Ottawa Boy
Got a copy of World of Warcraft (finally) and have been playing it. That's why I havn't been blogging for a few months.
It's not as hot as I thought. All the quests in it seem to be a formulaistic "go forth and slay x number of this monster". On the other hand , it did keep me amused for two months ...
I don't know. I'll give it another month , it's only about 20$ canadian a month, but I think maybe it's time is done for me.
Matrix Online comes out in November (and they're usually late ! with these estimates). Oh well , the latest Star Wars game is out so thats' good for a while.
Guess Warcraft gets until the end of march before I cancel to see if things pick up.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Yet Another Microsoft Rant
Ottawa Boy
work in tech support for a major ISP. I take
calls all day long from customers. There are
several issues that are very common.
These problems are made worse by me reading
various news articles on "How to protect
yourself from spyware/virus/ phishing scams"
and then saying to myself "that is total B***
S*** !"
Let me address the points I find most contentious
in order.
Keep your windows patched.
-------------------------
The lastest big huge 90 meg patch they recently
had to fix a flurry of security issues did little
for security , but did cause lots of peoples
network cards, video cards , etc , to suddenly
stop working. We got a wack of calls about that.
Microsoft is actually quite famous for this.
Issue a patch , patch makes all competing
products stop working. Things like that. As
for security ? It was openly stated that if
you had an up to date fire wall and anti
virus program the patch really did nothing for
you (except make microsofts competitors miserable)
So .. did they enhance your security ? Not really ,
no.
Did they forward Microsofts goals of making
the competitor's miserable ? yes.
This impacts you when you go to the store and
try to buy , say a network card, and discover
the "microsoft certified" cards cost triple
what the non certified ones do. And it really
impacts you when you realize the "certified"
ones are cheap scuzzy cards and the good
cards are all non-certified.
Get a decent anti-v / keep it updated
--------------------------------------
I have no anti virus on my computer, and
an old 8 yearout of date fire wall.
How many virus's have I had in the last
year ?
Zero.
How many trojens, mal ware, spy ware,
and other pieces of "hostile software" ?
Zero.
How do I do this ?
I stay off the Internet Explorer.
Huh ?
The Internet Explorer is a "Browser", you
"surf" the internet with it, look at web
pages, do your e-bay or shopping or what
not with it.
But it is not the only one in the world to do
this job. The alternatives are Mozilla Firefox
and the ever popular Opera (my fave).
I've been using Opera for six months, and Mozilla
for another six months. In this whole time I have
caught precisely ZERO virii, ZERO trojens, ZERO
mal war, ZERO parasites ... you get the idea.
Hmmm... stop using Internet Explorer , all the
mal ware stops. You don't think that IE is just
a fly trap for attracting things, do you ?
You don't think the entire anti virus industry
is souly dependant on the Internet Explorer for
survival , do you ?, that if we stopped using it
they'd all be out of business ?
What is exactly the benifit to keeping your
antivirus updated ?
Norton and McAfee make a ton of money.
What exactly is the penalty for running without an
anti virus package and staying away from the
Internet Explorer ?
Diddly Squat.
Hmmm.....
Disable Active X on the Internet Explorer
-----------------------------------------
This is the usual advice you get.
But when you actually do it, you get this annoying
pop up saying that Active X has been disabled so
This page might not display correctly ON EVERY SINGLE
STUPID PAGE YOU GO TO ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET !!!!
It's worse than the parasites.
It was this particular "feature" of the internet
explorer that first clued me into the fact that
maybe microsoft wasn't entirely on the up and up
about this whole "security is job one" thingy.
I mean lets face it. Active-x is a copy righted
technology , if anyone else makes an active x
"interperter" Microsoft can and will sue their
pants off.
So what is active x used for ?
Silly online games , like bingo.
Advertising.
virus's, parasites, trojens, mal ware ...
Whoa ! Wait a min ! Where did that come from ?
Active - X is what the anti-virus people like to
call "Arbitrary Code" , that is to say , a program
that can do anything it feels like. Like erase your
hard drive. Or be a virus. Or spam you with pop ups.
Or log your key strokes hunting for passwords and
credit card numbers ...
Hmmmm... Active X is the problem giving everyone
greif,
but only the internet explorer is ALLOWED to use it...
Hmmm....Active X is the problem , but microsoft is
fighting tooth and nail to prevent you from turning it
off , making you buy antivirus stuff when you really
don't need it ...
Install This Plug In Now !
--------------------------
Another Internet Explorer Quirk.
After you've reinstalled windows, you go to a web
site,
and then every other page you visit demands you
install
some component , typically Flash , over and over and
over until you just give up and say yes.
This is called "Harrassment". It is considered a
hostile activity. The Internet explorer is trying
to make you install some program whether you want to
or not simply by endlessly bothering you about it.
Oddly enough , only certain browser add in's , like
flash , does it bother you about. Anything else you
only get asked once. Almost as if someone was paying
microsoft to harrass you ...
Doesn't happen on any other browser.
Delete Reply Forward Spam Move...
Previous | Next | Back to Messages
work in tech support for a major ISP. I take
calls all day long from customers. There are
several issues that are very common.
These problems are made worse by me reading
various news articles on "How to protect
yourself from spyware/virus/ phishing scams"
and then saying to myself "that is total B***
S*** !"
Let me address the points I find most contentious
in order.
Keep your windows patched.
-------------------------
The lastest big huge 90 meg patch they recently
had to fix a flurry of security issues did little
for security , but did cause lots of peoples
network cards, video cards , etc , to suddenly
stop working. We got a wack of calls about that.
Microsoft is actually quite famous for this.
Issue a patch , patch makes all competing
products stop working. Things like that. As
for security ? It was openly stated that if
you had an up to date fire wall and anti
virus program the patch really did nothing for
you (except make microsofts competitors miserable)
So .. did they enhance your security ? Not really ,
no.
Did they forward Microsofts goals of making
the competitor's miserable ? yes.
This impacts you when you go to the store and
try to buy , say a network card, and discover
the "microsoft certified" cards cost triple
what the non certified ones do. And it really
impacts you when you realize the "certified"
ones are cheap scuzzy cards and the good
cards are all non-certified.
Get a decent anti-v / keep it updated
--------------------------------------
I have no anti virus on my computer, and
an old 8 yearout of date fire wall.
How many virus's have I had in the last
year ?
Zero.
How many trojens, mal ware, spy ware,
and other pieces of "hostile software" ?
Zero.
How do I do this ?
I stay off the Internet Explorer.
Huh ?
The Internet Explorer is a "Browser", you
"surf" the internet with it, look at web
pages, do your e-bay or shopping or what
not with it.
But it is not the only one in the world to do
this job. The alternatives are Mozilla Firefox
and the ever popular Opera (my fave).
I've been using Opera for six months, and Mozilla
for another six months. In this whole time I have
caught precisely ZERO virii, ZERO trojens, ZERO
mal war, ZERO parasites ... you get the idea.
Hmmm... stop using Internet Explorer , all the
mal ware stops. You don't think that IE is just
a fly trap for attracting things, do you ?
You don't think the entire anti virus industry
is souly dependant on the Internet Explorer for
survival , do you ?, that if we stopped using it
they'd all be out of business ?
What is exactly the benifit to keeping your
antivirus updated ?
Norton and McAfee make a ton of money.
What exactly is the penalty for running without an
anti virus package and staying away from the
Internet Explorer ?
Diddly Squat.
Hmmm.....
Disable Active X on the Internet Explorer
-----------------------------------------
This is the usual advice you get.
But when you actually do it, you get this annoying
pop up saying that Active X has been disabled so
This page might not display correctly ON EVERY SINGLE
STUPID PAGE YOU GO TO ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET !!!!
It's worse than the parasites.
It was this particular "feature" of the internet
explorer that first clued me into the fact that
maybe microsoft wasn't entirely on the up and up
about this whole "security is job one" thingy.
I mean lets face it. Active-x is a copy righted
technology , if anyone else makes an active x
"interperter" Microsoft can and will sue their
pants off.
So what is active x used for ?
Silly online games , like bingo.
Advertising.
virus's, parasites, trojens, mal ware ...
Whoa ! Wait a min ! Where did that come from ?
Active - X is what the anti-virus people like to
call "Arbitrary Code" , that is to say , a program
that can do anything it feels like. Like erase your
hard drive. Or be a virus. Or spam you with pop ups.
Or log your key strokes hunting for passwords and
credit card numbers ...
Hmmmm... Active X is the problem giving everyone
greif,
but only the internet explorer is ALLOWED to use it...
Hmmm....Active X is the problem , but microsoft is
fighting tooth and nail to prevent you from turning it
off , making you buy antivirus stuff when you really
don't need it ...
Install This Plug In Now !
--------------------------
Another Internet Explorer Quirk.
After you've reinstalled windows, you go to a web
site,
and then every other page you visit demands you
install
some component , typically Flash , over and over and
over until you just give up and say yes.
This is called "Harrassment". It is considered a
hostile activity. The Internet explorer is trying
to make you install some program whether you want to
or not simply by endlessly bothering you about it.
Oddly enough , only certain browser add in's , like
flash , does it bother you about. Anything else you
only get asked once. Almost as if someone was paying
microsoft to harrass you ...
Doesn't happen on any other browser.
Delete Reply Forward Spam Move...
Previous | Next | Back to Messages
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
(bulk email): Congratulations on becoming a powerseller
Welcome to a community of sellers that have achieved exceptional level of success and positive feedback on eBay!
Um.. never used eBay. Sorry.
Um.. never used eBay. Sorry.
We invite you to join us as a PowerSeller
If you agree with this rank please register by accesing your account within 24 hours
Um...why does that link go to www.recipieforsuccess.com/suckerspleaseclickhere ?Very Important !
The registration is active only once.
Why become a PowerSeller?
PowerSellers are eBay top sellers who have sustained a consistent high volume of monthly sales and a high level of total feedback with 98% positive or better.
Hmmm, I've enver actually gotten any feed back , positive or negative. But then again , I've never bought or sold anything on ebay either. Hmmmm... very powerful seller am I ..
When I go to the indicated link, it takes me to a page that looks just like ebay. Hmmm.... phising scam I see....
woah, the real ebay site has live chat , I think maybe I'll ask them about this ....
Wound up forwarding the email to spoof@ebay.com after a chat session and letting them
worry about it. Tried to copy and paste the chat session , but it wouldn't copy :( bummer.
Question and Answer Time
Swiped this from The Pink One:
(and I swiped it from Kitten With A Whip)
First, recommend to me:
A.) A Movie
B.) A Book
C.) A song, CD , Musician..etc.
Next: Ask me three questions...anything you want..anything,go ahead..... just ask away!
Go to your blog, If you be a blogger, copy and paste this and see what turns up!
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Israeli's Hero's of the Muslim's
You hear a lot about it on the news. Muslims hate the Israeli's. Suicide bombers attack Isreali's, ,etc etc.
I have a freind at work, an Arab , I won't give his name he still has family back home. Someone got into a discussion with him about this, and then he explained the whole situation to us.
The Middle East is run by dicatorships. Dictatorships don't actually ask their populations what they think about anything. They tell you. Then they tell you to get out and shout the correct slogans for the western media , etc etc. If you fail, they shoot you . Similarily , every western reporter is followed around by Minders, something I recall them complaining about at the beginning of the Iraq invasion. (Reporters woke up one day , where did all the minders go ?)
What the arab population really thinks is that the Israeli's are their hero's. Enemey of their enemey and all that. The Dictators hate them so they have to be the good guys some hows.
Well , if you're a dictator you're not going to win many friends are you ? And long simmering hatred's that you push tend to boomerrang , don't they ?
Who would of thunk it ? Israeli's are the hero's of the common muslims.
Just don't ask them about it when you have three minders tagging along behind you , thats all.
:)
I have a freind at work, an Arab , I won't give his name he still has family back home. Someone got into a discussion with him about this, and then he explained the whole situation to us.
The Middle East is run by dicatorships. Dictatorships don't actually ask their populations what they think about anything. They tell you. Then they tell you to get out and shout the correct slogans for the western media , etc etc. If you fail, they shoot you . Similarily , every western reporter is followed around by Minders, something I recall them complaining about at the beginning of the Iraq invasion. (Reporters woke up one day , where did all the minders go ?)
What the arab population really thinks is that the Israeli's are their hero's. Enemey of their enemey and all that. The Dictators hate them so they have to be the good guys some hows.
Well , if you're a dictator you're not going to win many friends are you ? And long simmering hatred's that you push tend to boomerrang , don't they ?
Who would of thunk it ? Israeli's are the hero's of the common muslims.
Just don't ask them about it when you have three minders tagging along behind you , thats all.
:)
Saturday, December 11, 2004
From the Bulk Folder : bowling ball 94 ballerinas
Ummm .. ok ... yeah ... bowling balls and ballerina's.
???
???
nzhwngu
V1@gra is the #1 med to struggle with mens' erectile
dysfunction. Like one jokes sais, it is strong enough
for a man, but made for a woman ;-)
Ok. I think you're trying to sell me some viagra.
Why I'm going to trust someone can't spell to save
their own lives I have no idea. And the grammer
sucks too.
Ordering V1@gra online is a very convinient, fast and
secure way! Millions of people do it daily to save
their privacy and money 0rder here... (link deleted)
Anyone who clicks on that link deserves ...
a) .. the virii you are almost certainly guarenteed
to receive from it
b).. the endless spam after demonstrating to these
illiterates you would actually give money to a
fly by night operation like this.
Oh , don't actually expect to ever see that viagra
either. You think a legit biz is gonna do something
like this ?
0pt-0ut (linke removed)
Don't expect the opt out link to do anything more
than put your email on a spammers list and bury
you in junk mail.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Writing a Novel
I've decided to write a novel.
No scratch that. I've always been writing something , somewhere, since I was 10. I've decided to put it online for all to see. Actually writing it is something I can't stop.
Check it out. Bottom right of the blog is a link to it. Tell me what you think.
No scratch that. I've always been writing something , somewhere, since I was 10. I've decided to put it online for all to see. Actually writing it is something I can't stop.
Check it out. Bottom right of the blog is a link to it. Tell me what you think.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Idiots Try out for Terrorism
http://ottawa.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/ott-bomb-hydro-041206.html
MONTREAL - A mysterious group known by the initials IRI is claiming responsibility in a communiqué for damaging a Hydro-Québec tower in the Eastern Townships. The tower near Coaticook is part of a line that carries James Bay power to the Boston area. Police say it appears the tower was damaged by an explosive charge. The group says it set the charge at the base of the St-Hermenegilde tower to denounce the ''pillaging'' of Quebec's resources by the United States.
Well why the heck not ? Every other wacko across the ocean is getting lots of attention , even compromises just by planting a few bombs here and there, why shouldn't our home grown wacko's be any different ?
This is what happens when you negotiate with terrorists. Everyone with an agenda decides they want to try their hand at it. Next thing you know they'll be bombing schools that teach evolution because it violates their biblical beliefs or some nonsense like that.
MONTREAL - A mysterious group known by the initials IRI is claiming responsibility in a communiqué for damaging a Hydro-Québec tower in the Eastern Townships. The tower near Coaticook is part of a line that carries James Bay power to the Boston area. Police say it appears the tower was damaged by an explosive charge. The group says it set the charge at the base of the St-Hermenegilde tower to denounce the ''pillaging'' of Quebec's resources by the United States.
Well why the heck not ? Every other wacko across the ocean is getting lots of attention , even compromises just by planting a few bombs here and there, why shouldn't our home grown wacko's be any different ?
This is what happens when you negotiate with terrorists. Everyone with an agenda decides they want to try their hand at it. Next thing you know they'll be bombing schools that teach evolution because it violates their biblical beliefs or some nonsense like that.
Deserters Paradise
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/12/06/deserter-refugee041206.html
TORONTO - A soldier who deserted the U.S. army and now calls Toronto home will make his case to remain in Canada as he appears in front of an Immigration and Refugee board on Monday.
So. When did Canada become a haven for cowards and traiters ?
Lets be frank here. The terrorists hit your country , killed three thousand people. Rather than fight them , you decide to run away and tell everyone you don't want to fight. So , either you think that killing americans is a good thing (ie: traiter to your own country) or you're a coward who doesn't want to fight anymore.
When did we become a haven for this ?
And what would Canadians do if americans started taking in canadian military deserters on the grounds that the canadians decided they didn't want to be shipped out to afghanistan ?
TORONTO - A soldier who deserted the U.S. army and now calls Toronto home will make his case to remain in Canada as he appears in front of an Immigration and Refugee board on Monday.
So. When did Canada become a haven for cowards and traiters ?
Lets be frank here. The terrorists hit your country , killed three thousand people. Rather than fight them , you decide to run away and tell everyone you don't want to fight. So , either you think that killing americans is a good thing (ie: traiter to your own country) or you're a coward who doesn't want to fight anymore.
When did we become a haven for this ?
And what would Canadians do if americans started taking in canadian military deserters on the grounds that the canadians decided they didn't want to be shipped out to afghanistan ?
Sunday, December 05, 2004
The Husband Abuse Continues
http://story.canadastandard.com/p.x/ct/9/id/508f31a797386a83/cid/71df8d33cd2a30df/
>Canadian parents who fail to pay child support could face up to six months
>in jail under a proposed bill in the Ontario legislature.
>Sandra Pupatello, the provincial community and social services minister,
>said the current three-month maximum jail sentence, isn't enough of a
>deterrent, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.
Thats just beautiful. Throw dad in jail because the support payements are too high. Now he loses his job because he's not around for six months and has to go on welfare. So now the support payments just stop entirely. They are based on income, and your income just dropped to zero.
A friend of mine went through the whole wife / kid / divorce thing. Basically she kept complaining , and got a free lawyer, and he had to pay for his , and even though the complaints had no basis he faced bankruptcy just from having to pay his lawyer over and over and over.
It was really messy and he decided she wasn't getting a dime. He deliberately got himself fired and went straight to welfare. Then he didn't have to pay because he had nothing.
This law just automates that process. Six months in a minimum security jail (you didn't actually hit anyone right ? Just a little short on cash, they aint gonna put you in with the gangsters) and then straight to welfare because you have no dough ...
The intention of this law is to make life easier on the wife who supports the kid. The result is to enrich the lawyers while putting both wife and husband on welfare. Stupid stupid stupid.
>Canadian parents who fail to pay child support could face up to six months
>in jail under a proposed bill in the Ontario legislature.
>Sandra Pupatello, the provincial community and social services minister,
>said the current three-month maximum jail sentence, isn't enough of a
>deterrent, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.
Thats just beautiful. Throw dad in jail because the support payements are too high. Now he loses his job because he's not around for six months and has to go on welfare. So now the support payments just stop entirely. They are based on income, and your income just dropped to zero.
A friend of mine went through the whole wife / kid / divorce thing. Basically she kept complaining , and got a free lawyer, and he had to pay for his , and even though the complaints had no basis he faced bankruptcy just from having to pay his lawyer over and over and over.
It was really messy and he decided she wasn't getting a dime. He deliberately got himself fired and went straight to welfare. Then he didn't have to pay because he had nothing.
This law just automates that process. Six months in a minimum security jail (you didn't actually hit anyone right ? Just a little short on cash, they aint gonna put you in with the gangsters) and then straight to welfare because you have no dough ...
The intention of this law is to make life easier on the wife who supports the kid. The result is to enrich the lawyers while putting both wife and husband on welfare. Stupid stupid stupid.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Movie Time : Spider Man 2
Man this movie sucked !
After a while, and a fair amount of beer, I managed to plow through it ,especially the beginning , with the soul intentionof writing this report on it. Otherwise I would have tossed it.
Spider Man is a super hero with super powers. A piece of fiction. You watch movies about him mainly because your every day life is boring and you want to escape. This is in fact the main reason you watch any move. To escape into some kind of fantasy land for a while.
The makers of this movie forgot that.
It's a two hour movie. And they spend an hour and a half *WALLOWING* in not just how ordinary Spiderman's alter ego is, but making sure everything goes wrong for our boy. He's fired from two jobs, he almost flunks out of school ...
I don't mind drama. I watched the Core and loved it , a movie filled with ordinary people and no super powers by anyone . But the drama in this movie was so ridiculous, so unbelievable, as to be not worth the time. You made a two hour action film, spent an hour and a half on story ,and the story sucked ! It doesn't justify ten minutes of time, never mind over an hour.
Plus there's the fact that people come to the movie to escape their humdrum life. Not wallow in it. We all know that if you're constantly late for work , you get fired. Don't show up for class , you flunk. You don't need to rub our noses into this for an extended period of time.
That being said, after you get beyond the first half of the movie it actually gets interesting. Spider man shows up and starts in on the heroics, there's a bad boy out there ("Doc Oc") in need of some serious attention , they have a grand old time.
I rate this movie two out of five on the "Ottawa boy" meter, because only the second half would I watch again. The first I would certainly fast forward over.
After a while, and a fair amount of beer, I managed to plow through it ,especially the beginning , with the soul intentionof writing this report on it. Otherwise I would have tossed it.
Spider Man is a super hero with super powers. A piece of fiction. You watch movies about him mainly because your every day life is boring and you want to escape. This is in fact the main reason you watch any move. To escape into some kind of fantasy land for a while.
The makers of this movie forgot that.
It's a two hour movie. And they spend an hour and a half *WALLOWING* in not just how ordinary Spiderman's alter ego is, but making sure everything goes wrong for our boy. He's fired from two jobs, he almost flunks out of school ...
I don't mind drama. I watched the Core and loved it , a movie filled with ordinary people and no super powers by anyone . But the drama in this movie was so ridiculous, so unbelievable, as to be not worth the time. You made a two hour action film, spent an hour and a half on story ,and the story sucked ! It doesn't justify ten minutes of time, never mind over an hour.
Plus there's the fact that people come to the movie to escape their humdrum life. Not wallow in it. We all know that if you're constantly late for work , you get fired. Don't show up for class , you flunk. You don't need to rub our noses into this for an extended period of time.
That being said, after you get beyond the first half of the movie it actually gets interesting. Spider man shows up and starts in on the heroics, there's a bad boy out there ("Doc Oc") in need of some serious attention , they have a grand old time.
I rate this movie two out of five on the "Ottawa boy" meter, because only the second half would I watch again. The first I would certainly fast forward over.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Wowless in Ottawa
Was reading on the blizzard forums for a game I want to get, World of Warcraft (wow for short). They were having serious problems with the servers being overloaded, you know, play for ten minutes, then get disconnected, wait in line for an hour before you get back in.
Seems this problem is fixed. If you go to a low population server, you can get in with no line up at all. It's all those people who made charactars on the high population ones who dont' want to abandon their work and start over that are waiting in the long lines.
Call up my local computer store.
No more copies of wow will be sold until the new year. Blizzard has already announced it.
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGg !!!!!
I am an adult. I will not freak out over a stupid game. That would be immature .
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG !!!
Ok. I'm freaking out now.
Seems this problem is fixed. If you go to a low population server, you can get in with no line up at all. It's all those people who made charactars on the high population ones who dont' want to abandon their work and start over that are waiting in the long lines.
Call up my local computer store.
No more copies of wow will be sold until the new year. Blizzard has already announced it.
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGg !!!!!
I am an adult. I will not freak out over a stupid game. That would be immature .
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG !!!
Ok. I'm freaking out now.
Winter's First Strike
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/koconnor100/detail?.dir=ff98&.dnm=56dc.jpg&.src=ph
Got my digital camera out, the cheap 69$ one, fiddled with the batteries for a while, snapped a few shots and uploaded them to my yahoo site. I thought I'd share with you the joy of an Ottawa Dec 1 , for all those people in southern and equatorial climes. :)
Bush is in town visiting the Prime Minster. He's not going to address Parliment because even though our mouthy Bush hating MP (member of parliment) got booted from the cabinet, they can't take her seat away. And so she still gets to be in parliment when he arrives, and you gotta know she's gonna heckle him if he tries it.
The newspapers are getting goofy around here. I mean come on ! Bush is running a war in Iraq and Afghanistan ! You could be complaining he's a war criminal ! You could be complaining he's a war hero , the terrorists did list Canada as being on the list of nations they want to hit after all , you could be printing all sorts of stuff !
What do they print ?
Bush is gonna cause traffic snarls.
Security is gonna be tight, so the poor little reporters are gonna have trouble reaching parliment hill and are probably gonna have to suffer getting searched for weapons before they get close to him.
Thats it ? That's all you can say about this controversial figure visiting our fair city ?
Someone is just not paying attention !
Oh , and I saw the news about the protesters. All of them imported from elsewhere and bussed in. Just like when the World Trade Organization came to town. Big fights and everything. But it was all out of towners vs out of towners. Someone's just running smear campaigns everywhere, I guess.
Got my digital camera out, the cheap 69$ one, fiddled with the batteries for a while, snapped a few shots and uploaded them to my yahoo site. I thought I'd share with you the joy of an Ottawa Dec 1 , for all those people in southern and equatorial climes. :)
Bush is in town visiting the Prime Minster. He's not going to address Parliment because even though our mouthy Bush hating MP (member of parliment) got booted from the cabinet, they can't take her seat away. And so she still gets to be in parliment when he arrives, and you gotta know she's gonna heckle him if he tries it.
The newspapers are getting goofy around here. I mean come on ! Bush is running a war in Iraq and Afghanistan ! You could be complaining he's a war criminal ! You could be complaining he's a war hero , the terrorists did list Canada as being on the list of nations they want to hit after all , you could be printing all sorts of stuff !
What do they print ?
Bush is gonna cause traffic snarls.
Security is gonna be tight, so the poor little reporters are gonna have trouble reaching parliment hill and are probably gonna have to suffer getting searched for weapons before they get close to him.
Thats it ? That's all you can say about this controversial figure visiting our fair city ?
Someone is just not paying attention !
Oh , and I saw the news about the protesters. All of them imported from elsewhere and bussed in. Just like when the World Trade Organization came to town. Big fights and everything. But it was all out of towners vs out of towners. Someone's just running smear campaigns everywhere, I guess.
Evolving Ode Poetry Entry : Dec 01 2004
Oh the joy of simple words upon page
Evolving Ode runs a poetry 'test
Yet why am I writing such at my age ?
Vanity doth drag , unwilling, contest
Computers, electronics , be my trade
not the battle of word and the pen
yet I persist, with staid words upon page
the ego can make fools of us all , then
and so with a pen I ink an entry
knowing futility , there is no prize
the winner of this get's aught but "praise thee"
but bloggers delight in so few such ties
though truely it was a keyboard I used
and the pen never touched paper, so sue
Evolving Ode runs a poetry 'test
Yet why am I writing such at my age ?
Vanity doth drag , unwilling, contest
Computers, electronics , be my trade
not the battle of word and the pen
yet I persist, with staid words upon page
the ego can make fools of us all , then
and so with a pen I ink an entry
knowing futility , there is no prize
the winner of this get's aught but "praise thee"
but bloggers delight in so few such ties
though truely it was a keyboard I used
and the pen never touched paper, so sue
Monday, November 29, 2004
Sonnet War
I seem to be involved in a bit of a rhyme contest , writing sonnets
for the Evolving Ode blog. Well , if I'm gonna go to all the effort
of such a contest, I'm gonna at least plant them in my blog as well,
so everyone can suffer through my bad poetry. :)
The contest starts with the author of the blog asking to think up
line 12 of the sonnet , an a critic deriding my attempts to answer.
Actually , you're right. I suck. I was paying attention to the cadence, not the rhyme structure.
Too many japanese Haiku's going on in my head I guess. (they don't rhyme)
"xx. loves affection, for which it doth long"
There. That rhymes with the line ten's ending word of "on".
-----------------
My love, I see her as a budding rose
Full of shining light, she to me is warm
And when on her winter’s harsh winds blow
She feels no chill, for her there is no harm.
And if she chose to sleep a day away
‘Till sunset cascades brilliance in her bloom
I shouldn’t think the sun would smile today
Or lend her light upon her sister moon
To her true essence, no sonnet is just
For she shakes the ground I merely walk on
In my heart, no room for anyone but
*loves affection, for which it doth long
But, writing sonnets to her all the while
She must think of me no more than a child
* = the inserted line
--------------------
There. That conforms to the style of The Shakespearean Sonnet #73 which is typically used as an example of this style.
As for suggestions that I can't write my own original sonnets to save my life ...
--------------------
My love is my pen , an instrument fair
My life is my pain , as all artists say
my love is my art , a mistress of air
And so I must paint, it is just this way
I walk through my days , computers my trade
And seek out the fault, repair whats astray
I stride through my nights , my dreams not to fade
My pen doth lie quiet, quite put away
Computers you see, both master and slave
A task I can Hate, a servant to love
A boss I despise, but a canvas to save
Versitility, I hate as I wove
The electronic pen , sonnets anew
just another canvas , on which we hew
-----------------------
for the Evolving Ode blog. Well , if I'm gonna go to all the effort
of such a contest, I'm gonna at least plant them in my blog as well,
so everyone can suffer through my bad poetry. :)
The contest starts with the author of the blog asking to think up
line 12 of the sonnet , an a critic deriding my attempts to answer.
Actually , you're right. I suck. I was paying attention to the cadence, not the rhyme structure.
Too many japanese Haiku's going on in my head I guess. (they don't rhyme)
"xx. loves affection, for which it doth long"
There. That rhymes with the line ten's ending word of "on".
-----------------
My love, I see her as a budding rose
Full of shining light, she to me is warm
And when on her winter’s harsh winds blow
She feels no chill, for her there is no harm.
And if she chose to sleep a day away
‘Till sunset cascades brilliance in her bloom
I shouldn’t think the sun would smile today
Or lend her light upon her sister moon
To her true essence, no sonnet is just
For she shakes the ground I merely walk on
In my heart, no room for anyone but
*loves affection, for which it doth long
But, writing sonnets to her all the while
She must think of me no more than a child
* = the inserted line
--------------------
There. That conforms to the style of The Shakespearean Sonnet #73 which is typically used as an example of this style.
As for suggestions that I can't write my own original sonnets to save my life ...
--------------------
My love is my pen , an instrument fair
My life is my pain , as all artists say
my love is my art , a mistress of air
And so I must paint, it is just this way
I walk through my days , computers my trade
And seek out the fault, repair whats astray
I stride through my nights , my dreams not to fade
My pen doth lie quiet, quite put away
Computers you see, both master and slave
A task I can Hate, a servant to love
A boss I despise, but a canvas to save
Versitility, I hate as I wove
The electronic pen , sonnets anew
just another canvas , on which we hew
-----------------------
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Postal Strike Time
http://story.canadastandard.com/p.x/ct/9/id/544e87728fd72777/cid/71df8d33cd2a30df/
Wow, it's christmas again. I can tell because the posties are threatenning to go on strike again , like they do every year.
Canada's Union of Postal Communications Employees has said 2,600 members will go on strike Dec. 8, the Toronto Sun reported Saturday.
The date was set amid the members' struggle to guarantee job benefits, said UPCE president Luc Guevrement.
Umm... is this a bad time to mention that the only thing that comes in the mail for me is bills ? Let them go on strike ! I don't care ! Lol !
Guevrement said Canada Post tabled proposals that contain rollbacks on health and dental benefits, severance pay, and various leaves.
I got some sympathy for yah , man. But unfortunately , in this age of email and chat programs, the postal service has become largely irrelevant. I mean lets face it. You can't trust the posties with anything but letters, and email has taken over that. Physical objects are always getting damaged / stolen in our post office, so you can't even be used as a slow-polk fed ex system.
Exactly what mission was it Canada Post is full filling again ? And why shouldn't we just shut the whole thing down ? I forgot.
Wow, it's christmas again. I can tell because the posties are threatenning to go on strike again , like they do every year.
Canada's Union of Postal Communications Employees has said 2,600 members will go on strike Dec. 8, the Toronto Sun reported Saturday.
The date was set amid the members' struggle to guarantee job benefits, said UPCE president Luc Guevrement.
Umm... is this a bad time to mention that the only thing that comes in the mail for me is bills ? Let them go on strike ! I don't care ! Lol !
Guevrement said Canada Post tabled proposals that contain rollbacks on health and dental benefits, severance pay, and various leaves.
I got some sympathy for yah , man. But unfortunately , in this age of email and chat programs, the postal service has become largely irrelevant. I mean lets face it. You can't trust the posties with anything but letters, and email has taken over that. Physical objects are always getting damaged / stolen in our post office, so you can't even be used as a slow-polk fed ex system.
Exactly what mission was it Canada Post is full filling again ? And why shouldn't we just shut the whole thing down ? I forgot.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Forced TiVo Ads
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/11/26/tivo.surrender.ap/index.html
"TiVo officials say that starting in March users will begin to see static images, such as a company logo, appear on their television screens as they fast-forward through commercials"
Why does this matter ? Because one of the selling points of TiVo was that you could skip commercials. Now it apears that you cannot. Naughty naughty cable providers.
"For some ads, viewers could choose to provide advertisers with their contact data so they can get more direct marketing"
And you think people are actually going to do that in this day and age ? Yeah , right.
"Macrovision has developed a feature that will allow content providers -- the people who produce television shows -- to place restrictions on how long a digital video recorder such as TiVo can save certain kinds of programming. For instance, movies could disappear after seven days."
Oh oh , wasn't TiVo advertising that you can record your movies any time ? And keep them permanently ? ho ho ho !
"TiVo officials say that starting in March users will begin to see static images, such as a company logo, appear on their television screens as they fast-forward through commercials"
Why does this matter ? Because one of the selling points of TiVo was that you could skip commercials. Now it apears that you cannot. Naughty naughty cable providers.
"For some ads, viewers could choose to provide advertisers with their contact data so they can get more direct marketing"
And you think people are actually going to do that in this day and age ? Yeah , right.
"Macrovision has developed a feature that will allow content providers -- the people who produce television shows -- to place restrictions on how long a digital video recorder such as TiVo can save certain kinds of programming. For instance, movies could disappear after seven days."
Oh oh , wasn't TiVo advertising that you can record your movies any time ? And keep them permanently ? ho ho ho !
"TiVo has to become more advertising-friendly because, at the end of the day, TV runs on advertising dollars and companies that are part of that food chain have to acknowledge that, said Tim Maleeny, director of strategy at Publicis & Hal Riney, a San Francisco-based advertising firm.
Josh Bernoff, analyst at Forrester Research, said, Any product that's part of a cable and satellite world has to obey some of the restrictions that go with it."
Excuse me buddy. Cable TV isn't free. I you pay for it. Tossing in commercials on top of that is just plain extortion. That would be why I stopped watching cable a long time ago. :)
"Hollywood studios sued TiVo's rival, DVR pioneer ReplayTV, over its automatic commercial-skipping recording feature -- a function TiVo and other DVR makers could have adopted but didn't."
Don't you love big business ? I don't. These people are just plain rip off artists.
To all the wonderful people out there in blogger reader land, I gotta tell you what I do. I don't watch cable tv. Instead I buy DVD's. I have a nice collection. Over 120 now. All first run movies, and I'm constantly hitting the video store to buy new ones when they come out. The ones I like only cost 20$-25$ each , and if I'm lucky they come out twice a month. If I"m not lucky , I go a month or two with no new ones, simply because the ones that do come out just plain suck.
This is cheaper than the 100$ / month they're charging for cable television up here in beautiful ottawa. And it really does have that anywhere, any time , no comercials , fast forward or pause any time you like. You can't record the movies, but who cares ? You have the copy in hand already ! And you paid for it legit so no one gonna harrass you about any kind of digital rights nonsense.
And there is one more thing you have to deal with. This Hour Has 22 minutes. It's a comedy show up here on the TV , who's title is a complaint that on television , you really only see 22 minutes of show in an hour. The other 38 are all advertising.
People who dance around with the cable tv companies ... just don't know how to add up the costs. It's really just that simple.
Not So Wowed
World of Warcraft came out Nov 23rd this month. I got up early , treked to the computer store.
"Do you have a pre-order ?"
oh oh.
Trek to the next store.
"Sold out. "
Hmmm... I"ve seen this before. When Hordes of the Underdark came out it was actually four or five days before this silly little backwater of Ottawa actually got any copies. The pre-order stuff is nonsense of course, just to hint that you should have pre-ordered, but of course if you did you'd be told "not in stock" anywyas.
Sigh.
Two days later, phone in.
"Maybe next week. "
Check the web site.
massive complaints about the servers down, long line ups to play a game , things like that. Some even started a "what to do while you're waiting in queue to play wow" thread. It was amazingly long, going on for at least 50 pages. :) I'm sure Blizzard entertainment was impressed with that showing up on their own forums promoting the game.
Official statement comes out.
The game requires you to log on to their serves to play , and the servers are overloaded. They're putting more servers up , but until they do so , they are not going to distribute more copies of the game. They hope that in the coming weeks ... blah blah blah ...
The phrase "coming weeks" is about where I stopped reading.
I'm not hanging on with baited breath for a couple of weeks for one stupid game. I'll find somethign else to do with my time and come back later when I'm not busy.
"Do you have a pre-order ?"
oh oh.
Trek to the next store.
"Sold out. "
Hmmm... I"ve seen this before. When Hordes of the Underdark came out it was actually four or five days before this silly little backwater of Ottawa actually got any copies. The pre-order stuff is nonsense of course, just to hint that you should have pre-ordered, but of course if you did you'd be told "not in stock" anywyas.
Sigh.
Two days later, phone in.
"Maybe next week. "
Check the web site.
massive complaints about the servers down, long line ups to play a game , things like that. Some even started a "what to do while you're waiting in queue to play wow" thread. It was amazingly long, going on for at least 50 pages. :) I'm sure Blizzard entertainment was impressed with that showing up on their own forums promoting the game.
Official statement comes out.
The game requires you to log on to their serves to play , and the servers are overloaded. They're putting more servers up , but until they do so , they are not going to distribute more copies of the game. They hope that in the coming weeks ... blah blah blah ...
The phrase "coming weeks" is about where I stopped reading.
I'm not hanging on with baited breath for a couple of weeks for one stupid game. I'll find somethign else to do with my time and come back later when I'm not busy.
The Maddest of Cows
What is it with this whole mad cow disease thing ?
These people are comparing dollars to people's lives, as if they were trying to say if something is too expensive to do, it's ok to let it kill people then. Where did this logic come from ? And why does every newspaper article not hesitate to quote some over blown estimate as to how much money people are losing ?
These people deserve to go bank rupt if you ask me, they're doing it to themselves. I mean come on ! I work in a call center, answering the phones and providing technical support for computers. The place is a cess pool of disease. You can't even put a hundred humans together in one call center without them constantly getting sick , and you think running massive herds of chattle isn't going to cause problems ?
They're idiots and their problems are self inflicted, and I have no sympathy for them.
What the heck are you doing deciding that refridgeration is too expensive, so you're going to load up a train with 10 000 cows and send it off on a three day trip to the slaughter house. And you think they're not going to get sick and pass it along to each other ?
what the heck are you doing buying and selling bulls as if they were a precious commodedy, as if half the cows born weren't bulls, but oh I'm sorry bulls are a pain to deal with and they don't produce milk so we don't bother with that we just slaughter them quick and only keep the minimum number of required bulls. So that you're forced to trade them. so that if one bull winds up in an infected herd he can pass it around to the next dozen herds you trade him to as well.
I swear the ranchers here are madder than the cows. I have no sympathy for them at all. High school biology lets you know better. But it's too pricy , so they think they can ignore simple science and roll the dice , over and over and over, and hope they never roll snake eyes. And go yelling to the government for help when they do.
These people are comparing dollars to people's lives, as if they were trying to say if something is too expensive to do, it's ok to let it kill people then. Where did this logic come from ? And why does every newspaper article not hesitate to quote some over blown estimate as to how much money people are losing ?
These people deserve to go bank rupt if you ask me, they're doing it to themselves. I mean come on ! I work in a call center, answering the phones and providing technical support for computers. The place is a cess pool of disease. You can't even put a hundred humans together in one call center without them constantly getting sick , and you think running massive herds of chattle isn't going to cause problems ?
They're idiots and their problems are self inflicted, and I have no sympathy for them.
What the heck are you doing deciding that refridgeration is too expensive, so you're going to load up a train with 10 000 cows and send it off on a three day trip to the slaughter house. And you think they're not going to get sick and pass it along to each other ?
what the heck are you doing buying and selling bulls as if they were a precious commodedy, as if half the cows born weren't bulls, but oh I'm sorry bulls are a pain to deal with and they don't produce milk so we don't bother with that we just slaughter them quick and only keep the minimum number of required bulls. So that you're forced to trade them. so that if one bull winds up in an infected herd he can pass it around to the next dozen herds you trade him to as well.
I swear the ranchers here are madder than the cows. I have no sympathy for them at all. High school biology lets you know better. But it's too pricy , so they think they can ignore simple science and roll the dice , over and over and over, and hope they never roll snake eyes. And go yelling to the government for help when they do.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Whats in Bulk Email Today (20 Nov 2004)
Lets see what we have in the bulk mail folder today...
>Dear Friend,
Never heard of you before , buddy
>I am Barrister Ian Rankin,an attorney at law. A deceased client of
>mine, by name Mr.Bill Owen, who here
>in after shall be referred to as my client,died as a result of an auto
>car accident here in England.
Sad tale. Why is your email address "@indiatimes.com" ?
Did you know that if you type in www.indiatimes.com in your web bar you get
this really cool web site, ,from india, that gives away free emails ?
Examining a few stories confirms that this site is dedicated to the comings
and goings of the people of india.
>I am contacting you to assist me in ensuring that the funds lodged by
>my client with a bank in the United
>States Of America (New York) his bank,is not decleared unclaimed hence
Missed the capital in "His".
>my reason for this contact to
>you.
"my reason for this contact to you" ... klugey english. Not quite
gramatically incorrect , but certainly no native english speaker
would say it like that.
>This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the
>account will be confiscated.
First off, only in canada can you do that. US Law makes the banks keep
all those little accounts with even 10 cents on them a permanent burden
on the books.
>My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the
>next-of-kin and beneficiary of my late
>client,so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you,Then we
>can share the amount on a
>mutually agreed-upon percentage.
You want me to lie my ass off and accept money. No , this is too easy.
Somewhere along the line you're gonna want me to front some cash to
you and then you'll run with it.
>All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin
>will be provided. All I require is your
>honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.
Honest cooperation in this dishonest endeavour. Ha ha ha.
>This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect
>you from any breach of the law. If
Yer a lawyer, not a judge , buddy. You don't execute anythign. Judges do
that. Plus there is no "legitimate arrangement" to do something
"illegitimate". I don't know how it is in india , but the law in America
does not work that way. You cannot bring the force of law to an unlawful
arrangement sort of thing.
>this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my
>apology. Please contact me at once to
>indicate your interest.
At least you kind of sort of admit you're doing something naughty.
>However if you are willing to assist me in this venture i will
>establish a verbal telephone communication
>with you and bring you into a much better picture of the
>situation.Please contact me with email address
>below:
>ianrankin30@zwallet.com
>ianrankin@indiatimes.com
Shall we go for the zwallet address as well ? Why not.
www.zwallet.com shows up as another free email address. This guy
doesn't have a legit email to begin with.
>Best Regards,
>Barrister Ian Rankin,
>Morley House,
>26-30 Holborn Viaduct,
>London EC1A 2BP,
>U.K
Wow, when I put that address in google (plus "london england" ) I get a totally different thing.
More information
CICA
Morley House
26-30 Holborn Viaduct
LONDON
EC1A 2JQ
Official CICA website: http://www.cica.gov.uk/
In fact, it seems to be some kind of crime stoppers crime fighting
web site.
Say , you don't think they'd be interested in the scam this guy is
running , do you ? Maybe I should forward a copy of this email to them,
what with that he's using their address and all ...
that would be evil.
What the hey. I'm in a bad mood. I'll do it.
Bah ! Dang web site is down. Cops don't even know how to run a web site,
it seems.
eventually tracked down an email and mailed them, took a while though.
British bobbies need to be brought up to speed on this whole internet
thing...
>Dear Friend,
Never heard of you before , buddy
>I am Barrister Ian Rankin,an attorney at law. A deceased client of
>mine, by name Mr.Bill Owen, who here
>in after shall be referred to as my client,died as a result of an auto
>car accident here in England.
Sad tale. Why is your email address "@indiatimes.com" ?
Did you know that if you type in www.indiatimes.com in your web bar you get
this really cool web site, ,from india, that gives away free emails ?
Examining a few stories confirms that this site is dedicated to the comings
and goings of the people of india.
>I am contacting you to assist me in ensuring that the funds lodged by
>my client with a bank in the United
>States Of America (New York) his bank,is not decleared unclaimed hence
Missed the capital in "His".
>my reason for this contact to
>you.
"my reason for this contact to you" ... klugey english. Not quite
gramatically incorrect , but certainly no native english speaker
would say it like that.
>This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the
>account will be confiscated.
First off, only in canada can you do that. US Law makes the banks keep
all those little accounts with even 10 cents on them a permanent burden
on the books.
>My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the
>next-of-kin and beneficiary of my late
>client,so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you,Then we
>can share the amount on a
>mutually agreed-upon percentage.
You want me to lie my ass off and accept money. No , this is too easy.
Somewhere along the line you're gonna want me to front some cash to
you and then you'll run with it.
>All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin
>will be provided. All I require is your
>honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.
Honest cooperation in this dishonest endeavour. Ha ha ha.
>This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect
>you from any breach of the law. If
Yer a lawyer, not a judge , buddy. You don't execute anythign. Judges do
that. Plus there is no "legitimate arrangement" to do something
"illegitimate". I don't know how it is in india , but the law in America
does not work that way. You cannot bring the force of law to an unlawful
arrangement sort of thing.
>this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my
>apology. Please contact me at once to
>indicate your interest.
At least you kind of sort of admit you're doing something naughty.
>However if you are willing to assist me in this venture i will
>establish a verbal telephone communication
>with you and bring you into a much better picture of the
>situation.Please contact me with email address
>below:
>ianrankin30@zwallet.com
>ianrankin@indiatimes.com
Shall we go for the zwallet address as well ? Why not.
www.zwallet.com shows up as another free email address. This guy
doesn't have a legit email to begin with.
>Best Regards,
>Barrister Ian Rankin,
>Morley House,
>26-30 Holborn Viaduct,
>London EC1A 2BP,
>U.K
Wow, when I put that address in google (plus "london england" ) I get a totally different thing.
More information
CICA
Morley House
26-30 Holborn Viaduct
LONDON
EC1A 2JQ
Official CICA website: http://www.cica.gov.uk/
In fact, it seems to be some kind of crime stoppers crime fighting
web site.
Say , you don't think they'd be interested in the scam this guy is
running , do you ? Maybe I should forward a copy of this email to them,
what with that he's using their address and all ...
that would be evil.
What the hey. I'm in a bad mood. I'll do it.
Bah ! Dang web site is down. Cops don't even know how to run a web site,
it seems.
eventually tracked down an email and mailed them, took a while though.
British bobbies need to be brought up to speed on this whole internet
thing...
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