Entries for pacelvi

Quoting people in threads [Quoting people in threads]

pacelvi — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 11:31:55 GMT

How do you folks normally break up someone's post so that you can add in-line comments.

The only way I know is to add a bunch of ... (I changed brackets to another symbol so that this would parse properly)

{/quote}

{quote someFormatForThePersonName}

... tags inside thier comments. Is there an easier way?

in reply to Quoting people in threads

“Everything Could Explode at Any Moment” (Re: Israel/Hezbollah) [“Everything Could Explode at Any Moment” (Re: Israel/Hezbollah)]

pacelvi — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 06:29:57 GMT

This is from a guy's blog, entry made in April

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2006_04.html

“Everything Could Explode at Any Moment”
NORTHERN ISRAEL - Last year I drove down from Beirut into Hezbollah-occupied Lebanon along the border with Israel. Aside from Hezbollah’s other miniature state-within-a-state in the suburbs south of Beirut, the border region is the craziest place in the country.

The Lebanese government doesn’t control it and cannot police it. The army is not allowed to go down there. Soldiers I’ve talked to refer to the southern-most checkpoint before the Hezbollah-occupied zone as “the border." Psychotic road-side propaganda shows severed heads, explosions from suicide-bombs, and murderous tyrants from Iran and Syria.

Lisa Goldman and I decided to drive up there and take a look from the Israeli side.

“I should warn you,” I said in the car. “Something is wrong on the border. Something bad is going to happen.”

“Why do you say that?” she said.

I told her what I knew, what had recently happened when I tried to visit the border again from the Lebanese side just two weeks before.

My British friend Andrew flew out to Beirut from Washington. He wanted to visit the border. I wanted to go back to the border. So we rented a car and drove down to Saida where foreigners are required to get permission from the Lebanese army before being allowed beyond the last official checkpoint.

We found our way to the office of the ranking military intelligence officer.

“What is your nationality?” he said.

“He’s British,” I said, referring to Andrew. “And I’m American.”

The officer clasped his hands loudly together. “You are not going down there today,” he said.

“Why not?” I said.

He made an I-don’t-know face that was terrifically, intentionally, and even comically insincere.

“Is it for security reasons?” I said.

“Of course,” he said. “You can go,” he said to Andrew. “But you,” he said, meaning me, “can’t go anywhere near the border right now.”

“Why not?” I said. “What’s going on?”

He laughed.

“Oh, come on,” I said. “You can tell me. Who am I going to tell?” (Har har.)

He shook his head. “No,” he said. He was deadly serious about keeping me away from that border.

“Are you worried I will do something?” I said. “Or are you worried something will happen to me?”

“Something might happen to you,” he said.

“Is it Hezbollah? The Israelis? What?”

He made his goofy what-do-I-know face once again. “I am sorry,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. You aren’t going.”

That was all I could get out of the Lebanese army. The Israeli army was a little more willing to talk.

Lisa and I met Israeli Defense Forces Spokesman Zvika Golan at a base in the north near the border. He told us to follow him in his jeep as he drove to a lookout point next to an IDF watch tower that opened up over Lebanon.

“You aren’t safe here right now,” he said.

“I know,” I said. “The Lebanese army wouldn’t let me anywhere near the border two weeks ago. What’s going on?”

“Hezbollah is planning an operation,” he said.

“How do you know?” I said.

“We know,” he said and nodded.

I knew he was right. The Lebanese intelligence officer more or less told me the same thing. He didn’t say the threat was from Hezbollah, but he didn’t have to.

“What do you think about all this?” I said.

“We really want the Lebanese army on this border,” he said.

Lebanon and Israel technically have been at war for many decades. But Israel and Lebanon have never actually fought any battles. Israel has been involved in plenty of fighting in Lebanon, but none of it ever involved the Lebanese army or government. Neither side has ever actually fired on the other. Neither side wants to. All Israel’s Lebanon battles were waged against the PLO and Hezbollah.

“Are you in contact with the Lebanese government?” I said.

“We pass messages to the Lebanese army through the UN,” he said.

“How well are they received?” I said.

“Oh, they’re received very well,” he said. “The only problem is the Lebanese army can’t act against Hezbollah.”

He introduced me to a young bearded lieutenant in the IDF (left, below) on border patrol duty.

“I have worked on the Jordanian and Egyptian borders,” he said. “This is the worst. The strangest feeling here is that the other side is a no-man’s land. There is no authority that you’re working against. It is extremely out of the ordinary to see any Lebanese police or army. Only Hezbollah is armed.”

“What do you see when you look at Lebanon?” I asked the lieutenant.

“I see poverty and difficult circumstances,” he said. “I see poor farmers who work hard. After so many years of war, the last thing they probably want is more war.”

“Do you know what you’re looking at when you look into the towns?” I said.

“We track movement on the other side,” he said. “I can tell you exactly what each of those buildings are for.”

“What about people?” I said. “Can you tell who belongs to Hezbollah and who just happens to live there?”

“99 percent of the time I know who I’m looking at by their face,” he said. Hezbollah will love learning that if they’re still reading my blog.

The lieutenant was easily ten years younger than me. But he was so ground down from world-weariness he sounded like a man 30 years older who hadn't slept for three days.

“Any minute now something huge could break out," he said. "I am afraid to go home and leave my soldiers. When Hezbollah decides to do something, they do it. And they’re pretty good at it.”

"What do you think they'll do next?" I said.

“I have no idea," he said. "They could do anything. Kidnapping. Sniper.”

"How do you feel about that?" I said.

“Well,” he said. “You get pretty cynical about it after a while.”

“Do you think they’re watching us?” Lisa said.

“They are watching you right at this second,” the lieutenant said. “You are definitely being photographed. It’s possible you’re being watched through a sniper rifle.”

To say I felt naked and exposed at that moment would be a real understatement. I felt like my skin was invisible, that psychopaths were boring holes with their eyes straight to the core of my being. At the same time, I knew they did not see me as a person. They saw me as a potential massacre target.

I know Hezbollah wouldn’t hurt me in Lebanon, even though they did call me on my cell phone and threaten me with physical violence. All bets are off while standing next to IDF soldiers in Israel, though. Whoever was watching me surely dehumanized me as a Jew (even though I'm a non-religious "Christian") who belonged to the little Satanic fit-for-destruction Zionist Entity.

I wouldn’t say I felt scared. But I certainly didn’t feel comfortable. The earth seemed slightly tilted. Lebanon feels unhinged and psychotic from the Israeli side of the line. At least it did on that day. I kept having to remind myself that the country I love and lived in is not at all represented by the nutcases with guns in the hills who like to pick off Jews on the border.

“How dangerous is it here, really?” I asked the lieutenant.

“I say this to my guys every morning: Everything could explode at any moment. Just after I said it this morning a bus load of pensioners showed up on a field trip. An old woman brought us some food. It’s crazy. They shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be here.”

“What’s happening here is very unusual," Zvika, the Israeli Defense Forces Spokesman, said. But he wouldn't tell me what, exactly, was so unusual. Shortly after I left the country, a story broke in the Daily Telegraph that explained it.

Iran has moved into South Lebanon. Intelligence agents are helping Hezbollah construct watch towers fitted with one-way bullet-proof windows right next to Israeli army positions.

Here's what one officer said:
This is now Iran's front line with Israel. The Iranians are using Hizbollah to spy on us so that they can collect information for future attacks. And there is very little we can do about it.
More powerful weapons, including missiles with a range of 30 miles, are also being brought in.

I asked Zvika about the last time Hezbollah and Israel got into a hot war.

“It was last November,” he said. “Hezbollah invaded the village of Ghajar in white jeeps that looked like they belonged to the UN. We bombed their positions with air strikes. After a while, the Lebanese army asked us to stop. So we stopped right away.”

"Why did you stop?" I said. "You stopped just because the Lebanese army asked you to stop?"

He looked surprised by my question.

“Of course we stopped because they asked," he said. "We have very good relations with them. We're working with them and trying to help make them relevant.”

Lebanon never admits anything like this in public.

The rhetoric that comes out of Beirut in Arabic rarely has anything to do with reality. The Lebanese government regularly affirms its "brotherhood" with Syria, its former murderous master that still knocks off elected officials and journalists. Undying loyalty to the Palestinian cause is constantly trumpeted, even while Lebanon treats its hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees worse than neglected zoo animals. Arab Nationalism is another regular theme, even though Arab Nationalism is more dead in Lebanon than in any other country around.

"The UN says Hezbollah started the last fight," I said to the lieutenant. "Do you ever start any fights?"

“They always initiate," he said. "We never do. I want to go home. I want to read the newspaper and get more than three hours of sleep every night. We have no business here.”

"Are you scared?" I said.

“I am scared," he said. "As an officer I want my men to be scared.”

"Are they?" I said.

“Not enough," he said. "Not enough.”

in reply to “Everything Could Explode at Any Moment” (Re: Israel/Hezbollah)

Palestinians provoke yet another reoccupation [Palestinians provoke yet another reoccupation]

pacelvi — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 05:00:47 GMT

I have to say, for a bunch of people who claim to want thier own little country[0] they sure do have a problem restraining themselves from provoking their reoccupation.

[0] - yes, they do want their own little country.. plus another existing one.

in reply to Palestinians provoke yet another reoccupation

Gaza beach attack was really Palestinian bomb [Gaza beach attack was really Palestinian bomb]

pacelvi — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:51:26 GMT

Well well, so much for the Israelis are Terrorists fraud..

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The explosion on a Gaza beach that killed seven people last Friday was caused by explosives planted there by Palestinian militants, not artillery fire from an Israeli navy gunboat, Israeli military sources said Tuesday.

However, in Gaza, the group Human Rights Watch said the evidence it has been able to gather suggests that a 155 mm artillery shell, like the type used by the Israeli military, was responsible.

The IDF report cites several factors that led to the conclusion that the explosion was caused by a mine planted on the beach by Palestinian militants, the sources said.

An Israeli commando unit used the beach to enter Gaza for a mission in recent weeks, prompting the militants to place the mines, the sources said.

Intelligence information gathered by Israeli investigators showed that Hamas quickly removed the remaining mines from the beach after the blast, the sources said.

Investigators were able to locate where five of the six shells fired from the gunboat Friday landed and none of them were near the beach, the sources said. The sixth shell -- the first to be fired -- could not have killed the family because it was fired further north and too early, the sources said.

Adding to the conclusion that it was not an Israeli shell that killed the family was an examination of photographs of the crater on the beach. The sources said experts found it was the type of crater caused by a planted explosive, not by an artillery shell landing from above.

Finally, shrapnel removed from three of the injured by doctors at Israeli hospitals was not from an artillery shell, the sources said.

But Human Rights Watch said its investigation of the incident came up with opposite conclusions in almost every case.

The group said most of the injuries to the dead were to the head and torso. A Human Rights Watch spokesman said that would be consistent with an incoming shell, not a bomb buried in the ground.

Human Rights Watch also said the crater was consistent with a 155 mm artillery shell.

in reply to Gaza beach attack was really Palestinian bomb

Video idea [Video idea]

pacelvi — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:54:30 GMT

I had an idea for a channel 9 video...

A video of Robert doing his job. Basically, a video of him making a video.

Make sure it's on a subject he really likes. Video the entire process start to end.

I dont know when Robert's last day is (or was), so there probably isn't enough time, but it would be really cool if you were able to do that.

in reply to Video idea

Oriana Fallaci [Oriana Fallaci]

pacelvi — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:14:09 GMT

In Italy, the trial of Oriana Fallaci starts today. Anyone interested in the freedom of speech and religion should look into what is happening to her.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18349

I first found out about her from reading an article she wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2003. One of the best things I have ever read.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003191

in reply to Oriana Fallaci

It's in the Koran [It's in the Koran]

pacelvi — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:05:39 GMT

I found this song/video funny, if irreverent...

http://www.patrickhenrysongs.com/ItsInTheKoran-WindowsMedia-HiFi.html

in reply to It's in the Koran

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi : DEAD [Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi : DEAD]

pacelvi — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 10:44:54 GMT

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi : Enjoying his afterlife.

in reply to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi : DEAD

Autumn Journal Part XXIV [Autumn Journal Part XXIV]

pacelvi — Wed, 24 May 2006 01:37:44 GMT

From “Autumn Journal” (Part XXIV)
By Louis MacNeice , 1939

Sleep serene, avoid the backward
     Glance; go forward, dreams, and do not halt
(Behind you in the desert stands a token
     Of doubt — a pillar of salt).
Sleep, the past, and wake, the future,
     And walk out promptly through the open door;
But you, my coward doubts, may go on sleeping,
     You need not wake again — not any more.
The New Year comes with bombs, it is too late
     To dose the dead with honourable intentions:
If you have honour to spare, employ it on the living;
     The dead are dead as Nineteen-Thirty-Eight.
Sleep to the noise of running water
     To-morrow to be crossed, however deep;
This is no river of the dead or Lethe,
     To-night we sleep
On the banks of Rubicon — the die is cast;
     There will be time to audit
The accounts later, there will be sunlight later
     And the equation will come out at last.

in reply to Autumn Journal Part XXIV

Windows Weirdness [Windows Weirdness]

pacelvi — Sun, 14 May 2006 01:49:07 GMT

Using: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005

Every now and then there will be an application that goes missing from the task bar, yet is still running and the icon of it is visible in teh Alt-Tab display. When the application gets the focus, the button restores on the taskbar.

It's so far indeterminate when the button goes away, so it's nothing i can get to happen with any regularity. Does this happen to anyone else?

in reply to Windows Weirdness

Iran laying groundwork for Islamic war [Iran laying groundwork for Islamic war]

pacelvi — Fri, 12 May 2006 00:48:54 GMT

All of the bloggers who follow the Islamic world are picking up on this.

So this link is just a random one I choose.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=20504_An_Islamic_Declaration_of_War&only

An Islamic Declaration of War

Only a few blogs (and almost no mainstream media) have realized the truth about Iranian madman Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush. It was not an offer to negotiate, and it was not simply a lunatic’s rant. It was a calculated invitation to convert to Islam, a da’wa—an Islamic requirement (commanded by Mohammed) before waging war against unbelievers.

Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia, Ahmadinejad himself confirmed this reading today, as reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency: President says his letter to President Bush was invitation to Islam. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Thursday that his letter to President George W. Bush did not concern the nuclear dossier, but rather was an invitation to Islam and the prophets culture.

He made the above remarks in reply to a reporter while attending press conference on his letter to President Bush in Jakarta in the afternoon of the third day of his stay in Jakarta. Stressing that the letter was beyond the nuclear issue, the chief executive said that in principle, the country’s nuclear case is not so significant to make him write a letter about it.

“We act according to laws and our activities are quite clear. We are rather intent on solving more fundamental global matters.”

“The letter was an invitation to monotheism and justice, which are common to all divine prophets. If the call is responded positively, there will be no more problems to be solved,” added the president.

The president said that the letter actually contained a clear message of invitation to human beliefs, adding that its response will determine the future.

UPDATE at 5/11/06 3:40:48 pm:

Jeff Goldstein responds.

in reply to Iran laying groundwork for Islamic war

IE7 + Yesterday's patches [IE7 + Yesterday's patches]

pacelvi — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 01:35:45 GMT

Also last night after the patches, I discovered IE7's address bar appeared to be broken. I would type something like: msdn.microsoft.com and nothing would happen. So instead i would go to Start | Run and type http://... and that would work

Turns out, if you type the http:// part in the address bar , that is what causes the browser to navigate.

That new behavior coupled with the explosion of the new process verclis (see my other post) had me thinking I was under major malware attack.. luckily i went to sleep instead of "combatting it".

Now really.. why do I have to find out on my own from a 3rd party that the behavior of the address bar is changing and that I have to put the protocol with the host name? I could have wasted days on this thinking my machine was compromised.

in reply to IE7 + Yesterday's patches

Verclsid.exe [Verclsid.exe]

pacelvi — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 01:25:53 GMT

Last night I noticed this in Process Explorer

verclsid.exe 4124  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 656  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 1996  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 438 10,020
verclsid.exe 4464  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 438 9,948
verclsid.exe 6020  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 4608  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 340  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 438 10,020
verclsid.exe 4860  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
iexplore.exe 5848 2.27 Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe 35,592 2,173,071
verclsid.exe 5076  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 3136  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 3740  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 2404  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020
verclsid.exe 5912  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 438 10,020
verclsid.exe 2520  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 438 10,020
verclsid.exe 2980  Verify Class ID Microsoft Corporation MEDCENTER\Vince C:\WINDOWS\system32\verclsid.exe 435 10,020

turns out, yesterday's fixes from MS introduces this exe to validate ActiveX controls.. So now i have a million of these processes running.

Quote:
This security update introduces a new file, Verclsid.exe. Verclsid.exe is used to verify a COM object before it is instantiated by Windows Explorer
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms06-015.mspx

Yuck

in reply to Verclsid.exe

Viewing threads one has replied to [Viewing threads one has replied to]

pacelvi — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:16:10 GMT

In the profile of oneself.. how exactly do I get to the full thread of something that I replied to or am watching? It seems like it's broken.

in reply to Viewing threads one has replied to

W32.JARED - No information [W32.JARED - No information]

pacelvi — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 01:47:11 GMT

Norton says I'm infected by w32.Jared. But there is no useful information I can find about it. I keep getting notice from Norton that's blocking a different virus