RMR: Rick's Rant - Online Privacy

Buying digital movies is...impossible?

OS for the last week now I've been trying to figure out a way to get movies that I can watch on my playbook or on my PC or on a DVD (from my PC). Sounds easy enough and should be simple in today's day in age...but no.
Not unless ou live in UK or USA.
Most places that offer some sort of digital purchase of a movie make you use their player or you need to use Internet Explorer, so no good for my playbook or to make a DVD.
The thing is I dont know what format these movies will come in and I dont know if I can just convert them or if they will be protected. I am pretty sure that it owuld no t be easy to convert them to lets say an MP4 format.
Cineplex for example offers the download but then you have to use explorer and DIvx you have to use their player ( or a device with Divx installed) others like Youtube stream the content, so you dont actually ever get what you buy.

This is my issue with this;
I pay for it so give me what I pay for, Let me be free to watch it when I want, where I wnant with whom I want. That is why I buy something...to own it.
So please let me be free to view your movie, that I paid for
Let me be free to view your movie, with whomever, whenever, and however I please.
Let me use what  I buy without having to subscribe to other services, I want to watch the movie I bought without conditions.

I reallly tried and looke around and it seems the best option is to download movies illegally because then you have the ability to watch them on any device and you can transfer them around. This is not what I want.
I just want to click, pay and own it. Just like music files are today....why is that so hard?

Oh is it hollywood...probably. But Fuck man, you used to rent out movies and sell them on tape, which was toooooooo easy to copy and do you know how many bootlegs were around? lots! Didi I ever own one? No. Why? Because it was too easy to rent or buy one. And if I was worried about degradation I could always make a copy. Today its like you are trying to restrict access to your content?? why? How many people still download music illegally? I think a lot less than 10 years ago (speaking relative and percentage of users wise)
When CD's came out it was ok, you could make your own mix tape from the CD  or you could somehow rip a CD(but that seemed pretty badass) and if you were rich you could make a CD.
I would record radio sometimes, but mostly buy music.
Then came napster and I could finally listen to some alternate music and get a copy of any stupid song I was told of. (Trust me, most of it was stupid shit I would never buy like weird al this or natioanl anthems)
This i could keep up with, and then came limewire. Same thing. But it was the only way I could just get one song I like without having to buy the whole CD for 20$ and out all the time into ripping it and converting it (cause somehow it didnt seem to work everytime for me and not for every CD player)

When limewire died it was the last time I downloaded music because I could now BUY ONE SONG online to use and keep like a real song from a CD or I could listen to many songs online (streamed) which many times is all that was desired; to listen to that old weird al song or to find out why people talk about Stompin Tom Conners, or why Fishermans lament is about the fisheries Dept Canada.
That kind of stuff. Of course I have friends who probably owned every song on earth and never paid for it, but so what? That were one person. And not me.
Todaqy I still have most of those shitty songs on my pc. With bad or no title (from the old CD ripping days) no track#, loud BEEPS halfway in the song, or simply 10 secs of repeat for 2:41 mins (yeah those were my favs) but I dont care, they are junk that remind me of how things were.
Today I just get a song if I want to make a mix CD and if I get a CD gift fo xmas I rip it and put the CD in the CD shoe box I have. Because really I just want to listen to songs from a digi format or on my LP's (which are not easily copied lol)

This will be daily occurence once copyright bills exist

Megaupload users face data deletion US prosecutors warn

30 January 2012   BBC 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16787486

Visitors to megaupload.com are now presented with a message from US law enforcement

US prosecutors have said that data belonging to Megaupload users and stored by third parties could be deleted as soon as Thursday.

Users have been unable to access data since the file-sharing service was raided.

The warning was made in a letter filed by the US Attorney's Office, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Megaupload's lawyer Ira Rothken told the agency that at least 50 million users had data which could be deleted.

Mr Rothken said that freezing of Megaupload's funds meant it was unable to pay those who were storing its data.

In the letter prosecutors said that the data which might be deleted was being held by the storage companies Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group.

Neither they nor the US Attorney's Office have responded to emails from the BBC.

Mr Rothken told the agency that he was "cautiously optimistic" that a deal could be done to save the data from being wiped.

He said that the data would be needed by the defence.
Legitimate data
Megaupload was shut down on 19 January.

It had about 150 million registered users, making it one of the most popular file-sharing services in the world.

US authorities are seeking to extradite founder Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, and three other defendants from New Zealand to the US.

Prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue.

But a number of users have said that they have been unable to access legitimately uploaded material as a result of the legal action.

After the shutdown one user tweeted, "I'm vehemently against copyright infringement: the files I lost were created & owned by me for my job."

Why Gun Registry Matters!

This man would not have been caught had it not been for the long gun registry. His gun was not registered which brought a red flag to him and interest from police.

 CBC News

Posted: Nov 25, 2011 8:18 AM MT

Last Updated: Nov 25, 2011 9:15 AM MT 

An Edmonton man has been charged with 72 offences after RCMP seized 75 firearms and 100,000 rounds of ammunition at a home.
Christian Bonilla, 39, is also accused of trying to smuggle an illegal weapon into Canada, according to court documents obtained by CBC News.
He was stopped at the Aldergrove, B.C., border crossing on May 26.
He is accused of telling Canadian border guards that a gun found in his vehicle was properly registered, even though he had no documentation.
The gun was seized, and Bonilla was allowed to continue his trip home to Edmonton.
But when officers investigated, they discovered the gun was a prohibited weapon.
Investigators eventually searched Bonilla's south Edmonton house on Aug. 30.
They found 70 firearms, four classified as prohibited, documents show.
They also seized suppressors, also known as silencers.
Polices also found a workshop set up to modify firearms, five partial weapons in the process of being modified and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
Investigators believe Bonilla has bought and sold more than 300 firearms.
They say he has been to the United States 12 times in the past two years.
None of the allegations in the documents has been proven in court.
Bonilla faces four counts of importing a prohibited firearm, four counts of possessing a prohibited firearm, 49 counts of possessing a prohibitive gun magazine and 15 unsafe storage charges.
Bonilla's first court appearance is set for January.

Occupy Wall Street failed

ANALYSIS: How the Occupy Wall Streeters threw it all away

By Neil Macdonald, CBC News

Posted: Nov 16, 2011 6:26 PM ET

Last Updated: Nov 17, 2011 6:52 AM ET

Neil Macdonald
Washington file

About The Author

Neil Macdonald is the senior Washington correspondent for CBC News, which he joined in 1988 following 12 years in newspapers. Before taking up this post in 2003, Macdonald reported from the Middle East for five years. He speaks English and French fluently, and some Arabic.

Only a first-year journalism student or my most thick-headed colleagues would deny that we reporters are a largely bourgeois bunch who have trouble dealing with the unconventional.
Collectively, we appreciate the order of things, which after all has been pretty good to us. We respect institutions and we like a nice, simple narrative, a natural beginning and a natural end to the stories we cover.
This attitude probably explains the subtext of relief in the coverage of those municipalities across America that are sending in their police to eject the anarchistic, smelly, sometimes weird Occupy Wall Street encampments that took over public spaces here this autumn.
For much of the media, the OWS movement was becoming a repetitive bore, a story that just went on and on and on without ever seeming to get to the point.
At first, no question, this movement did touch the national consciousness, a rare enough feat, given the self-absorbed, capricious nature of the American public mind.
Polling now suggests that support is souring, which is probably why local politicians are sending in the cops all of a sudden.
But for a while there, interest in the Occupiers was soaring, and most of the people who noticed them sympathized with their message, such as it was.

Droning on

That public interest meant the Occupiers were newsmakers, even if they were, and are, confusing people to deal with.
Occupy what exactly? A confusing message and now the police have moved in on New York's Zuccotti Park and elsewhere. In the months since the camps went up, the protesters have been unable to articulate a central demand, and their discussion groups and general assemblies drone on pointlessly. (I know; I spent an hour and a half recently filming one, and even the participants agreed they'd accomplished nothing.)
In individual discussions, Occupiers patiently explain their aversion to any sort of leadership, and their dedication to rejecting the entire corporate/governmental system — everything, in their view, is broken, therefore any solution that works within the system is doomed.
To me, anyway, a declaration that the U.S. government must be dismantled, or that all corporations must be "taken down" pretty much steers the conversation into neverland. Allrighty, then. Thanks.

The unbailed

In fact, it is one of the most remarkable aspects of this protest that those involved couldn't, or wouldn't, harness the power inherent in the name of their movement: Occupy Wall Street. And in their main slogan: We are the 99 per cent.
The words suggest a burning, pent-up anger at the small minority who have amassed insane levels of wealth in this country, in particular those who have done it not through hard work, innovation and ingenuity, but through a parasitic manipulation of markets, and cozy, subsidized cronyism with government.
Wall Street is just the best example. In the years leading up to the crash in 2008, its biggest players created what amounted to a giant, multi-leveled con, packaging and selling garbage, while secretly placing bets against the very products they were peddling.
When it all collapsed, these so-called Masters of the Universe turned to the politicians they'd helped install in Washington, to be rescued with a few trillion in taxpayer dollars.
The business model here, despite all the nonsense about market forces, was nakedly obvious: privatize profits, socialize loss.
Meanwhile, as just about everyone here knows by now, ordinary Americans were left unbailed to cope with the consequences of this rampant greed: recession, joblessness, personal debt, shrinking home values and foreclosures.
No wonder the public gravitated toward any protest movement with Wall Street in its name.

Big-government liberals

But if the advent of this movement created a particular moment, it is now disappearing. The Occupiers and their admirers deny it — they talk about living on in the public consciousness and changing the national discussion.
But the fact is, they've managed to waste a spectacular amount of political capital. As Pew Research pollster Andy Kohut has put it, if they aren't pursuing specific goals within the political system, they're "just another bunch of protesters outside the White House."

Will the Occupiers return? Or have they shot their bolt? 

Part of this had to do with an internal tension to their rhetoric.
The Occupiers declared government broken and corrupt, but the long list of issues they want addressed — homelessness, discrimination against minorities, treatment of veterans, war, child poverty, reduction of economic inequality, social justice in general — all require even more government.
The Occupiers might talk like anarchists, but scratch them and you find big-government liberals.
They also seem to lump all corporations together, despite the original focus on Wall Street, and that just doesn't fly with many Americans.
Few people here, for example, see Apple as a parasitic entity on the level of the banks that created the subprime debacle.
As one observer put it the other day, an Occupy Silicon Valley movement would seem absurd.
The fact is, not all wealth in America is accumulated through corruption or the cynical manipulation of markets and government. Most Americans not only admire honestly acquired wealth, they aspire to it.
The Occupiers also managed to cross even American boundaries of free speech, which are probably the most liberal in the world.
Loosely, the courts here have defined speech limits as the right to swing your fist, as long as you stop at the tip of the other fellow's nose.
Setting up tent cities in public parks, denying that space to fellow citizens, leaving trash lying about or relieving yourself in public spaces impinges on the other fellow's nose. All the reports of sexual assaults and drugs didn't help, either.
The Occupiers rose up, muddled about and, in the end, neutered themselves.
If they were a threat to what George Carlin used to call the real owners of this country, they aren't much of a threat anymore. And now winter is coming.
No wonder the Wall Street Journal, the sacred text of all those smug, ridiculously rich, unpunished incarnations of greed, was sneering and rejoicing in an editorial today about the police raids on the tent cities.
The threat is disappearing. The centre holds.
Too bad, in a way.

Porter Lounge Experience

This is what you expect.

Relaxing lounge....or airport Terminal. Both! This is the Porter lounge, which is nothing more than a glorified airport terminal. Good luck finding a good seat.

Well it does look comfy.

Food and refuse will eventually be picked up by 'lounge' staff.

Porter offers complimentary snacks and drinks at their lounge. Crackers and cookies, but what about food? Sorry no food.  You didn;t pack a supper? too bad Wait till you get home. If you happen to be flying from another destination then you will likely have to skip a meal. All part of the "Porter Experience"

Relaxing, right? How luxurious and private. Where's the WiFi? No wonder that racoon's inbox is empty (see first pic)

FUBAR II

Fubar 2 has kept up the surprise of the first movie by turning out to be another great film that takes a truthful story with most outlandish characters and delivers something that makes you cry out laughing in many parts and simply cry in tears in other parts.
Howevere, this time it is more defined, more developed. It is clear that via the first movie this movie was able to understand what it is and build on that.
You really feel it when you watch it and as the film progresses. There is no need to ascertain itself and instead it just performs in its own style.
It is the same genre with the same stuff, but better, and no not like Clerks 2. This is Fubar the continuation.
I was really surprised because I expected that the sequal would have done what so many other films do which is to focus on the most commercial or outspoken parts of the previous one and build a stupid movie of drunken fools. Instead they focused on what all of us who really enjoyed Fubar saw in it; the heartfelt story of two friends and their fight with cancer in a background of idiocy.

Life is not being alive, it is living

Can't I escape anymore? I am where I said I would end up if I was not careful. And yet I desire to be in this place in life. To live the common life, to be part of the masses. I guess it is a subconscious desire to find at-one-ment.
But I know that life is meant to be lived in a way much different than the daily life living in society. That is but ONE experience offered in this world.

To the young I say what I told myself long ago; Live today before you get entangled in Life.
 Don;t worry about the future, you will worry enough in the future for two lifetimes.

To the old, no matter what people say, I say: you can always fly; Travel the world, roam the globe.

However, one cannot freely wander through life and have a purposeful settlement, live in society and see life in the world.
You do however have choice, and so you are doing what you are doing by choice. This choice may be questioned but should never be regretted for life offers rewarding fruits through all its paths.

BOOK: Girls of Riyadh

book author: Rajaa Alsanea

This is naother one of those strange choices. I don't know what's up but anyways, I enjoyed this book on several levels.
I chose this book for this line from the back of it:
"Now in English, Rajaa Alsanea's bold first novel exposes the hidden lives of young upper-class women and their personal conflicts with cultural tradition and offer Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view."
Let me break it down for you:
"Now in English,[ah a foreign book] Rajaa Alsanea's bold [sounds promising] first novel [hmm first book] exposes the hidden lives [cool, hidden]of young [should be fun]upper-class[hopefully not elite] women [right, 'Girls of Riyahd'] and their personal conflicts with cultural tradition [interesting, this would be insightful] and offer Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society [exactly what i was hoping] often veiled [image of Arabian Nights type veil on a women] from view." [Hey, I have a feeling I will actually like this and if anything it might give me insight into their culture or personal lives the way Girl in Translation did.]

The story follows, through a format of weekly mass emails sent by the narrator to people in Saudi Arabia, a group of 5 girlfriends of a upper middle class through their lives and the turmoils of love and life. It is the unfamiliar setting and culture that is so interesting, while each
First it fives some interesting insight into the Islamic culture and daily lives. I never knew how things really were or I had never spent time to imagine it. For example going to the mall. Something simple, but it is very different than going to mall in the west.
It was very insightful and it was a lot of fun to read as well.

Jack's memorable last letter to Canadians

August 20, 2011
Toronto, Ontario
Dear Friends,
Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.
Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.
I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.
I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.
A few additional thoughts:
To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.
To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.
To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.
To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.
To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.
And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
All my very best,
Jack Layton

BOOK: Lost Symbol

Dan Brown this time even better than before. With the same style of writing and that desriptive scene scetting that makes you want to go to wherever the story takes place.
Now I want to go to Washington, even over Paris.
The intricacies of the plot, in the same conspiratorial mood, is less complex and intangible. I enjoyed the setting, the premise and of course the chase with the ever pending doom deadline.
What I found I enjoyed more in this book was that the narration revolved more around the actual characters and their lives than around some myths and stories of some organization with secrets within secrets. This is still present, but it does not dominate the narration as it did in Angels and Demons. (awesome book!)

BOOK: Girl in Translation

This book just drew me in at the shelf. I don't know why but I can tell you that I cannot imagine myself actually picking up this book normally. If someone had told me about it I would not be interested in the slightest. And yet, this book will stay with me for the rest of my life. The story, the emotions, the perspectives and so much more that is found in the story will not be forgotten.
While reading I find myself fighting the urge to cave in to the emotions. I tell myself; how can I give in when the protagonist doesn't give in? She doesn't let herself be taken over by the sadness of the situation, and neither will I. So I fight the tears and keep pushing through.

Long Gun Registry: how often is a long gun used in crime...

This is one case:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/04/20/ott-buckingham-gunman.html?ref=rss

So those who say it is not useful to have a long guns amongst other guns registered are wrong.