Organized Chaos

US government health care

2009-08-12T22:59:09Z

I've been hearing a lot on the news in the last couple of days about the health care reform in the US, and how a lot of people don't want it and are protesting it. I really don't understand why. Government health care means that everybody has insurance that you can't be dropped from if you get sick. It means that when you have to go to the hospital, you don't have to sit there stressing about how you're going to pay your bill, because you won't have to pay it - the government will. It means that if you don't have health insurance and you think there's something seriously wrong with you, you don't have to avoid going to the hospital and sit there slowly dying because you can't afford the bill and don't have health insurance.
Apparently there are rumors going around that with government health care, doctors would be able to decide with older people, who lives and who dies. They also think that if you get cancer, the doctors will pressure you to end your life sooner. I can't believe people believe this crap. Do they think that's how it is here in Canada? Those people are seriously brainwashed.

Here in Ontario, having government health care means that I can go to the doctor whenever I feel that I need to, and I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay the bill, or avoid going to the doctor altogether because I don't have health insurance and don't have the extra money to pay the bill if I needed to. I automatically have health insurance just by being a resident of Ontario. I don't pay any premiums. I don't have to pay any medical bills. If I need blood tests, the government pays for it. If I need an x-ray, the government pays for it. If I need a CAT scan or MRI, the government pays for it. When I go to the doctor every year for a physical, the government pays for it. If I have an accident and have to go the emergency room, the government pays for it. If I have to have emergency surgery, the government pays for it. They even pay for every resident of Ontario to get a flu shot every year.
Government health care means that I will never have to go $30,000 into debt if I get sick.

A few years ago, my mother had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance for heart problems. Her medical bill was a total of $45 and that was for the ambulance. The government paid for everything else.

Having government health care means that when someone in your family ends up in the hospital, instead of worrying about how you're going to pay the bill, you can worry about what really matters - the health of your family member.

Writer's Block: Home Cooking

2009-05-09T08:57:39Z

When was the last time you cooked for yourself? What did you make?

View 502 Answers

Yesterday, I made chicken with barbecue sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, steamed broccoli, and rice flavoured with vegetable broth.
I always cook for myself. I started learning how to cook when I was about 13. It blows my mind how many people these days don't know how to cook.

Download Day

2008-06-17T22:04:22Z

Help set a world record for the most downloads in 24 hours. Download Firefox 3.

autumn_sylver @ 2008-03-26T19:31:00

2008-03-27T00:12:57Z

Everybody always says that Wal-mart is evil, and now I understand why.

In may of 2000, Debbie Shank (a Wal-mart employee) was involved in a car accident that left her brain damaged and in a wheelchair. She sued the trucking company involved in the crash, and won 1 million dollars. After her legal fees were paid, she had $417,000 left, which was put into a trust fund to pay for her long-term care. Except that in the fine print of her health plan with Wal-mart, it said that they can take any money that an employee gets in a lawsuit for medical expenses, so Wal-mart took the money from her.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

Here ya go, Livejournal

2007-08-09T00:13:24Z

Is this what you want for your community?

Really good video on Global Warming

2007-06-13T01:10:50Z

I'm getting really tired of sixapart's crap

2007-06-04T01:41:42Z

They apparently haven't unsuspended all of the suspended journals that didn't deserve it, like they said they did.
Also, they are still suspending journals.
It seems like they're only doing one by one now, hoping people won't notice.

I decided to wait until after everything blew over to see what LJ/6A would do about this whole mess, and it looks like I got my answer.
They've broken promises in the past (like their promise that LJ would remain ad-free), so I see no reason to start trusting them now.

If my journal suddenly disappears, you know what happened to it. I don't plan on deleting it, and I don't have any "objectionable" interests listed.

I'm *this* close to permanently moving to greatest journal. I hope if I do, I'll see at least some of you there. Or you'll keep in touch through email.

autumn_sylver @ 2007-06-02T19:04:00

2007-06-02T23:25:04Z

I was just made aware of this post in stewardess' journal about this whole journal suspending fiasco. Apparently, sixapart was trying to get rid of journals that might be offensive to investors. As in, they're about to start publicly trading LJ stocks. If this is true, you can bet your journal that they're going to be making more deletions. (As stewardess said: "wannabe millionaires are very motivated"). And next time, they won't just be going after pedophiles. They'll likely delete anything that they don't consider G-rated. Think about that. Think about how many communities you're a member of that might not be considered appropriate for children. Now imagine them all deleted.
I can't believe how many people think this is no big deal and everyone who got upset was just overreacting.

For all the people who don't understand why everyone is so upset

2007-06-01T19:29:09Z

I wrote this in reply to a comment in the apology post in news. I couldn't post it because the maximum number of comments has been reached for the post, but I wanted people to see it. So, here it is.

People are angry because some of us have been on LJ for several years. I've been here way before sixapart bought it - back when you still needed invite codes to join.
When you've been here that long, made friends, joined communities, or made communities, it becomes a sort of "home".
What LJ did is sort of like someone coming into your living room, putting a baseball bat through your TV screen and leaving a huge steaming pile of shit on your priceless persian rug, then turning around and saying "this is the wrong house. Oops, sorry" and then walking out without any explanation whatsoever.

autumn_sylver @ 2007-05-31T23:11:00

2007-06-01T03:29:46Z

Also, I'm not going to be leaving LJ over "strikethrough07".
They've at least acknowledged that they made a mistake, but if they think that makes everything all better, they can think again. This was a major violation of users' trust. They suspended a whole bunch of journals for no good reason, (because Warriors for Innocence threatened their advertising sponsors when they found journals supposedly promoting pedophilia) then said "oops, sorry". "Sorry" isn't going to cut it. They need to tell us exactly what it is that they will and won't allow on their site anymore. They made numerous references to "what community we want to build and what we think is appropriate within that community". They have yet to tell us exactly what that means. Until then, and maybe even after then, I don't/won't trust them. Does that mean that answers_on_sex is inappropriate and will be next on the chopping block? What about womenhealth, since "breasts" and "vagina" are words that are used there? What about vaginapagina? [sarcasm]"Vagina" is a dirty word, afterall.[/sarcasm] Does that mean that all journals having anything to do with homosexuality, women's sexuality, sexuality in general, or BDSM are now not "appropriate for the community"? Will only communities talking about puppies and disney movies be deemed "appropriate for the community"? What? Tell us.
Livejournal has been slowly but steadily going downhill since Sixapart bought it. I'm sure we can expect more of the same from them in the future.

Not to mention the fact that the issue at the base of all of this is poor parenting. Once again, people are outraged that the internet isn't parenting their children for them. They don't want their children to see things like this on the internet, yet they're not willing to sit with their children and monitor their internet usage like a good parent would.

Until LJ supports me, I refuse to support them.

2007-05-31T06:04:30Z

With all the commotion about Livejournal permanently suspending journals claiming that they promoted illegal activities, or somehow violated LJ's TOS, I've decided, as have many others, not to support Livejournal anymore by having ads on my journal. I have downgraded from a Plus account to a Basic account. I also will never buy a paid account from LJ.
Show them you won't stand for it either. Show them that they can't just trample on our rights to free speech and free expression and get away with it. If you have a paid account, disable the auto renew feature. If you have a plus account, downgrade to a basic account.

You may want to change your LJ interests and/or f-lock your journal.

2007-05-30T21:39:47Z

(Copied from bdsm_lovers. Posted by garden_hoe21)

An internet vigilante group calling themselves "Warriors for Innocence" is combing through LJ looking for journals and communities that they feel encourage pedophilia, and getting the accounts suspended. Among these have been various fan-fiction groups; anti-pedophiles who have "pedophilia" or "incest" listed as an interest; and, most ridiculous of all, a Spanish language community dedicated to the study of the book Lolita by Vladmir Nobokov.

The group's site also cites their disgust with interests such as "boys in panties" (a perfectly normal kink) and ageplay terms such as "daddy's little girl."

Anyone with interests related to ageplay, incest-related fiction, Lolita fashion, etc. may be advised to remove these interests from their account and/or put their journal on lockdown before the witch-hunt finds them.

I will not link to the site because of fears related to Google backtracking, but they should be easy enough to find.

For more information, check out this user's very detailed post. It includes links to lists of journals that have been suspended.

I just downloaded LJarchive and backed up all my entries. I also deleted a few of my interests that might be considered questionable. I don't think they are, but I'm just being extra careful.

autumn_sylver @ 2007-04-24T22:17:00

2007-04-25T02:18:26Z

Here's a chance to tip the scales of this VERY HOMOPHOBIC group's own survey. The AFA (American Family Association) is expecting an overwhelming majority of respondents to say that they would be 'less likely' to do business with a company if they knew it supported the"homosexual agenda" - whatever that is. So far, they are getting the results they seek. Of course, they are only sending it where they will get the expected results. Let's change the outcome by completing the 1-question survey and sending it to everyone we know who is tired of this archaic and hateful way of thinking. Follow the link below to take action on this important issue. Go to http://www.afa.net/petitions/businesses/businesses.asp and pass it on!

autumn_sylver @ 2007-02-27T20:40:00

2007-02-28T01:46:44Z

As I was waiting for the bus on my way home tonight, I was standing in the bus shelter because it was snowing. A guy who was also waiting for the bus was smoking a cigarette and standing right in front of the doorway to the bus shelter, and the smoke was blowing right into the shelter.
My asthma has been acting up again recently, so it made me start coughing. I had to walk away and go upwind of him so I wasn't breathing in the smoke.
Then it got me thinking. They do everything to protect people who are allergic to peanuts, including outright banning them from schools, and in some cases public places like airplanes, but they really aren't doing much about cigarettes for people who have asthma or other breathing problems. It really doesn't make sense when you think about it. Cigarettes kill millions of people every year. Peanuts don't. No healthy person ever developed a life threatening illness from eating peanuts, but that happens to healthy people who smoke all the time.
Cigarettes are far more dangerous than peanuts, but they seem to be doing more about peanut allergies than they are about cigarette smoke allergies, asthma or emphysema.
I guess my right to breathe ends at their right to have a cigarette.

LOL

2006-12-15T06:51:13Z

On the twelfth day of Christmas, autumn_sylver sent to me...

Twelve ghosts drumming

Eleven dsps piping

Ten dogs a-leaping

Nine books dancing

Eight vampires a-baking

Seven candles a-rollerblading

Six movies a-reading

Five abo-o-o-ortion rights

Four weird things

Three good eats

Two long nails

...and a romance in a coffee.

autumn_sylver @ 2006-12-14T18:45:00

2006-12-14T23:45:19Z

Xmas Stocking

leave a gift for autumn_sylver

get your stocking

autumn_sylver @ 2006-11-26T17:48:00

2006-11-26T22:48:36Z

Bristol Myers Squibb will donate one dollar for every person who goes to their web site and lights a candle to help fight AIDS, up to a max of $100,000.

Please go to this link to light a candle.
Light to Unite

Don't forget to pass it on.

Am I the only one who sees the irony in this?

2006-10-17T00:59:05Z

A couple of days ago, I found this website by PETA - iamscruelty.com. Basically, they're telling people to boycott the dog food company Iams because the company that owns it - Proctor & Gamble, tests on animals.
They do realize that dog food has meat in it, right? Meat that comes from animals?
So, they don't have a problem with animals being killed for dog food, but they do have a problem with P&G testing on animals?
Riiiiiiight.

The irony...

2006-03-25T18:21:57Z

Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight?

Overweight Risk Soars 41% With Each Daily Can of Diet Soft Drink By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD
on Monday, June 13, 2005

June 13, 2005 -- People who drink diet soft drinks don't lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.

The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.

"What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity," Fowler tells WebMD. "What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher."

In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.

"There was a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says.

More Diet Drinks, More Weight Gain

Fowler's team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550 Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

26% for up to 1/2 can each day
30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.
For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.
For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person's risk of obesity went up 41%.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/107/108476.htm

Good news for chocolate lovers

2006-03-23T11:20:38Z

The dark pleasures of dark chocolate
Alek Gazdic, CTV.ca News

Chocolate lovers shouldn't feel so guilty while indulging in their cocoa bean pleasure. As studies continue to highlight the health benefits of chocolate, you can enjoy your treat in a whole new way by pairing it with wine and food.

Eating chocolate has been proven to lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, promote blood flow and improve your mood.

And people who prefer eating cocoa over having sex should know that it acts as an aphrodisiac, which can help stiffen limping statistics that show Canadian boomers spend more time watching TV and surfing the Net than being intimate with their partners.

Flavonoids, potent chemical compounds with antioxidant properties found in a variety of plants, are especially rich in dark chocolate.

The substance helps ward off some of the factors associated with heart attacks and strokes, and slow the processing of "bad" LDL cholesterol into material that clogs the arteries. The compounds also make blood platelets less likely to clump and cause clots and may be helpful in cancer prevention.

Chocolate gives you an energy lift, and studies also suggest eating it lessens anxiety and improves blood vessel responsiveness (important for the prevention of heart disease).

Cocoa contains substantial amounts of niacin, magnesium, potassium, and other minerals and most of its fat is healthy fat -- either monounsaturated fat or stearic acid, a "good saturated fat."

"Until the end of the 1800s, chocolate used to be consumed primarily for therapeutic or medicinal properties," said Jordan LeBel, a dark chocolate connoisseur and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., appearing Monday on CTV's Canada AM.

LeBel said chocolate is also good for the skin, noting many cosmetic companies are including cocoa ingredients in their facial creams to help people maintain a youthful appearance.

If you're not yet convinced, ponder this: researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found those who eat chocolate and sweets up to three times each month live almost a year longer than those who eat too much or those who steer clear of junk food altogether.

Cocoa ingredients are good for your brain as well. Chocolate contains a substance that mimics the chemical in marijuana that gives people "a high."

But before you try wolfing down Snickers bars to achieve this, you should know that a 130-pound person would have to eat 25 pounds of chocolate all at once to get the marijuana-like effect.

LeBel, who teaches classes on pleasure, says chocolate should be a sensual treat.

"You have to savour it. It's not something to be rushed through. It's an indulgence that just punctuates your day," he said.

Here are some of LeBel's instructions for getting the full effect of chocolate:

• smell your chocolate to "wet you taste buds";
• chew it slowly, five or six times, before you swallow it;
• when you swallow, breathe in from your mouth and exhale from your nose. (to discover new aromas and flavours in your nasal chimney);
• eat chocolate that contains a cocoa concentration around 75 per cent -- the right concentration to let out the flavours;
• eat premium dark chocolate that's not too sweet; and
• pair it with red wine, spirits or dark beer.

An additional tip:

• When a recipe calls for chocolate, use dark chocolate (usually less sugar) or even better, cocoa powder.
A new trend

LeBel says a popular trend is pairing food with red wine, spirits (like brandy and cognac), and stout beer (like Guinness).

"Let's say you're having a dinner and just finishing a bottle of wine, instead of going for a complicated dessert that will take hours to prepare in the kitchen, you can break off a piece of chocolate and see how well it goes," he said.

You can use inexpensive red wine. A cabernets-sauvignon blend, an Australian shiraz or something from California all work well, LeBel says.

Matching chocolate with dark beer is a relatively new idea, but he says it's a big hit.

"There are some pairings that you say, 'Hmm, it's interesting,' and some pairings that you say, 'Wow, I have gotta write this down, I gotta tell my friends'." LeBel said.

"This is one of them."

LeBel says people can have fun hosting dinner parties where guests can pair their chocolate with dried fruits.

But you should stay away from fresh fruit because of their high acidity levels. Instead, stick with dehydrated fruits because they are sweeter.

Lastly, those who want to experience mint in a whole new way can put a mint leaf on a piece of chocolate and eat them together.

"You'll taste mint for the first time, properly," LeBel said.

Be aware

But when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Health experts warn that not all chocolate is created equally, and the chocolate bars and candies sold at variety stores and in vending machines are often high in fat, sugar and calories.

As in everything else, experts say moderation is the key. And you can derive a majority of the benefits chocolate provides by eating fruits like blueberries, apples and grapes, and most all vegetables, including broccoli, greens and onions.

But many people would argue it's a lot more enjoyable getting those nutritious benefits from the cocoa bean. And LeBel suggests you no longer have to feel guilty about enjoying one of life's guilty pleasures

"The thing is to explore, really take the time to notice your sensations," LeBel said. "Just have fun with it."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060320/dark_chocolate_060320/20060320/

autumn_sylver @ 2006-02-02T14:09:00

2006-02-02T19:11:29Z

Kama Sutra Worm Set for Attack on Feb. 3

Security analysts are warning computer users about a new and potentially destructive Internet worm that can obliterate important documents. The worm, called Kama Sutra, is making the rounds now, but is scheduled to execute its first massive attack on February 3.

The malicious worm targets computers running Windows and spreads primarily by copying itself to shared network locations and then sending itself to e-mail addresses found on afflicted computers. With subject lines that read "the best videoclip ever," "give me a kiss," and "school girl fantasies gone bad," the worm entices computer users to open the attached file.

"This worm feeds on people's willingness to receive salacious content on their desktop computer, but they could be putting their entire company's data at risk," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

According to Sophos, on the third of each month, the worm will attempt to disable existing antivirus and firewall software and also will delete specific files, such as Microsoft Office documents.

Waxing or Waning Threat

The worm is also known as Blackworm, Nyxem-D, and W32.Blackmail.E, among others. There are disagreements in the security industry about the severity of the worm, with Symantec and F-Secure taking different positions on the issue.

Controversy stems from interpreting one of the worm's most intriguing features: a Web counter. Once the worm infects a new computer, it accesses a Web page on which there is a counter. The counter number increases whenever the Web page is accessed.

Andrew Jaquith, a Yankee Group senior analyst, said that most reports indicate that the counter had risen already to 700,000, which could indicate that nearly a million computers are infected.

Much of the speculation in the industry about the potential for damage done by the Kama Sutra worm centers on the counter number -- which might represent unique machines or accesses to the counter page by the same machine more than once. One of the things that is "sorely lacking" with mass outbreak malware like the Kama Sutra worm, Jaquith said, is any real sense of how many machines are compromised.

"We still don't know, for example, how many machines were really affected by the WMF vulnerability," he explained. "The antivirus vendors don't seem to know either, or are unwilling to divulge much -- possibly because it would expose gaps in their signature coverage."

Back to Old-School

To address what is so far the most expansive malware attack in 2006, speculation among security vendors and researchers has focused on the destructive nature of the worm. Unlike most viruses currently in the wild, the Kama Sutra code is not intended to reap the code writer a windfall of ill-gotten gains. The hacker designed the worm to create mayhem by destroying documents.

"The reason why experts at Sophos believe the worm is likely to have been written by an old-school hacker rather than an organized criminal is its destructive payload," Cluley explained. "That kind of destructive behavior is not typical of financially motivated worms because the damage is too obvious to the end user."

Frost & Sullivan analyst Rob Ayoub said he is not convinced that the worm represents the work of an old-school hacker, but did suggest it is unusual. "This is just something we haven't seen in a while. It's not a botnet or a zombie. It's a throwback to malware that only seeks to create havoc."

ActiveX Controls

Of greater concern, said Ayoub, is the worm's ability to deceive Windows into receiving a malicious ActiveX control by providing a phony digital signature. Discovered originally by Fortinet, the worm apparently adds some 18 entries to the Windows Registry, allowing it to insert an ActiveX control that can circumvent Windows' defense mechanisms.

The development is interesting, Ayoub said, because, heretofore, the assumption has been that if a piece of software has a digital signature, then it is safe. Ayoub said Microsoft will need to take a serious look at digital-signature technologies.

"In the past, it has always been if the company signs it, then it must be authentic," Ayoub said. "Microsoft needs to look at the digital signing process or else we will see more things like this, and that is pretty dangerous because it gets around some of the safeguards that are supposed to keep these things out."

Analysts are urging computer users, especially home users, to make sure that they have up-to-date antivirus software installed on their machines. "There should be no excuse for any data being lost on February 3 by this worm, but there is always the danger that some home users will not have heard that warning," Cluley said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060201/tc_nf/41336;_ylt=AhWkP4kJITtosca6YyJYv3us0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

autumn_sylver @ 2006-02-01T22:17:00

2006-02-02T03:20:46Z

When you call me, unless you're my friend, don't ask me how I am. It's just a phony pretext to why you actually called.
You don't really give a rat's ass how I am, and we both know it.
So, unless you really want to know, don't ask, because next time you ask me that, I'm going to tell you I'm feeling bloated and gassy.

To Canadians during the election - especially women

2006-01-17T13:10:35Z

If you care about women's rights, don't vote for the conservatives.
Dont't fall for these "stand up for Canada" ads.

autumn_sylver @ 2006-01-16T07:00:00

2006-01-16T12:03:39Z

~~Try as I might, I just can't find a browser that's as good as IE. As much as I hate to admit that.~~
I tried firefox, and while it was pretty good, it was fast, there were a lot of web pages that it didn't display properly. The last straw was when it sudddenly and inexplicably lost all of my bookmarks.
I tried Maxthon (which is based on IE), and it does display web pages properly, but it's slow as all get out. I like the tabs feature (which is basically the only reason I downloaded it), but IE is supposed to be coming out with a tabbed browser sometime soon, so I think I'll just wait and download that one.

Edit: I just tried IE again, and now I remember why I stopped using it - it's really freaking unstable.

It's that time again

2006-01-14T02:15:19Z

I posted this in 2004 about the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th, and since it's Friday the 13th again, I wanted to post it again:

I think it's so stupid that people think that Friday the 13th is bad luck. The slightest thing goes wrong, and 'oh, it's because it's friday the 13th!' So dumb.
People have completely crappy days on other days of the year, but you never hear people saying that wednesday the 6th is bad luck, or friday the 3rd, but the slightest little minor thing goes wrong on friday the 13th, and it's because of the day, and that it's bad luck.
Please.
Ever hear of a self-fulfilling prophecy?