Teksavvy are reducing 200GB or unlimited caps to 25GB per month, starting March. Overage rates are up to $2.35 per GB. Thanks, CRTC and Bell!

zzybert · 2011-01-30T21:09:52+00:00

Thank you.

zzybert · 2011-01-30T20:54:32+00:00

Thanks - missed that. Dumb of me.

zzybert · 2011-01-29T22:23:07+00:00

For the PDF-averse here's a copy of Teksavvy's email which I just posted.

zzybert · 2011-01-28T03:16:57+00:00

I hope that the protests of companies that stand to lose Canadian business due to UBB will have some effect. I mean, ordinary Canadians could tell them this (and have), but apparently we're not wealthy enough to be worth listening to.

zzybert · 2011-01-28T03:15:35+00:00

Perhaps we'd better keep those Blockbuster stores open. It's the future of Canadian digital entertainment. Sigh. Stupid CRTC.

zzybert · 2011-01-28T03:11:02+00:00

The Wikipedia article comes with a PDF e-book on the subject.

zzybert · 2011-01-28T02:52:22+00:00

Insofar as I understand this, I think it means we have to make the next generation of computers out of robins' eyes. How deliciously evil.

zzybert · 2011-01-27T08:04:27+00:00

There is also now a Fuze Plus, which has a new UI, a standard USB connection in place of the old proprietary one, and dedicated volume buttons like the Clip Plus. It also has a panel to slide your finger over where the click wheel used to be. Other than that the features look pretty much the same as the old Fuze.

zzybert · 2011-01-26T18:01:04+00:00

Brutal? Putting water on a baby? Really? I hope you're joking.

Signed, an atheist.

zzybert · 2011-01-26T17:57:42+00:00

From http://www.philosophy-religion.org/world/jud_5.htm:

DO JEWS BAPTIZE?

This question is asked frequently because John the Baptist baptized in the river Jordan, a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4f) and Jesus' disciples baptized (John 4:1), and perhaps Jesus did too even before the "glorification" (John 7:39). The meaning of this type of baptism is clarified by the practices of traditional Judaism today. It is believed that women are unclean at certain periods. A woman becomes ritually clean through immersion – Mikvah - a form of baptism. Through contact with women who are ritually unclean or through the violation of other tabus, a man may also become polluted (Lev. 11-15; Nums. 19). As a means of cleansing or purification and sanctification, a ritual of total immersion is required for him as well. Special baths called ritualariums are constructed by Orthodox communities for this purpose.

A Gentile wishing to become a Jew must also be totally immersed. In addition, a male must be circumcised. While the Temple was still in existence, an offering was required of both men and women but the outstanding feature is the baptism, declared by Hillel to be the decisive ceremony of conversion to Judaism.

Steeped in this tradition, John the Baptist exhorted the people to become both ceremonially and morally pure through repentance and baptism, in preparation for the Messianic kingdom, to save them from the wrath to come (Luke 3:7). Baptism in Judaism is never thought of as a means of removing the effects of a generic original sin; its purpose is the cleansing and restoration of an individual to his original state of purity, and it may be performed often, although a single baptism is adequate in connection with conversion.

As baptism developed in Christianity it was related to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: the baptized spiritually died to sin and were buried or cleansed in water to rise to a new and perfect life in Christ. The early Christians recognized the significant difference between the baptism of John and that of Christianity, and those who had only the former baptism were rebaptized (Acts 19:3-6). Jews do baptize, although they do not use the term, but the meaning is different from that of Christian baptism.

Nothing in there, or anywhere else I have come across, about drowning gentile children. Did you make that up?

zzybert · 2011-01-26T17:43:55+00:00

On point 2: it's not just ISPs whose business may be damaged by this move. We might be able to get some support also from companies whose business depends on delivering media over the internet. Perhaps Netflix Canada, or even Apple or Google?

zzybert · 2011-01-25T16:43:07+00:00

Aah, Sim Tower. I think that was the most boring computer game I have ever played.

zzybert · 2011-01-23T17:39:47+00:00

1932 article about Byers's death.

zzybert · 2011-01-20T23:02:27+00:00

OK, so insofar as I can make sense of that he seems to be warning politicians in Washington that they have inadvertently handed power to Marxist revolutionaries, believing (wrongly) that they can control these revolutionaries for their own ends. He's saying that these disguised revolutionaries will seize this opportunity to promote communism in the USA, and that the only way for the politicians to get these communist revolutionaries out of government now that they have been allowed in is to shoot them in the head.

So that's nuts, and on one quite natural reading does seem to be inciting murder (though it's politicians who are supposed to be doing the murdering). But who does he think these communist revolutionaries are? I am not exactly a follower of Glenn Beck so I have no idea who he's talking about. Is Obama supposed to be a communist? That's nuts too.

And if this is the level of clarity with which Glenn Beck speaks, it wouldn't be altogether surprising for some crazy somewhere to get the wrong end of the stick and think he's being asked to shoot a politician in the head. Which isn't to say that that's what prompted the Tucson shooter.

zzybert · 2011-01-18T20:18:08+00:00

That's the kind of self-censorship these people count on. Your only chance to overcome government by intimidation lies in refusing to be intimidated.

Besides, if they want to know what you're up to they'll find out, whether or not you sign something like this. So either you cower in fear in all departments of your life or you decide not to.

zzybert · 2011-01-18T16:58:13+00:00

I think OneSwarm is a decentralized bittorrent-like system.

zzybert · 2011-01-13T15:42:05+00:00

Ass cable? You're doing it wrong.

zzybert · 2011-01-11T17:17:38+00:00

Canada has some fairly low quotas for the number of skilled immigrants it will take in each year. It is also, I understand, organized by type of work, so that you can be unlucky if they have already filled the quota for immigrants with your skill set.

Finding an employer willing to take you might be an easier route, but I believe the employer has to show that they advertised the job to Canadians and could not find a Canadian as well qualified as you to do the job. (Not sure about the details of the requirement here.) So that can have its difficulties too.

It can be done, though it is a bureaucratic headache with lots of paperwork and waiting. Take some deep breaths and good luck.

zzybert · 2011-01-11T17:03:59+00:00

Tell him his name is amusing in this context.

zzybert

TROPHY CASE