As I am way too lazy to design my own stuff now, I decided to go with 3formed’s Clean Grey. I then used Zenphoto as my photo backend. I didn’t like the way Zenphoto displayed each image on a separate page, so I wrote a theme for Zenphoto using LightboxEx, which is a modified version of Lightbox 2 that includes slideshow functionality.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully, you feel the same.

Check it out at http://www.ashotinthedark.ca

Well, what happened was I had my radio sitting in the cup holder on the tractor and I drove in between two trees. One of the trees had a branch the perfect height and length to reach the radio. As the branch went by, it took the radio with it. I didn’t notice until I heard a large clunk come from the mower itself. As I looked back, I noticed that my radio was gone and then realized what had happened. I felt awful. The radio did pretty well, all things considered. It didn’t survive however. It had been ripped open, the LCD had been decimated, and the batteries were in a few pieces. The belt clip was totally destroyed, as was the antenna. I was able to recover the volume knob, which I stuck on the other radio that was missing one. That was the only good thing that came out of this.

Mike (the second assistant superintendent) was the only one there that day, so I told him. He thought it was awesome. I told Pat (the superintendent) the next day that I owed him some money (those things are worth about $200 each), but he said not to worry about it. He owed me a golf ball, (specifically, a Callaway Tour iX, which is about a $5 ball) so he called it even. Good deal eh?

I was going to take some pictures of it, but Mike whisked it away when I told him. I think he thought that it was bothering me, but I actually wanted to keep it, especially since he just threw it away.

In other news, police surrounded a convenience store today, where a sasquatch was attempting to buy Haagen Dazs.

I bought a new domain name, ashotinthedark.ca. I was hoping to get just shotinthedark.com/ca but that was, as I thought it probably would be, taken. I think I am going to create a photography website for myself there. I’m not sure though and if I do, it won’t be coming anytime soon. I was also thinking about redesigning this site. I’ve always known that it doesn’t display correctly in browsers using the Webkit engine, like Safari and now Google Chrome. I have never figured out why though. My code is 100% standards compliant (minus the YouTube embed code and the Lightbox JS CSS, which isn’t my code).  Those exceptions are not the problem though. It hasn’t ever displayed properly and I didn’t have an embedded video or Lightbox originally. I haven’t really cared before because it isn’t a very big difference and I don’t have many visitors from Safari and gang.

However, lately the design and the fact that it doesn’t display properly in some browsers has started to bother me. I think it is time for a change. It will probably take a while though, so don’t get excited. I’ve also decided that I’m done with doing websites for other people. That means that in the redesign, the portfolio will probably be gone. I’m also thinking that I am going to redirect all traffic from mapledesign.ca to here too. I hate that site. I threw it together quite quickly using a design from OpenWebDesign.org and always meant to change it. Well, I never did and I don’t like it.

I spent $10 USD on glowsticks today at the dollar store. I got quite a bit, which was awesome. I got four four packs, two six packs, three individual ones and one lantern thing. The lantern was really cool. I think I got a pretty good deal. They were well worth the $10.

As for my schooling this year, I changed my major. Well okay, not technically. I didn’t submit an application in time last year and am, therefore, still a computer science major. I am, however, not taking any computer science courses. I am taking courses that will go toward a geology degree. I am pretty excited and happy so far. All the courses that I took last year transfer over nicely, so that’s pretty awesome.

Well, I think that is about that I have to share right now. Sorry for not posting in a long time. Hopefully my next post won’t be in a couple months. Oh, for those that were wondering, or even if you weren’t, the Canadian copyright legislation (Bill C-61) is dead. Since we are having an election in a month, the Parliament has been dissolved and that legislation, along with a few others, died. That doesn’t mean that copyright reform won’t take place, it just means that particular attempt failed. Copyright reform will come back though, regardless of who wins the election. This is what Michael Geist had to say a few days before the election call:

“Raising the profile of copyright has required thousands of Canadians to pro-actively contact their elected representatives. Starting next week, those same representatives (and would-be representatives) will be seeking you out.  They will be knocking on doors, making phone calls, attending all-candidates meetings, and generally doing their best to convince voters that they will best represent their interests. I believe that this presents an exceptional opportunity to ask the question - where do you stand on important digital issues such as C-61 and Canadian copyright reform?  Does your local Conservative candidate support the reintroduction of Bill C-61 or would they work toward amendments before it returns?  Is your local Liberal candidate willing to commit to public consultations before the introduction of any new copyright bill?  Is your NDP or Green candidate firmly against the approach in C-61?  These are the questions (along with positions on net neutrality, telecom competition, broadband access, and privacy) that need to be asked again and again and again this fall.  Bill C-61 may be about to die, but the prospect of Canadian DMCA-like legislation remains very much alive.”

As expected, the Canadian DMCA is big, complicated, and a close model of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Industry Canada provides a large number of fact sheets here).  I’ll have much more to say once I’ve had a careful read, but these are my five key points to take away:

1.   As expected, Prentice has provided a series of attention-grabbing provisions to consumers including time shifting, private copying of music (transferring a song to your iPod), and format shifting (changing format from analog to digital).  These are good provisions that did not exist in the delayed December bill.  However, check the fine print since the rules are subject to a host of strict limitations and, more importantly, undermined by the digital lock provisions.  The effect of the digital lock provisions is to render these rights virtually meaningless in the digital environment because anything that is locked down (ie. copy-controlled CD, no-copy mandate on a digital television broadcast) cannot be copied. As for every day activities like transferring a DVD to your iPod - those are infringing too. Indeed, the law makes it an infringement to circumvent the locks for these purposes.

2.   The digital lock provisions are worse than the DMCA.  Yes - worse.  The law creates a blanket prohibition on circumvention with very limited exceptions and creates a ban against distributing the tools that can be used to circumvent.  While Prentice could have adopted a more balanced approach (as New Zealand and Canada’s Bill C-60 did), the effect of these provisions will be to make Canadians infringers for a host of activities that are common today including watching out-of-region-coded DVDs, copying and pasting materials from a DRM’d book, or even unlocking a cellphone.

While that is the similar to the U.S. law, the exceptions are worse.  The Canadian law includes a few limited exceptions for privacy, encryption research, interoperable computer programs, people with sight disabilities, and security, yet Canadians can’t actually use these exceptions since the tools needed to pick the digital lock in order to protect their privacy are banned.  In other words, check the fine print again - you can protect your privacy but the tools to do so are now illegal.  Dig deeper and it gets worse.  Under the U.S. law, there is mandatory review process every three years to identify new exceptions.  Under the Canadian law, its up to the government to introduce new exceptions if it thinks it is needed. Overall, these anti-circumvention provisions go far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties and represents an astonishing abdication of the principles of copyright balance that have guided Canadian policy for many years.

3.   The other headline grabber is the $500 fine for private use infringement.  This will be heralded as a reasonable compromise, but check the fine print.  Canadian law already allows a court to order damages below $500 per infringement, so the change may not be as dramatic as expected (though $500 in damages is the maximum for private use infringement).  Moreover, it is already arguably legal to download sound recordings in Canada.  Under the proposal, there are exceptions for uploading or posting music online (ie. making available) and even the suggestion that posting a copyright-protected work to YouTube could result in the larger $20,000 per infringement damage award.

4.   The ISP provisions are precisely as expected with a statutory notice-and-notice system.  However, check the fine print.  The role of the ISP may be undermined by the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which the government trumpets in its press release.

5.   The education community received several provisions that are largely gutted by the fine print.  For example, library materials can be distributed in electronic form, but must not extend beyond five days.  In other words, it turns librarians into locksmiths.  Moreover, there is an Internet exception that educators wanted but it does not apply for any works that are either password protected or include a notification that they cannot be used.  In other words, online materials that are available under a Creative Commons license are fair game (as they are already), but most everything else is still potentially subject to a restriction.  This was precisely what many feared - rather than pursuing the far superior expansion of fair dealing, the education community got a provision that does little to enhance classroom learning.

I’ll have more to say soon, but the takeaway is that the DMCA provisions are worse than the U.S. and the consumer exceptions riddled with limitations as the government promotes a strategy of locking down content and launching lawsuits against Internet users.

Michael Geist - The Canadian DMCA: Check the Fine Print

This legislation must be stopped. There is a new letter to send. This one is sent to your MP, Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner. To send it click here.

I have to phone Rob again tomorrow to work out all the details, but other than that it should be good to go. I’ll keep you guys updated.

Multiple sources advise that Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s current plan is to introduce the Canadian DMCA this week, likely on Wednesday.  While things could change, it would appear that Prentice’s communication strategy is to do as little communicating as possible. Plans for a possible press conference have apparently been put on hold given concerns that the press might actually ask questions and Prentice has even entertained thoughts of shuffling the bill quickly to a committee for summer hearings so that he would not have to deal with the issue all summer long. The Minister will also head for Japan and South Korea late the following week as part of the OECD Future of the Internet Economy conference, so out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

Michael Geist - The Unoffical Canadian DMCA Background Document

I recommend that you read his post in its entirety. He lists what he expects to be in the bill and things that Mr. Prentice likely won’t talk about. Canada needs balanced copyright reform and adopting a US-style DMCA is not the answer. From what I’ve heard and read about the bill, it is not looking good. We need to act now in order to prevent this bill from becoming law and to give Canada a chance at fair and balanced copyright reform. I urge you to write to your MP, the Prime Minister, Industry Minister Jim Prentice, and Heritage Minister Josée Verner. One way of doing this is to use this pre-written letter and use the form on that page to send it via email. I would also recommend printing it out and mailing it. Letters mailed to Parliament/MPs/Ministers do not require postage. Simply print it off, put it in an envelope, address it and drop it in the mail box.

If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out by clicking here and entering your postal code. Please send a letter. We were able to stop Mr. Prentice’s bill in December and we can do it again.

This one is a music video for Rise Against’s “Swing Life Away”.

This is a trip up to the University. Normally, I wouldn’t go this way because it takes longer, but the way I do go isn’t nearly as exciting. The music in this one is by me. The full version is 1:30 long. If you want it for some strange reason, email me and you can have it.

Trip to the University from maple on Vimeo.

Devonian Gardens from Joel Steeves on Vimeo.

Driving Time Lapse from Joel Steeves on Vimeo.

Andrea may be formidable with words, but she lacks the capacity to truly understand the utter drivel she proclaims. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cunningness. While there are still some who can see through Andrea’s exaggerations and incorrect comparisons, she has been able to dupe a considerable amount of the world’s population into believing her, thus legitimizing her stance on numerous issues.  Andrea, in her infinite wisdom, has suggested that children don’t need as much psychological attentiveness, protection and obedience training as the treasured household pet. Although she has been proved wrong on numerous occasions, she continues to spew this misinformation as though it was fact. It is truly scary how incapable of logical reasoning Andrea is. She contends that science is merely a tool invented by the current elite to maintain power. Excuse me, but where exactly did this little factoid come from?

In an Andrea-led society, those who focus on the major economic, social and political forces that provide the setting for the expression of a scary agenda will be suppressed, vilified, hated, imprisoned, exiled and killed. Is this the kind of society that we want to live in? Unfortunately, Andrea has been able to glaze over these details and convince the majority of the human population that, yes, this is the kind of world they’d like to live in. It is her constant floccinaucinihilipilification of advice from prominent and knowledgeable individuals that has led to her current state. She continues to berate her opposition, portraying them in the media as ignorant, moronic imbeciles.

Andrea’s obsequious minions are everywhere, propagating her fabrications and deceptions. She has people doing her dirty work in every country of this great earth. There is no escape from her ever-present ideas. She is constantly expressing her belief that people should be appraised by their number of material possessions and the amount of money they have instead of their internal values and achievements. It is frightening to envision the dystopian future that will be if Andrea has her way. What is even more frightening is the staggering amount of people that fail to see through her very optimistic speeches and policy.

While I must admit that our society is in need of a change, Andrea’s plan for the future is not the right one. She is self-centered and egotistical, only thinking about how she can benefit herself. Although she would have us believe that she is a caring individual, this is nothing more than a charade. That lie is a transparent and strained effort to keep us from noticing that she seizes every opportunity to introduce absurd, baseless, terror-ridden lawsuits intended to destroy the lives of countless innocent people. I cannot believe this colossal clownishness and neither should you.

Once we came to a stop, we didn’t move for a long time. After a while people started getting out of their vehicles to see what was going on. We figured that there must have been an accident up ahead somewhere. We sat there for at least an hour and a half. There was no cars coming the other way except people that had turned around. We saw two ambulances come up the hill, one with lights flashing, the other without. A little later an ambulance came the other way with its lights flashing, which we thought was a little strange. We thought there might have been another accident. After at least an hour and a half, we started moving. We only got about a kilometer before we came to a halt again. We sat here again for a long time.

We finally started moving again and got on our way. We sat there for at least two and a half hours while they investigated the crash. We had heard that someone had died, but didn’t know that for sure. We found out yesterday that a woman had died in the accident. It was a head-on collision involving two vehicles and seven people.

My parents were nine kilometers behind us and the accident was about two kilometers in front of us. That means at the very least there was eleven kilometers of stopped cars, semis and buses. My mom said there was lots of cars behind them, so it was probably bigger than eleven kilometers. That is pretty crazy.