Recently in Non-Tech News Category

Time Magazine and Time for Kids Magazine have released their respective people of the year. Time for Kids named JK Rowling, author of the harry Potter books and the wealthiest woman in Britain, credited with bringing kids back to books and showing them that kids can affect the world, was named Person of the Year for Time for Kids. Bill and Melinda Gates, as well as Bono, were named Time Magazines Persons of the year for their charitable and humanitarian efforts, and also named former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton as "Partners of the Year" for their humanitarian efforts after the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and the unlikely friendship that developed from that work. Congratulations to all the winners.

So, the world, and especially CNN, are abuzz with news that Saddam Hussein has been captured, is alive, and will stand trial for his crimes. This is the man who was declared a tyrant, a man who when found was in a virtual prison in a hole already, haggard and dirty. He had a limo at his disposal and several thousand in American currency on hand, but there is no doubt he was a man who was still running, still in exile. The news channels are of course discussing how this will impact George Bush, and his opponents in the upcoming Presidential election are falling all over themselves to declare what a great day this is, but only one so far has said the truth, that the war was unnecessary, useless, and that while it removed Hussein, he was not an imminent threat to the US. That person is General Clark.

The news papers this week in my great(if underfunded and technophobic) nation all this past week were talking about when our despised and hated Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, will be stepping down. His departure, you see, has not been swift, nor simple. Back at Gnomedex 2 in 2002, it was the cover of the Canadian papers the day I left for Des Moines. Sadly, he also said he wouldn't leave for 18 months. The clock was set then, and now the final date is known. Set your clocks for January 12th as a great day for the Canadian people. Paul Martin, the former finance minister who Chretien booted from his position back nearly 2 years ago now, will be the new PM, at least until an election can be held, and our country might just right itself before sinking into the waters forever.

No, he did not advise that Bush drop a Patriot missile, though by now the current US president has to be wondering why he shouldn't just gather all his critics in a box and do just that. Former US Vice President Al Gore, who had early on decided not to run for President in 2004, has advised the man who now holds the seat of power that he needs to rescind the Patriot Act. Wired quotes "They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government -- toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book 1984 -- than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Now to be fair Gore only echo's what a lot of people, including myself, have been saying for a long time now, but it is good to see such a public figure come out against the law that begins the end.

I notice that the US president spoke to the UN yesterday. I read that he spoke of rebuilding Iraq. I recall the past time he was there, or the last time I recall him being there, it was int he lead up to the armed, unlawful invasion of Iraq. In the days after the war, the Us was proud of it's invasion, of it's defeat of the Iraqi people, and they were unwilling to allow other nations in to help with the rebuilding. It seems odd that now, after vandalism, guerrilla war, and sabotage have made the rebuilding of Iraq unprofitable for the US and it's corporations, the US is now asking for help. I say the US, UK, and Spain, as well as other smaller coalition members bombed the shit out of Iraq, the US should be responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq, and screw Bush if they lose money.

The updates as of now seem to be that the power is slowly returning to the affected areas, but Mike Bloomberg has not yet apologized for speaking for the entire US power industry and accusing Canada of being the problem, even though all the experts were speaking of the ageing electrical grid and how it has needed to be replaced for a long time. Of course, the two major US parties have different views of who is the problem, and how to solve it. One side says to pass the grid upgrade bill as is, and forget petty politics that caused it to be killed, and the other side says that the problem is the other sides unwillingness to remove the Arctic drilling portion that caused it to be killed in the beginning. In the end, I am against drilling in the Arctic, and for upgrading the power system, and for anyone who agrees with both of these objectives.

I was ecstatic just now to hear those who have been saying the huge power outage in the North East began in Canada now saying that it was not. I found it ironic that the Mayor of New York and other affected people thought it was ok to blame Canada automatically, while the experts where smart enough to say that they could not, and would not, assign blame until it was certain who should get it. I therefore smiled when I read this morning that they suspect it was a problem in Ohio, not Ontario(though I can see where the pro's made the mistake yesterday) as Bloomberg originally though. Sadly, I see that Ontario may take until Sunday to get all of their power back on, which is a very long time to be in the dark, and without a computer. Hopefully they're wrong again.

Have you heard? If you are in Toronto(except for Matt who is on generator), Ottawa, New York, Cleveland, or Detroit, as well as any of the other smaller cities that are highly affected, you might not read this for a few hours. Everyone else though, can pop open their browsers and read this at will. Welcome. Anyways, while I am at work, and reading this to a friend so they can post this to the site, I have heard in the last few hours many things. We heard at work about an hour after the outage began that it was not terrorism related and that they didn't know what the cause was. I am not surprised to hear that since then they have had to come out publicly and say that it was also not caused by the Blaster worm. Good to know. Now, what was it?[Update: News here and here]

I was wrong. Not totally, but I choose the wrong battle. I posted repeatedly as to how badly Mike Hawash, former Intel employee, was being treated by the government, and how he was surely innocent. Well, I was shocked today to read the stories touting his guilty plea on charges of participating in a plan to provide help to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. "In the plea agreement, Hawash admitted to travelling with the men to China with the intention of crossing into Pakistan and making their way to Afghanistan. Hawash and one of his companions, Habis Al Saoub, went to the Pakistani Embassy to obtain visas but were turned down." and from The Register "He was charged on three counts: one of "conspiring to levy war against the United States", one of "conspiracy to provide material support and resources to Al-Qaida" and a third of "conspiracy to contribute services to Al-Qaida and the Taliban". Hawash pleaded guilty only to the third charge."

Not tech, and not local, so this goes elsewhere. I want to take a second to wish all of my American readers a happy and great 4th of July. I will be sitting here, trying to catch up on nearly a dozen unfinished posts, and trying to get some cleaning done, as I have a mid week couple days off due to the lack of calls we take on these US-but-not-Canadian holiday's(Thanksgiving is another), but I am taking a vacation day for today due to the fact I cannot afford a day off. As for you all, enjoy your fireworks, you all with camera's take a lot of pics for me and get a Fotolog so I can see em, and I will see you all Saturday here for more postings. Friday will be light likely with little or no news, and only personal stuff. Take care!

It has long been joked about, but the Chinese affinity for the feline species of animal may be the cause of their greatest affliction, causing more than 700 deaths worldwide, if one hong kong scientist is correct. Wired reported this week that Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, head of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, feels it is likely that the disease migrated to humans through the Civet cat, a delicacy in southern China. "From genetic information, it is highly likely that the virus jumped from civet cats to humans," Yuen told reporters, releasing the results of a month-long investigation by Hong Kong and Chinese scientists who tracked the source of the virus. I guess this disproves the theory about it coming from space dust.

It was also reported by Wired as well that one of the CDC researchers that are looking into the disease in Taiwan has come down with symptoms of the disease and is being flown back to Atlanta. The only other investigator to come down with SARS was Dr. Carlo Urbani who dies of it in the early part of it's known history. CDC director Julie Gerberding refused to name the doctor who is ill and listed as probable due to an X-Ray eliminating the possibility of the symptoms being from Pneumonia. The doctor and those who have been exposed to him by caring for him should be in Atlanta by Air Ambulance tomorrow sometime.

With great sadness it was reported yesterday by Wired of all places that Canada has had it's first case of Mad Cow disease in a decade. The case is that of an 8 year old cow on a farm in Alberta, who was slaughtered because it was thought to have pneumonia, with later testing finding it had Mad Cow. The disease is well know for it's wild spread throughout Britain a few years back causing a large portion of that countries livestock to be slaughtered and burned in one of the most controversial act of the Blair government to date. "Authorities will trace the origin of the cow and how and where it was as part of an investigation into any possible spread of the disease, Canadian Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief said. They have also quarantined the farm and will "depopulate" the herd that the new case is from, along with any other herds that come into question. Alberta is Canada's main cattle province, with almost 40 percent of the industry. Last year, Canada exported 1.7 million heads of live cattle and 373,000 tons of beef product with a total value of $2.5 billion to the United States."

Mike Hawash, the former Intel coder who has been held by the federal government for unknown and unsaid reasons and without a hearing or a lawyer since March 20th, has finally been told the reason he is being held, and his friends and family call it total bullshit. "Maher Mofeid Hawash, 39, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to levy war against the United States, conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiracy to contribute services to al Qaeda and the Taliban." These are the same charges as were brought against 6 others from Portland. Law enforcement

In a story surprisingly not from The Register, Wired reported today that Privacy International "announced Monday its 2003 U.K. Big Brother Awards, which the group presents annually to 'the most persistent and egregious privacy invaders in Britain.' Prime Minister Tony Blair came away with the top prize, winning the 'Lifetime Menace' award for what the group characterized as 'his active involvement in the government's attack on civil liberties.'" I think George Bush will easily walk away with the US version of these awards.

According to this Wired article, NASA is turning to highly sensitive recordings to try to discern what happened to the Space Shuttle Columbia. According to the article, "As parts of Columbia began to break off as the shuttle streaked across the West, the flight behaviour of the normally streamlined spacecraft would have changed. Those changes would have generated distinctly different patterns of sound waves compared to previous shuttle flights." This sounds like a good lead in finding out what happened to that space craft, and those seven astronauts.

Ok, so the debate is on going, and the so called phase 2 has 5 questions for each participant, depending on the side they take. I, of course, will do the anti war side of things. I have listed the questions below, for those without the time or energy to go read them, and my answers can be found in the bold text after them. I find all of these questions quite rigorous, and requiring a great deal of thought before answering, so thank you to whoever wrote them up. I also want to qualify, being Canadian, that when I say The US, I mean it's leadership, as I am confident that a good percentage of it's people disagree with the war.

Ok, the MORE link below is to an email, though lengthy, that was sent to me by a co worker. I asked to republish it here because it makes some great points. When you think of it in far more personal terms, the war makes less and less sense. As well, right after I post this I will contribute to the Cross Blog Iraq Debate, by answering the anti war questions.

Today I am proud to call myself a human being, capable of independent thought and disgust of such magnitudes that few have ever found the depths of it. George Bush has. Adolph Hitler, were he still alive, would. Osama bin Laden, he sure does. I am also proud to see that millons worldwide, including hundreds of thousands in my own country, have marched en masse to give a message to President Bush that the world is against his war, and I have to disagree Kevin, this war is for oil, not weapons, for the US knows where there are weapons, and fails to go after it, but a country that there is not one shred of real proof(IE an actual weapon, or something really provable without Top Secret and Classified stamped across it so that so few can actually see it.

I am told the march here went well, with several hundred, perhaps even thousands joining in the march that was an attempt to send word to Jean Chretien, the already outgoing PM, and our neighbor to south, oil man Bush, that we in Winnipeg, along with easily several million across the globe, do not wish for war. I doubt this will make an impact, for those calling into CNN Saturday just now claimed that those marching against the war are communists and terrorists. This sounds a lot like the degradation of the legal system akin only to the MCCarthy era accusations of communism and traitorous actions. 'If you're not with us, you must be against us', right? Well, then I am against you. I am against war for the price on a barrel of oil. Bush knows he is gone, he is just padding the pocket for when he is through. Good to see some bloggers agree.

Ok, say you are a major country, one known to agitate greatly other nations with masses of people, weapons, or both. Say, you get attacked, and lose 3,000 or so civilians. So you go after the nation that was supporting those who did it. All's fine, and of course you try your best to prevent this from happening. Now, say, the same person your dad fought with when he was the leader starts looking like a good target because your family will make a lot of money off the oil prices going up, and b) the world feels sorry for your country for all it lost, and is pretty willing to follow your lead. Now, say, another country, one your country fought a long time ago, announces it is starting up it's nuke program. This is something you have no true proof that the oil guy has, but you think he might.

You prepare for war, bring up battle plans and argue with the powers of the world to go to war against the oil guy under the guise of proactive defense, he might have weapons that might get into the hands of the terrorist's and might be used against your many people across the world. A vital part of your space program breaks up in the atmosphere, but yet your Secretary of State still goes in front of the UN the next day, dragging the media and the public away from their much needed mourning, and back to the war against the big bad oil guy. Then, that nation that reactivated their nuke program tells the world that they now have a weapon that has the ability to destroy the west coast of your nation, killing millions of people. So, who do you go to war against? If you're George Bush, you go to war with the guy with the oil, not the guy with the nukes.

... I will simply post some links. When something as complex and tragic as the Columbia accident occurs, the speculation and coverage are rampant, and this is no different. I find there is far too much info to sift through, so I will simply post links to stories all over the net.

Ebay shuts down Columbia auctions, NASA Discounted Damage to Tiles, Expansive Hunt for Shuttle Debris, NASA: Acute Heat Spike on Shuttle, Net appeal for shuttle evidence, and NASA site collects Columbia pictures.

So I hear, from my little hovel on Carlton St. the fireworks going on over at The Forks, the social gathering spot downtown here. They also had fireworks earlier, around 8, and it was interesting to try to see them from work, a bloc or so away. I decided, based on the sheer number of people I saw all night streaming into that area, to come home instead of go watch the show. I can hear it, which is good enough for me, and I am celebrating the new year by watching Sam Cook on Call For Help by netcam. So, in case I don't IM with you all sooner, have a good new year, enjoy time off if you get it, or the money you'll earn if you don't, and have a good year!

In a move that has to make you wonder what the real job was, two employees hired to route out thieves and other criminals in Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the Atom Bomb, were fired shortly after an investigation showed major theft. Their long investigation, which led to a lot of bad publicity for the lab, was very successful, and while the lab says the firing was not in retaliation, you have to wonder at this point because their recent release, that over 3 million dollars in equipment has been lost, seemed to have come right before their firing. It seems far too odd of timing, and has to lead to questions about whether they were about to come upon something far bigger.

I hate light. I also am hating today the fact I live and work downtown. You see, my brother's post to the geeks list has reminded me that the Leonid's meteor storm is tonight, much more active than the shower of a short while ago. Sadly, I am not lucky enough to know anyone on their way out of town who is interested in giving me a lift, and I would be lucky to see a few dozen of the meteors in downtown Winnipeg, where all of the lights are on and far too bright. I was surprised the other day to see the northern lights fairly well, but I can only imagine how those must have looked to those out by Cam Morton where I had my first major star and Aurora Borealis viewing experience. This is one of those times when I hate city life. *Sigh*

Well, the other day there was a vote on whether or not the selection of committee members in my nations capital occurred. The ruling party, the Liberals, and their leader, Jean (lame duck) Chretien, who all but those in line for favors want out of office already, and is leaving in over a year, wanted this voted down, but they did not make this a vote of (non)confidence, which is a good thing because renegade Liberal Paul Martin, who Chretien fired for speaking the truth a short time ago, and his many supporters made it a win for the official opposition and eliminating the now frequent habit of party leaders punishing those who speak out or vote against the party line. Finally, the government in this country did something right!

I am right now watching CNN, which has just confirmed what the Minnesota based CBS and NBC stations were reporting for several minutes, that incumbent senator Paul Wellstone along with his wife Sheila and daughter Marsha have died in a plane crash in northern Minnesota. My heart goes out to all of those in Minnesota, and hope that his opponent in the election will whole heartedly speak out on this subject. He was a grandfather, father, and beloved senator that was lost when his King Air B200 crashed outside Eveleth Minnesota about 2 hours ago. Wellstone was the highly favored candidate, who's opponent made a huge deal out of his vote against war with Iraq. To say this has changed the Minnesota race it to understate this, though how it has, we have no idea.

Wellstone's campaign manager Jeff Blodgett is on the two networks and is speaking about the fact they have no idea where the campaign will go from here, as it is unlikely that they can replace Wellstone effectively with only days until the election. Usually, I believe, the wife would be offered to finish for the candidate, but as his wife was also lost, it is clear that is not an option. Wellstone's sons have been notified of the loss, and they must be shattered to have lost so many of their family in one fell swoop. CNN just reported that Minnesota election law allows for a replacement to be chosen by the state party leader when there is a death of a candidate, though who it could be no one knows. Needless to say, this changes it all in the state to the southeast of me.