Posts by Jourles

22

OnStar cracked up to be, in a crack-up like this?

by Fatfreek in

jw
friends

the following onstar advertisment page from time has me puzzled.

you will see that the victim is being rescued and that he is in the middle of some desert wilderness.

the problem i have with this ad is based on my road trip experience last summer and the premise of onstar's claim that you must have cell phone coverage.

Jourles

OnStar uses blended hybrid technology to report your location and to allow you to place calls. The on-board "module" contains three primary components: Cell transceiver, gps receiver, and an Airbiquity unit. When you press your button for assistance, a call is placed to the OnStar call center. This call takes place over whichever cellular company is providing service at that particular location(VZW, AT&T, Sprint, etc.). While you're on the call, the Airbiquity unit is the primary component responsible for relaying gps and diagnostic information to the OnStar call center. Airbiquity patented this technology to allow a data stream(gps coordinates, diags) to traverse a voice path while you are on the call. It is overlaid. Pretty cool stuff. Otherwise without this tech, the voice and data streams would have to be sent over two separate paths, or two different "calls." Calls are not made to a satellite(s). You must be in range of a cellular network to be able to place a call or have your vehicle automatically send out a crash notification. For the most part, almost the entire freeway system in the US is covered. It's once you get out in the boonies where there is no coverage is when you're screwed.

Jourles, whose company just shut down their old analog service last week which serviced the old OnStar modules

71

You can be spied on even when your cellphone is off!!!

by ohiocowboy in

scary.... .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o61yfvpzgjs.

Jourles

Anyway, as far as the cords...you will believe it when you get your first automated ticket for speeding.

Well, the problem is, where do they get your information from in order to send you a ticket? There are systems out there for automatically ticketing speeding drivers, but they rely on photographic methods. A photo is taken of the driver and also the license plate. The mailing address of the owner of the vehicle is retrieved from the state motor vehicle department. A citation is then mailed to the address of the owner along with a photo of who was driving and their recorded speed. Those automated traffic analysis "tubes" are just that, they're for traffic analysis only.

All I know was that the county sent me a whole new tag the next year instead of a sticker which is most unusual.

Nothing sinister there. Do you happen to live in Michigan? Did you have the "Ol' Blue" license plate? Of the three vehicles I own, two had the original Blue plate(car and motorcycle). My other auto has the "Save Our Lights" lighthouse plate. The two "Ol' Blues" were replaced due to visibility concerns.(white lettering on dark blue) The "lighthouse" plate didn't need to be changed because the background was already white. This particular plate was also 3 1/2 years old.

Also, you will believe it when you see military pull you over for going beyond your authorized jurisdiction.

I'm not quite sure I understand this. Could you please clarify? I have a picture in my mind of a civilian driving onto a military base, but then the "authorized jurisdiction" is throwing me off.

71

You can be spied on even when your cellphone is off!!!

by ohiocowboy in

scary.... .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o61yfvpzgjs.

Jourles

I read through this thread and felt the urgent need to correct a few inaccuracies....

Another thing folks may not realize....those black cords stretched across the streets.....
Most people mistakenly think they are "traffic counters". They are NOT. They pick up a signal embedded in your car tag. This signal has all of your basic information...name, address, registration, driving history, etc. If you will notice, when you drive over those cords, you may see cords further down within another few miles, or on a turn off street.
The purpose of this is to register your rate of speed from point A to point B.

Whoa, I don't even know where to begin with this one. There are a bunch of stated "facts" here. Rather than trying to point out the many inaccuracies of this post, I would like to ask Tula to provide proof of existence of these items instead:

Automated Traffic Counters ("those black cords") with built-in RFID to read personally identifiable information
ATC's reading your car tag with "name, address, registration, driving history, etc."

And then there is:

A few years ago when I got my new car tag with the magnetic hologram in it, I went to radio shack and used their demagnetizer on it before I attached it to car.
The next year, instead of sending me a peel off to place on the tag......they sent me a whole new tag again.

Let me get the terminology straight here. I assume by "car tag," you mean the actual license plate - the metal 6"x12" plate that you affix to the rear of your car. And by the "peel off," you're referring to the standard yearly registration renewal sticker?

First off, what is a "magnetic hologram," and how exactly do you "demagnetize" it? Did the gentleman at Radio Shack ask why you were trying to demagnetize a hologram? I'm just curious as to what this would accomplish.

Ok, there's quite a bit more left on this thread to question, but I need to get some work done.

13

Something new on LULU.com

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

please note that at this time it is possible to post a review without buying a copy of the book.

how long will it be before this is turned off?.

note, for example that the "happy child" is outside the kingdom hall.... go here: http://www.lulu.com/content/1752441.

Jourles

Oh god, did you look at the "preview?"

115

Confidential Body of Elder Letters from 1981 through 2006

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

here it is guys.

this is what darth frosty was talking about in his post the other day (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/149460/1.ashx).

this is a collection of confidential letters from the watchtower society that were sent to the bodies of elders in the years 1981 through 2006. these are the letters that you were never meant to see or read.. there's all sorts of information in them ranging from the boring and mundian to instructions about how to handle child molesters.. many thanks to darth frosty and others (who i'm not sure can be named) who worked very hard and took risks to collect and scan the information.

Jourles

I just noticed that you're also missing the 6/6/06 letter. It had to do with distributing Kingdom News #37. I'll go through and scrub what you guys have and compare that to what I have and see where we end up.

Remember, the WTS considers these letters as "copyrighted." I just loved this line from that letter:

"Thus, Dirtclod's posting of these original works on the Internet is an infringement of Watchtower's copyright."

Here is the definition of what a copyright is:

§ 102. Subject matter of copyright: In general 28
(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:
(1) literary works;
(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;
(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;
(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
(7) sound recordings; and
(8) architectural works.
(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

Now tell me, where does a BoE letter fit into the above description? Under (a)1-8, the CLOSEST fit is "literary works." Ha! Literary work my ass. If anything, they fit section (b) to a tee. What else are the BoE letters other than, procedures, processes, systems, or method of operations? I sure wish I had the $$$ a few years back to take this to court. If someone did have the monetary backing to see something like this through, the WTS would keep it from going to court. Otherwise, all of the BoE letters become available for public viewing via the wonderful court system. In the meantime, they simply pull out the "copyright infringement" claim and threaten the ISP hosting the letters to shut it down.

Tell you what, keep the letters up permanently. If the WTS contacts your ISP to take them down, inform your ISP that they(the WTS) must provide a letter like the one above stating why they want them taken down. According to the DMCA, they must provide a written letter to YOU. Your ISP cannot simply take the site down due to a phone call or email threat. The WTS must send a letter. Get that letter. Or...the WTS finally realizes that the cat is already out of the bag and will never get put back in since the internet isn't about to go away anytime soon. I wonder if they will simply give up now and say screw it.

115

Confidential Body of Elder Letters from 1981 through 2006

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

here it is guys.

this is what darth frosty was talking about in his post the other day (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/149460/1.ashx).

this is a collection of confidential letters from the watchtower society that were sent to the bodies of elders in the years 1981 through 2006. these are the letters that you were never meant to see or read.. there's all sorts of information in them ranging from the boring and mundian to instructions about how to handle child molesters.. many thanks to darth frosty and others (who i'm not sure can be named) who worked very hard and took risks to collect and scan the information.

Jourles

Oh, and you know, it would sound even more impressive if you were to add this letter to the bunch. By doing so, you immediately add 4 years to the range. (1977-2006)

115

Confidential Body of Elder Letters from 1981 through 2006

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

here it is guys.

this is what darth frosty was talking about in his post the other day (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/149460/1.ashx).

this is a collection of confidential letters from the watchtower society that were sent to the bodies of elders in the years 1981 through 2006. these are the letters that you were never meant to see or read.. there's all sorts of information in them ranging from the boring and mundian to instructions about how to handle child molesters.. many thanks to darth frosty and others (who i'm not sure can be named) who worked very hard and took risks to collect and scan the information.

Jourles

I still have quite a bit of oddball documentation from the dirtclod days and noticed that a couple things were left out. Here are two just off the top of my head I didn't see listed:

"Application for Temporary Volunteer Program" - interesting read, they want to know everything about you

"Information Regarding Ownership of Kingdom Halls" - another good read, has potential to give us ammunition on what aspects to attack them on

Are you trying to get one of these to pin up on your wall?

11

Does anyone know? (eBay question)

by mkr32208 in

i've got a question.

my brother and i recently sold some gift certificates on ebay.

some from walmart some from bass pro shops and some other stores.

Jourles

Are the buyers strictly in the USA? Could it have something to do with exchange rates and foreigners buying them with Euros via Paypal or something?

Otherwise, they're idiots.

14

Is their any hope for the Muslim religion?

by free2beme in

jw
friends

as much as i hear people say the muslims are peaceful and the extreme nature seen on the news, like what happened today in pakistan, i wonder if there is any hope for them.

have they become so polarized in the power of hatred and revenge, that there is no hope?

can they find peace, or are they just destined to just fight and kill themselves from one generation to another.

Jourles

If it weren't for the US military we wouldn't be here right now freely exchanging information - that is a fact!

Is that a "fact" founded on personal opinion? The question is, and I'm assuming this based on the context of the previous posts, would it matter where our military was? Over there, or here on our own soil? What country in their right mind would attack the USA? Tens of thousands of nuclear weapons is a strong deterrent.

Rather than petitioning to patriotic fervor, let's just face the "fact" that no country in the world will ever invade the soil of the USA while we have nukes. Mutually Assured Destruction is the correct term I believe.

why don't they include the number of lives that have been saved in Iraq along with their vastly inflated figures of US "atrocities?"

Think about your statement for a second. How is it theoretically possible to count how many lives have been saved? How do you scientifically account for all those lives saved? Asking for the media to include the number of lives saved is like making someone prove that God exists. It cannot be done.

16

What kind of receiver should I get? Stereo or 7.1 Channel?

by JK666 in

jw
friends

i am mostly into music (loud), but i do listen to video over it.

my old receiver just bought the farm, and currently i only have two speakers.

do you techno-geeks have any suggestions?.

Jourles

It all depends on if it will be strictly for music or both music and video. My ideal music only setup would comprise simply two towers that can accurately reproduce ~40Hz - 20kHz. Going down to 20Hz isn't utterly necessary, but a natural roll off to that point at several dB down is ok. Situate your listening position in a triangular fashion between the two towers. Picture an equilateral triangle. Voila! You now have a pseudo 5.1-7.1 system depending on your space and the reflectivity of your walls, floors, and ceiling. The "center" channel appears as a phantom channel. By aligning yourself between your speakers, this "phantom" channel exists. Reflections from the rear walls provide your "fill," or "surround."

Before anyone goes off and shoots this down, ask yourself this: When was the last time you went to a concert and the musicians were playing behind you? More speakers or larger speakers doesn't mean better sound. Neither does all of the other gadgetry that you insert between a cd player and the final amplification stage. He who equalizes least, equalizes best. Noisegates are something to look for as well.