A disclaimer strongly suggested by a lawyer-friend: Don't be a dum-dum.
The information on this page presented is for general information purposes only.
Neither Helen & Harry nor Unknown News makes any representation nor assumes any responsibility for the accuracy of information contained on or available through this website.
You are encouraged to confirm any information obtained from or through this website with other sources, and review all information regarding any technical problem with your tech wizard, your internet service provider, and your brother-in-law.
Neither Helen & Harry nor Unknown News can recommend, endorse or make any representation about the efficacy, appropriateness or suitability of any specific sites or procedures, and neither Helen & Harry nor Unknown News can be held responsible nor liable for any dang fool thing you do.
So think for yourself and refrain from inserting your head up your arse.
For these instructions, we will use an actual proxy server in Taiwan with the technical specs "address 139.223.199.194" and "port 8080". Proceed as follows:
On your computer, go to SETTINGS.
Go to CONTROL PANEL.
Go to INTERNET OPTIONS.
Under CONNECTIONS and LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN), check "proxy server," and before you change anything, write the current address and port settings on a piece of paper. This is important. Write the info on a piece of paper, stick it in your pocket or somewhere you won't lose it, so you can restore the settings later.
Then, from your search or the list olf proxies below, enter the new address — (139.223.199.194, in our example) — and port (8080). You should now be free to surf.
If you're on someone else's computer — at a "filtered" location like work or a public library — their software might not let you alter the settings, as described above. If so, try a free on-line proxy, like those listed below.
When you use one of these free on-line proxies, many filters will simply see that you're at one of these sites, where there's nothing objectionable. But from these sites you can surf anonymously to 'forbidden' sites.
Of course, if you're using someone else's computer, remember to set the settings back when you're done, so
they won't even know you've circumvented "security."
Remember, any time you log in with a unique employee or library password, your tracks are still traceable.
The Internet community is urged to save and distribute these anti-block instructions.
Webmasters of "vulnerable" websites are invited to put these instructions on their websites AND to urge their visitors to download and save them immediately — BEFORE the website is blocked and it is too late to tell them.
"Weighted phrase limit exceeded" Man, just typing it I want to punch somebody.
The message means that your computer has filtering software, and the page you're trying to reach has been deemed inappropriate for you. Sometimes the error message suggests that if you have any questions, you should "contact your ICT Co-ordinator or Network Manager", but of course, if you do you're (a) stupid and (b) in trouble for trying to visit "inappropriate" sites.
If you're curious about the phrase "Weighted phrase limit exceeded", some schmuck at the hilariously mis-named "Freedom ISP" (where your freedom is prevented) will explain what it means:
"There are certain words or phrases, which carry a weight or a value. These are generally words or phrases that have sexual or violent connotations. For instance the word sex will carry a weight of 5, while rape has a weight of 20. If the sum of all the weights on a page exceeds 120 then we deem that page to be nonviewable and it gets blocked. Certain phrases may have a weight of 200, so that if that phrase or word is anywhere on the page, even once, we will block the page. Weighted phrasing is just one of a number of methods we use to scan the contents of a page. It is the way we catch pages that have never been seen by our system before."
Even if we had children, we wouldn't pay for such a "service", but for anyone who would, my message would be ... whatever's vulgar enough to earn 120 points.
On this page, you'll find a way around such prudish filtering systems.
--Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.
We present a once-weekly wrap-up of news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with no nuttiness and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.
What we believe
We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché.
We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.
We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.
We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people.
We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults.
Like America's right-wingers, we believe in
individual responsibility,
hard work to get ahead,
and stern punishment for serious crimes.
We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like America's left-wingers, we believe in
equal treatment under law,
war as a last (not first) resort,
and sensible stewardship of natural resources.
We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.
But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.
We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.
A reader asks, what are our solutions?
We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.
Our suggestion is: think.
A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.
These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).
We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.
We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.
We assume our readers are well-informed before they click here, so we focus on news that's generally unknown or under-reported. We're generally disinterested in such non-news as reports on what politicians might do, may do, or should do, and we don't usually mention the murders, kidnappings, house fires, auto wrecks, celebrity crap, wacky fluff, and other nonsense that's pushed real news right out of the newscasts.
Disclaimer for dummies: Our front page is free from nudity, but we make no promise on profanity. If your surfing is monitored this site might not be safe for work, and you may be shocked, offended, or in trouble with your boss. A link doesn't imply that we agree with every sentence and every sentiment on every site we link to. We use our noggins, and suggest you use yours.
We always welcome comments from readers, and we're especially interested in hearing and considering different perspectives, so please don't be shy. All we ask is that you conduct yourself sanely and civilly, so consider yourself invited to speak your mind. Our email address and other info is on our contact page.
Please don't email us unless you're sending an original communication that you're not sending to anyone or everyone else. If you add us to your mailing list or chat group without asking us first, or if you send "Dear friend" newsletters, or "link exchange" form letters, or if you send a press release every time you add a post to your blog, you're a spammer and we'll soon block your emails. Also, as a matter of security, we don't open emails from strangers which include attachments or have any kind of programming imbedded, and we recommend a similar policy for others. If you're sending us an email, please send it in plain text only.
Our RSS feed of Unknown News headlines is updated whenever we update the site. Click the orange button for more information, or just get the feed at http://unknownnews.org/ RSSfeeds/dailyRSS.xml.
(Enormous and eternal thanksto Doug at mistersquirrel.net, for setting up our RSS feed.)
Our privacy policy has a page of its own, but the short and sweet version is: We're in favor of privacy. We make no effort to track or identify anything about visitors to our website. We never share, trade, or sell email addresses. We never send spam. We never send email, except in response to readers' queries. We never send (or open) attachments of any kind, and we delete un-opened any emails received with attachments.
Anything sent to Unknown News may be published. If you don't want it published, say so plainly. When we publish incoming emails, we edit out the sender's last name and email address — if we slip up (or if you want your full name and email address published) please let us know. Of course, if your email is unambiguously intended only to annoy, insult, or threaten us, we'll publish it with all the details and leave it on-line forever.
