i'm under some kind of cyberattack, and i actually think it's the rcmp. i am not going to be able to do anything at all until i can get not just my laptop but now also my main desktop back on line. everything else is secondary - i have no existence, otherwise.

i'm typing on what i want to be a strictly mobile device. this laptop/tablet is not intended for daily use, and is not a solution to the problem.

on saturday afternoon, i checked my mail and got back my access to information request from the rcmp, which was a dvd with a large amount of information on it (you can tell from the burn size). the totality of the request was a 16 kb pdf file with the statement "restricted" - they are not releasing this information, and i do not know why. my best guess is that they there were (multiple) undercover officers at occupy ottawa, and i have a file on record because i participated in the protests, but i'm going to have to file an appeal to figure it out. i believe that this is a basic request that i should have been granted instant access to, but we live in a culture where people assume you have no rights unless you introduce yourself as a lawyer. i believe that the dvd had a boot sector virus on it, and it has taken out two of my machines. but, i think this is also a part of a broader attack that seems to focus on taking out my video cards. twice is a coincidence. three times is a pattern.

i don't want any software from adobe on my machine, as it is bloated spyware, so i open pdf documents in a virtual machine. i initially couldn't get the thing to read, so i tried a reboot - and the laptop never came back. after a few reboots, i decided the disk was suspect and tried to boot from my pc.

i'll remind you that the laptop i'm using has a blown lamp in the display monitor, so i have to send the information out through the video card. this is following a short in a newer laptop's system board, which i think was caused by an attack on my processor. the hard drive initially came from the newer laptop, which i am looking to refurbish, eventually.  what that means is that i'm unable to see error messages coming from the bios in the system. but, my assumption was a drive error - because i've seen that happen before. on top of that, i then remembered that i had scheduled a chkdsk and thought that perhaps the reason the machine seemed slow to boot is that the chkdsk was running, which i had then terminated by rebooting. oops.

i got a x7b on reboot, which i decided was probably a boot sector problem caused by the aborted chkdsk. but, the chkdsk had minimal problems. the boot sector seemed fine. so, i copied everything off of the drive and reinstalled - which worked fine, indicating i wasn't having a hardware problem at all, something was corrupt inside of the install.

i was able to work the problem down to a corrupted system hive in the registry and was making good progress in fixing it. i shut the machine down to take a nap, and now it won't post. the laptop's hard drive was plugged in...

i can use this device for file transfer operations and internet access and i still have the bus pirate if i need to go in and flash over parallel. there were plenty of explanations for my laptop's hard drive getting funny. but, there is no rational explanation at all for what just happened to my main pc.

it's almost 7:00 am, which is when the hydro rates change. i'll have to start by stripping the pc down, taking out ram, etc. but, i won't be able to start until after 7:00 pm.

and i'm frankly very depressed and frustrated, so i'm planning to spend the next 12 hours sleeping.