Sunday, January 30, 2011

18 Ways to Circumvent the Egyptians Government's Internet Block

PASS ALONG:

18 Ways to Circumvent the Egyptians Government's Internet Block

By: @AnonymousRx @Warintel

01] Nour DSL is still working in Egypt, Dial up with 0777 7776 or 07777 666

02] IP addresses for social media: pass on to people in #Egypt: Twitter:
128.242.240.52. Facebook: 69.63.189.34

03] How to circumvent the communications blackout in #Egypt
http://slink.us?lr Arabic

04] #hamradio frequencies for #egypt http://slink.us?ls PLEASE SPREAD IRC:
http://slink.us?lt

05] Ham Radio Software software for PC, Mac and Linux
http://www.hamsphere.com Communicate w/ #egypt

06] TOR Bridge 189.129.67.78:443 04FD6AE46E95F1E46B5264528C48EA84DB10CAC4

07] There is an Old DSL Dialup 24564600

08] Send SMS reports to +1 949 209 7559 and they will retweet for you.
Please spread to those in #Egypt on battlefield

09] #Egypt hams are on 7.050-7.200 MHz LSB

10] Egypt Gov only blocking by DNS. So for Twitter try 128.242.245.148
Facebook 69.63.189.11 Proxy

11] VPN Server http://texnomic.com/url/2L is now stable and open for FREE to
ALL

12] Help the Egypt Revolutionaries by overcoming the Firewall
https://www.accessnow.org/proxy-cloud

13] 0m band, 7.050-7.20­0 MHz LSB, 318.5 degrees (northwest­/north from
cairo) Ham Radio Operators

14] We are now providing dialup modem service at +46850009990. user/pass:
telecomix/telecomix (only for #egypt, respect that PLEASE!).

15] People of Egypt ONLY! Use this dial-up provided by friends in France to
go online: +33172890150 (login 'toto' password 'toto')

16] FREE VPN Server to bypass ANY Blockage on ANY ADSL or Cell Network.
Domain: Cloud.Texnomic.com User: FreeEgypt Pass: #Jan25

17] Third party apps: Tweetdeck http://www.tweetdeck.com/ & Hootsuite
http://hootsuite.com/ still work for updating Twitter

18] Follow @AnonymousRx

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us

Please help support #OpEgypt and join anonymous in IRC chat, you can use a
secure web version of IRC called Mibbit @ http://slink.us?ll

Ask what you can do to help when in the chat channel, anonymous members are
always willing to help out new members!

- @AnonymousRx

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Winter in Vancouver (reprise)


From the archives: Winter in Vancouver

Judging from the television coverage, you'd think it was the end of the world. The blanched faces of concerned reporters looking skyward, live in horror. Big puffy clumps of snowflakes descending and splatting triumphantly on the upturned noses of the hardened and possibly frozen journalists.

And then came the pictures: Line-ups in stores to get one of the last shovels and remaining bags of salt. Summer tires spinning in a futile attempt to push 2000 kilos of Truck-A-Saurus up a two per cent grade. Piles of white hell building up on the ground, at least a centimeter thick.

And then came the reporters again: Delivering the worst news ever for the people of B.C.’s Lower Mainland: More snow. And in case we didn't hear, a big red banner flashed SNOW WARNING! Gather the children! Load up the wagons! Let's get outta Dodge!

Welcome to the end of the world. Welcome to winter in Vancouver.

This makes no sense. This is a city where, on a recent morning commute on the bus, I counted more snowboards than briefcases. This is a city where limos sport ski racks. This is the city that is hosting the Winter Olympic Games, for heaven's sake.

Now, before I get slammed for my thoughts, a little background: I have lived in Vancouver for more than a decade. And before that I have lived through brutal winters in Halifax, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. I am not new at this winter thing.

But, it appears, much of the Lower Mainland is.

Not that snow is a stranger to Vancouver. From practically anywhere in the city you can gaze north and see it for much of the year. But that snow is in the mountains. And while it is handy - only 20 minutes away - it is also non-threatening. Like a polar bear in a zoo, we can gawk at it, but we are safe in the knowledge that it won't come rumbling down the hill to spill our vanilla soy lattes.

I call it "winter on demand." You want snow? Just drive north - and before your sushi gets warm you can be chucking snowballs towards the golf courses thousands of feet below.

In fairness, there are several things that make Vancouver a poor candidate for a winter city: no snow tires, few plows, and no 100 km/h gusts across the prairie. In fact, no prairie!

Luckily, it rarely snows here. And it rarely freezes. These are two meteorological factors of which I was completely unaware of when I moved here in 1997.

ME: It's January, where is the snow?
Vancouverite: Snow? Up there!
ME: No, in the city?
Vancouverite: Bumpkin! Fancy a Mochachino?

This year was different. Boy, was it different. It began in December. Big blobs of snow begin to fall. And then they began to accumulate.

Then it turned cold.

So in the space of a week, we’ve experienced the full Canadian climate. Before the snow fell it was warm enough to golf. And with only some trees devoid of leaves, it even looked like fall. Then came winter.

And while there is still a lot of snow on the ground, I swear that there are cherry blossoms on a tree across the street.

But back to the television coverage. During the "WINTER OF DOOM" the media was in a lather. And that became a frenzy. Every newscast filled their first segment with “storm team” coverage. Five stories or more - and charts, graphs and experts.

Every story had a reporter reporting live out in the snow: The awful, terrible, dangerous, hideous, beautiful snow. One station had a reporter actually driving in the snowy rush hour live on camera. I actually thought that was pretty cool and was secretly hoping for a 360.

Every weather presenter was calm and collected, presenting the facts slowly, so as not to throw the entire population into a panic. But despite their relaxed demeanor, you could tell that inside they were screaming, "Oh my God! It's going to be -4. We're all going to DIE!!!! " I think they even shied away from showing the "Double Doppler" images for fear of possible riots and/or to prevent the hoarding of survival essentials like green tea ice cream.

I giggled.

It is so easy to make fun of the terror a bit of snow brings to the population of Vancouver. Especially having satellite delivered television. I can flip from the stories of the white menace locally to places experiencing real winter like Winnipeg.

I stand in awe of a reporter standing out in a bitter Manitoba wind telling the audience that in the current conditions exposed skin will freeze in less than a, ho hum, minute. And the reporter is wearing neither a toque nor mitts. That's guts.

But there may be hope. There has been snow on the ground for longer than I remember. If I gaze out my window to the park across the street, I can see snowmen, toboggans, dogs in coats and kids having a blast. There are smiles aplenty. And for a moment, Vancouver is just like the rest of Canada in the winter.

Except it's going to rain tonight and I'm going kayaking tomorrow.

Monday, January 10, 2011

from the "house hunting" dept.

So...

I've been Guatemala for nearly six weeks.  If you've been following along, you'll know that this wasn't planned.

I've been living in a $6 a night hotel (2 beds, cable TV, hot shower, free pure water) that's reasonably quiet.  Although the cleaning staff start sweeping around 7am.  And the third floor is under construction.  But other than that, it's quiet.

I've been thinking about another place to live, as I'll likely be here for a while.  Cost really isn't a factor.  Noise is.  In the developing world, there is lots of noise.  One has to be careful in one's long term housing selection.

There are so many sources of noise, especially early in the morning.  In no particular order, they are:

- Loud televisions
- Loud stereos
- Evangelical churches
- Chicken buses
- Delivery trucks
- Schools
- Dogs
- Roosters
- Cantinas
- Stone chippers
- Construction
- TukTuks

It is all but impossible to find a home without several of the above.  And that's where I find myself:  Looking for a quiet place conducive to working from home (writing, website stuff).  Do I tempt fate and trade the devil I know for the devil I don't?

On Tuesday I plan to look at a 2-bedroom bungalow with a kitchen.  It's cheap ($212/mo) and conveniently located.  I'd save a ton of cash because I'd be able to cook at home.  But, at the same time, I may lose what peace and quiet I have already. 

But I suppose I will roll the dice with caution.  Rent the bungalow for a week as a test.  And keep my hotel room as a back-up.

And you thought living in the tropics was easy!  Ha!

Cheers!