The Radio Tower

That title alone is enough to prompt a defensive statement on my behalf.  I’m not a liberal. I’m not a staunch conservative. I’m not your categorically defined and statistically solidified demographic that votes for x,y and depending on religion, z. I don’t hate all news outlets, and I’m only partially paranoid, for example I think it is safe to say that Obama is a citizen and 9/11 was not an inside job.

Moving right along. Fox News is obviously designed and developed, packaged and sealed, and hand-fed for those who consider themselves followers of at-least-more-than-a-few-of-the-beliefs of the Republican party. Deny it up and down, no one cares or will take you seriously. This is not a bad thing, if you like your news to reflect your opinions, generally speaking, then Fox News and MSNBC(for the liberal minded populous) can deliver your custom portions, daily.

I’d now like to turn your attention to a current issue that is being pumped into the mainstream media like so much shit into a sewer: Health Care. Specifically, we’re talking about Obama’s Health Care Plan(OHCP). I haven’t read the bill, but I’m not going to critique or praise it or anything like that. I want to talk about the bias being thrown around by certain media outlets and the potentially harmful, polarizing effect it could have.

In today’s world of Twitter trends and headline news, most people don’t really catch anything more than summations and opinionated blurbs. Fox News has been running headlines and featured stories on vastly opinionated fact-less, politically worded ideas. The journalistic caliber of these stories is comparable to the body of work produced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War known as propaganda.

The single, most chilling, effect of this behavior is that no matter who speaks up against OHCP, or any other issue that Fox defends, they are instantly and unfairly characterized as being a part of the Fox Nation.  That is to say that they are associated with all of the beliefs and opinions that Fox is toting, eventhough they may not share them. Obviously, this can be avoided if a news outlet stays unbiased, but Fox and others have decided to start waving their flags and showing their colors.

I guess its just as well. It won’t be long until all of these cable news dinosaurs die out in the meteoric fire of the Internet and its endless supply of innovative and democratic solutions.

Also, long live NPR.

How many people are using Comcast to view this page? I assume no one at all is viewing this page, but if you are and using Comcast, I feel sorry for you brother.  The internet is the last stronghold of free speech, expression and freedom on Earth, some may call it the Constitution’s Alamo. Ever since the internet’s invention in 1841 by JFK, big business has been launching campaigns against our ability to share information, which our right to is held to be self evident.

Napster was the first target which I am aware of to be slain in the War On Information. Others have fallen as well, but in their wake, a new rises from the ashes as humanity strives ahead with steadfast conviction on behalf of their beliefs. Now the biggest threat information and free speech faces is the giant corporation Comcast,(Communistcast for short). They have been systematically eroding our rights in an attempt to maximize their profits by catering preference  to big business and other interests. Comcast was in the news for limiting data transfers for users sharing files, the FCC ordered Comcast to halt their operations, to which Comcast said the rules were not enforceable. 

Limiting internet access is not my primary concern with Comcast. What really makes me rage is their actions with users sharing files. In my travels across the internet, I have heard of many reports where a person downloads copyrited content and then several days later, they recieve a letter in the mail from Comcast. The letter is a warning to cease those downloading practices or legal actions will be taken. That sounds perfectly fine, yes? I do not wish to get into an argument about copyrite infringement, my argument is with a major company monitoring and threatening users over the content they view/download. 

Where will they check to see what content is copyrited? Just the bittorrent(file sharing) sites which are under constant assault? Or in every packet of data which flows through your computer out into the internet? You sent your friend an email? Well lets check in there and make sure you didn’t send him copyrited material. OK, well it was just details about a recent trip, better keep that on file incase it is needed as evidence for a future investigation. 

Politicians are attempting to pass a law requiring records to be kept of all your internet activities. Comcast must have gotten a woody when they heard about that, if they didn’t lobby for this bill. You could say “Well I’m not doing anything bad on the internet, so I don’t have anything to worry about.” You would be wrong. With current policies in effect that could label you as a terrorist for anything the Gov’t decides to be evidence on a whim, your private information could be sifted through unwarrented.  Who knows what personal things they could learn. Do you want anyone knowing everything you have done on the internet in the last 2 years? If they allow this to happen, it will just be the entry point into a scary world we only see in movies. Start off at only 2 years, then hell, might as well make it a permanent record. 

If you knew every strike of your keyboard was being monitored and logged, would you change your browsing habits? Lets return to that email you sent your friend. Suppose you are a college student and the trip was spring break where you discuss how intoxicated you were and decided to try smoking pot once before you got into the business world. You were smart enough not to post these details on a social networking site because you know that prospected employers sometimes invade your privacy to scout their applicants. You are a responsible person, but wanted to have some fun before you spend the next 40 years of your live being a slave to the man, now these private details are logged and stored in the mainfraims of a shady ISP (Comcast) *Cough*.

Fast forward a few years, and all records are now being permanently stored. You are applying for a job at a large company and have a great resume, but are denied because of some unknown reason. What happened? Well the company you applied to forked over a few bucks to get your records and found out about your previous behavior and who knows what else.

I sound crazy making up this hypothetical story right? Wrong. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 8 months, you have seen the corporate greed that has gone on in Wallstreet and has nearly destroyed our economy. Big Business will do anything for a buck, including digging into your private information if it will make their bottom line a little more appealing. They already do it when they sell your phone number to telemarketers or your email to spammers. Imagine how much all of your personal private information could be worth to someone who wanted it.  

This is the world we are heading into with the actions being taken by politicians and corporate giants. So what happens if we end up in this world? Peoples browsing habits will change. We have corrupt political groups like ACORN that would love to know your private information. Worst case scenario: Your local ISP is hurting for cash, they get a little desperate, so they sell the private data of their users to balance their books to a political group before an upcoming election. They sift through the data and find you are undecided, they put your name into a group for further investigation along with many others. They want your vote, so they dig through your emails and instant messages and find you have been talking to a women for a few months and have made some “questionable” remarks to her which taken out of context might signal to your wife that you have been cheating, or hell you have been cheating. Now they have some leverage over you to try and pressure into voting in their interests. 

That cant happen in America though, its America for god’s sake!

So what would a world look like where everyone knows they are being watched on the internet? Well Comcast has already shown us a glimps into that world. The type of marketing a company puts out mirrors their values and characteristics. An advertisement reflects the mindset of its creators, obviously, because they made it. I’m sure you have seen the Comcast commercials where they have that catchy tune with people walking around in a fantasy Comcast created internet world. The tune is catchy since it is sung in a monotone voice by expressionless actors.

She looks so very happy to be using Comcast to browse the internet.

All the actors/actresses are singing the tune with a  bored, dissatisfied, brainwashed look on their face. It almost seems as if they have been forced to pretend that what they are doing is fun when they actually hate it but have no choice. This is the world of the future if things head down their current path. All content will be created by corporations, trade marked and forced down the throats of users. Original content by individual users will fade away out of fear of persecution or prosecution for inadvertantly crossing a corporate line. Creativity will have to be bought and imagination will extend to only as far as ones budget. 

Welcome to the internet.

Recently, there was a report on CNN about some pilots reporting that they had been flashed in the eyes by a green laser. Being a laser enthusiast myself, I immediately switched my focus from wondering why I bought GM stock 6 months ago, to a more serious issue- the future of laser legality. When I first began to get serious about lasers, I was sure to learn of the dangers of operating such a wonder of technology. Of course there is the obvious “don’t look into beam with remaining good eye”, but there is a concern that many people are unaware of, you can hit airliners with them. I am not referring to those $5 red lasers you buy at a dollar store and use to aggravate your cat with. I am talking about the high powered Class IIIb and Class IV lasers. Since you probably don’t know what a Class IIIb laser is, It basically means it will blow a hole through your retnia and has a range of several miles and Class IV are used to cut titanium.  Before I get into the threat lasers are facing, I wish to show you why lasers are so awesome.

I have several lasers including a 300mw green laser and an industrial CO2 cutting laser(which I plan on turning into a ray gun). When I press the button on the 300mw laser, I see this beautiful green, perfectly straight beam pour out of the end, its like something out of Star Wars. I am the coolest kid around when I have a laser with me, everyone stops and whispers to their friends, “Man, I wish I was as cool as him. All I have is a super hot girlfriend, I hope she doesn’t see him, my six pack can’t compete with that green beam.” Even more impressive than the green laser, is my violet laser or “Blue Ray”. It is the same laser that you use when you turn on a Blue Ray movie but this, I get to hold and shine at and melt things. The violet laser also is alot more powerful than it’s green or red cousins, it has no problem igniting matches or popping children’s ballons at a birthday party. 

Now in regards to the legal issues of laser use, this is what must be held in mind- you will go to jail for a long time if you get caught shining it at a plane. Pilots are REQUIRED by law to report any laser sightings. I tell anyone who uses my lasers to not shine it at any vehicles, people, or aircraft. Usually they don’t listen to me and spray a passing car, to which I get belligerent and rage at them with the ferocity of a derailed train. People like that are going to ruin it for all of us who enjoy using lasers in a peaceful manner. 

The event I spoke of in the beginning of this article goes as such:

(CNN) – Pilots on 12 jetliners landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday reported that someone was shining a green laser light into their cockpits, bringing renewed attention to a problem that has plagued pilots since the introduction of cheap laser pointers several years ago.

This is terrible. There are people out there who wish for nothing more than to ban anything that is fun to play with and now some faggot has given them a box full of ammunition to shoot the hell out of all the fun in the world. Its no different than the idiot kids who got the little bottle rockets banned because they thought that shooting them at each other’s eyes was a good idea. The article seriously goes as far to say this

“Hesselbein and others say they have not seen lasers used as weapons by politically motivated terrorists. “

Did they seriously try and link laser pointers to terrorists?  The only time you need to worry about a terrorist having a laser is when it is attached to an AK-47. Have we become so paranoid that we must label all and everything as a weapon?  The world has lost its mind apparently. I am going to buy an entire truck load of lasers to ensure I have enough to last at least three decades.

We have moved forward into the world of Web 2.0.  Eventually we will import the comics and other sections from the old tower site, which can be found at http://old.theradiotower.com.  Expect to see a lot of political, opinionated blog posts about the current happenings in the US.