13 Dec 2003
Oh! Canada!

Oh! Canada!

Not sure what to think - this is either a great idea to solve an intractable problem, or a shot in the dark that missed the mark.

Time will tell - after the courts get through with it.

Canada deems P2P downloading legal. In the same ruling, Canadian copyright regulators also impose a $25 fee on iPod-like MP3 players and say uploading is prohibited. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

When Did We Give Away the Internet?

Every once in a while there's a real gem posted over a t CircleID. Below is one of them ....

When Did We Give Away the Internet?. I've been following the recent news on the World Summit on the Information Society, and it's getting really bizarre. The Wired article is one example of out of the out-of-this-world coverage on the World Summit; I heard a similar spin yesterday on a radio show that often shares material with the BBC. What king or dictator or bureaucrat has signed the document giving power over the Internet to one organization or another? Did I miss the ceremony? One laughable aspect of news reportage is... [CircleID]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Going to the People's Republic of Minnesota

Well, I'm gonna miss a couple of days posting: I'm off to Minnesota to return Premier's equipment and take care of some farm business (trying to kill two birds with one stone, as it were). I wish Kris was foing along, but Kevyn had an operation yesterday, and neither he nor his family is particularly anxious to come over and take care of the livestock. Just bad timing....

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Ten Years After

Well, our tenth wedding anniversary! Quite a milestone for me - this one is really for real, and really "til death do us part". Kinda comforting, that.

Had a great time visiting a spinning shop in Morgantown today. I think I learned more about wool in an hour talking with their buyer than I have in a year of raising sheep! The guy was really, really good.

But there were still disturbances afoot - our favorite restaurant in Indy, Shaffers, has closed down. It'd been there for nearly 30 years. It was a fondue place, and boy was it good. This is the first anniversary we've had that we've not eaten there (except for our years in MN).

So we went to Charleston's instead. Very passable prime rib, but the real feature is the salad, and the herbal vingarette dressing. Simply first rate.

The service was good, too. Our waitress was a bit older than the average you typically find in such places, and we struck up a conversation after dinner. She asked what I did for a living, and I explained my recent layoff as a developer, and our plans for the farm.

It turns out that she spent nearly ten years as a project manager and team leader with Lucent Technologies (formerly Bell Labs) before being laid off a year ago. Waitressing is all she can find... it's grim.

I got home to find an email waiting on me from a friend I'm planning on stopping by to visit on my way to MN tomorrow - I called him up to confirm our arrangements only to find myself talking to a very, very sad drunk. He was a fellow developer, mostly doing M$ database work if I recall correctly, and he was laid off today, without any warning whatsoever. Just in time for the Yuletide ...

I've got to try and stay focused and positive. Tis the season to be jolly, after all! But this year is gonna be tough - probably the toughest since we lost Harrison in '99.

Onward and upward.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link