Friday, December 11, 2015

Anonymous' easy target, Pop v. 3 pointers and governmental workers v. intelligence


- Why not pick a bigger challenge, Anonymous? You claiming that some of your hackers have disabled the website of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may have been done to make a political point, but it definitely isn't scoring you any points in the hacker world. The hack is allegedly in protest of Japan’s  decision to resuming its whaling program in the big blue ocean in defiance of international opinion and it’s cool to use your digital disrupting prowess to help out a bunch of large, potentially deadly ocean creatures whose meat is delicious, but don’t act like this was even remotely challenging for you. Anonymous, the notorious hacker collective, had one of its purported members talking social media junk to the prime minister on Twitter. “Whaling is not cultural right! Your website is #TangoDown!”, was the message sent Abe’s way and the tweet was accompanied by a screenshot showing that connections to the site were not working. The site eventually returned to full function, but not before the government’s top spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, acknowledged that the site had been inaccessible for a short period of time. The plot thickened when another Anonymous Twitter account said the group had not been responsible for the attack on Abe’s site, claiming that the action appears to have been taken by a sympathizer, operating under the Anonymous umbrella. Whoever it was, this person is clearly angered by Japan’s slaughter of whales and dolphins. Anonymous has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Japanese websites in protest at the country’s whaling program, so odds are it was linked to this one as well, but maybe next time Anonymous wants to direct its faceless rage at a tougher target………


- It should be a badass weekend at the Isle of Wight Festival 2016, where it just might feel like New York City in the fall of 1976. To mark the 40th anniversary of punk rock, Iggy Pop, Adam Ant and The Damned will anchor an impressive collection of punks that also includes genre icons such as Buzzcocks, The Godfathers and The Sex Pissed Dolls. It’s an awesome collection of punk outfits that should help balance out an otherwise-hacky lineup that will feature Queen with faux front man Adam Lambert, Stereophonics and Faithless. The festival will take place June 9-12 at Seaclose Park in Newport and for those who don’t know, that makes it a great place to mark punk’s 40th birthday. A genre that began with many anti-establishment, quasi-functional-on-their-instruments bands who merely wanted to thrash, rage and shake a fist in the face of The Man truly became a thing in 1976 and the following year The Sex Pistols signed to EMI Records, The Ramones released their debut album and bands such as The Damned, Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Slits, X-Ray Spex, Black Flag and The Adverts all formed. It was a truly awesome time in music and sadly, punk has become a bastardized shell of its former self in recent years. Iggy Pop is one of the few who has remained largely true to the punk spirit and is still performing like a madman well into his 60s, so having him be a part of this occasion gives it a definite sense of legitimacy. If only Joe Strummer and all of The Ramones were still alive, it could truly be an all-time great punk party………


- Very little is asked of most government employees. They need only show up on the few days a year that aren't national holidays or part of their generous amount of vacation and personal time, mindlessly and decently perform their inane tasks as spelled out by the many bureaucratic restrictions that govern their work existence and not assault or harass anyone in the process. Why is that so, so hard to do? That question goes out directly to California Department of Corrections administrative worker Denise Slader, who was caught on video unleashing a special brand of corrosive hate at a public park. Slader went viral for making anti-Islamic remarks before throwing her coffee and an umbrella at a group of Muslim men who had been praying at a Bay Area park. East Bay Regional Park District spokeswoman Carolyn Jones confirmed that police were forwarding the results of their investigation to the district attorney’s office for review. Slader’s actual job is as a program technician with the department’s Adult Parole Operations, but she might soon find out what it’s like to be on parole after being filmed doling out her special brand of ass-hattery Lake Chabot Regional Park in Castro Valley by Rasheed Albeshari, who then posted the video on Facebook. In the video, Slader is seen standing with her purse, umbrella and a cup of coffee, saying Albeshari's "people have tortured" others. She went on to inform the group that they were “brainwashed for believing in Allah.” A park ranger tried to intervene, but Slader was having none of it and closed by saying, “You are very deceived by Satan. Your mind has been taken over, brainwashed and you have nothing but hate." Merry freaking Christmas to you too, Denise……..  


- San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is the best. Even when he’s bitter, angry and cantankerous - or as some might call it, being himself  - Pop is one of the NBA’s true treasures. He’s an irascible curmudgeon who makes the two old guys heckling people from the balcony on “The Muppets” seem bubbly and happy by comparison and his terse, playfully uncooperative in-game interviews to television sideline reporters are the stuff of legends. Still, it’s his act following the Spurs' 97-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors that truly showcased his irreverent attitude. Pop, who has been coaching since 1980 - the exact year the 3-point shot became a thing in basketball - went on a tirade against the triple and made it clear he’s never going to be OK with it.  " "I still hate it. I'll never embrace it. I don't think it's basketball. I think it's kind of like a circus sort of thing,” Popovich snarled. “Why don't we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing. But that's just me, that's just old-school. To a certain degree, you better embrace it or you're going to lose. And every time we've won a championship, the 3-point shot was a big part of it. Because it is so powerful and you've gotta be able to do it. And nobody does it better than Golden State, and you know where they're at. So it's important. You can't ignore it." Preach, Pop. Even if your take is bizarrely antiquated because it sounds like you’re griping about something that happened 35 months ago instead of 35 years ago, hearing you rant makes the world a better place. Ironically, in the 2014 NBA Finals, the Spurs obliterated the two-time defending champion Miami Heat in the NBA Finals largely because of the 3-point shot. "I can't be stubborn," the Spurs' coach said after the 2014 title run, "just because I personally don't like it and think it mucks up the game. ... I still hate it." At least this world-class bitterman is consistent and will still be snapping at the sort of nonsense for as long as he’s a part of basketball………

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