Canada

One true time I hold to, MySQL will always go on

Jason Thibeault, ,

I just quoted Celine Dion. Oh my. On behalf of all of Canada, I apologize for her existence.

The prognosis is much less grim than it once might have been for MySQL, in the wake of Sun being bought out by rival database company Oracle. Monty Widenius, who is to MySQL what Linus Torvalds is to Linux, has founded the Open Database Alliance with a handful of MySQL-based companies, in a move that will insure against any Oracle underhandedness that might come up (though that is obviously not their stated goal).

These are the guys you’re going to look to for a fork of MySQL, if Oracle decides to squash it. And that is the beauty of open source software. No matter the intentions of a business toward a piece of software, that software will live on.

One true time I hold to, MySQL will always go on
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Is this really how to make money while quitting smoking?

Jason Thibeault, , , , 4 Comments

Over the past several months, a radio spot has been running pretty frequently about a website, My5K.ca, where you could sign up to get $5000 just for graduating from high school smoke-free. Between the cynic and the skeptic in me, a great battle raged, between whether a) this was possible to judge fairly, and b) whether this was even a good idea, trying to incentivize the mere act of being a non-smoker. Only recently did I start digging around to find out what this whole program is about.

It seems this program is Canada wide, as the registered charity that’s administering it, the R.E.W.A.R.D.S Foundation (acronym: Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn’t Smoke, I kid you not), operates out of British Columbia. The radio spot had left me with the impression that this was a government run initiative, and frankly, to offer a straight $5000 to anyone graduating smoke-free would be ludicrous on its face, especially if it was done Canada-wide, so I assumed it was local. It seems the ad left me with several false impressions, not the least of which being that all you had to do was graduate smoke-free.
Continue reading “Is this really how to make money while quitting smoking?” →

Is this really how to make money while quitting smoking?

And even by your numbers, we aren’t that bad!

Jason Thibeault2 Comments

Wow. When I wrote my screed about intellectual property last week, I had no idea that Canada is being unfairly targeted:

Canada comes in at 32%.  The remaining countries (no rates are listed for Algeria, Israel, or Venezuela):

Country BSA Claimed Piracy Rate
Argentina 75%
Chile 66%
India 66%
Indonesia 86%
Pakistan 85%
China 79%
Russia 70%
Thailand 76%

Not only is Canada not even remotely close to any other country on the list, it has the lowest software piracy rate of any of the 46 countries in the entire Special 301 Report.

And this is ignoring the fact that the claims made by the BSA are afterward subject to dispute — this is merely the raw percentage of claims! The article goes on to describe all the ways we prosecute people infringing on imaginary property. So not only are we paying a levy on every blank media sold (whether you’re a pirate or not!), we’re much less guilty of these “crimes” than these other countries that infringe with impunity. So, why is Canada being targeted? Could it have something to do with the festering trade dispute over lumber, and the various attempts to “secure” (read: close) the US-Canadian border over the years, ever since America went all paranoid-schizophrenic over 9/11?

And even by your numbers, we aren’t that bad!

I don’t believe in Imaginary Property (IP)

Jason Thibeault, 3 Comments

Canada’s been placed on the US’ copyright blacklist due to our ongoing resistance to implement new DMCA-alike laws to appease the RIAA / MPAA. The Obama administration is apparently upset that Harper keeps promising to enact new laws to protect an outmoded and archaic business model, yet not delivering. Join the club on that one — he ain’t exactly a paragon of virtue to us neither, Jack.

We signed the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Internet treaties in 1997, much to my chagrin. Presently, we already pay a ridiculously high levy on every piece of blank media (CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, regardless of what’s going on them, doesn’t matter), a tithe that goes directly to the CRIA, Canada’s answer to the RIAA. Now, at the very least as of my trip to Georgia last year, the States has declared they reserve the rights to search and sieze all counterfeit or copyright-infringing media without warrant at the border, including the contents of your laptop or iPod. I wasn’t searched, but if I had known this before my trip, I wouldn’t have brought my work laptop with me, for fear that it booting to Linux would make me an enemy of the state for not paying the Microsoft Tax, or a terrorism suspect for using a “hacker operating system”, or something else overreactionary and horrifying.

One way or another, the whole concept of copyright has to change, and soon, before these laws turn “piracy”, the act of copying some data without depriving the original user of their copy, from mere copyright infringement, into criminal activity.

I don’t believe in Imaginary Property (IP)

How long do I have to speak freely?

Jason Thibeault, , ,

Boy oh boy, I just can’t wait til it’s illegal to blaspheme here in Canada! Between the UN attempting to pass a measure pushed by Islamic countries to “combat blasphemy”, Ireland including blasphemy in a defamation law, and a seemingly dead Canadian law just waiting to be resurrected (perhaps three days from now?), it’s only a matter of time before some of the less rationally inclined reactivate that law and they come for me. I’ll be in stocks before you know it!

I wonder. What if I proclaimed my love for science as a religion, and any attempt to stifle scientific progress on the basis of other peoples’ false religions to be blasphemy? Would I then be protected?

I also wonder what’s gotten into me today. Suddenly I’m a blogging machine!

How long do I have to speak freely?

As though you didn’t have enough reason to hate Fox News

Jason Thibeault3 Comments

US: “Hey Canada, I know we got ourselves involved in a huge war in Afghanistan, and we appreciate your help these past three years, but President Chimpy wants to go invade Iraq for some reason; do you mind spotting us some more soldiers for a while? You know, in light of that whole NATO agreement.”

Canada: “Well shit, didn’t think it’d work that way, we kind of figured NATO meant if anyplace in North America got invaded, we’d cowboy up… but okay. I realize Afghanistan is a big, important war, and stopping the Taliban and possibly getting Bin Laden is pretty urgent. We’ll do it.”

US: “Great! Oh, and by “a few soldiers”, we mean “most of them”, ‘coz we’re going to pull most of our guys out and shove them into Iraq. Yeronyerown! Later losers!”

Four years later, we’re still caught in the most violent regions of the quagmire Bush started way the hell back in 2001, fresh bodies returning from the meat grinder daily, and Canada declares that once we’re done with the Afghanistan mission in 2011, we’re going to have to go into a rebuild phase (bringing our army home and rebuilding after having expended so much life and money on a fruitless cause), declaring a one-year moratorium on operations outside the country. Reasonable enough after ten damned years, right? But what do we get from the asshats at Red Eye? Scorn and threats of annexation. As though bringing all our army home and rebuilding makes us LESS able to defend our territory.

Think about this, Americans. We might not be able to hold our own against an army funded by almost twice the money invested in all the rest of the armies of the whole world combined, but even a pacifist like me would pick up a chainsaw and fuck a couple invaders up before letting myself get subjugated. Ultimately, you’d be minting brand new freedom fighters (read: “terrorists”) out of every hoser and maple syrup sucker up in the Great White North. You’d win, eventually, sure. You have unmanned drones and trillions of dollars of money borrowed from China to crush us with. But karma’s a bitch, and Canada’s really popular in international circles.

As though you didn’t have enough reason to hate Fox News

Our Science Minister believes in MAGIC!?

Jason Thibeault, , , ,

Yet another post about the nexus of religion and science. You’d think I’d get tired of this stuff, but this one hits really close to home, and my rage meter is probably my biggest blogging driver.

Gary Goodyear, Canada’s Minister of State for Science and Technology, apparently can’t bring himself to accept that science always trumps faith when the two come into opposition. When asked about whether or not he believed in evolution, he refused to answer on the grounds that as a Christian, he felt the question was religious and he didn’t want to discuss religion.

Update: Shoulda read all my RSS feeds before posting, because Phil Plait already covered this loon, and the “clarification” he made on CTV today. However, I agree wholeheartedly with Phil when he says:

I’m calling shenanigans on him. Why? Because 1) he should have answered it in the first place — if, by his reasoning, the question was irrelevant yesterday, it still is today, and 2) it is an extremely relevant question, given that he was couching his answers yesterday in religious terms.

The rest of this post, everything below the fold, stands unaltered by this update, because I believe this is little more than backpedalling in the face of a public outcry. The question asked is ONLY a religious question if you think evolution is incompatible with your religious beliefs. Period. End update.

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Our Science Minister believes in MAGIC!?

lern 2 rss noob

Jason Thibeault, , 8 Comments

Abby informed me recently that, horror of horrors, she’s a neophyte when it comes to the ways of the Blogosphere, and thus doesn’t know how to use RSS feeds.  So, herein, I shall endeavour to show her, and you, and maybe some random Google searchers, how to make use of the RSS readers that you probably already have installed presently.  If Firefox and IE are insufficient, then I leave it as an exercise for you to find alternative RSS readers.

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lern 2 rss noob

Prop 8: The Musical

Jason Thibeault, ,

I’m sorry, all, that I don’t really have the energy to vent about the Canadian political situation right now, despite the laundry list of reasons the length of my arm why Harper needs to be tossed out on his ear, and despite how wholly constitutional and legal the attempt to get rid of Mr. 37% of the Vote right this second.  The only thing I can say right now is, look out Canada, here come the attack ads.

I do however have a small thing to say about this:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I’ve always liked Jack Black, despite a number of really good reasons I really shouldn’t. And I couldn’t have picked a better Jesus if I tried.  Also: naturally, musical + gay rights = more Neil Patrick Harris goodness.  He hits on the best way to get conservative blowhards interested in equal rights.

I have a relative, and estranged friends, who are gay. I hope they understand why I’m being indirect in saying this, since I care about their well-being, and would be afraid, in this world of ours, that something bad might happen to them as a result. That even now, in the midst of an unprecedented worldwide economic collapse after horrible mismanagement of that one country that thinks it’s “exceptional”, there are people out there who aren’t satisfied with worrying about their own coffers and would go out of their way to abridge the rights of a minority group (with intention only, as far as I can see, to make themselves feel better after that whole “causing an economic meltdown” silliness)… well, the whole thing baffles me. I have been thinking lately that I’m not nearly cynical enough. If you care about having your rights intact, then you must care about everyone’s rights — yes, including all those people that your damn holy books may or may not (read Leviticus more carefully, asshats) actually condemn.

To my friends and family: I’m sorry I wasn’t around to protect you or “your people” while you were growing up, and discovering you were expected by society to do something unnatural to you, and all the pain that resulted from learning to deal with that dichotomy. In some cases I was oblivious, or had hints, or in some cases just didn’t know you soon enough in your life to have made any kind of difference. Now that I have a voice out here on the interwebs, though, I got your backs now. Small consolation though that might be.

Afterthought: the fact that I have to put this into Politics is sad, considering basic human rights shouldn’t be something up for political debate.

Prop 8: The Musical

Microsoft critical vulnerability — quel surprise

Jason Thibeault, , 3 Comments

Microsoft last night sent out an urgent security bulletin to all eOpen members via e-mail, which I quote verbatim:

Subject: Alert – Critical Product Vulnerability – October 23, 2008 Microsoft Security Bulletin Release (Out of Band)

Due the urgency of this bulletin, you have received this notification in English. If your specified language preference is French, we will send you a French language version as soon as it becomes available. Thank you for your understanding.

What is the purpose of this alert?

This alert is to provide you with an overview of the new security bulletin released (out of band) on October 23, 2008. Microsoft has released security bulletin MS08-067, Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958644), to address a vulnerability in all currently supported versions of Windows. This security update was released outside of the usual monthly security bulletin release cycle in an effort to protect customers.

Executive Summary

This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Server service. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an affected system received a specially crafted RPC request. On Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability without authentication to run arbitrary code. It is possible that this vulnerability could be used in the crafting of a wormable exploit. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect network resources from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that the Server service handles RPC requests.

Recommendations

Microsoft recommends customers prepare their systems and networks to apply this security bulletin immediately once released to help ensure that their computers are protected from attempted criminal attacks. For more information about security updates, visit http://www.microsoft.com/protect.

New Security Bulletin Technical Details

Identifier

MS08-067

Severity Rating

This security update is rated Critical for all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and rated Important for all supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Impact of Vulnerability

Remote Code Execution

Detection

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update.

Affected Software

All currently supported versions of Windows

Restart Requirement

The update requires a restart.

Removal Information

· For Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003: Use Add or Remove Programs tool in Control Panel or the Spuninst.exe utility

· For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008: WUSA.exe does not support uninstall of updates. To uninstall an update installed by WUSA, click Control Panel, and then click Security. Under Windows Update, click View installed updates and select from the list of updates.

Bulletins Replaced by This Update

MS06-040 is superseded on these operating systems: Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP X64, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 X64, Windows Server 2003 SP1 for Itanium-based Systems.

Full Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

Public Bulletin Webcast

Microsoft will host a Webcast to address customer questions on the bulletin:

Title: Information Regarding an Out-of-Band Security Bulletin Release (Level 200)

Date: Friday, October 24, 2008 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time (U.S. & Canada)

URL: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032394179&Culture=en-US

Regarding Information Consistency

We strive to provide you with accurate information in static (this mail) and dynamic (Web-based) content. Microsoft’s security content posted to the Web is occasionally updated to reflect late-breaking information. If this results in an inconsistency between the information here and the information in Microsoft’s Web-based security content, the information in Microsoft’s Web-based security content is authoritative.

If you have any questions regarding this alert please contact your Technical Account Manager or Application Development Consultant.

Thank you,

Microsoft CSS Security Team

So it was urgent enough to spam their license-holders via e-mail, and it’s predictive of the next big worm.  In the past, these e-mails have been remarkably prescient — probably because hackers read these e-mails at the same time and are well aware that people regularly leave their boxes unpatched for months at a time.  If you’re using any Microsoft OS, patch your shit now before it hits the fan.

Microsoft critical vulnerability — quel surprise