the Vaccine Matter?

Over by Guilt Machine

2009-10-17T20:42:00.005-04:00

The new album by Guilt Machine is absolutely brilliant.

Below is a video of one of the songs from the album.

Are Flu Vaccines useless?

2009-10-16T22:25:00.003-04:00

Interesting article examining the science behind flu vaccines: Does the Vaccine Matter?

As is the case with so many drugs, the science is just not there to back up the claims.

Dangers of Swine Flu Vaccination

2009-10-11T14:00:00.004-04:00

I saw this article and thought it was important enough to blog:

Urgent lawsuit filed against FDA to halt swine flu vaccines; claims FDA violated federal law

An urgent lawsuit was filed this week by health freedom advocate attorney Jim Turner in an effort to stop widespread inoculations of American citizens with swine flu vaccines. The lawsuit charges that the FDA violated federal law and rushed to approve four swine flu vaccines and failed to scientifically determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccines."The suit will seek an injunction against the FDA from approving the vaccine," attorney Jim Turner told NaturalNews on Thursday evening's Natural News Talk Hour show. "And the core of the argument is that they have not done the proper safety and efficacy tests on the vaccine to allow it to be release at this time."The suit, filed on Friday in the state of New York, seeks to not only reverse the FDA's "approval" of the four H1N1 influenza vaccines, but to asks ask the court to issue an injunction that would halt any mandatory vaccination requirements.According to Turner the FDA is required by law to establish that a vaccine is safe and effective before it can be sold and distributed to the public.

The four H1N1 vaccines and their combined drug enhancing chemical agents (also called “adjuvant combinations”), together more popularly known as the "swine flu” vaccines, apparently have never been safety tested or properly approved by the FDA.

In fact, in many cases, these particular vaccines are being sent to clinics, pharmacies and other health establishments separately from their drug enhancing chemical agents leaving it up to each local vaccine retailer to properly mix the vaccine with the chemical agent, according to information provided by Turner.

With hundreds of millions of Americans potentially being targeted with this vaccine, the potential for improper mixing, improper dosages, and inevitable human error is alarming.Normally, when a pharmaceutical obtains their "FDA approved" status, there is quite a considerable paper trail of scientific scrutiny, peer review, clinical trials and other supporting evidence. However, according to the lawsuit, no such documents exist for the swine flu vaccines. The FDA's approval of these vaccines appears to be quite an outrageous and potentially lethal error.

If true, it means that the FDA has blatantly abandoned medical science and violated its own procedures and regulations in approving not only these four vaccines, but the potentially deadly adjuvant chemicals that combine with them as well.

To date, we note that the FDA has produced no scientific evidence documenting safety tests for any of these swine flu vaccines. There are no published studies, clinical tests, no records of any clinical trials, and no publicly-available paper trail demonstrating that any safety testing was done whatsoever.

"What has been tested?" asked attorney Jim turner. "Where has it been tested? Who reviewed the test? Who looked at the test and said yes they proved safety and efficacy? There is no record that we can find that shows these things have been done."By approving the four vaccines in the absence of such safety testing, the FDA itself stands in direct violation of federal law. "There is a law that they're supposed to follow and they are not following it," Turner added.

Billions of dollars are at stake

One could ask why, then, did the FDA apparently violate the law and push these vaccines into full public distribution without securing the safety testing required by law?
Turner suspects a profit motive may be involved: "They're charging $24.95 to get a vaccine. Multiplied by 100 million people, that's a lot of money. If you do the whole society, you're talking about several billion dollars."In fact, the U.S. vaccination push could ultimately target over 200 million Americans, generating nearly $5 billion in vaccine-related revenues. Cashing in on those revenues, however, requires three things:1) Spreading fear about H1N1 swine flu by exaggerating its dangers.2) Quickly making a vaccine available for sale, even if it has never been thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy.3) Aggressively marketing the vaccines before the H1N1 swine flu fizzles out and can no longer be hyped up as "highly virulent."All three of these conditions are now being pushed aggressively in the U.S. by pharma-influenced health authorities at both the state and federal level. There is a mad, cult-like rush under way to vaccinate American citizens with an unproven, untested chemical that was thrust into distribution in apparent violation of federal law. And if this vaccine is not stopped, the price that may ultimately be paid in terms of lost lives could be quite dire.It all harkens back to 1976 when a previous formulation of the swine flu vaccine paralyzed and killed thousands of Americans.
At that time Turner was one of the attorneys instrumental in successfully halting that vaccine, and he fears a repeat situation could potentially recur today. He told NaturalNews, "[In 1976] they were intending to inoculate 200 million people. We stopped them... and somewhere between 40 and 50 million people were vaccinated. What ultimately brought it down is that a substantial number of people got 'French Polio' [Guillain-Barre syndrome], a paralysis that goes... through the body, and if it goes far enough you die."

About health freedom attorney Jim Turner

Jim Turner, with Citizens for Health and is one of the most accomplished and respected health freedom attorneys practicing today. His firm, Swankin & Turner, represents businesses and individuals on a variety of regulatory issues relating to foods, drugs and health.Note: We’d like our concerned members to support the lawsuit with a contribution of any size. Please go to https://www.winhs.org/contribute.htm and your contributions will be included in this effort.

Someone talking sense about the economy

2009-06-27T10:19:00.004-04:00

A few years ago the "economic experts" were laughing at Peter Schiff when he predicted a collapse in real-estate and a recession. But he turned out to be right.

Here is an interview with him on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Peter Schiff

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Jason Jones in Iran

Wikipedia - The Controlled Encyclopedia

2009-06-01T07:41:00.004-04:00

I've long suspected that Wikipedia was as free as the biases of its core owners and editors allowed. I've seen articles about individuals that are simply hatchet jobs, for example, the entry of one individual in particular who is a natural health advocate and has written best selling books very critical of the pharmaceutical industry, is about as objective as a profit hungry Big Tobacco CEO when asked if he thinks cigarettes cause cancer. (I'm not linking to it because I refuse to spread the lies about the man that the article contains. If you are interested then check out his book: Natural Cures .)

Now the high priests of Wikipedia have decided to ban edits of Scientology related articles by church members. Can you believe that? Wow, what next? Only allow KKK members to edit articles about Jews and African Americans? Ban Mormons from editing articles about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Who made these Wikipedia nerds the arbiters of all knowledge? So much for community editing and contribution. Anyone can contribute to Wikipedia as long as the high priests approve.

To be honest, I have rarely found Wikipedia to be useful because you never really know where the data is coming from. Who wrote it? What is their bias? Then there are all the annotations indicating that something is not backed up or that it is disputed. I'd rather go to a source that tells me who wrote the article so I can evaluate it for myself.

Now and then I have used Wikipedia to get a basic idea about something technical but from now on I'm going elsewhere.

Wikipedia Bans Scientology From Editing Scientology Entries

Corruption at the Federal Reserve

2009-05-24T17:13:00.003-04:00

Watch this video and then ask yourself: If no-one at the Federal Reserve is keeping track of the trillions of dollars they are handing out then isn't the door wide open to corruption and criminality?

"Truth" according to Wikipedia = mob rule

2008-11-23T16:05:00.005-05:00

Here is an interesting piece regarding the accuracy of Wikipedia:

In a May 2006 essay on the technology and culture website Edge.org, futurist Jaron Lanier called Wikipedia an example of “digital Maoism”–the closest humanity has come to a functioning mob rule.

Lanier was moved to write about Wikipedia because someone kept editing his Wikipedia entry to say that he was a film director. Lanier describes himself as a “computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author.” He is good at all those things, but he is no director. According to his essay, he made one short experimental film in the 1990s, and it was “awful.”

“I have attempted to retire from directing films in the alternative universe that is the Wikipedia a number of times, but somebody always overrules me,” Lanier wrote. “Every time my Wikipedia entry is corrected, within a day I’m turned into a film director again.”

Since Lanier’s attempted edits to his own Wikipedia entry were based on firsthand knowledge of his own career, he was in direct violation of Wikipedia’s three core policies. He has a point of view; he was writing on the basis of his own original research; and what he wrote couldn’t be verified by following a link to some kind of legitimate, authoritative, and verifiable publication.

See the full article here: Wikipedia: The Standard of Truth

Earth Shaking Event

2008-09-01T13:27:00.004-04:00

An important earth-shaking event is about to occur. Be ready for September 19th, for once again it is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Be part of the pirate revolution.

Don't be a weak willed lily livered land lubber! Open your mind to the pirate experience, say "Aye" and "Arrr" a few times and soon you will find that your inner pirate will be released.

Follow the simple instructions given here: How to Talk Like A Pirate, practice several hours a day, and by September the 19th you will be indistinguishable from any of the other pirates who show their true mettle on that great day!

Dead Blog Sketch

2008-06-23T10:14:00.002-04:00

Jut substitute "blog" for "parrot" ...

Retirement

2008-06-21T17:50:00.004-04:00

I started this blog a long time ago, back in the Paleozoic era when blogs where just beginning to form out of swirling primordial vapors. It began as an experiment to answer the question, "What is a blog?" And once answered, my intention was to just stop and move on to greater things.

I never really intended to keep it going for so long but like the Energizer bunny it just kept going and going and going and ....

So finally I'm taking pity on it and retiring it to pasture. If you actually liked this blog and read it then don't despair. I will continue to post the sort of eclectic, "this is my viewpoint", "the latest album from Opeth is great" sort of stuff to my other blog (see the fabulous rotating widget below d for the RSS feed.)

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Isn't that cool? It's amazing what you can get from Feedburner for free. If you just want to go to the site then click here: My Scientology Blog.

So, that's it. This blog is no more. It has expired and gone to meet its maker. Bereft of life it rests in peace. If I hadn't nailed it to the Internet, it would be pushing up the daisies.

The end.

FDA finally admits Mercury is dangerous

2008-06-05T17:27:00.003-04:00

You would think that a substance which requires Haz Mat handling and special disposal would be the last thing to put into your mouth. In fact in Massachusetts, a spill of more than two tablespoons of Mercury requires reporting to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, in addition to Haz Mat handling and special disposal.

You would think that a substance that helped create the phrase "mad as a hatter" because it drove hat makers who used it crazy would be the last thing to put into your mouth.

You would think that a substance that is so toxic that people are advised not to eat fish that contain it would be the last thing to put into your mouth.

But you'd be wrong because for over a hundred years people have been allowing dentists to put this toxic substance into their mouths and they have even paid the dentists to do it.

As usual with issues like this, Europe is way ahead of the US: Sweden, Norway and Denmark ban Mercury Fillings. But all is not lost dear reader, for the FDA, that stalwart organization which works tirelessly in the interests of the people of America and not for the drug companies (who fund the FDA) or manufacturers of toxic mercury amalgam fillings (what me sarcastic? never), yes the FDA itself has just admitted that Mercury may possibly be dangerous to humans.

I hear your gasps of astonishment but don't be too amazed, the admission was not made voluntarily. Several consumer protection organizations had to sue the FDA to force it to make the statement. You can read more here: Mercury Fillings Shattered! FDA, ADA Conspiracy to Poison Children with Toxic Mercury Fillings Exposed in Groundbreaking Lawsuit.

Maybe this is the way to go with the FDA: sue them into admitting the truth. Other methods of getting them to actually do their job and protect the American people seem to be ineffective.

Antipsychotic Drugs Kill One in Twenty Elderly Patients

2008-05-28T11:11:00.004-04:00

From the Guardian, May 26, 2008:

Elderly dementia patients prescribed antipsychotic drugs are at three times the risk of a serious health problem or dying within a month of treatment, compared to those not given the drugs, Canadian researchers said on Monday.

The medications have been used by doctors to treat aggression in people who are not psychotic or schizophrenic, but there are risks for elderly dementia patients prescribed the drugs, according to Dr. Paula Rochon of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, and colleagues.

"Of residents newly admitted to a nursing home, 17 percent are started on antipsychotic drugs within 100 days of their admission," often for short periods to control delirium, delusions or aggressive behavior, Rochon wrote.

"Antipsychotic drugs should be prescribed with caution even for short-term therapy," she concluded in the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Three years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required warnings on antipsychotic drugs notifying patients and doctors of the risks of heart problems or infections in elderly dementia patients.

Previous research has suggested the drugs cause dry mouth and difficulty swallowing, which can lead to pneumonia. Side effects such as dizziness can increase the risk of falls.
The seven-year study of more than 40,000 people age 65 or older -- half in nursing homes -- found 5.2 percent of the nursing homes residents died within a month of being given one of the newer class of so-called atypical antipsychotic drugs...

Atypical antipsychotic drugs, which the study said had been available for about a decade, include risperidone, marketed by Johnson & Johnson as Risperdal; olanzapine, made by Eli Lilly and Co under the brand name Zyprexa; and quetiapine, sold by AstraZeneca Plc under the brand name Seroquel.

Complete article here: The Guardian: Antipsychotics given for dementia pose risks-study

There is life on Mars!

2008-05-27T17:45:00.004-04:00

There is life on Mars!

Here is the proof.

The latest picture from Phoenix Probe.

For Memorial Day and our Military

2008-05-26T09:18:00.002-04:00

Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not I think it is important to acknowledge the soldiers themselves. These are men who are willing to give up everything to protect us. In that spirit, here is a really cool video story by Celestial Navigations especially for Memorial Day.

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights

2008-05-15T14:16:00.002-04:00

How important are human rights? Well, without them you can be imprisoned without trial, you can have your property taken away, you can be enslaved, you can be discriminated against because of your race or beliefs, you can be tried in a secret court, you can have your letters opened and your phone tapped without due process, you can be arrested for expressing your opinion, you can be tortured and more.

Why should you learn about human rights? It is vital to know what your rights are, otherwise they will be taken away from you and all the abuses of the centuries, abuses that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written to stop, will come about again.

Where can I learn about my human rights?
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Abridged Version)
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Full Version)

What organizations should I know about and help?
- United Nations
- Youth For Human Rights
- Human Rights Watch (formerly Helsinki Watch)
- Amnesty International
- UNICEF
- Bloggers Unite

At last a portable reader that works!

2008-05-03T20:07:00.004-04:00

Have you checked out The Amazon Kindle. It's awesome!

It's as thin as a pencil. It holds over 200 books. It has a hi-res screen that looks and read like real paper. You can connect up to Amazon wirelessly and download books directly from Amazon. It uses cell phone technology so you don't need to find a hot-spot, it's always connected. You can view Word docs on it. You get newspapers delivered to it daily. And more.

I watched some of the videos and this thing looks to me like the first really viable ebook reading device. This is the iPod for books. There are more than 115,000 titles available for it and (you won't find this on the Amazon site) you can read books in the Mobi format too. (More on Mobi.) So what are you waiting for? Go get it!

My First Smart Car

2008-04-23T21:21:00.005-04:00

It's the day after Earth Day and I just saw my first Smart Car. They actually look better IRL than they do in the pictures I've seen.

These babies get 33mpg city and 40mpg highway, not quite as good as my Honda Hybrid but not bad at all and they are a lot cheaper. So once again, thinking of the environment will save you money!

Read more here: Smart Car Offers Drivers New High MPG Option

Earth Day and Me Being Smug

2008-04-22T12:43:00.002-04:00

I'm not the sort of person to be smug and "I told you so" when it turns out that I'm really, really right. But as today is Earth Day, I thought I'd make an exception :)

In 2004 I bought a Hybrid car: a Honda Civic Hybrid. Now with the price of gasoline over $3.50 a gallon I see these gas guzzling SUVs driving around and I feel a sort of smug glow of righteousness. Not only am I saving myself money, not only am I helping reduce the reliance of the USA on the Middle East for oil but I'm also helping the environment by driving a PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle). Am I cool or what? :)

In addition to that, we just got a water filtration system last week which means we no longer have to buy bottled water. This also achieves the three things I listed above (money, Middle Eastern oil, environment) because we don't buy water in plastic bottles and we don't put those bottles in the trash to mess up the environment with more land fills.

So, don't just look at being environmentally conscious as something to do "because it is right", look at it as a way to save money!

Have a great Earth Day!

Setting up PHP on IIS

2008-04-18T20:34:00.006-04:00

All you non-techies probably don't want to read this post. But techies may appreciate it.

Setting up PHP and other open source products on Microsoft's webserver, IIS, has always been ... how shall I put it? ... a challenge, you know like trying to climb Mount Everest with two broken legs. So when I saw a link to "Setting up FastCGI for PHP", I was a little sceptical about my chances of success.

When I got to the page I saw that it had a video presentation on how to do it. I watched it and it seemed incredibly simple. I knew it couldn't be that easy. I just knew that when I tried it there would be problems. There was just no way it would work as advertised.

But it did! It WAS that simple. I now have PHP running happily on IIS on my Vista laptop. There was not one hitch, not one problem, not one weird error message, not one gotcha!

I have to say also that the new IIS 7 Manager UI is sooooooo much better than anything I've seen before. I haven't done a lot of web stuff recently, the last IIS I dealt with was 5, so if 6 had this same manager then just switch the 7 for a 6 in my comments. So far, IIS 7 looks like MS finally hit the mark on making it easy to find where things are so you can manage IIS easily.

Ayreon - Through the Wormhole

2008-04-13T19:11:00.007-04:00

Here is a video accompanying the song "Through the Wormhole" from the album "The Universal Migrator - Part 2" by Ayreon.

Ayreon is a brilliant project created by musical genius Arjen Lucassen. He creates rock operas, plays most of the instruments, gets great vocalists and records a masterpiece.

Pagan's Mind - Aegan Shores

2008-04-12T17:09:00.010-04:00

Here is a great video from the band Pagan's Mind. The song is from the album Celestial Entrance (show on the left).

This was the first album I bought by PM and I instantly fell in love with it. In fact I even reviewed it back in 2003: Album Review - Celestial Entrance by Pagan's Mind. It's one of those albums that I never tire of. I was close to wearing out the CD, but then I transfered it to my iPod and now I'm close to wearing out the electrons :)

So now, quit reading, play the video and enjoy!

Income Tax - Didn't we have a revolution about that?

2008-04-04T10:31:00.007-04:00

I seem to recall that sometime in the late 18th century we had a revolution that had a lot to do with taxes. Oh yeah, it was called the American Revolution. I wonder what the people who took part in it would think if they were alive today: Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax, Tons of other little gotcha taxes and the horrors of April 15th.

Was the revolution worth it? Two hundred and thirty two years later we have far more taxes and far more government intrusion into our lives than the founding fathers could ever have dreamed.

But there is a way out. We have a system called "Representative Democracy" that allows each citizen (via an elected representative) to have a say in how the country is run. A pretty neat idea we have to thank the ancient Greeks for (Greek Democracy).

So, if you are fed up with Income Tax, here is what you should do, click on this link and follow the instructions: The Fair Tax .

Epica - Never Enough

2008-03-31T13:08:00.007-04:00

Here is a video of the song "Never Enough" by Epica. The song is from the Divine Conspiracy album which I reviewed last week and which is pictured on the left.

Anonymous Attacks Epileptics

2008-03-30T15:51:00.001-04:00

That disgusting group of Internet terrorists who call themselves "Anonymous" last weekend attacked an epilepsy support message board. That may not sound like a big deal but what they did redirected users of the site to pages that were designed to cause seizures.

The attack began with the posting of messages embedded with flashing animated graphics. When that didn't cause enough harm they added code to redirected users' browsers to a page with a more complex image designed to trigger seizures.

One victim said, "I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak." Another victim said she suffered a daylong migraine. The report said that everyone who logged on was effected to some extent some with headaches and others with actual seizures.

What kind of sickos would do something like that?

Read the full story here: Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer

Ayreon - 01011001 - Beneath the Waves

2008-03-29T21:41:00.002-04:00

Another great video to accompany a superb song by Ayreon from the album Ayreon - 01011001:

Frank Sinatra tries an experiment

2008-03-27T15:32:00.005-04:00

Here is a video of an incredible musical experiment that the one and only Frank Sinatra tried in his early career. (You can tell why he stuck with his well known "old blue eyes" style.)

Thanks to Stuff&Junk for bringing this important piece of cultural history to my attention.

Review: The Divine Conspiracy by Epica

2008-03-19T09:50:00.009-04:00

I got three CDs from my awesome daughter for my birthday and although I intended to listen to them all I've gotten stuck on the first one because it is so good! The Divine Conspiracy by Epica.

I'm not sure whether to say this is a metal album that uses an orchestra or that it is an orchestral album that uses a metal band. The orchestra and keyboards that sound like an orchestra are a major part of this album and all of the musical themes are either carried by the orchestra (and I include the keyboards in that) or the vocals.

I was half way through my first listen of the CD when I realized there hadn't been a single guitar solo, and that's how it continued. I've never heard a metal album that didn't have a single guitar solo, but strangely enough the album does not suffer because of it. The way the orchestra, operatic chorus, solo vocals and metal band are blended together is masterful.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of guitar and plenty of metal band in the album. Any mere mortal who isn't into metal would probably find the album way too loud and blasting for their tastes but the guitar is rhythm guitar not lead guitar.

Now to the music itself: I would categorize it as operatic orchestral metal. The "metal" can get very metal at times with grunt vocals, pounding rhythms and amazing speed. The "orchestral" can get very orchestral too, with entire sections of the album containing no band. And the "operatic" can get ... you guessed it ... very operatic with beautiful harmonies and solos.

The vocals of Simone Simons are absolutely beautiful. This girl has an incredible voice.

So, get the album and enjoy!

12 April 2008 - I did hear one guitar solo! Thought I'd better put that in :)

Windows Vista SP1 Installation

2008-03-16T12:51:00.004-04:00

I finally managed to install Windows Vista SP1. Hoo-flippin-ray!

I tried to do it about 3 weeks ago but after taking an hour to fail to install it then took another hour to roll-back the installation. I appreciated the fact that Windows still worked after the roll-back, but I was not exactly overjoyed at the installation failing.

After the roll-back I was presented with a dialog telling me the installation it failed (you don't say) and giving me a link to an article on Microsoft's Support site that was all about SP1 installation failures.

I ran the disk and memory diagnostic tools as recommended, but nothing came up. The real thing that solved the problem was "Resolution 5: Restart the computer and close or disable any applications that may be running". It recommends turning off anti-virus and anti-spyware, so today, when I finally had the time free to do it, I did just that and ... drum roll please ... it installed without a hitch.

I must admit (blush) that the initial installation instructions did recommend disabling anti-virus and anti-spyware, so I really only have myself to blame.

Well, now I'm using it and I'm hoping that the only bug I've hit so far will go away. The bug is that when I connect up to the network at work on a wire the first time I try to do something on the network (you know, something real complex like copying a file) Windows locks up. After I turn off and restart, the problem goes away. Also if I start up, wait for all the beginning activity to calm down and then do a restart, the problem does not occur. So, tomorrow at work I'll see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anonymous - Some History

2008-03-15T17:16:00.004-04:00

The online terror group called "Anonymous" has been around for a while. Here is a report from FOX news that led to a "denial of service" attack on the Fox News website:

The Smoking Tooth

2008-03-09T09:38:00.004-04:00

If you ever had doubts about the safety of silver amalgam fillings (aka Mercury fillings) then here is a video to remove any doubts:

You have to wonder why, with so much evidence of the dangers of silver amalgam fillings (aka mercury fillings), the American Dental Association still insists that they are safe. Could it be they are terrified of the court cases if they admitted that they had been knowingly poisoning millions of human beings for over a hundred years?

Uncle Sam gives us something back

2008-03-08T07:28:00.002-05:00

Usually at this time of year we are bitching and moaning about how much we have to pay to Uncle Sam in taxes (April 15th is drawing near) and the rest of the year we are bitching and moaning about how Uncle Sam is spending our hard earned tax dollars: spending trillions on wars, trillions on maintaining a military presence in 150 countries (total US Military budget), funding ridiculous "science" experiments, etc., etc.

But, good news, Uncle Sam is giving you something for free. Yes my friends, on Sunday (March 9th) you will receive a free one-hour's worth of jet-lag from Uncle Sam! Just spring your clocks forward an hour and it will be just like you flew east one time zone!

Isn't democracy great?

And remember, the time change occurs at 2am, so set your alarm to wake you up in time to spring your clocks forward!

Incredible new antidepressant (satire)

2008-03-06T10:24:00.003-05:00

Pharmaceutical maker, LillyGlaxoWyeth, has just announced the launch of their latest product, Placebozac.

Placebozac (also known my its chemical name "placebo") is an antidepressant that was proven in a recent study to be just as effective as fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Seroxat), venlafaxine (Effexor) and nefazodone (Serzone). You can read the results of the study by the University of Hull here: "Prozac Doesn't Work"

"The great advantage with Placebozac over the traditional antidepressants," said spokesperson Ima Fake, "is that it doesn't have the usual minor side-effects of psychiatric drugs such as suicide, violent behavior, depression, anxiety, bizarre dreams, emotional numbing, delusions, hallucinations, headaches, heart attacks, hostility, impotence, psychotic episode, paranoia, seizures, sexual dysfunction, homicidal ideation and all the rest. There is even a possibility that if people switch to Placebozac the number of school shootings may decrease. Although, as a member of the pharmaceutical industry, I will say right here and now that antidepressants have nothing whatsoever to do with school, postal or any other kind of shootings, however, our marketing department insisted I mention it."

The new drug will be available soon at only $200 for a bottle of 40, 10mg tablets. In the mean time you can get a sample at a reduced introductory price from your local candy store - just ask for "sugar pills".

Addictive Prescription Drugs

2008-03-04T11:04:00.007-05:00

I just found out about a radio show that addresses the widespread, but little known problem of prescription drug addiction. The show is called Prescription Addiction Radio and you can hear the shows on the Listen to Past Shows page.

I listened on Sunday (Heroin-Cocaine-Morphine -Nothing New as Silence Continues.... Youth visit the Studio - Comments from Generation Rx) and was impressed.

The host has good data and his guests were three young adults who know about this problem. One guest works at a clinic that helps people get off prescription drugs and he related some horrors of prescription drug addiction.

It's amazing how uninformed doctors will give out dangerous, addictive drugs as if they were candy. One caller to the show had been on Methadone for six years. Six years of prescription drugs that resulted in addiction that he is still trying to get over. The amazing thing is that if you look up Methadone on the Internet you will find people extolling its virtues! It's sad to see what great PR huge amounts of money from drug companies can buy.

Anyway, I recommend you listen to the show. If you aren't in an area where it is broadcast you can listen to it on the net.

Human Trafficking

2008-03-02T13:39:00.003-05:00

Since I was a kid I've regarded slavery as a sort of "absolute". It was just "bad". There were no shades of grey, it was a clear case of black & white. Slavery was bad. Any form of it was bad. Well, now I've revised my opinion. There are some forms of it that are even worse than I could ever have imagined.

Most people think that slavery no longer exists. It was outlawed a long time ago and we are now an enlightened civilization and we don't allow such things - oh yeah?

My son just did a walk for human rights and when he returned home he gave me a shopping bag he'd received with the logo of the "Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking" on it. I checked out their website and saw some of the horrors going on in this world.

It is hard to believe that this horrific trade in humanity still goes on but it does and in this country.

If you want to do something to help stop this terrible trade then the resources for reporting and volunteering are here: Join the Fight Against Human Trafficking

Prozac Doesn't Work

2008-02-28T15:13:00.007-05:00

The new study on the ineffectiveness of antidepressants is being reported all over the place.

The Guardian (UK) Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists

Another article in the Guardian examines how the "depression" myth was created, The creation of the Prozac myth. This article is a must for anyone who wonders how could 40 million people be using a drug that not only doesn't work but has very serious side-effects?

The writers make some very pertinent observations, such as:

This process of marketing depression helped create the clinical category itself. If the new drugs affected mood, appetite and sleep patterns, then depression consisted of a problem with mood, appetite and sleep patterns. A subtle shift in the defining symptoms of depression took place over the years, so that the category itself became taken for granted. Lost here was the simple idea that there is a difference between surface symptoms (insomnia, loss of appetite, feeling low) and underlying causes, which may be different from case to case. The creation of the antidepressant market effectively disallowed this once crucial distinction.
From Darian Leader

and

Some people will be shocked to discover that Prozac has been prescribed so widely for decades when, in fact, it barely works. However, the real story is even worse. First, the findings are not new, and it is not only the Prozac group of antidepressants that we should be concerned about; second, the findings point to a general medical inability to understand evidence; and, finally, they reveal the dark side of company marketing, and the role of regulators.
From Prof. David Healy

I hope this isn't the last we hear about this.

Study shows that Antidepressants don't work

2008-02-27T09:42:00.008-05:00

A fellow blogger (Antidepressants Not Effective!) put me onto a new study from the University of Hull in the UK which proves that antidepressants don't work.

“The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments. Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients.” The drugs included fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor), and Paroxetine (Seroxat).
Study casts doubt on anti-depressants

I bet you a couple of billion dollars that the drug companies and their mouth pieces in the psychiatric industry come out swinging on this one. They'll do everything they possibly can (other than tell the truth) to invalidate this study. There are tens of billions of dollars at stake here. The marketing and PR departments of Big Pharma are going to try to destroy the scientists who did this study just like they tried to destroy Professor David Healy after he wrote books, did studies, published papers and gave a lecture critical of antidepressants and the power of the pharmaceutical industry over psychiatry: The David Healy Affair.

As the old proverb says "Muck and money go together" (muck being dirt, filth, etc.) and there sure is a lot of money and muck in the pharmaceutical industry where the prevailing attitude seems to be, "Our drugs don't do anything for depressed people and are causing suicide? Not a problem, we're making plenty of money out of it."

Feeling depressed about depression?

2008-02-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

Here is a great article that addresses the question "What really is depression?" Seems even the "experts" don't really know:

When it Comes to Depression - Does Anyone Really Know What They Are Talking About?

But despite not knowing the "experts" still push drugs as the solution and the pharmaceutical companies still make billions.

Ayreon - 01011001 - Waking Dreams

2008-02-22T13:09:00.005-05:00

Someone has created a video of clips from the Matrix playing against the song "Waking Dreams" (the last few seconds of the music are not Ayreon).

The video is very well done and really works with the music, which is from the album Ayreon - 01011001.

Review: 01011001 by Ayreon

2008-02-21T21:29:00.002-05:00

How can you do better than perfect? Well, somehow Arjen Lucassen manages to do it album after album after album.

Arjen Lucassen is the king of rock opera (or "space opera") as he calls it. He creates these masterpieces under the band name "Ayreon," producing his first in 1995 with the album "The Final Experiment," followed by "Actual Fantasy" a year later.

The first Ayreon album I heard was "Into the Electric Castle." I was listening to an Internet radio station and there was a song that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was so good that I immediately bought the album and (if CDs were wear-out-able) I wore it out by playing it so much.

I was hooked and needed more, so I rushed out and bought the other Ayreon CDs that were available and when "Actual Fantasy" and "The Final Experiment" were re-released I gobbled them up too.

After I heard "Into the Electric Castle" I thought "Wow! What could he possibly do to beat that?" So he went on to do "Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer" and "Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator" and I thought "Wow! What could he possibly do to beat that?" So he produced "The Human Equation" and I thought "This is it. He can't possibly beat that." And so he just had to prove me wrong by coming up with the latest Ayreon album "01011001".

For those of you who are not computers, "01011001" is "Y" to a computer and it stands for the planet "Y". What is the planet "Y" you ask? Well, it's a planet that is part of the story of the rock opera called "01011001". I won't spoil it by giving you the story but what I will do is tell you a bit about the album.

There are 17 (count them 1, 2, 3 ... 15, 16, 17!!!) vocalists on this album, each of them singing the part of a different character. Arjen has an uncanny ability to not only put together vocalists with aesthetically harmonic or complementary voices, but he can also put the right vocalist with the right music.

And on top of all that he plays almost all of the instruments: guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, synth programming and probably more that I haven't yet spotted, and he plays them all as a total professional. In addition he invites awesome instrumentalists to join him, so we get the likes of Michael Romeo of "Symphony X", Lori Linstruth of "Stream of Passion", Joost van den Broek of "After Forever" and many others, playing incredible solos.

To get a taste of this album go to the Ayreon website and watch the "trailer" video: Ayreon Home Page

- Arjen Lucassen MySpace site - listen to some clips from the songs then scroll down and play the "Beneath the Waves" video.
- More Videos

Another Shooter = Another Guy on Antidepressants

2008-02-19T15:20:00.003-05:00

The evidence is overwhelming. How many more people have to die before these drugs are banned?

PowerToys for Vista

2008-02-14T15:36:00.004-05:00

The really useful PowerToys for Windows that were available for Windows XP have not yet moved over to Vista. A couple of them are Vista compatible but most are not. The one I wanted to install on Vista was the "Open Command Window Here" utility, which is really useful - just right-click on a folder in Windows Explorer, select it and a command window opens up.

The good news is that I found some (only a few) PowerToys for Windows Vista on the TechNet website and one of them is ... the "Open Command Window Here" utility! So for all you nerdy types like me who still use the command line and have upgraded to Vista, fear no more! Help and succor have arrived. The cavalry is here. You are saved. Halilooya, praise the lord, etc., etc., etc.

Nostalgic Review - Killer by Alice Cooper

2008-02-04T17:36:00.000-05:00

"Killer" by Alice Cooper was the second album I ever bought. I remember hearing it at a friends house and being totally blown away by "Halo of Flies" and "Desperado". The entire album is great but those two songs stand out for me even 36 years after its release. Progressive rock and "heavy" rock were the genres I liked in those days and "Killer" definitely fell into the "progressive rock" category. Most people think of Alice Cooper as "shock rock" but that was his stage act and a way to get attention. The music itself and the lyrics were of a very high quality - clever and insightful.

I lost my LP of Killer many years ago during a move and a month ago I was feeling nostalgic so I decided to get Killer on CD and I was not disappointed: great songs and a theatrical climax with the song "Killer" itself - the one Alice used to hand himself to. A little melodramatic, but the song is about a gunman in the old west, lamenting his life and his impending death: "someone handed me this gun and I ... I gave it everything."

As I said my two favorites are "Halo of Flies" (a humorous song about spies, with great instrumental sections) and "Desperado" (a quiet, reflective song about a gun for hire in the old west - not to be confused with the Eagle's song of the same name).

Anyway, this is a five star album and well worth getting.

PGP Freeware still exists

2008-02-03T11:47:00.000-05:00

If you've tried to find the PGP Freeware version recently you'll know that it is not easy to find. No matter which search engine you use you won't find a place to download the freeware version. But there is one. They just renamed it to "Free PGP Desktop Trial Software". You have to read more on the page to see that, "You now receive all product functionality for 30 days before the product reverts to functionality available in former PGP Freeware."

I'm guessing they make it hard so people will give up and pay for it. I think that is silly. If they would make it clear that this is the freeware version and that you get the full version for 30 days then people are going to download it and try out the extra features and after 30 days a good number are going to want to keep the extra features. But that won't happen if you obscure the fact that the "trial" version is in fact the "freeware" version.

Tax Protesters - the big mistake

2008-02-02T17:04:00.001-05:00

This sad little story about Wesley Snipes and his tax woes made me think of the Tax Protester movement and how it is doomed to failure.

There are many arguments put forth to prove that American citizens are not required to pay Income Tax. However, they all fail on one point: It doesn't matter if you find a letter from Thomas Jefferson himself saying that income tax is an abomination, the IRS will still come after you and they have lots of guns and rifles to enforce their decrees.

The bottom line is that the Government needs money to operate, and although the income tax system is a communist/socialist methodology, it is the major source of income for Uncle Sam and it won't go away anytime soon and certainly refusing to pay it will only succeed in making the non-payer go away (to jail).

The real solution I see (other than making Ron Paul president) is to find a workable alternative. The best suggestion for this that I have seen is a National Retail Sales Tax. Check it out and tell me what you think.

God's Equation - A better review

2008-01-28T16:14:00.002-05:00

A week or so ago I wrote a rather lame review of the new Pagan's Mind album "God's Equation". I can only excuse myself by saying I was tired and it had been a long day and I really wanted to write a review of the album because it is great and ... and ... and ... and ...

Well, enough excuses. I'm actually listening to the album as I write this because I've not stopped listening to it since I wrote that lame review. Well, not literally, but on my iPod and in my car that is the only album I've listened to.

So how do I start, well, maybe the beginning would be a good idea. The album starts with a great almost acoustic instrumental that starts tuneful and melodious and moves into a brilliant drum piece that takes us gently to the next song which starts loud and fast.

Sorry I just got distracted by the absolutely brilliant solo in the middle of Painted Skies - it sounds like distorted keyboards and guitar playing an atonal improv that is just amazing. Anyway, forgive the commercial break. Back to our regular programme:

The next song after "The Conception" is "God's Equation" itself. Philosophical lyrics, melodic tune and loud metal rhythms. Then comes a song that is one of those "anthem" type songs, "United Alliance" - every time I listen to it I can't help but sing along (something you don't want to be anywhere near when it happens). That is followed by "Atomic Firelight", which is as close to math metal as I've ever heard Pagan's Mind come - great complex rhythms, several different rhythms going at once but all harmonics of each other.

Next is a brilliant cover of David Bowie's "Hallo Spaceboy." The vocalist even sounds like Bowie on this song. Of course, this version is a bit louder than the original, but I thing David would approve.

Next comes "Evolution Exceed" and more philosophic metal, with great lyrics, complex music and wondrous rhythms.

As if that wasn't enough "Alien Kamikaze" is next. This one sounds like the band is just having a great time playing an incredibly fast and furious and fun song. If you don't move with this one then you ain't got no soul.

"Painted Skies" I talked about earlier - wow! Great melody and that wild solo in the middle is just out of this world.

"Spirit Starcruiser" once more takes us into the realms of spirituality and philosophy with deep lyrics a blasting metal rhythms and rockin' melodies.

"Farewell" returns to the theme of "The Conception" but this time with a beautiful guitar melody.

On the version of the CD I have there is another song, "Osiris Triumphant Return" which seems to be a sequel to the song "Through Osiris' Eyes" from the album "Celestial Entrance", and is indeed "Triumphant"!

Well, as "Osiris Triumphant Return" caresses my ears, I'll end my review and just say this: Get the album!

"Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth."

2008-01-27T16:00:00.000-05:00

That quote is attributed to one of the most evil men who ever lived, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister of the Third Reich. Unfortunately there is more truth in that statement than we would like there to be. Goebbels used that principle to run his black propaganda campaign against Jews and he succeeded in the most horrific way imaginable.

Today that method is still used to carry out "character assassination" of people and groups who the attacker doesn't like or sees as a threat. Unfortunately the main-stream media could be viewed as parrots who happily repeat whatever they hear without any thought of determining the truth or accuracy of what they so obligingly repeat. This means that a character assassin has an easy time of it in this society.

So next time you see something reported about a person or group, think twice before you accept it as fact. And, if you are feeling curious, do some research into the person or group being attacked and you will probably find that they have stood up against a vested interest and cost that vested interest a barrel load of money. At that point you can take the bad stuff you heard and throw it where it belongs - in the garbage.

Album Review: God's Equation by Pagan's Mind

2008-01-20T15:48:00.000-05:00

The latest album by Norwegian band Pagan's Mind is without doubt their best so far. Once again their technical expertise and song writing skills have expanded and the result is a superb musical extravaganza!

One of the things I really like about this band is that they can play a quiet piece and then jump into something that rips your head off :). The percussion is superb with complex rhythms and speeds covering the entire spectrum.

"Hallo Spaceboy" is a cover of a David Bowie song and is a great version of this classic. At several places in the song vocalist Nils Rue actually sounds like a metal version of Bowie.

You can here several songs by the band on their MySpace site: Pagan's Mind on MySpace

You can buy the album here: God's Equation by Pagan's Mind

More on Drug Companies Hiding Negative Findings

2008-01-19T15:28:00.000-05:00

This from the New York Times: Researchers Find a Bias Toward Upbeat Findings on Antidepressants

The makers of antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil never published the results of about a third of the drug trials that they conducted to win government approval, misleading doctors and consumers about the drugs’ true effectiveness, a new analysis has found.

Some of us have known this for a long time but it is good to see it finally validated by "authority". Perhaps some lives will now be saved by people deciding not to take these drugs. What would be even better is if some legal action were taken against these drug companies for the damage they have done to people over the years because of the lies they've told.

Pharmaceutical Companies Are Hiding Negative Studies of Antidepressants

2008-01-17T18:42:00.000-05:00

A report just published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that nearly a third of antidepressant drug studies are never published in the medical literature and nearly all these unpublished studies happen to show that the drug being tested did not work.

The researchers say it in the most polite and unaccusative way, but the obvious interpretation is that if a drug study comes up negative then the drug companies hide it.

The report found that the few negative studies that were published were rewritten to present the study as if it were successful. In the words of the researchers, "Not only were positive results more likely to be published, but studies that were not positive, in our opinion, were often published in a way that conveyed a positive outcome."

As I said the researchers were very polite, but not me. As far as I'm concerned Big Pharma is hiding the negative results because they think it will hurt their profits. They don't care that their drugs harm people, they only care if something harms their profits.

Read about the study here: Data on Antidepressants Often Shelved

News Host Experiences The Truth about Drugs

2008-01-14T10:14:00.000-05:00

CNN News Headlines host, Glenn Beck, experienced first hand the truth about drugs when he went to an emergency room in great pain.

What was expected to be an outpatient procedure put Beck in the hospital for five days, with doctors offering a medicine cabinet's worth of drugs to ease his pain. The drugs made him hallucinate and briefly suicidal, Beck said. "By Saturday night if they had come into my room with a handgun and said, `OK, we can give you some more medication or take this gun and blow your head off' ... I would have honestly taken the handgun at that point and ended it." (read the article)

The suicide inducing effects of certain medical drugs has been well documented, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise, but unfortunately few people know that some drugs, especially psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants, cause a condition called "suicidal ideation," a state in which the person on the drug fixates on thoughts of suicide and may actually commit suicide.

Pharmaceutical companies are forced to publish the side effects of their drugs, so next time you see an ad for a drug in a magazine or newspaper go find the list of side-effects. If you look hard enough and use a magnifying glass, you'll see them. Of course, at that point you have to wade through the carefully worded medical-speak that is used to hide the horrendous side effects these drugs have.

For more information check this page: Side Effects of Psychiatric Drugs

Psychiatry and Political Control

2008-01-12T08:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a video from John Breeding, Ph.D that explains how Psychiatry is political, how it is used to control the population and where the big money of the Pharmaceutical Industry fits in.

Computers versus Paper

2008-01-07T10:46:00.001-05:00

We often hear about the dangers of using electronic voting machines due to the possibility of someone hacking the machines. But what about the possibilities of bugs messing up the vote?

Here is an example of a bug that caused voting machines to crash and potentially lose votes: Voting Machine Bugs.

Having worked in the computer industry for over 20 years I am very leery of allowing computerized voting machines. I've seen "perfect" software put into production, only to find out later that some missed requirement or bug that was missed during testing appears during actual use and causes havoc.

Out voting process is too precious to endanger it with electronic voting.

Drug Money – The Bribing of Politicians

2008-01-06T14:48:00.001-05:00

In looking for a web site on the Say No to Drugs campaign I found another site that is not connected to the campaign but contains a lot of data on how much money drug companies are paying to US politicians. To describe the amounts of money paid by Big Pharma to our elected representatives as "obscene" is an understatement. I had no idea of the vast sums changing hands until I read the first page of this web site: Politicians Who Got The Most Pharmaceutical Company Contributions In Year 2000 – scroll down a bit to see the list. The amounts make one wonder just who our representatives are actually representing.

What is more scary is the even larger amounts these companies pay to lobbyists. Between 1997 and 2000 the pharmaceutical industry paid over $336 million to lobbyists to help them persuade politicians to push their drugs on us.

You have to ask the question: "If the drugs provided by these corporations are truly beneficial, then why do they have to spend so much money persuading politicians to make laws to force us to take them?" If I had a disease and it was cured by some medical drug, I'd have no objection to taking it. You don't have to pass a law to persuade someone to do something that's going to save his or her life. But when the drugs don't really work or simply hide the symptoms and require the patient to continue taking them for the rest of his or her life, then it is no wonder Big Pharma has to get help from the politicians on its payroll.

The End of an Era

2007-12-31T09:16:00.000-05:00

Remember a web browser called "Netscape Navigator"? It was the browser to use back in the "good old days" of the Internet. In the mid-90s it was THE browser. Internet Explorer didn't exist when Netscape came out and Netscape ruled the roost.

The big anti-trust brouhaha of the late-90s against Microsoft was largely based on Microsoft's attempts to gain market share from Netscape for its Internet Explorer.

Well, all that is ancient history now. The MS Mammals have won over the Netscape Dinosaur and Netscape is no more. Netscape Navigator was officially made extinct (or perhaps put out of its misery) last Friday. (AOL Finally Kills Netscape Browser)

So let's have a moment of silence to show our respects and then ... well, er, umm, I don't know. Get on with something more important I guess.

Government Spending - getting it in perspective

2007-12-23T18:38:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine recently pointed out something you can use to get a concept of what the US Government spends. Here is what he said:

"After the recent wildfires, in which a half million people have been evacuated, and 1,500 or more homes have been destroyed, making this the worst disaster of any kind in California history including earthquakes, according to at least one news story, a headline blared that the cost to insurers may be as much as 1.6 billion.

There are other costs, of course, because the insurers don’t pay for the firefighting effort. But if it takes all this fire damage to waste 1.6 billion dollars of insurance money, what does it take to burn up 35 billion on health care, or 196 billion on a foreign war? It’s staggering."

Convicted Felon Was Running Wikipedia

2007-12-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

I've blogged before about the promise and perils of Wikipedia (see links below). Now it comes out that Wikimedia (the foundation that owns and runs Wikipedia) employed a convicted felon as their Chief Operating Officer for 6-months: Felon Became a Top Wikipedia Exec

If they can't vouch for the credentials of their COO how can they vouch for the credentials of the people who write their articles? Any Tom, Dick or Carolyn can go write an article at Wikipedia and who knows a) who they are, b) who they work for, c) who pays them, d) what their personal biases and intolerances are or e) what their conflicts of interest are.

If Wikipedia wants to be treated as some sort of authoritative and trustworthy source of information then we need a full disclosure of who the authors of every article are because in order to accurately evaluate an article, you not only need to understand the article itself, but also who wrote it. An example that I hope demonstrates the point: If you read an article about how a particular drug was the solution to depression, you might be convinced to take it. But if you discovered that the article was written by a doctor who received a million dollars last year from the drug company who manufactures the drug, then you may have second thoughts.

My earlier articles:
Wikipedia - The Flaw
More on Wikipedia
How trustworthy is Wikipedia?

Ron Paul Breaks His Own Online Fund Raising Record

2007-12-18T20:13:00.000-05:00

In November Ron Paul created a new record for online fund raising when he raised $4.3 million in a 24 hour period. Well, he just did it again!

Ron Paul Raises $6 Million in a 24-Hour Period
Ron Paul backers stage Boston Tea Party, raise millions

And this article (The Real Ron Paul Revolution) really says it: "And he will be the 2008 candidate who is remembered for doing something that can matter more than winning a party nomination or a November election, and that is changing the politics of a country that needs every new approach to altering a corrupt and dysfunctional status quo."

The great thing is that these funds were raised from tens of thousands of people making small donations. This shows the breadth of support that Paul has.

Wouldn't it be great to have a President who actually followed the Constitution?

The Creation and Control of Money

2007-12-08T22:54:00.001-05:00

Here is a highly educational and eye-opening video about money: how it is created, how it is controlled, who creates it, who controls it and why you don't have more:

Money As Debt

Do you support the US Constitution? Perhaps you are a dangerous terrorist ...

2007-12-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

Here is a pretty scary video. Did you know that an FBI handbook labels people who refer to the US Constitution as potential murderers and terrorists? Hard to believe, but the actual handbook is shown in this video:

Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind

2007-12-02T18:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a fascinating article on AI and the Human Mind. It explains the viewpoints and ideas of people working in this field and the mistakes they are making. The point the writer makes about the lack of a model for human thought or consciousness I think hits the nail right on the head: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind

Quality of Personnel

2007-11-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not a very demanding person. I'm pretty easy going and I try to see the best in people. However, recently I've been doing phone screens and interviews of potential candidates for a senior developer position for a project on which I am the technical lead and I've been stunned by the low quality of the majority of candidates.

I used to do pretty light phone screens: going over their resume and asking questions about it. But I found that when they arrived for a face-to-face technical interview they failed it dismally. So my phone screens have changed and I'm asking technical questions much earlier in the interview so I don't waste time.

Today I did two phone screens and I got no further than a few questions on basic programming and C#. Both candidates were ignorant of simple basics. I wasn't asking anything esoteric, just simple basics that any programmer worth the title should know. Sort of like asking an auto mechanic "What is an internal combustion engine?" If he doesn't know that then you sure aren't going to give him your car to fix.

I also read an article recently that said a senior programmer at Microsoft asked a particular question during interviews and that only 2 out of 200 applicants where able to answer it correctly. It was another very basic question.

This experience is making me think that our flashy, hi-tech society is actually teetering on the edge of catastrophe because the majority of people who create the flashy, hi-tech infrastructure don't understand what they are doing. It's a scary thought.

Luckily there are solution:
Reverse the Declining state of Literacy
Be Competent

What If ...

2007-11-24T11:37:00.001-05:00

Click here to view other Public Service Announcements

Mercenaries in America

2007-11-22T18:17:00.001-05:00

This is something to keep an eye on:

url: Blackwater in California

My Excuse

2007-11-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

My blogging has been rather sparse of late. My excuse is that I've been working 50 - 70 hours a week for the last 4 months and when not working all I wanted to do was eat, sleep or veg.

The project is over now and I'm hoping the next version of the software, which I'm working on now, won't have quite such a psychotic schedule. My plan to prevent such an eventuality is contained in the books Software Project Survival Guide and Rapid Development, both by Steve McConnell. I read both of them cover-to-cover and I'm also reading his other book Code Complete. I wish I'd read all these books a few years ago, they would have made my life a lot easier.

So with my excuses said, I'm going to get back to more regular posting (yeah, that's what they all say). No really. I will. Honest.

Vitamins are useless and dangerous???

2007-11-05T18:44:00.000-05:00

The Reader's Digest magazine has once more proven itself to be the ally of its advertisers. If you look at a copy of Reader's Digest you'll notice that the majority of ads are for drugs, so it comes as no surprise that in the latest edition of this mouthpiece for the pharmaceutical industry the main article is called "Vitamin Hoax". Yes, the message of the article is that not only are vitamins useless but they are even dangerous.

If you are a person who reads without much evaluation of the information you will be frightened off taking any vitamins or other supplements. For example, vitamin E is toxic and vitamin C is completely useless at helping with a cold. So get out the NyQuil and drug yourself into oblivion while making a nice profit for the drug companies.

If, however, you are a person who pays attention to what you read and you evaluate the information, you will notice a couple of things:

On vitamin E the article doesn't say what sort of vitamin E the tests were done with. This is a huge omission. If you take lots of Alpha-Tocopherol (which is what most vitamin E supplements are) they sure it could be toxic, but it isn't vitamin E. Vitamin E is made up of many tocopherols and the correct sort to take is the vitamin E containing "mixed-tocopherols". So right away we see that the study was a bogus study because it didn't study vitamin E but instead one small part of it. Sort of like studying a tire and making pronouncements about cars.

On Vitamin C the article once more doesn't say what sort of vitamin C. Was it plain ascorbic acid? Did it include bioflavanoids? But what is even more telling is that the tests were done with 200 mg of Vitamin C per day. Wow - 200 mg? That's like going to a burning 3 story building, throwing a glass of water on it and saying that water is useless for putting out fires. Every place I've every looked to see how much Vitamin C to take if you get a cold, it says you take 1000 mg per hour until you get the runs, then you take 1000 mg less than that each day until the cold goes away.

So, if you have the misfortune to be stuck somewhere for a long period and the only reading matter is the Reader's Digest, be warned!

Phew, there is still some sanity in the Judicial System

2007-09-07T21:36:00.000-04:00

A freedom infringing provision of the Patriot Act has been struck down by a Federal Court: Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision. It's good to know that the judicial system is still working.

Study Proves that Hyperactivity is a Symptom, not a Disease

2007-09-06T21:06:00.000-04:00

A new study proves what smart parents have been saying for years: Food additives cause hyperactivity in children.

"The researchers discovered that children in both age groups were significantly more hyperactive and that they had shorter attention spans if they had consumed the drink containing the additives. The study did not try to link specific consumption with specific behaviors. The study’s authors noted that other research suggested that the hyperactivity could increase in as little as an hour after artificial additives were consumed."

The most ridiculous comment about the study I've heard so far was from ... you guessed it ... a specialist in Pediatric Psychopharmacology (read "a psychiatrist who specializes in drugging kids") who said, “Is it powerful enough that you want to ostracize your kid? It is very socially impacting if children can’t eat the things that their friends do.” Sure doctor, let's not take away the toxic chemicals that are making the poor kids bounce off the walls. Let's give them something else instead. I know how about some nice psychiatric drugs that only have mild side-effects like suicide and homicide. After all we don't want the kids to feel left out, do we.

Honestly!

This is a hybrid??

2007-09-06T08:12:00.000-04:00

I just saw an ad for the 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid. the ad contains all the usual hype about how great the car is and the wonderful improvements in gas mileage, etc., etc. But then I looked at the small print and then I looked at it again, wondering if my eyesight were failing or something. Here is what I saw:

- Non-Hybrid Malibu: with 2.4L engine: EPA rating 22 city/30 highway.
- Hybrid Malibu with 2.4L engine: EPA rating 24 city/32 highway.

Excuse me?? Did I read that right? GM has spent how many millions to produce a mere 2 mph (about 10%) improvement? My Honda Civic Hybrid has an EPA rating of 48/47 which is about 50% above the normal Civic. How come GM is incapable of producing a workable hybrid engine?

Then I saw their ad for the Tahoe Hybrid SUV - it gets an amazing 19 mpg on the highway (they don't dare mention it's mpg in the city). And that is an amazing 25% better than the non-hybrid. Man, you may as well just turn on the pump and drink the gas yourself.

In GM's favor I will say that they are also pursuing alternative fuel, electric and fuel cell cars but they are concept cars with no real delivery date.

How come the Japanese can create extremely popular hybrids that are very fuel efficient and America can't? Doesn't anyone get the importance of cutting down on pollution and our dependence on Middle Eastern Oil?

References:
Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid Debuts at All-Star Game
Chevy Malibu Hybrid

Happy Birthday to the Helicopter - 100 years old.

2007-09-03T11:30:00.000-04:00

I had no idea that the first helicopter got of the ground 100 years ago. I thought it was a more recent invention but here is a really interesting pictorial history of the helicopter: A century of helicopters

Some Iraq Reality in Venice

2007-09-02T11:30:00.001-04:00

A couple of movies at the Venice Film Festival are presenting realistic views of the Iraq war. One movie pulls no punches and may be hard for film goers to take, the other includes the reality as part of the story and may be more palatable.

The movies are Brian De Palma's "Redacted" and "In the Valley of Elah" by Paul Haggis. You can read more about them here: 2 Venice films look at Iraq war horrors

I think movies like these are important. As De Palma says, with Vietnam, "we saw pictures of the destruction and the sorrow of the people who were traumatized. We saw the soldiers ... being brought back in body bags. We see none of that in this war."

One could even come to the conclusion that the media was "in on it", attempting to gloss over the true horrors of what is going on in Iraq. And, indeed, when the connections between the people on the boards of directors of large media conglomerates and the people on the boards of the corporations benefiting from the war (arms manufacturers, oil companies, engineering companies, etc.) are examined, it could definitely make you suspicious.

But, of course, in this most perfect of all perfect worlds, corruption, rapacious greed and avarice just don't exist and the billions of dollars being made out of the war are just an unfortunate side-effect. I'm sure the people at Halliburton and Bechtel had no idea they'd make huge profits and I'm sure it never crossed the minds of their political friends in high places either.

"Paradise Lost" by Symphony X

2007-08-20T17:38:00.000-04:00

Symphony X fans have waited five long years for a follow up to the brilliant 2002 release "The Odyssey". It was difficult to predict what the band would do next. They'd already released an excellent concept album, "V: The New Mythology Suite" and numerous other great progressive metal albums so what was in store for us?

Well, they have done it again: "Paradise Lost" is a masterpiece.

The adjectives that came to mind when I first heard the album were "tight", "confident" and "complex".

"Tight" because the musicianship is superb, not one note out of place, not one beat off. The old expression "well oiled machine" suggests itself but in this case the machine is a Ferrari.

"Confident" because the musicianship is such that you just know these guys are at the top of their form. They are so good they don't have to think about it. They just play and the fact that they are sure of themselves and what they are doing comes across as confidence.

"Complex" because the rhythms are intricate, the music is intricate, the emotional content is varied and the interplay of music, rhythm and emotion is phenomenal.

I've listened to the album a few times now and there are still new things I'm discovering. I look forward to listening again and again.

So I give this album a 5 out of 5 and I highly recommend it. You can get it here: Symphony X: Paradise Lost

You are not alone. So SPEAK UP!

2007-08-18T10:44:00.000-04:00

According to a recent survey by Consumer Reports National Research Center the majority of Americans know about the problems with the corrupt relationship between the FDA and the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Consumer Advocate Mike Adams gives details of the survey in his article, Americans fed up with drug industry influence, FDA corruption, reveals remarkable Consumer Reports survey.

In case you didn't know, right now:

The FDA does NOT have the power to require warning labels on drugs with known safety problems. The Food and Drug Administration must negotiate safety warning labels with a drug maker. Isn't it nice to know that your health and life are points of negotiation.
Pharmaceutical companies PAY THE FDA to review and approve their drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies can bury negative drug trials, and the FDA has in fact been caught conspiring with drug companies to keep negative drug data secret from the public.
Currently, doctors who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in "consulting fees" from drug companies are not only allowed to vote on the recommendations for FDA approval of their drugs, there is not even any FDA requirement to disclose such conflicts of interest.
And more! Read about it in Mike Adams' article.

Once you realize that the survey showed that the majority of Americans are outraged over this corruption then perhaps you won't be shy about raising your voice and demanding reforms.

The Facade at Google is beginning to crack

2007-08-16T12:55:00.000-04:00

Google is at it again. While pretending to be the anti-Microsoft, the company of the people and the web site for the common man, Google is going about the business of creating its own monopoly in it's own special arrogant way: Google is starting to act like your garden-variety monopoly

Another Triumph for the Pharmaceutical Industry

2007-08-15T18:20:00.001-04:00

When pro-wrestler Chris Benoit killed his family and then himself the fact that he was taking psychiatric drugs with known side-effects of homicidal ideation, psychotic behavior and suicide was mentioned but now is being carefully ignored by the media. In the latest round in the tragedy, there is a big argument over who was killed first because it affects who inherits. In the news articles I've seen there is not one mention of the psychiatric drugs but plenty of talk about steroids. You have to marvel at the immense power the pharmaceutical industry has over the media.

Drug Rehab - What Works, What Doesn't

2007-08-14T16:42:00.000-04:00

I recently got a comment on my post "Drug Rehab Fraud". I moderate my comments so I didn't allow it because it was promoting a website that looks to me like a MySpace for the addicted. Rather a sick concept I thought. I know the old saying that a problem shared is a problem halved, and I agree with the idea, but this site was loaded with ads from the same kind of frauds I was writing about in my post.

Imagine it, you create a site to attract people who have an addiction then you advertise solutions that don't work so you can make money out of them and keep them coming back for more because they are still addicted. Pretty nasty.

So instead of promoting a drug rehab method that doesn't work, I am going to promote the drug rehab method with the highest success rate on the planet: Narconon

When Translators Go Wrong

2007-08-13T17:45:00.000-04:00

Here's a car you'll want to buy! The Great Wall-Wingle! Yes, it's called a Wingle!

Listen to this: "Bold design of chrome plated grill, infiltrating with the desire to conquer all from inside to outside." Sounds sexy! How could you resist a car described like this: "Fashion in every detail demonstrates innovative design concepts, creative design and avant-garde daring style, without any meaningless decoration. Brilliant achievements in their careers enjoy life passion."

It's a powerful car: "GW2.8TC engine, self-creative power, China’s first high-pressure common rail diesel engine cooperated with Germany BOSCH Company which possesses of world’s leading diesel engine technology."

I'll take two to go! Great Wall-Wingle Intro

Apparently the wording was worser lastest week but it fixed was.

(You'd think they could have spent a couple more bucks - maybe a couple thousand even - to get the copy on their site right.)

Pepsi Aquafina is just filtered tap water?

2007-08-06T13:43:00.001-04:00

Do you like paying out a couple of bucks for a plastic bottle containing filtered tap water? Well, if you do then PepsiCo is willing to help you. Yes, as you sip your filtered tap water you can look at the Aquafina logo and imagine you are drinking something pure and natural: Pepsi admits Aquafina comes from tap water

Is it any wonder that food companies spend millions every year lobbying Congress to lighten up the food labeling laws?

China bans Reincarnation

2007-08-04T17:16:00.000-04:00

When I first saw the headline to the article, China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate, I thought it was a joke but when I read the article I realized it was just another example of an oppressive government violating human rights.

Human Right #18: Freedom of thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want.

The oppressive leaders of China are scared to death that someone will lead the people in a revolt against them, so when they see anyone who might have the slightest amount of influence over others they clamp down hard. It doesn't seem to occur to them that if they allow people freedom and human rights then the people won't want to revolt, but then totalitarian dictators were never very good at thinking.

Human Right #18: Freedom of thought - Video
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - abridged version
Universal Declaration of Human Rights - full text