Author: Kirk

Canada Votes in 2006

Not to infringe on Dale’s territory, but I think this page is really cool. You can use it to see exactly what things any federal MP has done while in parliament. What did they vote for specific bills? How many days were they absent? What exactly did they say?

The guys behind this should be thanked – they’ve combed various horrible resources and have come up with a great way to present the info they’ve found.

Now all I need to do is find out what the other candidates think of the important issues, and voting suddenly becomes much easier.

Here’s a useful election page at the CBC.

Here’s their page for my riding. Looks like it’s either Green or Conservative? That can’t be right? Must be due for an update me thinks.

CPUs? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ CPUs!

Tom’s Hardware have created two great tables – the first shows every CPU AMD has made in the last decade, and their details. The second shows every CPU Intel has made in the last decade and their details.

Invaluable if you need to see a processor’s actual specs quickly. Both are part of a larger article on how CPUs have changed over the past 10 years as well as the normal CPU comparison using today’s hottest products. If you want to get really geeky you can look at these trends and compare them to the Holy Grail we’ve all heard about – Moore’s Law.

Sony vs. The Geeks – Fight!

I’ve written earlier about DRM and music purchases – but this news story has reached epic proportions so I just wanted to write a little bit about it.

The story is all about how Sony decided to include a fairly nasty means of DRM on their latest CD releases. Specifically a ‘rootkit‘ is installed simply by inserting the CD into your computer. It quietly inserts itself as a layer in the very kernel of the operating system, forcing any access to the CD drive to be passed through it. It also changes the way the filesystem is seen by the user, hiding any files that start and end with a particular string. Hence it’s label as a rootkit. It opens up a backdoor wherein any virus written to take advantage of these ‘features’ can do so and infect a person’s computer without them knowing. Once the virus infects the computer via the SONY rootkit, well, game over man.
Continue reading Sony vs. The Geeks – Fight!

Even the Government Can’t Write Proper English

What kind of a role model are they trying to be?

An excerpt from the Employee Standards Act

Opal, during her first year of employment, goes on pregnancy leave after working 3 months. She returns to work in her second year of employment. Opal is entitled to at least 2 weeks of vacation time accrued during the first year of employment. Annual vacation pay pursuant to s.58 in this case is calculated as 4% of 3-months gross wages and as such the vacation pay will be less than if she had worked the entire year. The leave of absence does not effect accrued vacation time however, as this example illustrates, vacation pay is reduced.

Now can you spot the problem? Here, I’ll highlight the affect it had on me.

That hint wasn’t enough?
Continue reading Even the Government Can’t Write Proper English

Software Bugs – Benign to Lethal

A recent Wired article on the Top 10 Worst Software Bugs in History is an interesting read, but of course I have something to add.

On the list are two medical-device related software bugs. The first is the Therac-25 bug wherein patients were inadvertently exposed to large doses of radiation resulting in at least five deaths. This is a straightforward engineering bug. It’s interesting to note the various causes included in that Wikipedia link. It warms my heart to see so many systems being examined to see if they contributed to the error.

The second one occurred relatively recently (2000). The device’s designs were not followed or understood properly and technicians ended up killing at least 8 patients through massive radiation overdoses. More on this one below.

Here are a few links to other disasters or problems caused by software bugs:

  1. USS Yorktown: a US Navy ship suffers full system shutdown when someone enters 0 for a database value on ship.
  2. 2003 Blackout in North America: part of the reason the blackout was so extensive was alarms going off weren’t displayed due to a software bug.
  3. Full scale Soviet attack: in 1979 NORAD quite literally sat stunned as it witnessed a full-scale Soviet missile attack

Continue reading Software Bugs – Benign to Lethal

What a Great Interface!

Marty sent me a link to this baby name page that allows you to see the popularity of names in the US since the 1880s. While the content is interesting enough, I am totally impressed with the interface.

There are some clunky parts (like how do you know if your cursor is currently in the name typing space or not?) but otherwise this is a very good way to visualize this data. It incorporates a quasi-zooming interface that updates as you type. You can use the mouse to find further data on specific parts of the graph. Sadly they resort to the age-old blue=boy girl=pink colour scheme, but that’s forgivable considering the audience.

Overall I’d say this is a great use of technology! Hats off to the designer and coder.

You’ll note that the name ‘Kirk’ has fallen out of favour … I mean why even bother trying to get your kid to live up to that high of a standard? It’s just setting the kid up for a lifetime of disappointment .. unless it’s a girl… nobody’s named their girl ‘Kirk’ yet. Do we dare?

Public Really Shouldn’t Know

A CFL player was recently charged with aggravated sexual assault, and released on bail. The fact that he is HIV+ has made this story interesting. The conditions of his bail are what caught my ear, and the actions of the RCMP are the icing on the proverbial cake of sucking.

Bail requirements:

  1. No sex without a condom
  2. Disclose to any sexual partner his HIV+ status.
  3. No involvement with the sex trade
  4. Cannot go to bars or nightclubs
  5. 11pm to 7am curfew
  6. Not be alone with any female under the age of 14 (other than his wife and family)
  7. No contact or visits with the complainants
  8. Maintain residence in Regina
  9. Surrender his passport (if he has one)

Continue reading Public Really Shouldn’t Know

Suing Mom For Pre-Birth Damage

Alberta will be considering legislation this month that will enable a child to sue its mother for damages incurred from automobile accidents that happened while the child was still in the womb.

Currently legislation exists that allows children to sue other people for damages incurred prior to being born, but suing the mother is strictly off limits. This was decided in the Dobson case by the Supreme Court of Canada, likely as a means of avoiding the thorny issue of mothers being held responsible for the health of their fetuses throughout pregnancy. The issue at stake was whether or not a fetus has a legal standing as a person prior to birth. As you can guess, this bleeds into abortion issues – which is why the mother was left untouchable.

This sad case of a mother being in a car accident has resulted in the belief that the baby was born with health problems due to the trauma of the accident. The girl (Brooklyn) now lives a difficult life and the family is looking for a way to help pay for the costs of the aide required for Brooklyn.

So now we get to the yuckiest part of the story – insurance.
Continue reading Suing Mom For Pre-Birth Damage