Jeffrey Aho

A short post - because it’s just over a day before I leave for TBay, and I may not get to post over the break much, if at all. I’ll be back in Waterloo January 2 to continue my studies in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo! [Which I recently found out was part of a group of universities called the G10, sort of the Ivy League of Canada]

An update to an earlier post first. I’ve officially stopped visiting Slashdot in favour of a combination of Digg/Reddit. Digg has the larger following and seems to have mainstream articles alot faster, while Reddit [in my observation] tends to have more technical links. They compliment each other, and are serving me quiet well. [My user name is Kratoz on both] I’m getting caught up in the Karma of Reddit. At one point my Karma rose 3 points, but then as a negative reaction to a submission I gave, dropped 5. It’s hard not to take it personally (well…it’s meant to be taken personally).

I am considering making a new sidebar for interesting/random Wikipedia articles I come across. I am finding I am accumulating more of them then then entries I make. [I've been posting them as 'Random Wikipedia Articles'] Until I do so, I came across some neat ones I thought might pique someone’s interest. Apparently there is a tense debate over if Ketchup should be put on Hotdogs. I also learned this week that Alan Smithee is a pseudonym for directors who disown their work. Since the passing of Sol the hobo clown this week (who I remember watching videos of) I was having a reminiscing moment over my past elementary school French education (which most of the time I say was conjugating Etre and Avoir and playing French Bingo). This led me to Téléfrançais, and Ananas, the talking Pineapple. Oh!, the fond memories! [Téléfrançais, Téléfrançais...Téléfrançais!]

This week I shopped for a new watch. My current one is a Roots’ Sphere , is a little warn and I was getting bored with it. I settled on a Fossil Gunmetal Dial, which is a beautiful watch. I’m very pleased with it. I was displeased how Fossil wouldn’t let me order to Canada from BOTH their website AND their 1-800 phone number. I turned to Amazon, and they wanted to charge me a $25 US shipping fee. This was unacceptable, so I eventually treked to the Fossil store at Devonshire Mall in Windsor. So much for Internet shopping. I did find out a really weird fact…Watch ads are set to 10:08 and 36 seconds. I guess figuring things like this out is why companies have advertising firms.

Three Google related things: First, an article about how Google is just cool to work for. Second is how to use Google as a free proxy. Last is Google’s ‘Zeitgeist’ for 2005. Fascinating data provided!

I’ll leave you with these amazing photos of a VW assembly plant. Wow. Have a happy holiday season everyone!

Currently Listening to: Mr. Roboto - Styx
Random Wikipedia Article: Liger

My last week in Windsor, and then I’m home for the Holidays. Then back to Waterloo.

Unfortunately for my readership this is going to be more like a regular blog (the HORROR!) than I usually make it. And you also get the *privilege* of listening to me rant about politics and the election. Hurray for you.

First off, I got an ‘Excellent evaluation’ on my work term at Nemak. I’m pretty happy about that. I really enjoyed my work term this time around. Learned alot about mechanical and facilities engineering as well as manufacturing and industrial settings. Hopefully I’ll get to return.

I recently passed 1500 unique visitors, and for the first 6 months of being online, I’m pretty happy. Last I checked I have a PageRank of 5, which is pretty decent. Between searches for my name, and for PDEng related search strings, that is where I get most of my search result referrals.

On to Politics…It’s been almost a month since the government dissolved and the election started. Last week we had the first french and English leadership debates. Nothing really special came from that. I do find it quite confusing though why Harper keeps on bringing up the Same Sex marriage legislation. It’s law, and won’t be changed. He claims that if he becomes PM he will have a free vote in the house to overturn the legislation. He also claims that he won’t use the Notwithstanding Clause to do so and he will grandfather in all current marriages under the law. Now isn’t this confusing? He says he is going to overturn the legislation that 134 law scholars have went on the record of saying that the Notwithstanding Clause is needed to overturn…without using the Notwithstanding Clause. Upon further reading, Harper doesn’t believe the Clause is needed, so he apparently believe he is more of a legal scholar that 134 respected legal scholars. Apparently a Masters in Arts is good enough to prove JDs wrong…

Furthermore, he is proposing to make second-class citizens of a subgroup (mainly gays) while making them also second class citizens to the greater population. The Grandfather clause he proposed (most likely) in an attempt to appease some voters further will discriminate as some individuals will have been awarded full rights, while others will be barred from them. Why is Harper wasting parliament’s time on this issue? It was decided earlier this year with a MAJORITY in the house. Proved that this nation’s parliamentarians (at least the ones who voted for it) are doing their work to preserve minority rights and support the Charter.

I’m going to have a tough time deciding who I’m going to vote for in this election. While I’m a self identifying Liberal, what it really comes down is the individual candidates in my riding. This leaves Joe Comuzzi (Liberal) and Bruce Hyer (NDP) [I won't vote conservative]. I don’t know if I can stomach voting for Joe after he resigned from cabinet earlier this year over Bill C-38. And Bruce is such a nice guy. I heard from my Dad that he stopped by our house looking for me (I volunteered at his last campaign) and even though my Dad noted that I had switched parties, Bruce left the invitation of meeting over the Christmas break to discuss policy and “win me back”. How can I argue with such a dedicated and personable man? The qualities I have witnessed in Mr. Hyer are far greater than anything I’ve ever seen Mr. Comuzzi convey. It’s not like Comuzzi has a cabinet position anymore where he can make an impact for his constituents.

Well, that’s for me to think about I guess. I still have a bit to decide. I do know that I will not ever vote conservative, especially with Harper at the helm. Last week a speech from 1997 came to light in which Harper, speaking to a group of Americans as vice-president of the National Citizen’s Coalition, in which he called Canada “a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term”. He went on to scold unemployed, bilingualism, Quebec, our established political system, judicial system, and political parties. He even said the “NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men”. Essentially he bashed every aspect of Canada. I’m not sure how even the Conservatives picked such a horrible leadership candidate. He just wants Canada to turn into The United States.

Speaking of them, they had a few issues in the last week as well. The Patriot Act failed to be extended in Senate, with Bush saying “The senators obstructing the Patriot Act need to understand that the expiration of this vital law will endanger America and will leave us in a weaker position in the fight against brutal killers.” Meanwhile, he’s defending himself against illegal wiretaps against his own citizens saying “It was a shameful act for someone to disclose this important program in a time of war…The fact that we’re discussing this program is helping the enemy”. Funny that he will call it war when it conveniences him, and when he takes prisoners in this “war” won’t call them “war prisoners”, but “enemy combatants” to get around international law. The US has committed so many war crimes and should be charged, the administration indicted, and economic sanctions imposed.

And the US media? Did anyone else hear Tucker Carlson say “Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he’s nice but you don’t take him seriously. That’s Canada.” Wow. And you wonder why there is Anti-american sentiment in the world…sickens me.

Currently Listening to: The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel
Random Wikipedia Article: Parkour

I’m hooked on news. Pretty much any news. And where do I get it? The Internet. Let me grab my beer and popcorn and tell you about it.

Whether it’s my the amalgamated professional news sources of the world, like in Google News, or geek news from Slashdot, there is so much news that you could fill your day reading it. In an attempt to save myself time, I restricted myself to the Globe and Mail for a professional news source, and Digg for interesting articles and links. I still find that I read all the important news stories alot earlier (sometimes a few days) before they are picked up on Digg or Slashdot, but you can’t beat the websites and articles that you’d usually miss totally if it wasn’t for Digg and their expanding community.

I’m now getting into a bit of a mess. In my attempt to lower the time I spent finding articles, I’ve increased the amount of content that I’ve found. This week alone, I’ve begun to read Reddit (which I might drop soon as I feel it has too much Lisp material, and I’ve read enough about Paul Graham, who I enjoy reading from time to time, to satisfy my need for the next 4 months) and 180 News. Both are variations on social bookmarking, similar to Digg, and there are usually repeats on each source. One thing I’ve kept myself from doing is using Del.icio.us as a news source (bought this week by Yahoo! BTW). I only use it for my own social bookmarking, and convenience purposes for my website. It is an amazing service, and with Flickr, I haven’t used so much Yahoo! applications since back when I got my first email address (soon after displaced with Hotmail, and slowly being displaced by GMail). The worse part: My addiction to news applications has even deeper roots in Web 2.0.

I’m becoming hooked on Web 2.0 applications more than ever, utilizing everything from Google Maps mashups, to Flickr, to Digg, to Del.icio.us. Even my email account (that is my GMail account) is evolving, rapidly taking on features like RSS and threaded conversations. This week GMail came out with Web Clips, which by it’s self is sort of boring (Firefox does a lot better job at “live bookmarking”), but has minor additions which I just love. Where else does my email have personality, recommending SPAM recipes (Mmm…Spam Primavera) in my spam folder, and recycling tips (You can make a lovely hat out of previously-used aluminum foil!) in my trash folder? Google has been so successful because One, they treat their employees right, Two, they come out with innovative (and superior) services, and Three, they have made it classy to choose them. This week a study said Google users are smarter and more wealthier than users of other browser. Why have the t-bone steak when you could get the prime rib dinner for free? Using Google is hip! (Though some bad news for Google is Firefox users are less likely to click on ads…)

Where else do I get my content? As my friends know, I’ve been a long time follower of Wikipedia (when I started, it was barely known: Thank You Ebert! [long story...]). While I only make minor edits and additions, I read articles daily. The recent controversy over the quality of content in my mind is overblown. The people outraged from this are just Old Boys stuck in the pre Internet age (I was going to say pre Web 2.0, but on consideration, they just don’t get what the Internet is). The days of going to your public library and pulling off a massive tome from a shelf are over. Even the Ivory Tower institutions seem to have been downgraded to nothing more than abandoned light houses. Sure there is the occasional beam of creativity, but the world’s knowledge is no longer locked up in their walls, it’s being shared over the Internet. When I read responses like this, from the proponents of a class action lawsuit towards Wikipedia, it only makes me want to go to Law school even more to defend the new principles and concepts that the new generation is founded on. Luckily they don’t seem very professional and I can always focus some hatred towards Brian Chase…don’t lecture Wikipedia on “Moral Responsibility“!

Oh…you never wanted me to talk about web applications in the first place? Damn…well, to satisfy your election lust, go read the Blackberry Blog of the PM’s top speechwriter, Scott Feschuk. I can’t stop laughing every time I go there…I hope the PM replies to my question: “Dear Prime Minister: How do you like your steak? The Liberal party will lose a vote if it’s any more cooked than Medium Rare… ”

(I feel for you Scott Reid! You’ll get the last laugh when the Conservatives fall on their face by making billions of dollars in campaign promises, including new social initiative and A LOT of tax cuts, and not explaining how they plan on paying for it all.)

Currently Listening to: You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison - My Chemical Romance
Random Wikipedia Article: Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously