Brian Hampson - Life and Other Things

MalekTips has about 400 tips on digital photography….cool!

Fotothing.  It’s only been around 4 months, but it looks like a nice way to get photos out to relatives and friends that have an aggregator.  I’ve started with my own.  One photo so far.  The sweetest part is the RSS feed.  Relatives and friends can subscribe, sit back, and let the photos flow.

I lost my little girl today.

PC was 15 years old.  I suppose that’s supposed to be a good long life if you’re a cat.  It’s way to short if you’re their parent.  Taffy, her older brother, has diabetes which we have under control with diet, PC was healthy, or at least seemed to be.  She was always jumping around, and rolling on the ground, asking for a belly rub.  She ate up on the clothes drier, so that Taffy wouldn’t steal her food.  She jumped up on anything she wanted to, and had a penchant for power cords.  These last few days she became significantly weaker, and stopped eating.  When I took her to the vet today, I knew that I had put off the trip for too long.   When we got there, she was weak, dehydrated, constipated, and hypothermic.  The prognosis wasn’t good.  The vet called me back with a plan of attack.  It wasn’t going to be cheap, but she was my daughter…it would be OK to spend the money.  After the call, the vet called me back just moments later.  She had decided to let go.  My little girl was gone.  She was finally free from whatever it was that had made her last days so miserable.  She was free of the now empty, tired shell that kept her spirit for these past years.  No more belly rubs.  No more head scritches.  No more PC.  I’ll get over it one day, but today I don’t want to.  I want to be sad.  I want to remember all the goodness that’s now gone from my life. 

PC - I’ll miss you.  Say “Hi!” to Toby.  Swat his tail for me.

If you have a pet….don’t forget to let them know you love them.  You may not have the chance tomorrow.

Font Leech is new, and has done some good work scouring the ‘Net for quality free fonts.  Not some of the wierd whacked stuff that’s out there.  They also have an RSS feed:  Subscribed.

Today is the day when Scouting organisations around the world celebrate the birthday of Lord Robert Baden-Powell

B.P. was born in 1857, and is the Chief Scout of the World.  He may not have been perfect, but he was a guiding example for youths in his day.  Scouting has changed alot since his day, and in most ways for the better.  I’m sure we will continue to look inwards, and see what we can do to improve the Scouting experience for the millions of boys and girls that belong.  One thing that you can do, is: Get Involved! That’s right. Even if you have no outdoors experience, or experience working with kids, but want to help today’s kids become better adults, you are welcome in Scouting.  If you’ve got some spare time, and want to make a difference, contact the Scout Office near you and say “I want to join, and start making a difference!”

Today’s kids NEED people that care.  Be there for them.

Can’t remember how to tie a surgeon’s knot?  A nail knot?  Albright?  No problem! 

This site has got some nice simple diagrams,  and explanations that help visualize the knots!

Fishing, Outdoor, Boating, and Paddling knots each with their own section.

Looks like Greenpeace got their protesting hineys served up to them by a bunch of oil traders.  Quite the funny read.

Another said: “I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.” Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: “Sod off, Swampy.”

Don’t mess with people that are on the razor’s edge

Digital Photography Blog (DPB) published a link to a page showing the upcoming Rebel XT.  This , in and of itself, is no big deal.  The fact was that the page wasn’t supposed to go LIVE yet.  Canon had placed an embargo on information regarding the camera until the “official” announcement day.  That only counts if you’ve signed the NDA with Canon.  DPB hadn’t.  So, now Canon’s all unhappy, and thinks that DPB is in the wrong.

Note to Canon:  It’s called “breaking a story”.  If the information can be obtained without having someone break your NDA, then it can be published.  Heck - as apple learned recently, it can be published even if you HAVE an NDA

So, should Canon be unhappy?  Yes!  Should they be unhappy with DPB?  No.  Who should they be unhappy with?  Sites that use predictable names for pages, which can be guessed, and have them sitting on LIVE Internet servers, not password protected - effectively breaking the NDA they signed.  Either Canon needs to make sure they have better aggreements in place, or they need to grin and bear it. 

In the end, of course, there’s no such thing as bad publicity

Steve Moore has decided that he WILL sue just about everyone that he can get the lawsuit to stick to.

Defendants are:

• Todd Bertuzzi
• Brad May
• Marc Crawford
• Brian Burke
• and the Vancouver Canucks.

Somehow he missed the water boy

Apparently it’s some complicated thing filed under Colorado’s “Long-Arm Statute”

The venue for the lawsuit is Colorado because of this.  Yeah - it couldn’t be because US courts go WAYYYY overboard with punitive damages in civil suits?  No…I’m sure it’s just because Steve wants Todd to be REALLY sure to understand that he hurts, and is unhappy that they can never really be friends.

Staples is offering a 40 free prints promotion. 

If you’re interested in getting some FREE digital photo prints done, head over to StaplesPhoto.ca.  With coupon code, 85921, you can get 40 4×6 prints for FREE!

I’ve used their service.  I’m happy with the quality, and delivery is free, if you choose a staples store near you to pick up your order.  There’s a charge if youw want it delivered to you home.   Happy developing!

I don’t know how long the offer will last, so get ‘em while the gettin’s good!

EDIT - CRAP….looks like they’ve limited out, or some such :(  There’s a thread going on at:

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/showthread.php?t=138156&page=1&pp=15

Also….with Spring Break coming up, do you know what to do with your kids?  Send them camping with NorthPointe Outdoor Adventures (yes, it’s my company )

Bruce Schneier is reporting that SHA-1 has been broken!

SHA-1 has been broken. Not a reduced-round version. Not a simplified version. The real thing.

A team from China,

Xiaoyun Wang, Yiqun Lisa Yin, and Hongbo Yu (mostly from Shandong University in China) have been quietly circulating a paper describing their results:

has broken the SHA-1 hash algorithm. Time for a new hash again

It pretty much puts a bullet into SHA-1 as a hash function for digital signatures

SHA-1 is the hash function used by .NET to sign assemblies.  Will MS come up with an alternative soon?  I hope so, or the trusting computing initiative takes a pretty strong hit.

This is so done that it’s past well done.  The NHL has cancelled the season. FINALLY.  I mean we’re less than 2 weeks from MARCH!!  Spring time!  It was done when nothing happened before January.  It just became tedious listening to a bunch of whiny millionaires complaining about a bunch of whiny billionaires.   We just stopped caring!  Thank you for freeing up space on the sports news for actual news.  Maybe next year?

Case Western University researchers have developed a polymer which will cause line to glow different colours under UV, depending on how much stress it has had:

Nylon fishing line is designed to have some stretch. But pull on it too hard - when fighting a large fish, for example, or trying to get loose from a snag - and it can reach the point of “non-recoverable deformation” at which it becomes seriously weakened.

Here’s the new polymer info:

a type of polymer called a phenylene vinylene oligomer, which fluoresces under ultraviolet light. Crucially, the colour of the light it gives off changes depending on the mechanical stress the molecule has been subjected to.

So, hopefully the next time you hook the big one, it won’t snap off on you

The Canadian Flag turns 40 today.  While the flag was born from controversy and almost divided a nation, when it was in its design phase, it has become a worldwide symbol for people who care, and are willing to help.  It has become an international beacon of peace and charity.  Canadians, as a country are proud of our flag, not because it’s a great design, or because the colours are cool, but because it represents the people over whom it flies, and all that we care about. Happy 40th To the Red Maple Leaf!

This is the history of our flag….

Here are some previous versions:

1497

1534

1621

1707

I don’t even know what to say:

Zookeepers to put ‘gay’ penguins back on straight and narrow

People are so quick to assume that someone is “evil” when they don’t agree with the generally accepted view.  When that person speaks out and let’s their opinions be known these days, even with valid background reasoning, they can be branded as treasonous in the United States.

Professor Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado wrote an essay, shortly after 9/11 stating, from my understanding, in a nutshell:

”If you’re going to have policies that cause death and destruction around the world - Don’t be surprised when it’s visited up on you”

Well.  Imagine that!??!  Someone blaming the foreign policy of the US for what happened to the US?  It happed up here in Canada as well, shortly after 9/11 and people wanted Sunera Thobani arrested on HATE CRIME charges….c’mon!  People need to be less like sheep to their governments, and media machines, and more like thinking people.  I know we can do it.  I see it in SOME people all the time.  Take a look in your national mirror some time and see yourself as the world sees you?  Do you like it?  What can you do to change it?  What will happen if you don’t?

Well - your chance to do so just came one step closer:

The Blank Keytop Keyboard - Happy Hacking Keyboard

You too can be known among your p33rs as an 31337 c0de d00d.

Thanks to Joe for the tip.

Looks like it’s going to be launch time soon:

50 Invitations!!!   Which, when coupled with some comments from an MS Hotmail project manager looks like things will get very interesting in the free webmail side of the ‘Net.   Stay tuned…this can only be good from a user point of view.

One day, it’s the nice old interface the next it’s the new whacked one.   Then it’s back and forth, and back and forth.

Why not run the two in parallel?  I like some features fo the new “Groups” page, but man do I miss the “Old Groups”  It was much easier to find the information with the old format.

What’s the deal?

April 28th U2 is coming to Vancouver.  Tickets will go on sale this Saturday through Ticketmaster.  General Admission floor seats are $45 and seating will be $165  Holy CRAP! 

Is a band really worth $165?