Cory Doctorow is angry.
… a new version of the Canadian national anthem, in honour of the terrible proposal for a Canadian version of the US DMCA, a copyright law that has led to 20,000 lawsuits against music fans, terrible damage to innovation and free speech, all without paying artists or preventing infringement.
O Canada! The Canadian DMCA version of the national anthem – Boing Boing
I don’t need much.
But I need Twinings Earl Grey tea. Every day.
Cost of this tea varies a great deal. (As does coffee.) If you put the same tea in a smaller box, or a foil wrapper, expect to pay double or triple.
The best retail value in my town is buying 100 tea bags. I get them at Superstore.
Safeway, Co-op and other grocery chains charge far more. How can they get away with this?
People in Calgary are too “fat”. Too affluent. They’d rather pay $3 more in an empty Safeway than crowded Superstore.
If you want the free market to work, you should support retailers that give you the best value.
Superstore also has no loyalty card program. As you know, loyalty cards are dead to me.
Disclosure: I do shop at Safeway for bagels. The Superstore bakery department is pitiful.
The USA has handled the transition from old media to new digital media about as badly as possibly.
Right wing politicians there are easily easily bought off by lobbyists of the status quo industries. In the past they were bought off by tobacco lobbyists. Now TelCo lobbyists.
Canada has had a surprisingly enlightened and forward thinking environment. Until now. Harper’s Conservatives look to be joining the coalition of the willing to war.
Industry Canada says we’ll have a new Copyright bill by Christmas. Any day now, Industry Minister Jim Prentice will rise in the House of Commons and present the new legislation.
Based on the Ministry’s hints about the bill to date, and on Stephen Harper’s recent throne speech, digital rights watchers are fearing the worst. Here’s what they’re predicting:
* “(It will) put digital locks on our computers, cellphones, iPods, other gadgets and tools and, ultimately, our culture” -Copyright lawyer Howard Knopf
* “There is every indication this legislation will be a complete sell-out to U.S. government and lobbyist demands.”
-Internet law Professor Michael Geist …Search Engine | CBC Radio | Last chance to ask the Industry Minister about your copy rights.
It’s obvious to anyone who thinks about it for more than 2 minutes that a lock down strategy is doomed to failure.
It means prolonging a shadow economy. Turning potential customers into pirates.
Sad.
This widely circulated video really puts things in perspective. We have much to be thankful for.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Thanks Amber.
I love the music, too.
The statistics on how many people live on less than $2 / day are deceptive, of course.
When I was in rural Tibet we trekked through a village waving US and Chinese money. But there was no store. Nothing to buy. No one wanted to rent us pack animals. Subsistence villagers had no use for “paper”.
Those Tibetans lived on ZERO dollars a day. And lived that way quite happily for the past hundreds of years.
By any numeric measure of “poverty” in Canada, I am below the “line” myself. The number of dollars you have in your pocket is relative.
David M. Walker speaks truth to power.
How can he do that in the USA?
He has a 15-year appointment as Comptroller General of the USA and cannot be brought down by the President nor anyone else.
Walker has compared the present-day United States with the Roman Empire in its decline, saying the U.S. government is “on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch agency founded in 1921, whose mission is to help improve the performance and assure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Over the years, GAO has earned a reputation for professional objective, fact-based, and nonpartisan reviews of government issues and operations. …
David M. Walker (U.S. Comptroller General) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The USA is a great nation. But with no political accountability beyond the next election. Walker’s budget projections are “the dirty little secret that everyone in Washington knows, but no one will talk about”.
Watch an excerpt from the TV show 60 Minutes on YouTube, or click PLAY.
I don’t expect things to change.
Not until full out disaster forces the issue.
Thanks Barbara Anne for circulating this video.
How many retailers have the guts to walk the walk on BUY NOTHING DAY.
Only SWOBO, I’ll bet.
How to Avoid the Bummer Life: Biggest shopping day of the year?
(via The Piton)
A great symbolic day of protest. Gandhi would be proud.
Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day falls on November 23rd in North America and November 24th internationally. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine.
The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption”. In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads. Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it “isnt just about changing your habits for one day” but “about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste”.
If you like the concept, like me, consider Adbuster’s more extreme campaign:
Dreading the holiday season? The frantic rush and stress? The to-do lists and sales hype? The spiritless hours trapped in malls?
This year, why not gather together your loved ones and decide to do things differently? With the simplest of plans you can create a new rhythm, purpose and meaning for the holidays. Why not try a Buy Nothing Christmas? …
BUY NOTHING Christmas – Adbusters
I’ve complained about this blogger, Dare Obasanjo, in the past.
But I want to buy him a drink right now. He’s put into words something I’ve been wrestling with for 30yrs. Ever since Ron Shewchuk tried to convince me that advertising was a “good way to inform the general public about new products”. (Ron was being indoctrinated into some cult of Journalism at the time.)
I knew then what I know today. Advertisers are lying, cheating scum who will advise their clients to poison the water supply for an extra penny per unit profit.
If you want to be as incensed about advertising as I am, read Fast Food Nation.
“Want lies with that?”
Where was I …
Ah, yes. My ephiphy.
Here’s the key quote:
… thats when the whole idea of advertising will go poof, will disappear. If its perfectly targeted, it isn’t advertising, its information. Information is welcome, advertising is offensive.
Dave Winer
Obasanjo gives some examples:
… If you think about it, the reason Google makes so much money from search advertising is because the ads are particularly relevant when a user is seeking information or a trusted opinion as part of the process to make a commercial decision. If Im searching for “iPod” or “car insurance” then it is quite likely that ads selling me these products are relevant to my search and are actually considered to be information instead of intrusive advertising. …
Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life – SocialAds Implications: Facebook will Acquire iLike and Flixster
Advertising will go poof.
I like the sounds of that. How much time have I wasted hearing radio and TV advertising that not only hold no interest to me, but that offends my intelligence?
The recycling tub here is stuffed with dead tree that we do not even glance at.
Happily, the future is nearly here. We will be able to buy everything without ads if we wish. Or get the same content ad supported — but, we will be able to choose what categories of ads we want.
I would choose outdoor gear, kayaks, bicycles, Apple products, etc.
Those advertisers will pay very, very dearly to get me to look. I’m a motivated buyer.
Go Google!
Google is driving this whole revolution. Though it may be Facebook where I get to opt-in first on-line.
Supply and demand.
People living in areas of the world noted in RED are desperate for water.
Indian Government May Have Grossly Overestimated Water Supply TreeHugger
Canada has approximately 97% of the world’s fresh water supply — don’t quibble with my statistics — and I want us to sell our water to the highest bidder.
(Actually, I fear Schwarzenegger will roll up here in his eco-Hummer and simply take it.)
Why am I not hearing more about water pipeline proposals?
Yesterday I exchanged US dollars for Canadian at my bank …
US$800 = CAD$756.08
The rate was .9451 at TD Canada Trust.
When I check on the web …
XE.com gives me 773.023 CAD
oanda.com gives me 774.768
Yahoo Finance gives me 773.2
What’s with that TD? Why the difference?
I guess I will shop around for exchange rates next time.
==== reply from my query to TD:
Hello Rick McCharles,
…
Please be advised there is a spread on all exchange rates. As such, the exchange rate to purchase or withdraw US Dollars (or purchase an item in US Dollars) would always be different from the exchange rate used at the exact same time to sell US Dollars (or make a payment). You can see this spread in the listing of exchange rates at the link below. There is a difference between the rates used for the same currency depending on whether the individual is buying or selling the currency.
http://www.tdcommercialbanking.com/tradefinance/rates.jsp
As well, exchange rates are extremely volatile. The rate of the American dollar will vary several times throughout a day. As such, it is undoubted that the exchange rate that you received at the time of the exchange would be widely different from the exchange rates at another time of the day. …
Rebecca Wilson
Internet Correspondence Representative
