Oh no, please President Obama, I implore, don't shut off my Internet!

Hey all,

So, I came across an interesting story recently concerning the internet. Being an avid user of the internet, this story struck me fairly hard. It seems that there is a bill working it's way through the house right now that woulde essentially allow government executives (mainly President Obama himeself) to turn off the internet at their (his) liking. I am not a fan of this proposal. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) issued a report called "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th President" in which they recommends the creation of the office of cybersecurity czar, called a National Cybersecurity Adviser, who will oversee national network security. "Thanks to the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, the cybersecurity czar will be advised by a panel stakeholders from government, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors, much like the signatories to CSIS’s report. Also under the longer bill, the President can order the disconnection of any federal or private critical infrastructure network during emergencies or for reasons of national security. “Critical infrastructure” could include the networks attached to financial, power, transportation, medical, communication or any other network deemed critical that could be the target of a cyber attack" (www.prowebnews.com).

Now, what does this mean for the average American internet user? This means that your internet banking can be shut off, your online hospital/medicare billing can be shut off, your bus schedules will be taken down, and you probably wont be able to email anyone. Well, that doesn't seem too bad at first glance, but think about this: If the government can shut the interent down, don't you think they can probably take a peek at what anyone in the United States is doing online at any given moment? Beyond that, don't you think that this power will be abused? It just screams, "Please congress! Please Mr. President! Abuse me!" Say...just hypothetically speaking, there was to be a mass uprising against the government, for reasons legitamate or otherwise, and the internet got shut down, how much communication would be cut off? Actuall phone services use the same technology that your computer does to communicate with other computers...so the potential for phone lines to go down is high as well. The government could essentially destroy a mass movement, which technically, is our right to perform as a people, should we see it fit. This is one of the most massive attempts to censor the American people that has ever been seen. The sad thing is, have you heard about it? I didn't think so. That should tell you something right there. More here.

Enough paranoia.

So...Chapter one of the Grand Canyon Adventure, just as promised.

Chapter one: Trusty Crusty

As you can probably infer, once upon a time, I went to the Grand Canyon. This particular occasion was my senior trip. My best friends, Chance and Forrest, and myself all decided to do a week long backbacking trip in that giant ditch in Arizona. Our story begins in Forrest's driveway. Since he volunteered to drive his beautiful car, a Subaru Forester named Trusty Crusty, on the adventure, I volunteered to pay for an oil change. I drove out to his house with all the oil changing amenities: oil, funnel, oil filter, rags, etc. We were out tinkering away when Forrest's dear old dad, Tony, decided to come out and "help." His helping in essence ended up with him taking the transmission filter off, draining the fluid out of the transmission, filling the oil pan up with the prescribed amount of motor oil and trying to start the car. Those of you who actually know what I just said will know already that the car didn't start, simply because there was no transmission fluid in the transmission. We couldn't figure out why the car wouldn't start for about an hour...and then it dawned on us: there were two filters under the car labled "oil filter." It didn't take long to figure out what had happened. Once we drained half the oil, essentially not changing it at all, but diluting it, and put more transmission oil back into the transmission, the car started once more. How joyous. We didn't know till the next morning just what the consequences of these actions actually were...

More to come in chapter 2, The Drive.

And now, here is an example of YouTube abuse.



Anywhoozer, I guess now that your are thoroughly disgusted it's time for a personal update.

Here is my life since my last post:

I wrote a lot of papers. I didn't sleep a lot. I got to the point where I decided I don't like college. Then I changed my mind. It was quite the week of ups and downs. If you can tell, I'm sick of typing. I'll fill you in more on my life tomorrow. In fact, that's all I'll talk about. I promise.

Here is the same YouTuber, again abusing YouTube, but this time it sort of reminds me of me. Enjoy.



Goodnight.

-Brad