Favourite 2.0 technologies

Today, I thought I would share a couple of my favourite web 2.0 applications at the moment, so here they are:

1. Protopage (www.protopage.com) - A personal web portal that is highly configurable, and allows users to create multiple tabbed portal pages with varying access permissions. With Protopage it is possible to have a private homepage with all the inboxes of your various email accounts, personal bookmarks, RSS feeds, games etc. and have similar pages that you can password protect for invited access or create public pages and share your favourite bookmarks, RSS feeds...

2. Pandora. (www.pandora.com) - Internet Radio that allows its users to create, share and save their own stations, and it’s free! As you add particular songs or groups to an individual station's play list, the Pandora engine will suggest (and play) other groups or songs that are similar (which you can either accept or reject from your playlist). Build, customize and share your own radio stations!

not much of a new post

this is not a new post at all. for some reason my contact info doesnt seem to be showing up after i've added it to my profile? Well, if you know the answer to this problem make a comment or reach me on msn or hotmail at: alexh9 at hotmail.com

HRW report on Israel

Human rights watch has released a report detailing the serious crimes being committed by Israel's military, at the behest of the civilian leadership, in full view of the international community. The Canadian governments position has not changed, Israels destruction of Lebanon and Gaza, is still "measured". view the entire report here

Food Not Bombs London: Stop the War in Afghanistan!

Food Not Bombs London: Stop the War in Afghanistan!

Description:

Food Not Bombs London is looking for volunteers for Friday August 4th, and Saturday August 5th to assist in our participation at the CIRCA Rally against the war in Afghanistan. Friday we will be procuring and preparing food for the rally occurring the following day. Saturday where we will be serving, leafleting, and supporting the rally against Canada’s war in Afghanistan along with London’s Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA).

Where/When:

Food Preparation for Saturdays Rally:
Friday August 4th, 2006 6 – 9pm. 256 Grey Street (Grey & Wellington).

Rally:
Saturday August 5th, 2006 1 – 3pm. Mcmahen Park (Pall Mall & Adelaide). march begins starting at 1pm at Mcmahen.

IF you have:

food donations
Plates, bowls, forks
sharp knives & cutting boards
to donate, contact us!

OR:

Come out and join FNB for the preparation on Friday August 4th (6 pm – 9pm) at 256 Grey Street, or for the Rally August 5 (1 - 3pm) at Mcmahen Park and support preserving Canada’s traditional role as PEACEKEEPERS not warmongers.

If you can help out email ASAP foodnotbombslondon@hotmail.com . Thanks,
Alex Homanchuk .

Canada to Israel "Go right ahead"

For those reading the papers today, the message that Canada has sent to Israel should, by now, be very clear now. Yesterday Israel’s Justice minister said that world leaders, in failing to call for an immediate cease-fire during the Rome summit, have given Israel a green light to push harder to wipe out the Lebanese guerrillas. While Israel continues to expand its bombing of Lebanon, it now has the green light to prepare a massive ground invasion of Lebanon. Preparations have begun in earnest, as Israel has announced its plans to call up 30,000 reserves to begin training.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday "everyone understands that a victory for Hezbollah is a victory for world terror". It's striking to see how closely our two Prime Ministers think. The Canadian government’s position mirrors that of Israel/US, which is despite the many dead and seriously injured Canadians, the situation does not merit a ceasefire. Whitehouse Press Secretary (and former FOXNEWS radio host) Tony Snow released a statement yesterday: "A ceasefire that would leave the status quo intact is absolutely unacceptable. A ceasefire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable. So what we're trying to do is work as best we can toward a cease-fire that is going to create not only the conditions, but the institutions for peace and democracy in the region."

The evacuation of Canadian-Lebanese citizens continues. The evacuation beginning 19 July to 25 July has thus far evacuated 8,739 citizens to Cyprus, Turkey or back to Canada. At this current rate, barring any further complications, it will still be several weeks before most of the estimated 40,000 citizens are completely evacuated. Potential complications are IDF harassment of refugee transports such as holding up ships for hours at a time -- reminiscent of the checkpoints many Palestinians have endured daily. This form of continued harassment is common despite Certificates of Safe Passage issued by the Israel Defence Forces for the international evacuation effort.

Expect more casualties. With such a large contingent of Canadians remaining in Lebanon as Israel further expands and intensifies its bombing of the country the likelihood that we will see further casualties is a near certainty. The recent bombing of a UN post, killing one Canadian, was condemned by Kofi Annan as "possibly deliberate" as dozens of desperate calls were placed by the UN observers at the post to the IDF to cease the attack. Israel’s attack continued during the rescue effort immediately after the bombing. The same disregard has been shown to Lebanese as they attempted to escape on bombed bridges and roads and are routinely targeted while fleeing. The IDF's continued disregard of civilian life will certainly continue to contribute to a quickly rising body count.

As the death toll grows exponentially, how will Canadians respond? So far the government has explicitly given the green light to Israel to continue the reckless bombing of civilians and crucial infrastructure unless it's politically impossible demands are met. It is not just the Canadian government that supports this destruction. Canadians are shown to be evenly split on Stephan Harper's stance on Lebanon according to an Ipos-Reid poll released Sunday.

Food Not Bombs London: Rally for peace in Lebanon and Gaza

Food Not Bombs London: Rally for peace in Lebanon and Gaza

Food Not Bombs London is looking for volunteers for Friday July 21, and Saturday July 22 to assist in our participation at the Rally for peace in Lebanon and Gaza. Friday we will be procuring and preparing food in anticipation of a large rally Saturday where we will be serving, leafleting, and supporting the rally against the invasion of Lebanon. Details below:

On Saturday July 22 starting at 12:00 pm the Association of London Muslims along with several other peace groups will be holding a rally outside the John Labatt Centre calling upon the Canadian government to oppose the present aggression in the Middle East and to further protect its citizens trapped by bombing in Lebanon.

“[Israel will] turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years”

Israel's army chief of staff, General Dan Halutz, said his military would target infrastructure and "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years". Making good on this promise Israel has bombed civilian infrastructure, targeted civilians, and it is now claimed, used banned incendiary weapons on the population. In a press release dated July 18 Amnesty International condemned the G8 leaders stating that: “They have failed conspicuously to uphold their moral and legal obligation to address such blatant breaches of international humanitarian law, which in some cases have amounted to war crimes." In the same release the casualties are listed as a minimum of 200 Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli air strikes since July 12 “including dozens of children”.

The Harper government has failed to protect Canadian citizens.

Reported in the London Free Press (July 18) while other countries began evacuating their citizens on Sunday, “despite having one of the largest groups of nationals in Lebanon of any country in the world, Canada was getting its first group of evacuees out of the war-torn country only on Wednesday...”. With the number of Canadians killed in Israel’s illegal aggression standing at 8 and many more gravely injured, criticism from the Harper government has been non-existent. In fact to the contrary, Harper has sided firmly with Israel in its violation of international humanitarian law stating “I think Israel's response under the circumstances has been measured.”

Come out and join FNB for the preparation on Friday July 21 (6 pm – 9pm), or for the Rally July 22 (11:30 – 2:00) and support the embattled peoples of Lebanon and Gaza.

If you can help out email ASAP foodnotbombslondon@hotmail.com . Thanks,

Alex Homanchuk

Rally for peace in Lebanon and Gaza

Rally for peace in Lebanon and Gaza

Start: Jul 22 2006 - 12:00pm
End: Jul 22 2006 - 2:00pm
Location:
John Labatt Centre (outside, across from Covent Garden Market)
Description:

WHO:
Everyone concerned about the mounting humanitarian crisis resulting from armed aggression against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza.

WHAT:
We are calling on the Canadian government to:
- oppose aggression in the Middle East presently, and condemn war crimes against civilians.
- take steps toward protecting Canadian citizens there.
- provide humanitarian aid to those affected by the fighting.


The rally has been called by the Association of London Muslims, with support from other groups.

"East London Crackdown"

for those unfamliar with this site its one of the saddest examples of self-rightous assholes run amuk in London. The websites administrator makes a point of photographing and posting images of women from Londons east end labeling them as prostitutes on the website. If you get a chance please do send them an email and ask them (not politely) to take this libelous crap down.

image for protopage

Google video - embedding video

So if you're at all curious you can embed google videos within your blog! sure it works with you tube as well. cheers,

Oh, by the way this is a part of a debate between Alan Dershowitz and Norman Finkelstein.

Israel, "summer rain", and collective punishment

Well, it's that time of year again. First come up with the nifty little ethnic-cleansing sounding name for a military operation such as "Summer Rain". Nothing will fix up that ole garden like a good shower. Yep, nothing but hundreds of thousands of gentle artillery shells and 1000 pound bombs to rejuvenate the lawn and quench that nagging thirst…

An Israeli soldier has been kidnapped! Clearly then the only proportional response is to leave 1.3 million people without power – trapped in the dark and under the window-shattering over-flights of the IAF (and artillery shells).

Anyway, It was refreshing to see this debate on Democracy Now this morning between Norman Finkelstein (author of beyond Chutzpah) and Josh Block director of Media Affairs for American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

detail from surveillance map.

I thought this blog might need a few more images so i decided to post this detail from a surveillance map i produced in 2004 based on my reserch into the NYCLU's surveillance mapping project of Manhattan. The bottom left hand corner of the image is Museum London, and the map is of course north/south. See if you can guess the rest.

Newbie on Gnoppix

Ok, so had no troubles surfing around etc. on the lab b computers. I've been interested in testing out this ubuntu liveCD (Gnoppix) for some time, as i've been considering making the transition myself from the evil proprietary world of Windows XP to what many of my friends (open source keeners as they may be) have been raving about. So far, it hasn't been an easy transition.

Setting the live cd up on my own laptop, I begain by hitting F2 and getting into the bios options on my Acer Aspire 3000. I altered the boot sequence to start from the optical drive and then restarted once again. My first pass at starting up Gnoppix failed. I selected the wrong graphics card - after checking my system specs, i found that i had an SiS M760GX.

My second attempt at starting up the live cd on the laptop was somewhat more successful. The boot time was, as expected, somewhat longer than simply starting xp of the HD. perhaps 3 - 4 minutes startup time, but i selected the right graphics card this time and made it to the gnoppix desktop - but only after receiving an error message (DNS issue).

What next??

I find that my wireless connecion is not working... at all. I spend several minutes cursing... Fuck. Word of the day.

I make several attempts at correcting the network settings, however the wireless card is not listed at all. The ethernet card is there however. After spending some time attepting to get the hardwired ethernet connection working I decided to restart the computer.

OK. So that's it, i've got Gnoppix working on the laptop. I made several attempts on the previous boot to access the network settings and correct the problem. Now making my way back to the root terminal (System tools > root terminal > ping www.google.com) Looks like i'm up and running. By now i'm a little frustrated by the fact that i don't know how to resolve the problem without resorting to a reboot. If this were windows i could have performed an >ipconfig /release then /renew at the command prompt - or check the TCP/IP settings on the NIC (Network Interface Card) or would have a dozen other options that would be far more satisfying than admitting defeat and rebooting...Well i'm sure there are many ways to do these very same steps in Ubuntu. it's something i will have to re-learn.

So, all is fine with the ethernet connection. I can surf on over to the London Commons website, and i can also download some mp3's using the Gnoppix pre-installed torrent client. I've also seen a major difference in how quickly applications are loading, however this is likely due to the fact that i have a great deal of random shit loaded on xp --- it's been chugging along for awhile now.

It's somewhat frustrating not being able to use my wireless connection at all. I've heard there was indeed some problems with broadcom wireless cards in particular. After 15 minutes of looking for a solution, and finding several lengthy resolutions described in various support forums, i decide to let it alone for the time being.

I'm somewhat impressed using the image editor software as well as open office. I spent some time experimenting and become convinced that these open source applicatons at least have the basic functionality of their proprietary counterparts (MS Office and Adobe Photoshop). I would however need more convincing to abandon these products outright, although i would like to test the windows emulator wine in the near future to see if i can abandon XP and retain some of the more useful software.

Firefox. It's the best out there, and i have real difficulty in understanding why anyone would still be out there using clunky-spy-adware delivery system Internet Explorer when a superior open source solution exists.

Media Players etc. So far i'm on board. It's great to be able to listen to an mp3 without being bombarded by advertisments while doing so. Buy it! no thanks! I would rather rip it, borrow it or burn it.

While it may not be time to dump XP entirely, i would seriously be looking at doing so if Ubuntu can live up to the hype.

Dodgeball Saturdays

A group shot from last weekends massively BIG anarcho-dodgeball tourney. We had a good 25 people out at one point at the thunderdome (the fenced in area behind Beal). Even our good buddies the London Police Department made an extended appearance - providing some light for our activities while watching from afar for a good 25 minutes. We invited them to particpate but sadly no donut.

letter from LCAP - Pestiscide by-law passed 13 - 6.

I just received this yesterday.  The pesticide by-law is a go. 
I wonder what Trosow will do with all the extra time?



Today, Monday June 12, London's city council passed a pesticide by-law
to take effect in September 2008. The by-law passed by a wide margin
with thirteen voting for and six against.

Voting in favour of the by-law were, Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco,
Controller Gord Hume, and Councillors Judy Bryant, Ab Chahbar, Joni
Baechler, Fred Tranquilli, Bernie MacDonald, Bill Armstrong, Cheryl
Miller, Sandy White, David Winninger, Harold Usher, and Susan Eagle.

Voting against was Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell, Controllers Russ Monteith
and Bud Polhill, and Councillors Rob Alder, Roger Caranci, and Paul
VanMeerbergen.

The only amendment to the by-law presented was an additional exemption
for sports fields.

There will be some who will argue that this by-law is not a compromise.
It is. The by-law does not take effect until September 2008 giving the
industry three summers, including the current season, of spraying and an
opportunity to investigate and adopt new ways of doing business.

For those who do or will suffer the negative impact of pesticides, it
means there will not be immediate relief. However, the light is at the
end of the tunnel and forward thinking businesses will begin adopting
alternatives and implementing new business models sooner in order to get
a head start on the competition.

I would like to thank the following people:

Those councillors who voted in favour of the by-law. It was argued the
debate over the by-law has been divisive and it was suggested it may
remain divisive. I think the divisions will heal quickly. By passing the
by-law a contentious issue has been removed from public debate and the
passions raised will subside as the next order of business turns to
education and implementing alternatives.

Controller Gord Hume for taking leadership on this issue. London is a
Creative City and this by-law will help persuade young Londoners to stay
and raise a family while attracting others looking for a home where
health and quality of life are priorities.

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco who chose to champion this issue. She has shown
true leadership and strength of character in taking on this issue and
pushing it along to completion. Despite intense lobbying and pressure,
she did not waiver.

Judi Bryant, David Winninger, Susan Eagle, Harold Usher and Sandy White.
These councillors have always supported a ban and stood with us through
thick and thin. I would like to offer a special word of thanks to Joni
Baechler and Bill Armstrong. Wow. You guys are the best.

Laura Wall and Nathalie Noel of the Canadian Cancer Society and Gideon
Forman of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
They brought this forward again despite our reluctance. I am grateful
they did.

Sam Trosow who pushed the issue out of the abyss of committee meetings
and back onto the council floor.

John Pope, Sharon Abbasakoor, Patti Webber, Richard Yake, Maxine
Morrison, Hayley McPhail, Chris Gupta, Janice Howell, James Wagar,
everyone at TREA, Maureen Temme, and all those who have contributed so
much time and energy to LCAP over the years and please forgive me for
those names I've have missed.

Finally, all of you who have come to meeting, after meeting, after
meeting, who have remained on the LCAP list despite the many emails
resent for corrections, and who have always believed we could do this.
This is your by-law. Thank you.

Sean Hurley,
Chair,
LCAP.

Fuck the CLA!

Yeah. You heard me right. A big organization that's big on principles -- which is fine-- but wheres the love for the poor MLIS students? A number of us discovered on the CLA website conference registration that first timers to the big big conference receive "complimentry" registration. It was latter found that a 90.00 registration fee was required, on top of the 50.00 student membership. Add this up with the costs of getting out to Ottawa, food, housing etc. and other fees for other workshops etc. and you have one big bill. It occurs to me that if the CLA wanted to induce MLIS students to get involved with the CLA they would indeed stay true to their word and give us complimentry registration for the conference and perhaps some reason to get involved. For my part I can think of many other organizations that are far far more worthy of my support...

Negotiations with Six Nations called off

Dalton McGuinty has called off negotiations with Six Nations as the protest has "exhausted his patience", he has now delivered an ultimatum of several criteria that must be met before negotiations will resume if all barricades come down immediately and Six Nations co-operate with police into the investigation of the recent car-jacking incident. Somethings got to give here... if not it seems likely that the police will be moving in.

see the story here

Food Not Bombs

We're looking to hold another FNB at the Market next Friday (16th i believe). If anyone out there is interested in assiting in cooking, or distributing food than give us a holler at foodnotbombslondon@hotmail.com. or post to the londoncommons.net. we can always use donations or an extra hand.

peace out.

Regional Social Forum

Just a reminder to folks that the Regional Social Forum begins this thursday, come out for the RSF critical mass bikeride starting at 5:30 thurs in Vic park. The list of events at the RSF is now posted on their website at http://regionalsocialforum.ca/ and among the participants is are favourite copy-right lawyer Sam Trosow, how will be participating in a discussion on - surprise, surprise, pesticide use in London! should be a blast.

Food Not Bombs

Last nights FNB meeting was good fun. It looks like we will be setting up in the alleyway leading up to the Market downtown next friday. Come out and enjoy some fine vegan dinning. If anyone has any food donations or would like to volunteer some time either cooking, cleaning, serving, set-up, or bringing an instrument and playing some music while we serve up some free food then email FNB at foodnotbombslondon@hotmail.com.

Updated links

I've updated the links on the sidebar.
I would recommend checking out the Food Not Bombs link, recently reactivated in London, Ont.

RSF

Just a reminder folks,

London's second Regional Social Forum is happening this weekend (June 1 - 4, 2006),. The forumwill be held again at Scouts Canada site, slightly North of london so bring your tents...

The Regional Social Forum is modelled after the annual World Social Forum, more information can be found at http://www.regionalsocialforum.ca/. Or, check out the London Commons, a community portal for London-based activists www.londoncommons.net

More images...

Thanks for the comments on the image folks (it's a poor representation as most of the work i do relies upon details, unfortunatley a jpeg doesnt quite cut it). Anyway, i've often thought of putting togther a site that would contain my own writings, and photobased work ... which was one reason i was hoping to get into the web-design class. Hopefully it will be offered as a distance course when i go off to do my co-op, in which case i will have plenty of time to put together a bitchin' website. I do however have some of my work up on the internet one site is located at the URL:
http://bentirondesign.com/thecitywillrecall/default.htm. This one is not sufficient, it was hastely put together (in four hours) for a 505 assignment last term, otherwise if anyones interested in seeing some more of my work just google my name "alex homanchuk"...

The City Will Recall

The City Will Recall

Hello World!

OK, well - welcome to my "blog". I've never really taken a great deal of interest in blogs myself they have always seemed to be a bit of a self-aggrandizing form of communication. Anyway, I thought i try posting an image this time. For anyone interested this image was taken by myself in 2001 on a segment of the east-end of the Gardiner Expressway as it was being torn down. Its part of a series entitled A night sea voyage (a title derived from the Odyssey). Further images from this series can be viewed at http://www.aregeebee.net/show/abio.htm.

see you later space cowboy...

First Post

...so this is yet another blog. I've always said that the internet could use a few more blogs...and some more of that myspace crap ta boot...