senatorhung's pad
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
a summer of departures
Sunday, 21AUG2005:got into a snit with siobhan about her inistence on explaining, prior to her drum dances this week, that she had sought and received permission from the creator and 'owner' of the drum dances to perform them in front of others. now, i freely grant that this might be an aspect of inuit traditional law that i don't understand or yet appreciate, but my contention is that the rest of the world won't pause in its appropriation of inuit culture to care.
to my mind, the only way to preserve culture, whether it is art or language or beliefs, is to share them as widely as possible. i fully support giving credit for any sources of inspiration, even to the extent of making it mandatory, but by forcing subsequent artists and creators to ask for permission to use a previous creation, all you do is force them to either steal without permission or to use some other source of inspiration that may not have nearly the same cultural resonance.
i only remembered afterwards that siobhan hadn't taken the IP course that i sat in on last fall, so she hadn't had a chance to get inoculated from my IP rants. *doh*
it's been a strange week, where good karma for me has seemed to be met by equally bad karma for those around me. i'm just hoping that there won't be any blowback waiting around the corner. i just found out tonite that odile, like stef, has decided to head south this week for the duration of the labour dispute. she may not even come back if the dispute goes for an extended period of time. the news bummed me out for the rest of the evening.
anyway, this summer's had a continual stream of folks departing. while there has been a corresponding influx of people, i'm hoping that there will be a few more interesting folks that i can add to my social circle. but, i'm not sure they will be enough to compensate for the huge gaps left behind by those who have left or will soon be leaving.
full moon feverish
Monday, 22AUG2005:found out about another relationship breakup today - must be something with the full moon out. ah well, as long as it's not in the water ...
hit the storehouse after work to send off odile with alison, bella, malcolm, robert and her coworkers including joanna, fiona, rosie, sara and lucie. the storehouse was offering a monday nite special of some pretty tasty (and free !) sausage rolls that were scarfed pretty quickly.
odile talked about some of the plays that we could put on when she gets back to town - the last one that we did was 'ends of the earth' back in december. the one she found most enticing was 'how i learned to drive'. she also suggested some possibilities for the community musical including 'three penny opera' and 'little shop of horrors'. when i left, i gave odile a great bearhug in case she doesn't find her way back north for awhile.
things that need fixing
Tuesday, 23AUG2005:went to the gym tonite to make up for skipping out last nite. after the workout, when i popped my removable seat onto the bike and sat on it, the pillar promptly sunk down to the nub, making my legs feel a good 6 inches shorter. problem was that the clamp for my removable seat was thieved during my workout last week and my gerry-rigged height marker finally gave in under my weight. like a computer desktop, a bike just doesn't feel right when the settings are askew from what you are accustomed to, and my ride home became an interesting mental exercise.
i'll have to go in to northmart tomorrow to see if they sell any parts to go with those toy bikes that they keep in stock :( the good news is that they've gotten their freezers and coolers fixed and back in operation, so, before my workout, i was able to replenish my more barren than usual fridge with sandwich fixings for the rest of the week.
jag-ged edges
Wednesday, 24AUG2005:got into an intense discussion this afternoon with jag about copyright issues. it seems that he's had quite the history in this area. one of his earliest battles was taking a programmer to court for copying his company's PROM's (programmable read-only memories). unfortunately, the argument was so bleeding edge that he had a hard time trying to convince the lawyers and the judge that there was anything in that hunk of plastic that was even subject to copyright.
another time he called the cops when he caught someone hacking his server and watched in horror as multiple officers ran in with guns drawn. when he pointed to the evidence of the ongoing 'break-in', all they could see were the computer monitors. he's also maintained a poetry-hosting website, being careful not to pre-judge plagiarism disputes. instead, they practiced a notice-and-notice process similar to what has been recommended in the copyright bill that will be considered by parliament this fall.
when i suggested that the ownership of ideas was going too far, he played devil's advocate and brought up the starving artist straw man. talk about unleashing the pit bull. i carried on for some time before he was able to ask what i would rather see instead of the current subsidization of corporate media. my suggestion of direct artist grants, with both annual and lifetime limits, to support creativity rather than commercial success, sort of took him by surprise as something that he had never considered.
in the evening, i watched 'red eye' at the astro. cillian murphy was suitably spooky as the airplane seatmate, while rachel mcadams was just as cute as she was in 'wedding crashers'. however, i much preferred her saucier WC character to the proper princess that she plays in much of this film. afterwards, i gobbled a few wings at the storehouse to close off the night.
cheap furniture could get you sued
Thursday, 25AUG2005:- ip idiocy link of the day: fedex stretches the dreaded DMCA to send a cease and desist letter to someone who used their packaging to build himself some cheap furniture and put up a website to document the process.
payday friday pinball
Friday, 26AUG2005:the extremely busy day that i expected at work today actually sorted itself out pretty well and i was able to exit early to hang out with stef at fantasy palace before she got on her flight to the south. she left all of her stuff here in storage, so it's likely that she'll make it back if the labour dispute doesn't drag on too long.
next, i wandered up to the frobisher restaurant to join the crowd wishing shelley farewell. she let me sit in on the IP course that was offered up here last fall and tho *i* enjoyed it, i'm sure she was doubting her decision every time i piped up on some legally unlikely scenario. anyway, we managed to eat our way thru a swath of pizzas.
also in the restaurant was anton, who had been of immense help last december when we put on the play 'ends of the earth'. he was the one who helped me to snake extension cords and lighting cables above the ceiling panels to get to the dc outlet in the kitchenette. he's headed south to hacker school in vancouver for a couple of years, so i have yet another mix to burn and give to him at his upcoming farewell bash.
satiated, i rolled back downhill to patrick's and another round of poker. this time we only had 4 players with daniel and karen filling out the table. everyone else seems to be saving their pennies for next saturday's big $100 game after todd gets back to town. i busted out 2d after karen, but after re-buying and refocusing, i steadily climbed back so that i was pretty even with patrick once we got to heads up play.
this time, the horseshoes were on my side and i managed to bluff a couple of big pots out from under him. he played better against me pre-flop, tho, so it took awhile for the game to get resolved. however, once i did get substantially ahead in chips, i was able to resume bullying with my stack and reclaimed bragging rights until next weekend's tourney.
got home and finished the last few pages of 'ask the pilot'. a good read, but there wasn't a huge amount that i hadn't already read from his weekly column in salon, so i'll be sending this copy on to my brother in calgary who's a flying fiend (and doesn't have regular internet access at home to read the columns online).
the way the story goes
Saturday, 27AUG2005:today's radio show will likely be my final one for at least a few weeks. thomas will reclaim his key and his timeslot on saturday afternoons. vicki and jim will be leaving town at the end of september so i may jump into her tuesday evening slot.
anyway, for today's show, i snagged the mix that i made to commemorate 'ends of the earth', the play that we put on last december. i dedicated the show to odile, one of the co-directors, who selected most of the music after listening to countless cd's smuggled temporarily from the cbc's stupendous stash.
aur.oral exposures setlist for 27aug2005:
- Mami Gato - Medeski Martin and Wood
- norwegian wood - Isaac and Blewett
- Soul of a Man - Maria Muldaur and Taj Mahal
- Bus 42 Announcement - Odile Nelson
- New Shim Sham Shimmy (edit) - Barry Elmes Quintet
- hubbard's blues - hot toddy
- Arrivederci - Quadro Nuevo
- entrance bells - sound effects
- Dance of Tamir Agha - [someone armenian ?]
- Mediterraneo - Oscar Lopez
- Para el Fin Del Mundo o el Ano Nuevo - Lhasa
- Building Steam with a Grain of Salt - DJ Shadow
- Love Sick - Bob Dylan
- thunder and lightning - sound effects
- The Gypsies: Journey Across Europe - John Corigliano
- La Maree Haute - Lhasa
- Come On Up to the House - Tom Waits
- Bus 73 Announcement - Odile Nelson
- The Way the Story Goes - Bocephus King and the Rigalattos
i had a great nite, playing 10 games for -2 bucks. yep, the first guy that i played refused to just play for the table, so when he scratched on the black, he ponied up a fin since he noticed that i was only drinking a coke. i won 4 more in a row against eepeebee, rook(?), kilabuk and mocku (mostly by having them scratch out) and then scratched out myself against billy after the first ball i hit sent the black ball astray into another pocket.
after taking a break, i went back for a rematch with eepeebee and scratched the eight ball on my 3d shot. re-racking quickly, we played a tiebreaker and i managed to actually sink a few balls this time to win the proper way. rematches with mocku and rook followed until the lights came on and i was the final table champ. overall score for the night was a very respectable 8-2.
also got advance notice that vinnie will be acting in a play in november with sylvia and jeff, directed by alejandro, about 'sedna', the legendary inuit goddess. i volunteered to help out with any technical details, but since they're bringing in a lighting rig from down south, i'll likely be of more use as a gopher. took a cab to apex afterwards to join a planned bonfire party, but headed back to town when it didn't materialize.
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