My mother sent me an e-mail today telling me to read the editorial section of the Vancouver Sun. In it is an open letter to Canadians entitled "What's what with Ottawa's lawful access proposal" from Minister of Justice Irwin Colter. Clearly, there's been a lot of feedback from people (I hope you guys have been polite) regarding the government's upcoming "lawful access proposal". I won't quote the entire article, but here's what I consider the most important points:

1. This legislation WILL NOT override 1974 legislation which permits police interception of private communications ONLY with a court order. Law enforcement officials MUST obtain a warrant to monitor your traffic. Hon. Mr. Colter states in his article, "The judge must also be satisfied that authorizing the intercept is in the best interests of the administration of justice and that other investigative procedures have been tried and failed."
    
2. This legislation WILL allow law enforcement officials, WITHOUT a warrant, to obtain basic information such as the name, address, and telephone number of a person from their ISP. However...
    
3. Any official who requests such information must leave their name and a reason for the request on record. "The record would be retained to comply with privacy legislation and permit audit and oversight."

So overall this legislation, if passed, would permit monitoring of internet user's traffic, but only with judicial oversight. It would allow officials, with appropriate cause, to obtain the identity of an internet user. What does this to? It takes away absolute anonymity from the average internet user where law enforcement officials are concerned. It's not really anything new: the police can get your identity from your license plate number, from a firearm registered to you, etcetera.

All in all, once clarified, I have to say I'd support this legislation. Stalkers on the internet are a problem because of absolute anonymity: it's very hard to proceed with an investigation against an IP address. Lack of judicial oversight for information monitoring was an alarm bell for me, as it was implied by the article I initially read that none of proposed powers required any judicial consultation. That's really the big hitch, because judicial oversight of law enforcement powers creates accountability, and that's the system of check and balance that keeps us safe from misuse of power.

I'm glad the justice minister took the time to clear the air with Canadians directly. For that I applaud him. I'll rest a lot easier now.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Let's take a break from my serious political rage and get back to what we all know and love about blogs: stupid internet tricks! I got this picture from Danielle recently because it absolutely cracks me up, and I also appreciate it as a photoshop job. Considering youth today, I think it's almost a more realistic interpretation of Harry Potter.

Posted at 12:00 AM

This is important. Read it carefully.

A recent news story that is hovering too far below Canadian's radar (again, it probably has to do with the technology barrier) is a new bill being proposed by Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. This bill deals with "internet-related law enforcement powers" which basically amounts to unrestricted electronic surveillance access.

The bill would require that internet service providers install nodes within their networks that would monitor traffic. But most frightening is that law enforcement officials would be able to access these nodes and monitor traffic without a court warrant. Potentially, anyone from the RCMP or CSIS would be able to read your e-mails, monitor which sites you access, or even listen in on your cell-phone conversations without having to prove reasonable suspicion.

I've never agreed with the idea that only criminals need fear a police state: citizens have an inherent right to basic privacy. History demonstrates that when people are given unrestricted power, they inevitably abuse it. This goes for corporations, individuals, and governments. CSIS complains that it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of the criminals. Too bad. Find another way. We live in a democracy, and that means that the law often has to work twice as hard to catch crooks. Nevertheless, that's the price we pay for civil liberty.

This is another symptom of older-generation MPs fearing technology because they don't understand it. No democratic politician in their right mind would ever give CSIS sweeping powers to go into postal offices and read people's mail at a whim. That's frightening in the Orwellian sense. So why should we allow officials to read our e-mail at a whim? I don't care if this is how they do things in America today, it's NOT how we do things in Canada.

This scares me deeply, and it should scare you too. If it does, I suggest you open up your e-mail account right now (while it's still private) and write The Honorable Dr. Irwin Cotler, Canadian Minister of Justice. When you're done that, you should probably write an e-mail to your own member of parliament, as well as our Prime Minister, The Right Honorable Mr. Paul Martin

I won't let them do this. This is not my Canada.

Posted at 12:00 AM

I am typing this post from here. Well, not exactly from where the picture was taken. More to the left, under a tree, by the water. It's nice out here, very relaxing. The sun is shining and the waterfalls drown out the sound of urban traffic. Best of all, I'm on the internet, thanks to open wireless networks. w00t!

Too bad nobody's online on MSN.   :-P

Posted at 12:00 AM

It's late, but I present that which I hope shall become a regular feature at the site: a list of five things that I hate, and five things I heart. It's late, and I can't think of anything else interesting to say. See you tomorrow.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Walking home late at night. Full Moon. Silent, peaceful. Someone playing the alto sax in the bushes off the Cassiar exit. That's weird, but neat. The floodlights buzz loudly as I cut across the empty parking lot where the playland patrons would usually be squaking away with pink and purple wigs. It's surreal, and silent. It's the urban environment unpolluted by people. At home, Iain's still up, watching Orson Wells in black and white on DVD.

Danielle, you're a super friend. Even if you do have a gimpy foot.

Feature tomorrow, I promise...

Posted at 12:00 AM

I'm so proud of myself. I've fixed up some long-standing bugs in the site's HTML code. Internet Explorer users may have noticed some quirks with the edge shadows in the past. No longer! Also, the Archive page was becoming a huge thing to load, so I've created a bunch of scripts that will let people display the old posts month by month. The same kind of scripts can also let me link to a single post from a specific date. You may have already noticed me doing that in my last post. My next big project is writing my own comments system, which many people have been bugging me for. It's the one thing that allows those awful Livejournal users a platform from which to look down upon me with an air of snootiness. Soon I shall crush them, and doing so shall cause me to level up.

For the less technically-inclined, there's a more interesting feature on it's way tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Somebody put me into the DMOZ, the Open Directory Project. Most of you don't know or care what it is, but I'm going to tell you anyway. The DMOZ is a central catalog of important web pages on the internet. It's maintained by volunteer editors, as opposed to search engines like Google which automatically follow links to index the internet and rank content (a process known as "spidering"). Having a DMOZ record affects your ranking in tons of different search engines, so having an entry is a very coveted thing. I'm in an elite club of 3,418 sites in the Personal Weblogs section. Those who care about the DMOZ, care a LOT.

I downloaded the Diablo 2 soundtrack the other day, which I haven't listened to in years. I've been feeding myself a lot of electronica lately, trying to find popular electro-acoustic music that can hold its own against the awesome Massive Attack. Matt Uelmen of Blizzard did an absolutely excellent job at creating something creepy, ethereal, surreal, yet funky and listenable. His use of non-western percussion instruments gives the music such a great flavor, something I hope to emulate one day.

Saturday afternoon was spent hunting/gathering for my upcoming Joker costume. It involved a trip to Fabricana, Value Villiage, and a novelty shop called "It's My Party". I shan't go into details yet, but you may all be certain that it will be indisputably teH roxz0r.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Iain is going to love today's Greystone Inn strip. The Incredibles reinforced his firm belief that when it comes to dangerous crime-fighting, capes are simply a bad idea.

Meanwhile, a more than a year after they started playing the beta, it seems the boys at Penny Arcade are still as addicted to World of Warcraft as ever. Now that I'm playing, I'm always in on the WoW jokes. Today's comic clearly takes place in Redridge; I know the place well (even if the characters in the comic don't) with it's snarling Gnolls and accursed Murlocs. But seriously, there has never been a game, nay, a DRUG as potent and addictive as World of Warcraft. Years from now, when every geek has been sucked into its dark vortex of doom, we will sit unblinking before our computer terminals. Plugged into the Matrix, colostomy bags hanging from our chairs, dimly aware of a world outside the bounds of Lordaeron, Azeroth, and Kalimdor. Blizzard shall rule over us all with an iron fist.

On a lighter note, I've dug further into my UBC musical archive to bring you Rompus Rondo, one movement of a composition for soprano sax and piano. It's yet another piece that my composing compatriots simply didn't get. It's meant to be played loud; by a pianist who is suppressing sadistic tendencies. So turn it up, and enjoy.

Posted at 12:00 AM

You meet her at a party. For once, she's the one who picks you out first. She scoffs at your complaints of having an "ordinary" look about you. She gives you a hug and cuddles with you. You date. At the mall you both play with the gadgets at the Radio Shack and piss off the employees. She's beautiful: more beautiful than you feel you deserve. But you make her as happy as she makes you, and you're thankful for such a wonderful thing. You're glad to have finally found HER.

And then your alarm rings, to wake you up, to go to work.

It was just a dream. And as Nadia and I once discussed, sometimes the most upsetting dreams aren't nightmares at all.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Why do people have to be jackasses?

It's something I've never ever understood. There's a female friend of ours over at our house right now. I can hear her telling off her creepy ex on the phone because he's been harassing her via voice and e-mail. Isn't that something he could... you know... not do? How about that guy who lost his cool and tried to start a fight with the restaurant manager that night Danielle, Sarah and I got drunk at the White Spot where Jeff works. The White Spot meathead was harassing an ex girlfriend too: a waitress. Then there's Steph, who's moving in with us, and leaving her creepy stalker ex behind in Winnipeg. Does it take such a huge investment of cognitive power to realize that you should not stalk your ex?

I find myself feeling rather ambivalent on the issue: on the one hand there's this primal part of me that wants to protect women from predators with a violent degree of force; and on the other hand there's the part of me that's disgusted with the ladies for not seeing the fellow's meatheadedness in the first place. Somehow I think the intelligence is somehow overridden by the outmoded animal logic which tells you men with big thick necks will make good providers for your offspring. Not that I really have a leg to stand on in the issue, considering my painful weakness for ineffectual girly-girls.

Seriously though, women AND men, we need to get it together. We need to keep ourselves alert and on guard as to be certain that this class of people do NOT reproduce. Ignore them, there are better alternatives. Open your eyes; there might be someone in your immediate presence who's more interesting and beautiful than you noticed on first glance.

Yes, maybe closer than you think...

Yeah... maybe not.

Posted at 12:00 AM

So continues the World of WarCrack. Mekka is now level 23, and creating crazy goggles and guns for myself with my L33t engineering 5k1LLz. PH43R TEH L33T 5k1LLz!!1!!!

Then there was the day I met Tye and Tyi. They're identical Gnomish mages, and they only play together. It's crazy. I'd seen them around before but when I ran into them again I just had to ask for a picture (unfortunately, Tye blinked in it).

Alex just finished the Tabards for our guild, the Soul Stealers. Here's a family portrait: Mekka (me), Raieth (Alex), Acoron (Chris W), Caerilae (Angel), Odin (Raieth's pet raptor) and our pet mechanical squirrels.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Once again, Bush is trying to bring America one step closer to being a fundamentalist theocracy. He's reopened the debate on teaching Creationism in public schools, which has now been re-branded, "The Theory of Intelligent Design" in a vain attempt to confuse us all. It only took a few comments at a press conference to send the editorial pundits screaming: it's hard to find a neutral article on the story at Google News. As Europe intrenches itself more deeply as a secular society the United States seems interested in moving to the opposite end of the spectrum. It's become this horrid attraction for me, watching the Americans. It's a societal car wreck that makes me crane my neck to check if I can see any blood. I wonder what he'll do next; when the constitution will be changed so that Ah-nold can become the next figurehead president. It almost doesn't bother me anymore, it's just morbid fascination.

Friday night was our 90's dance party here at the house. He basically had some people over and listened to crappy 90's hip-hop and dance music. Much painful and embarrassing reminiscence was had by all. Sarah, Danielle, and Angelina were even brave enough to don 1990's wear. I've got a couple of pictures in the misc photos section.

Posted at 12:00 AM

I'm back in Canada after a brief foray into the state of Washington. Jeff and I spent a couple days down South as a musical retreat. We went to Seattle to see the Experience Music Project, a museum of the history of popular music, particularly music made in the city of Seattle. Luckily, it happens to be in the same building as the Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame, so some wholesome geekism was tacked onto the trip as well.

Being in the 'States is weird. First of all, you have to get used to the fact that everywhere you look, there's either an American flag or a representation of it's colors. Just go 30 minutes across the border and all of a sudden people don't say "potatoes" anymore, they say "potataas". You see signs on trucks that read, "I support my troops WHEREVER they go. Don't give aid and comfort to the enemy!" Seattle itself is like the bizarro-universe version of Vancouver (although, those in the know are already privy to the fact that Washington state actually does have a bizarro Vancouver). I felt like we were interlopers: checking out American girls; playing British rock on our car stereo. It's worth mentioning that there was also a noticeable population of Navy personnel wandering around. I then had a secret wish to be accosted by a pair of smiling-dumbass Marine recruiters. Oh, what fun I would have had with them. I'd lead them on for as long as possible only to end with, "Oh wait, I forgot: I'm not actually an American citizen. Oops!"

Let's get back to our main business. Now, those of you who haver asked me before, "Jesse, what is the difference between a Geek and a Nerd?" Friends, I now have the answer. I know it's late, so I thank you for your patience.

Posted at 12:00 AM

w00t! Nadia sent me her pictures from our trip to Victoria. Very helpful this is, because she took a lot of photos of me that go with the ones I took of her. So I've updated the Victoria trip album. It's awesome and stuff. Thanks Nadia!

My sister Angel's on World of Warcraft now. Our evil Alliance coven of PoCo/Vancouver people grows stronger. Yes... good...

Posted at 12:00 AM