Canadians Just Became World's Biggest Internet Losers

Bye bye, money.

Wow, we already have some of the slowest bandwidth speeds in the world, now they're going to cap it and make us pay per usage? Give me a break. 

 From TheTyee.ca

YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, iPad. . . and whatever else is about to take the world by storm, making all of those digital breakthroughs seem old news. Surely it's obvious by now that Canadians are going to be better off if we foster digital media creativity, rather than leaving it to people in other countries.

But tell that to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the body supposedly responsible for regulating electronic media for our well-being. The CRTC has decided to allow Bell and other big telecom companies to change the way Canadians are billed for Internet access. Metering, or usage-based billing (UBB), will mean that service providers can charge per byte in addition to their basic access charges.
The move is sure to stifle digital creativity in Canada while the rest of the world looks on and snickers.
This is not what a lot of small Internet providers who use Bell Canada's infrastructure wanted. But they are now subject to Bell Canada's requirements, and will be forced to usage-bill their own customers. That's how it's already rippling out to create an entirely different economy of Internet use in Canada. That's what the big telecoms wanted and the CRTC is in the process of giving it to them.

Hogwash
Throughout, the public has been bamboozled and divided in its opinion by the presentation of easy caricatures. That damn bandwidth hog next door downloading endless porn, shooter games and episodes of NCIS -- why not tag him with an extra bill for clogging the pipes? After all, the telecoms can't be expected to lose money on the guy who comes to the all-you-can-eat buffet and scarfs down all the fried chicken, right?

Except officials with smaller service providers say what Bell Canada is charging for "overages" is well beyond, even many times more, what it really costs to provide the extra bytes to customers. So what's this really about? Bear in mind that Bell Canada and other big telecoms also are invested heavily in an old-fashioned media-delivery model called television. If you now have to pay by the byte to live your version of a rich digital life on the Internet, maybe the hits to your bank account will push you back in front of the television set. The problem is that trying to herd Canadians in 2011 back to commercial-laden programs on TV is like trying to drive back the tide. Anyone with children knows they view the television set as a moribund, one-way screen versus the computer's portal into a realm of interactivity and content on demand.

That's the future, and everyone knows it. So why aren't we preserving the level playing field that has made the Internet such a vibrant cultural commons?
Forget that caricature of the slobbering porn addict next door. Canadians accessed a treasure trove of National Film Board works by the millions of downloads last year. Universities and libraries across the country are working to move priceless archives onto the Internet, where, the idea was, they'd be available to all. Not if it's too expensive to download them.

Backwards thinking
Consider the predicament of a small, independent website like The Tyee. Already scraping by on limited resources, but recognizing our audience's desire for more audio and video, we are working with a network of multimedia producers who really know how to stretch a dollar. But they tell us that UBB threatens to make it too expensive for them to craft their products, considering what they need to download while doing their work, the amounts we can pay and the niche audiences likely to listen and watch.
So there you have it. Just as the world is ready to feast on what Canadians might cook up in the way of multimedia 3.0, Canada decides to meter the Internet, tilting the table sharply towards old-school TV networks and big corporations that can absorb the higher cost of doing business.
NDP digital affairs critic Charlie Angus gets what's at stake. "We've seen this all before with cellphones," he said last week. "Allowing the Internet Service Providers to ding you every time you download is a rip-off. Canada is already falling behind other countries in terms of choice, accessibility and pricing for the Internet. We need clear rules that put consumers first."

Fight's just started
Forty thousand people have signed an online petition called Stop The Meter. Perhaps their influence caused the CRTC to soften its original decision yesterday. The regulators mandated that while big telecom firms can force smaller ISPs using their bandwidth to usage-bill their customers, those smaller ISPs must receive a 15 per cent discount from the big telecoms. That will help the small ISPs remain competitive, but it doesn't change the fact that how Canadians must pay for using the Internet has been radically transformed in a way that is out of synch with the rest of the world.
Let's take the CRTC's bit of back pedaling as a sign that it might really recognize the error of its ways after receiving a greater, sustained outpouring of public opinion.
And if the regulators still don't get the message, well then it looks like Canada's political parties have had a prime election issue handed to them. Who will fight for the consumer, and for Canadian creativity?

Article here. Sign the petition no matter where you're from.

The cats name is Roger Bell.

Hay Guise!

hehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Long time no type. It was a long 6 weeks at school, and a hectic Christmas/New Years. I hope you're all doing well and survived, and are well on your way to keeping up with your resolutions. Right? Yeah! Right then.

Last day of school was our final exam, which covered the previous 3 weeks of school. It was easily the toughest 3 weeks I've spent during my 3 levels of training thus far. It covered mechanical fuel systems, and electronic fuel systems. How can you cover all of that in 3 weeks? Well, you can't really. The program needs to be extended by at least 2 weeks to really get into all of it thoroughly enough. There also needs to be a good curriculum shuffle to edit out some of these systems we don't see anymore (Cummins PT Fuel System anyone?).

All in all it was a good 6 weeks, and though I didn't do as well as I'd hoped on the last exam, my first exam mark carried me well enough. I got my transcript from the ITA a couple weeks ago, and came through with an 88. Now I'm a 4th year apprentice, and have only one more level to go before I'm a red seal certified journeyman.

Should have just gotten one of these. Problem solved.

Had some fun when I got back, my computer died. The power supply crapped the bed, and subsequently fried my motherboard. Smelled great. I hadn't realized the mobo was done until I plugged in the new power supply, turned the switch on the back of it to on, and all the case fans came on full power. Hmm. That's not supposed to happen. Anyway, inspected the mobo and found the fried spots. Can't miss em once you notice them. I went and got a new one today, installed it and connected everything, and we're good to go. Slightly better performance now too which is nice, able to use the RAM I had, same chip etc. Working nicely.

How was everyones holiday? Good I hope, and look forward to being more updated with

To work on things like THIS

my blog from now on. I'm getting closer to employment, I had a meeting with a company after Christmas, and they've said they will take me on after the post-Christmas slowdown. Let's hope that pans out.

Till next time folks!

Ahm awn TEE VEE

What Happened To The Other 6 Points?

Once in 3rd grade, I got a 96 on my spelling test, highest mark in the class, I was so proud. I brought it home to show my dad, "What happened to the other 4 points?" he says.        FUCK YOU, FUCK. YOU.

Love the Sopranos. Anyway, we had our mid-term exam on Friday, covering everything from the first 3 weeks (Electrical, Charging Systems, Starting Systems, Emissions, Ignition Systems) and I got a 94. Highest mark in the class. Luckily for me, unlike this guy, the reception I got for this mark was a bit better than he got. Which is great, because I don't want to end up in a state hospital with an aging mobster for a friend.

3 more weeks to go now, the last 3 concentrating on diesel fuel systems. It's going to get tougher now. On the flipside, I've gotten 2 interesting calls in the last couple weeks. One from an prospective employer who is going to interview me in a week or so, and one from an ex employer who would like to have me back. Kickass, takes a bit of the pressure off.

It's also been raging cold up here, with snow. It got down to -25C there for a while (-13F for my American friends) and that ... well it sucked. I couldn't regulate the temperature of my feet, and my truck was really not interested in starting in the morning.

We're Through The Looking Glass Here People

 The deeper I get into this course, the more it becomes apparent that any outside activies (or, to apply an analogy from school ie: concentration to lack of = voltage drops across resistors) are going to have to drop to a minimum for me to get the most out of it.

Before...

Thankfully, Mr. Rorshach Redemption has provided me with an amazingly helpful study too so far. Some of you may have caught it in his comment in the "School's In" post about using something called Simply Noise. I went and checked it out, and have made excellent use of it so far. With 2 screaming children living up above me (who feel the necessity to scream randomly at the top of their lungs, or randomly drop massively heavy objects on the floor) this has become an amazingly essential tool for me. While listening to music while study, I end up digressing much like I talked about in the last post. Here's an example:

The difference between a circuit breaker and a fuse is that a circuit breaker is a party in the u-s-aaaa, yeahheahhhheaheah it's a party in the u-s-aaaa!!!

This is in my brain

 Not entirely productive or helpful, and sure does make for some interesting answers during next mornings quiz. Simply Noise effectively blocks out screaming kids, catchy tunes, and any other outside noise and has allowed me to concentrate and retain more. Thanks for that, sir.

After!

In any case, posts are going to be few and far between from me. I'll do my best to update where I can (so far I'm doing good, the alternator my classmate and I rebuilt today performed great, and daily quizzes have more often than not been in the 90s) but it will be sporadic. Stay frosty, friends.

Thought Digression From Boardwalk Empire

It's funny sometimes how my train of thought traverses its way through my head. Yesterday I was watching last weeks episode of Boardwalk Empire. Quite often while watching shows like this (or Breaking Bad, The Wire, etc.) I start thinking about the actors in it; "Wow, that guy's awesome, why haven't I seen him before?" or "He should win an Emmy for this role, I wonder if he ever has?" etc etc etc. So I start researching them as I'm watching the show, checking out wikipedia and imdb for anything interesting. Here's where the digression begins.

I started out by looking up Michael Shannon, who plays Nelson Van Alden the Federal Prohibition agent in Boardwalk Empire. Great actor, plays the role brilliantly. As I'm looking into his filmography, I see he's been in a ton of movies I've seen before: Groundhog Day, Tigerland, Vanilla Sky, Pearl Harbour, 8 Mile, Bad Boys II and more. Wow, quite the list of movies right? I then notice in 2008 he was in a movie called Revolutionary Road, and not only that, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Impressive! My hunches were right, this guy is pretty good. So then I wonder who he was up against in 2008 for that award, so I click the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor link in a new tab.

Before I was able to scroll down the list and see, the superlatives section caught my eye, and I'm looking at who has the most wins, the most nominations, youngest winner etc. So I'm looking at the list of actors with most awards, and Daniel Day-Lewis' name jumps out at me. Right! My favourite actor, wonder what he's been up to lately since There Will Be Blood? New tab!

So now I'm reading about Daniel Day-Lewis. His life, his career, and his long list of eccentricities on and off set while preparing for a role. From wikipedia:

Day-Lewis put his personal version of "method acting" into full use in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character.^[4] Playing a severely paralyzed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments.^[12] He broke two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks.^[16]

Brilliant! Some may call him crazy or eccentric, I call him dedicated and amazing. He gets even more interesting:

Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, in Hamlet at the National Theatre, but collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father first appears to his son.^[4] He began sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage;^[17] he was replaced by Ian Charleson before a then-unknown Jeremy Northam finished what little was left of the production's run. One rumour following the incident was that Day-Lewis had seen the ghost of his own father, although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion.^[4][7] He confirmed on the British celebrity chat show Parkinson, that this rumour was true.^[18] He has not appeared on stage since.^[18]

I think that would keep me off stage also. It seems that for every role he chooses, he goes all out to actually become the subject. 

For Last of the Mohicans:

In 1992, three years after his Oscar win, The Last of the Mohicans was released. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicized; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing.^[4] He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals.^[4][19]

For In the Name of the Father:

 He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father, in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost a substantial amount of weight for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell.^[19] He also insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him.^[19] The film earned him his second Academy Award nomination, his third BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.

For Gangs of New York:

After a five-year absence from filming, Day-Lewis returned to act in multiple Academy Award-nominated films such as Gangs of New York, a film directed by Martin Scorsese (with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence) and produced by Harvey Weinstein. In his role as the villain gang leader "Bill the Butcher", he starred along with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protegé. He began his lengthy, self-disciplined process by taking lessons as an apprentice butcher, and while filming, he was never out of character between takes (including keeping his character's New York accent).^[4] At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat or to take treatment because it was not in keeping with the period; however, he was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment.^[23] His performance in Gangs of New York earned him his third Academy Award nomination and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

Which leads me to the part where I was reading about his portrayal of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood.

In 2007, Day-Lewis appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood.^[25] Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect."^[26][27]) and a variety of film critics circle awards for the role. 

From there, I went to see if youtube had the video of his award win, and it did. I watched it, and was amazed at how humble and gracious the man is.



Truly one of the greatest actors of our time, if not the greatest period. Check out his filmography, and next to most films there is a long long list of awards or nominations.

The last picture he was in was Nine, a Rob Marshall film. I can't find anything on what he may be working on now, but if his past is any indication, it will be another couple years before we see another. I can wait.

Who do you guys think is the greatest actor of our time and/or, who is your favourite?

Lest We Forget

Today we remember those who paid so bravely the ultimate price for our rights and freedoms. Lest we forget their courage, sacrifice and honour. Today, take a moment and think about everything we have, and of those who fought so that it could be.