Flag changing

While the FIFA 2014 is still in full swing I notice again that people on their cars keep changing their flags which they attached to them. It was noticeable already years ago.

So I had a closer look to an Italian neighbor this year. First he had an Italian flag - of course. When they were kicked out he changed to Brazil. After they were defeated he switched to Argentina...

And he was not the only one doing this. If I would pin flags to my car I'd say with my country, no matter if they get kicked out of the competition or not.

Just wondering.

Family Guy runs out of gas

It seems to me that Seth MacFarlane has run out of gas with Family Guy. For quite some time I have had the feeling that it's lost the punch that made it famous. MacFarlane himself admitted in It's a trap, the third part of the Family Guy Star Wars Special, that he didn't want to make it, but was "forced" with both money, and the permission by Fox to make his own movie if he made it. It was not even written by him. Greedy basta...

Since the decline of the quality of the stories it seems they want to attract the viewer with little more than eye-candy, such as increased use of CGI instead of old fashion drawings - which are also done with the aid of computers, but in all cartoons (The Simpsons, South Park etc.).

Even shows of the "Road to...", which are usually praised by the fans are in my opinion of lower quality now. Like Road to the North Pole from December 2010. Even though, according to the Wikipdedia article, it received positive reviews, the previous "Road to..." shows were better.

For more than a year now I've preferred American Dad! over Family Guy. It's like somebody other than Seth MacFarlane has full control over it. It's fresh, funny, and has punch just as the older seasons of Family Guy have.

Maybe Seth MacFarlane needs a third cancelation of Family Guy to wake up. Or perhaps he should just leave the show and hand it over to others. Then he can do his singing and other things no one really wants to see. If so, he could soon be forgotten.

While Fox is on canceling - the shouldn't forget to cancel The Cleveland Show. In my opinion it's just boring. Even more lame than Family Guy. I would guess that the only reason it has any positive ratings is that it serves as a bridge in the slot between American Dad! and Family Guy.

Why not to order from spammers

Do you like SPAM?

I doubt many people like spam. I'm not talking about canned SPiced hAM here, but unsolicited e-mail. Or do you like reading how to enlarge your penis, buy replica watches, or to get rich over night while you sleep? Well I don't.

Why does spam exist?

Spam seems to be quite a success for spammers. Thanks to the people ordering stuff from spammers. If no one placed orders at spammers, spam would cease to exist and annoy people. Spam works almost fully automated now, so spammers make money without doing a lot of work.

Why no one should order from spammers

Need a bigger penis?

There is no such thing as penis enlargement with pills. That's snake oil. It doesn't work. If you don't believe it, go to your doctor, he will confirm this. The only solution is surgery.

If those pills were to exist you would see ads on TV and in magazines, as you do for Viagra and Cialis.

Oh, you saw the Enzyte ads on TV? Have a close look at their FAQ. You will see they don't mention "penis enlargement" anywhere. It's more like the Viagra issue. Sure, the ads make you think it's about penis enlargement, and that is what they want you to think.

So forget about penis enlargement by pills.

You want cheap Viagra and other pills

Pills spammer offer are made in Asia. The compounds differ from what you would get at FDA controlled pharmaceutical companies. Some pills put your health in risk, your life in danger, and might even kill you. Well you might have saved some bucks, but what does it help you if you are hospitalized or dead?

Read more about this subject.

Oh don't worry, I just want a Rolex replica

Do yourself a favor and use a search engine such as Google and search for Rolex replicas. Take a special look at the Sponsored Links. You notice what? Yes, the prices there are generally lower of them a spammer would charge you. Not only that. They don't give you any warranty on their overpriced low quality products, see some research.

Can I get rich by work from home or MLM?

Spam advertising to get rich over night while you sleep is fraud. It follows the Pyramid Scheme which does not work. Over 96% of the people who get involved in pyramid schemes never recoup their initial investment. In some countries it's even illegal. Better flush your money down the toilet if you think you have too much.

What about Poker or Blackjack games in online casinos?

Gambling is fine, if you have it under control. But when this is advertised by email, keep in mind that spammer are criminals. You play against a computer, and the "guaranteed payout rates" are probably a lie. As no one can control there what is really going on, and spammer just want your money. Go to a real casino if applicable in your country/state. The pay out rates will likely be higher and are guaranteed, as those casinos are controlled by a superior instance, such as the Government. May be you find one here.

Those casinos are not located in your country usually, no local law would apply. They can shut down your account at any time and with no explanation, you will lose all your REAL money. Since products and services advertised by spam are usually fraud it's a high risk.

Spammer are criminals

Since spammer hide behind fake email addresses, hijack computers of others and abuse them to send spam and doing other illegal things, spammers are criminals.

The web addresses (URLs) are often in Asian countries, such as China and Korea. Would you like to share your credit card number with one of those?

Do you want to do business with criminals?

Spammer lie

Spammer claim their drugs were FDA approved. They are of course not approved by the FDA.

Spammers say their products would be in high quality. They are not, but putting your life in danger. See links above.

Spammer claim to give you support. Be sure they leave you alone with your questions after they have your money.

Do you want to make business with people lying to you?

Spammer kill jobs (in the USA)

As the products spammer advertise are usually made outside the US (drugs etc.), people who bye from spammers don't buy US products. The more people order from spammers the less demand is for US products, which might result in setting US workers free.

Do you want to increase unemployment in the USA?

Illegal articles stopped at Customs

If some one order on spammers and the US Customs find out... Well the postal address of that some one is on the package.

You don't want to go to jail?

Not to forget

Because some people order on spammers, other people's mailboxes are stuffed with spam. It takes time (time is cash time is money) to sort the mail boxes. To check if may be a "good" mail ended up in the spam box. Companies providing e-mail service need faster and more servers to be able to deal with the masses of email nowadays and figuring out what is spam and what not. Today more than 90% of all mail is spam. More servers means more consumption of energy, which costs more money (the costumers will pay) and means more pollution to the environment (we all will have to pay). A small part to global warming. Only because some people think they save a few bucks when they order on spammers. While, as described above, they will only hurt themselves. The only winner is the spammer, all others will lose.

Conclusion

Don't put your health or life into risk, don't waste money for items you get elsewhere for a better price and in a better quality, don't break the law and do business with criminals, help the environment, and do not order from spammers. Everything advertised by spam is likely fraud.

Linux is not Windows

Why most people fail to use Linux

The reason why Linux currently has a market share of about 1% is not, that it's worse than others - let's talk about Windows. It's also not that it would be harder to maintain, or that the number of programs are too small to make a good use of it.

In my opinion it's a social problem. It's just the fact that people don't want changes. They like what they know, what they are used to. And if people want to try something new, compare it with what they know. And that is the problem.

With Linux you can do about the same things you can do with Windows. You can read and write mails, browse the internet, write blogs (I do here), write documents and create spread sheets. You can also import them from the MS-Office and edit them. You can listen to music, watch movies, play games. May be not the sophisticated games you know from Windows. But this is not Linux' fault. It's that it would be too expensive to make a game for more platforms. Especially for one having almost no market share. But Linux is different to Windows.

People expect to be Linux the better Windows. It is not. It might be a better (in some instances) operating system though.

The price for Linux

You can get from A to B with Windows and Linux. But in a different way. It's like you go with a car (Windows), where you can do that. But Linux is more like a jet, but is light weight, has low emissions, produces almost no pollution and is very fast, but cheap or even free. You also get from A to B, but you have to learn the way how.

There are no real threats out for Linux as I write this. One reason is its architecture (file and user separation, though you could also have it with Windows, but almost no one really cares). But the best advantage is its small market share. It's just not interesting for criminals to create malware for it. Thus (and see a few paragraphs below) you don't need virus scanner or malware detectors or removers.

Linux comes with all ports closed, unless you install servers. SSH might be open on a few distributions though, but that's no problem. You don't need to think about a firewall at all.

A further "problem" might be that Linux is too easy to maintain - if you already know Windows. For example Linux user usually do not download to install programs. Basically you tell Linux what you want, and it does all for you: finding the package, downloading, validating that the package is not compromised, install and configure it. While you are grabbing a coffee it's all set and done, ready to rock.

That way the packages are checked for validity (checksum and PGP keys) it is extremely unlikely they are infected with malware, or get infected on the way from the server to you, as an installation will be refused if that happened.

Conclusion

All one has to do is to want a change, if she or he decides. And accept it will be new, not just a better Windows. Needs to force one self to spend a few days to get used to it and not give up after just a few hours. If you think you are not willing to spend a few days and are ready for a change, not even bother with Linux.