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.