Archive for April, 2005
April 29, 2005 at 12:46 pm · Filed under Blogging
Back in 1995/1996, when there was only one web browser (and it wasn’t IE), and the web hardly had anything on it, my main activity online was to read and contribute in various newsgroups. I went back and read some of my old posts in a bored moment today, and got all nostalgic. Hence this post.
These days a large percentage of internet users don’t even know what a newsgroup is. If you are one of those people, here’s a brief primer:
Back before the World Wide Web, before things got pretty with graphics and video and sound and blinky flashy moving things, before we were bombarded with advertising, spam and commercialization, things were a lot quieter online. Most people who went online just wanted to talk to other people. More specifically they wanted to talk to other people with similar interests. Out of that desire, Usenet was born. Usenet is a collection of communities, each community having a different interest. Each community was called a newsgroup, and all the newsgroups were held together in a big hierarchical tree of newsgroups. That was Usenet. It was text based. The closest it got to pretty graphics was the ubiquitous smiley.
Usenet is still around. There are literally thousands of newsgroups out there. Think of any topic, anything at all, and there is probably a newsgroup for it. If by some bizarre fluke there isn’t, you can go ahead and create one. But Usenet is slowly dying.
First came the spam. Once upon a time, Usenet was spam free. The whole internet was spam free. Then someone noticed. Soon Usenet started filling with spam. A war erupted between the spammers and the spammed. An arms race began with each side inventing new and creative techniques to outwit their enemy. That fight still goes on, but the spam never stops. Sometimes the flow is slowed, but it never stops.
The second nail in the Usenet coffin was web based bulletin board systems. These lacked the inter-connectedness of Usenet, but they had the advantage of being web based, and the web browser was fast becoming the tool of choice for all online activity. Dejanews helped a bit with their web based Usenet archival service, which now belongs to Google but still people flocked to the new web based forums, boards and chatrooms.
Finally, along came blogs. Even less connected (at first) than bulletin boards, but everyone could have one to call their own, and although some might dispute the fact, we are material beings, we want to own stuff. Where once we would go to our favourite newsgroup to vent or rant, now we could do it on our very own webpage, and receive comments back from like-minded people without worrying (so much) about spam, flames and the other dangers of Usenet living.
With tools like Technorati, Pingomatic and trackbacks, blogs are becoming more connected. Blog clubs are being formed for blogs with similar interests. Slowly the blogging world is taking on everything Usenet once was.
So has blogging killed Usenet? Well no, not yet. Usenet is still alive, the newsgroups still have content even if the signal to noise ratio has increased dramatically. It will probably survive, but it is a shadow of what it once was. It has become a backwater, part of the “internet underground”. Fewer and fewer people are aware of its existence.
April 28, 2005 at 8:16 am · Filed under Skepticism
The 7th Skeptics Circle is now online over at Thoughts From Kansas. Joshua has done a great job of compiling this set of skepticism, debunkery, critical thinking and hard science.
I particularly enjoyed this article about supernova 1987A. Fantastic writing, and a great rebuttal to young earth creationism.
Oh, and I have to mention a success from the last Skeptic’s Circle: It seems I managed to convince Lynn Ann Maker to stick to the private investigating side of her business and forget the psychic side. Let’s hope it’s in deed as well as in word.
April 27, 2005 at 10:41 am · Filed under Movies + TV
HA! to Rob.
Shut Up! to Gretchen.
BOO! to non-elimination rounds.
Hurrah! for UNIT.
Hurrah! for cheesy pig costumes.
Hurrah! for fart jokes.
Hurrah! for Everyone’s-Gonna-Die-Dr-Who-Cliffhangers.
April 26, 2005 at 10:27 am · Filed under Skepticism
I am a critical thinker. I am a skeptic. Sometimes that’s seen as a bad thing; I hear comments like “You should be more open to new ideas”, or “How can you be so skeptical when you haven’t tried it?”. Is being skeptical the same as being close-minded? I don’t think it is. I haven’t tried eating rat poison, but I know it will make me sick because I’ve examined the evidence. I have an open mind, it’s just not so open that my brain falls out.
Nearly seventy years ago, thousands of Americans were fooled into believing that a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds was real news, that their country was actually being invaded by hostile martians. I would hope that we’ve learned to think more critically in the past seventy years, but sometimes I’m not so sure.
Every year, thousands of people are scammed out of their money by lottery scams, pyramid schemes, “Nigeria” scams, psychics, astrologers, bizarre products with unfounded medical claims, faith healers, religions, cults, fake charities and more. It seems that when it comes to health, wealth or happiness, some people are willing to believe anything.
The people who believe these things are apparently unable to examine and evaluate the information they are given. They don’t understand the need to gather more information from other sources before accepting something. Would these people convict someone of murder just because someone told them he was a murderer?
I believe critical thinking should be a mandatory part of education throughout elementary and high school. It should be given as much importance as reading, writing and arithmetic. Children should be given the skills they need to evaluate information objectively and with healthy skepticism. Children should be taught to question everything and accept nothing at face value.
Let’s give our children the skills they need to survive in an information rich world and vaccinate them against gullibility.
April 25, 2005 at 11:36 am · Filed under F1, Family+Friends
I lost very badly in the Magic games, but I’m learning. We played for eight hours. Cara showed up at around midnight and promptly passed out on the floor.
Granny’s 93rd birthday party was about as fun as a 93rd birthday party can be.
The food fair was fun too. I should’ve taken notes because the names of some of the things we ate are impossible to remember. Here’s what we had though: Vegetable Biryani, some spicy yoghurty stuff with dumplingy things in it, some small crispy shells with some chick pea stuff in them, some squares of spicy doughy stuff, some crispy chip type things with yellow gloopy dip stuff, and a thing that looked like a cupcake that had almonds and pistachios in it. Oh, and a glass of lassi. It was all delicious, if lacking in the meat department.
The race was fantastic. Watching Fernando Alonso fight off a rampaging Michael Schumaker for 16 laps was thrilling. I already had a lot of respect for Alonso, but now I firmly believe he is multiple World Champion material. I’m still not sure how Michael managed to jump from 12th to 3rd in one pit stop. Ross Braun strikes again.
April 22, 2005 at 9:52 am · Filed under Blogging
In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have a new icon thingy in my blog header. See? Up there at the top, on the right, above the pithy quote. Yeah that’s it. Go click on it if you’re curious.
April 21, 2005 at 12:29 pm · Filed under F1, General, Pubquiz, Toastmasters, Woodwork
It’s been a busy week so far; Monday was quiz (we won!), Tuesday I gave a speech at Toastmasters (it went well!), last night was woodworking (my cupboard is looking good!). The week is getting busier though:
Tonight we’re going to a hair salon / art gallery (I know, weird combination) to see my mother-in-law’s photo exhibition. She took a series of photos of natural snow formations which, looked at from the right angle and with a little imagination, look like body parts. If you want to see them for yourself, the exhibition is on until Saturday at Espace Alternatif, 122 Rue Bernard Ouest.
Tomorrow night I’m going over to Shawn’s for an evening of Magic and pizza.
On Saturday it’s my granny-in-law’s birthday (she’s 93 you know!), so we’re going up to the country for a birthday dinner, and staying the night.
On Sunday evening we’re going to the Anand Bazaar, a Gujarat Indian food fair at Polyvalente Lucien-Page, 8200 Blvd St-Laurent (corner Jarry). I’m looking forward to all the delicious Indian food, even if it is only vegetarian. Entrance is free if you want to come along, it starts at 4:30.
Added to all that, it’s a race weekend. The Formula 1 circus is heading to Italy for the Imola Grand Prix. I’ll be up early on Saturday morning to watch the qualifying, but sadly we have to record the race on Sunday morning and try not to listen to the radio on the drive home.
April 20, 2005 at 9:19 am · Filed under Movies + TV
Would you shave your head for a million dollars? I know I would. Would you cry about it? I think I’d laugh. And wear a hat. Joyce looks fabulous with a baldee heed though.
It was very sad to see Lynn and Alex go, I think they had the best attitude of all the teams. They were fun, they helped other teams and they made the most of what must be a fantastic experience.
Somebody needs to gag Gretchen and wipe that smile off Rob’s face, then we can enjoy the rest of the race.
April 19, 2005 at 11:49 am · Filed under Pubquiz
It’s been a while since we won the pubquiz at McKibbin’s, but last night we broke our losing streak. Jen, Kim, Cara and I came in 1st place with 38 points (out of 50). The sports category almost finished us, but we struggled through to claim our $100 worth of gift certificates.
I also had the best hamburger I’ve had for a very long time.
April 18, 2005 at 8:36 am · Filed under Blogging
I’m not big on blog memes, but when someone like Saint Nate invites me to do one, how can I refuse? This is what the meme wants me to do:
Behold, the Caesar’s Bath meme! List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling . . . but nice.
So here goes:
- Little Britain - A comedy sketch show currently airing on BBC Canada. It has its moments, but it suffers the same problem as so many sketch shows before it; the sketches go on too long and the jokes get repeated so many times that they get tedious.
- The Pope - Not really my peer group, but the populace in general seems to be obsessed with anything and everything popely. I don’t care. Unless you’re a devout Roman Catholic, you shouldn’t care either.
- The Da Vinci Code - I’m sure it’s a good piece of fiction, but it’s been so over hyped that I can’t bring myself to read it.
- Football - That’s soccer for you North Americans. I grew up in England, where football (yeah yeah, soccer) is the national obsession. My Dad tried so hard to get me interested, taking me to games, making me watch it with him on TV. I never got it. Everyone around me was obsessed with the sport and devoted to their chosen team. I supported a team because it was the done thing, but my heart was never in it.
- Desperate Housewives - Why?
Now I need to invite some people to continue the meme; how about him, him and him?
April 14, 2005 at 7:31 am · Filed under General
We did not win the CBC Daybreak De-Clutter contest. Some lucky family are having their garage reorganised. Garage? Everyone has a messy garage, come on.
April 13, 2005 at 8:53 am · Filed under Skepticism
According to this article, Lynn Ann Maker used her psychic abilities to find the body of a missing man. 30 year old Greg Wallace disappeared after heading off to work one morning. His car was found abandoned near a pond. Let’s hear about the amazing work Ms Maker did:
For reasons Maker can’t fully explain, she felt the need to wade into a nearby pond in an area police had already searched.
For reasons she can’t explain? Maybe because the pond was near the abandoned car? Maybe because drowning is not an uncommon cause of death? Maybe because if a body can’t be found it’s likely to be buried or submerged? No of course it can’t be any of those things, it must be because she had a spooky feeling:
“I kept feeling he was near the car,” she said, which led her to the nearby lake.
Such incredible insight, she must be psychic, right? If a man had gone missing, and you found his car near a lake, where would you look?
On Maker’s Mystical Touch Web site, the 33-year-old psychic offers services as a medium, a palm reader and a “psychic detective” specializing in murder and missing persons investigations. She describes herself as a “psychometrist,” meaning she has to touch personal items to receive her visions.
It’s funny, I’ve searched around and can’t find any other success stories involving Lynn Ann Maker, and yet she claims to specialize in murder and missing persons investigations. I thought maybe her website (UPDATE: site is now dead) would have more incredible success stories, so I went and had a look around. The main page is “under construction” with no links, but digging a bit deeper I found a couple of other pages. Her services page says:
What I do is provide closure for families and law enforcement when ever possible. I feel there is nothing to loose. If I can’t find the person or solve the cold case, then what is lost. Nothing would of changed, But if I can assist in solving a cold case or find a missing person, then there is closure! That is why I do what I do! Closure for people!
Bad spelling, awful grammar, and a penchant for exclamation! Still no sign of any other success stories though, no evidence of her psychic abilities at work. What about the News page? That only has two articles about Greg Wallace. Maybe all her other articles are archived somewhere? Or maybe there aren’t any.
Her About Me page is so badly written that I can’t bring myself to quote any of it. Needless to say it doesn’t contain anything concrete.
Finally I found her References page. Now I must’ve hit the gold, right? Now I’ll find all the contact information for all of this incredible psychic’s successes. Wait, I just see another article about Greg Wallace, I don’t understand.
After exploring Maker’s credentials, I think I have to agree with the FBI agent on the case, so I’ll leave you with his words:
Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Perry office, confirmed that Maker found the body, but added, “In my opinion, it’s a coincidence.”
UPDATE: She updated her site today. She even approved my comment to her guestbook (sadly with the link removed, I wonder why?) It still doesn’t have any useful content though.
April 13, 2005 at 7:23 am · Filed under Movies + TV
They killed Gallifrey! The bastards!
April 12, 2005 at 7:46 am · Filed under General
In case you didn’t listen in to CBC this morning, here’s the scoop:
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the dentist’s chair, trying to listen to CBC Daybreak over the top of the buzzing of the teeth polishing gizmo. I heard mention of a de-clutter competition, the winner of which would win the services of a personal organiser for a day to clean up the messiest room in their house. I immediately thought of Jen’s office, so when I got to work I sent an email to enter the competition.
Last week Jen got a call from Sonali Karnick to say we had made it into the final four contestants, and that she was coming over in 45 minutes to see the dreaded office. She arrived, explored the office, recorded us, paper noises, bubble wrap and the singing hamsters then went on her way.
This week they are featuring the four finalists, and today was our day. Jen has a great radio voice, I think she should get a job in radio. The singing hamsters made it on air too.
April 11, 2005 at 7:50 am · Filed under Family+Friends
Friday: We walked over to Cara and Tyler’s for an evening of good company, fine food, and Euchre. It was the guys against the ladies, and I’m pretty sure the guys won. We also took every opportunity (bathroom breaks etc.) to fit in a Magic game.
Saturday: We drove up to the country to celebrate Richard and Elisabeth’s 30th wedding anniversary. The party was at nearby friends of theirs, Candice and Brian, in a very cool house by the lake. We were joined by Nina and Luke and their two boys Eden and Gus. We enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, a delicious paella with salad and asparagus and a chocolate and raspberry cake that I only had room for about two mouthfuls of. Richie and Ebie were regaled with poetry and Eden and Gus kept us all amused.
Sunday: We had a belated birthday brunch/lunch for Jen, with pancakes and bagels and gifts of cushions, serving dishes and a wind-up penguin. It was a beautiful day so we went walking, then Richard, Eden and I went and re-tapped one of the maple trees and took a look around Luke’s sugar camp.
Sunday night: After coming home from the country, we headed out to Concordia University for Jen’s Dad’s 72nd birthday celebration. George thought he was coming to a student film festival, so he was quite shocked when he walked in and got a big “Surprise!” from all his family. It wasn’t a complete lie though, as Jen’s brother Julian had prepared a 45 minute documentary on George’s life for us all to enjoy. Jen was in tears by the end of it.
Tuesday (tomorrow) morning: We will be featured on CBC Montreal’s Day Break some time between 6:30 and 8:30 am.
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