This blog is no longer in use.

Greetings. If you have just stumbled upon my blog, then you should read this post.

This blog is no longer in use. I am now writing blog posts on WordPress. Follow the link below.

http://thunderbirds101.wordpress.com/

This blog will not shut down; all posts will remain as is for future reference. They will remain as a memory that I can look back upon. Thank you.

My thoughts on the Megaupload chaos

Rumors have been circulating across the Internet that due to the US government and the FBI seizing control of Megaupload, they now have the IP addresses of anyone who downloaded and uploaded on the website. Apparently, the intellectual property owners are seeking $150,000 USD per infringement. Many across the Internet are in a state of panic, fearing for their freedom. I'm going to try and inject some logic into this situation, giving my thoughts on the matter.

First of all, approximately 180 million people have used Megaupload at some point. If all of those people engaged in copyright infringement, and each paid a fine of $150,000 USD, the total would come out to $27 trillion USD, almost double the current debt of the United States. There is no way a government, even that of the United States, can pursue 180 million people in court. They do not have the will, resources, time, or manpower to individually hunt down so many people. Furthermore, if there are 180 million users, how many times do you think people have downloaded files from Megaupload? In all likeliness, billions of times! How long would it take them to sift through all that data? It would take an incredible amount of time, time that the FBI does not have considering the fact that the FBI likely has far more pressing issues to attend to, like counter-terrorism.

Secondly, there are likely millions of users who used Megaupload for legitimate purposes. This is a key problem that is rampant among the world, online and offline. The actions of a few malcontents negatively affect those who wish no harm to intellectual property owners. Those who engaged in legal acts see a crucial piece of technology stripped from them due to the acts of a few. However, it has been reported in the indictment provided by the Department of Justice that Megaupload took little action against infringing users who uploaded copyrighted materials. This brings me to my main point.

Finally, it is extremely unlikely that the FBI and the Department of Justice would pursue action against obscure users who only downloaded files. From my point of view, it is of little use to try and attack one user for possessing copyrighted material. It is a waste of time to go after individual users, but they will most likely go after the top dogs, the ones who reaped in profits and illegally distributed copyrighted materials.

This action is likely what the FBI will attempt to do. They have already arrested the founders and high-ranking staff of Megaupload. If they were to take further action, it would likely be against users who frequently uploaded copyrighted materials and mass distributed said materials on the website. The FBI simply does not have the will or manpower to take down 180 million people. Instead, I believe they will likely focus on the source of the problem: the major users who actively engaged in mass distribution of copyrighted material on the website. They will likely do what is standard, which is to take out a few high-profile users to instigate fear into the others and dissuade them from engaging further in illegal activities.

That's my take on the whole matter.

Plans for the coming months

Greetings. In this post, I'll be outlining my plans for October and November, leading up to the Season 12 premiere of Funny Windows Errors on November 12.

As I have outlined, I am planning the sequel to Microsoft Sam and the War in the Republic of My, Microsoft Sam and the War in the ROFL Island Chain. The series will be six parts long, similar to its predecessor. I expect this series to begin in late October, if not November.

For Season 12 of Funny Windows Errors, I am going back to the classic eight-episode format instead of twelve, mainly because of the two-week gap between episodes.

I am also making the third anniversary special for Funny Windows Errors. Can't believe this show has gone on for three years, to be honest. This special will be uploaded on October 11, the same day S1EP1 was uploaded three years ago!

That's all for now. T-Bird out.

2012 - All theories disproved in one post

Many people in the world believe the world is going to meet its doom on December 21, 2012. There are definitely plausible theories on how the world could end, but they could happen on ANY date, not just one date alone. Examples are:

• Sea levels rise to extremely high levels and flood the world
• Supervolcanoes erupt, spewing massive amounts of ash into the atmosphere, triggering global cooling
• Cataclysmic and simultaneous nuclear meltdowns, spreading lethal fallout worldwide, far worse than Chernobyl and Fukushima combined.
• Nuclear war, likely will start with a small conflict that erupts into a global war. Most likely candidates for that would be India vs. Pakistan to start it off.
  
• The sun explodes into a red giant, growing to 500 times its current size. But that isn't going to happen for billions of years.
  
• Massive solar storm sends enormous proportions of cosmic radiation towards Earth, destroying all technological systems, mimicking the effects of an EMP.

But now, I shall disprove all of the theories relating to 2012 in this one post.

1. Earth will collide with "Nibiru" or Planet X. FALSE. If the object was closing in on us, we would see it. Even if it was as far away as Pluto, it would still have to be a billion times brighter.
   
2. A solar storm will eradicate all technology on this date. FALSE. The next solar maximum is not due until May 2013, and even then the storm is supposed to be weakest solar storm since 1928.
   
3. There will be a geomagnetic pole shift on this date. FALSE. Pole shifts DO NOT suddenly begin on one date alone, and they take up to 7,000 years to complete. We would not notice a thing.
   
4. Planetary alignment will cause disasters all over the world. FALSE. There were planetary alignments in 2000 and 2010, without any effect on Earth. Also, no planetary alignment will take place on this date.
   
5. Jesus will come on December 21, 2012! FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE. One only has to take a look at the mockery that is Harold Camping. That is all.
   
6. Aliens have planned an invasion on this date! DEBATABLE. Do you really think if Aliens existed, they would use a calendar WE invented?
7. A natural disaster will occur on this date. POSSIBLE. It's impossible to predict a natural disaster like an earthquake or volcanic eruption with pinpoint accuracy, so anything is possible.
   

There you go. You may now stop worrying about 2012.

May 21, 2011 - 21 reasons it will be a normal day

Right, so a bunch of crazy Christians from Oakland, California think the 'Rapture' is going to happen on May 21, 2011, followed by the end of ze world on October 21, 2011. They claim the Bible GUARANTEES it. Well, I'm here to GUARANTEE to you that NONE of this will happen at ALL. Ten reasons why it won't happen.

1. First of all, the failure rate for these predictions is 100%. Yes, NONE of them have EVER come true. And Christians have been predicting it since...well, since the start of the religion, which dates back over 2000 years.
2. The Rapture apparently involves Christians being taken into the air to meet Chirst. One problem with that. GRAVITY. There is NO CHANCE humans can start floating up into the air on their own with the force of gravity acting on them. Hooray for the Laws of Physics!
3. Expanding on Number 2, even if somehow they started being taken into the air (someone gave them jetpacks, probably), they'd never survive due to the pressure changes and lack of oxygen in the upper atmosphere. Hooray for more Laws of Physics!
4. The fool who predicted this, Harold Camping, predicted the world would end in 1994. Seventeen years later, we're still here. Who is letting this fool keep predicting if he got it so blatantly wrong the first time?!
5. Camping says he is certain this will happen because the Bible is absolutely true. Er, sorry Harold, but the Bible actually says no human will ever know the exact date of this event, or be able to predict accurately. Just sayin'.
6. Camping says the world will end with massive earthquakes everywhere...even in places where it is geographically impossible. I don't think he's a seismologist, so I wouldn't count that claim.
7. We survived the whole Supermoon phenomena in March. People said it would trigger catastrophic natural disasters everywhere. Japan's quake happened before the Supermoon occurred.
8. Palin isn't President. That is all.
9. Why Saturday, May 21? Why not Friday the 13th?
10. Camping thinks if people, including Christians, go to Church, they will not be saved because he believes Satan is running all of the churches. Hmm, so why isn't Satan causing all of the Churches to explode into flames and burn like fiery hell? Just a thought.
11. Ironically, if the 'Rapture' does happen, those unsaved won't have to suffer through eternal torment. Nope, Camping says they will simply cease to be and their consciousness will just be dead. No eternal life, but no eternal torment, either. Basically, the Atheist belief of death (I also believe nothing happens after death).
12. Battlefield 3 isn't out yet.
13. The Mayans never said it would end on this date. They must be correct, right?!
14. There is no Death Star in orbit to destroy us. Yet.
15. We aren't enemies with Soviet Russia anymore.
16. People went crazy about Y2K, and what happened? NOTHING.
17. The world would not dare end during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
18. We survived 6/6/06.
19. Chuck Norris is still alive.
20. The Bible warns against false prophets, and Harold Camping has all the characteristics of one.
21. A FUNNY WINDOWS ERRORS EPISODE IS TO AIR ON THE 21st. NO, WORLD, YOU MAY NOT END WHEN I'M MAKING VIDEOS, DAMN IT.

That's all for now.

How to protect yourself against spambots

Recently, some of my Facebook friends have mistakenly clicked on links that infect their account with a spambot. These spambots are annoying sons of bitches; they will spam links to phishing websites to lure the unsuspecting user into visiting a website with the intent of committing a variety of malicious acts against such user.

For example, once a user arrives at a phishing website, the bot(s) could steal a user's account information. This can be especially compromising if a lot of sensitive information is on such user's profile. Often, they will take control of your status feed and spam out links to people on your friends lists, with the intention of attacking them as well.

It is quite simple to protect yourself against these dodgy links.

1. If you see a link being posted repeatedly to random users, it is likely spam. DO NOT CLICK IT. Warn the user the victim that their account has been compromised.
2. Status updates with bad English and encouraging victims to click on links is a blatantly obvious sign of phishing.
3. Any post with relevance to "OMG, YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS PERSON" or "GET A FREE iPad OR iPhone 4 NOW!" can be immediately interpreted as spam.
4. Anything requesting contact info. NEVER GIVE IT TO THEM.

These are just a few simple steps to protect yourself against dodgy links. In conclusion, NEVER CLICK ON ANYTHING THAT APPEARS SUSPICIOUS.

Week of Hell...AGAIN.

Guess what? It's going to be another nightmare of a week!

Monday

• Math Quiz.
• Chemistry Test.

Tuesday

• Programming test in IT.
• English poetry presentation

Wednesday

• Nothing. YET.

Thursday

• Likely a Physics test.

Friday

• French listening/writing test.

As I said, it's HELL. >:(