The Squid Zone

TML Free Zone

I've spent the weekend in St. Catharines, with my side of the family.  We have a big Hallowe'en party put on by my youngest brother - it's a truly excellent affair.

But what makes it really special, is that you'll never hear anyone droning on about the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Despite the geographic proximity to Toronto, everyone around here seems to be fans of the Montreal Canadians or Buffalo Sabres.

That makes the hockey conversation so different than it is in Ottawa.  You can open with a casual "The Leafs really suck this year." and someone will reply "Yep. Not just this year though... they sucked last year, and they'll probably suck next year." and that's the end of it.  None of the self-righteous bleating that you hear in Ottawa about how the Leafs are so uber, so much better than the Senators, so awesome but underrated, yadda yadda.

Anyway, I thought I'd share that.  I see the Leafs have finally gained a few points on the Winnipeg NHL team over the weekend.

Being Anti-Vaccination is being Pro-Death-By-Preventable-Disease

I wasn't going to write a post about this, but I've read another anti-vaccine sentiment posted to someone I know via Facebook, and it has pushed me over the edge.

Trashee wrote a good article about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine.  There's plenty of articles about the safety of other vaccines.

So I'm not going to go into that - follow those links and start your own research.  In this day of internet, it's not hard to find.  And when you do it, consider the source.  And consider this... which of the following scenarios makes more sense:

1. That a global conspiracy of doctors, pharmacists, and politicians has, for the last half-century and perhaps more, been foisting dangerous injections on the whole world for their own personal gain; and has for that entire time been able to conceal this truth perfectly despite involving literally millions of participants around the globe who must necessarily be aware of it directly; and that washed-up porn stars like Jenny McCarthy who discover this grand conspiracy can reveal it without being "disappeared" despite what are obviously unlimited resources required to pull off this conspiracy and an obvious lack of concern about killing and injuring people; OR
2. That the scientists and doctors are feeding the pharmacists and politicians accurate information and a handful of publicity-seeking, batshit-crazy people like Jenny McCarthy are spreading hysterical lies to call attention to themselves for their own personal gain.

You want to know what not getting vaccinations does?  Here you go: The Jenny McCarthy Body Count.

Vaccinations have WIPED OUT smallpox.  They've nearly wiped out polio.  They were close to wiping out measles, mumps, and rubella until the aforementioned crazy people started the anti-vax bollocks... now kids are dying from these three preventable diseases again.  The best the anti-vax crowd has been able to come up with is the fabricated Wakefield report, from which the other authors have asked to be removed.

I feel sad that the state of science education in this country is so poor that we are graduating people who are so easily swayed by some washed-up girly-mag bimbo, but will ignore the people who have made a life-long career out of research and study.  They question the experts, but swallow the ignorance of some attention seeker without a second thought.  It is truly pathetic. 

Enjoy.

Play "Hallowe'en Squid"

I was checking in over at Squid a Day as I often do and today they had a link to Max Games.  Max Games writes little flash games for the internet, and the current game is Hallowe'en Squid!  Can you snare all the candy while avoiding the children?

Visit Max Games for your internet time-wasting needs :)

Please stick your Yahoo! toolbar up your anal orifice.

Years ago I had a friend who was a bit of a womanizer.  Since he got more, umm, female company than anyone else I knew, I tended to listen to him when he offered advice about women.  Most of the advice was decidedly misogynistic, although it all appeared to be accurate... or at least it worked for him.  Odds are, if you're male, you knew someone like this, too.  Or maybe you were the guy...

One of his bits of advice was this:  Every time your girlfriend starts an argument about a bit of trivia, like leaving the seat up, or forgetting what shoes she was wearing on the day you met her, move the wedding date 6 months into the future.  If the date ever exceeds age 65, dump her.

Crass though it may be, it's probably good advice, and it applies in other areas too.  One place I apply it is to software.  Every time some piece of software wants to change my search engine or requests some kind of distasteful access to my computer that has nothing obvious to do with the intended use of the software, I move the uninstall date 6 months back in time (that is, from June to December of the previous year).  If the uninstall date ever gets to "now" or before, I dump that software and get something else. And I don't start from age 65 here... I start from about 2 years out.

Similarly, the search engine in question gets its use-date moved off into the future by a like amount.

So at the moment, I won't be touching Yahoo! search until the year 2080, give or take.  AVG anti-virus is probably about to be uninstalled in favour of a competing product when my current licence runs out. Since there was recently a Java update and an AVG update, that was an extra year added on to Yahoo! just like that.

I am so utterly, completely, fantastically sick of software trying to change my search engine, and of Yahoo! ramming their god-damned toolbars down my throat in every software install, even "herbal Viagra" spam seems pleasant by comparison.  At least America On-line sent out a disk or CD you could use as a coaster. 

There is only one reason software packages want to change your search engine: it's a tied sales thing where the software company is being paid by (usually Yahoo! it seems) to sucker you in so that the search company can sell more advertising by getting more hits, and grow their use database by adding your data to it.  By any measure, it's wholly malicious in my opinion, doubly so when such a request comes in anti-malware software.

The real piss-off about it is that if you miss a checkbox during a software install you get what amounts to a spy-ware toolbar and get Yahoo! as your default search engine.  Depending on the software in question, it may be difficult to get out of that - miss the check-box on AVG Anti-Virus and Yahoo! will be locked as your search engine and you will have to go to a bit of finangling to get it out of there.

Here's a message for Yahoo! that I want to be crystal clear so it pops up in every search engine: I don't want your toolbar, and every time I get asked to install it, I get more and more angry at Yahooo!  Please follow the subject line of this blog post.

And for Sun, and AVG, and everyone else who is trying to get me suckered in to making Yahoo! my default search engine, cease and desist right now.

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! (part N)

Thanks to Kay Webster for this awesome birthday gift... The Cthulhuclava!

A lot of knitting work went into it... it's a bizarre pattern to be sure.  Thanks Kay!

A message for Steven Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada

Today I received this in the mail:

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It's nothing really unusual, I get them on a regular basis because I have been a financial supporter of the Conservative Party for many years.  If you look in the yellow circle, there is a suggested amount that is in line with what my donations have been like in the past.  It's fair to say that, while I am not the contributor with the deepest pockets, I contribute more than many members do.

But with the Conservatives bringing forward the abominable legislation comprising bills C-46 and C-47, I am taking a new direction:

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You see, I don't want a dime of my money going to anyone who would support the kind of police-state legislation that those bills bring to this country.  I've written about C-47 before, and I want to reiterate my position:  warrantless access to internet subscriber information and to internet wiretapping is wholly unnecessary in a free and democratic society, just as such information and wiretapping is not freely given for telephones.  The legislation is a slap in the face of all Canadians and to democracy in general, it places an unnecessary burden on service providers, and is wide open to abuse.  I mean, sure, we know the police never abuse their authority, but still, do they really need this kind of power ADDED? As a citizen, I'm shocked.  As a security professional, I'm disgusted.

And if it's not clear why this is so bad, then think of it this way.  Your postal mail has about the same general level of privacy as your internet traffic.  So imagine the government proposes legislation that permits them, without warrant, to require Canada Post, Federal Express, UPS, DHL, and so forth to provide customer information whenever someone claiming to be a peace officer asks for it.  Furthermore, they require those companies to install the equipment and procedures to allow them to intercept your mail and packages at a moments notice when requested, without a warrant.  Further still, they retain the right to OPEN and READ all the packages and mail, without warrant, just because they want to.  Unacceptable?  I should think so.  There's a reason we have a process that involves warrants and the police explaining themselves to a judge.

So, as long as the Conservatives continue to support such initiatives, I will be putting my money where my mouth is... or more correctly keeping my money where my wallet is.  The Conservative Party doesn't get a dime.  Perhaps, at some point in the future, when the Conservatives want to start respecting the people who elect them, I'll be inclined to help them out.  Until that day, they'll be down my financial support.

It made my day!

On Saturday, 4 April, I was working the amateur radio station at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.  As is usual, the International Space Station passed overhead and because I knew there was a tourist up there (Dr. Charles Simonyi) who was also a radio amateur, I thought I'd give a call and see if he was answering.

He did call, and I got to say hello.  I also put him on speakers and he greeted the museum visitors.

Well, today I got the confirmation cards for that contact:

It is very cool to be able to talk to people in space.  And it's worth noting that it's not a black art... anyone can do it.  It requires an amateur radio licence (pass a basic exam on electronics and regulations with a mark of 70% or better and pay a $60, one-time fee... no morse code has been required for many years), and about $200ish of equipment.  You don't even need a program to track the space station or other satellite as you can look up the positions on the web on such sites as Heavens Above.

The astronauts on the space station have been very supportive of ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station).  It's ARISS that sets up the contacts between students/youth groups and the space station such as the one that took place out in the west end recently.

If you're interested in taking up amateur radio, feel free to contact me or explore the Radio Amateurs of Canada site, or the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club site.

If you're in Ottawa, and maybe want to try a satellite contact or maybe even get a lucky chance to contact the space station, drop by the Canada Science and Technology Museum's amateur radio exhibit!