One Canuck's Radio WeblogA 'news items' 'clipping service' for myself and anyone else who's interested |
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Allegations over missing explosives in Iraq and an FBI probe of Halliburton hit the Bush campaign all last week.'
Incredible. 'He can run but he can't hide.' Right. Of course bin Laden would prefer to have the extremist in power in the US as it helps inspire recruits. .< 8:13:15 PM  >Martin refuses to take sides in next week's U.S. presidential election (Canadian Press) Canadian Press - NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. (CP) - Insisting he doesn't have any problems with the Bush administration, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Saturday he's willing to work with whomever Americans elect as their next President on Tuesday. [Via Yahoo! News - World] He has to play the diplomat. He knows damn well his citizens don't want Bush running amok anymore. .< 8:02:03 PM >Indians in Mexico Mark Day of the Dead (AP) AP - Antonio Haas pulls a wooden box from a small cement cubicle, brushes a year of dust from the top and pushes back the lid to reveal a pile of coffee-colored bones and a small skull covered with patches of hair. It's what remains of his father who died five years ago, and with the Day of the Dead approaching, it's time for their annual cleaning. [Via Yahoo! News - World] Día de los Muertos, 2 Nov, when Mexicans welcome the souls of the dearly departed back to earth. .< 7:58:49 PM >Bin Laden Tries to Influence U.S. Election -Analysts DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ditched his usual Islamist rhetoric for calculated political language designed to influence next week's U.S. presidential election, Arab analysts said on Saturday. [Via Reuters: World] .< 2:21:26 PM >Domain Name Basics: An Introduction Most people know what domain names are but few understand what having one entails. In this article, you will learn about the various types of domain names, formatting, registration issues, domain pointing and more. By Lee Underwood. 1028 [Via WebReference News] .< 2:02:26 PM >Guerrilla News Network: Bush Wanted to Invade Iraq if Elected in 2000 Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.
[base "]He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,[per thou] said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. [base "]It was on his mind. He said to me: [OE]One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.[base '] And he said, [OE]My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.[base '] He said, [OE]If I have a chance to invade[sigma].if I had that much capital, I[base ']m not going to waste it. I[base ']m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I[base ']m going to have a successful presidency.[per thou] REM frontman says visits help put the American political situation into focus
[Via The Globe and Mail: Arts]The soft-spoken pop singer says the time he spent in Vancouver while recording R.E.M.'s new album Around the Sun helped put the American political situation into focus. "It gave me a great sense of perspective, I have to say, being so close to my own country, but in a country that is clearly more liberal-minded," Stipe said on the phone from Chicago in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press. "There's a feeling in Canada of supporting . . . the creative arts and supporting people speaking out and supporting progress and living in the 21st century." R.E.M. will embark on a Canadian tour next month, and Stipe said he is more than happy to "suck up" to The Great White North, calling Vancouver a "city of the future" with "brilliant restaurants" and "incredibly creative people." During his stay he became hooked on the Canadian news media and still seeks it out online.
[snip]
The singer said he's been struck by the number of hawkish Republicans who have never served in the military, and the number of Democrats who are former soldiers but now oppose the war in Iraq."
Rukavina said he has friends in the United States who say they would seriously consider moving to Canada if Bush is re-elected.
"I think they just don’t feel they can stay in a country that Bush represents," he said.
[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina] Halliburton has become a political liability for the Bush administration as the US prepares to vote in presidential elections next week. The company, one of the chief government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been dogged by controversy, which includes claims of White House favouritism in awarding the firm billions of dollars of contracts without being forced to bid and Pentagon allegations that the firm has massively overcharged for its work.
It emerged late on Thursday that the FBI had launched an inquiry into how Halliburton secured contracts in Iraq, so far worth almost $9bn (£4.9bn).' "In an article in the Saudi English daily The Saudi Gazette, Md. Maqdoom
Mohiuddin and Khamis Mushayt wrote an op-ed and book review which exposes an
alleged U.S. plot to invade Pakistan, and then later possibly Sudan,
Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey." This surprising item alerted me to this book by StratFor's boss, George Friedman. StratFor is a private CIA, being paid by companies to tell them of risks. The book tells of the 'real' reasons whey the US went into Iraq: to scare the shit out of other wavering countries to back the US and not Al Qaeda. Apparently. It says that WMD and terrorism links were merely a smoke screen, or propaganda.
This clarity (even though Wolfowitz has said this openly) wouldn't have been enough to pull the US street with them.
However, our President sheepishly admitted it was "a poorly-tailored shirt." Poor guy. We should send him some money for a shirt that doesn't have big rectangular pooch and a rope hanging from it. Link Montreal is a town that's really big on Halloween. .< 2:24:47 AM >Latest Firefox/Mac: No Hidden Window, Right-Click Works The Firefox/Mac hidden window bug that was fixed in recent nightly builds remains fixed in the latest Firefox Release Candidate. And the Release Candidate version doesn't have the bug that prevented "right-clicking" that recent nightly builds did.
Which is to say: the Release Candidate is approaching browser perfection on a Mac. 'The major causes of death before the invasion were myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and other chronic disorders whereas after the invasion violence was the primary cause of death. Violent deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters, and were mainly attributed to coalition forces. Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8·1–419) than in the period before the war.'
The link is to a pdf file of the report. The findings are a stunning exposure of the incompetence and irresponsibility of the people responsible for the invasion of Iraq. .< 1:48:40 AM >Google confirms Google Desktop for Mac According to a Reuters story, Google CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed on Friday that the company intends to build a Mac version of Google Desktop, which enables users to search their e-mail messages, files, Web browser histories, chat logs and more. He admitted, however, that such an undertaking will require the Mac version to be "rebuilt from the ground up" because of the "fundamental differences" between Mac OS X and Windows. No timetable was set for its release. The Windows version was published earlier this month. [Via MacCentral] .< 1:40:24 AM >Two Flickr clients Two weblog editor authors have released Flickr clients. Fraser Speirs’ FlickrExport is an iPhoto plugin that “provides a direct export interface to Flickr.com.” Adriaan Tijsseling’s 1001 “not only uploads photos to your Flickr account, it notifies you anytime new photos from either your contacts, everyone, or your favorite tags are uploaded.” [Via Ranchero.com]  Friday, 29 October 2004.< 10:22:54 PM >Macworld Reviews DV Camcorders Macworld Magazine has put up a review of current DV camcorders. Their favorite? Canon Optura 40.... [Via iMovie Visual QuickStart Guide] .< 10:19:24 PM >Okay it took a while to figure...  Okay it took a while to figure this one out, but the appearance of Osama bin Laden on TV so close to the election is a reminder that Bush went after the wrong guy. Osama is still free, and thumbing his nose at the US. Makes Bush look more like a loser than he already does. How can Bush say he's tough on terror with a straight face with Uncle Osama hogging the news cycle, probably from now to Election Day. Now let's just hope bin Laden is just giving a stump speech and this isn't notice that thousands of Americans are about to die.[Via Scripting News]
October surprise. .< 10:16:55 PM >Surround 2004: Greg Penny Offers Sneak Preview... While it wasn't on the show program, one of the highlights of the recent Surround 2004 Conference in Hollywood was a sneak preview of the upcoming Surround Sound Super Audio CDs by Elton John. The sneak preview was offered by producer and engineer Greg Penny who is heading up the remixing and remastering of the singer's classic catalog albums into 5.1 Surround Sound. [Via DVD-Audio and SACD News] Some insight into Penny's approach to mixing in surround. .< 9:58:44 PM >The Best Moments Had Less to Do with the Mac In a week that featured the Boston Red Sox ending decades of frustration by winning the World Series, a blood red lunar eclipse hanging in the evening sky, and Steve Jobs making his first public appearance since cancer surgery, I was reminded of the real reason why I prefer the Mac community. [Via Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: O'Reilly Network Weblogs: Mac] .< 9:52:12 PM >Audacity: Free multitrack audio mixer Transom.org is just such a great web site -- for broadcasters, podcasters, and more. They've got a great tutorial about Audacity on their web site. Audacity is open-source software and, while it can't match something like ProTools for features, it comes pretty close. Have a look at Transom's Audacity tutorial. [Via I Love Radio .org] .< 9:48:57 PM >Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11 Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden appeared in a new message aired on an Arabic TV station Friday night, for the first time claiming direct responsibility for the 2001 attacks against the United States.
RADAR V boasts;
1) 192 kHz on all 24 tracks on a single disk,
New hardware from IZ. Ouch. We just bought a pile of the RADAR 24's. Ah well, that's progress. .< 3:36:19 PM >War has killed 100,000 Iraqis: study Nearly 100,000 more Iraqis have died during the American-led occupation than would have died otherwise, a study posted on The Lancet medical journal's website Thursday estimates.
US American media will talk itself blue in the face about missing explosives because those might come back to harm the US. But 100,000 civilian deaths? Not if they are brown people who dress funny and live far away. .< 3:32:07 PM >Observers to monitor US election Hundreds of observers will monitor next week's US election to ensure voters face no discrimination. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] .< 3:29:15 PM >Election Day Uncertainty ONE OF THE MOST disturbing, even destabilizing, aspects of the presidential election is the prospect that partisans on either side will deem the outcome invalid if their candidate doesn't win. Republicans are warning of massive fraud by new registrants not entitled to vote, while Democrats complain of an organized program to intimidate and disenfranchise eligible voters. The tension between preventing fraud and ensuring access is inherent in every election. But the expected closeness of this one, combined with the lingering bruises of the 2000 race, the record number of newly enrolled voters and the added uncertainties posed by a new federal law, have ratcheted that inevitable conflict to a new level. Those factors have produced an avalanche of pre-election litigation, threaten a difficult and perhaps ugly Election Day in the closest states, and raise the possibility that the victor may once again not be known for weeks. [Via washingtonpost.com - Editorials] .< 3:24:02 PM >Bush TV ad pulled over doctored crowd scene News: Bush team admits a picture of the president addressing the troops in Iraq was digitally enhanced. [Via Guardian Unlimited] .< 2:26:07 PM >Here's why we must throw Bush out... Here's why we must throw Bush out of office. The big moment came when Colin Powell went before the UN to explain why it was time to go to war with Iraq. That's when the impeachment proceedings should have started, in hindsight. Unfortunately we didn't know then that they were lying. Blame us for believing that our President wouldn't unilaterally go to war based on a lie. That's criminal. He should go to jail. Sorry Republicans, you nominated the wrong guy. [Via Scripting News] .< 1:16:49 AM >My Favorite Stewart Copeland Story Can you imagine being able to watch Stewart Copeland discover GarageBand? [Via Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: O'Reilly Network Weblogs: Mac] '"I saw this cool looking guitar on the dock," he said. "So I clicked on it. It seemed like about 20 minutes had passed, but it was more like a couple hours. Next thing I knew, I had some pretty sweet tracks put together. And that was without a USB keyboard (as in the musical type). I was just tapping on the computer itself."' .< 1:13:22 AM >AppleInsider | Apple retail to expand into Canada in 2005 According to sources, Apple in the final stages of a leasing agreement with the Yorkdale Shopping Center located in Toronto.
Exciting news for Mac freaks. Too bad it's in a mall outside of downtown but this one is reachable by subway. I feel badly for the local Mac dealers. At this point my expectation is that I'll shop at the Apple Store but buy from the local dealers. .< 12:58:24 AM >Economist.com | America's next president: The incompetent or the incoherent? With a heavy heart, we think American readers should vote for John Kerry on November 2nd [snip] Furthermore, as Mr Bush has often said, there is a need in life for accountability. He has refused to impose it himself, and so voters should, in our view, impose it on him, given a viable alternative. John Kerry, for all the doubts about him, would be in a better position to carry on with America's great tasks.
How bad is it? The Economist is for the war in Iraq. But they can't ignore Bush's incompetence. .< 12:46:10 AM >Klein derided as mean-spirited for comments about handicapped (Canadian Press) Canadian Press - CALGARY (CP) - Premier Ralph Klein was blasted Thursday as mean-spirited and disrespectful for saying two women who heckled him over payments to the disabled didn't look handicapped. [Via Yahoo! News - World] .< 12:40:19 AM >Florida ballot papers go missing The US postal service hunts 58,000 postal ballot papers missing in the key marginal state of Florida. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] .< 12:23:18 AM >100,000 civilians dead, says study About 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead since invasion, according to new study. [Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest] 'About 100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of airstrikes by coalition forces, according to the first reliable study of the death toll from Iraqi and US public health experts. The study, which was carried out in 33 randomly-chosen neighbourhoods of Iraq representative of the entire population, shows that violence is now the leading cause of death in Iraq. Before the invasion, most people died of heart attacks, stroke and chronic illness. The risk of a violent death is now 58 times higher than it was before the invasion.'
100,000 civilians. Stunning. Thursday, 28 October 2004.< 4:14:49 PM >Philips Provides Easy SA-CD Disc Creation in Pro Tools Philips launches its new DSD plug-in for users of the Digidesign Pro Tools Digital Audio Workstations on the Macintosh platform. The DSD plug-in is offered both as a separate plug-in as well as in combination with the SA-CD Creator application as the SA-CD Creator Pack for Macintosh. ...Read More » [Via Digital Pro Sound News] '[T]he Philips SA-CD Creator Pack with DSD plug-in will be distributed in the USA by Sonic Studio, LLC, a world-leading developer and supplier of PCM and DSD digital audio workstations, signal processing applications and software tools for professionals who record, mix and master music, film and television soundtrack and multimedia titles. They will offer the Philips DSD Plug-in for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms, as well as SA-CD Creator application and other Philips SA-CD solutions.' Interesting news .< 4:00:53 PM >Sony Electronics & Universal Records Announce Elton John SACD Promotion Six upcoming Surround Sound SACDs by Elton John will receive a major marketing push when they arrive in early November. According to representatives from Sony Electronics and Universal Records, the release of the singer's new Peachtree Road album and five catalog albums - Elton ... [Via DVD-Audio and SACD News] .< 2:47:27 AM >Morning Coffee Notes, Day 2 But enough already. We're so divided because of Bush that people are actually talking openly about civil war after the election. This is no good. I find myself ready to say to our friends in Europe and Asia, it's time for you guys to plan your invasion of the US. We need a lot of help here. One more time, we can solve this problem ourselves, but so far we've missed every opportunity to do so. [Via Scripting News] .< 2:42:40 AM >British Ex-Guantanamo Detainees Sue Rumsfeld WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four British former inmates of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others Wednesday saying they were tortured in violation of U.S. and international law. [Via Reuters: World] Sue him and then try him for war crimes. .< 2:37:08 AM >Bush website blocked outside US People based outside the US have been unable to visit the re-election website of President Bush. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] The blocking of browsers sited outside the US began in the early hours of Monday morning. Since then people outside the US trying to browse the site get a message saying they are not authorised to view it. The blocking does not appear to be due to an attack by vandals or malicious hackers, but as a result of a policy decision by the Bush camp. As of this writing it's working in Canada. .< 2:34:27 AM >Guantanamo four plan to sue US Four British men held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly three years are to sue the US government. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] .< 2:33:26 AM >4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03 Looters stormed Al Qaqaa just days after U.S. troops swept through on their way to Baghdad in early April 2003. [Via New York Times: International] 'Two witnesses were employees of Al Qaqaa - one a chemical engineer and the other a mechanic - and the third was a former employee, a chemist, who had come back to retrieve his records, determined to keep them out of American hands. The mechanic, Ahmed Saleh Mezher, said employees asked the Americans to protect the site but were told this was not the soldiers' responsibility.'
"And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." .< 2:28:44 AM >Intelligence Report to Assess Threat Posed by Terrorists The report could address whether the Iraq war has increased or decreased the foreign terrorist threat to the U.S. [Via New York Times: International] But in that memorandum, administration officials acknowledged, the agency proposed "factual corrections" to assertions included in a draft fact sheet prepared by the White House titled "America Is Safer Without Saddam Hussein." Unfortunately the report won't be ready until after the election. .< 2:21:34 AM >One metre-tall human challenges history of evolution Australian and Indonesian scientists identify a new and completely unexpected species of human. [Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest] .< 2:19:12 AM >Dozens of newspapers shift allegiance to Democrat camp Growing number of American newspapers admit they have been wrong to endorse George Bush. [Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest] Four years ago the Chicago Sun-Times endorsed George Bush for president. On Sunday, it became one of a growing number of American newspapers to admit they had got it wrong. At least 37 newspapers which backed Mr Bush in 2000 have switched sides to John Kerry. A Sun-Times editorial listed a number of reasons for withdrawing its support from Mr Bush. The administration, it said, had been "wilfully and woefully unprepared to face" the insurgency in Iraq. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were "a costly misstep in a time of war" and the paper was concerned by the secrecy of Mr Bush's "subordinates such as Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft". Mr Kerry, the paper said, acknowledged that the "United States is a world leader, not a rogue state". Finally waking up. Let's hope it's not too late. .< 2:12:01 AM >Arafat's health deteriorating, reports say Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's health deteroriated late Wednesday, with aides confirming that he collapsed into unconsciousness for a short while, leading officials to summon the entire Palestinian leadership and Arafat's family to his bedside. [Via CBC News] .< 1:59:02 AM >DTS Unveils DTS-HD Brand for High Definition Media Formats DTS (Digital Theater Systems, Inc.) (NASDAQ:DTSI) unveiled today DTS-HD, as the new trademarked brand name for its lossless technology. Previously known under working name DTS++, the DTS-HD mark will denote media, source players and decoders that are compliant with the next generation high definition disc formats, Blu-ray Disc and High Definition DVD (HD-DVD). ...Read More » [Via Digital Pro Sound News] .< 1:57:51 AM >Dolby Digital Plus for Hi-Def Media Premiers at AES 2004 Dolby Laboratories is proud to offer the first public demonstration of Dolby Digital Plus its new audio codec at the 117th AES Convention. Additionally, at Booth 1402, show attendees can learn about multichannel audio production for DVDs, television programming, and games, and see featured tools for pitch correction and loudness measurement. ...Read More » [Via Digital Pro Sound News] .< 1:53:28 AM >Applied Acoustics Ships Ultra Analog Virtual Synthesizer... Applied Acoustics Systems is pleased to announce the release of the Ultra Analog virtual analog synthesizer for Mac OS X and Windows. A unique and powerful virtual analog synthesizer that is fast, easy to use and remarkably versatile. ...Read More » [Via Digital Pro Sound News] About Applied Acoustics Systems Based in Montreal, Applied Acoustics Systems specializes in software based synthesis tools for professional musicians and sound designers. Since the releasing the first virtual instrument based on physical modeling, the Tassman, AAS has come to be recognized as the industry leader in this exciting new field of synthesis. Wednesday, 27 October 2004.< 1:37:18 AM >Mexico has 'giant wealth divide' Mexico has some of the highest and the lowest standards of living in the world, such is the extent of the gap between rich and poor, a UN report says. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] 'Some parts of Mexico City could be compared to Spanish or German cities, the study found, but other parts were more like the poorest parts of Africa. The UN Development Programme study found that more needed to be done to close the nation's wealth gap.
It added that a lot had already been done to reduce the sharp divide.'
Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy. Add to this his nation-breaking immigration proposal -- Bush has laid out a mad scheme to import immigrants to fill any job where the wage is so low that an American can’t be found to do it -- and you have a presidency that combines imperialist Right and open-borders Left in a uniquely noxious cocktail.Link
UPDATE: Anonymous sez: If you look closely, you'll notice that their editorial staff was split and so they each did a seperate endorsement. Among the staff, they pretty much endorsed everyone from Bush to Badnarik to (shockingly enough) Nader. To say they endorsed Kerry is accurate, but also very misleading. One editor endorsed Kerry, the rest endorsed others. Bravo. I think Canada should follow suit. .< 1:26:49 AM >Pentagon mulls Iraq troop boost The US is considering sending more troops to Iraq in the run-up to January election, the Pentagon confirms. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] Glad this is coming out before the election. There's more crap to come. .< 1:02:44 AM >Hamilton, Toronto and Winnipeg vie for music hall of fame A music hall of fame for Canada is one step closer to becoming a reality as Hamilton, Toronto and Winnipeg made the short list of possible host cities for the proposed building. [Via CBC Arts News] .< 12:47:27 AM >RNC fear-phrases video Cory Doctorow: This video pieces together all the instances of speakers at the RNC saying things like "terrorism," "September 11th," and other fearmongering buzz-phrases. It's actually startling to get a sense of how much reptition of the talking points went on at the convention: could they really be this blatant?
(via Lawgeek)
SonicStudio HD is the preferred choice for DVD-Audio content creation and was the first ...
Nimbus Records has pioneered surround sound since 1972. All Nimbus recordings have been made using Ambisonics...
In stores on October 26th, Simple Plan’s ...
Spotted this on a page on VOIP at Macintouch. I'm probably going to get one of these eventually. .< 7:05:51 PM >Wozniak joins Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak joined 10 other inductees at the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) Hall of Fame awards dinner, held last week in San Francisco, Calif. [Via MacCentral] .< 6:47:46 PM >Snow! Snow! Yup - it's here. We got about a foot of snow yesterday. I was sliding around town with my summer tires on, so job number one today is to get the winter ones put on. It's cold too - about minus 8 this morning. I've got a fire going in the wood stove and a big pot of chili cooking for dinner, so we're set for the day. [Via Janet's Radio Weblog] In the Yukon. .< 6:46:16 PM >iPod Photo iPod Photo, newest member of the iPod family, holds up to 25,000 digital photos alongside your music library and displays them on its stunning high-resolution color screen. iPod Photo, which lets you combine your music and your favorite photos to create magical slideshows on your iPod, features TV-out for sharing your slideshows on big screen televisions and projectors. iPod Photo comes in 40GB or 60GB models. [Oct 26] [Via Apple Hot News]
Canuck pricing for the 40 Gig iPod Photo is $679 and for the regular iPod $559. .< 4:16:25 PM >Apple Launches EU iTunes Music Store Apple® today launched a European Union version of its revolutionary iTunes® Music Store, giving music fans in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain the same innovative features and breakthrough price of o0.99 per song that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. With Apple[base ']s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod® and groundbreaking personal use rights, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for PC and Mac® users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. Apple today also announced it will launch the iTunes Music Store in Canada in November. Yes! Happy to be launcing with other Europeans. .< 4:13:34 PM >Apple: iPods, iTunes Stores, "Box Set" Apple announced the iPod Photo with a color screen and video output, the iPod U2 Special Edition in black and red, a 400-tune U2 "box set" download and new iTunes stores for Canada and Europe. [Via MacInTouch] Wow! Big news. At last, an iTunes store for Canucks. .< 10:28:20 AM >Blog Reruns IM is great for instant collaboration on projects, but it kills your hands typing too much for little gain. Worse, you lose some of the interaction that a phone call can allow like people keeping to one topic at a time. With staff in Texas, Canada, Missouri and Californina it is nearly impossible to afford phone calls. Skype has been a blessing in working with Patrick Ritchie on code, but it's a processor killer. [Via house of warwick] .< 10:22:54 AM >System X supercomputer speeds up almost 20 percent Virginia Tech's all-Mac System X supercomputer, installed at the university's Terascale Computing Facility, made headlines last year when it was determined to be the third-fastest supercomputer in the world. System X has been upgraded to Apple Computer Inc.'s Xserve G5 server and now runs even faster, with a sustained speed of 12.25 trillion operations per second -- 19 percent faster than before. [Via MacCentral] .< 10:22:21 AM >A dose of reality in the hype - it's not a virus Please, people, this is much ado about nothing. Use a good administrator password, install software updates, use your brain before running scripts called Opener. Duh. [Via Mac Net Journal] .< 10:20:44 AM >Loonie hits 82 cents US The loonie gained more altitude on Monday, crossing the 82-cent-US level for the first time in 12 years as the U.S. dollar continued to slip in foreign exchange markets. [Via CBC News] .< 10:20:03 AM >The CIA's Disappeared THE BUSH administration pretends, and many Americans may believe, that the abuse of U.S.-held prisoners abroad ended after the release of sensational photographs from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Sadly, it did not. While blaming the crimes at Abu Ghraib on a small group of low-ranking soldiers, the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA have fought to preserve the exceptional and sometimes secret policies that allow U.S. personnel to violate the Geneva Conventions and other laws governing the handling and interrogation of foreign detainees. Under those policies, practices at odds with basic American values continue -- even if there are no sensational photos to document them. [Via washingtonpost.com - Editorials] Get these people out of the White House and then charge them with war crimes. .< 10:16:31 AM >John Peel dies aged 65 2.15pm: Veteran DJ and broadcaster John Peel, 65, has died after suffering a heart attack while on a working holiday in Peru. [Via Guardian Unlimited] .< 10:16:10 AM >Murdoch: Fox News does not favour Bush Media: Rupert Murdoch has claimed his Fox News channel is not biased in favour of George Bush. [Via Guardian Unlimited] You don't expect his to start telling the truth now. .< 10:13:55 AM >Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Hollow Victory It was Monday morning, the first day of early voting in Florida, and only an hour went by before the system collapsed in Broward County, ground zero for the 2000 fiasco in the state. Potential voters were turned away in this heavily Democratic county as election officials delivered a litany of excuses. The person in charge of elections is the secretary of state, Glenda Hood, a Republican. It was an inauspicious beginning to Florida's election season, and a reminder that Democrats must remain vigilant against Republican efforts to steal yet another election. And in that regard, Republicans have been mighty busy.
[snip]
These efforts are not isolated incidents, but part of the Republican Party's "Victory" programme. While ostensibly a voter registration and "get out the vote" operation, the programme includes a concerted nationwide effort by Republicans to lock in their electoral gains by any and all means necessary. Sounds like partisan rhetoric, sure, until you hear it from the source. Alluding to the fraud committed by his party in his home state of South Dakota, former Republican governor and congressman Bill Janklow told the Associated Press last week that the entire Victory programme is rife with electoral fraud: "These people are cheating. When you tamper with it, you cheat the system. And cheating in elections is the worst form of cancer because it's uncontrollable." Here's hoping Moulitsas isn't just seeing what he wants to see. .< 1:18:48 AM >Clinton boost for Kerry campaign Comeback Kid returns to centre stage, proving his ailing heart is still in the fight. [Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest] Just seeing a tiny clip of Clinton in action today illustrated how poor the current candidates look by comparison. .< 12:51:52 AM >6,000 BBC jobs may go in quest for new charter Media: Union braces for 'very tough year' resulting from new director general's root and branch review. [Via Guardian Unlimited] .< 12:45:27 AM >Rick Steves on the value of travel Travel can help mend a fractured world (USA Today, 17 October 2004)
[Via The Practical Nomad] .< 12:32:38 AM >Vote Kerry If I haven't said it before, I'm voting for John Kerry. I voted for Al Gore in 2000, and was sorry he wasn't allowed to serve. I was dubious about Bush, then cautiously optimistic, then horribly disappointed. [Via GlennLog] .< 12:27:36 AM >Malware on the Mac? Well, kinda Smart Windows users don't hesitate to use antivirus software. What excuse have smart Mac users got? [Via Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: O'Reilly Network Weblogs: Mac] 'While Opener certainly could cause some pretty nasty damage to any disk it infected, it lacks the crucial element that makes a virus a virus: a means to propagate itself from one machine to the next.' .< 12:09:51 AM >The Wonder of RSS Feeds As the saying goes: “Be careful what you wish for!” We wanted instant access to information. The Internet gave it to us. In spades. And now, many people are trying to turn OFF the tap. Or at least get a handle on all the web pages, news groups, and blogs we have to keep up on just to do our jobs. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin has a solution. [Via /Nerd: CBC Radio's Technology Column] A milestone? This might be the first officially sanctioned RSS feed from the CBC, something many of us have been asking for for some time. Oh wait, there is a genuine milestone: the CBC's' first podcast. Monday, 25 October 2004.< 11:23:10 PM >Canada, Mexico sign bilateral pact In an address to the House of Commons, Mr. Fox said Mexico and Canada have the "shared desire to further strengthen these relations." This year marks the 10th anniversary of Canada and Mexico as trading partners under the North American free-trade agreement. Within NAFTA, Canada has become Mexico's second largest export market and Mexico has become Canada's sixth largest, a statement from the two leaders said. [snip]
The two countries, meanwhile, will also create new programs for university academics in the two countries. Currently, nearly 10,000 Mexicans are studying in Canada every year and there are more than 400 agreements between Canadian and Mexico academic and research organizations. It does not matter where you’re calling from, only where you’re calling to. Sitting in London and calling your friend next door costs the same as sitting in Beijing, New York or Moscow and calling your friend in London.
Mexico €0.080 (€0.092)
If I'm reading the chart correctly the first rate is for all of Mexico and includes cell phones where as the second rate is for the Ciudad and is land lines only. .< 12:13:50 PM >:: Sonic Studio :: AES Announcements The next generation of SonicStudio, code name [base "]X,[per thou] is an upcoming OS 10[^]native version of our leading PCM product. With portable FireWire hardware providing massive DSP and support for Sonique[dot accent], our native format, along with Audio Units and VST plugins, SonicStudio X brings all of the Sonic goodness you expect, now with portability, big track counts and complete bussing and mixing capabilities. Finally. Here's hoping they can deliver soon. Other info on other projects. Looks like there's a Philips partnership in the works and that SACD will play an increasingly important roll. .< 11:42:02 AM >D-Day Dodgers revisit Italy, country they liberated 60 years ago (Canadian Press) Canadian Press - ROME (CP) - Dozens of Canadian veterans of the Second World War were greeted by Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and Italian officials as they returned to Italy for the first time in 60 years on Monday. [Via Yahoo! News - World] .< 11:37:15 AM >Canada's week to wax poetic Look out for poets on the loose likely to burst into verse [Via The Globe and Mail: Arts] "If it all sounds wonderfully weird, well, the event's genesis is even weirder. It all began when Morton, an insurance investigator by day, was caught speeding on her way home from a poetry reading last year. Morton offered to read the police officer a poem. He liked it, and told Morton he wasn't going to give her a ticket, but warned her not to drive so fast. "See what you can do with poetry?" Morton says. "That was my first random act."
Morton, a 64-year-old poet with incredible chutzpah, had already convinced the folks at WestJet Airlines to sponsor her as their "poet of the skies.""
Opener (AKA Renepo-A) is a shell script that can't be installed without admin privileges. It isn't spreading. Forgot about the WMD Saddam had dismantled. More incompetence. .< 9:13:35 AM >Fotolog about Montreal There's now a group Fotolog to showcase "the essence of Montreal" (one part poutine gravy, one part Labatt 50, diluted with eau du canal Lachine...?) [Via montreal city weblog] .< 1:48:41 AM >"The Baghdad Blogger goes to Washington: day one" Ultimately, the conversation turns to Iraq. We all seem to agree that even if John Kerry gets elected as president it is too late for a drastic change in policy. I am surprised at how much everyone here seems to have bought what the Bush administration has been selling them - especially the line about a well-educated Iraqi middle class that will take over and transform Iraq into a democratic paradise.
To tell you the truth, I bought into that as well - and boy were we wrong. That educated middle class was everywhere around the world, but not in Iraq. What it decided to do was to shut its mouth or turn religious. Yippee! I finally have a way to record skype calls on the mac. I'm still testing and hope to do a Trade Secrets with Dave today for the final stress test. It looks like I finally have an app that records all audio output on the mac and uses some native quicktime encoding that utilizes almost no cpu power. In the past this would always affect the quality of the skype connection. Once I'm happy with the setup I'll post details and pointers. [Via Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] .< 1:11:43 AM >Des Moines Register : "Yes, Kerry is... Des Moines Register: "Yes, Kerry is liberal. But what's to fear from a liberal president? That he would run big deficits? That he would increase federal spending? That he would expand the power of the federal government over individuals' lives? Nothing Kerry could do could top what President Bush has already done in those realms." [Via Scripting News] .< 1:04:03 AM >US Washington Post backs Kerry US candidate John Kerry's presidential bid is boosted by the backing of the influential Washington Post newspaper. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] .< 12:59:17 AM >Kerry for President We do, however, fault Mr. Bush for exaggerating to the public the intelligence given him privately and for alienating allies unnecessarily. Above all, we fault him for ignoring advice to better prepare for postwar reconstruction. The damage caused by that willful indifference is incalculable. There is no guarantee that Iraq would be more peaceful today if U.S. forces had prevented postwar looting, secured arms depots, welcomed international involvement and transferred authority to Iraqis more quickly. But the chances of success would have been higher. Yet the administration repeatedly rebuffed advice to commit sufficient troops. Its disregard for the Geneva Conventions led to a prison-torture scandal in both Iraq and Afghanistan that has diminished for years, if not decades, the United States' image and influence abroad. In much of the world, in fact, U.S. prestige is at a historic low, partly because of the president's high-handed approach to allies on issues ranging far beyond Iraq.
These failings have a common source in Mr. Bush's cocksureness, his failure to seek advice from anyone outside a narrow circle and his unwillingness to expect the unexpected or adapt to new facts. These are dangerous traits in any president but especially in a wartime leader. They are matched by his failure to admit his errors or to hold senior officials accountable for theirs. The emphasis is mine. The endorsement of Kerry for president comes from The Washington Post. .< 12:42:29 AM >CIA 'took detainees out of Iraq' US intelligence officers have taken detainees out of Iraq for interrogation, The Washington Post reports. [Via BBC News | World | UK Edition] Law specialists say the memo "amounts to a reinterpretation of one of the most basic rights of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians during wartime and occupation", the Washington Post says. The treaty prohibits the "individual or mass forcible transfers", the newspaper notes. The Justice Department memo allegedly permits the CIA to take Iraqis out of the country for questioning for a "brief but not indefinite period". It also says intelligence officers can permanently remove persons deemed to be "illegal aliens" under "local immigration law". The Bush administration continues with it's arrogance and disrespect for international treaties. These guys should be up for war crimes. .< 12:38:04 AM >Beyond the Call of Duty A whistle-blower objected to the government's Halliburton deals--and says now she's paying for it [Via TIME's Top Stories] As for Halliburton, it has faced alleged cost overruns, lost profits and seen at least 54 company contractors killed in Iraq. Greenhouse, meanwhile, has requested protection from retaliation. But her career—and reputation—are on the line. Cheney's license to print money. .< 12:25:46 AM >Massacre of 50 Iraqi soldiers Extremist group claims mass executions. [Via Guardian Unlimited] George brings democracy and freedom to the Iraqis. .< 12:24:15 AM >Carter: Bush exploits 9/11 suffering George Bush has exploited the suffering of 9/11, says former president in an interview with the Guardian. [Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest] '[B]ecause of the unwarranted invasion of Iraq by Bush and Blair, which was a completely unjust adventure based on misleading statements, and the lack of any effort to resolve the Palestinian issue, [there is] massive Islamic condemnation of the United States."
American media organisations, he adds, "have been cowed, because they didn't want to be unpatriotic. There has been a lack of inquisitive journalism. In fact, it's hard to think of a major medium in the United States that has been objective and fair and balanced, and critical when criticism was deserved". |