Installing Ubuntu server via USB key

I had to install Ubuntu server edition on my home server and for some reason, the normal procedure I used didn't work. For a wide variety of linux liveCD there is a free Windows and Linux utility called Unetbootin that converts a liveCD to a bootable USB key:
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

In the case of Ubuntu Server edition, the installer could not find the CD content. The path to the repositories seemed to differ from what the installer was looking for.

I found an second method after searching a bit. It involves downloading the installer by hand, and copying the iso file directly to the USB key. The files are available here:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/
(Get the kernel, vmlinuz, and the compressed image, initrd.gz)

Using Unetbootin, make a Custom USB key, selecting vmlinuz as the kernel and
initrd.gz as initrd.

Once the USB key is created, simply copy the iso file to the root of the USB key.

Reboot. The installer should see the iso and mount it.

References:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuServerFlashDriveInstaller
• http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/1651/

My favorites Tolkien Quotes

Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
Gandalf, The Lord Of the Rings, Book Four, Chapter One

Á lelya séressë! Lá equen: áva nainuvalyë; an lá ilyë níreli nar úmiéo.
(Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil)
Gandalf, The Lord Of the Rings

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
Thorin Oakenshield on his deathbed

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend..."
Faramir, "The Two Towers"

‘I wish it need not have have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.’
Fellowship of the Ring, Second chapter,"The Shadow of the Past"

"Toss me... but dont tell the elf."
Gimli, Two Towers

Like Tolkien

I'm starting to feel like Tolkien. I read the Lord of the Rings and I watched the extended edition of the Movie trilogy (which, much to my chagrin didn't include Tom Bombadil). But I was much interested in the back story: How was the story made? Who was the producer? Who made the visual for the elves and dwarves and what did he, or them, based their decisions on? but most importantly, who was Tolkien?

I remember a distinct passage in the documentary that says that Tolkien did not write the Lord of the Rings the same way every other book is written: instead of keeping certain passages and re-writing other, he re-wrote the story several times. Each time, he started from scratch and wrote a little bit more until he wasn't satisfied with how the story was heading, and started over. And so, bit by bit, like waves hitting higher and higher with the coming of the tide, he eventually got the entire story written down.

Even tough it is more anecdotal than anything else, I think this is something to be learned there: Great things takes time, patience and a lot of hard work. Perfection is not achievable unless you are willing to put a lot of efforts into something.

And part of that effort sometimes includes swallowing up your pride, rolling up your selves and starting over.

I did just that.

I've giving myself a week to come up with something. I decided that since I don't really know where I'm going in life, I might as well try something, anything, that sound like a promising solution.

Right now, I'm going for a LPI level certification. If this doesn't help me, I'll try the CCNA and if that doesn't help me, I'll get the Ubuntu LPI certification and the RHCE certs. I have little to lose (except maybe money) and everything to gain.

Certifications

So I'm looking into changing my life a bit. In 2006, I was fresh out of university and seeing I didn't have experience, I looked at doing certifications. Since I have nothing better to do than study, I've decided to looked again at that possibility. I narrowed my choices to 6:

1. Cisco CCNA
2. LPI
3. RHCE
4. Linux+
5. GCUX (SANS)
6. Brocade SAN Manager

I don't intent on getting Microsoft certifications, and so these are the closest to what I studied and do in the last years. ( All these certification can be done by simply taking the exam at either a Pearson/Vue center or a Prometric center. )

Exam Costs:

1. Cisco CCNA: 125$ x2 = 250$
   
2. LPI 5 x 155$ = 775$ (3 certifications: LPI-1, LPI-2, LPI-3)
   
3. RHCE 799$
   
4. Linux+ 239$
   
5. GCUX (SANS) 899$
   
6. Brocade SAN Manager 150$
   

Since I already have the study material for LPI and CCNA, I think I'll start with those...

A clear vision

I'll start by saying that I became obsessed with books. I cannot go into a book store and not come out with something. In the last 3 months, I bought at least 10 books...

3 books in particular changed my perspective on life. These are:

• The Last Lecture: Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
• When All You Have Is Hope: Frank Odea
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: David Allen

After reading these books, something became self-evident. And it is most visible in Frank Odea's book. All these people have (or had) a clear motivation that drove them to succeed. For Randy, it was his childhood dreams. For Frank, it was initially the idea that he would die alone and on the street if he didn't do anything. For David Allen... well it is self-evident: getting stuff done.

They all had this clear vision of where they were going.

And that is my problem: I don't.

I have no idea of where I'm going in life. No idea of what I wanna do. No clear childhood dreams to look up to (I already completed mine: it was graduating). No visions. No fears driving me. No motivation. No nothing.

But I'm not depressed. I am simply faced, again, with paralyzing choice : too many choices available and not enough information to make a good decision. I'm simply afraid to make the wrong decision and so I spend a lot of time trying to think about the best solution... to a problem that I don't really understand...

I've decided to change all that. I've giving myself a week to come up with a solution. Some direction to give to my life. I don't know how I'll do it, but I have to. So much is at stake.

I'll kept posting. Try to see what happen. It will be lots of soul searching...

Depression Diary

The Big Money (a blog owned by Slate) has posted a couple of exerts from a diary written by someone in the 1930s. Interesting read.

Depression Diary | The Big Money
Depression Diary, Part 2 | The Big Money
Depression Diary, Part 3 | The Big Money

"War. War never changes"

I find it cruel and ironic that I'm looking at the Fallout 3 game box while looking at this at the same time:

War... War never changes...

Wassup 2008 - The Obama Edition

Wassup 2008

It's been 8 years already?

(Interesting Note: the Director is actually the first actor you see the video)

LiveLeak.com - Flooded Road Collapses

LiveLeak.com - Flooded Road Collapses

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The US economy

I've listened to This American Life episode 355 and episode 365. I liked the conclusion on episode 355 ("this will not be the 1930's but [...] Everything will be kind of crappy"). But the conclusion on episode 365, on the bailout, scares me a little.

I just don't know what to think about all this anymore...

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Reflexions on my life and the paradox of choice

I installed a new personnal server 3 days ago. I got tired of my old Gentoo server and decided that a change of system would give me a new perspective. The 'trouble' or more exactly, the 'reflexion' started with the choise of what to install on it...

If you know anything about Linux, you know that there is a proliferation of distribution (or distros as they are called). Distrowatch lists 579 different active distros in the current list (BSD-based systems included). There is a list of "major" distributions, but, if you included derivatives, it still make a rather long list. Each have positives and negatives, and trying to decide which one is the best on pure technical merit is like trying to decide which of the 12 different sort of milk is the right one based solely on the ingredients. At the core, they are the same, and the choise is more based on impression than real merit.

The choise was not an easy one, yet, in the long run, it is really insignificant. I can always change distros in the future if I'm not satified, with minimal cost and downtime (because I planned to document every configuration change) Of course, my 'troubles' doesn't really stop at the distribution choise. You also need to chose what application to use. At that point, I didn't want to make any more important decisions, I followed advice from a book, and used the default for the rest.

It may seems insginficant (after all, it was a couple of minutes in a single day), but i've postponed that project for weeks because I didn't want to make the decision. I was afraid to make the wrong choise.

It's silly really. Any choise in this matter is better than not doing anything at all. Yet, it was still a road block. I would explain why the multiplication of choise is paralysing, but Barry Schwartz and Dan Gilbert already did it better than I ever could:

• Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice | Video on TED.com
• Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy? | Video on TED.com

To say that this isn't the story of my life would be an understatement. The problem is not taking a decision, it is trying to take the perfect decision... in everything.  I like to be efficient, yet I lose much more energy trying to find the perfect solution to any problem. Of course, this missed the obvious fact that we, as human being, are not efficient in finding the perfect solution to a complex problem. Trying to find the perfect solution to the travelling salesman problem without a computer is going to take a very, very long, time. Or course, yet again, in this case any solution is better than no solution at all...

Can you take a guess as to why I'm still single? (hint: I can't decide where to start searching!)

Anyway, I better get back to that server.

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Spore: the lost opportunity

I bought Spore. Despite the fact that is has DRM in it. Despite the fact that I usually wait for reviews before buying anything. I got exited. And I didn't just buy the game, I bought the "galactic edition" with all the bells and whittles...

What a disappointment. I somehow feel this game had so much potential, yet was somehow redesigned from scratch several times and then rush to market. The game try to be 5 games, yet fails in everyone of them. The more "polished" and incredible part of the game, is the designer. The rest, in my opinion, is an environment to try-out your creature, get bored, go back to the creature designer and do it again. Repeat ad nauseum.

But all is not lost for Maxis / EA. They obviously spent a lot of time on the editor and the creatures themselves. A lot of people have bought the game or just the creature creator. They "seeded" the spore-o-pedia database with a lot of creatures, vehicles, buildings,and spaceships from all the players. A MASSIVE amount of content.

I think the analogy with UT2003/ UT2004 is the best example of was I'm trying to get at. UT2003 was more a tech demo trying to sell the engine behind it. UT2004 had the same engine, yet was much more popular and more polished . Now place Spore in the place of UT2003. Most of what Spore need to be a good game is already there: it just need more polish... and, maybe a complete redesign of every phase...

For a complete (and good) review, see the Zero Punctuation one

At least the National Geographic documentary that came with the Galactic edition was entertaining...

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Culture en Péril

Culture in Danger (Culture en Péril, with subtitles)

I know it's a political message. I know it's full of stereotypes. You might even disagree completetly with the message in the video... But I still think it's interesting because it says more in 3min, that I could write in a 10000 words...

Taken from Micheal Geist's Blog

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Water on Flick...

Nice Water picture on on Flickr
Boom! :)

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The Oh-My-God Particle

The end is coming... Yeah right.

First off, the end of the world has been predicted around 12000 times already. There is even a web site for future catastrophic scenarios:  Exit Mundi.

The immediate concern now is on the LHC, the Large Hardron Collider. The thing that is supposed to create black holes that can eat the earth whole.

These concerns have been raised before, during the construction of Fermilab. Fermilab put up the most interesting piece on how Nature itself id far more violent than anything we can build.
Laidies and Gentlemans, let me introduce to you The Oh-My-God Particle.

Keep in mind that the new Large Hardron Collider will collide 2808 particules at 7Tev...

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The Bid for the The Last Lecture

I had not realized Disney-owned Hyperion Publisher did a 6.7 Million Bid for the book! I don't know how it was split between Randy, his agent, and co-author Jeff, but I guess his family won't be in trouble for quite some time.

Of course, Randy would have probably traded the money, the fame and everything for the chance to be with his kids...

Go buy the book, it's a good read. Here is the Amazon Link, the Chapters.ca and the ISBN: 978-1-4013-2325-7

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paralympic.org -> Alpine_Skiing

The 2008 Olympic are over, but the 2008 Paralympic Competition is just starting.

If you want to see something really impressive, check Goalball and Judo. Both these competitions are open to completely blind people.

Of course, it does not come close to this winter sport: Alpine Skiing Calssification B1 - Completelty blind. Yet Alpine Skiing by completely blind skiiers, guided by another skier that gives them directions. I watch the competitions in disbelief: Theses guys are simply amazing!

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The last tree

I want this image as background. It is simple, yet powerful ...

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My Apps

I lost a couple of hours looking at the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Pool. It got me thinking about what I use on a daily basis and how my desktop should reflect my current productivity push (I'm basically cleaning up my life, and trying to be more productive. It's not perfect, but I'm slowly getting there)

So, in case my computer exploded, or in case I bought a new machine and had to redo everything from scratch, here is a list of the things I use the most:

On Windows:

• Launchy: Must have. Good alternatives includes Executor and Dash Command. Quicksilver on Mac.
  
• ClipX: I can finaly get a bigger clipboard (Linux had that for ages)
  
• allSnap: Snap app to edges of desktop
  
• Snarl: Notification system for Windows.  Like Growl on Mac
  
• AppSnap: Install free apps. Sort of like a package manager.
  
• Mp3tag: I don't have that big of a MP3 collection, but I like my stuff consistent
  
• Picasa: Manages pictures from my camera.
  
• PuTTY: I use Linux-based servers, sort this is a must-have
• Xming: To get Linux/Unix X-Windows system on MS Windows. Run graphical application remotly!
  
• WinSCP: Copy files. Ftp is too old and too insecure.
  
• Flock: The Social-based browser: I'm typing this blog entry in it. Also integrated Facebook, twitter, Youtube, etc...
  
• Adobe Air with:
• twhirl: I twitter. This helps. A lot.
  
• TWiT Live AIR App: Watch Leo Laporte live :)
  

Ironicly, I can get most of this functionality on my Linux desktop (again with the right applications installed), but it's not third party. The only reason I'm not 100% Linux right now is gaming. (TES: Oblivion these days, with a bit of Simcity 4)

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R.I.P. Randy Pausch

Randy Paucsh died on july 25. I feel like I should say something about it but since I can't think of anything that would do him justice, I'll let his own talk speak for itself:

The "Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

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Business faces challenges under copyright legislation

Business faces challenges under copyright legislation

I like this quote from the article: "The consumer marketplace is increasingly going beyond that apathy to a type of lawlessness. They'll just ignore the government because it's so irrelevant."

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Life is about the journey, not the destination

I heard this adage time and time again:

"A voyage is not about the destination, it's about the journey all the way."

Of course, we all have heard this in various form, but I never really realized what it really means, and how it matters to me. And I am not taking about basic comprehension, but more about a more depth and psychological level.

I am notorious for not finishing anything. I start something, get very exited, but then, after some time, I lose interest and leave the project half-finished. It not always because I'm lazy. I learned Spanish, but I cannot say a single sentence today: I didn't practice enough. Same with Japanese. (English is another story... It's harder NOT to practice English these days.) And it's not just languages. I started taking piloting course (flying, yeah!) but I lost interest because of the cost.

Well, I felt really bad because I never finished any of this. But I never realized that it wasn't all for nothing. I felt guilty and ashamed that I never finished anything...

Until this very morning...

Well, what I have learned is not lost. I am better human being because of all this. And it wasn't all for nothing because, It is still an experience all the way to the finish line. The goal of a marathon runner is to get to the finish line, but if you ask him about his experience, it boils down to everything before that finish line. The entire journey is significant, not just the last part of the last mile.

Thus, I think I'll stop having second thoughts about trying sometime out... Experience is never really lost...

Analyse du projet de loi C-61

J'ai fait une version française de L'analyse du projet de loi C-61 sur le wiki de la section Montréalaise de "Fair Copyright for Canada" ( traduit par "Pour un droit d'auteur équitable au Canada")

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John Derr at Ted About Greetech

Embedded Video

It made me think twice about what I do...

Original is here

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Sixth Topic Of Bill C-61: Digital Locks

This is the biggest part of the bill and the most complicated, yet one of the most important part.

Definitions:

“circumvent” means [..] to descramble a scrambled work or decrypt an encrypted work or to otherwise avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate or impair the technological measure, unless done with the authority of the copyright owner; and [...] to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate or impair the technological measure.(Clause 31, section 41, subsection a)

“technological measure” means any effective technology, device or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation, [...] controls access to a work, to a performer’s performance fixed in a sound recording or to a sound recording and whose use is authorized by the copyright owner; [...]Idem

No person shall:

• circumvent a technological measure(Clause 31, section 41.1,Section 1, subsection a)

• manufacture, import, provide — including by selling or renting — offer for sale or rental or distribute any technology, device or component if(Clause 31, section 41.1,Section 1, subsection c)

• the technology, device or component is designed or produced primarily for the purposes of circumventing a technological measure,
• the uses or purposes of the technology, device or component are not commercially significant other than when it is used for the purposes of circumventing a techno- logical measure, or
• the person markets the technology, device or component as being for the purposes of circumventing a technological measure or acts in concert with another person in order to market the technology, device or component as being for those purposes.

Does not apply if:

• to a person who circumvents a technological measure that protects a program for the sole purpose of obtaining information that would allow the person to make the program and any other computer program interoperable.(Clause 31, section 41.12,Section 1)

• to a person who manufactures, imports or provides a technology, device or component for the purposes of circumventing a technological measure if the person does so for the purpose of making the computer program and any other computer program interoperable and uses that technology, device or component only for that purpose(Clause 31, section 41.12,Section 3)

• to a person who, for the purposes of encryption research, circumvents a technological measure by means of decryption if it would not be practical to carry out the research without circumventing the technological measure and the person has informed the owner of the copyright in the work, the performer’s performance fixed in a sound recording or the sound recording who has applied the technological measure.(Clause 31, section 41.13,Section 1)

• to a person who circumvents a technological measure to prevent the collection and communication of personal information without the user’s consent. (Unless a notice is provided)(Clause 31, section 41.14,Section 1)

• To a person doing security flaw assessment with the consent of the owner or administrator of the Network.(Clause 31, section 41.15,Section 1)

• a person with a perceptual disability who circumvents a technological measure for the sole purpose of making a work, a performer’s performance fixed in a sound recording or a sound recording perceptible to that person.(Clause 31, section 41.16,Section 1)

• To a broadcasting undertaking that circumvents a technological measure for the sole purpose of making an ephemeral reproduction of a work.(Clause 31, section 41.17,Section 1)

And a very special notice:

• No person shall knowingly remove or alter any rights management information in electronic form without the consent of the owner of the copyright in the work, the performer’s performance or the sound recording, if the person knows or should have known that the removal or alteration will facilitate or conceal any infringement of the owner’s copyright or adversely affect the owner’s right to remuneration

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms: Archives

Fifth topic of bill C-61, Archives

This part concerns libraries, museums and archives.

According to Bill C-61,
They are allowed to:

• Make a digital copy of a printed work(Clause 20, section 30.2, subsection 5)

They must:

• Prevent any reproduction of the digital copy (Clause 20, section 30.2, subsection 5, paragraph a)
• Prevent any communication of the digital copy (Clause 20, section 30.2, subsection 5, paragraph b)
• Prevent using the digital copy for more than 5 days (Clause 20, section 30.2, subsection 5, paragraph c)

My own thoughts:
I wonder how you are supposed to enforce that.

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms: lesson

Forth topic of bill C-61, Lessons

This one require a quick definition. A "lesson" covers lectures, lessons, test or examination giving by an education institution that would otherwise infringe on someone's copyrights but is permitted by virtue of it being used to teach. (See Clause 18, Section 30.01 Subsection 1)

According to Bill C-61,
The institution is allowed to:

• Broadcast this lesson if the public is only students (Clause 18, section 30.01, subsection 3)

The institution is not allowed to:

• Print more than one copy of any digital reproduction communicated by a lesson (Clause 18, section 30.02, subsection 2)
• Use a work from the internet if the website or the work has any form of technical restriction (Clause 18, section 30.04, subsection 3)

The institution must:

• Destroy this lesson 30 days after the final course evaluation have been giving out. (Clause 18, section 30.01, subsection 5, paragraph a)
  
• Take measures to ensure that only student can receive the lesson (Clause 18, section 30.01, subsection 5, paragraph b)
• Take measures to ensure that students will not copy the lesson (Clause 18, section 30.01, subsection 5, paragraph c)
• Take measures to ensure that any digital reproduction cannot be communicated to anyone else outside the institution (Clause 18, section 30.02, subsection 3, paragraph b)
• Take measures to ensure that any digital reproduction cannot be printed more than once per person that has received the lesson (Clause 18, section 30.02, subsection 3, paragraph c)
• Take nay measure prescribed by regulations for any copied digital reproduction (Clause 18, section 30.02, subsection 3, paragraph d)

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms: Time Shifting

Third topic of bill C-61, Time shifting

According to Bill C-61,
You are allowed to:

• Record a TV show (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 1)

You are not allowed:

• To record more than 1 copy. (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 1, paragraph c)
• To watch that copy more than once. (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 1, paragraph d)
• To give that copy to anyone. (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 1, paragraph e)
• To record a video-on-demand unless specifically permitted (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 2)
• To record an Internet only show. (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 3)
• To record a video provided as a service by a PVR (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 5)
  

And, because of Digital lock provisions (Clause 17, section 29.23, subsection 1, paragraph b), you are not allowed:

• To record a protected broadcast

My own thoughts:
Wow. My mother still has tapes of my childhood show. Stuff paid by the government of Quebec and show on Radio-Canada and Radio-Quebec (I feel old). I guess all those tape will have to be trashed.

Relevant links:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Language=e&Mode=1&File=45#8

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms: Music

Second topic of bill C-61, Copying music.

According to Bill C-61,
you are allowed:

• To copy music from one device to another, for private use (Clause 17, section 29.22, subsection 1)

you are not allowed:

• more than one copy per device (Clause 17, section 29.22, subsection 1, paragraph d)
• to make backups (same reference)
• to give the copy to anyone (Clause 17, section 29.22, subsection 1, paragraph e)

And, because of Digital lock provisions (Clause 17, section 29.22, subsection 1, paragraph c), you are not allowed:

• to copy the content of DRM music (some iTunes .aac , protected wma,  )

you must:

• Destroy any copy when you sell the original. (Clause 17, section 29.22, subsection 4)

My own thoughts:
Same as Movies, except it has his own section in the law.

Relevant link:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Language=e&Mode=1&File=45#7

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms: Image, text and movies

First Topic of Bill C-61, Copying Image, text and movies.

According to this new Bill,

you are allowed:

• To copy photographs, book, journals, periodicals and videocassettes you own on a different medium or device for private uses (Clause 17, section 29.21, subsection 1)

you are not allowed:

• more than one copy per device (Clause 17, section 29.21, subsection 1, paragraph d)
• to make backups, because those backup would create extra copies (same reference as above)
• to print more than one copy of a digital work (same reference as above )
• to give the copy to anyone (Clause 17, section 29.21, subsection 1, paragraph e)

And, because of Digital lock provisions (Clause 17, section 29.21, subsection 1, paragraph c), you are not allowed:

• to copy part of the content of DVDs or Blu-ray Disk(They are encrypted)
• to copy a DVD to an iPod or other digital video player (you would have to break the encryption)

you must:

• Destroy any copy when you sell or give the original. (Clause 17, section 29.21, subsection 3)

My own toughts:
DVD or blu-ray aren't even mention in all of section 29.21, yet videocassettes (yes, VHS! Betamax!) are clearly mentioned. What is this? 1990?

Relevant link:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Language=e&Mode=1&File=45#7

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Bill C-61 in laymans terms, the Intro

I am so outraged at Bill C-61, yet no one in the french Canadian media seems to care...

In an effort to help spread the message, I will make small, bite-size message about want is wrong about this law. (in both French and English)

But first let me make theses statements:

• I am not a lawyer. But I am a Computer Engineer-in-training
  
• Everything I care about is for personnal use or family use related. I will not address any problems related to commercial activities because I am unable to give good relevant advice.
• I want the world to know that this legislation might not give more rights to copyright owner, but might give more power to distributors and legal holder (via contract).

I will try as much as I can to give the relevant passage to each section.

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The Canadian DCMA

The Canadian government is proposing Bill C-61. The successor to Bill C-60 and a little brother of the DCMA.

If you write to Industry minister Jim Prentice, you receive this formated letter. I took a copy of this letter, forwarded from a friend, and added my own comments, in bold:

----------
The Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-61, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act. The proposed legislation is a made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation and competition in the digital age.

What does Bill C-61 mean to Canadians?

Specifically, it includes measures that would:

"       expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the "statutory damages" a court could award for all private use copyright infringements;

Not really. Yes theirs provisions exist in the law, but since we are not allow to circumvent any digital lock, these provision are basically useless: All the distributors would have to do is put the equivalent of the broadcast flag on any content, and those provisions become illegal.

"       implement new rights and protections for copyright holders, tailored to the Internet, to encourage participation in the online economy, as well as stronger legal remedies to address Internet piracy;

Yes. But since digital lock circumvention is illegal with this law, this law give even more rights to distributor than to copyright holders. Any restriction put into place by the digital lock become law.

Also, these provisions are not "remedies" to internet "piracy" (copyright infringement, not piracy), these provisions are merely punishments: It does nothing to stop it because it's easy to do and hard to get caught. The DCMA didn't help in the USA and this legislation will probably have the same impact: nil.

"       clarify the roles and responsibilities of Internet Service Providers related to the copyright content flowing over their network facilities; and

Nothing to say here: I am not a service provider so my expertise is limited in this topic.

"       provide photographers with the same rights as other creators.

Again nothing to say here. Again it is not my area of expertise and I won't say anything that might turn out wrong.

What Bill C-61 does not do:

"       it would not empower border agents to seize your iPod or laptop at border crossings, contrary to recent public speculation

Irrelevant. This has nothing to do with this bill and everything to do with ACTA, If I remember correctly. But thanks for mentioning.

What this Bill is not:
"       it is not a mirror image of U.S. copyright laws. Our Bill is made-in-Canada with different exceptions for educators, consumers and others and brings us into line with more than 60 countries including Japan, France, Germany and Australia

It is not a mirror image of US legislation, it's worst. It does not take into account various form of technology which would make a large proportion of the population copyright infringer.

Bill C-61 was introduced in the Commons on June 12, 2008 by Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner.
For more information, please visit the Copyright Reform Process website at www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/home

Thank you for sharing your views on this important matter.

The Honourable Jim Prentice, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Industry
The Honourable Josée Verner, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women
and Official Languages and Minister for
La Francophonie
--------

The big problem I have with this bill is that it's too broad and that is make illegal any kind of circumvention of digital locks.  This means that any type of digital lock will make stuff that was "not the intended use" illegal, instead of simply warranty breaking... The broadcast flag is the perfect exemple because it is simple to implement, yet it would very real legal consequences. It is simply a bit. a 1 or 0. It would be the equivalent of a simple letter in an entire book. A current device will simply disregard it thinking it is noise in the signal, but a broadcast flag enabled device will prevent you from recording it. IF you record such a show, you would be essentially breaking the law... Thus older devices are sort of illegal.

Of course, I am not a lawyer. But I do get the feeling that this Bill outlaws very current and useful technologies... Like backup software, or RAID 1, or even backup services like Amazon S3. Because you are allowed one copy of copyrighted material per device you own, backup software and RAID would make multiple copy of each files, for safe keeping... In the same way that Amazon S3 is a service, not a "device I own"...

Anyway, read the entire thing yourself at: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Language=e&Mode=1

If you are as concerned as I am with this, check Micheal Geist's website:
Michael Geist - 30 things you can do

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Searching for a job in Montreal

So my previous contract was terminated and I've been out of a job for a week. I've remove the dust from my resume (or as we call it here, the Curriculum Vitea ...) and started searching for a new job. It's not an easy task.

First of all, I won't list the headhunters in Montreal because there are just too many. A simple google search will list most if not all. They do most of the dirty work for your, but might not be able to find the more obscure jobs.

Second, The government maintains a job database for anyone who is a citizen and is unemployed: Job Bank - Home
(it included link for the separate database maintained by the government of Quebec)

Next we have to jobs-posting websites (aka Electronic billboards). Since Montreal is a dual-language city, most services were made in one language first and then ported to the other. Which usually means you have twice as many websites, twice as much effort to do, but not twice as many offers.  Most are usually either:

1. An (inter)national website offering tons of jobs posting but little offerings locally, examples includes:
   
1. monster.ca
2. dice.com
3. workopolis.com
2. A local website offering less jobs but dealing mostly with local offering, examples includes:
1. Local professional associations
2. Sites like LesPAC (PAC = Petites annonces classées = Small classifieds ads)
3. Specialty sites like AgentSolo.com
   

Make sure you check both the large and the smaller one as large companies will giving listing only to the very large websites will smaller business will try and get employee via the cheaper method (which usually means the smaller websites). Kinda make sense: If I looking for an employee for a local kindergarten, a national website seems a bit overkill...

But, with this, you only that, you won't see the vast majority of offering there is. The best way to see more, is to go directly on the company's website
Places like:

• CN - Careers
• CAE Careers - Welcome
• Mechtronix Career
• IBM Canada job opportunities.
• etc.

And that is what is taking a lot of my time. Of course, I'm also taking so time off since I hadn't had "real" vacation in over 2 years.

I'll update this post if I find anything interesting to add.

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Inside the attack that crippled Revision3

Over the weekend, Revision3 servers were down. We now know why. Jim Louderback, Revision3 CEO, take us Inside the attack that crippled Revision3. Turns out it's a company employed by the MPAA...

Interesting read... I feel an FBI investigation and a lawsuit comming...

My advice to Revsion3: get good lawyers... And remember that you have friends that can help you...

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TV habits

I don't watch Television anymore. I don't even have cable. The only reason I have a TV is to play with my Wii or to use my Mythbuntu box.

Looking into the 'video' share folder of that MythTV box , I see:

• A collection of videos from 24c3
• A large selection of stuff downloaded from TED
• A couple of documentary from archive.org (like the one on Apollo 13)
• Videos from the WtH conference
• Videos from Revision3 (namley Systm, Tekzilla and the DiggReel)
  

I don't feel I need to get TV: I get good enough news coverage from CBC.ca and BBC News. If I ever miss a good show on TV, I'll simply buy the series on DVD. And If it never comes out, I just won't see it. It's suppose to be a form of entertainment, not the center of our lives.

As far as my parents are concern, I am "offline". As far as my friends are concern, I spend far too much time online... My habits have shifted from TV to the Internet as my only source of information over the year, and I think I am not the only one doing this transition. I spend less time glued in from of the televions and more time doing what I love, which is playing with technology.

Although, maybe I should get out more...

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Apocalyptica

I'm not a huge fan of Metal, but I do like the occasional song now and then...

But I saw a concert on may 1 in Montreal that simply blew me away... I give you Apocalyptica:

Embedded Video

Life Burns

Eurovision 2007

I knew the group before, but the live performance litteraly blew me away. The Metropolis is not a big place, but it was filled with fans... People from completely different group types that all seemed to fit well with the group's style. And we were ecstatic! As one the band member remarked: "Man! You are a loud crowd!"

Since the band itself doesn't have a vocalist, they where touring with Toryn Green, the vocalist from the group Fuel. A great voice, he did a terrific job with "Life Burns" and "I don't Care". Enough for me to check out his own group that I haven't heard before...

Apocalyptica said they might be back in the fall.. I can't wait!

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I want one

Embedded Video

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EvE Online Trinty

I reactivated My EvE Online Account. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing but I thought about it for a week and I finally did it...

Sad day for me

Minou. 2007-06-01 - 2008-03-19
In the 8 months we shared my apartment, she taught me a lot about being responsible for another being. Yet there is nothing I could have done to prevent her death.... And that is the hardest lesson...
R.I.P. You will be missed.

The Dumbing Of America - washingtonpost.com

Another MLP (mindless link propagation)
The Dumbing Of America - washingtonpost.com

I read the entire article and I think the author is, sadly, right. The international report on Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study isn't friendly on the United State either: it's one of the last 1st world country.

The most interesting bit was comparing Canada to the US. In 2003:
-The US average was roughly equal the the 25th percentile of either Quebec or Ontario
-The US 75th was roughly equal to the average of either Quebec or Ontatio.

Meaning that 75% of Quebec Students had better scores than the average US student and that the average Ontarian student was better than 75% of US student...

Asus EEEpc

I just bought a Asus EEEpc, the 8g model. I'm writing this on it, in the bus on the way home. It's a neat little machine. I won't go into hardware details because several websites already covered the thing in detail. There is a very active modding community centered around the eeewiki, that spell out almost anything you would want to know about the hardware. Someone posted a complete description (Pictures included) of how to add lots of hardware to the little PC.

I can note a couple of limitations:

• The keyboard has some “getting used to”, like the small backspace, or the half-size shift key.
• The screen is small. 7 inches. I wish Asus had remove the speakers on te sides to make more room for screen space.

But it also has several features I like:

• The form-factor makes it easy to carry around. It can't fit into a pocket, but it' small enough to be hand-carried.
• The webcam on the 8g edition is a definitive plus.

Other interesting things to note:

• The interface is... interesting, to say the least. I like the idea of a task-based interface, and would love to install this kind of Interface on my parent's computers. But, for myself, I'm too used to a more “traditional” approach of listing applications.
• I can't shake the feeling that I should be careful about writing stuff to the drive. The onboard SSD has a life limited by write cycles, somewhere in the 10000-20000 range. Someone on the EEE user forum pointed out that, even with frequents writes, that would put the onboard SSD in the years ranges.

All things considered: I like it :)

A Worn and Weathered Note

I just finished Morrowind (in preparation for Oblivion). I got both games for cheap (Morrowind used, Oblivion:GOTY new in the bargain bin ) and I wanted to finish Morrowind before starting Oblivion...

The one thing is that I thought was bizarre and original in Morrowind was this "Worn and Weathered Note" I found in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure what it means but I think it's beautiful and I had to share it.