Terremoto -Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

First off, in my last post I said it was a 49 second video. It now appears this was in fact a 2 minute and 49 second video. (CBC made a mistake on that one and I just shuffled the mistake along before checking it out.) Anyhow..., good stuff Bobby Clarke. I just hope whoever purhases the rights to this video gives Bobby Clarke a fair shake. He deserves to cash in by being the right guy, in the right place, at the right time and with a video camera to boot. Maybe Bobby Clarke will make his mark in Sasquatch documentaries along with fellow Canadian, Peter von Puttkamer, award-winning producer of the documentary, "Sasquatch Odyssey - the hunt for Bigfoot".

In order to aggregate some of the stories out there I've put together a few links on the Manitoba Sasquatch sighting that you my find interesting.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be an 'Sasquatch nugget' - I hear they're big and stink real bad.

One of the locals, Joey Robertson said, "Couple of my friends and cousins have seen it, and some of them, first didn't believe in anything like that. When they seen the video, it convinced them."

Anyhow..., there shouldn't be any question from this point forward as to where Norway House, Manitoba can be found on the map or who local ferry operator, Bobby Clarke is.

Address to Nation Thursday, April 21, at 7:45 EDT. Our beleaguered Canadian leader, Paul Martin sounds like he's about ready to make a desperate plea to his captainship from an increasingly mutinous public. The News Media is hustling to get this covered as it's come on rather short notice. Trouble is, it doesn't look the press was invited. Speculation is mounting as to what he hopes to accomplish with this unusual tactic but we aim to keep you posted.

Anyhow..., please check back. I'm in the middle of switching this site over to a 'database driven dynamic' sort of thing and there could be a couple of speed bumps I've overlooked. In all likelihood there's going to be some potholes to go with the speed bumps.

Glad, real glad actually that someone in the media didn't tag the largest scandal in Canadian history, "Adgate". That would have been a huge insult to our national pride. I cringe when I recall "Shawinigate" or "Strippergate". At least "AdScam" makes it our scam and doesn't get it confused with any other scam!

"AdScam" could quite easily have been called "CanScam" but I kind of like the 'roots' connotation to the title "AdScam", going back to the Montreal advertising agencies at the heart of this Canuckian embarrassment. At least we have a name for our scandal that nobody can say we copied from our Yankee cousins. I was really getting tired of the "...gate" suffix being appended to every public no-no happening in the past 30 years.

Who knows? Maybe the next American scandal will be tagged with the "...Scam" suffix. How about "IntelliScam" for the next intelligence gathering boondoggle cooked up by some American Alphabet Spy Agency - the AASA. That just got me to wondering - how on Earth did the word "intelligence" ever get associated with espionage? Especially considering the sleaziness of the whole business. It probably comes from that same pool of reasoning that refers to purjury as "selective amnesia".

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be an 'intelligence nugget' - that would be like calling a "rabbit turd" a "smart pill".

Making money with a website can be a bit of a challenge. This one relies on two methods to garner income. One being Google Ads and the other being PayPal donations. So far the donations are a bit on the light side. To be more exact it's the point that divides negative from positive, referred to as zip, zilch, zero in most languages. Donations aren't that brisk for the moment but with the right cause it could prove profitable.

The Google Ads do work but to make a living solely from them would require some pretty substantial traffic. That's the tricky part, especially trying to do it with nothing but time as an investment. A couple of thousand page hits a day would likely be worth in the neighbourhood of $300 a month using nothing but Google Ads for revenue - a start. Near as I can tell you need current content, something to sell, freebies, up-sells, skin, or any combination of same. That's where it's looking like I need to go with FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL and PHP. The way I have things set up at the moment is kind of shakey but I've learned a ton in getting it to where it is. If this is ever going to sustain me it's going to need an overhaul soon - real soon - like before I starve to death.

Therein lies my biggest problem. No one understands that sitting in front of a computer all day isn't a waste of time. Well it is if you play FreeCell or porn surf or surf surf or chat with friends or things like that. The fact of the matter is, I don't!

Anyhow..., I know I'm close to earning a living at this except that I'm not quite there yet. Stay tuned though, it's going to be a big day when I donate 10% of my first $10,000,000 and give it away.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be an 'entrepenurial nugget' the brightest of all such nuggets.

While a lot of hardware junkies may be lusting over a shiny new dual-core Pentium machine from Alienware or Dell it could soon be the requirement for workstations running MS Windows. For the technically inclined the imagination conjures up all manner of use for the second core. How about processing that flight data from your recent rocket launch or maybe even compute winning lottery numbers while you're working on your doctoral thesis. These are valid reasons to purchase one of these hot-rod wonders but to require one for running all the system utilities that keep your Windows box free of vermin sounds too much like the wrong reason. But..., that's exactly what PCMag suggests in their recent review of the Dell XPS Gen5.

As PCMag so nochalantly puts it, "One of the complaints we've heard from readers is that "protection" programs, like Norton Internet Security, are useful for safeguarding their systems. but slow their computers to a crawl. Dual-core Hyper-Threaded processors, such as the Pentium EE 840, can help, improving your computing experience because the processor's dual cores can process tasks simultaneously. While most of the system is "concentrating" on making sure your Internet or gaming experience is fulfilled in the foreground, the reserve power that the dual cores provide protects you in the background, running Norton or other antivirus or firewall programs."

Anyhow..., until I make a whole lot more money than I'm making off of this site the best I'm ever going to be able to hope for is an aging dual Alpha EV68/1.0 Ghz number cruncher. That would still be way more than what I would require to do what it is I do. Curiously enough, when Windows NT ran on dual processor Alphas one processor handled nothing but the GUI.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be 'perfectly good dual Alpha nugget' picked up at government auction for a song.

Censorship is alive and kicking at the headquarters of the Calgary Police Service. It's would appear that Police Chief Jack Beaton has used a rare legal tactic to seize a computer from a private home that was believed to have been used as a webserver discrediting the Police Chief. Not only did he get the webserver seized, he managed to get a complete and suffocating gag order issued that prevents anyone from talking about the case or reading any documents related to it. This has rubbed city media the wrong way and they have put up legal arguments to have the order lifted.

Curiously enough Alderman Craig Burrows has no problem with this extreme form of censorship. Burrows tells CBC News, "I think any time you go after the morale of a service or the morale of a city that takes pride in its service, the chief has a right to act." Fair enough, but that doesn't give Beaton the right to act like a bully.

Anyhow..., I guess I'm a bit of an Anarchist so that's why power, and especially it's abuse, irks me to no end. I'm pretty sure this isn't the last we'll hear of Police Chief Jack Beaton and his detractors.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be 'censored'.

Anyhow..., light has allowed me to read well past my bed time for nearly half a century. I already have a decent selection of LED flashlights so I'm interested to see what household lighting will look like when it's provided by the wonders of Light Emitting Diodes.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'LED lit nugget'.

†"Death by misadventure" is the verdict delivered at a hearing into the death of Gareth Mason of England. While attempting to moon some imaginary passers-by he ended up doing the "drunk d00d wobble dance" through a plate glass window, skewering himself on a spiked fence. The coroner's report indicates that he was fairly well marinated at 292 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - quadruple the limit for passable steering privileges. Strangely enough, he was eating kebab at the time. It's bad enough getting liquored-up and killing yourself but it's got to be hugely embarrassing finding yourself pinned to a spiked, wrought iron fence with your pants around your ankles.

I'm sure he'll be nominated for a Darwin Award by graciously removing himself from the gene pool in such spectacular fashion. There's a lesson here boys and girls and I don't think it requires much in the way of explanation. Remember - common sense will likely get you further down the twisty, rutted road of life than dollars and cents ever will.

Anyhow..., "Death by Misadventure" - I've dodged that puppy on more than a few occasions.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'fool's gold nugget'.

So I just have to wonder, "are any of these parties aware of the others?" Don't you think the Work Less Party should hook up with the Marijuana Party of BC? That should set them up to 'smoke' any candidates fielded against them in their respective constituencies. Motivating themselves to get out there and do some campaigning could be a bit of a problem. I would suspect the Marijuana Party of BC would be fairly well financed and wouldn't have to resort to tactics made infamous by the Liberal Party of Canada. Of course we can't leave out the Freedom Party can we? What would sex and less work and smoking weed be without a splash of freedom to wash it down. And what would Left Coast Politics be without some sort of "we're outta here party"? Cast a vote for the Annexation Party of British Columbia and forget about having to head south for the winter cause you'ld already be there. It's a Zen thing - wherever you go, there you are - or maybe it's a ZigZag thing - where the heck are we now?

I suppose what's really scary is that every one of these parties are quite serious about getting a candidate elected in the next British Columbia Provincial Election. Scarier yet, one of them may just get elected. Scarierier, I'm tempted to head over to BC and start my own party, the Anarchy or Nothing Party or maybe even the the Party Party. Scarierest, I think I could win!

Anyhow..., I think the Sex Party just might be onto something here. For one thing they're essentially growing their own votes, much like the Marijuana Party of BC and they may even get a few favours tossed their way in the form of gratuitous sex. Scandalous stuff that sells books and allows one to rest out their final years on some lazy little island in the Caribbean. Yup..., If I were a Left Coaster I'ld be trying to nail down that Sex Party bagman position.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'nothing nugget', the anarchy of it all.

Jean Brault's testimony at the Gomery Inquiry has completely overshadowed Jean Chretien's attempt to remove Justice John Gomery from the 'Sponsorship Inquiry'. If our former Prime Minister is so cock sure that he has nothing to hide then why would he want to try and throw a monkey wrench into the gearbox of a machine that is finally getting some traction. You would think that Chretien would allow the Gomery Inquiry to go ahead unimpeded as it would ultimately clear his name. Nope..., it looks like our former PM has other thoughts in mind like attempting to derail a locomotive that has finally got up to steam.

Anyhow..., the only thing this boondoggle is missing to make unforgettable history until the end of all time is a wee dash of sex.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'stinky Liberal nugget', by far the stinkiest of all such nuggets.

Big adrenaline rush for this guy. Twenty-three year old SAIT student, Peter Bysterveld fought off a cougar attack bare handed and, lucky for him has survived to tell the tale. Can't imagine what went through this guy's mind but I'll bet it contributed to the skid mark left in his hiking shorts.

Anyhow..., if you care to simulate a cougar attack try taking the neighbours cat into the shower for a shampoo job. That should give you a fair idea what it's like to tangle with a cat the size of a large domestic dog. [*Note: You might want to dig out the Kevlar swimming trunks before you actually try this at home.]

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'tetosterone fueled nugget' launched at high velocity by a nervous student rapidly heading south.

Wow, what can I say. From the testimony of Jean Brault and the revelations finally seeing the light of day - and that ain't Stockwell Day by the way - it would appear that Justice Gomery has finally ferreted out a cooperative witness. This Brault guy deserves a bit of compassion for being one of the few witnesses not suffering a convenient form of amnesia, a common side effect being that of forgetting 'convenient amnesia' is still purjory.

You just have to know that the smell of rotting vermin is overwhelming when the Hells Angels find it revolting. What about the Canadian population, are we fed up yet? I was way back when Jean Chrétien made an election promise to get rid of the Goods and Services Tax. How hollow was that? I voted against the Liberals back then because I saw through the lies. Unfortunately the majority of Canadian voters disagreed and I would have to say that, "When you voted Liberal you got what you deserved!" Perhaps the majority of Canadian voters thought they could somehow get their snout up to the trough and retire comfortably on some lazy little island in the Caribbean. Western Canadians are not so easily duped and voting patterns confirm this.

Anyhow..., my advice to Stephen Harper - "Get off your pompous ass and go for the jugular!" The Liberal government does not deserve to be on the payroll and should be 'suspended without pay' immediately!

Very well. For those of you that are curious to know what the 'beer can' pile looked like here's a bird's eye view. This represents a 'Winter's Worth' of beer cans! Count them if you wish.

Anyhow..., it's been a slow day around here. Got my tooth pulled and I'm lay'n low. Depending on the pain level the picture of the next pile of beer cans may or may not be larger. Beer is sort of 'ok' as a pain-killer but there is far more effective stuff out there. Just ask your pharmacist what you can get without a subscription - you'ld be surprised.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be the 'gold nugget' I had to cash in to pay off the t00th d00d. As far as 'wisdom teeth' go they're likely more rare than the gold nugget.

Recycling can be a reasonably profitable endeavour but does have some caveats. Out here we get 5¢ for pop cans and Tetra Paks, 10¢ for beer cans and 20¢ for whisky bottles and large plastic pop bottles. For you Americans out there a 'pop can' is what you would refer to as a 'soda can' - they are one and the same and one of the many things that distinguishes us from you. And furthermore, just because our cows are tasty and tender doesn't make them mad - being ground into 99 billion burgers makes them mad! Actually, it's the cattle ranchers that are mad. We're getting a little sidetracked here so let's get back to recycling and the downside to what we Western Canadians call "bottle pick'n".

What you see in the picture may look quite colourful and it is. What you don't see is the 'stickiness' and the 'cigarette butts' and 'lipstick' and 'dog germs'. If you're thinking of getting into bottle pick'n full time you may want to invest in an externally aspirated bio-hazard suit. I'm sure these can be picked up for a reasonable price from eBay or if you happen to have a government research lab in the neighbourhood you just might find one in a dumpster. I would hose it off real good before putting it on though. Actually, that's good advice for anything you may find in a dumpster. Remember, "Common sense always makes more sense than common law."

Bottle pick'n gets its name from the days when breweries and pop bottlers used to refill bottles. In those days the grocery store or the beer store, as the case may be would handle the collection of empty bottles. Now you have to remember that not too many things came in plastic containers so this was a fairly straightforward routine. Then some wise-ass came up with the idea of 'throw-away' containers and before you knew it the populace was up in arms over the litter of beverage containers scattered everywhere. It's possible there's some connection between thirst and messiness - I'm not sure but it may be worth an application for a Canada Research Council Grant to find out. Anyhow..., that meant it was time for the legislators to step up to the plate and offer a solution in the form of a law. A bounty was placed on the head of every disposable beverage container and bottle pick'n all of a sudden became less of a strain being that plastic containers weigh a hell of lot less than glass containers.

In any case, and in the case of whisky bottles - especially cases of whisky bottles - bottle pick'n can be a decent way of earning some extra disposable income. Just wander around picking up improperly disposed of beverage containers. With cigarettes up around a gazillion dollars a pack I see a lot of smokers out getting their fresh air pick'n bottles. If the price of gasoline doesn't go down in a real hurry there is going to be a lot of vehicle owners competing in the bottle pick'n arena. Some larger metropolitan areas already have gangs that control various bottle pick'n territories. Things may get ugly!

While we're on the subject of gasoline prices, CBC News is reporting that gasoline prices have gone over the $1 a litre mark for the first time in history. Apparently the Federal Competition Bureau has failed to make the connection between oil price and conspiracy. That seems a trifle puzzling. And what about this guy trying to parachute off a Calgary office tower - was he sniffing high priced regular? I doubt that it was a guilt ridden oil company executive. The bird-brain is still lucky to have the odd synapse firing at a regular interval. Talk about just missing a Darwin Award candidacy.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'building jumper's nugget'.

One thing that really puzzles me about 'the law' is the way it gets so complicated in such a hurry. I was reading a story about a video of a an unprovoked attach on a student in Saskatoon being posted to the Internet. There are laws in place that provide severe penalties for perpetrators of such crimes as there should be. Unfortunately, somewhere in the administration and enforcement of these laws something goes terribly wrong. These perpetrators know that there is little they are going to answer for. They also know that if they do have to answer for their actions they will ultimately pay less than what they were asked.

I suppose the puzzling part comes when it comes to the penalty. Why is it that when the courts determine a sentence for a convict the criminal is back on the streets, in many cases after serving less than half their sentence? How does stating, "I'm sentencing you to one year in jail" translate into "You're only going to have to be incarcerated for five months out of those twelve months but you will have Thanksgiving and Christmas off so it shouldn't be much of a burden. And if you would rather not look at this as a holiday away from the missus we have conjugal suites available for your pleasure. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Crowbar Hotel." I'm beginning to think this is sending the wrong message and I'm a bit surprised at myself for not picking up on this a lot sooner.

Here's the next puzzling part - we see this miscarriage of justice and come to the absurd conclusion that the law must be somehow inadequate and a new band-aid patch addition or amendment is required post-haste. This complicates the issue immensely and requires the forfeiture of two-hundred dollars an hour to have it 'interpreted' for us. For some bizarre reason we accept this without question.

Here's "Dan's Law of Sense" which states quite clearly and without animosity or ambiguity, "Common sense will always make more sense than common law!"

Anyhow..., I suppose the part that doesn't puzzle me is the part where the lawyers seek public office so they can create the complicated and convoluted laws that require their cohorts to charge exorbitant fees to untangle the ambiguity.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it should be a 'common sense nugget'.

From Shaw 'Installation Technicians' I've talked with the CAN$55/month VoIP service would be accomplished by the technician disconnecting Telus from the household telephone wiring and connecting the Shaw VoIP box so that existing phone jacks will route through the Shaw Cable High Speed Internet service. A lower priced alternative coupled with improved technical support could prove to be a good revenue stream for the cable company at the expense of the incumbent telco. Telus intends on offering digital television through it's High Speed ADSL soon so tensions are a bit strained at the moment.

In any case I think the 'regulators' in Ottawa should stay out of the dispute and let the consumer decide who offers a superior product at a superior price.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it isn't going to be a 'monopoly telco nugget'.

This has to be the most interesting website I've ever ran across. If you have a bit of time to kill then check out Requiem for a Dream. From a website designer's point of view this is a truly brilliant site. Don't take my word for it though - check it out for yourself. A word of warning though, don't be afraid to click around the site if it appears it's 'stuck'. The effort will be duly rewarded.

Anyhow..., "Requiem for a Dream" may not be for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think a lot of you will too.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it isn't going to be a 'dull nugget'.

So what's with the Google Ads? It's a way that I hope to be able to earn a bit of an income off this site or at least cover the costs of keeping it online. It requires your cooperation and participation though. Google uses some complicated algorithm to present ads relevant to the content of this page. For instance if I were to do a posting about dog turds you may see ads related to pooper-scooper contraptions. Granted, that's an extreme example but I think you get the picture. The idea is if you see a Google Ad that strikes your fancy you click on it and I get a cut of the revenue Google collects from the advertiser.

It's not just a simple matter of applying to Google and then sitting back waiting for the armoured car to start making deliveries. A website needs traffic or visitors or whatever you want to call it and attracting them is no trivial task. It's a lot of hard work and not easily justified to those that don't have a clue about website development. I have discovered a couple of techniques that seem to be starting to provide results but from what I can tell the work has just begun and there is still a ton to learn.

Content is what keeps visitors returning and that content has to be current. Nothing like stale content to turn away repeat visitors. The type of content can have a huge influence on the numbers of returning visitors and that can be a real challenge. Some high-traffic websites have humourous content and loyal visitors as a result while others provide relevant and current content to special interest groups. Done properly, this can attract new and repeat visitors. The beauty of it all is that through the wonders of modern internet technology it's not impossible to get something out on the web and earn a living from it for a relatively modest investment. It can get downright complicated and confusing at times and many before me have given up in despair. I'm a tad tenacious though, so giving up is completely out of the question.

I'm often criticised for spending too much time in front of the monitor and many ask, "Is it making you any money?" I suppose the appropriate answer is, "Not yet." What confounds me is why so many believe that everything I do needs to be justified in monetary terms. If it's such a concern then offer cash for tapping my knowledge. I promise I won't be offended by the offer.

Anyhow..., I need to get slashdotted and I have something in the wings that I'm certain will accomplish that. Stay tuned it's coming soon!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it isn't going to be a 'quitters nugget'.

The site, "p2pnet" is running a story about the CBC running sporadic pages with an MSN advertisement placed squarely above the CBC Logo. The article points out instances of this going back to at least January of 2003. Now you have to remember this corporation is funded with taxpayer's dollars and really shouldn't be accepting advertisements from anyone and most certainly not from the predatory likes of Microsoft. Clicking the MSN logo on the CBC page brings up Sympatico.MSN.ca which pretty much confirms that Microsoft wields a big stick over at Sympatico, the ISP wing of Bell Canada. I believe I detect the faint odour of something rotten.

I have never known the CBC to accept advertising of any sort so I'm curious as to what's going on here. As the p2pnet article indicates, "...googling http:/www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN" will produce the following:

In addition to the MSN banner ad across the top of the page there is one spanning the bottom of the page. I'm ready for your favourite conspiracy theory. Is it possible that cash or influence has been exchanged somewhere along the line? Does this cross some boundary? Is Microsoft attempting to take control of Canada using the CBC as a backdoor?

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be an 'MSN nugget', the stinkiest of all.

The other day I did a post about Microsoft's planned release of IE 7 and in that post I alluded to the fact that big things eventually crumble. History shows this and it doesn't matter if it's geologic, cultural, human, social or whatever history. Big things implode or explode or dissolve or crumble or whatever. In any case, they just don't last forever - whatever forever means - now that's a topic for a future post! How old is our universe? Fourteen or so billion years old that's how old. Life as we know it on Earth has been around for something like four or five billion years and humans, for the relatively brief thirty to sixty thousand years. A mere fart in the wind!

So where is this post going? I suppose what I'm trying to say is that 'decision makers' have a very narrow view of the future, and for that matter, the past and tend to think of 'time' in terms of the average human lifespan. Now that's short-sighted in my opinion. I'm not holding my breath that these 'decision makers' are going to someday wakeup and see the light. Those that do understand these things are generally labeled heretics and shit-disturbers and otherwise relegated to the fringe. It's too bad really.

Anyhow..., guess that's it for now. I should try and go forth and make some money. That's modern human.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'universal nugget' thirteen point seven billion years old.

It looks as if the hospital may not be the best place to head to unless it's absolutely neccessary. The CBC is reporting that, "(Superbug)...infections kill more North Americans annually than breast cancer, traffic accidents and AIDS combined." That's the bad news. The good news is that it appears this is likely preventable with judicious use of cleaning supplies. Read the rest of the story [HERE]

The real scary infection is the "Necrotizing Fasciitis/Myositis" or, "flesh-eating disease". Many authorities on the subject believe that the 'group A streptococci bacteria' creates a protein that causes the immune system to destroy both the bacteria and the flesh hosting it. This thing works fast and the 'cure' appears to be a 'bone saw' used to separate the good flesh from the bad. Yikes!

Anyhow..., there's something to get your synapse firing like a machine gun. Sure hope I never have to get a limb sawed off to save me from myself.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'what's that nugget' dropped by that part of the anatomy that's just been sawed off.

The Telegraph is reporting that, "The less pupils use computers at school and at home, the better they do in international tests of literacy and maths, the largest study of its kind says..." It makes you wonder if the school system puts too much faith in the words of software and hardware vendors motivated by nothing but profit and too little faith in teaching basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. Read the rest of the story [HERE]

This raises an interesting point and my observations over the years have pretty much led me to similar conclusions. The 'studies' that really confound me are those that claim computer games improve hand-eye coordination. I'm sure that it probably does but I would also say that digging out a pencil and some paper could be just as effective. These 'studies' seem to be nothing more than a form of justification for wasting time on the computer playing games. I'm not a 'gamer' and the only thing positive that I've seen come out of gaming is that 'gamers' tend to lust after the latest hardware and are pretty effective at stress testing it when they get their hands on it. Otherwise 'gamers' are non-productive time wasters especially when they do so on the corporate payroll. That includes the secretary that requires a Freecell fix to make it to first coffee break.

Anyhow..., those of us that are not 'gamers' are probably equally as effective at wasting time on the computer by rolling through the roster of technology and news sites and maybe checking out our favourite blogs before we're fully awake. I know that I'm not personally guilty of this but...!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'flaming gamer nugget' hurled by some imaginative virtual plasma weapon.

EWeek is reporting that Microsoft's planned upgrade to Internet Explorer - Version 7 - will not include support for CSS2, a W3C standard. Some are saying that Microsoft feels CSS2 is fundamentally flawed and for that reason they are going to wait for a newer revision. I can't help but feel this is flawed thinking. Why not go all out to get back those that switched to Firefox or some alternate browser. There would be nothing to lose by doing so and everything to gain. I truly believe it is this kind of arrogance that will be Microsoft's undoing some day.

Over the years I've noticed that really big things seem to eventually crumble or erode away. Mountains do this. Obese people tend to succumb to the burden of their own weight. Really big animals seem to be the ones at the biggest risk of ultimate extinction. Corporations appear to work on a similar mechanism.

Anyhow..., just thought I'ld shoot that past you. Of course nobody has to agree with me - that's the beauty of being my own publisher.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'dinosaur nugget' - a really big dinosaur.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I know I should have gotten this out sooner and I hope I'm not too late. I've been wearing green all day and even put my welding goggles on for a while so that everything else was green as well. I was getting way too many weird looks so I eventually took them off. Some day I'll post up a picture of them so you get the idea. Suffice it to say that they probably did look a bit odd.

One thing I like about Saint Patrick's Day is that you know that Spring is just around the corner. Yup..., before you know it the dog turds are going to start popping out of the snow banks and the smell of Spring will be in the air. I always think it's significant when you spot the first flying insect of the year. Over the years I would say that it's about fifty-fifty as to whether or not that first flying insect has been a mosquito or a dog turd fly. Curiously enough the first flying insect I saw outside this year was a small grey moth. I'm pretty sure that's a first. And it was early too! Maybe there is something about this global warming thing.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'half frozen dog nugget'.

As I cast about for yet another distraction I find myself learning MySQL and PHP in an attempt to come up with a dynamic site. One thing I want to be able to do is create a form, password protected for the fascilitation of posting to this blog. Shouldn't be too difficult but I would venture a guess that it will take me a day or two to figure out. Trouble is, just about everything - documentation and otherwise - assumes you will be using Linux and gear everything in that direction. My problem is I insist on using FreeBSD or OpenBSD for my servers. I suppose you could say that I enjoy the challenge.

In any case this can sometimes be a bit of a hinderence and contribute to hair loss. I can accept that. I just find that the 'BSDs' are more consistent with the way they do things than the multitude of Linux distributions out there. Just in case you're wondering I use Linux too. But anyways..., I kind of like 'web-apps' as they are so much less restrictive in terms of 'computer'. Basically, all you need is an Internet connection and a web browser. if done right then the client side of the equation is covered in all but the most extreme of circumstances. That's what makes all the hair pulling worth it in the end.

Anyhow..., I better get at this project or it's never going to get done. Nothing I've ever done with computers has ever made any money but that's not to say that some day it won't all pay off. I believe that.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'web developer's nugget'.

There seems to be a pattern of minimally enforcing existing legislation to the point where there is a public outcry and then the legislators step in with pumped chest and offer salvation in the form of 'New Laws'. There was a time when I would question the wisdom in this thinking but no longer. It's political strategy, pure and simple.

Our Canadian Gun Registry is glaring example of that. Before the Gun Registry came into effect certain classes of firearms were downright illegal and it's been a serious offense to use a firearm in the commission of a crime since way before that. What exactly was the Gun Registry supposed to accomplish? Was it supposed to somehow magically make the illegal use of firearms go away? Hardly! It was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the senseless slaying of female students by a mentally disturbed, Marc Lepine. Criminals, by definition do not pay heed to laws. I think it's pretty obvious that capital punishment has done nothing to curb the crime of murder.

Anyhow..., I say, "Anarchy or nothing!" From chaos comes order - eventually. That's sort of how our universe works.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here and but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'legislator's nugget'!

Was that a little puff of smoke I saw there? Could Mount Saint Helens be gearing up for a spectacular pyrotechnic display? Stay tuned to the Mount Saint Helens web cam and you may be the first to shout out "Thar she blows!". Just think how exciting that would be!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a freshly spewed 'piping hot volcano nugget'.

It has come to my attention that Mount Saint Helens is once again 'waking up'. I was in South America when Mount Saint Helens 'blew it's top' and it was big news even down there at the time - May 18, 1980. Central and South Americans know what volcanoes are all about as they are scattered throughout that part of the world and 'go off' from time to time. Curiously enough Canada has no active volcanoes and few dormant ones. That's not to say there aren't any close by. Mount Baker in Washington State sits just across the border from British Columbia and if it decides to activate itself Canadians in the vicinity will surely know about it.

Anyhow..., natural phenomena like earthquakes and volcanoes fascinate me. Being a Canadian the weather fascinates me as well. I have been through a hurricane - Hurricane Mitch - and would dearly love to see a tornado some day. I did manage to create a small one by lighting a brush pile on fire. The rising heat created a funnel that, to my surprise got quite loud before it blew itself out. I now know what people refer to when they say that a tornado sounds like a freight train. It does - sort of - although it sounds more to me like a dump truck unloading boulders.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'storm chaser's nugget' or a freshly spewed 'piping hot volcano nugget'.

Well..., the Drop Caps seem to be working ok. I tried it out in Mozilla and IE and didn't discover anything that looked like it might bring things to grinding halt. IE is definitely more picky about the the way it handles it though. I'm certainly hoping that Microsoft will come out with a 'standards compliant' upgrade to IE when they finally get around to doing an upgrade. I'm certainly not holding my breath on that one though.

Anyhow..., I'm having fun with CSS and I think it's going to help a lot when I take the plunge into XML and try and make that look good. XML looks simple enough on the surface but it can get real complicated in a real hurry. Oh well, it keeps my brain exercised and that's a good thing.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'web designer's nugget'.

This is a quick test to see if we can get a Drop Cap working with pure CSS. I've always liked the look of Drop Caps and feel they add a certain elegance to the page. I suppose it comes from my interest in Calligraphy - that's where Drop Caps are truly elegant. Making them look good on a web page is something else entirely. Perhaps the easiest way is to just supply an image and have your text flow around it. That can make the HTML a bit bloated and requires a set of 'images' stored on the web server to representing the Drop Caps. I've decided to try this with pure CSS and this is what you get from my efforts.

Anyhow..., I've set up a new site that is just straight HTML right now. My intention is to format it entirely with CSS. I've seen some good examples of this and I want to explore the possibilities. I am hoping to make a distinct division between content and formatting and eh-wire.com will be the testbed for that.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'web designer's nugget'.

I think it's great to see the First Nations people of Canada taking the bull moose by the horns and being the early adopters of VoIP technology. I'm very happy with my VoIP phone and I'm sure my First Nations cousins will be happy with theirs.

Anyhow..., I kind of like the idea of a little competition for the incumbent Telcos. Maybe they'll start offering a little service of their own.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'Telco CEO's nugget'.

The Calgary Sun is reporting that, "Telus Corp.'s cellphone unit is accused in a class-action lawsuit of failing to tell customers that calls are billed as soon as the phone starts ringing. The suit claims $50 million damages."
Read the rest of the story... [HERE]

Yikes...! You just have to wonder what drives a corporation to these extremes. Would it be the shareholders demanding this? I would sure like to think it isn't. In any case I think it's pretty harsh considering you have to wait for the second ring to activate the Caller-ID so you can identify the caller!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'telco ceo's nugget'.

If this article by Michael Geist has a ring of truth to it, and I would have no reason to believe otherwise, then I think we have something to be afraid of. That something is our Canadian Government and it's myopic view of how the Internet should be run.

Do we want the Canadian Government to dictate what we can and can't do online? Do we want the Canadian Government to be able to listen in, at their leisure to our VoIP telephone conversations? Do we want the Canadian Government to interfere in any way with our online Internet experience? I think we need to tell our duly elected representatives in the House of Commons to butt out, get some integrity, and solve the real ills plaguing Canadian Society.

If you agree with me then I would urge you to contact The Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of Industry and tell him that you think their proposed policies and initiatives are misguided and narrow minded. I would suggest you do it before it's too late.

Anyhow..., don't let Members of Parliament that owe it to you for their slack ass jobs roll rough shod over your rights and freedoms. Act now!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'Minister's nugget', the stinkiest of all such nuggets.

For any of you out there that know anything at all about OpenBSD or OpenSSH the name Theo DeRaadt will be immediately familiar. For those of you that don't know, he's the founder and project leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects. To be recognized by your peers, especially the likes of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, is huge news and all I can say is, "It's about time!".

OK..., so some of you may be asking who the hell is Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation? Well Richard Stallman is the voice of Free Software and the one who coined the phrase, "Free..., as in Free Speech not as in Free Beer". In any case, I think Theo DeRaadt deserves the recognition for his huge contributions to Free and Open Source Software. Theo DeRaadt, more than any other single person I can think of, is the guy responsible for making your computing experience a safer experience. If all software was written like OpenBSD and OpenSSH it would go a long way to making computing a trouble free experience.

Anyhow..., I don't think Theo DeRaadt gets the recognition he rightfully deserves so I'm more than happy to tell you about this award.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it won't be a 'buffer overflow nugget'.

OK..., although I'm closer to seperating the content from the format on this site I'm stll not quite there. I still rely on a lot of tables for the general layout of this site and it's definetly not optimized for search engine ranking. First thing on the agenda though, is to dump the tables and try and get a three column layout in pure CSS. I also want to be able to change the graphics and still have the site 'read' by search bots. doable but tricky.

Anyhow..., it's been a long day - I drove a couple of hundred miles - so I think I'm going to cut this one short.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'prairie dog nugget'.

If we can't make up our minds about how or when or why when it comes to lighting off missles it's nice to know that we can cooperate on a Solar Competition, The North American Solar Challenge or "Rayce", as it were. This year Calgary marks the finish line for the rayce so it should get some pretty decent coverage here in oil soaked Alberta. There are major advances and improvements in solar technology from year to year so this is a rayce that just keeps getting better. Many of the competitors employ some pretty heavy duty engineering.

Anyhow..., it's nice to be thinking nice sunny thoughts when it's the middle of winter (actually feels like spring but that can be deceiving north of the 49th). Winters now are not as I remember them in the 1960s and 1970s but who really knows what's going on there. Hell, I've found fossils here in Alberta that clearly indicate to me that it was once tropical so it might just be a bit of a fluctuation in the overall scheme of things. It's pretty difficult to say with absolute certainty.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'sundog nugget'.

Edward McNally, a local entrepreneur has been appointed to the Order of Canada. I don't know how many other 'brewers' have made the Order since it's inception in 1967 but I'll wager a pint that there isn't that many and by any measure, there isn't enough of them. Ed McNally is a bit of a modern day legend around these parts for making some of the finest beer available. I suspect there's some decent marketing skills in there somewhere as well with names like "Warthog" and "Grasshopper" gracing the labels of the beer from Big Rock Brewery. My favourite is the "Traditional Ale" label for it's skillfully rendered calligraphy.

Just click the picture to the left to see the rest of the labels. Not only does Big Rock Breweries make fine beer and render memorable labels they also run a contest called "the Eddies" that offers home grown cinematographers, videographers and beer loving graphic artist types a chance to win cash prizes for their beer commercials and beer advertisements.

Anyhow..., I think Ed McNally deserves his Order of Canada and I'm pleased to be able to tell you about it. Not only that but I think Ed makes an honest beer!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'warthog nugget' or a 'grasshopper nugget' or 'pure liquid gold'.

Sure hope the Big Rock Brewing guys don't mind me ripping off their beer label logo to toss up on my site/blog.

Ok..., I've got this box that runs Windows 2000 that's hooked up to a vinyl cutting plotter. The vinyl cutting plotter requires vector graphics so I use Corel Draw which requires Windows. If I could ever figure out how to get around that limitation I would give it a shot. It looks as if the Win4Lin product is now able to use Windows 2000/XP so that just might now be a reality.

Anyhow..., right now it isn't an option because I need the vinyl cutting plotter up and running yesterday. So yesterday I punch the 'go' button on the Windows 2000 box and it can't find the startup files. No problem, I've seen that before. Find the Windows 2000 CD, fire up the "Repair/Recovery Console" and type "fixboot". Fair enough..., in a perfect world that's all there would have been to it.

Well..., this just isn't a perfect world so I come to the nasty realization that although the partition is recognized there just isn't anything there. Zero, zip, zilch! Even Knoppix finds nothing on the partition even though it recognizes it. This is beginning to look a tad grim!

The CD was already in the CDROM from the failed experiment with the "Repair/Recovery Console" so I punch the 'refire' button and pick the install option. It's now well past dark and I've been at this for a good part of the day. I finally get Windows 2000 installed on the beater but now I've got a few hours of patching before it's ready for production. It looks as if this is going to stretch into a second day.

So just before it gets dark on the second day of a massive rebuild the Windows 2000 beast is set up to once again send cutting commands to the vinyl cutting plotter. For all the advances in technology this just seems a tad labour intensive. In the several years that I've been working with Unix and Unix-like Operating Systems I have seen huge improvements with the various flavours of Linux and BSD. In that same time I've seen more and more band-aids applied to the Windows Operating System to the point that it's a race to get it patched before it gets compromised. Trust me on this..., if you need a solid, robust, and capabable server then by all means forget about Microsoft. Your job, as an administrator, will be much simpler and a lot less stressful if you learn a bit of Linux, or FreeBSD. Put your servers behind an OpenBSD box running pf and no more chicken swinging Voodoo Magic to keep everything running. If you could just convince the rank and file to convert to something besides Windows then you could really sit back with your feet on the desk and take life easy.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be wondering what I've been up to. Well now you know.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here and I can't guarantee it won't be a 'MCSE's nugget'!

I think I've finally got an initial grasp of CSS. It has some peculiarities that can really have you pulling your hair but overall it makes updating the look and feel of a website infinitely easier.

Over the next few days I'm going to be doing some experimenting so from time to time the site may look broken. No problem - if it's broken then I'm working on a solution so just check back later. It won't be broken for long.

Anyhow..., that's what I've been up to. Next project will be trying to get a database configured to handle the content. It will be one of those LAMP things except that mine will run on BSD, my favourite Open Source Operating System.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it just might be a 'web designer's nugget'.

The transformation of this website to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is now complete. I can finally control the look and feel of the whole website with a single style sheet. I must tell you this was not a trivial task. Style sheets can be tricky to debug and even the order of some declarations within the style sheet can cause major troubleshooting brain strain. The only thing I need to do is convert my 'navigation bar' to CSS from the present JavaScript that renders it now. I'll leave that for another day though.

I guess the thing that amazed me the most was the fact that I got pages to 'float' over the background in Internet Explorer. From what I understand this is a difficult thing to do and even the CSS Guru, Eric Meyer, doesn't have his two demonstrations, css/edge and complexspiral demo, floating over the background in Internet Explorer. I know that some web authors use a JavaScript technique to simulate the effect but I've done it with straight CSS. This effect uses the declaration, background-attachment: fixed which only works with the body element in Internet Explorer. Maybe someday Internet Explorer will ship CSS Compliant but I'm not holding my breath.

Anyhow..., I'ld say the Terremoto Site is ready for some fun with some simple changes to my style sheet.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'web designer's nugget'.

This is a 'Work in Progress' so from time to time the site may look a tad unusual. Don't worry about it, I'm just experimenting a bit. It may take a day or two but it should be interesting when it's done and it should work for any modern browser. Right now it looks good in Firefox and ugly in Internet Explorer. That's the breaks.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'web designer's nugget'.

I made some changes to the website today. If you're using Internet Explorer it's going to look ugly but that's your fault. I would suggest you download and install a real web browser like Firefox that renders CSS properly. Not only that but you get a superior web browsing experience.

Anyhow..., for those of you that insist on using Internet Explorer I'm in the process of coding a 'style sheet' just for you. I shouldn't but I'm going to.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'web designer's nugget'.

"For the second time in less than a year, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is reporting a software glitch that affected numerous customer transactions.

According to CIBC spokesperson Rob McLeod, the bank experienced a problem on Monday night which prevented the successful completion of customer transactions. McLeod couldn�t say whether these transactions were wiped out altogether or could be completed once the problem is corrected, but he did say the software responsible for transaction processing was at fault."

Anyhow..., this can't be a good sign. If the banks conducted and processed the transactions, on paper, like in the olden days, it would require an 'incident' of global and epic proprotions to bring the finacial institution to a halt. Something on the magnitude of getting centre punched with an asteroid might do the trick. Now a single programmer can bring the whole machine to a screeching halt with a misplaced 1 (one) or 0 (zero). That scares me a tad.

The real 'biggie' was the Royal Bank of Canada glitch of June, 2004. I would like to know what the shareholders had to say about that, whose head hit the sidewalk on Bay street with a dull thud, and how many RBC customers jumped ship over that one. Banker types tend to be a bit 'unforgiving' under the best of circumstances. I would suspect there was a bit of a purge. Doesn't bother me none - I detest bankers!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'bank president's nugget'.

Just finished reading this article posted on the etcGroup's website. When was the reason for developing 'genetically modified' seed for feed sucker-punched in favour of 'genetically modified' seed for greed? Something is just not right when we allow some faceless corporation to push crop seed on us that can't be saved for reseeding the next year because it's been genetically modified to neuter itself. There is no logic in that, just plain, unadulterated greed from what I can see.

If you think this is wrong then I would urge you to contact the Prime Minister of Canada and tell him you don't approve.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here and I can't guarantee it won't be a 'genetically modified nugget'!

Hewlett-Packard is reporting that Carly Fiorina has tendered her resignation. After six years at the helm it appears she has been given the golden boot. Maybe now they'll get on course.

Ms. Fiorina did manage to pull off the Compaq takeover but not without a few bumps. In the end I'm not real sure they accomplished anything by it except for maybe driving a stake through the heart of the Alpha processor. What a shame!

Anyhow..., if you hold any HP stock maybe you'll make a buck or two on it now. Then again, maybe you won't. That whole stock market thing is nothing but a crap shoot unless you're on the inside track and don't pull a "Martha".

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'shareholder's nugget'.

I've resisted using the MSN Messenger service mostly from a security perspective but I have a couple of daughters that have recently struck out on their own and they use it so we figured it would be a good way to keep in touch. With a webcam it's pretty cool to be able to see their smiling faces even if the quality is a tad on the 'low' side - could just be my webcam, not sure yet.

Anyhow..., the oldest one just got her Internet connection up and running today so I tried to get MSN Messenger fired up and this is what I get:

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'Micro-Smurph Nugget'.

I'm really liking all the features included with my Vonage telephone access. Yesterday was a tad trying though as my wife decided we needed to move her desk. The trouble with that was it was where the Internet feed tied in with my router and consequently the rest of the network, including the phone. It was a spaghetti nightmare behind that desk with power bars daisy-chained to power bars. The phone was going to be down for a bit!

I'm happy to report that the 'fail-over' provisions provided by Vonage worked just fine as the cell-phone took over for the VoIP connection. My network is 'high maintenance' for the simple reason that all my equipment consists of 'cast-aways' and 'fixer-uppers'. It keeps my networking skills sharp. Anyhow..., all didn't go quite as planned and it was an hour before I managed to get everything back up. A misbehaving router caused the most grief and I eventually had to 'power cycle' the stupid thing. I could shell into it but I couldn't make it do what it was supposed to do.

One thing that came to light as a result of all this was that I discovered my cable modem drops outgoing packets for some reason. On the other hand it responds quite fine to ping packets hitting it from the outside. Go figure. It also has a bad connection where the coaxial cable enters the thing. Give it slight wiggle and down goes the connection - kills the phone instantly. I'm going to get it swapped out and see if that helps. It's been 'iffy' for a while now but seeing as my phone now relies on my Internet connection it has now been escalated to 'priority one'.

Anyhow..., if you're getting really annoyed with your incumbent telco give the VoIP thing a try. It might not be for everybody but it sure is for me. It's available everywhere a broadband Internet connection is available but the only numbers available are those in large metropolitan areas. It makes it a bit awkward if you live in a smaller town as it means a long distance phone call for your neighbour to call you and tell you there's flames shooting out of the upstairs windows. Otherwise, no problemo.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here and I can't guarantee it won't be a 'network administrator's nugget'!

There are reports that a 6.9 earthquake has hit the Phillipines offshore in the Celebes Sea. I have not heard any reports of damage and it appears the quake was several miles below the surface. When more information becomes available you will find it here.

To read the Seismology Report from the USGS - United States Geological Survey - click [Here]

Anyhow..., that's it for right now. If you really want to keep up to date on recent earthquakes around the world click [Here] and bookmark the page.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'Tagalog nugget'.

"OTTAWA (CP) - Paul Martin tossed his hands up in frustration over his government's review of Canadian foreign policy and has asked an Oxford University scholar to inject it with a bold, new vision for the country.

The prime minister concluded after a series of in-house drafts that his government's review failed to provide that vision, The Canadian Press has learned. The task was subcontracted last month to Jennifer Welsh, a Saskatchewan-born Rhodes scholar..."

We could use some more of that hot air that blows out of Ottawa to do a little snow melting around here!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'snowman nugget'.

Oh Boy..., Looks like the temperature has gone into another nose-dive. I was really starting to like the warm weather even though it made things sloppy with melted snow.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'snowman nugget'.

OK..., so a few days ago I told you about getting an OpenBSD box up and running. It still has a few things that require attention but for the most part it works just fine as a desktop workstation. One of those is that I need to redefine the 'login' shell and troubleshoot OpenSSH so that even I can 'login' remotely. At least if I can't then no one else should be able to either, making an already secure machine almost 'too' secure. I haven't put a whole bunch of time into it so I'm pleased with the results. This OS is quite remarkable for other reasons as well.

The other day I was sitting at the OpenBSD box and running "the.machine: /root # make clean" on the 'ports' directory as well as a couple of other tasks running in the background. I was also shelled into the FreeBSD box doing something there. All of a sudden the lights go out, the UPS's start squawking, the lights come back on - briefly before it starts all over again a couple of more times. I was able to gracefully power down everything plugged into the UPS's but the OpenBSD box was not so fortunate. The motherboard was getting pretty 'iffy' to get physically fired up to the point where it would start reading the hard drive. After the 'brownout' it was toast!

I pulled the OpenBSD box off the shelf and hunted around for a Phillips screwdriver. I eventually used the Swiss Army knife to pop the cover off the side and have a look around. First thing I noticed was the bulged tops on a few capacitors. As the story goes, some 'stolen secret formula' that was missing a few key ingredients was responsible for capacitor failure that ultimately rendered afflicted motherboards nothing more than electronic waste. I was looking at another victim square in the face.

I rooted around for the 'spare parts' boxes to see if I had anything I could replace the 'innards' with. I found an Athlon 650 motherboard so I gutted the box and tossed in the 'new' motherboard/CPU combo, added some more RAM and another network card so that I could do some 'router experiments', put it all back together and punched the 'go' button. OpenBSD complained loudly that there were some hard drive irregularities so I forced 'fsck' - the file system consistency check - and managed to get it up and running. In no time I was back running the KDE desktop and everything appears to be just fine. Remember, there were some serious hardware changes here. Just try that with a Windows box!

Anyhow..., I found that reasonably remarkable and probably wouldn't have believed the story if I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes. I'm convinced this is a robust operating system worthy of consideration!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I'll guarantee it won't be a 'blowfish nugget'!

Woohoo..., I'm finally free of the Telus tyranny. Last night I hooked up my little grey Linksys PAP2 box and signed on with Vonage Canada. For CAN$37.44, GST included, I get all the voice-mail, caller-ID, call waiting, call forwarding and pretty much everything you can imagine in the way of features. On top of that I have unlimited toll free calls to the two area codes available in Alberta as well as 500 minutes per month anywhere in North America. It's a sweet deal!

The quality is very good although I did hear the odd bit of noise and every once in a while a bit of 'clipping' during a conversation but it could just be the cordless phone I'm using. Hookup was dead simple and I had a dialtone in no time at all. I'm still playing with all the features and learning how everything works when I'm not wearing down the batteries on the cordless phone phoning everyone I know to rave about this 'revolutionary' new way of using the phone. The online 'Dash Board' for Vonage allows me to listen to voice-mail, tweak my connection and check phone logs among others. I really like it. The best part is that I know exactly what I'm paying per month without the usual Telus surprises. That's comforting.

Anyhow..., stay tuned as I will keep everyone up-to-date on the latest developments with the convergence of telephony and the internet.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'telephone repairman's nugget'.

I had a dust collector kicking around and doing what dust collectors do best, collect dust. Why not, I thought, try an install of OpenBSD using ftp? Fair enough, I have a broadband connection and the Sunsite hosting OpenBSD is right here in Alberta so it shouldn't take too long. I made a few attempts at hitting the main ftp site but just couldn't seem to get connected. I finally gave up on that approach and decided to try the '(h)' option for using port 80. That worked just fine and in a little over an hour I was booted into a fresh install of OpenBSD 3.6.

What I wanted was to see was if OpenBSD would be suitable for a 'general purpose' workstation. Over the last few years I've worked with various flavours of BSD and Linux and I always seem to end up using the KDE, my words, 'desktop interface'. Getting KDE, and for that matter, "X", running on any of my 'alternate OS' boxes always seems to be a struggle for me. Same story this time. As a result of this struggle I've become reasonably proficient at the command line. Certainly no harm in that. As with most things OpenBSD the version of KDE that ships with 3.6 is 3.2.3, not the latest but not that old either. Once I had it up and running though it runs just fine and seems to be a lot quicker than KDE 3.3 I have on a FreeBSD 5.3 machine. One thing that I haven't been able to get to work is "KPackage", the KDE Package Manager. That's OK as I really don't require it anyhow.

KDE can be installed in one of two ways under OpenBSD, one being a pre-compiled 'package' and the other involving compiling with the assistance of the 'port' feature. I opted to install by way of the ports tree and there's one thing I want to say about that. You will end up with a more solid installation but it's going to take some time time to compile. Several hours later it was still doing it's thing and that's on a PIII 733 with 512M of ram. Lucky for me I have other computers I can kill time on so that's exactly what I did. I eventually hit the rack and in the morning it was installed and ready to go. If I could only remember how to get it to go. Tenacity eventually ruled the day and I was able to log into the KDE 'desktop interface'.

KDE comes with a pretty decent selection of utilities and useful applications but for doing any kind of 'web work', including this post, I like to use Bluefish or Screem. I couldn't find Screem in the list of pre-compiled packages so I went with Bluefish. They're pretty much equal in terms of features so it really didn't make much difference as far as I was concerned. In any event, I was well on my way to setting up an OpenBSD/KDE workstation. OpenBSD may not be the most 'user friendly' OS out there but if I can get it up and running on an old dust collector then I would say that just about anyone else should be able to do so as well.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested in that. I know lots of so called network and system administrators that don't know a thing about OpenBSD and that's a real shame as it is by far one of the most robust and, most definitely the most secure operating system available. I just happen to like it because it's an Alberta product as I am.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I'll guarantee it won't be a 'blowfish nugget'!

I've been using this browser for quite some time now. I can't remember what it was originally called but it was something like Phoenix I think. Then for a while it was named Firebird but I guess there's some database product called Firebird so they renamed it Firefox to satisfy the trademark and product identity gestapo. I'm pretty sure it was Opera that was first to hit the streets with 'tabbed browsing'. In any case it's probably the single biggest reason to use Firefox. Another reason I like the Firefox browser is the extensive collection of 'Extensions' available. These are add-ons for all sorts of things like RSS aggregators to the IRC client ChatZilla. As more people discover the advantages of using Firefox more folks will contribute 'extensions'. I wouldn't mind banging something together myself but time is always an issue when it comes to me and computers.

So you've decided to try out Firefox and you've decided you like it. What's there to do now? How about some tweaking to see if you can foul it up in spectacular fashion. There are all sorts of places on the Internet that tell you exactly how to go about doing this. Just type "firefox tweaks" into the Google text entry box and see what happens. I managed to get about 275,000 hits when I tried it. I'm sure you'll find a tweak that will do just what you want it to and you will sit there with a smug grin on your face knowing that you have dug deeper into the inner workings of Firefox than most.

OK..., you now have a lean, mean, browsing machine and reasonably decent IRC client so what about e-mail? Why not try out the Thunderbird e-mail client also from the Mozilla Development Labs. I've been using this for at least a couple of years now. Back since version 0.4 I think it was. Even when it was in 'beta' I found it quite stable. I've moved my mail folders through the various versions and have even successfully moved the mail folder to a new machine running a completely different operating system. Try that little act of mental contortion with the e-mail clients offered by Microsoft. I would venture a guess that there's not too many success stories there.

Anyhow..., check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be "the Incredible Hulk's nugget". He crapped his drawers a couple of days ago and I suspect he's now nugget free. That's just way too funny but unfortunately I can't tell you why - at least not yet!

OK..., so I decided to make some minor adjustments to the site. Up top you'll see three links, two of which are waiting to be populated. The "Links" link now goes to a condensed version of the old home page. Within the next few days I'll be making some more changes but that's going to be it for a couple of days because I'm going to be out of town. I should be able to tell all about that within the next few weeks. That's going to be HUGE news - guaranteed!

Anyhow..., guess that's it for now. I'm not really looking forward to the long drive but a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do. Overall it's a neccessary intrusion on my meagre existence. One I hope will eventually bring a big smile to my face.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I'll guarantee it won't be a 'dog nugget'!

"The man who has accused former immigration minister Judy Sgro of improprieties has been fighting to stay in Canada since 1988...," Read More [Here]

Politics is such an ugly blood sport wouldn't you say? I, for one, would not have the stomach for it.

Anyhow..., I would say that Joe Volpe has his work cut out for him. Why anyone would actually want that horrible broken mess that is the Ministry of Immigration is totally beyond me. You go Joe!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'politico nugget'!

"OTTAWA (CP) - Beleaguered Immigration Minister Judy Sgro resigned from cabinet Friday amid a fresh controversy, but promised to fight to clear her name." Get the whole story [Here]

Anyhow..., there's usually a lot of hot air blowing out of Ottawa but we sure don't seem to be getting much of it here. It's still a buzzillion below zero!

OK..., so I figured I'ld do a new logo. Well maybe not new but different. I kind of like the Firefox web browser so I did this logo up to show that.

Anyhow..., it's just plain too cold to go outside cause it's like a buzzillion below zero. I even had to fire up a couple of extra computers to help out the furnace. Guess when I did the logo I was sort of thinking 'heat' as well.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I'll guarantee it won't be a 'firefox nugget'!

Seems like there's fair amount of 'discussion' lately on 'Blogs' - short for 'Web Logs'. From what I understand these are, for the most part online journals or diaries. This one - Terremoto - just kind of evolved from experiments with 'Free and Open Source Software - FOSS'. Now the online investment advisor, the Motley Fool has determined that 'Blogs' are on the radar!

I really don't understand what all the 'hype' is about because I don't see them as much more than an extension of the 'Home Page' of a few years ago. I suppose now though your 'Followers' have a chance, at least on some sites, to comment on the 'Postings' - not on this one though. What I like about 'Blogs' is that they're, for the most part relatively free of 'Blinking' advertisements. That drives me up the stack!

Anyhow..., I was just scanning the headlines - need to rig up an RSS feed - and saw the Motley Fool story and thought I'ld do a quick post on it. And now I should try and finish what I was up to before I started doing this.

Before I get away though I'ld just like to add that due to some 'glitch' somewhere along the line it became neccessary to do this post from the command line using SSH. That's about as secure as it gets unless some misfit decides to plant a 'keystroke logger' on your machine without your knowledge or consent. There's a good story on 'keystroke loggers' that I hope to be able to tell soon! Stay tuned!

Here's wishing everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year. Please don't forget our Asian brothers and sisters circling the Indian Ocean who have lost so much this holiday season. They will require our assistance in the days and months ahead and perhaps for much longer than that.