We Saw a Chicken …

Blog

  • I bought some art

    Sculpture by Philip Hare, 2003
    I bought a work by Philip Hare at a charity fundraiser for the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture last night.

    As Joe Bennett said, buying an ornament is a sign of getting older.

  • I can tell you now!

    Remember how I said that I can’t tell anyone?

    Well, today Provincial Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced the successful projects in the Ontario’s renewable energy RFP. To quote the Bloomberg story:

    Wind farms will generate most of the power from these announced projects, adding 355 megawatts electricity to the province. Superior Wind Energy Inc., Erie Shores Wind Farm LP, Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., and Epcor Utilities Inc. are behind the wind projects.

    [link/emphasis mine]

    As co-designer of the Erie Shores Wind Farm turbine layout, it’s great to see some more wind turbines being built.

  • Blog Torrent – Simplified bittorrent by Downhill Battle

    Blog Torrent – Simplified bittorrent by Downhill Battle. It’s supposed to work on any PHP-enabled website.

    I don’t understand their #1 feature priority:

    Mac version. A high percentage of the best bloggers, video artists, and filmmakers use macs. It is crucial to make a mac version of Blog Torrent.

    Those bloody Mac users, with their creative haircuts …

    (via Boing Boing)

  • gmail message limit

    I didn’t know that gmail limited messages to 10MB. I found that when I tried to send 15MB of photomontages today.

  • Scotland hands Canada the smackdown

    Scotland cruise to ICC Cup glory. Yes, cricket still sucks, but at least Scotland sucks less at it than Canada.

  • Wild East is cool

    I just sold a bunch of CDs to Wild East on the Danforth. I got a pretty good deal on them. This is what I bought with part of the proceeds:

    • Anne LeBaron / Rana, Ritual & Revelations
    • Badly Drawn Boy / One Plus One Is One
    • Devendra Banhart / Nino Rojo
    • Elliott Smith / From A Basement On The Hill
    • Kate Rusby / Underneath The Stars
    • Sterling Roswell / The Psychedelic Ubik

  • call me Imelda … or Carrie

    I think I spent more on shoes today than I’ve ever done; a pair of Blundstones and a pair of DMs.

  • peut être ouvert d’office, peut être?

    mysterious eye symbol
    I saw this on an envelope the other day. What can it mean?

    To me, it clearly means “May be inspected only by two-dimensional officials with the Eye of Horus wearing a cap at 30° bearing insignia of an upturned army helmet with a lion rampant and a blancmange.”

    Oh, and this is my first post with SVG graphics. Yay!

  • John Milloy responds

    From: John Milloy MPP <jmilloy.mpp/ at /liberal.ola.org>
    Subject: RE: Bill 129, Highway Traffic Amendment Act, 2004

    November 19, 2004

    Dear Mr. Russell,

    Thank you for contacting my office about Bill 129, the Highway Traffic Amendment Act. I appreciate your comments and I have noted your concerns about this legislation.

    As you may know, on Thursday November 4, 2004 my Private Members Bill, Bill 129, unanimously passed second reading in the Legislature and was referred to the Social Policy Committee of the Legislature of further review. I was extremely pleased with the tri-party unanimous support for the Bill, and by the overwhelming support I have received from Ontarians throughout the province.

    The bill proposes to change the existing Highway Traffic Act by making it mandatory for all individuals to wear a certified helmet when cycling, in line skating, skateboarding, etc. on public roadways.

    The changes I have proposed in my Bill will have a significant impact on the number of brain injuries suffered by Ontarians as a result of road accidents involving cyclists in line skaters etc. For example, it has been calculated by the ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada, that if every adult bicyclist wore a helmet, 50 Ontarians would be saved from incurring a serious brain injury annually. Combined with the injuries prevented when in line skating, skateboarding or using other kinds of non-motorized wheeled vehicles on roadways and you have an enormous savings for our health care system – $4-$9 million over the course of a single victims lifetime – and a priceless emotional and physical gain for individuals and families throughout the province.

    Beyond what the legislation will legally change, my goal with Bill 129 is to create a culture of safety in Ontario. As much as we like to think we are invincible, we are not. Head injuries do not discriminate on the basis of age or the type of wheeled recreational vehicle an individual is operating. Further, head injuries can result in the tragic loss of life, the shattering of hopes, or amoung other things, countless hours of rehabilitation.

    Head injuries as a result of an in line skating, bike, skateboard or other wheeled recreational vehicle accident can be prevented by as much as 85% by wearing a simple helmet. Despite this, many individuals have not chosen to wear a certified helmet when operating these vehicles. I do not believe that the inconvenience of wearing a helmet outweighs the personal and financial cost of a potential injury and that is why I have sponsored this Legislation.

    I recognize that regardless of the aforementioned statistics and arguments that you may still have concerns about the Bill. Please be assured that I will be tracking Ontarians views on Bill 129 as it proceeds through the legislative process, and that I will take each and every thought and suggestion into consideration.

    Thank you again for taking the time to comment on The Highway Traffic Amendment Act. If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

    Sincerely,

    John

    John Milloy MPP
    Kitchener Centre
    1-416-314-7824

    Note: For your information I have consulted with the following organizations about Bill 129

    Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police
    Ontario Medical Association
    Ontario Brain Injury Association
    ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada
    Association of Municipal Emergency Medical Services
    Region of Waterloo Emergency Medical Services
    Region of Waterloo Police Service
    Toronto Police Service
    Participation House – WR
    Ontario Cycling Association
    Various local cycling organizations
    SkateOntario
    District and Public Health Offices
    Many medical professionals
    Canada Safety Council
    Survivors

    I am still meeting, writing and talking with groups and individuals on this issue, and I will continue to do so while the Bill proceeds through the legislative process. Further, when the Bill reaches the committee stage there is possibility that there will be public hearings held.

  • MetaFilter open!

    Yay, MetaFilter opened its membership again!

  • points you see, points you don’t

    So I’m busy doing windfarm photomontages in hugin. Trouble is, the site I’m working on is in the prairies, so here’s some ASCII art of what I’m seeing:

    ___________________________________________________

    This, as you might guess, is just a little short of control points for stitching images. I find myself scrabbling for clods of earth, interesting blades of grass, and what looks worryingly like roadkill by the side of the range roads to use as common points of interest.

    So far, though, most of the panoramas have come out looking pretty good. But then, I am 1337 VV1NDF4R^^ D3516N0R …

  • can’t tell anyone!

    Ever had some really good news that you can’t tell anyone immediately? That’s me at the moment. I can spill the beans next Wednesday. Woohoo!

  • We saw some cows

    Cow Lick, at the Winter Fair
    We were at the Royal Winter Fair today. There were many cows.

  • CF Card Undelete for Linux

    I hope you never need this. But this worked for me.

    I accidentally deleted a bunch of files from the CF card that was in my card reader. I recovered them all perfectly.

    First, before you do anything else, unmount the card’s file system. This will stop any additional changes being made to the card.

    You’ll need to know:

    1. the device name of the card’s file system. It could be something as simple as /dev/sda1, or it could be something complex, like /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 (as it is with me).
    2. the names of the files you accidentally deleted. For example, if you deleted dsc_1017.jpg and dsc_1018.jpg in the dcim/100ncd70 directory, you’ll specify these as /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1017.jpg and /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1018.jpg.

    First, check that the files can be undeleted:

    # fsck.vfat -u /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1017.jpg -u /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1018.jpg /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/part1

    If you get the message Warning: did not undelete file ..., that’s a file that has been overwritten, perhaps in your camera. It’s gone; only the name remains. You won’t get it back.

    Then, you can actually restore the files:

    # fsck.vfat -r -u /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1017.jpg -u /dcim/100ncd70/dsc_1018.jpg /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/part1

    If all goes well, your files will be back. Makes backups, and don’t do it again.

  • Ol’ Pointy-Nose Is Back …

    Ben Hammersley’s Daily Doonesbury Feed, refactored:

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use integer;
use XML::RSS;

my ( $sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday, $isdst ) =
  localtime(time);

my $this_year   = 1900 + $year;
my $todays_date = sprintf( "%02d%02d%02d", $this_year % 100, 1 + $mon, $mday );
my $db_url      =
    'http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/'
  . $this_year . '/db'
  . $todays_date . '.gif';

my $rss = XML::RSS->new();
$rss->channel( title => "Doonesbury" );
$rss->add_item(
    title => 'Doonesbury for '
      . sprintf( "%05d/%02d/%02d", $this_year, 1 + $mon, $mday ),
    link        => $db_url,
    description => '<img src="' . $db_url . '" />'
);

print "Content-type: application/xml+rss\n\n", $rss->as_string;
exit;

  • An RSS generator for CBC Channels

    This isn’t perfect (seems to fail on some feeds), but mostly works for me:


    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
    # cdf2rss - converts CBC KlipFarm CDF to crude RSS
    # created by scruss on 02004/11/12
    # RCS/CVS: $Id: cdf2rss,v 1.3 2004/11/13 03:59:21 scruss Exp $
    # takes one argument, a stream name. Currently known streams are:
    #
    # Arts Business Calgary Canada
    # Edmonton Montreal Ottawa
    # Science Sports Toronto
    # Vancouver Winnipeg World
    #
    # returns a crude RSS 1.0 stream fashioned from the CBC CDF output.
    use strict;
    use integer;
    use XML::Simple;
    use XML::RSS;
    use LWP::Simple;
    use constant CDFURL => 'http://www.cbc.ca/cdf/servlet/getCDF';
    my $cdf = get( join( '?lineup=', CDFURL, $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'} ) );
    my $xs = new XML::Simple;
    my $ref = $xs->XMLin($cdf);
    my $rss = new XML::RSS( version => '1.0' );
    $rss->channel(
    title => join( ' ', 'CBC', $ref->{category} ),
    description => join( ' ', 'CBC', $ref->{category} ),
    link => $ref->{href}
    );
    foreach my $cdf_item ( @{ $ref->{item} } ) {
    my $tmp_abstract = $cdf_item->{abstract};
    $tmp_abstract =~ s/\s+/ /g;
    $tmp_abstract =~ s/^ //;
    $tmp_abstract =~ s/ $//;
    $rss->add_item(
    title => $cdf_item->{title},
    link => $cdf_item->{href},
    description => $tmp_abstract
    );
    }
    print "Content-type: application/xml+rss\n\n", $rss->as_string;
    exit;

  • the tubes group

    tower sections
    These are nested sections from two 60m NRG Systems TallTower masts. Paul and I unloaded two of these. They were heavy.

  • Snoozing gently

    torpid dormice
    The blurb says: This image of three dormice, torpid, has won the coveted BBC TV Countryfile photographic competition.

    The winning image was taken by Steven Robinson as part of Kew’s monitoring programme of this endangered species in conjunction with English Nature.

    © 2003 Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
    Image: Steven Robinson, RBG Kew at Wakehurst Place

  • bad and wrong things about Firefox and Thunderbird

    I just installed Firefox and Thunderbird. They have some major suckage points:

    • there’s no site navigation bar
    • typeahead find doesn’t work in “View Source”
    • e-mail file attachments have been moved to the bottom of the message view, eating screen real estate
    • clicking a link in Thunderbird opens a new Firefox window; it should use an existing one

    Mind you, what do you expect when they name their products after a crap movie and cheap wine?

    thunderbird icon
    A logo that looks like a levitating disembodied blue haircut?

  • objectivity

    You’ve got to love bicycle helmet advocates:

    This bill is absolutely right. I, quite frankly, am not going to bear any arguments. I’m not going to hear them, I don’t want to hear them, about whether we have enough police to enforce it. We need it to be enforced. We need to do it for rollerbladers, in-line skaters, anybody, any contraption. It needs to happen.

     — Michael Prue, Ontario Legislature House Debate, 4 Nov 2004

    So, Michael, I don’t see you wearing a helmet in that picture on your website when you’re out on the street. Don’t you know the number of pedestrian head injuries?