Weekend Roundup

A quiet weekend of visiting Andrew on Saturday while Kim was birthday shopping for me on Saturday, while Sunday was a lazy day of sleeping in and relaxing. My kind of weekend. However, I had plenty thoughts and I want to spin them out while they are fresh.

Iraq

I'm very happy the Iraqi elections went as well as they did. Now if the new government can get a military, get the U.S. out, and prevent civil war I'd say they won. I'm not hopeful this will occur but at least the election hurdle has been passed.

PolSpy

I've complained a couple times about PolSpy on my blog but I want to qualify that I love what they do over there and support them 100%. I just get frustrated with their jabs at all Ontarians periodically and feel someone should step up and call them on it.

No Blogging Tomorrow

I'm out of the office all day and don't know if I'll have the energy to blog tomorrow night.

Gay Marriage

I read a couple opinion columns that suggest that Stephen Harper is doing a good thing for himself by supporting the "traditional" definition of marriage because 1) it makes him look like a leader, 2) makes Paul Martin look wishy-washy, and 3) most Canadians agree. Interesting take on the current happenings, especially since I still think its all a non-issue.

 

Something Old, Something New, ...

Corey over on his blog issued a challenge on Jan 26th:

 I'm issuing this as a challenge to the other bloggers who read coreytamas.com: To use the old wedding-day adage of "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" as a jumping-off point for a blog entry in which you cover all four of those criteria as they're relevant to your own life and thinking. I'll be checking your blogs to see if it's there.

So, here goes.

Something Old

Crystal from public school. From the beginning of grade 6 to half way through grade 8 I had the mother of all crushes on that girl. She was the prettiest girl in the class and one of the most popular and I was, well, not one of the popular kids. For two and a half years I wanted nothing more than her approval and then the spell broke. I was free and didn't think about her twice until a few years ago when she started popping into my dreams every once in a while. Not sexual or romantic dreams, but just random stuff. No other girl from my childhood ever appears, just her. Crazy. I guess I crushed for so long and so hard that my brain got a permanent impression of her and when allowed to express itself it brings her back. I'm willing to bet my next paycheque she never thinks of me much less dream.

Something New

Going to get my spine x-rayed tonight. Besides teeth x-rays I've never had one so I'm surprisingly excited. Maybe I'll take pictures of them before I take them to the chiropractor and post them here. "Look, its my spine! Ooooo, aaaaaahhhh!"

Something Borrowed

Hmmm, that's hard. Let me come back to that one.

Something Blue

My 2001 Toyota Corolla is metallic blue and is finally finished being paid for this summer. I'm so stoked at thinking of that massive car payment being over. Not sure whether we are going to get a second vehicle or bank the money or something in between. Still thinking about it.

Something Borrowed: Try 2

Stupid Evil Bastard recently explained the origin of his blog's name so I'll follow his lead. I have a hobby that involves creating armies and naming them so they sound threatening and powerful. My army's name from way back has been the Black Storm. I was young when I came up with it and I recently considered changing it. I looked for options and one of the things I came up with was Obsidian Tempest, basically a homonym for Black Storm. I decided against changing the army name but loved the Obsidian Tempest name that I co-opted it for my blog name. I love thunder storms, the darker the better.

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow

THis is just too funny. Read the whole thing.

Religions change; beer and wine remain.
Your car has been buried in an avalanche.  You’re going to have to try to dig your way out, but i’’s fruitless.  What do you do?  What do you do?

Egads!

The graph in this post  on The Poor Man makes my fiscally responsible heart freeze cold:

The CBO Predicts

And it ain't pretty: So, if some seemingly reasonable assumptions are made, by 2015 we will have added $4 trillion...

Dear PolSpy... Bugger Off

Three Bags Full

From a late night conversation at the McCormicks':

Re: Adscam and other Liberal fiscal outpourings:

"Well, we got the government we voted for—"

"No, not "us", not "we", it's the Eastern vote."

"Egh, Toronto voters. Nothing but sheep."

"If we took them all, every Ontarian, and sheared them all, we'd make it all back in wool."

I understand the frustration, I really do. I feel it too everytime I see Paul Martin on TV or in the news.

But your constant whining about Ontario and Ontarians is starting to sound a lot like an inferiority complex speaking, much like the one most Canadians have towards America. And painting everyone east of Manitoba with the same brush does your cause no favours.

So quite frankly, Bugger Off.

Disclaimer: I know the above was meant to be funny, but the pattern of bitching at Ontario demostrated at PolSpy is no longer amusing to me.

Update: As a side note, assuming that Alberta and Ontario had the same proportion of registered voters to population size, then according to the information here and here there were more CPC supporters in Ontario than in Alberta. Calling them all sheep probably won't grow the percentages any. I'm just saying.

PayPal Insanity

I tried to send money to someone I owed using PayPal. I'm in Canada, he's in Canada. I choise the option of Quasi-cash and what does PayPal tell me?

Money transmission regulations currently forbid the transmission of quasi-cash payments to International recipients. Payments are only allowed for auctions, goods, and services.

I realize PayPal is an American company, but I'm surprised that they have to apply American laws to a transaction between two Canadians. I guess its because the money goes to them first and then back to my friend.

Well whatever. I selected "Goods" instead of "Quasi-Cash" and it went through fine.

New Heights, Doctors, and Back Problems

A quick roundup of several small blog postings fermenting in my mind.

New Heights!

I reached 23 unique visitors yesterday, the highest ever. I'm sure a large part of the credit goes to the 8th edition of the Cavalcade of Canucks posted by Robert on My Blahg in which he mentions my anti-death penalty post. Thanks to all commenters and linkers to that post, I'm feeling some pride that it turned out so well and actually says what I mean for a change. Often my thoughts get garbled on the path from my brain to my keyboard.

Doctors

Getting my first physical in years done next week and had to have blood taken for standard tests and such yesterday. I don't mind seeing blood or having blood taken, but I cannot abide needles without cringing. I know that they don't hurt much, I know people do it every day, but the image in my head of metal breaking my skin drives me bananas with the willies. Once the needle is in, I've got no issues.

Part of the bloodtests will to be to check my cholesterol. Certain amount of nervousness there, but I'm curious what the results will be.

Back Problems

I've never suffered from back pain but Kim convinced me to go to the chiropractor she has been seeing for her headaches for other reasons. The theory is that misalignment of the spine could cause other problems in other areas of the body due to blockage of nerves or blood flow. So I went last night for evaluation and the chiropractor did identify some issues with my spine that he wants to work out with me.

Apparently one of the symptoms of my misaligned back is that I'm very sensitive to touch down my spine, to which my wonderful wife would always take as evidence that I do not trust her (followed by pouting and grumpiness and my frustration). Now I have a decent rebuttal: "Honey, I DO trust you, its just my spine is, you know, not healthy" followed by sage nodding and a sad glance. Sympathy works wonders with Kim.

Anyway, last night after my first adjustment I felt back pain. Very annoying. It was gone this morning but I'm starting to feel tender again now. This better be worth it.

Supporting Polygamy

In a column called Polygamist marriage challenge 'inevitable' on Canoe by  Mindelle Jacobs she writes:

Some have argued that polygamous communities are not a threat to society, but that view ignores the substantial harm suffered by women, children and, in some cases, young men, says Kent.
In Utah, he notes, hundreds of young men have been forced out of polygamous communities to prevent them from competing with older men for sexual access to the girls.

The point about young men being forced out of communities is not one I had considered before in my support for polygamy, but I will say that my conditional support for polygamy assumes that it is one piece of a larger community and not the only form of marriage allowed. Closed religious communities such as Bountiful B.C. are not a healthy situations for the girls and boys involved.

Another question came to me while reading this article. I can see a man having two wives and making that relationship work, but I have a harder time seeing a woman having two husbands that are comfortable in the relationship. Is it because I am sexist or do I have a real appreciation for the general psychology of men and women? I'm not sure.

Should We Strike At Iran?

If Iran is developing nuclear weapons, what moral right does the "west" have to prevent it?

If the Canadian government, for whatever reason, decided to build a few nukes for defence, would the United States be justified in flying bombing runs over our facilities and destroying them?

I'm sure many could argue that there is a vast difference between a peaceful democracy like Canada and a one-party rule as in Iran, but I think it is important to ask these questions because I hear a lot about whether the US can stop the Iranian effort and whether or not it is a smart political move, but I rarely hear much discussion of why it is a moral action. What is the "just cause" of preventing countries like Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons?

Just to be clear, I can understand the dire consequences of such a weapon being utilized by a hostile power, especially should these weapons get into the hands of terrorists intend on blowing up civilian populations in Israel or the U.S.. But without hard proof that this would happen, we would be acting on speculation in a pre-emptive strike. Nothing creates enemies faster than persecuting the innocent even if they would be guilty in the future had you not acted.

Supporting the Conservative Party of Canada

I want to fully support the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) but things like this make me pause (Hat Tip Andrew). I'm very conservative in fiscal and governmental affairs, but lean very liberal in social issues and I think the question of Same Sex Marriage (SSM) is not something political parties should be fighting elections over. This may piss some people off, but SSM is not the most important question facing out political parties at the end of the day.

I want the CPC to try and win an election on smaller government, better funded and equipped military, and addressing the constant growth of Health Care costs. The issue of SSM should be a simple free vote in the Commons and that's that. Having party policies of whether to support or oppose such a personal and involved issue simplifies it to an insulting degree and running ads to turn it into an election issue is not what is required here.

I want to support a party that is focused on the important matters of governing a country and not the relatively minor matter of the definition of the word "marriage".

Another Weekend On the Books

The Inlaws came over Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight. I get along mostly OK with Kim's parents as long as they don't try to witness about Jesus to me. They like to play games like Mexican Train (a domino-based game, surprisingly fun) and Phase 10. Simple games that rely as much on luck of the draw as they do on strategy.

Sunday we went to a new Church in Kanata. Kim wants to find a regular church to go to but is usually afraid to go to a new one without her parent's prompting. I'm very nonchalant about the whole affair and figure its a small price to pay for my wife's emotional well-being if she feels the need to go to church weekly. Religion on a small scale can be okay, its when they get bigger and more organized that the fundie wackiness starts to appear. Anyways this church and the pastor were relatively tolerable for an old atheist like me (except for the part where the pastor said that a story from the old testament was true because Jesus said it was true and there is proof Jesus lived... okaaaay), and its down the road from a game store I like to drop in on and see what's new. That's me, find the bright side in everything.

Afterward we went to lunch at Moxie's in the Bayshore mall. My father-in-law really likes it there and I won't complain because one of my favourite meals can be found there as well. The Ranch-house Chicken Burger. Absolute heaven on a bun. Of course, it practically counts as lunch AND dinner but its so worth it. Once we were done lunch the four of us split up and scoured the mall.

I ended up at the book store looking for a new series to read while I wait for the next Robert Jordan or Harry Potter book. I was surprised by the number of female fantasy writers these days. Back when I first started reading fantasy (aka Swords and Sorcery) books in high school almost all of it was written by male authors, but nowadays I'd say the split is about 50-50. I'm not opposed to that balancing of the gender of authors, but I will say that when I've read fantasy or science fiction books authored by women in the past I've often enjoyed them less than similar novels by men. I find that women will write more about the protagonists and their relationships with other characters and their emotions, and not write in as much detail or with as much colour about the events the characters are involved in. I'm not saying that they are bad writers or even bad books, just not what I'm looking for in my books.

There have been exceptions of course, like the aforementioned Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Amazing stuff, can't wait for the next book in the series.

 

Amusing Note

Well, amusing to me anyway.

I like checking out the "referrers" to me website using the Extreme Tracker, even if in this case "referrer" simply means the last website someone was at before dropping by my website. I noticed that for the last week or so the blog www.reflectivemusings.blogspot.com kept appearing once a day in my referrers list. I am on the blogroll over there (thanks Janine!) so I suspect someone is using that blogroll as a links page and checks out the websites on the blogroll and to see what's new, hence they have to go back to the webpage after every check. I used to do the same thing on Bound By Gravity before I installed Sauce Reader and got the subscriptions to my favourite blogs.

I found it amusing but then I'm easily amused.

Against the Death Penalty

Andrew at Bound By Gravity gives an example of why he supports the death penalty. I had thought about writing about the death penalty in the past and decided this was a good lead in. This is going to be hard to write because I am not as proficient with words and communication as others like Andrew but I will give it my best shot.

I believe that the death penalty should never be used for the following reasons.

1. People can change.

When we choose to extinguish a life, we are taking responsibility of life and death and judging that death is more deserving than life based on past actions without considering any future actions. What gives us (in the form of the courts) that supreme authority to decide that one person's future is not worth allowing them to live? People may argue that by executing them we are preventing them from doing any more harm, but at the same time we are preventing them from doing any more good. If a killer such as the one mentioned in Andrew's post in a few years came to realize his errors, changed, and became an inspiration to others who were like him and led them away from violent crime, could we still argue he deserved death as a young man?

2. Mistakes can happen.

Thanks to DNA evidence, wrongful convictions are more rare these days but it is not outside the realm of possibility. What does it say of a society that puts the innocent to death, even if it is mistakenly, in the name of vengeance? Which leads to...

3. The only reason for it is vengeance.

Some supporters of the death penalty say that it is for justice that they want the criminals executed. Wrong. Justice is served when they are found guilty and punished whether it is with life imprisonment or execution. Execution itself is not justice, it is punishment. And the reason to choose execution over imprisonment is vengeance. Eye for an eye, a life for a life. I would hope our culture is better than screaming for vengeance at every wrong done to them and I would hope most agree that getting vengeance upon the guilty does nothing for the victims or society except satisfy a primitive blood lust from our cave-dwelling days. Since we don't live in caves anymore, we should similarly bring our sense of "justice" out of the caves as well.

Some people claim another reason is the expense of keeping these criminal imprisoned for life instead of killing them. I respond with this: if our society finds killing people more expedient than spending the money to keep them alive, then I don't want to live in that society. That's not a good reason to support the death penalty.

4. Killing is wrong.

This is more a personal reason than the others. I believe killing another human being is wrong except in cases of self-defence or defence of others. If a person is convicted and behind bars, executing them is neither of these cases and can only be called murder in my opinion.

* * *

I'm glad I live in Canada where the death penalty is currently outlawed, and I hope it stays that way.

A War of Another Sort

A few of the blogs I frequent have been discussing on and off the drive of certain religious types of trying to get Intelligent Design taught in science classes as an alternative to Evolution. Intelligent Design is the approach that everything that exists in nature today was crafted by a designer instead of the process of random evolution, and is a cleverly disguised approach of offering Creationism without the heavy religious overtones.

I have no problem with people believing in Creation by God or "Intelligent Design" if that's what they want to call it. I have no problem whatsoever with churches teaching and preaching Creation to their congregations, or trying to get their theory publicized in media. I will even ignore it if they choose to teach it in private schools. What I have a problem with is a group of people with certain religious beliefs taking their religious teachings, wrapping it in pseudo-science, and presenting it as actual science lessons to kids in public schools who have to study it if it is part of the curriculum.

Look: its not science when you take a predetermined outcome, in this case the supposition that the world and everything in it was created by a supreme being, and then add evidence as you see fit to support your theory and taking any inconsistencies in the other guy's theory as proof of your own. It could be called debating, it could be called arguing, but its not science. Science is taking all the available evidence, coming up with a hypothesis that supports the evidence, and testing the ever-living hell out of it. If your hypothesis doesn't hold, you adjust your hypothesis and test everything again. That is how Evolution was discovered and continually updated over the centuries. Science is self-correcting, religion by its definition is not.

So here's my message to proponents of "Intelligent Design": stay the f*ck out public schools. I don't go into your church and ask to start a class examining Evolution, show some respect and back out of the public's face with your beliefs and fake-science.

Iraq War = Disaster

A post on the blog titled Iraqi Letter to America (hat tip to The Poor Man):

Tarnishing Good Names
Prime Minister Tony Blair, following the disclosure of more prisoner-abuse photos:

"I hope we do not allow [our disgust at the photographs] to tarnish the good name of the British armed forces."

No sir! Of course not! We will not allow any of these minor incidents by groups of few bad apples tarnish the good names of the British armed forces, the US armed forces, the British and US intelligence communities, the good offices of army planners or the good offices of US political leadership. No sir!

Nor these acts by other groups of bad apples:
...

Read the whole thing.

I've always maintained that the War on Iraq was a bad idea regardless of the (supposed) good intentions of the American Government. War can never be the right choice, it must only be chosen when no other reasonable option is available and there were plenty of other options available in terms of Iraq.

What a complete and utter disaster.

Unemployment

The Stupid Evil Bastard is looking for work:

Now the job hunt begins in earnest.
My office phone rang as I was wrapping my scarf around my neck to head home at 4PM today. It was my representative from the contract house I work for. He asked me what time I get off of work and when I said I was just about to leave he asked if I could swing by his office, but wouldn’t say much when I asked what was up. This naturally set off my spider senses and I knew before I ever made the five minute drive what I was in store for. As I walked in his office it only took a glance at his expression to confirm my suspicions. My contract was being terminated.

I've been wanting to do a post about my bout of joblessness and this seems like a good time.

In the spring of 2001 I started looking for work back in Ottawa because two plus years working in Toronto was enough for me. I missed my family in Eastern Ontario, my friends, and the city. I found work and we moved back in June. For the next seven months I had my dream job, then on Jan 2nd, 2002 I was laid off. The company was small and business was horrible as all our customers basically froze in place after Sept 11 of 2001. With no money coming in, sacrifices had to be made and I was one of them.

It was a devastating blow but I bounced back quickly. After all, I had good work experience in a hot field and great references, I figured I would be back to work in a couple weeks. But after a couple months of few leads and few interviews I started to get worried. Employment Insurance from the government would only last for about 6 months and it paid a pittance compared to what I was making previously, Kim's job did not pay much money, and the savings for the house we wanted to buy started to slip away as time passed. As I entered the third month of job searching depression and frustration mounted and I started thinking about alternatives such as working at Walmart or worse, going back to Toronto.

Every once in a while I would get an interview but it would not pan out. I cam very close once but was beaten out by someone with only a few months more experience than I. That was one of the lowest points. My parent's started giving me advice on my resume and interview skills; that was another low point. All in all it was the worst time of my life, filled as it was with uncertainty for the future and frustration for the present, mixed with a good dose of regret for the past. If only I had not left my secure job in Toronto, if only I had worked harder at my last job maybe they would have cut someone else instead of me.

By the fourth month of being unemployed I had lost all confidence in myself and my abilities. I looked for work that was at a much more junior level than my experience would dictate in hopes of getting a job, any job. I applied anywhere where I thought it was possible I could do the work even if I had little experience or desire for it. Desperation is now a word I can understand.

At the end of the fourth month of unemployment I got an interview for a position that was junior level and I had only some experience for. I was fortunate that I came through the interview very well and did technically well enough in a second interview to beat out the other applicants. They offered me a job and I took it with a huge sigh of relief. After 5 months of unemployment, I started working again with a $13000 pay cut in technology I was only partly familiar with at a junior level I had not been at in over 2 years. It was a humbling experience, as if I was starting completely over and that the last two years had been a waste.

I made the most of my new position and I am still with the same company. I've risen from the junior level to team lead, gained the respect and friendship of my peers, and have lots to look forward to with a large degree of job-security. But I will never forget the dark days of the first half of 2002.

Heinous

Cops bust 8 in kiddie porn raids
POTENTIALLY millions of pictures and videos depicting some of the "most heinous" acts of child sexual abuse Ottawa police investigators have ever seen have been seized in the largest child pornography bust in the city's history. The Ottawa police hi-tech crimes unit said the massive collection -- including 14 computer hard drives, thousands of CDs and stacks of DVDs and VHS videotapes -- was seized over the past six months from eight local suspects who now face a variety of charges.

I find nothing more despicable than child pornography and those that make it and distribute it. I hope the guilty are put away forever for what they have done.

Busted

My 25 minute drive to work is all on 80 km/hour roads except one small stretch about 200 meters long where it drops down to 60 klicks. The reason for this speed drop is because there are a number of houses fairly close together on the side of the road. It could almost be called a hamlet... if there was actually anything there besides a few houses. There is no store, crossroads, turns, nothing. In a year of driving past this almost-a-village I've seen no children, bikes, horseback riders, nothing. Regardless, the speed drops from 80 to 60 and then right back up to 80.

Most people drive about 100 km/hour when the limit is 80. You can be pretty sure the police are not going to pull you over if you don't go over 100. So people are cruising down the road happily and safely and suddenly, for no apparent reason, have to slow down for about 30 seconds and then speed back up. Its not a big annoyance unless you forget to slow down and your friendly neighbourhood police cruiser had got the radar gun out.

Like this morning.

He busted me going 93 klicks in a 60, but dropped it down to 75 since I had no speeding tickets in the last two years. Fifty-two bucks later, I'm off again. He even had a sense of humour. When I had a little trouble finding my ownership and insurance in the glove compartment he said, "Its -42 degrees out here, the longer you take the higher the fine is." I start to panic and then he adds, "I'm just kidding," and laughs.

I do have an excuse for my speeding. You see, I usually slow down for the slow spot (speed trap?) but this morning I was blinded by some big monster tractor whose headlights shone directly into my eyes. I couldn't see anything and didn't notice the speed limit sign announcing the 60 limit. (It should be noted that I drive to work early in the morning when it is still dark out). I didn't even realize I was in the piddly little 60 zone until I saw the cherries come on. Sigh. I wuz robbed I tell ya!

U.S. Is Losing the PR War

 Kuwait to U.S.: Stop torturing prisoners

Regardless of whether you agreed with the Iraq invasion last year or whether or not torture can be justified in certain circumstances this year, the really important thing is that the U.S. is losing the Public Relations war everywhere except in the U.S. itself. This is not a recipe for creating democracy in the heart of the Middle East, its a recipe for disaster.

Here in the west we hear rumours of Death Squads and prisoner abuses. In the Arab world these are treated as fact and does not endear the Americans to anyone in that region despite of what they thought of Saddam Hussein.

The situation is rapidly deteriorating and I do not believe that the current Administration has the ability to turn it around.

Health Care Coverage and Why its Important

From Stupid Evil Bastard:

The problem of 45 million uninsured Americans hits home. Hard.

According to the folks at Cover The Uninsured Week there are around 45 million Americans without health insurance. We hear a lot about the pros and cons of trying to establish a national health care system that would guarantee coverage for everyone and the debate about what to do about the uninsured has been going on for as long as I can remember. I haven’t spoke up much about the issue myself becaus’’’’’’’’m not really sure how to go about sol’’’’g ’’.’I’d very much like to see some form of national health care for all Americans, but I also understand that the cost could be overwhelming without some serious reforms to go along with it. My apathy was probably helped by the fact that my job provides a pretty decent bit of health care for my family and most of my relatives have got coverage as well.

Today I woke up to news about one of my extended family members who wasn't as fortunate as I am.

Read the rest. It is a powerful reminder why national health coverage is a good thing and that why we as Canadians may disagree about the role of private companies in our health care industry, we can all agree that universal coverage is a basic requirement.

Sunday Morning Quick Hits

Several short posts all in one for your convenience. Idea stolen from Andrew.

Ghosts

I think my house may be haunted.

First, let me state that I am not a firm believer in ghosts or other supernatural things, but I am willing to acknowledge that in a universe with upwards of 14 or 23 dimensions of which humans can only consciously perceive 4, there is the possibility of phenomena that goes beyond what we can comprehend or explain using average science. So with that being said, I think there is something odd going on in my house.

It was built in 1972 and we bought it in December of 2003. In the past year there have been numerous occasions of things falling over. A Halloween decoration in the basement falls off a box, skates tip over on to the floor, a bag falls off the counter; and so forth. Taken in isolation the events seem innocent enough but at least once a month something happens in the evenings when we are relaxing and we have to investigate to see what it was this time. We started joking about a poltergiest but I'm half starting to believe it.

I'll keep you posted as weirdness occurs. *Cue spooky music*

Sci-fi Viewing

Even since Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended their runs, I've been lacking the guilty pleasure of science fiction/fantasy television. So this TV season I've taken to watching Star Trek Enterprise and more recently Battlestar Galactica.

Star Trek Enterprise is as tame as previous Star Trek offerings and as weak on science as ever. But I've enjoyed the mindless diversion each week and I love nitpicking on weak science in the plot or gaping plot holes.

Battlestar Galactica just started showing on Space with the 2 hour series premiere a couple weeks ago and the season opener last night. So far I'm enjoying it as it is very gritty and more realistic than the pap served in Star Trek is. The action has been solid and the storyline engaging. We'll see if the writers can keep it up.

Movie Review

Kim and I went to see National Treasure yesterday as a weekend date movie. If you can set aside your incredulity for two hours, its not a bad movie except for the ending. The over-the-top ending really ruined the experience for me and I wish that they had taken a different route in the plot. Overall, I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Scary

Over a True North there is an excellent and informative post about BSE, aka Mad Cow Disease. I suggest everyone read it.

Best Time of My Life

Continuing my reflections of the past...

If high school was the worst five years of my life, the following two years of attending Carleton University and living in residence there was by far the best. Not only was I living on my own for the first time and meeting great new people, it seemed all the negative things about high school were removed and positives put in their place:

- Intelligence was respected and attractive as opposed to derided and geeky,

- I had some choice of classes I would take instead of being mostly dictated to me,

- Living in the city gave numerous choices for activities whereas living at home in the country made things more difficult

- I had lost a lot of weight the summer before

Quite simply, for two years everything clicked. I had awesome friends, good grades, and lots of fun. I had my first kiss, met my future wife-to-be, and figured out who I was and who I wanted to be. The euphoria of that time still makes me glow with fondness.

It helped that by living in residence on campus I had the freedom of being away from home with only a portion of the responsibilities. The lodgings and meals were paid for up front, all I had to take care of was a phone bill. It also was great that my roommate for the first year was a great guy and that my residence floor was filled with exceptional people and very few morons, it made the transition surprisingly easy and homesickness was non-existent.

My life has been great since that time (with one exception that I will chronicle at a later time), and it only reason it is not as great as those first two years is because reality of work, bills, and relationships take their toll. I am richer in life now than I was then but not as carefree and blissfully ignorant. I am content with my life but I will always look back with fondness for those first two years of university and the liberating feeling of finally finding myself and my place in the world.

Torture Again

Jay Currie talks about torture and its use in the War on Terrorism:

On Interogation
...
So when I look at the so called "torture narrative" I am looking at a balance. Innocent lives lost to car bombs and motar attacks versus waterboarding a jihadi or Baathist...I don't think this is a hard call.

I must strongly disagree with Mr. Currie on this topic. As pointed out at Tilting at Windmills, torture is unethical, it rarely provides reliable information in a timely manner, and it does not work better than much more humane methods. If we are going to continue to have the moral authority to consider our society "good", we have to make the "good" choices and not give in to the wrong choices in the name of expediency.

Update: I should address the question of the Geneva Convention as Jay Currie brings it up in his post. Justifying torture based on "they are doing worse than us so its ok" logic is weak at best, and childish at worst. We should not compromise our morals and ethics because the other side has abandoned theirs. To do so makes me wonder if we are that morally upright as we pretend we are.

Man, I'm In the Wrong Business

From Stupid Evil Bastard:

My brother receives Jesus Prayer Rug scam.
My brother contacted me through MSN Messenger last night to tell me about this amazing item he had received in the mail yesterday from the fine folks at Saint Matthew’s Church out of Tulsa, Oklahoma that just sounded amazingly wonderfully amazing: The Anointed Jesus Prayer Rug.
...
You can see part of the sales pitch by clicking on the image to the right underneath the amazingly wonderfully amazing Anointed Jesus Prayer Rug. As it turns out this whole thing is another religious based scam that promises the overly credulous true believers riches from God in return for a "seed money" for Saint Mathew's Churches, which only exist in the form of a Tulsa post office box, natch. The only person getting rich from this scam is the Rev. James Eugene Ewing who seems to have built up quite a racket with this and other similar scams to the tune of several hundred million dollars:

The approach reaped Ewing and his organization a gross income of more than $100 million since 1993, including $26 million in 1999, the last year Saint Mathew's made its tax records public. And while much of the money is spent on postage and salaries, Ewing's company receives nonprofit status and pays no federal taxes.

Note to self: you make more money betting on people being idiots than you do on betting people to be a little bit intelligent.

PolSpy Takes Cheap Shot

Ontario Power Struggle

This from the Toronto Star: Energy price, supply top list of concerns.

...

When asked to state the single most important issue for electricity and natural gas, 54 per cent said price, and 19 per cent said reliability of supply.

Only 4 per cent cited conservation, while 3 per cent said maintaining public ownership.

In other words, "where can I get it the cheapest, and how much can I buy?"

To be fair, I bet you my next paycheque you would get the same results anywhere else in the country. The insinuation that Ontarians are greedy and extravagant is a cheap blow without a corresponding survey from other parts of the country.

Ottawa Doesn't Feel Like a Capital

Due to the federal politicians that come here many times during the year, one living in other parts of Canada may come to think of Ottawa as a one industry town. (The industry being, of course, production of hot air and other gases.)

But living for most of my life in Eastern Ontario I can assure you that the only time you actually realize you live near or in the capital of Canada is when you are in downtown Ottawa and actually see the Parliament Buildings or notice all of the government ministry buildings situated in the area. The rest of the time, its pretty much generic big city Canada.

Its easy to forget that there is an entire city that does not revolve around Parliament hill, one with a large manufacturing and high tech industry. Ottawa and Gatineau combined boast a population of over one million people making it the fourth largest urban centre in Canada which often takes people by surprise. Yes, there IS a city here that is often lost in the bright lights of politics.

(Side Note: Poly is a word meaning "many". Tics are small annoying animals.)

I wonder if people living in and around Washington D.C. feel the same?

Single Transferable Vote

Declan at Crawl Across the Ocean has an excellent post supporting and explaining his support of Single Transferable Vote system in British Columbia:

Vote Yes to STV on May 17 (if you live in B.C., anyway)
You may have noticed that I added a (somewhat crude - anyone know a good drawing program?) button to the links on the right. This post explains why it's there (Note: there may be some repetition here for longtime readers, for which I apologize, but I wanted to try and get all the relevant information/arguments/resources together into one post)...

And excellent post and I hope that it succeeds in BC, and that the success breeds imitation in provinces across the country.

My Dominant Intelligence

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

 

Well, that's not a big surprise to me. (Hat Tip to Andrew)

Right, Left, or the Middle (Finger)?

I hate the political labels Left and Right. They have done more to perpetuate the "democratic deficit" in recent decades than anything else combined in my opinion. Having a label allows one to group a collection of opposing views and dismiss them all with generalizations that may only apply to a small minority of that grouping. Even worse, when such a group is labeled then when one of that group does something extreme or is misinterpreted, everyone else in that label is similarly characterized.

Labeling is a weapon of the demagogue used against the intelligence of the collective and is it surprisingly effective. Entire elections have been swung on the character assassinations of political wags, simply because one member of a group held views opposed by the general public. We've become so used to voting for parties, we've stopped judging the individuals we vote for on ability and merit and actual positions on issues.

It depresses me when I see a blogger talk about others as being a "right whinger". It also depresses me when I see one labeled as a "liberal lefty". Our world is more complicated than right and left, liberal and conservative. And I say we should all give these labels the Middle Finger.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew over at Bound By Gravity is getting older today today. I don't know if he is any wiser.

Global Warming Debate

Andrew at Bound By Gravity and Treehugger at Heart of the Matter are discussing global warming and the influence humans really have. As Andrew states:

Regardless of whether we were belching millions of tonnes of pollutants into the air each year or not, Earth was going to get warmer. This is just another part of the natural cycle. We could be dressed in furs and hunting animals with spears and this warming would still be occurring.

Treehugger responds:

The impact of climate change is very disturbing. If that makes me an "alarmist" for suggesting that we consider the scientific communities warnings and the traditional knowledge of Aboriginal peoples as being very credible - as having the gaul to suggest that pollution is having an impact on climate change right now, then so be it. I might even by a bell to ring regularly.

Andrew's response:

If you want to pass the "sniff test" and get people to react to the polluton problem, going after a naturally occuring phenonemon is not the right way to do so.
...
Trying to justify a good action with questionable "facts" leads only to delays and resistance. You need to attack the problem using verifiable facts.

I think both sides have some points and miss some.

I agree with Andrew that natural cycles occur and some (if not all) of the current warming trend could be a result of natural cycles and would have occurred regardless of industrialization or not. However, I think that regardless of that we should be cutting our emissions simply because the earth is so susceptible to changes and we do not know if we are accelerating and/or worsening the warming. The safe thing to do is to react as if it is and take steps now before it is too late.

Treehugger's post, although it was well written, I found to miss Andrew's original point entirely and focused more on his preferred choice of action. While I agree that being concerned right now and taking action right now is the best approach, I have to agree with Andrew that facts and correlations are more useful than anecdotes and emotion. We don't know nor have any way of knowing if what the Inuit are experiencing is a natural cycle or not, and using it as a reason to cut back emissions is too easily attacked by those against cutting those emissions.

All the same, I'm glad people are talking about this subject which I feel is far more important to humanity than whether or not two gay people living together can be called married or not or some such nonsense.

* * * * * * * *

As a side note, the scariest thing I ever heard was from a Christian who was against conservation because "God put those things there for us to use and commanded us to use it. He doesn't want parts of the world to sit fallow." (Paraphrasing from memory). He was talking in particular about a forest that people were trying to prevent logging in through protests. I was so totally aghast that I could not speak, it was so mind-blowingly narrow and short sighted.

That wasn't some redneck rube either, that was from an intelligent, educated preacher. I'm more convinced then ever that religion is not good for humanity or the Earth.

Warning - Beware Wolves In Sheeps' Clothing

A few times recently I've received emails from PayPal and Ebay asking my to update my account information for their billing department. They even provide handy links to do so, just click right here.....

They look authentic. They have the right colours, graphics, very professional wording, real looking return addresses...

STOP! They lie. They are nothing but attempts to get your personal information at best, and financial information at worst. Never click a link in these unsolicited emails.

If you ever are required to update your information, PayPal or Ebay will email asking you to log in as you normally do, they will not provide links of convenience. Even if they should be so foolish as to do so, avoid the temptation and do it manually anyways. And never give your password to anyone for any reason except at the normal login page.

If you do give information to a suspect website, change your password immediately and report the transgression to the real website ASAP. Protect yourself.

I recently reported an issue to PayPal and here is there response:

Dear William Dullemond,

Thank you for writing to PayPal regarding the email message you received
that appeared to be from eBay.

As you may have already suspected, this email was not sent by eBay.
These emails, commonly referred to as spoofs, are sent by fraudulent
sources posing as eBay in an attempt to collect sensitive financial
information or passwords.

Please know that PayPal and eBay is committed to the security of our
sites and our members. We review every report we receive and forward all
vital information on to the appropriate authorities for further action 
and tracking. We work actively and aggressively in partnership with many
agencies, ISP's and law enforcement groups to support their
investigation of these fraudulent entities. As a public company, we rely
on the same agencies you do to pursue these fraudulent activities. You 
may also wish to contact your ISP or email service provider for further
information or instructions.

Now that you have received a spoofed email, your email address has been
collected by a fraudulent source. As a result, you may continue to
receive spoofed emails for some time as these groups move from ISP to
web hosting sites setting up fraudulent email addresses, fake sites and
sending spoofed emails. PayPal and eBay has enacted several preventative
measures and increased information available on both sites help pages to
help educate our members in spotting fake emails.

In the future, we advise you to be very cautious of any email appearing
to be from eBay or PayPal that asks you to submit financial information
such as your credit card number or any type of password. As for eBay,
they will NEVER ask you for certain financial information such as
passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, Personal Identification
Numbers (PINs), or Social Security numbers in an email. All sensitive
information should be submitted on a secure page located on the eBay or
PayPal site.

If you have any doubt about whether an email message is from PayPal,
please forward it immediately to spoof@paypal.com. For eBay spoofed
emails, please forward those to spoof@ebay.com. Please do not respond to
it or click on any of the links in the email message. Please do not
change the subject line or edit the email in any way.

If you have already entered sensitive information as mentioned above,
you should take immediate action to protect your identity and online
accounts. If you only clicked on a link inside of a spoofed email, you 
may also want to run a security scan on your computer. eBay has a help 
page with valuable information regarding the steps you should take to
protect yourself. Below is a link to this page:

http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html

Once again, thank you for alerting us to the spoofed email you received.
Your vigilance helps us ensure that PayPal and eBay remain a safe and
vibrant online marketplace.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

*******************************************
Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information
(such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social
Security numbers, etc.) in an email. Learn more account protection tips
at:
http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html
____________________________________________

For the latest eBay announcements, please check:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
_____________________________________________


************************************************************************
This
email is sent to you by the contracting entity to your User Agreement, 
either PayPal Inc or PayPal (Europe) Limited. PayPal(Europe) Limited is
authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK 
as an electronic money institution.
************************************************************************




Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Form Message
customer subject: Account Verification
customer message: The web address (URL) of the site you are reporting: 
'fast.updateyourinfos.cn'
Additional Information: 'The following is the text of the email. THe
link
of the "Click Here" button was to fast.updateyourinfos.cn
  Dear ************,
During our regular update and verification of Accounts, we could not
verify
your current information. Either your information has been changed or
incomplete, as a result your access to use our services has been
limited.
Please update your information.

>To update your account information and start using our services please
click on the link below: Click Here to Update your Billing Records
>
>Note: Requests for information will be initiated by PayPal Business
Development; this process cannot be externally requested through
Customer
Support.
>
>Note for Hotmail users: Hotmail has applied anti-fraud plug-in. When
users
click on a link on webmail
>it displays a Pop-Up Window with message: "You have clicked a link that
leads to unsafe site" ... follows.
>Please click "OK" to be able to update your billing records.
>Sincerely,
>Accounts Department'

More Site Enhancements

As I get more into this blogging thing, I've picked Andrew's brain and website for ideas. Hitmaps was one, and now I've added a hit counter, joined the TTLB Ecosystem (I'm an Insignificant Microbe apparently), and joined the Ontario Bloggers webring.

When I first started blogging, having a readership and number of site visits meant very little to me. But I've become more enamoured of the idea after seeing someone in Asia looked at my blog (however how briefly). I admit the idea that my meandering thoughts and opinions might have some value to others (even if only as entertainment or a diversion) is quite ego-satisfying.

Hitmap Has Me In Its Warm Embrace

I admit my fascination with the Hitmap map is over the top, but its such an amazing utility.

Looking at it today, I see someone in Saskatchewan dropped by, as well as a visitor from LA California, and what may be  New York. I also got a drop in from what looks like Sudbury... or I could be wrong. I'm a little fuzzy on the geography of the area north of the Georgian Bay.

I'm going to have to install a hit counter next. And no, I will not keep doing this every day... I think every second day is sufficient. ;-)

Torture Is Just Plain Wrong

Over at Tilting At Windmills, Ian Welsh hits the nail on the head when he discusses torture being used by the U.S.:

Reap as you sow, so it is, so it always has been, so it always shall be
...
It's not just that it's immoral... that it is, frankly, evil. It is that it is profoundly stupid and doesn't help move the US towards its' goals. Every gain made by torture - a ring rolled up here, a bigwig caught there, is bought at the potential price of the birth of more enemies than those captured or killed. I guarantee that the damage done by the Abu Ghraib torture was much greater than the value of whatever information they managed to torture out of the inmates.
...

It frustrates me and amazes me that people in the American Public can defend the use of torture, and I suspect it is only because they have not thought about it. They have been too long in the comfortable bosom of freedom that they have not had to face the terror and uncertainty of a powerful enemy taking them or their loved ones away to possibly be tortured.

Well people, think about it! Its wrong, its reasons are not justifiable, and its not working.

 

Paul Wells' Blog Get RSS Feed

Amazing tech breakthrough, I think!!!

This blog (and the entire growing Maclean's family of fine blogs) now has an RSS feed. Actually, it's had a secret RSS feed for months. But now it has the letters "RSS" up there next to my mug, with the...

Finally!

Hitmap Update - Up and Running

I was so excited when I noticed that the Hitmap for my site was up. It must mean they found more webspace for their project and I'm glad for them because I think this is the neatest thing.

I was even more excited when I saw more than one red dot. Excited and confused. What the heck is someone in Churchhill Manitoba (from the looks of it) looking at my blog for? Ah well *waves*

I also see dots in Alberta, Central US, Dublin Ireland, Italy, and just off the coast of China. Not sure if that is near Hong Kong or not, my geography in that area is weak but I think that the location. All very unexpected and I suspect I owe it to being on Andrew's blogroll since he has grown a significant readership with his superior blogging skills. Oops, I mean "MaD Skillz, they L33t!!!1!"

Regardless, a big Eastern Ontario hello to everyone who drops by! Love to hear from you, let me know your exact city and I'll through it in a list below the hitmap.

Hatred

This boggles my mind:

 A Muslim Saudi professor says the earthquake and tsunami in south Asia were punishment from Allah for homosexuality and fornication committed by residents and visitors of affected countries at Christmastime.

(Hat Tip to Pharyngula)

How can people actually be so blind and stupid and intolerable? Makes me want to unleash a 9.0 on the Ritcher Scale on his ass.

Corporate Ineptitude Update: Computer is back online. Yay! Good to be sitting at my own desk again.

Hitmaps Update

My Hitmap in the sidebar was failing to work and I couldn't figure out why. I thought it was something I was doing wrong but a check of the website revealed that they have suspended making new maps because of insufficient disk space. However existing ones will continue to operate.

Crap! Hopefully they will resolve the issue soon.

Corporate Ineptitude - Day Two

Still no computer at work today. I'm getting frustrated because it really hampers my efforts not having all my tools and setups ready to go. The IT guy came to see me yesterday around 10 am and I was told he would have to buy a new power supply but the place does not open until noon. Around 2 in the afternoon I called him and tried to ask what was going on up got voicemail. Come in this morning, my machine is still where I left it, waiting for a surgeon to bring its heart back to life.

If the guy whose computer I'm using comes in today (he was sick yesterday), I'll have no machine to use at all. Maybe I'll take the day off sick and go pester Andrew for a new job.

Weight Watchers Update

I've been on Weight Watchers Online for three months and as of Monday, January 3rd I have lost 34 pounds (down from 254 to 220), including about 7 lbs in the last two weeks. I suspect that number is artificially low because I weighed myself before my shower yesterday instead of after. When I weighed myself after the shower a couple hours later it showed 31 lbs lost, 3 lbs difference. My theory is that my dehydrated body soaked up quite a bit of water during the shower and the second weigh-in is the correct number.

Regardless of the true amount, the fact remains that I have lost over 30 lbs in three months AND avoided losing ground over the decadent Christmas Holidays I just had. I definitely eat too much junk food (Ummm, I love Turtles!) but avoided the turkey dinner traps of too much stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and desert. Plus I got more activity than just sitting at a computer all day long.

My next long term goal is to be less than 200 lbs by May 24, my 8th wedding anniversary.

My Expertise

A lot of blogs I read often have authors that are experts about something or at least very vocal about one topic more than others. The advantage of that is that if you are knowledgeable about something and good at communicating it to others, you get a readership interested in what you have to say.

I'm not really an expert on anything outside of a certain hobby of mine that is not welcome in this blog, so I find my posts tend to be all over the place. Some political, some introspective, some journal entries. In essence this is a reflection of me: I tend not to be an expert on things but I do have some cursory knowledge of many things.

However, there are some things I can claim to be proficient enough in to qualify as a veteran. With great fanfare I present my Areas of Expertise.

1) Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - Its my job and I know it very well. Not guru status mind you, but definitely better than your average joe.

2) ASP Webpages - My old job was as an internet developer so I know VBScript well and a little Javascript. I've done a few projects using ASP and I still have side projects using the code once in a while. Can't do interface design worth crap, but I can take someone else's template and make it suit my needs. The Obsidian Tempest html was originally a Blogspot template that I modified myself for example.

3) Eastern Ontario - Expert in certain areas where I lived like Leeds and Grenville counties, Lanark county, and various parts of Ottawa. Especially familiar with the roadways as I have done lots of driving in my time.

4) Living through Alcohol Addictions - Members of my family have been and are alcoholics. I'm working on a post about the subjection later this winter, but suffice to say I feel I have experienced enough to speak with some conviction on the subject.

So if you are looking for an expert on those subjects, I'm your guy.

Computer Update: My work computer continues to languish in limbo. Glenn is supposed to get a new power supply to try and boot it up and see if it survived. I'll keep you posted.

Another Blow for Corporate Ineptitude

Before Christmas I complained to our IT department (i.e. Glen) that my power fan in my PC was getting noisy. In fact I complained on three occasions over a couple months, including in person just before the break. It was so bad on Dec 23 I took the panels off my machine and blew the dust out. This seemed to help as the fan quieted back down and I thought I had made some progress.

Apparently not.

I forgot to turn the machine off when I left (ran from) the building for holidays on Dec 24 because I never turn my machine fully off when I leave work. I meant to this time because of the fan issues but I just forgot. I get in this morning and I don't have a computer so much as I have a big, f*cking paperweight. I'm typing this on the co-op student's computer since he is not in yet.

Its not Glen's fault, he is overworked and needs help. I blame the company for failing to get him the assistance he needs so that my issue and similar small things like it are taken care of when they arise, and not left until they are a crisis.

So now I am without email, internet, and other software I need to do my job. I'm basically an overpaid phone operator. Needless to say, posting will be erratic until I recover from this setback.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

One of the biggest adjustments for me in going from single to married was the change in Holiday Traditions. From when I was 5 until I was married at 23, every year except one followed the same pattern: Christmas Eve at my paternal grand parents place with the extended paternal family, and then Christmas morning at home with my step-father and mother (and later my sister) followed by spending the afternoon with either my mother's extended family or my step-father's extended family and the evening with the opposite (alternating every year). It was a busy 24 hours, but we got to see most everyone in our families and it was always a good time, with Boxing Day as a quiet recovery day.

Marriage changed all that. To start with, it added my wife's immediate and extended family into the mix. Secondly, she wasn't fond of the current hectic schedule (which I never thought of as hectic myself) because she was used to one family affair on Christmas day. To make matters even more complicated, just before we got married my wife's parents moved to Calgary for the next few years!

The first couple of years were difficult to adjust to for both of us. First year I put Kim through my usual pattern which she did not like, and then next year I flew out to Calgary with her for Christmas. I suffered from family withdrawal.

Kim's parents moved back to Ontario after a couple years and we tried alternating Christmas visits for a couple years, going to see my parents and whatever family they were with one year, and staying at Kim's parents place the next year. Fortunately, for the past few years Kim's extended family started having their get-together early in December removing that scheduling conflict. And I now visit my paternal family after the holidays in order to remove that issue. Finally, I visit with my step-father's extended family on my step-father's birthday on Dec 28th because they usually come to visit him and have a small party.

That just leaves Kim's parents and my parents and maternal family to visit in the 24th-25th window. For the past couple years Kim and I have hosted Christmas Eve and morning at our place since we now own a decent sized home for such and affair. It worked in 2003 with Kim's family, not so much recently with my parents. We'll try again next year as Kim and I slowly create our own traditions.

Regular Posting to Resume Tomorrow

Well, the holidays are finally over. Kim is upstairs vegging out with her soap, and I'm catching up on some internet stuff. Its been a long week but I'm glad its over. Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

** New Feature **
I've added a hit map to the bottom of the sidebar (Hat Tip to Andrew) so you and I can see where people view this page from based on IP addresses. Amusing little thing, I expect to see very few red dots on it.