Internal Mono(b)log

In the car today the DJs were talking about a recent NRA meeting where a well known musician celebrity got up there and said something along the lines of “I’m so radical that I want all criminals dead: rapists, murders, thieves… Just get a gun and shoot em all”.

Got me thinking… If I lived in the ‘States I’d likely be a gun owner. If someone broke into my house while I was there I’d empty the clip. When the officers responded I’d tell them that I panicked.

Their response would likely be a smile and something along the lines of “Nice grouping”.

Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, found the typical office desk harbors some 400 times more disease-causing bacteria than the average toilet seat.

Scary stuff!

IHT.COM is running a story about a guy who is being charged with unauthorized access to a computer network (a 3rd degree felony) for using someone else’s *unsecured* wifi connection.

Now perhaps I’m oversimplifying this a bit, but… If I’m walking down the street and I come across a tray of cookies on a table at the end of someone’s driveway, I may be inclined to grab one. They’re being offered for free, it would seem.

I would apply the same thought pattern to using someone else’s *unsecured* wifi to access the Internet. There are quantities of documentation on the web telling consumers how to secure their WIFI node if they’re concerned about it being used by others. Failure to lock down your wifi access point, is in essence giving its use away for free. I feel this is especially true if the person using your access point is *only* using it to get access to the Internet and while on the ‘net they’re not doing anything bad (like spamming, etc.). Since most Internet consumers pay flat rate for their connection, the person donating the use of their WIFI access point is loosing nothing.

Nothing stolen = No crime.

Ever surf to a site that wants you to register (for free and your email address) before you can use the site? thestar.com is one such site. FREE! … just give us your email address.

Well there are a few tools on the net that really come in handy for just this type of “free service”.

* bugmenot.com has accounts setup an a large number of so called “free” services. If they don’t have what you need and you actually need to register yourself, then try

* mailinator.com. Just use any userid@mailinator.com, you can later surf to their site and check for confirmation codes, etc. but then never need to see spam again. Sweet.

An interesting thought I had over the weekend:

Canadians celebrate Canada Day on July 1st. Americans celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July.

Canadians celebrate Canada, and being Canadian. Americans celebrate their Independence from British rule.

Canadians celebrate what they are. Americans celebrate what they aren’t.

Interesting, eh?

CBC was full of discussion this morning about Bill C36 passing. It’s big news and nice for a change for Canada to be leading the way with politically sensitive issues. Yay CANADA!!!

The discussion on CBC was contentious and started me thinking that we needed a new Internet Meme. Please share this with anyone you would like to 🙂

1. Are you Canadian?
2. Where you born in Canada? If not, where were you born?
3. Do you consider yourself as politically active?
4. Do you consider yourself religious? If so, what denomination?
5. How old are you?
6. Do you agree with gay unions?
7. Do you agree with the use of the word marriage for gay union?
8. Do you think that democracy was well served in the passing of the bill?
9. Do you think that this topic will continue to haunt parliment? If so, for how long?
10. What do you think the next challenge to same-sex couples will be?

Maxim, July 2005: …there are men and women overseas risking their lives so that you can access Web cams, buy Schlitz, and do every other morally-questionable-yet-still-legal thing that makes America fan-friggin’-tastic…

I don’t often read Maxim, but on occasion if I find it lying around I’ll take a flip through it. Why not? Who doesn’t like tripe every now and then, right? Anyhow, today I’m flipping through a copy while upon the throne and come across the abovementioned quote.

I have to ask: Do Americans (the USA variety, not the North American, or South American type) actually believe this? Do you/they actually believe that what people are being injured for and dying for in the Middle East has anything to do with the way of life in the ‘states?

I’ll be the 1st to admit that the attack against the ‘states that was the Twin Towers was unexpected and horrific, but the “Allied Forces” are not even in the country that housed the people at blame for the attack. There are no weapons of mass distruction, no bio-weapons plants, and they’ve brought in everyone and their brother, but still no Osama. It’s clear to the rest of the world that the USA is giving the middle East even more reason to hate them. Why can’t the USA see that? I predict that in 10-15 years there’ll be another attack, similar to the Twin Towers and all the Americans will be wondering “why do they hate us so?”. Well, let me tell you why. 10-15 years ago the USA and their “Coalition of the Willing” rolled tanks through the attackers’ villages, kill their parents, etc. etc. etc… It certainly doesn’t take much thought to see how this is going to play out.

While I’m on my Canadian Anti-USA rant, let me add a sidebar thought about the good ol’ boy President south of the border…

Today, Mr. Bush had the audacity to publically make the following statements (I nearly sprayed coffee through my nose when I read them):

Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

Mr. Bush, please, take a look in your own back yard. You have mass troups half-way around the world spreading your own form of fear and destruction. Maybe the West isn’t calling you a terrorist (to your face), but I can pretty much guarantee that the people in the Middle East who’s lands and rights you’re trampling are calling you a Terrorist (with a capital T).

US President George W Bush has criticised the presidential election taking place in Iran on Friday as ignoring the demands of democracy.

Ever heard of a hanging-chad? How about the situation in your 1st election where a huge portion of the Florida populus couldn’t vote? _Ignoring the demands of democracy_, indeed!

Maybe there aren’t any mirrors in the White House… that’d explain it.

Dave forwarded me this today. It’s a brief write-up from a techie who allegedly disassembled his new Dell laptop to find a keylogger *built into the machine* and the ensuing interesting responses from both Dell support and the US Dept. of Homeland Security.

Now normally, I’d disregard this as an urban myth in the making… but with the constant “heightened state of alert” in the US of late, I’m not so sure.

Please someone tell me its untrue.

Justice moves slowly in the province of Ontario. As I write this I’m sitting in a hallway of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, waiting for my session to start. It’s 11:30. Our appointment was for 10:30.

This is the same pattern that we experienced over a month ago when we had the 1st meeting. We waited for over an hour to have 15 minutes before the Justice. In that meeting it was very clear that the Justice felt there was no case, but deffered the hearing because the other lawyer hadn’t seen all the relevant documentation.

We’ll see how today goes. I expect that we’ll be done quickly again, but the wait is mind-numbing!

It makes me wonder why “the system” is so broken. Clearly cases are taking longer and longer to try as the courts seem very backlogged. Is this because there is more volume? Is it because “life today is more complex”? Or is there something else?

I think that it may be the latter. I think that perhaps the legal system needs to be “reset”. I think that the “just” in “justice” is lost in all the books, precidents, laws and loopholes. Let’s face it, the point behind the courts is to assign appropriate punishment for infractions against societal norms.

This sounds simple, but our laws are stale and out of touch with society. Further they are (necessarily) written in complex legalese to (one hopes) properly convey the intent of the law without ambiguity. The unfortunate side affect of using detailed language is that very simple concepts become tombs of words trying to address every concievable misinterpretation. One hopes that all loopholes are addressed, but frequently they aren’t.

Our legal system is ailing. It is faultering under the weight of its own creations. The proof is all around you everyday: the young adult in the ‘states who is jailed for 10+ years for personal marajauana possession compared to the chilld abuser and child pornographer that gets 6 months “house arrest”. Any court system that sees no contradiction with the sentences above is sick and needs help.

Right and wrong haven’t changed. They are pretty simple concepts that everyone understands. Children “get it”. Why do adults need such overhead to realize that childhood understanding?

I call for the return of schoolyard justice! Trail by peers and judgement assigned by peers. Force the peers to use their common sense. Allow society to change as it changes and have that reflected in the courts of the land.

Isn’t it funny how sometimes you have time on your hands to ponder your navel and come up with amusing thoughts to share and at other times you’re run so ragged that you seem to just go from 1 task to another with no time to think about anything.

Lately, I’ve been running in the latter mode. June, July and August are going to be *crazy*. A wedding the 1st week of June with the attached rehearsal, Stag & Doe and reception. A week of camping at RE:Union in June. 2 long weekends in July and another long weekend music event at the house in August (at least we’re hoping the house event comes together). The event schedule combined with work, commuting, trying to run (although lately that’s been not so successful), being social, being at home, getting stuff done around the house, showings, etc. ACK! Calgon take me away! 🙂

I know there are provocative thoughts running around in my brain somewhere… it’s just trying to get them out in a manner that makes sense.