Geist: Ottawa pulls its own Internet hoax

Interesting Torstar article by Michael Geist “Ottawa pulls its own Internet hoax“,

While the sites were obviously an embarrassment, there were several avenues to address the issue. Officials could have filed a complaint with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the dot-ca domain (both sites used dot-ca addresses). Alternatively, they could have turned to the courts for an order to either shut down the sites or suspend the domain name registrations. Instead, the phishing claim effectively substituted one hoax for another and, in the process, undermined the trust in a global system designed to guard against identity theft.

Grow-Op Cover Up: CBC Marketplace with Mike Holmes – Can your home inspector be trusted? (Please share your Calgary home inspection horror story)

In the season premiere of CBC Marketplace Grow-Op Cover Up (this episode with Mike Holmes) last Friday, the host Erica Johnson asked the question, “Can you trust home inspector?” The conclusion from the show’s research is sadly an emphatic NO !!!

You see, Marketplace invited Mike Holmes to inspect a house where he was able to find many obvious telltale signs the house was a former grow-op. And these obvious signs were missed by a home inspector the home owner hired before making their home purchase decision. And when this same house was shown to four randomly chosen house inspectors after Mike identified the problems, the shocking findings were ALL four of these “house inspectors” missed all the obvious signs.

In the show (you can watch the full episode online), you can see footage of police busting a grow-op and you will realize how easy you can pick up these telltale signs of a house was a grow-op that you wonder why the four randomly chosen home inspectors were so incompetent.

If you’ve hired a home inspector in Calgary and have some horror home inspection stories (either they found major problems and saved you from buying a bad house or they missed major problems and you are stuck with the problems), please share your horror home inspection stories so other Calgarians can learn something from your experiences.

Three hours of extras – glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts

At the 2008 CIFF, I had a ton of fun and learned a lot from watching the beautifully made documentary glass: a Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. Highly recommended. Now, I’ve got the glass DVD from the library and I’m watching the three hours of extras on the disc with great interests (a few extended interviews with Philip and some performances).

If you haven’t seen the film yet, here is trailer of the film on YouTube. See also the tailer in HD at Apple.com.

Here is the director Scott Hicks being interviewed at 2007 TIFF.

Watch some outtakes from the film.

Google Nexus One BoM cost $174.15 (Build of Materials cost estimated by iSuppli)

Check out this iSuppli’s Build of Materials estimate of the Google Nexus One.

[HT Techmeme]

China’s creeping censorship

UK Guardian has an interesting article by Alice Xin Liu, “China’s creeping censorship – The steadily growing list of banned websites makes it impossible to predict, let alone stop, your favourite sites being blocked“. The last paragraph especially caught my eye,

“The Guardian has been translated into Chinese by a translation group called Yeeyan. Their website, Yeeyan.com, has been down since the beginning of December, but the founders have said that republishing would begin this week, with a closer watch on their material. The demise of a translation community, and the now unclear status of its return, is yet one more indicator that as there is no stopping, and little way of telling, what will happen next.”

P.S. Translation (good Chinese and English translation) is a topic close to my heart, so it is nice to see a group of dedicated volunteering translators in China working hard to make “influential English-language media accessible to a Chinese-speaking audience”.

Everybody loves Canada (Canada’s euro bond sale finds big demand)

Boyd Erman at G&M noted in “Canada’s euro bond sale finds big demand” (emphasis added),

Everybody loves Canada.

That’s the conclusion after the government raised €2-billion in a sale this week [...]

The federal goverment is paying 6 basis points less to borrow than similar bonds issued by the French, and 4 basis points below the rate on the Dutch benchmark. (A basis point is 1/100 of a percentage point.)

Scotiabank: Canada’s biggest publisher

Andy Willis at G&M has this interesting observation (emphasis added),

Call them the accidental publishers: Bank of Nova Scotia is now the largest owner of newspapers in Canada, and seems likely to hold that unintended role for some time.

Lenders took control of CanWest L.P. on Friday, a long-expected move at the debt-heavy chain, as the company filed for protection from creditors. [...]

Scotiabank and the rest of CanWest LP’s lenders, and executives at the newspaper chain, see keeping the papers together as the best way to maximize value for the company.

The most likely future for CanWest LP is as an independent, pure-play newspaper company, with lenders cashing in by staging an initial public offering the moment the market seems receptive.

P.S. Ah, it financially sucks to run newspapers in their traditional forms these days. Now, running them as an online news source plus mini video TV stations may be an interesting play.

The old joke of people can’t tell if you are a dog or a human online applies to newspaper. Online, people can’t tell if you are a TV news website or a newspaper website as both can play videos and report on information live!

Boy or Girl? – Rebel Rebel, Norman Rockwell?

What do you think? Boy or Girl?

From Rebel Rebel, Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell (yes, Norman Rockwell) had many readers “in a whirl” after his cover illustration for the August 24, 1940 issue ofThe Saturday Evening Post was published. The oil on canvas painting (later titled Home From Camp) featured a young child in proper dress sitting amidst a collection of rough and worn outdoors items, including an old trunk, axe, backpack, flowers, and even live snake and turtle. However, this assortment of lively souvenirs is not what got most readers talking… it was whether the child pictured on the cover was a “he” or a “she!”

The 26 Steps: People Power Rises in Hong Kong (and lessons for Canadians re prorogation of Parliament)

I’ve read and am reflecting on my friend Daisann’s insightful report, “The 26 Steps: People Power Rises in Hong Kong“. Although the issues are widely different, I think there are lessons and strategies applicable to Canadians’ anit-prorogation rally across Canada and in Calgary.

Here is a brief excerpt from “The 26 Steps“,

“These students marched around and around the Legislative Council building for hours. It was the most moving part of this multi-dimensional demonstration. Slowly and deliberately, like monks in Vipassana meditation, they made their way forward to the beat of a loud drum. Every 26 steps they halted in unison, and fell prostrate to the ground in silence.

Why 26 steps? Because the 67 billion dollar railway link to China’s high-speed railway network that the Hong Kong government wants to, um, railroad through the legislature would extend exactly 26 kilometers. That’s 2.57 billion taxpayer dollars per kilometer. At a time when the wealth gap between rich and poor in Hong Kong is one of the greatest in the world, the government wants to build a project that would cost the equivalent of taking 10,000 from the pockets of each Hong Kong citizen.”

[...] And they know this: when democracy fails [...] you have to take matters into your own hands.

P.S. It is ironical that even the farcically elected chief executive of Hong Kong dare NOT to shutdown the legislature (nor such power exist for him to do so).

It is funny in Canada, our Prime Minister is such a chess master that he felt he could simply outmaneuver Canadians (twice), shutdown democracy, and we won’t care nor do anything to challenge him. For the sake of Canada, I hope Prime Minister Harper is wrong.

Mathew Ingram leaves G&M to join GigaOM

Om Malik and Mathew Ingram talks about the decision.

I think this is a great lost for G&M and wonderful gain for GigaOM. I guess I can now link to Mathew’s stuff without worrying if it will be hidden behind G&M’s paid wall a few days later.

Connect with Mark Kelley – Check out the online videos and the show

The new CBC show Connect with Mark Kelley has some cool stories. Check out the following video segments that I quite like. And you can follow the show on Twitter.

1. Facebook democracy – There are almost 100,000 “Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament” on Facebook. But what does that mean, anything? (great insight from Rahaf Harfoush)
2. Connie’s On It: School cops – Cops in schools. Is a Toronto program that puts police in high schools working? Reporter Connie Walker goes back to school to find out.
3. The Fix: Multicultural food bank – What is this Beefaroni, where are the plantains? A food banks struggles to find the right cultural dishes for newcomers to Canada.
4. On A Mission: Paying for law school – Former child prostitute Wendy Babcock is trying to raise money to pay for law school. Sounds like a reality show? Well a production company is thinking the same thing.

I think Mark Kelley is an engaging host and reporter so I am writing this article in response to this rather negative entry/repost about the show at inside the cbc which originated from here.

Badge of Pride asks: Will the force be with you if you’re a gay or LGBT cop? (CBC News Network Wed Jan 13)

Min Sook Lee, Gemini award winning and documentary filmmaker of My Toxic Baby, has made Badge of Pride, a documentary about gay cops in Canada. You can watch it next week on CBC News Network. The following are some information and a YouTube Trailer.

Badge of Pride airs on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network, ‘The Passionate Eye’

Twenty-five years ago, Toronto’s gay pride parade was a protest march, held to speak out against police raids against gay bathhouses. In 2005, the city’s Police Chief, Bill Blair marched alongside the muscle boys, the leather daddies, the drag queens and the dykes on bikes. It was a first for Toronto. We’ve come a long way. Or have we? Badge of Pride is a documentary that looks at the lives of gay cops in Canada; cops who are out, cops who are closeted and cops who are somewhere in between the closet and the cruiser.

Badge of Pride looks at the conflicts and challenges facing LGBT cops in Canada. Coming out as a gay cop has its price. Badge of Pride asks: “Will the force be with you if you’re gay?”

Calgarians/Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (Economist: Harper goes prorogue & Canada without Parliament – Halted in mid-debate)

Here is a photo my hand-delivered letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office. I’ve included the text here for the record.

Jan 7, 2010

Dear Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

I am deeply saddened as a Canadian, as a Calgarian, and as someone living in your riding for years to see you’ve chosen to suspend democracy and Parliament (prorogue Parliament).

As a trained economist and as Prime Minister of Canada, I trust you are a reader of the internationally respected and independent “The Economist“. Let me quote from its Jan 7th article “Canada without Parliament – Halted in mid-debate” (emphasis added),

“THE timing said everything. Stephen Harper, the prime minister, chose December 30th, the day five Canadians were killed in Afghanistan and when the public and the media were further distracted by the announcement of the country’s all-important Olympic ice-hockey team, to let his spokesman reveal that Parliament would remain closed until March 3rd, instead of returning as usual, after its Christmas break, in the last week of January.”

I have highlighted various parts of The Economist article and attached to this letter with added notes for your reading pleasure.

As a Calgarian and Canadian, I see it as my duty and responsibility to rally on 23rd January, 2010 alongside my fellow Canadians from sea to sea to protest your action to prorogue the Parliament.

Allow me to quote “The  Economist” once more,

“The danger in allowing the prime minister to end discussion any time he chooses is that it makes Parliament accountable to him rather than the other way around. […]

Whether Mr Harper gets away with his innovative use of prime ministerial powers depends largely on whether the protest spreads and can be sustained until Parliament reconvenes in March. Mr Harper is doubtless counting on the Winter Olympics to reinforce Canadians’ familiar political complacency. But he has given the opposition, which is divided and fumbling, an opportunity. It is now up to it to show that Canada cannot afford a part-time Parliament that sits only at the prime minister’s pleasure.“

For the sake of democracy and our shared love of Canada, I hope Canadians will rise up to protest and to rally until you realize you were wrong.

Mr. Prime Minister, you’ve exercised your power, at all cost, to shutdown the Parliament. It leaves me no choice but to protest and rally along my fellow Canadians on 23rd January, 2010 and take necessary and sustaining peaceful actions until our democracy is restored.

Yours truly,

Kempton Lam

Calgary, SW

P.S. I hope you will forgive me in not able to spend more time in writing a more forceful and better-crafted letter as I do have others things to attend to.

[rewrite -- P.S. I hope you will forgive me in not able to spend more time in writing a more forceful and better-crafted letter as I do have to work, unlike you and your privileged colleagues can prorogue your work.]

P.P.S. I’ve also enclosed a highlighted copy of The Economist’s “Harper goes prorogue – Parliamentary scrutiny may be tedious, but democracies cannot afford to dispense with it” for your reading pleasure.

***

Jan 24th Update (not part of my letter):

I enclosed the “Harper goes prorogue” article and highlighted it. Including this section,

“CANADIAN ministers, it seems, are a bunch of Gerald Fords. Like the American president, who could not walk and chew gum at the same time, they cannot, apparently, cope with Parliament’s deliberations while dealing with the country’s economic troubles and the challenge of hosting the Winter Olympic games. This was the argument put forward by the spokesman for Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister, after his boss on December 30th abruptly suspended, or “prorogued”, Canada’s Parliament until March 3rd.”

Jan 9th Update (not part of my letter):

Concerned Canadians: Please join the anti-prorogation Facebook group.

Calgary rally: Please also join Calgarians Against Proroguing Parliament where Calgarians are organizing a rally on Jan 23rd, 2010 together with Canadians from across the country.

Links to rallies in other Canadian cities: See this Facebook event

Lucas Martell interview (“Pigeon: Impossible” Writer/Director/Producer/Animator)

The following is an interview with the really cool Lucas Martell, Writer/Director/Producer/Animator of ”Pigeon: Impossible” (viewed 2.8 million times so far since Nov 2009)”. Lucas and I chatted about many things including how the story got fine tuned and tweaked over the four years he made the film. And Lucas’ experience in making “Pigeon: Impossible”, which amazingly is his first CG (computer graphics) animation short. Lucas also created a blog and podcast (also viewable from Lucas’ Youtube channel) to share his experiences in making CG animation using home PCs.

Note: the video for “Pigeon: Impossible” is included at the end of this article.

Here is the film once again. Enjoy.

Google Nexus One Teardown

iFixit has a good Google Nexus One Teardown with beautiful pictures. Enjoy.

[HT mashable]

Ten years as top judge and she’s still losing sleep

A very good article. For the record.

***

Ten years as top judge and she’s still losing sleep

Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, talks with The Globe and Mail about her work so far, the toll it takes on her conscience and the makeup of Canada’s highest bench
Kirk Makin Justice Reporter
Jan 7, 2010, Globe and Mail

After presiding over thousands of cases in a 29-year career on the bench, Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has witnessed enough conflict and human suffering to leave the average judge inured.

However, in a rare interview marking her tenth anniversary as the country’s top judge, Chief Justice McLachlin confessed that she still lies awake at night worrying about the impact of her judgments on those caught up in the machinery of justice.

“They are all really, really important issues at this level,” the 66-year-old judge said. “One does ponder them, and go back and forth agonizing about them. I must say, it is a preoccupying thing.”

A tough and efficient administrator known for choosing her words carefully, Chief Justice McLachlin said most of the significant Charter of Rights battles have already been fought, many before she became chief justice, leaving the court to deal mainly with subtle interpretations.

Fred the dog back with late owner’s family

A loving & touching story, “Fred the dog back with late owner’s family (CBC video)“.

WIND Mobile & Nexus One

WIND Mobile’s Chris Robins has confirmed,

1. “Yep, [Nexus One] works on AWS”, and
2. WIND is “chatting with them”, and
3. very importantly (to me), WIND recognizes “Wow! Lots of interest in the Nexus”

TVO Search Engine on “Responsible Communications” Supreme Court case

TVO Search Engine has an insightful podcast (mp3) on the “Responsible Communications” Supreme Court case,

“The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent libel ruling isn’t just a victory for journalists – it unshackles every voice on the Internet, and reminds us that in the eyes of the law, journalists don’t actually exist.”

Brett Wilson – Great Entrepreneur Mastermind Group Talk

Watch the following highly recommended personal and insightful 6 parts Entrepreneur Mastermind Group Talk with Brett Wilson. Brett is a truly a great guy as you can tell from the honest (and sometimes possibly embarassing) experiences that he shares in the video.

By the way, you can also watch my previous interview with him here, here, and here.