Canadian High Court Says ISPs Don't Owe Royalties
Slashdot notes another Canadian court ruling against the recording industry. This lawsuit pitted the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) against the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). SOCAN was seeking to collect royalties from ISPs as their services are used to pirate copyrighted materials. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that ISPs are merely intermediaries and that they are not bound by copyright law. Here's a CBC backgrounder on downloading music in Canada. It is not great, but it is a good place to start.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Schneier: Unchecked police and military power is a security threat
Ponytailed lefty lunatic or darn clever academic and businessman?
Ponytailed lefty lunatic or darn clever academic and businessman?
Monday, June 28, 2004
Satan and your appliances
Following on to my post about Roman Catholic concerns about the lack of traditional values in modern social policy, I draw your attention to the work of Old Scratch in household technology.
Following on to my post about Roman Catholic concerns about the lack of traditional values in modern social policy, I draw your attention to the work of Old Scratch in household technology.
New Zealand cardinal slams liberalism
Cardinal Thomas Williams, Catholic Archbishop of New Zealand has published a missive in the New Zealand herald deriding social policy in New Zealand and, by implication, the rest of the modern world, for the placing of the comparatively young notions of individualism and cultural relativism ahead of traditional judeo-christian values and traditions.
Refreshingly, Williams does not advocate a state sanctioned return to the values of the Roman Catholic church as a solution to the problem, but rather advocates a civic minded mistrust of what he describes as the "barbaric" work of tearing down existing standards uncritically.
Quoting Shaw, Williams suggests that New Zealand, like Shaw's United Kingdom, may be passing directly from barbarianism to decadence without first pausing at the stage of civilization. This begs the question, from the value-free post modernist perspective, what is decadence? It is precisely this lack of common language that challenges the dialogue between traditions in our pluralistic society - in this sense, relativistic individualism is a tradition along side of Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism, Indonesian Islam, etc.
Cardinal Thomas Williams, Catholic Archbishop of New Zealand has published a missive in the New Zealand herald deriding social policy in New Zealand and, by implication, the rest of the modern world, for the placing of the comparatively young notions of individualism and cultural relativism ahead of traditional judeo-christian values and traditions.
Refreshingly, Williams does not advocate a state sanctioned return to the values of the Roman Catholic church as a solution to the problem, but rather advocates a civic minded mistrust of what he describes as the "barbaric" work of tearing down existing standards uncritically.
Quoting Shaw, Williams suggests that New Zealand, like Shaw's United Kingdom, may be passing directly from barbarianism to decadence without first pausing at the stage of civilization. This begs the question, from the value-free post modernist perspective, what is decadence? It is precisely this lack of common language that challenges the dialogue between traditions in our pluralistic society - in this sense, relativistic individualism is a tradition along side of Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism, Indonesian Islam, etc.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Battling the evil robots
Ethical questions raised by robotics? K5 user Work tells us that we must consider these now. Here's one alternative.
Ethical questions raised by robotics? K5 user Work tells us that we must consider these now. Here's one alternative.
Victory for the boomers!
Martina Navratilova, 47, humiliated 24 year old Catalina Castano in a first round singles match at Wimbledon. Castano was quoted as saying, "It was like playing my mom."
Martina Navratilova, 47, humiliated 24 year old Catalina Castano in a first round singles match at Wimbledon. Castano was quoted as saying, "It was like playing my mom."
Time to dump Internet Explorer
IE 6 is a security nightmare. Since I have to use it at least occasionally for work reasons, I have been fastidiously applying security patches as soon as they are released. Do to this policy, and probably due to my browsing habits, I am fortunate that I have never had an IE 6 related security incident - yet. 153 holes since April 18, 2001! This is not good software. After some time as a devoted Mozilla user, I have made the (minor) switch to Mozilla FireFox.
IE 6 is a security nightmare. Since I have to use it at least occasionally for work reasons, I have been fastidiously applying security patches as soon as they are released. Do to this policy, and probably due to my browsing habits, I am fortunate that I have never had an IE 6 related security incident - yet. 153 holes since April 18, 2001! This is not good software. After some time as a devoted Mozilla user, I have made the (minor) switch to Mozilla FireFox.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Stone Buddha wins on stone goban
Lee "Stone Buddha" Changho has performed well on a hectic play schedule - 5 international games in 9 days - with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss. This included taking the Taida Cup with its $20,000 USD purse.
Lee "Stone Buddha" Changho has performed well on a hectic play schedule - 5 international games in 9 days - with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss. This included taking the Taida Cup with its $20,000 USD purse.
Old Norse e-texts
There are times when a blogger tries to find that really obscure link to the discuss in order to stand out from the crowd. There are other times, when a blogger finds something really interesting when none of his or her readers care in the slightest. Get out your PDA and start downloading today's reading for the commute: a smorgasbord of Old Norse e-texts! For the fundamental background, consult the wikipedia.
There are times when a blogger tries to find that really obscure link to the discuss in order to stand out from the crowd. There are other times, when a blogger finds something really interesting when none of his or her readers care in the slightest. Get out your PDA and start downloading today's reading for the commute: a smorgasbord of Old Norse e-texts! For the fundamental background, consult the wikipedia.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Lee Changho's revenge
Lee Changho avenged his defeat at the hands of Yoda Norimoto a few days ago by defeating Yoda in the final game of the Taida Cup by 6.5 points. Game record at the link above (from go4go.net).
Lee Changho avenged his defeat at the hands of Yoda Norimoto a few days ago by defeating Yoda in the final game of the Taida Cup by 6.5 points. Game record at the link above (from go4go.net).
Saturday, June 12, 2004
The Fujitsu Cup is down to the final four
The 17th Fujitsu Cup, the highest paying international go/weichi/baduk tournament, is down to the final four. Japanese phenom Yoda Norimoto (9 dan) kept Korea from a clean sweep by defeating Lee Changho (9 dan), the most successful player in the world in recent years, by 3.5 points. Game records available (follow the link above).
The 17th Fujitsu Cup, the highest paying international go/weichi/baduk tournament, is down to the final four. Japanese phenom Yoda Norimoto (9 dan) kept Korea from a clean sweep by defeating Lee Changho (9 dan), the most successful player in the world in recent years, by 3.5 points. Game records available (follow the link above).
Friday, June 11, 2004
A nice dose of literary criticism
"Proust might be a mountain and his enthusiasts the bibliophilic equivalents of extreme adventure freaks; but at least they don't need oxygen bottles, picks and pulleys, thermal gear and a sherpa to help surmount him. It's impossible to really understand Ulysses without help.
Joyce seems to have intuited as much when he publicised his chapter notes so that readers could grasp the exact nature of the Homeric correspondence alluded to in the title (Ulysses is Latin for Odysseus). Ezra Pound thought they were so obvious that "any blockhead can trace them". I don't agree."
"Proust might be a mountain and his enthusiasts the bibliophilic equivalents of extreme adventure freaks; but at least they don't need oxygen bottles, picks and pulleys, thermal gear and a sherpa to help surmount him. It's impossible to really understand Ulysses without help.
Joyce seems to have intuited as much when he publicised his chapter notes so that readers could grasp the exact nature of the Homeric correspondence alluded to in the title (Ulysses is Latin for Odysseus). Ezra Pound thought they were so obvious that "any blockhead can trace them". I don't agree."
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Electronic health records for animals?
Initially, I was going to crack a joke about the privacy concerns of the zoo animals of the world. However, this is an interesting and ambitious project. Outcomes of this project include disease tracking, genetic tracking and a single source for animal pedigrees.
Initially, I was going to crack a joke about the privacy concerns of the zoo animals of the world. However, this is an interesting and ambitious project. Outcomes of this project include disease tracking, genetic tracking and a single source for animal pedigrees.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Who Is Maurice Strong?
Is this for real? Is this kind of idealized "power behind the [metaphorical global] throne" possible, and if so is he Canadian? While I am no position to evaluate the validity of the claims made in this article, it sounds suspiciously like some highschool kid bragging about his 20th level international bureaucrat in some conspiracy role playing game. In any case, I am reluctant to form a conclusion on the true nature of Maurice Strong based solely on a web page written by a guy who is the author of Eco-Scam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse and The True State of the Planet - There is potential for a certain bias that may have colored this portrait of Strong. Whatever the truth is, a fascinating biographical corpus as accumulated around Strong on the net. Here are a few to whet your appetite:
Is this for real? Is this kind of idealized "power behind the [metaphorical global] throne" possible, and if so is he Canadian? While I am no position to evaluate the validity of the claims made in this article, it sounds suspiciously like some highschool kid bragging about his 20th level international bureaucrat in some conspiracy role playing game. In any case, I am reluctant to form a conclusion on the true nature of Maurice Strong based solely on a web page written by a guy who is the author of Eco-Scam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse and The True State of the Planet - There is potential for a certain bias that may have colored this portrait of Strong. Whatever the truth is, a fascinating biographical corpus as accumulated around Strong on the net. Here are a few to whet your appetite:
- Strong's Government of Canada bio published along with his 1992 Skelton Lecture sponsored by the Canadian department of Foreign Affairs
- The survivalist perspective on Strong, including an exposée of his ties to a New Age religious conspiracy
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced a documentary on Strong - info here
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Aaaah! I'm blind!
A public service announcement: Looking at the Sun will damage your eye sight. Surprisingly, even the apparent speck of Venus on the Sun's face doesn't change this fact.
A public service announcement: Looking at the Sun will damage your eye sight. Surprisingly, even the apparent speck of Venus on the Sun's face doesn't change this fact.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Nostalgic for WWII crypto?
Feeling nostalgic? All fired up after reading Stephenson's Cryptonomicon? Get your fix of mid-20th century cryptology and computer science here! Then, read up on Schneier's Solitaire cipher. (Neal Stephenson has a really bad site here, if you must see it)
Feeling nostalgic? All fired up after reading Stephenson's Cryptonomicon? Get your fix of mid-20th century cryptology and computer science here! Then, read up on Schneier's Solitaire cipher. (Neal Stephenson has a really bad site here, if you must see it)
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About Me
- thrashor
- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Returned to working as a Management Consultant, specializing in risk, security, and regulatory compliance, with Fujitsu Canada after running the IT shop in the largest library in the South Pacific.
