Demon goat

This is a funny video clip about a demon goat who chased some kid up a tree.  It made me laugh for a few minutes.   Enjoy!

NSA threatened Yahoo with $250k fine per day if they did not release user data

The US government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day if it refused to hand over user data to the National Security Agency, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

In a blogpost, the company said the 1,500 pages of once-secret documents shine further light on Yahoo previously disclosed clashed with the NSA over access to its users’ data.

The papers outline Yahoo’s secret and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to resist the government’s demands for the tech firm to cooperate with the NSA’s controversial Prism surveillance program, revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden last year.

“The released documents underscore how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the US government’s surveillance efforts,” said company general counsel Ron Bell in a Tumblr post.

The US government amended a key law to demand user information from online services in 2007. When Yahoo was asked to hand over user data the company objected arguing the request was “unconstitutional and overbroad”.

Yahoo took its case to the foreign intelligence surveillance court, also known as the Fisa court, which oversees requests for surveillance orders in national security investigations. The secretive Fisa court provides the legal authorities that underpin the US government’s controversial surveillance programs. Yahoo lost its case, and an appeal.

Federal judge William Bryson, presiding judge of the foreign intelligence surveillance court of review, which reviews denials of applications for electronic surveillance warrants, unsealed the documents on Thursday.

Disclosures in the Guardian and the Washington Post about the Prism program, which was discontinued in 2011, prompted an international backlash over allegations of overreach in government surveillance and against the tech companies which cooperated with it.

“Despite the declassification and release, portions of the documents remain sealed and classified to this day, unknown even to our team. The released documents underscore how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the US government’s surveillance efforts. At one point, the US government threatened the imposition of $250,000 in fines per day if we refused to comply,” wrote Bell.

“Our fight continues. We are still pushing for the FISC [Fisa court] to release materials from the 2007-2008 case in the lower court. The FISC indicated previously that it was waiting on the FISC-R ruling in relation to the 2008 appeal before moving forward. Now that the FISC-R [court of review] matter is resolved, we will work hard to make the materials from the FISC case public, as well.”

Almost all the major US tech firms including AOL, Apple, Google and Microsoft were listed by the NSA as participants in the program, which was run in conjunction with the NSA’s British equivalent, GCHQ.

Begun under the Bush administration the program collected information from the major tech companies under Section 702 of the Fisa Amendments Act. The NSA’s slides obtained by Snowden contained a briefing presentation which said Prism granted access to records such as emails, chat conversations, voice calls, documents and more.

Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security project, said he had not yet reviewed all the documents but that it appeared Yahoo “had challenged the warrantless wiretapping program more than any other of its competitors”.

Online dating

I have limited knowledge of online dating.  Well I say this as though I haven't given it enough time, but only 2 weeks in, I'd deleted my profiles and told my best friend to do the same.  I hate it.  I've never been conditioned to be shallow before.  I'm an unusual creature in that I'm a woman who is actually deterred by muscular, chiselled jawed males with tans and flawless boyish skin.  I'd rather bide my time and find out that the person I'm 'dating' has something more to them than a photogenic smile for my selfies.

So what happened?

Basic psychology is what happened.

There's thousands of profiles to look through.  Most of which have photos.  So I found myself skipping the profiles with photos - who knows what delights I was missing there, then I got chatting to a couple of guys.  When I say a couple, I mean literally 2.  How on earth anyone can talk to more than 2 people at once and remember anything solid about each one is beyond me.  So anyway, when I realised they weren't for me, I started looking though more photos and before I knew it, I was flipping through photos just because I'd already chatted to guys who looked hotter.  Me?  Doing that?  Horrific.  I certainly don't want to be 'that' girl.  So I deleted my profules as soon as I realised what was going on.  Once I'd realised why online dating even existed and why it was such a lucrative business.

I like my relationships in the real world.  Real friends and a real lover.  That's what I enjoy.  Knowing that I've not met some shallow creep online who was probably looking through hundreds of other women's photos with the same mindset as the one I was developing.

Love, or the notion of being in love is a pretty powerful thing.  I think it's pretty clear cut.  Most people either want to be single and play the field or find their soul mate and settle down.  To me, online dating sites have always strived to break down this clear cut desire for people to make everyone want to play the field, or just to simply believe that there is always a better person out there for them.  It's not dissimilar to online shopping, when you've been shopping around for something at the right price, it's not uncommon to worry that you could have found better and cheaper elsewhere.

I read an article a couple of months ago and jumped up and down screaming at my computer screen that I worked that out ages ago.  There are plenty of them around.  Like this one from Aljazeera detailing OKCupid's experimentation methods.

If I had ever been completely serious about this online dating business and had read this article without having worked out the reality sooner, I'd have been pretty annoyed when the penny dropped that I had been being used as a research experiment and that my heart and future had been used like that.  I've tried explaining to people before my feelings on this matter.  Online dating is no different in my eyes than charitable work.  It's all big business, created to line someone's pocket, preying on the vulnerable or the naive.

If you're looking for love, why not get a hobby and join a club.  Make new friends, and stop allowing your dreams of a perfect relationship spoil your life.  Sitting in front of a computer screen clicking through profiles is no way to meet people and certainly doesn't sound much like fun.  Go on, get out and enjoy yourself.  You never know who you'll bump into!

Why I think the world should end

This is quite a thought provoking poem and one that people should really take notice of.

Stop watching television, look at what's going on around you.  Stop being so hellbent on having the latest phones, laptop, tablet or games console and realise that if you have a roof over your head, food in your cupboard and family to love, then you're richer than many people across the world.  Stop thinking that throwing money at a charity secures your place in the saintly hall of fame and do something real to make a difference to another person's life.  It doesnt even have to cost you anything, just a smile and a good morning greeting could brighten up a stranger's day.

Ice Bucket Chellenge

OK, so unless you don't use the internet at all, ever, for anything, you'll have most definitely heard about the "ice bucket challenge".  I'm pretty sure that this is the year for doing stupid things to get more facebook likes - sorry I mean raise money for charity and be a little poppet....yeah....anyway...

I've been going around with my fingers in my ears about this one.  Ever since I first heard about it.  It started with some article featuring Mark Zuckerberg saying that he's 'nominated' Bill Gates for the Ice Bucket Challenge.  I saw it, and just kept scrolling.  I had no interest in it then, and even less interest in it now, the more and more I've thought about it.

Most people, on seeing my reaction of "I don't want to see that lalalalala" have been pretty disgusted and exclaim about my lack of empathy for ALS sufferers or that I just don't care about helping other people, which actually couldn't be further from the truth.  In actual fact, I'll go to extremes for a friend, relative, a little old lady down the road who needs a hand with something or other.  If someone asks me for help, I'll always do what I can.  That's my version of the 'ice bucket challenge'.  Actually doing things for other people and knowing that what I've done has made some kind of difference.  I don't get likes on facebook for it, and don't expect people to follow suit.  I know many wouldn't, which is really very sad.

Even sadder, is that many people who throw money at charities don't even know what happens to their money, maybe don't even care.  We saw that with the Chinese whispers style error in the no make-up selfie with money flying around to all kinds of other charities.  No one had a clue what they were doing.

But I digress.  The main charity used in these ice bucket challenge is the national ALS charity.  It's actually one of the charities that puts the most money towards its actual cause in America.  Sounds pretty good so far?  Well, no.  Actually no.  It's a national charity, so the local charities don't get any additional help, and they're the ones that give back to the local community.  The main national charity  does more of the research aspect, which whilst necessary doesn't go to any lengths to improve the lives of current sufferers or their families.  The other thing is the shocking figures for the national ALS charity's book balancing for 2012. This wasn't a special year or anything, just the most recent figures to be available and reliable.  Here's some figures I found for you.  Take a look for yourself.

• Total Revenue: $19,690,252
• Total Expenses: $19,796,581
• Salaries and Wages: $4,328,559
• CEO Pay: $297,288
• Travel: $1,171,175
• Professional Fundraiser Expenses: $709,621

In my cynical opinion, whether or not you agree with me, the best things about charities are the job creation that comes with them and the money that they put back into the community via non-charitable spending.  If that's what you want to support, then fine, but personally, I'll stick to helping little old Joyce down the road learn how to use a trackpad.  At least I know that's one more person in the world who will be able to Skype her relatives in Australia instead of feeling lonely on a Friday night.  I may not have spent any money on her, but I'll have given her my time, which to her is much more valuable and appreciated than any money.

Sweden shares it's twitter account with its people!

 I found you something cool on Twitter.

Sweden has a twitter account that it hands over to a different random Swedish citizen each week. It's then that person's job for the week to tell the world about Sweden from their own point of view. Very good idea.

You can go and check out the twitter account at https://twitter.com/sweden

Jess Glynne - Right here

I quite enjoy a wide range of music, but I've struggled since my 20s to really get into any newer dance or mainstream releases which don't involve bands.  I heard this song earlier in the year though and subsequently quite a bit recently, and I really quite like it.  I think it's got one of those 90's old school dance vibes behind it and that's fine by me.  My favourite era.  What do you think of this youtube video of the song that I found for you?

Hippo swallows dwarf

Sometimes, you come across one of those posts where you have a really good giggle, then think "no, that can't be true" so you go and research it. Well I had one of those moments when I found this for you. I looked it up. It's not really real. It's more like one of those urban legends, but it's funny all the same. Have a read :)

The premeditated murder flowchart

Ever wanted to do some killin'?  I found a flowchart for you to help you sort that out.

The arrogance of mankind

The guy's got a very valid point.  Think about it.

Banned commercial - funny parrot (NSFW)

If the world were 100 people

It's difficult to see the whole picture if you're thinking of the world to scale.  Millions of people going about their day to day lives.  Different religious beliefs, different languages, some privileged whilst others are not.  So I found this for you.  It's pretty interesting.  Imagine the word condensed into a little village of 100 people.  What would you have?



If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female
50 would be male
20 would be children
There would be 80 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
13 Africans
14 people from the Western Hemisphere
There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who practice other religions
16 people who would not be aligned with a religion
17 would speak a Chinese dialect
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer
75 people would have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not
1 would be dying of starvation
17 would be undernourished
15 would be overweight
83 would have access to safe drinking water
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink