via myspace - /R

Has anyone else seen IT busses rolling down the street sporting an ad for A Gambling Den Which Will Remain Nameless that is, quote "More Fun the Riding the Bus" unquote? Does this make anyone else slightly queasy?

I feel like the ad not only mocks and denigrates bus riding, but also the folks on the bus itself. Doesn't IT spend lots of thousands of dollars every year on marketing campaigns convincing people to use public transit? Isn't one of their major goals increasing ridership? How does spreading a message explicitly counter to it help further that goal? Shouldn't IT use some discretion when choosing what advertising they plaster across our public property (IT is a public agency, no? I'm not bothering to do that research)?

Anyway, I went into the station office downtown and complained and the lady behind the counter promptly grabbed a digicam and snapped a shot of the ad. so I'd bet that more folks going in, emailing and/or calling to register their disgust, discomfort, dismay or whatever might help IT review its policy.

via email. includes literature distribution, sidewalk sign holdin', and telling encounters with various goons in uniform. anybody who went have photos?

- - warning - - contains subjective reporting - Rafael

Yesterday, [Saturday, August 11th, 2007 - /R] around 30 people showed up in front of the Federal Building in Tacoma. While we were there, about a dozen people were down at the detention facility being watched by private riot cops.

When we moved to set up in front of the Federal Building, we noticed three private security guards and one male individual with an ICE badge, gun, and a bad haircut. He informed us that the sidewalk in front of the building was federal property and that we would be arrested if we did not move. It was obvious that he was lying and so some us stayed where we were and others went off to hand out literature at a festival that was going on nearby.

The ICE agent continued to try and make us leave but his lies were too obvious. The Tacoma PD arrived later and informed us that we were actually on City property and that we would not be arrested. We stayed where we were, ate food and passed out literature. The response from the public was about 50/50. Some people had no idea there even was a detention facility in Tacoma. Others expressed sincere concern at what was happening and eagerly listened to what we had to say.

from email. please spread the word.

be careful out there, friends, watch out for provacateurs, the ten Tacoma "special intelligence officers" Larry Hildis wants to know about (read the story about the good news regarding the port folks for more about that... which, by the way, is false arrest not actually something cops get in trouble for anymore?), and other homesec goons, undercover or not.

via boingboing

Seeing Yellow wants you to call your printer's manufacturer and ask them to stop spying on you.

We've known that our printers are spying on us, ever since the Electronic Frontier Foundation cracked the secret codes in the output of color laser printers. These hidden codes -- apparently placed at the behest of the Secret Service -- identify the serial number, make and model of the printer that printed them, as well as a date and timestamp.

What we didn't know is that if you ask the manufacturer of your printer to stop spying on you, they respond by ratting you out to the Secret Service as a dangerous subversive, and a few days later, the SS will show up and ask you why you care about your privacy.

Seeing Yellow -- a project from the MIT Media Lab -- wants to put a stop to this by overwhelming the manufacturers with complaints from their customers, so many that they can't turn us all into the SS.

When you print on a color laser printer, it's likely that you are also printing a pattern of invisible yellow dots. These marks exist to allow the printer companies and governments to track and identify you -- presumably as a way to combat money counterfeiting. When one person asked his printer manufacturer about turning off the tracking dots, Secret Service agents showed up at his door several days later.

Upset? You should be!

Let's stand up to silent tracking and government bullying and send a strong message to printer manufacturers. Our privacy and our control over our own technology is far too important to give up over trumped up fears of photocopied money.

this is from an email forward I recieved, thought I'd post it here as I've been meaning to start olyblogging for a while now. At this point I don't know what the police/sheriff situation is, the ships might not even be coming.

The Capital Lakefair will take place in Olympia from the 20th to the 23rd. As part of this year's festivities, the City of Olympia thought it would be a great idea to bring three military ships into the port. That way, the military can have a chance to try and pass itself off as an organization which does not KILL other human beings. Children can be shown by their parents that big boats with big guns that can level whole towns are real cool.

But there are some of us who do not wish a sick institution like the military to be in our town in any form whatsoever, be it a deployment of Strykers or this petty propaganda ploy. Some of us oppose the military as it exists and has always existed: the tool of rich, greedy human beings, used to murder and pillage other countries in order to maximize their profits. Some of those in the military are decent enough people. Others are psychotic and talk about killing all the Arabs. In either case, everyone in the military is working for the rich and we do not want them flouting their weapons in Olympia or anywhere else.

They ARE coming to Olympia, though. So come down on the 21st and 22nd to show the local government and the sailors on the boats that we do not care what excuses they give for their presence; they are not welcome. All groups are invited. Independent planning is strongly encouraged. There WILL be a basic plan in which, hopefully, the various groups will have space to do whatever they wish.

Time and Place.

Saturday July 21

First roundabout above 4th Ave. Bridge. Meet on the sidewalks around the roundabout at 3:00 PM.

Sunday July 22

Sylvester Park. Meet there at 3:00 PM