En direct à Ottawa! [sic?]

It's official: I've allowed tEH inTARweb to become such an integral part of my existence that to excise my dependence upon it (as if removing a benign -- I would hope not malignant -- tumor growing deep, deep inside the brain) would probably maim, if not kill. The last three days of my life are a testament to this fact.

Moving from Waterloo to Ottawa for the remainder of the summer has left me without 'net access for the time being (Rogers should be by to hook my jonesin' self up in two or three days), and it's been painful. There must be at least two dozen times per day that I find myself in need of a crucial tidbit of information (ie. the weather forecast, the address of a potential employer, location of a local candidate's campaign HQ, which courses you intend to register for next term, the list goes on!) and I've become more than just accustomed to having everything within a google-query's reach...

As in, accustomed to the extent that it took my more than three minutes to think of turning on the weather channel this morning to see if it would be too hot to wear pants by mid-afternoon. Keep in mind that my usual online source for this information is the website of the very same weather channel.

To be fair, I wasn't utterly helpless; in truth, I was merely massively inconvenienced. Lack of access to email is what really killed me. Also, apologies for the lame fringlish title.

[epilogue: I'm now in a computer lab on the University of Ottawa campus, frittering away the time until Laurier's online course registration system is available to picking next term's classes. Much crossing of fingers (which is tough while typing on a French-layout keyboard) is underway... if TELARIS goes down, there will be hell to pay @ 202 Regina!]

Real-world hyperlinks, camphone style

Semacode -- which UWStudent notes was devised by, well, a UW student -- is a phone-based app which translates a pixellated code (a more 'broadband' [I know that's not the correct term, but you get the picture] type of barcode capable of containing much more information in the same space) into a URL, which you can launch in your phone's WAP browser.

Pragmatic.ca, for example, would be:

This is ridiculously cool. Apparently the developer came up with the idea while messing with a hacked CueCat (a now-dead gimmick where users could scan magazine advertisement barcodes to launch related sites). CueCat failed because it was almost totally redundant: why would you scan a barcode instead of typing it? If you've got the scanner at hand, then you're already in front of your computer... just punch in www.overpricedproduct.com or whatever and be done with it.

Semacode hits the spot because, as anyone who's tried knows, typing anything, let along long strings of text, is exceedingly difficult on cell phones. While "yahoo.com" might not be prohibitively painful, more useful addresses (specific, database-driven -- and thus more rich in relevant content for users 'on the go') are out of the question.

Obvious applications include transit stop signs (to replace or, more likely, augment the now-pervasive voicemail stop schedule phone numbers), but I really like the idea of customized mapquest links at intersections. Better yet, if the technology remains 'open', you could guerilla-post semacodes of your own on lamp posts (as a really geek 'tag') or link to relevant information (say, a restaurant review in a local paper, linked by a semacode pasted on the restaurant's facade).

Bottom-line: semacodes will save users time, drive content to useful sites, and blow mobile providers' data revenues (charged by the kB!) through the roof. Downside? It only supports a few of the most expensive camphones, as the system requires good resolution (640x480+) and is written specifically for the Symbian OS. It seems that blowing $300 on a cam phone still isn't enough to ensure that the next-big-thing will actually work...

If you don't screw the vote, it may well screw you

On the heels of the Jian Gomeshi's through-provoking and wildly entertaining (if a little lightweight) Screw The Vote on CBC Newsworld, I stumbled on "Banning the vote," an AlterNet article recounting tales of the difficulty young voters (i.e. students) south of the border face if they choose to vote in their University communities:

Although the 26th Amendment guarantees students the right to vote and a 1979 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that students can vote where they attend school if they establish residency, it remains unclear what constitutes residency. Local election boards have been able to fill in the gaps, and under the Virginia Constitution, eligible voters must have a physical abode in a town with the intent to live there for an unlimited time.

"Because the law is so ambiguous, it leaves the decisions up to people who aren't legal experts about who has the right to vote," says Serene Alami, one of the four students who attempted to run for city council.

Both Lowe and Alami, with the help of the Virginia ACLU, challenged their denials, first in federal court, and then, when the case was sent back, in the circuit court...

The parallels between this anecdote and incidents surrounding the Ontario provincial election in October of last year (about which I've previously blogged). I suppose there will be less turmoil this time around, given that at most universities, many students (between one- and two-thirds, I suppose) will be living at 'home-home' around June 28th, not 'school-home,' and those who are still at school won't be subject to full-force student union civic-duty propaganda drives.

Now that the writ's been dropped, the main parties have tossed their campaign websites online. For some -- especially the NDP -- this has meant the launch of an entirely new, election- and leader-oreinted design, whereas others (notably the Liberal Party) have simply posted updates to their existing sites. In any case, check them* out:

Now, y'all know that I've got plenty of respect for the Green Party (no, seriously!), but I am unable to include their website because after my initial visit, I was greeted with the following (oops!):

Hours later, but worth the wait:

The Greens should congratulated for winning the web design race, if not in the races in any actual, y'know, ridings (zing!). I shouldn't joke, though; if they ever do manage to snag a seat in the House of Commons under FPTP, it would almost certainly be in British Columbia at the NDP's expense.

*I didn't bother with the Communist Party of Canada, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), or the Canadian Action Party owing to the fact that their websites were either woefully outdated or clearly hadn't been updated since the election was called. [back]

I want my (Paul)M(artin)TV!

After the provincial election of October 2003, I scavenged the party websites to collect video clips of the television commercials used during the campaign but I wasn't able to find very many. This time, with the PM about to call an election later this afternoon, I thought I'd get the jump on a similar project.

It seems the parties' approach to the internet, at least with respect to video clips, might speak to other aspects of their approach. The Conservatives don't have any videos online (otherwise the might have to spell out what they really stand for), the Bloc's sole video is less about the politics of the day than about ethnic nationalism, the NDP's videos are plentiful, easy to access, and (for the most part) very tame, and the Liberals' videos are allegedly extracted from a 'real' conversation Martin had with 'real' voters (actors? What actors?).

But it seems my little archive is doomed to remain incomplete -- all of the TV spot videos on the Liberal website are Windows Media files that prevent you from saving them (in Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player). Why? What have they to fear (except for a little more of this)?

Also, if anyone knows how to subvert whatever scheme is being used to prevent these videos from being saved, I'd love to hear about it.

Picture now, thousand words to follow

Below is a laser image of the inside of my right eye, with a little bit of "snail-track" degeneration of the retina, highlighted by the red box in the lower left corner (click for a more clear image, the thumbnail is a little grody). I'm working on a rant about the recent de-listing of optometric care by the Ontario liberal government, but for now this will have to suffice.

Having diagnostic images sent to you via email is just one of the benefits of having a high-tech, gadget-positive eye doctor. Nifty, no?

The Tax Debate We Need : "This orthodoxy pervades our society: At election time, the media hold a gun to leaders' heads and say: Do you vow to balance budgets and not raise taxes? Hesitate and they shout: Answer: Yes or no! Whether Ontario's budget measures can save health care and education, I don't know. But at least they challenge the orthodox notion that all taxes are bad, rather than being the way a society expresses its social nature and achieves things together that its members cannot as individuals." [Rabble.ca]

What Abu Ghraib Taught Me : "The sight of women soldiers gleefully participating in the torture of Iraqi detainees taught this feminist a difficult but important lesson: A uterus is no substitute for a conscience." [AlterNet]

Monsanto v. Schmeiser: Little guy loses :
"Canada's Supreme Court today sided with biotech giant Monsanto over Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser. The court upheld a 2001 judgment that Schmeiser violated Monsanto's patent rights after its genetically-modified (GM) Roundup Ready canola was found on his land — apparently through cross-contamination." [Council of Canadians for press release, Wired for a full treatment]

Is Bush the Anti-Buddha? : "How does a student of the Dharma deal with the rising temptation to wish ill on the perpetrators of shocking and detestable undertakings?" [AlterNet]

iRaq

See it to believe it. Culture jamming at it's best (and, perhaps, it's worst -- I'm not sure yet).

Mostly miscellany

It's been over two weeks since the Winter term ended, and given that I'm still (relatively) jobless, I've advanced to full-on hobo mode. Shifty as ever, I've been traveling to and fro between "home" (familial) and "home" (apartment) with increasing frequency. As such, I've had little time one my "home" (apartment) computer and hence little access to my usual Internet haunts.

I plugged in today, for a fix, and stumbled into gmail swap, where lucky ducks with gmail accounts can use the invites they're allocated as currency in exchange for all sorts of nifty things. orkut invites are a popular enticements, along with paypal and other cash-value things (gift certificates, and such) but I'm most impressed by the occasional high-value tech gadget (iPods, anyone?) and heartfelt offers of a more ethereal nature (goodwill, good karma, hallucinogenic plants).

I've used up half of my own gmail invites on tech-minded friends. Does anyone I've overlooked want one?

For my part, I'm not sure if I'll transition from my current (hotmail) account to gmail just yet. If a useful applet pops up that will notify me when gmail arrives, and if gmail eventually includes the ability to check outside POP3 accounts, then I just might. As it is, I use my hotmail account more as a handy aggregator for various "real" POP accounts than as an email address in its own right.

It's like being there in person (without being paid)

Call me nostalgic, call me a nerd, or just call me your garden-variety insomiac; whatever you call me, I'm always good for a lame Monday morning post. So, here it goes.

A panorama or sorts, stiched together from three photos taken using my cell phone. The slight ghosting in some areas is because the shots were all hand-held (no tripod). The software I used was truly idiot-proof, and it is apparently possible to fix those imperfections using manual fine-tuning, but I'm not sure I care that much.

Don't ask me why I felt it necessary to make a panorama of the view from my desk at work, for I have no coherent answer. Lord only knows. I'm thinking of picking up a cheap tripod and using my 'real' digital camera to fiddle with this sort of thing further. We should have gotten some final shots of the WLUSP office, for posterity's sake, before it was packed away into cartons (the office, not posterity).

Blogger just did a 're-launch' with a fancy new design and some new features, including built-in comments. So, as a result, I've hosed all of my old comments in favour of the new system (I didn't think it was really worth the nasty-hassle to run two systems for the sake of the old comments).

Not much else to report on, save for the insane cancer fundraiser in my backyard (i.e. the high school track behind my apartment) which ran from late evening on Friday straight through until 7am on Saturday. That included diesel-powered floodlights, generators, and a blaring stereo system for the grand finale (at least 4 repititions of the Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" as they finished their bazillionth lap around the track.

Now these are smart cars

I wrote a classy, cool post about how 'green' consumer products are beyond the reach of the folks who want them, and get no love from the people who can. Buy blogger ate it -- so you've all been saved from another I'M POOR I WANT STUFF rant. Count yourselves lucky.