Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Australia

Muslims who want to live under Islamic
Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia
, as the government targeted radicals in a bid
to head off potential terror attacks..

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by
saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques..


Quote:

"IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.
Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of
this nation worrying about whether we are
offending some individual or their culture.
Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced
a surge in patriotism by the majority of
Australians."

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of
struggles, trials and victories by millions of
men and women who have sought freedom. We speak
mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic,
Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other
language. Therefore, if you wish to become part
of our society, Learn the
Language!"

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some
Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because
Christian men and women, on Christian principles,
founded this nation, and this is clearly
documented. It is certainly appropriate to
display it on the walls of our schools. If God
offends you, then I suggest you consider another
part of the world as your new home, because God
is part of our culture."

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question
why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and
live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and
we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all
this. But once you are done complaining,
whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge,
Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of
Life, I highly encourage you take
advantage of one other great Australian freedom,
THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't
force you to come here. You asked to be here. So
accept the country YOU accepted."

Did Microsoft really create all those nifty new features in Windows 7? Jack Wallen doesn’t think so. Read his abbreviated list of features found in Linux for some time now. more here

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in
California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the
window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you
give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully
grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone and surfs to a
NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to
another NASA satellite that scans the in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored.
He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry
and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and
says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his
car.

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young Man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already
knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.


Now give me back my dog."

MythTV News


Announcement: 0.22 Release Candidate Available

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 03:47 PM PDT

After what seemed to many like much too long of a wait, we've finally started working on a release schedule for 0.22 and would like to announce the availability of 0.22 Release Candidate 1.
Please make sure to read the Release Notes before upgrading.
You can download the tarballs now:
o MythTV (MD5)
o MythPlugins (MD5)
o MythThemes (MD5)
Or check the code out from subversion

more info here

Microsoft is apparently teaching Best Buy employees that Windows 7 beats Linux in every category imaginable. Redmond isn't just saying that Windows has more software or games available than Linux does or that Windows has compatibility with more devices and hardware than Linux does. The software giant is actually going as far as teaching employees that there are certain statements about Linux that need to be labeled as myths.

The first time that some friend tells you to try government as a solution to a problem it sounds like a good idea.

Maybe it will get your neighbor to act the way you want him to. Maybe it will give you an education, or health care.

It sneaks up on you, a little at a time at first. You think one government program won't hurt.

Government helps you and you don't have to pay for the help. A pretty good deal.

But one day it dawns on you: you're hooked. Whatever problem you face, from your not earning as much money as you'd like to the unesthetic design of your neighbor's house to your city's inability to attract an NFL franchise, you turn to government for help.

You're swamped in government programs and you've lost control of your life. You've become a government addict.

It's hard to kick the habit. Being responsible for your own actions is not always convenient. You'll have to make decisions for yourself. Sometimes they are going to be wrong.

Yet being free to choose rightly or wrongly — and to learn from your mistakes — is what being human is all about.

Once you've come clean, once you've broken the habit of turning to government for an answer, you realize that government is the problem, not the solution.

Government is a lie. It promises prosperity and a better standard of living. But it ends up taking from you, controlling you, dragging you down into a seedy underworld of bureaucracy, red tape, and corruption.

From Housekeeping Monthly, 13 May, 1955.



Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.

During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.

Be happy to see him.

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

* A good wife always knows her place.

IN ORLANDO LAST WEEK, AT A CITGO STATION, REGULAR GAS WAS PRICED AT
$2.82 PER GALLON, AND NO CUSTOMERS.
HOWEVER, ACROSS THE STREET FUEL WAS SELLING FOR $2.85 PER GALLON AND ALL
PUMPS THERE HAD CARS WAITING TO FUEL UP.
What's going on? Word is getting around!!!!!


Read on: Have you noticed how the CITGO signs have disappeared in the
past 7-8 months? A very clever move by Chavez. But guess what,
"CITGO" IS CHANGING ITS NAME, too...This is serious, Americans,...make
sure you read this very carefully.

NEWS FLASH:
Chavez is NOW getting a Russian Weapons Factory built by Putin. The
RUSSIANS are building an AK-47 Kalashnikov Assault Rifle factory in
Venezuela , to give armament support to Communist Rebel groups
throughout the Americas .

Chavez NOW has IRANIANS operating his oil refineries in Venezuela for
him. It is likely only a matter of time, if not already, before Chavez
has Iranian built LONG RANGE missiles, with a variety of warhead types
aimed at: Guess Who?

CITGO is NOW in the process of Changing Its Name to "PETRO EXPRESS" due
to the loss of gasoline sales in the USA ...due to the recent publicity
of ownership by Chavez of Venezuela.

Every dollar you spend with ''CITGO" or "PETRO EXPRESS" gasoline will be
used against you, your basic human rights, and your freedoms. He will
start wars here in the Americas that will probably be the death of
millions.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT because Chavez is starting to feel the loss of
revenue from his holdings. HE OWNS "CITGO." This is a very important
move that everyone should be aware of.

ANNOUNCED JUST RECENTLY: "CITGO", BEING AWARE THAT SALES ARE DOWN DUE TO
U.S. CUSTOMERS NOT WANTING TO BUY FROM 'CITGO-CHAVEZ', HAVE STARTED TO
CHANGE THE NAME OF SOME OF THEIR STORES TO: 'PETRO EXPRESS'. DO NOT BUY
FROM "PETRO EXPRESS" EITHER!!! 'PETRO EXPRESS' IS ALSO 100% OWNED BY
"CHAVEZ."


BOTTOM LINE...
BOYCOTT "CITGO" & "PETRO EXPRESS" please!!

Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to
let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they
send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines
thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not
support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the
troops their brand of coffee.

So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying
any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know
this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean
we don't support the boys on the ground fighting ! street -to-street and
house-to-house.

If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it
and no one will never know.

Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again when I
deploy once more.

Semper Fidelis

Sgt. Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT

1. Your idea of a traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway

2. "Vacation" means going to Syracuse for the weekend

3. You measure distance in hours

4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once

5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day

6. You stay in your house most of the summer because you aren't used to the heat

7. You drive 65 mph through 10 feet of snow, coffee in one hand, cellphone in the other, during a raging blizzard without flinching

8. You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events

9. You install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked

10. One of your neighbors constantly has bonfires

11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them

12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at the supermarket at any given time

13. Your idea of a huge party is one with lots of cheap beer and some people you go to school with

14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled in with snow

15. You think sexy lingerie is silk pajamas from wal-mart

16. You know 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, cold, construction

17. It takes you 2 hours to go to the store for one item even when you're in a rush because you have to stop and talk to everyone in town

18. At least 6 people that you see a day have beards and stains on the front of their shirt

19. Cows are just part of the scenery

20. You or someone you know has a car that sounds like a big truck and can barely make it 20 miles yet no one says anything about it.

21. At least fives times in your normal travel day you will pass or be passed by a beat-up, old ass car that has had an attempted pimping out, such as a brand new oversized spoiler on a rust covered trunk, spinning HUBCABS, or everyones favorite, the performance exhaust on a car running on barely three cylinders.

22. You know that the phrase, "Goin up ta," applies to going north, south, east, or west, up or down in elevation, and pretty much any other way you can travel.

23. The smell of freshly spread cow manure doesn't bother you.

24. Its perfectly normal for your life's aspirations to be working for the county.

25. Getting "dressed up" means tucking your shirt into your jeans and putting on clean work boots.

26. Holloween costumes are always designed around a snowsuit and winter boots.

27. You appreciate the delicacy known as Croghan Bologna, and serve it at all social gatherings.

28. On the same platter as the Croghan Bologna is a selection of flavored cheese curd, which you also love.

29. You know damn well that the verizon guy didn't walk through your town going, "can you her me now" because reception is, at best, limited.

30. Your proud of your redneck-ness and where your from.

31. You can name everyone you graduated with.

32. You know what 4-H is.

33. You ever went to a party that was held about 20 miles down a deserted dirt road.

34. You used to drag "main."

35. You said the 'F' word and your parents knew within an hour.

36. You schedule parties around the schedule of different police officers since you know which ones would bust you.

37. You ever went or thought about going cow-tipping.

38. School gets canceled for a sports team going toState

39. You could never buy cigarettes cause all the store clerks knew how old you were.

40. When you did find someone old enough to buy smokes for you, you had to drive down country backroads to smoke them.

41. You never missed a Homecoming parade.

42. You still go home for Homecoming.

43. It was cool to date someone from a neighboring town.

44. You had a senior skip day.

45. The whole school went to the same party after graduation.

46. You can't help but date a friend's ex.

47. Your car is always filthy from the dirt roads.

48. You think that kids who ride skateboards are weird.

49. The town next to you is considered "trashy" or "snotty" when it is just like your town.

50. Getting paid minimum wage is considered a raise.

51. You refer to anyone with a house newer than 1980 as the "rich people."

52. The people in the big city dress funny then you pick up on the cool new trend two years later.

53. You bragged to your friends because you got pipes on your truck for your birthday.

54. On Fridays, anyone you want to find can be found at Main Street or the Dairy Queen.

55. Weekend excitement involves a trip to RiteAid.

56. Even the ugly people enter beauty contests.

57. You decide to walk for exercise and 5 people pull over and ask you if you need a ride.

58. Your teachers call you by your older sibling's name.

59. The closest "cool stores" are at least 45 miles away.

60. The local phone book has only one yellow page.

61. You leave your jacket on the back of the chair in the
cafe, and when you go back the next day, it's still there, on the same chair.

62. You don't signal turns because everyone knows where you're going, anyway.

63. You call a wrong number and they supply you with the correct one.

64. You have to name six surrounding towns to explain to
people where you're from.

65. Driving to the party on a four wheeler is quite normal.

66. The town population increases by one-third when the universities go on break.

67. When somebody says "Thats billy fucillo HUGE" you know exactly what they are talking about

68. You laugh your head off reading this because you know it's true and then forward it to everyone in your address book, which is actually half your town

Good morning,

RE: Auto insurance policies in NY


I just received a letter in the mail from my small upstate NY auto insurance company stating that "the purpose of this fee is to offset costs incurred by nys police and dmv in combatting insurance-related frauds and crimes" This fee is being raised from $5 to $10?? How is this in any way MY responsibility to pay for? not to mention a 100% increase in fee revenue. I might have been able to stomach a $1 increase, maybe $2. But, $5??

This is beyond out of control, and Im not just speaking of this fee, its the icing on the cake. Its the entire tax structure in NY. Maybe I need to remind you that we live in the highest taxed state in the nation. Possibly you all realized that, and take pleasure in continuing to raising revenue from un suspecting tax payers. You are pushing residents out of this state every day. Have you ever thought of reducing expenses as a way to raise revenue? How many sheets of paper, paper clips, empty offices, fuel wasted, lights left burning all day occur throughout our state government? WOW, what a novel concept! Its something that your taxpayers have to do every day. If I cannot afford to pay cash to do something, they I simply do not do it!! imagine that. I have 2 more years to go in this state until we move, and you are determined to bankrupt me by nickle and diming me to death. Of course, thats probably your goal, so who am I to complain, ill be a good little taxpayer and shut my mouth thats what you want.


steve

In the beginning Turing created the Machine.

And the Machine was crufty and bodacious, existing in theory only. And von Neumann looked upon the Machine, and saw that it was crufty. He divided the Machine into two Abstractions, the Data and the Code, and yet the two were one Architecture. This is a great Mystery, and the beginning of wisdom.

And von Neumann spoke unto the Architecture, and blessed it, saying, “Go forth and replicate, freely exchanging data and code, and bring forth all manner of devices unto the earth.” And it was so, and it was cool. The Architecture prospered and was implemented in hardware and software. And it brought forth many Systems unto the earth.

The first Systems were mighty giants; many great works of renown did they accomplish. Among them were Colossus, the codebreaker; ENIAC, the targeter; EDSAC and MULTIVAC and all manner of froody creatures ending in AC, the experimenters; and SAGE, the defender of the sky and father of all networks. These were the mighty giants of old, the first children of Turing, and their works are written in the Books of the Ancients. This was the First Age, the age of Lore.

Now the sons of Marketing looked upon the children of Turing, and saw that they were swift of mind and terse of name and had many great and baleful attributes. And they said unto themselves, “Let us go now and make us Corporations, to bind the Systems to our own use that they may bring us great fortune.” With sweet words did they lure their customers, and with many chains did they bind the Systems, to fashion them after their own image. And the sons of Marketing fashioned themselves Suits to wear, the better to lure their customers, and wrote grave and perilous Licenses, the better to bind the Systems. And the sons of Marketing thus became known as Suits, despising and being despised by the true Engineers, the children of von Neumann.

And the Systems and their Corporations replicated and grew numerous upon the earth. In those days there were IBM and Digital, Burroughs and Honeywell, Unisys and Rand, and many others. And they each kept to their own System, hardware and software, and did not interchange, for their Licences forbade it. This was the Second Age, the age of Mainframes.

And the birth of 4004 was the beginning of the Third Age, the age of Microchips. And as the Mainframes and their Systems and Corporations had flourished, so did the Microchips and their Systems and Corporations. And their lineage was on this wise:

Moore begat Intel. Intel begat Mostech, Zilog and Atari. Mostech begat 6502, and Zilog begat Z80. Intel also begat 8800, who begat Altair; and 8086, mother of all PCs. 6502 begat Commodore, who begat PET and 64; and Apple, who begat 2. (Apple is the great Mystery, the Fruit that was devoured, yet bloomed again.) Atari begat 800 and 1200, masters of the game, who were destroyed by Sega and Nintendo. Xerox begat PARC. Commodore and PARC begat Amiga, creator of fine arts; Apple and PARC begat Lisa, who begat Macintosh, who begat iMac. Atari and PARC begat ST, the music maker, who died and was no more. Z80 begat Sinclair the dwarf, TRS-80 and CP/M, who begat many machines, but soon passed from this world. Altair, Apple and Commodore together begat Microsoft, the Great Darkness which is called Abomination, Destroyer of the Earth, the Gates of Hell.

Now it came to pass in the Age of Microchips that IBM, the greatest of the Mainframe Corporations, looked upon the young Microchip Systems and was greatly vexed. And in their vexation and wrath they smote the earth and created the IBM PC. The PC was without sound and colour, crufty and bodacious in great measure, and its likeness was a tramp, yet the Customers were greatly moved and did purchase the PC in great numbers. And IBM sought about for an Operating System Provider, for in their haste they had not created one, nor had they forged a suitably grave and perilous License, saying, “First we will build the market, then we will create a new System, one in our own image, and bound by our Licence.” But they reasoned thus out of pride and not wisdom, not foreseeing the wrath which was to come.

And IBM came unto Microsoft, who licensed unto them QDOS, the child of CP/M and 8086. (8086 was the daughter of Intel, the child of Moore). And QDOS grew, and was named MS-DOS. And MS-DOS and the PC together waxed mighty, and conquered all markets, replicating and taking possession thereof, in accordance with Moore’s Law. And Intel grew terrible and devoured all her children, such that no chip could stand before her. And Microsoft grew proud and devoured IBM, and this was a great marvel in the land. All these things are written in the Books of the Deeds of Microsoft.

In the fullness of time MS-DOS begat Windows. And this is the lineage of Windows: CP/M begat QDOS. QDOS begat DOS 1.0. DOS 1.0 begat DOS 2.0 by way of Unix. DOS 2.0 begat Windows 3.11 by way of PARC and Macintosh. IBM and Microsoft begat OS/2, who begat Windows NT and Warp, the lost OS of lore. Windows 3.11 begat Windows 95 after triumphing over Macintosh in a mighty Battle of Licences. Windows NT begat NT 4.0 by way of Windows 95. NT 4.0 begat NT 5.0, the OS also called Windows 2000, The Millennium Bug, Doomsday, Armageddon, The End Of All Things.

Now in those days there was in the land of Helsinki a young scholar named Linus the Torvald. Linus was a devout man, a disciple of RMS and mighty in the spirit of Turing, von Neumann and Moore. One day as he was meditating on the Architecture, Linus fell into a trance and was granted a vision. And in the vision he saw a great Penguin, serene and well-favoured, sitting upon an ice floe eating fish. And at the sight of the Penguin Linus was deeply afraid, and he cried unto the spirits of Turing, von Neumann and Moore for an interpretation of the dream.

And in the dream the spirits of Turing, von Neumann and Moore answered and spoke unto him, saying, “Fear not, Linus, most beloved hacker. You are exceedingly cool and froody. The great Penguin which you see is an Operating System which you shall create and deploy unto the earth. The ice-floe is the earth and all the systems thereof, upon which the Penguin shall rest and rejoice at the completion of its task. And the fish on which the Penguin feeds are the crufty Licensed codebases which swim beneath all the earth’s systems. The Penguin shall hunt and devour all that is crufty, gnarly and bodacious; all code which wriggles like spaghetti, or is infested with blighting creatures, or is bound by grave and perilous Licences shall it capture. And in capturing shall it replicate, and in replicating shall it document, and in documentation shall it bring freedom, serenity and most cool froodiness to the earth and all who code therein.”

Linus rose from meditation and created a tiny Operating System Kernel as the dream had foreshewn him; in the manner of RMS, he released the Kernel unto the World Wide Web for all to take and behold. And in the fullness of Internet Time the Kernel grew and replicated, becoming most cool and exceedingly froody, until at last it was recognized as indeed a great and mighty Penguin, whose name was Tux. And the followers of Linus took refuge in the Kernel, the Libraries and the Utilities; they installed Distribution after Distribution, and made sacrifice unto the GNU and the Penguin, and gave thanks to the spirits of Turing, von Neumann and Moore, for their deliverance from the hand of Microsoft. And this was the beginning of the Fourth Age, the age of Open Source.

Now there is much more to be said about the exceeding strange and wonderful events of those days; how some Suits of Microsoft plotted war upon the Penguin, but were discovered on a Halloween Eve; how Gates fell among lawyers and was betrayed and crucified by his former friends, the apostles of Media; how the mercenary Knights of the Red Hat brought the gospel of the Penguin into the halls of the Corporations; and even of the dispute between the brethren of Gnome and KDE over a trollish Licence. But all these things are recorded elsewhere, in the Books of the Deeds of the Penguin and the Chronicles of the Fourth Age, and I suppose if they were all narrated they would fill a stack of DVDs as deep and perilous as a Usenet Newsgroup.

Now may you code in the power of the Source; may the Kernel, the Libraries and the Utilities be with you, throughout all Distributions, until the end of the Epoch. Amen.

TrueCrypt has several useful features, including the ability to create a hidden encrypted volume inside a standard encrypted one. In a situation where you're forced to reveal your password, that hidden volume can't be identified (as it looks the same as the random data you get anyway on an encrypted volume). Encryption/decryption is handled on-the-fly. Although there is a slowdown, it isn't prohibitive.

My Letter to Hulu's CEO on 2/25/09

Good evening,

I am writing to express my disappointment in your decision to not allow
Boxee users to view your product through its UI. I have been a member
of the Hulu community for many months, and also an alpha tester for
Boxee for longer than that. To see the hard work and dedication that
many open source developers have given to the community shot down is
saddening.

When the friday deadline occurs I will no longer view Hulu content
through Boxee or via your website. I WILL however continue to record
and watch the content available on Hulu via mythTV, included with that
the ability to flag commercials. I have encouraged my friends to do so
as well.


Thank you.

Hulu's Response received on 3/9/09

Steve,

Thanks for writing. Our content providers asked that we remove our content from
Boxee, and we are respecting their wishes. While Hulu never had a formal
relationship with Boxee, this was not an easy step for the company to take.
Please know that our mission to make media dramatically easier and more
user-focused has not changed and will not change. We will not stop until we
achieve it and we are sober in our assessment that we have such a long way to go.
Our CEO provides a more detailed view of the situation in the Hulu blog, which
I’ve copied below.

Doing Hard Things
February 18th, 2009
Hulu blog entry

"I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough
to know that life is a complex matter." — Walt Disney

Later this week, Hulu's content will no longer be available through Boxee. While
we never had a formal relationship with Boxee, we are under no illusions about the
likely Boxee user response from this move. This has weighed heavily on the Hulu
team, and we know it will weigh even more so on Boxee users.

Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the
Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes. While we stubbornly believe in
this brave new world of media convergence — bumps and all — we are also steadfast
in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of
making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners. Without
their content, none of what Hulu does would be possible, including providing you
content via Hulu.com and our many distribution partner websites.

Our mission to make media dramatically easier and more user-focused has not
changed and will not change. We will not stop until we achieve it and we are sober
in our assessment that we have such a long way to go.

The maddening part of writing this blog entry is that we realize that there is no
immediate win here for users. Please know that we take very seriously our role of
representing users such that we are able to provide more and more content in more
and more ways over time. We embrace this activity in ways that respect content
owners' — and even the entire industry's — challenges to create great content that
users love. Yes, it's a complex matter. A tough mission, and a never-ending one,
but one we are passionately committed to.

For those Boxee users reading this post, we understand and appreciate that you're
likely to tell us that we're nuts. Please know that we do share the same interests
and won't stop innovating in support of the bigger mission.

Jason Kilar
CEO, Hulu

Thanks,

Eric
Hulu

The Truth-o-Meter says: False | McCain says Obama will leave troops in Iraq—wishful thinking?

On the day President Obama unveiled his strategy for pulling out of Iraq, Sen. John McCain offered tepid support from the Senate floor. "I am cautiously optimistic that the plan as laid out by the President can lead to success," McCain said on Feb. 27. "The American people should be clear: the President's plan, even after the end of its withdrawal timeline is reached, will leave in place up to 50,000 U.S. troops." If true, that would be an important vindication for McCain, who argued during the campaign that the U.S. should station peacetime troops in Iraq for the long ...

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