Coffee Spiders and Copyrights

The Ticking Clock

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:52:43 GMT

Speaking of mortality, my grandpa is now dead.

I remember Great Grandpa Cliff dying. And now my Grandpa. It's high noon on the family tree, I guess, two down, two to go. Both of us getting older by the second.

He was a bit of a racist jerk but no one deserves to die like he did, with no one to take care of him as his body was torn apart by cancer, his mind fell apart, and he lost the ability to care for himself and clean up after himself, only to be left in the possession of my deranged self-centered grandmother. I sure hope I can do better than that.

No legacy, but a few worthless pesos stored away, along with some bricabrac that I hear is all being auctioned off for cheap anyway. He'll be forgotten within the decade or two, as the last people with memories of him pass away.

Dying Inside

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:49:01 GMT

Very sad. Not sad in the ways you'd expect, perhaps, but still very sad. Sexual impotence as a metaphor for losing the ability to read minds. As a metaphor for death and human existence in general. Very, very sex filled book.

It bordered a little bit on the racist side...but then again, the story does take place where racism exists; throughout the 50s-70s, from the perspective of a wealthy jew, who fit in within groups of various conservative stripes. Remember a lot of this is before coloured people in the US won their most civil rights, and to this day there's a lot of racism in those very same areas left(and differences between groups of people that are used to justify such things). But still, it was unsettling.

Lots of sex. But it wasn't the sex that made it an interesting read, a book I couldn't put down. I'm not sure what *that* was. Was it that the main character was very humanlike in his constant contradictions, and his suffering? Was it the way that Silverberg structured the story, practically shuffling time? I'm not sure.

Also cute, was the main character(an extremely literate essay-writer) hooks up with a sexy computer programmer(from 1964). Kind of opposite of me & meirionwen

In any case, after reading this book I feel my own mortality. My own talents have attenuated, have dulled with time, and I associate strongly with some of his experiences in that regard.

Interesting to note, since I've read this book I'm thinking about death, and sex a hell of a lot more than I was before. Seems like I can't keep from thinking about one, or the other, or both.

thedark going down! storm!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:41:50 GMT

First lightning of the season. Hurray. See you all afterwards

University of Regina Undergrad PSA

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:57:58 GMT

In case there are people left at the UofR who are still undergrads, be warned. It is no longer 10 years to finish your degree before they start clipping credits away from your first year courses. It is 7. If you took coop and/or took time off to work, and/or failed anything, you better make damn sure that you've actually been in for a grad councilling every year or two, or at least that you're ready for it.

It hasn't hit me...yet. My first year is a writeoff anyway. I might be postponed at most one semester in the first year and a half. But the clock is definitely ticking faster. But it could hit you. Talk to your department, and pass this on to anyone who's older and who might not have known about this.

The Sword in the Stone, last English 110 Readings done

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:56:27 GMT

The Sword in the Stone - T H White. Totally tainted by my having seen the Disney version. But I do not remember the jabs against socialism in that one, nor the blatant racism, so they can be redeemed for that transgression.

It was actually not as terrible as I've made it out. It would have been pleasant reading, had reading it not been effectively mandatory. If you're keeping score, Marie de France's 'Lanval', and Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in Sir Arthur's Court', followed by the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and then the others, if you are interested. It goes downhill from lanval, mostly.

My prof talked about ants, yet I did not see ants in my copy. Oh well.

All that's left, is to write and hand in an essay(hopefully Real Soon Now), and do the final next week, and this class is over.

gag

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:35:23 GMT

I have finally joined facebook.

It's a terrible thing to have to do, but these are desperate times.

You know, Michael Geist has done a lot for me, really, and if he thinks joining facebook will help, then I'll do what I can.

Posted using LJ Talk...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:18:30 GMT

http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/blog/2008/06/copyright_quiz_what_if_i.html#more <-- What kind of absolutely ludicrous situations will the new DMCA law in Canada cause? Ask Mr. Prentice!

Raw food?

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:40:30 GMT

@ 1,000 people

Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. moshulu score: 6
2. the moorings score: 5
3. functional analysis score: 4
4. informatik score: 4
5. topology score: 4
6. aberdeen score: 4
7. probability score: 4
8. number theory score: 4
9. bioinformatics score: 4
10. melotron score: 3
11. introverts score: 3
12. transit score: 3
13. opengl score: 3
14. rapid prototyping score: 3
15. knot theory score: 3
16. matlab score: 3
17. fictional score: 3
18. raw food score: 3
19. gnu/linux score: 3
20. dandyism score: 3

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@ ~10,000 people
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. apoptygma berzerk score: 7
2. funker vogt score: 7
3. project pitchfork score: 6
4. skepticism score: 6
5. moshulu score: 6
6. open source score: 6
7. transhumanism score: 6
8. nanotechnology score: 6
9. assemblage 23 score: 6
10. futurism score: 6
11. algorithms score: 6
12. william gibson score: 5
13. cryptography score: 5
14. fairy lights score: 5
15. go score: 5
16. quantum mechanics score: 5
17. the moorings score: 5
18. ubuntu score: 5
19. covenant score: 5
20. statistics score: 5

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@ ~100,000 people
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. science fiction score: 19
2. linux score: 15
3. physics score: 13
4. unix score: 10
5. industrial score: 9
6. science score: 9
7. math score: 9
8. nine inch nails score: 9
9. tea score: 9
10. linguistics score: 9
11. programming score: 9
12. sushi score: 8
13. bob dylan score: 8
14. vnv nation score: 8
15. monty python score: 8
16. star wars score: 8
17. baking score: 8
18. final fantasy score: 8
19. apoptygma berzerk score: 7
20. feminism score: 7

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@ ~1,000,000 people
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. writing score: 24
2. reading score: 24
3. computers score: 22
4. anime score: 21
5. books score: 20
6. science fiction score: 19
7. coffee score: 19
8. chocolate score: 19
9. cooking score: 17
10. photography score: 17
11. cats score: 16
12. love score: 16
13. linux score: 15
14. art score: 15
15. physics score: 13
16. sex score: 13
17. dancing score: 13
18. history score: 13
19. drawing score: 12
20. politics score: 12

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@ ~10,000,000 people
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. music score: 24
2. writing score: 24
3. reading score: 24
4. computers score: 22
5. anime score: 21
6. books score: 20
7. science fiction score: 19
8. coffee score: 19
9. chocolate score: 19
10. cooking score: 17
11. photography score: 17
12. cats score: 16
13. love score: 16
14. linux score: 15
15. art score: 15
16. movies score: 13
17. physics score: 13
18. sex score: 13
19. dancing score: 13
20. history score: 13

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Interesting things that I am not yet interested in: Some bar in the UK called 'the moorings'. Raw food??? Tea is more likely something I'd be interested in than coffee?

Tax Returns

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:15:45 GMT

Since I don't think I've mentioned it here, this year I got some money back from taxes. I won't say how much, but rest assured that I was not expecting to get anything, let alone this much. Hell, I tried *to* pay taxes, specifically, and I still think I overpaid by a few hundred dollars. But Revenue Canada recalculated my taxes, and so now I have some room to breathe with, suddenly. So this changes things, quite a bit. First of all, my internet connection is not going to be cut. Second, I'm no longer running from my creditors(for the time being). meirionwen is going back to school, definitely, come fall. There was a bit of a mix up, since apparently the rules changed at the University of Regina, and now if you are not attending classes for 3 or more semesters(summer semesters count as 1), you are unenrolled. There doesn't seem to be any penalty for this, other than being forced to reapply. I don't think I want to even go that far, though, so that changes my long-term planning somewhat. If anything it gives a welcomed restraint; at my current speed I'll be entering the next stage of life(ie post-university) come Winter 2010. But we'll see. The money also lets me take control of my finances, somewhat, instead of ignoring them. Make no mistake; I'm still broke, but I'm back to doing 'better than usual', compared to the rest of my life, again, instead of on the line(word?).

MGB

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:43:46 GMT

View Poll: Matthew Good

Canadian DMCA Tabled!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:16:33 GMT

"This should be funny...so now people who download free music on the internet will be more severely punished than people who molest little children?"-Skyle2008. Shows what the Conservative Party's priorities are.

First coverage wasn't even on reddit, but on an email from the folks at Digital Copyright Canada. Since then CBC covered it, and there's even a post
on the csss forums. So let's take a look.

It is indeed a DMCA-like law, in that it's going to ban DRM-removal

It's not all bad news: There is educational, library and archival exceptions for breaking DRM. Sucks to be outside of the ivory tower, I guess. Divided and conquered

It will criminalize much p2p use, and people who use p2p networks to get copyrighted material will be getting hooped. This will of course be abused, but we'll see

more good news; Notice & Notice is retained. No Notice & Takedown nonsense
TiVOs are specifically either illegal or useless

iPods will be illegal to use if you have to break DRM to do so. Which will mean nearly all new music will not be playable on iPods without Apple's permission.

circumventing copyright will be More of a punishment than 500$ per distributed copy. Interpreted broadly, the text may mean that hexedit will be illegal

this will actually be worse than the DMCA in that "making available" is illegal. ie, you don't even have to copy anything to be guilty of copyright infringement!

RMI's, I'd have to see the specifics. But I think RMIs are a good idea, done right.

good news for some: perceptual disabilities are accounted for

ISPs will be obligated to log a whole lot of data. Hello higher ISP monthly costs

So far, ignoring the parts on DRM, it's what Prentice said it would be. A compromise between two groups; american corporate whores and the rest of us. But the DRM part....causes this bill to fail.
If you thought that SaskTel would ever let you copy stuff off your DVR, forget it.

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HouseBills/BillsGovernment.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2#C61

Industry Canada study found that p2p is beneficial to Canadians by a large margin, even ignoring copyright laws

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/6870
...must resist...urge..to..bash...liberals
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/12/tech-copyright.html
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/4710
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/4709
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/4706
http://www.killbillc61.ca/ (not up yet)
http://www.reddit.com/info/6n2fl/comments/
http://csss.cs.uregina.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34&p=61#p61
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/billc61/blog
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/12/tech-copyright.html#articlecomments
http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/home
http://themusicgod1.livejournal.com/87802.html
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/12/1852215
don't tell people about the shift key
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=582147&cid=23769893
good summary
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=582147&cid=23769517
definitely illegal: mashups.
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=582147&cid=23770033
Vive covers
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article/235930173-canada-plagiarizes-dmca-ready-to-
crack-down-on-copyright-now
(more details coming from michael geist)
Also notable: Any of you who get yourself infected with a SONY or other
rootkit, you will no longer be able to legally run any antivirus program
to remove it. It'll be interesting to see how this effects WoW.
Check out the comment from Paul. This bill is extinguishing his market.
"Let me see if I get this right. If I want to put a movie on my iPod, I now risk a smaller fine if I download a movie with its copy-protection already removed ($500) than if I buy the DVD and remove it myself ($20,000). Suddenly I foresee a decline in my DVD buying habits, which, somehow, I don't think is was the intended goal. " -Myriam
"I have come to the conclusion that the conservative minority is completely ignorant to the facts of reality. People are going to circumvent media restrictions and integrate their content into other devices and formats, it is a defined trend that is continually increasing in size and velocity that ignorant legislation will have little effect on. These are the realities of our digital age.
I have therefore elected to forego writing Jim Prentice because it is impossible to penetrate a skull so thick and sure footed. Rather, I will write to his cat, Mr. Jingles, in hopes that this animal has a better understanding of voter sentiment and our digital reality."-Robert on 2008-06-12 15:54:46
Also interesting: "Can we circumvent iTunes DRM under C-61? I am not a lawyer, so I'm not sure if I'm reading this properly, but doesn't this paragraph say that it's okay to circumvent DRM on your iTunes songs, so long as you're doing so in order to listen to them on a non-Apple MP3 player? "41.12 (1) Paragraph 41.1(1)(a) does not apply to a person who owns a computer program or a copy of it, or has a licence to use the program or copy, and who circumvents a technological measure that protects that program or copy for the sole purpose of obtaining information that would allow the person to make the program and any other computer program interoperable. " The only reason I would circumvent the DRM on my old iTunes files is so that I can listen to them on my Creative Zen. Would this protect me, since I'm doing it for the sole purpose of making them interoperable?" Written by Matt Schneider on 2008-06-12 15:57:17
Reply immediately comes: from one David F. Skoll. 2008-06-12 16:03:13 "I don\'t think you can circumvent DRM on an MP3 song to play it on a non-Apple MP3 player unless you can convince the judge that an MP3 file is a \"computer program.\""
As Phillip P. claims, it goes without saying it'll soon to be illegal
to watch a DVD purchased in the UK in Canada after the bill passes
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3025/125/

A Clockwork Orange

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:45:39 GMT

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

A very moving book. It's more than a sad tale of a victim which you can't possibly rationally feel sorry for, it's also a questions:

How far can we go, as a society, to reduce crime?
If you were given a choice, right now, to give up your ability to make choices forevermore, on the condition that every time you are presented with a situation you would choose the moral path, would you do it? Would it be moral/ethical to do it? Would you even still be human/would this be a humane thing to do to yourself/other people?

The idea of taking Alex, and removing from him the ability to enjoy music, and violence is at once depressing and frightening; for you know that they(The Government) would not stop there--next it would be schools and asylums; the zero-tolerance policies for drugs, fighting, cheating, these would all be replaced by students which simply did not do drugs, fight or cheat(or sleep?). If society needed such people, they'd be given 'blisters', at which point they would do these things. But it's also depressing, in the same way of positing an omnipotent god, or pure determinism is depressing. That some of us are just destined for lives where we sin, and then presumably are punished(or in this book; cleansed of our capability to sin). And the book takes us through the experience of one such person.

There's gangs. But worse than gangs, is the inhumanity that both modern gangs, the police and parts of the general public exhibit towards one another. Gangrape, police brutality and silent genocides. But how far can we go towards solving these things before we remove what it is to be human? Not all problems of violence concern resource allocation; there are people out there, and I have encountered them, that for whatever reason are just sociopathic, who are incapable of treating other human beings as anything other than objects to cause suffering within. As targets. How can a society deal with these people, how would you deal with these people? Self defence is easy but what if the attack on you, the violence upon you is not obviously happening right now, but happens nonetheless? What if the slow starvation of a Saskatchewan Government built system of poverty and class is actually more violent than the knife wielding street thug? Is self defence still as obviously justified?

What is human nature, or perhaps, who am I, who are you, and who are the rest of humanity?

Culture, superstition and religion gives us easy answers to these questions. But they may neither be right, well-intended, optimal or even desirable, except in comparison with pure chance and chaos.

These questions cut deeply but here's a few relevant questions(and it should be pointed out that all questions in this post are doubtless loaded, and I'm only just groping for The Right Way of thinking about this book, and the issues involved in it's plot):

1) Who gets to decide what you, as an individual thinks? How you, as an individual thinks? Where the boundary lies between individual, society, and government? Marijuana is just the tip of the iceberg here, and the control over private lives by corporate entities and government entities, in enforcing prohibition and mandating psychotherapeutic drugs does indeed exert (albeit blunt and technically unsophisticated) control over the same kinds of factors that this story deals with. It's horrific in the story, and no less horrific today, it's just not effective, and spread out throughout a large segment of the population so no one notices.

2) What is "enough"? If I look at some scientologist, can I rightly hate them? sonofabitch driving an SUV in this day and age, can I rightly hate them? What about business/admin majors? What about rapists and pedophiles? And in that last case(including the former), what if the behaviour is widespread, and if there is no one but "me, Jesus and the cross" left who are left without sin? And really, when framed that way, who am I to cast stones? But isn't that last one too far? Just pull a card from sean_kennedy, that it is obvious that it is too far since at the last throes of life, you should be able to see one who is more deserving of death than yourself, for the most part, shouldn't you? Or is this another one of those Godelian traps, where everyone can do so but none consistently?

The only thing that is clear is that none of this is clear, even without resource allocation and power relation problems; there are deeper issues involved with human nature.

"I'm not quite dead yet" Sauteed Salad

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:59:14 GMT

Requires:
* One carrot
* A "whole bunch" of lettuce (500ml?)
* "four" celery
* olive oil(probably not as much as I used). I used somewhere around a quarter cup.
* 10 dandelions, picked straight from your yard
* salt/sel
* frypan

1) Wash the dandelions.
2) cut carrot, lettuce, celery and place
3) add salt to olive oil, put in frypan, heat
4) add non dandelion vegetables to frypan
5) cut the leaves off of the dandilions. Only take the leaves(the rest may be poisonous), and add them to the frypan
6) eat

(CC-by-3.0)

Because I'm not quite dead, having eaten dandelions.

I think I finally found something that I find personally offensive

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:46:37 GMT

Someone punched my mom in the face. That is pretty insulting. I mean, I can deal with it. She seems to be okay, but still. I have a hard time equating "pictures of an imaginary person" and "violence against loved ones", but whatever.

In the meanwhile: I just got my tax return, so I no longer have money problems for the near future. w00t. I tried to pay taxes, but the government wouldn't let me. Go figure.

Another book for English read: A Connecticut Yankee in Sir Arthur's Court

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:10:25 GMT

Quite the read. I did not honestly give the 19th century as much credit as was warranted by this book. The book is definitely multi-layered. I could give it a proper review, but I'll be writing an essay on it *anyway*, and it's quite a popular book and that's been overdone anyway. Anyhow, where is this part of americana, in the modern United States? What happened to it? That wily pragmatism? Obviously The Boss is a bit of a caricature, but still--the intense hatred of unjust authority in all it's forms, and the fight against slavery...I just fail to see how such a noble thread of the american culture could be so downtrodden and defeated in modern times. Or was it all fiction?

The book touched upon a lot that is still very dear to our minds today. One was property rights. The tale of the mother who stole a small piece of linen so that she could feed her baby---this example is one of many that shows that property rights are not "respected"--if things are going well, people respect one another. But when things get desperate, there's only so far people can be pushed before they "steal", no matter how strict the social expectations of propriety are wound around them. Once the volume of starvation's pangs gets to a certain point, all reason is gone, and theft occurs. I suppose this goes for both the initial creation of property and reallocation of resources without reason.

The book, although never explicitly, raises the question: What is progress, anyway? I remember a conversation with kendric, and ben harack to the extent of 'if we were placed a thousand years ago, how quickly could we kickstart a modern economy'--that is exactly the plot of this book. I studied engines similar to the newcomen(sp?) engine--I've never built an engine*, and if I do have any skills worthy of mention, they tend not to be higher-level skills; skills that assume a stable civilization to begin with. On my own on the street with nothing but my wits I'm probably less capable than the average person already there, and as shown in the book, most of the problems are of a political and philosophical, not a technical, nature anyway. It's the social institutions that are the trouble, and the technology only allows their overthrow.

Along with the above question; while I was reading the book I was also reading a lot about the sharades going on with the CHR tribunals, and the various ways that various people held by radical islam and various aspects of western society are clashing. One could draw a loose analogy between King Arthur's Camelot and the Islamic kingdoms(saudi arabia, afghanistan), and the various ways they deal with their american agitators, and this would give yet another reason why this book is still just as relevant as the day it was printed.

*although I have pieced together a working generator or two, and a battery.

edit oddly enough, Marginal Revolution was talking about that exact topic that day. Fancy that.

Okay...

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:40:55 GMT

So one of you plopped 19$ on my internet bill, but whoever you are, thank you. The connection is still getting cut, but that saves a whole lot of trouble on my part.

Webcam

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:10:34 GMT

I now have a webcam. So in case csis or som'n "disappears" me get screenshots, k?

Also, I'd like to put it on the front page here, but I'm not really sure where it fits. Especially with html2 and all. I put it there for now, I might find a better spot for it.
. Speaking of video, I also appeared on another Brual Bros feature: Sound Off.

House of Commons today

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:52:25 GMT

This is obviously not complete, since I don't transcribe french, among other reasons.

Conservatives claim that the Cadscam tape was doctored. They repeated this a few times.
Liberals do not deny this, oddly.

Dion - Automobiles/Manufacturing are hurting, accuses harper's finance minister of discouraging GM from investing in ontario
Harper - We're doing fine, Dion wants taxes, and taxes lead to recession
Lakeshore,ON - 12,000 Jobs lost in ON, ON needs a helping hand
Flahrty - 250$M innovation investment, we're working with the union in oshawa
Lakeshore - blah
Flahrty - Opposition doesn't grok auto, GDP is growing, liberals want to raise taxes via carbon tax
Layton - 180,000 manufacturing jobs lost under harper, show leadership mr harper
Harper - Jobs are lost, Companies have difficulties, but 750k jobs net gained so far

...
WTO conference, we're ably represented(cons), no we're not(lib),
Cons: keynote speaker is mugabe, how legitamite can it be? we disconnected our own food aid, there we go
Missasagua: some investigation is incomplete... Cons are interferring with obama campaign, supporting republicans.

Dave van kesteren: liberals are trashing economy. scaring away investors. Ignorance of canada's economic strength is difficult. OECD reveals today good numbers.
flahrty: we're taking positive approach , liberals are taking a negative approach. OECD spring economic outlook "canada has entered the current period of weaking global growth from (a good condition) --- because of tax cuts, providing stimulus...
winnipegN(ndp) - at best, half full, half million canadians can't find doctor
tony clement, minHealth, cons, 6% increase per year healthcare, national cancer strategy, mental health commitment, HIV vaccine, we have wait time guarantees established
hamilton mountain, ON, ndp, seniors don't get pension splitting.
Flahrty : 1k$s of dollars saved because of pension splitting, and economy is stimulated
Sue barnes, london west, ON, lib: Omar Katr "in the opinion of the american officials, omar is a good kid, slavagable" detention in guantanamo will turn omar into a radical, is that the gov'ts intentions?
Deepak obhrai: cons, foreign affairs: Omar is treated humanely(LOL), any questions are speculative...Omar faces serious charges
Sue barnes: There is no judge, and that's exactly what the cons said about that other guy, bring omar back to Canada
Deepak: premature speculation. "The legal process is going on, mr speaker"
Hull--Alymer(Lib): If Omar recieved care in canada, and was rehabilitated here, he wouldn't be a terrorist. He should recieve the care *all canadians* are entitled
Stockwell day: Can't go into specifics of case. There's 2000 canadians in prison, they can appeal to come back to this country, 300 appeals are being processed,
Michel Guimond

Joyce Murray, Vancouver Quada, BC (Lib) - BC, Cap & trade, carbon tax, congrats. Harper doesn't like ontario/quebec
John Baird, Minenvironmeent, Cons: Taxes, Gordon Campbell can be trusted, "any gov't or political party, promoting new/increased fuel/increased carbon tax will be insensitive to consumers/small business, small business want a stop to all increases of taxes for fuel"
Lampdon--Kent-Middlesex, ON, Bev shirpley: lots of cars/trucks are old. they account for 19/20 of current automotive CO2 emissions. Can minenv tell us what he can do to get the old clunkers off the road
Baird --- CAW want national scrappage program, 4 year initiative to scrap high pollution vehicles. We'll try to get 200,000 cars off the road, we're "tough on polluters" and "Help canadians to get the job done"
Charlie Angus: International reputation isn't doing very good right now. iPod something?
Prentice:Key issue on copyright is striking balance, consumers on other, creators, attempts to previous liberal gov't tried to do so failed, me & heritage will release it once the deal has been struct
Charlie: Prentice is sounding like a broken record from the analog age, He's being led around by US lobbyists and ignoring canadian input

Something about Geneva ?
Attempt to personally ceize computers & search & seize
Lawsuits against individuals.
Avg citizens who he's trying to criminalize can vote, the American ambassadors cannot

Prentice: We need to balance Consumers, Creators on the other
NDP can lead eachother along by their own noses they can do so

Anita Neville, Winnipeg south, what's the details about this apology about the residential schools, will aboriginal orgs be consulted on the content, will leaders on all parties have opportunities to make a statement. Will gov general be included

Someone (I think conservatives) boasted that they recreated participaction.

A moment of silence

Voting on C-393 - Criminal Code and Corrections and Conditional Release Act (Punishment and Hearing). Looks like voting via party lines on the conservative side, a few on the opposition. Skelton voted for. Lots of women voting against. Hmmm.
Angus voted against. Did I hear Goodale against? layton against.

Voting on C-377 Climate Change Accountability Act, amendment
Layton for. Goodale for. Conservatives overwhelmingly voting against.

it passed yay 148- nay 114. Motion 2-3 vote along exact same lines. Layton moves that C-377 climate change read a 3rd time and passed.

Voting on C-377 itself:
Layton for. Angus for. Goodale for. Is it just me or is the Speaker fo the house not even giving conservatives a chance to vote for? Conservatives voting against. Oh no, there we go; Nays are given a chance to vote on the other side of the house. 148 yay, nays 116. Motion carried.

C-490 being voted on, I'm taking a break

Prentice Admitted that he is Not ready to release the Copyright Amendment yet, and that he will table the bill "When He's Ready"
Charlie Angus's version of the events

Good News

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:37:19 GMT

1) 70% on my english midterm. This is an extraordinary mark for me(I teh suck at English).

2) The Conservatives may be chickening out...whatever you out there are doing, it's working. It's not over yet...but this is a good sign.

Making Sense out of a Mess

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:26:55 GMT

The more I reviewed the list, the more I came to realize that while there was some points of leverage I could still take, the order was wrong for me. And not only was the order wrong, but some points(Copyright Branch of Heritage Canada) are either redundant or just bureaucrats that will not influence the outcome if the DMCA is actually tabled today. I spent quite a few hours yesterday researching various aspects of this problem. I came across flora.ca, and got a few pointers from the extremely helpful Russell McOrmond. He pointed out correctly that the current government has not consulted anyone anyway, so trying to get them to consult you(by initiating contact yourself) can only go so far, and is not relevant if the bill is being tabled today anyway. Minister Prentice has seemingly instituted a policy of "radio silence", where different stakeholders are intentionally kept out of the picture, and attempts by people even more driven than I on the bureaucrat side have not made any progress since he got into office.

So some possibly more useful instructions might be

Contact your MP(done)

Contact Prime Minister Harper(done)

Contact Industry Minister Prentice(done)

Contact Heritage Minister Josee Verner(letter done, meirionwen is proofreading(I will email it by the end of the day, unfortunately no time left for a hard copy due to her slow, but thorough, editing...edit: okay maybe there will be time for a hard copy yet)

Join this mailing list, or make sure you know someone on it.(done)
talk to all your family, friends, enemies, anyone who doesn't run away get them to talk to their politicians(I've been doing this, as most of you should be able to tell, but I can step this up)

Once the bill is released more can follow, but until then we're kind of in limbo between the point where we can leverage the bureaucrats, and the point where we can pressure politicians with masses from the general public.

At this point I think it's worthwhile making sure everyone is on board, everyone is ready. Because change will come fast.

Related Posts:
1 2 3 4 5

Enlightenment, Copyright, Expression; An Eternal Bitter Struggle

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:57:13 GMT

Changes are coming. The Copyright Act is apparently due to be modified Tomorrow, or at least, an attempt will likely be made.

iPods could very easily be made essentially illegal to use(except in a narrow scope--to use only insofar as Apple Computer allows). In general All Technology will only be usable as the designer of that technology decrees. As if from god, our tools will have one use, and all other uses will be forbidden. Care to pull a nail with your hammer? Forbidden---hammers are for putting nails in, not pulling nails. If you want to pull nails, you must purchase an unhammer. This is the kind of absurdity that the new law will hold, and more. Restrictions on free speech, no compromises have been made.

Speaking of free speech, while this copyright kerfuffle is going on, it might be worth noting that there are other issues going on. Mr Steyn, whose case I am in part protesting in my current lj icon, was in "court" yesterday to answer for his thoughtcrime.

But back to copyright; now may be the time to rise up, and begin again to fight against this DMCA menace. The last time, although some doubted that the public could do anything, the 30,000 odd people who became aware of the issue *did* actually make a direct change in the turn of events---the law was postponed. It gave both sides a chance to regroup. They have been busy. Have we?

I have.

But enough on Mr. Steyn, and political matters, I write today to announce that at last, I am "done" reading Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas Hofstadter). It's probably my new favourite book. Writing a summary will occur later, after I've had a chance to think things through a little(and read another three books!!!).

And yet, there's a kind of ease?, consonance?, relaxation? that I feel at "the end" of this great book. I've been building this book up, step by step, since roughly 2002, possibly before my first class began. And now that I've read the book, I must say it's earned it. Sort of. It's an intersection, nay, a weaving, of pretty much everything that I've done(that would have been accessible to an author from the 70's), and everything that I've been interested in. Everything can be tied back to this book. It's not Kuhn-Scientific, but it discusses Kuhn. I started university seeking enlightenment as a primary goal, keep in mind, and this book I think gave me at least a good set of directions to follow towards attaining that. Even if those directions are circular.

But still, the war drums, like tired hearts, are beating, and I must join the swelling force against oppression and greedy backwardness. In doing so, I hope we're together.

Prairie Dog Update

Thu, 29 May 2008 19:33:47 GMT

Thanks to saskboy, who's Scanned the prairie dog article in.

(in relation to this)

Progress in English?

Thu, 29 May 2008 16:40:18 GMT

First Essay - 60%. I could have done better, perhaps, had I more time, but that's pretty damn good for a first essay. I think my first essay in english 100 was graded 15%. This mark suggests I could pass this class after all(even without meirionwen's help---with her help I'll be able to do perhaps not too badly!)

"People handing out liquor bottles get 17$/hr, and people handing out books get 12$/hr"-saskboy

In a strange turn of events, it turns out that the CS reading course I'm taking is slated to be spread out over the entire summer, despite my request for it to only be a spring class. This eases some pressure, but I'm supposed to be working(!!!) and I really can't afford to take classes all throughout the summer. I'm going to have to figure something out about this, and soon.

chthulhu is dead, long live hardy

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:15:44 GMT

So, I woke up today to find my computer was pretty much dead. Half the time it wouldn't even get to grub(it'd just freeze up). Otherwise, I could get to the point where linux was detecting my cpu; but the screen was totally garbled(ascii character-wise), and it failed to get past the cpu detection. The cpu looks somewhat cooked.

Thankfully, I just got a computer from a friend of saskboy, so I quickly moved some components over to it, dusted it abit, changed the bios settings for it's ram, and away I went.

It's an AMD Duron; It's half the speed of my previous computer(chthulhu), with slower ram...but it seems stable. And that makes the difference; I'd much rather use 100% of a computer half as slow than one I can only use 1% of. My limiting factor really was heat; and it seems like heat is at least nowhere near as serious of an issue for this computer. We'll see how well things go from here

This will be Thread 3 of the S3summit

Sat, 17 May 2008 21:33:05 GMT

I just need a static link so I can update/link to it. (More details to come here)website on wscsd
official website