Archive for March, 2004
File sharing legal in Canada?
The Canadian federal court ruled today that the Canadian Recording industry could not have the names of file sharers from their internet providers. This is the same tactic that the U.S. recording industry used, and they where successful. Looks like things are a little different here in the Great White North. Read the article bellow for more.
“In what analysts are calling a “stunning” decision, the Federal Court has ruled against a motion that would have allowed the music industry to start suing individuals who make music available online.
Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled today that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove there was copyright infringement by 29 so-called music uploaders.
He said that downloading a song or making files available in shared directories, like those on Kazaa, does not constitute copyright infringement under the current Canadian law.”
Way cool return of Infocom Games
Ray was sitting on this one and didn’t tell me till now. Back in the day before graphics, when mainframes ruled and text was the way of the game. Classics like Zork, online choose your own adventure games where you explored the story line, the first virtual worlds. Well, since we are now all addicted to instant messaging, open up your AIM (America Online Instant Messenger) and add infocom2 or infocom3 to your buddy list and just say “hello?” You’ll instantly find available at your fingertips, a host of classic text games that you can explore just by chatting back and forth with the system. Even save your progress!
More info here.
No commentsiTunes Remote
I love iTunes, but I hate having to switch to the app to change the song, or the volume. Enter X-iTunes (download). A custom key combination overlays a full remote for your iTunes. Release the combination and it fades away. Very nice. I’d love to see ratings added to it too. A great free download.
Do you miss TradeWars?
If you’re like me you may have played TradeWars back in the days of BBS. Well the next evolution is here, Alien Assault Trader. It’s web based, open source and of course free. You can check out their project on SourceForge.net here. I’ve already setup a server, and we’re looking for new players. There is a lot of strategy to the game, and it has a great deal of complexity to explore. See you around the universe.
No commentsPhenomenal Article by Spencer Johnston
Spencer, Staysea’s brother, wrote a letter to the editor of the Mississauga News commenting on the proposed banning of Pit Bulls from public areas. I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am. Read it:
“Dogs defended
Dear Editor:
The Mississauga News
Mar 14, 2004
I opened the Wednesday, Jan. 28 edition of The Mississauga News to find a very informative story on the current plight of dog owners with regards to pit bulls.
Pit bulls, as outlined in the article, were first bred for killing and hunting and due to their (aggressive) nature, should be banned from residential areas. Since it is impossible to force dog owners to be responsible, banning the dogs is the only option. A very prudent decision.
Subsequently, of the same token, we should also ban automobiles because, as we all know, automobile accidents do happen. Since it is impossible to tell people that they shouldn’t happen, it is therefore the fault of the automobile.
Next on the chopping block should be all adults, since they cannot be held responsible for acts of child abuse and murder they commit, as recently seen in the news.
Where does it end? When will this landslide of “not me” and “bad dog” finally come to rest? When will people finally assume responsibility for their actions, as well as for the training and care of their children, as well as pets?
Obviously, you’ve never owned a pit bull. Our pit bull would run to the door and greet every visitor with a shoe. He gave you a shoe, whether you wanted one or not. The most danger he’d put you in would be from the wagging of his tail, proud of his accomplishment.
He weighed 60 pounds and still considered himself to be a lap dog. He would sit, watching and waiting patiently, for you to say okay so he could jump on the couch and cuddle with you. He would then inch his way up between you and the back of the couch, to snuggle right in, slowly stretching out. Eventually, he had 90 per cent of the couch and you had a sliver of the edge.
But, of course, he knew how to behave around humans, but how was he with other animals? Our black Labrador Retriever didn’t seem to mind him snuggling one bit. On walks, the 6-year old pit bull would wait patiently for the older lab to catch up, then he would run ahead, only to wait again. The only problem we ran into was that my bed wasn’t big enough for all three of us.
What do I think about pit bulls? What I wouldn’t give to have my dog back. He died of cancer four months ago and has left a huge hole in our hearts.
Any dog can be dangerous. It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure proper treatment and training. If they can’t do that then they should be the ones banned from having pets of any kind.
I support the ban on irresponsible pit bull owners, not the dogs. If you treat them right, love them and train them, they can be the most caring and lovable creatures in the world.
Spencer Johnston”
Dogs Defended
I got this exerpt from the Mississauga News. My brother, Spencer, when he read an article calling for the banning of Pit Bulls in Mississauga wrote this letter back to the editor, it was published a couple of weeks later.
I am so incredibly proud of him. I can’t even express how much gratitude I have for him and the efforts he’s making on the part of pit bulls. Its a personal mission of mine to rescue Pit Bull and raise the public awareness about the breed, but Spencer really stepped it up a knotch. I just wanted everyone to know how proud of him I am. With Spencer on my team, I know we can really make a difference!!
THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS
Dogs defended
Dear Editor:
The Mississauga News
Mar 14, 2004
I opened the Wednesday, Jan. 28 edition of The Mississauga News to find a very informative story on the current plight of dog owners with regards to pit bulls.
Pit bulls, as outlined in the article, were first bred for killing and hunting and due to their (aggressive) nature, should be banned from residential areas. Since it is impossible to force dog owners to be responsible, banning the dogs is the only option. A very prudent decision.
Subsequently, of the same token, we should also ban automobiles because, as we all know, automobile accidents do happen. Since it is impossible to tell people that they shouldn’t happen, it is therefore the fault of the automobile.
Next on the chopping block should be all adults, since they cannot be held responsible for acts of child abuse and murder they commit, as recently seen in the news.
Where does it end? When will this landslide of “not me” and “bad dog” finally come to rest? When will people finally assume responsibility for their actions, as well as for the training and care of their children, as well as pets?
Obviously, you’ve never owned a pit bull. Our pit bull would run to the door and greet every visitor with a shoe. He gave you a shoe, whether you wanted one or not. The most danger he’d put you in would be from the wagging of his tail, proud of his accomplishment.
He weighed 60 pounds and still considered himself to be a lap dog. He would sit, watching and waiting patiently, for you to say okay so he could jump on the couch and cuddle with you. He would then inch his way up between you and the back of the couch, to snuggle right in, slowly stretching out. Eventually, he had 90 per cent of the couch and you had a sliver of the edge.
But, of course, he knew how to behave around humans, but how was he with other animals? Our black Labrador Retriever didn’t seem to mind him snuggling one bit. On walks, the 6-year old pit bull would wait patiently for the older lab to catch up, then he would run ahead, only to wait again. The only problem we ran into was that my bed wasn’t big enough for all three of us.
What do I think about pit bulls? What I wouldn’t give to have my dog back. He died of cancer four months ago and has left a huge hole in our hearts.
Any dog can be dangerous. It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure proper treatment and training. If they can’t do that then they should be the ones banned from having pets of any kind.
I support the ban on irresponsible pit bull owners, not the dogs. If you treat them right, love them and train them, they can be the most caring and lovable creatures in the world.
Spencer Johnston
Mississauga
THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS
1 commentIs your network fast?
Most networks now are 100 Mbps. Some of the higher ones are 1 Gbps, (10 times faster). Now with names like Dell and Apple including 1 Gbps network adapters in their laptops and desktops, even 1 Gbps is poised to become the new standard, but these guys want to increase that 10 fold.
To give you an idea of how fast that is, your typical high speed internet is only 1.5 Mbps. So ideally, you could download a DVD (4.7 Gigs) in 7h 12m on your 1.5Mbps “High Speed Internet” or the same file in 4 seconds at 10 Gbit, your computer can’t even wright that much information to your hard disk in that amount of time.
“An Intel Corp.-backed startup, SolarFlare Communications Inc., said Monday that it has developed a working prototype of a chip that will permit 10G-bps communications over standard CAT5e copper wiring.”
Possible New Mutt
Here is a picture of the puppy, that Staysea and I are inquiring about. It’s a 10 week old pit. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet, but we should know more tomorrow. Foxy has a new home as of this Saturday, which is great too. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.
Server Work
I spent a great deal of time, moving all of the existing SDF1 system to the new server this weekend. It was thanks to Ray’s kean eye, that it all finally got done as he found the error in the BIND config. Here’s a trick for you admins out there, I used fetchmail to migrate the mail from the old server to the new server. Easy to do when only 7 accounts have mail sitting in their account. It did work very well, especially with the change from Sendmail to Postfix. Never the less, it’s nice to have a faster server. Yes, I did say faster, it’s a smok’n 500 MHz P2, a nice change from the 200 MHz Pentium we had before. Of course, if there are any users out there who wanted to donate some money or newer hardware, I’d be happy to put that to good use too!
1 commentXBox Price drop
According to CNN, Microsoft is planning on dropping the price on their XBox console in April. Good news for me after mine died a sad and early death. Stupid flashing Christmas light of death!
4 comments