Star Wars kid sues Remember the Star Wars kid? Well, his parents are suing the parents of the four assholes who uploaded the kid's homemade video to the net for $225,000. That's not enough if you ask me. The kid, Ghyslain Raza, has been so humiliated and ridiculed by his peers and the public at large, that he's continuing psychiatric treatment, and may have to do so indefinitely.

Pirates of the Caribbean I took my girls to see this movie. I didn't know it was a Disney movie. I would probably have been less interested in seeing it, had I known it was Disney. Turned out to be a great movie - entertaining, full of adventure, and quite surprising. Johnny Depp was just amazing as the drunk, swaggering pirate Captain, while Geoffrey Rush played a miserable, nasty, bad pirate captain. Orlando Bloom was OK, but took a back seat to Depp and Rush, as their characters were the colourful ones. I highly recommend this movie! And I think this is another one that I will need the DVD of.

US scrutiny of foreign students From MIT's Technology Review, comes concern that the increased levels of scrutiny, delays and just plain scare tactics that are now greeting foreign students entering the US from predominantly Muslim countries, may shift where foreign students seek their post-secondary education. A lot of scientists in the US entered the country via the foreign student route, got their education and decided to stay to exploit the benefits of their education in the US' free market economy. Who doesn't want to live the American dream? But since 9/11, the US policy to foreign students has become increasingly xenophobic. Eventually, this could lead to US institutions having less of an impact to science and technology. Read the related article, Technological McCarthyism, as well.

Movies I saw a few movies over the past couple of weeks. I'll start with the most recent.

My wife and I went out with friends this past weekend to catch Johnny English. What a stupid movie! Yes, quite stupid, and you have to been in a stupid mood to enjoy it. I was feeling slightly stupid (had to be to be there) - so parts of it was very funny ... in a stupid way ... did I say the word stupid enough already? I can't believe John Malkovich starred in the movie ... what possessed him? Rowan Atkinson was funny, though I think he's had to dumb down his humour for Hollywood - which is a shame. I really did enjoy his antics as Blackadder.

Terminator 3: that was seen with the guys. The ending wasn't the bang I was expecting, rather, they did the right thing. They made the ending a conclusion for the series. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it as yet. However, I will tell you that the entire movie is just one BIG chase scene. There is hardly any let up. Lots of action. Lots of things going ka-boom, crunch, and other such sounds. It was great entertainment!

I took my wife to see Bend It Like Beckham without knowing much about the movie. I certainly didn't expect liking the movie as much as I did, or being as entertained by it as much as I did. If you're of East Indian descent (you don't have to be from that region, I'm not), you will defintely see familiarity in the characters on the screen. You've got these people in your family. You know the ones ... they drive you crazy the way they're set in their ways from the old country. But you don't have to be of East Indian descent to enjoy this movie, its characters or the music. The movie is funny, and will have you laughing out loud; it's sad and will endear you to the characters. The soundtrack manages to mix classical music, traditional Indian songs, with a touch of hip-hop English/Indian tunes. There is even a little homage to the classic Bollywood musicals. Great all round movie! And I think I want the DVD.

I took my youngest daughter to see the Hulk. She wasn't impressed. I wasn't either ... the CGI character was pretty good - believable, but too much damn yapping! I didn't mind that the story got changed slightly, but why does everyone have to appear so pained? And what was with Banner's father? The movie didn't need a supervillan. The movie really didn't need two CGI characters battling it out. This movie was definitely targeted at the PG audience. The characters were not complex, the action ... well, a lot of jumping around. I guess I should be thankful that the Hulk didn't utter, "Hulk smash!" at any point during the movie. Oh well. Here's waiting for the next X-Men movie.

World's Fare My youngest and I went to Harbourfront Centre on Friday night to enjoy the continuation of the summer festivals. This week (as it was last week) is the World's Fare celebrations, entitled, The America's Now. This is the flagship festival for Harbourfront, as it celebrates the multicultural nature of Toronto. The show was quite good. We saw some dancing to start off, with Red Sky Productions putting on a few samples from their "Dancing Americas" show. There was a grass dancer, as well as a couple (Native Mexican and Canadian) performing a modern dance piece. We usually end up at the CIBC stage, where the evening music performances are held. We saw Alacie Tullaugaq & Lucie Amarualik, two Inuit throat singers from Nunavut performing. They're in their mid-60s, and it's amazing what they can do. My daughter was quite impressed by the pair. Kanenhi:io Singers followed, and they were impressive as well. They are four native women singers from Canada, singing and chanting, accompanied by the Iroquoian water drum, Anishnabe hand drum and cow horn shakers. Topping off the evening was Hassan Hakmoun. He was tremendous. He's originally from Morocco, now living in the US, and his music is based on the 3 string sintir, which he brings from his Gnawa heritage. His music fuses African and Arabian sounds, chants and words. He was accompanied by two musicians from Morocco and one from the California. The beat of his music was so tremendous, that some in the audience was moved to dance (including a bald, shirtless guy, who seem to frequent the festivities - he was there last year as well). It was quite the enjoyable evening. You can check out the pictures I took of the event via my gallery page (see the links in the left hand column).

Earth in the Balance ... Moron at the Helm. That's the title of this hilarious picture. The site features more hilarity - doctored photos of US politicians (mostly Dubya) in poses and situations that puts new perspective on the American leader. (Oh, let's face it, we all thought he was a moron before anyway.)

Media Marvel Here's a site for the news junky in you. A virtual newspaper rack, that contains links to news sources across the world, including the alternative media. The site also choses highlights from the day's news to feature on their front page. Think of it as a way of randomly sending you to some media you may never knowingly chose, or accidentally find.

Neo-Nazis & Extreme Jews Extreme Jews. Isn't that an oxymoron? Or is that the majority of Israelis? Apparently the two sides are finding common ground in the most unlikely of places - in hate. Not hate for each other, but hate for Arabs and Muslims. The two groups are setting aside their differences to share web space as violence in the Middle East rises. All we're now missing is Osama Bin Laden - he's extreme; he hates the establishment ... maybe the three groups should work harder, and put aside differences amongst themselves in order to attack the free world. Yeah? And you thought Neo-Nazis and Jews couldn't work together?

Dream This morning I woke up pissed. I had a dream that left me unsatisfied. I was in a cafeteria style food joint (I can't call it a restaurant), and it was being run by a bunch of old guys. People were in there getting their breakfast, getting served, when I joined the line. I asked for a grilled cheese sandwich and a coffee. I got both. The coffee was poured into a cup, and the ole guy behind the grill make me my sandwich. Then I had to pay. I handed over a $50 bill, and got back $23 dollars change. The sandwich and the coffee was $9.90. What the #$@!? I tried explaining ... I did the math. The two old guys behind the counter, laughed at me, and told me I couldn't add. They were toying with me. They got it. They kept making me explain over and over. And each time they would either tell me they didn't get it, or they would laugh and telling me I was pulling a fast one on them. They would not give the correct change. Then, as I was arguing, the guy that made the sandwich for me, sneaks it off my plate and starts to chomp away at it, hiding it under the counter every time I look at him! I ended up with a $10 coffee! Pissed, I walked out of the joint to my car - the place erupted with laughter as I left. I got to my car, and pulled out the machine gun I had there. Then I woke up. I woke up feeling unsatisfied and pissed. My day turned out better though.

Revolution The internet has had a tremendous impact on the mobilization of grassroot movements to affect large scale changes in governments and society. There are groups that do everything from urban gardening (selecting a spot in a city that has been overrun by industrialization, and covertly planting hardy plants that could take root and spread - guerrilla gardeners reclaiming the land) to quickly and loosely organized protests or demonstrations that target specific public spaces. There there are groups that have had big impacts, and have even saved lives.

Amnesty International's Merton group, who managed to gain 1.3 million signatures in protest of a Nigerian woman accused of adultry and was going to face death by stoning. (Click here to save a life from a misogynic society. Amina has been sentenced to death for having a child outside or marriage. Amnesty International is trying to save her life.)

The Independent Media Center sprung up as a way to get WTO protest information out to the general public in order to raise awareness and garner support. The site has now expanded its coverage.

Do you have a video camera? Want to learn how to put it to some activist use? Check out this site.

Here's a site with a certain design student in mind: Subvertise.org. There are hundreds of advertising images that can be used for your activisim. The images come from organizations around the world - some are humourous; some are creative; either case, they're interesting.

If you've got a cause, and you've got the means, but just don't know where to start, here's what to do: first, get yourself a website. Next, surf to some of these sites for ideas, means and suggestions on how to go about building your grassroots movement into an earth shaking one. You can have an impact.

Adbusters: a online site of the print magazine of the world of adbusting.

Unbrand America: want to really be a subvert and get into trouble? Try defacing ads with a black dot. Just a black dot. Imagine an entire city with billboards all having a big, bold black dot on the ads. Not that I find anything wrong with ads. I actually like them.

Petition Online: here's a site that hosts online petitions. Host your own, or just go to sign someone else's.

Culture Shop: this site is a great place to get media materials from non-profit and independent producers.

Urban75: an alternative web news site.

Propaganda Remix: antiwar posters and more!

6 Myths From informationweek.com: an article that attempts to dispel the 6 myths in IT management trends. Namely that, IT is a commodity; innovation is over; CIO tenure is threatened; long-term projects are dead; there's no future in IT jobs; and, smaller budgets = less IT.

Wal-Mart kills Smart Shelf It was a big announcement for the RFID industry. Wal-Mart was piloting an effort with Gillette to put RFID tags on a number of Gillette SKUs that Wal-Mart would stock on their shelves. The concept was to wirelessly have an inventory view of the Gillette products in Wal-Mart stores, and thereby managing store replenishment effortlessly. It was good for both Wal-Mart and Gillette in that Wal-Mart would maintain a great in-stock position, while Gillette would gain valuable data on the movement of their products. It was also a big announcement because no one had thus far proven that there was a healthy ROI on RFID tags (and hence the technology). Wal-Mart is announcing that instead of focusing on the movement of products from its stores, it will instead focus on its backend supply chain, urging suppliers to instead place RFID tags on shipping units, such as pallets, etc. A good place to put the focus in my opinion, as that's where there is the biggest bang for the buck. RFIDs aren't cheap enough to go down to the SKU level at this point. Someday though.

Suing the RIAA I take some pleasure in reading articles where the RIAA gets it. Or will be getting it. Or, OK, maybe just someone fighting back. Hmm ... actually, this is the first article I've read. Usually, the RIAA just sticks it to whoever they want because of the deep pockets that allow them to carry big sticks. (Don't dwell on the image.) Apparently some internet radio broadcasters aren't going to take it (don't dwell on the image!). They've banded together to challenge the royalty rates that the RIAA negotiated with a group representing 'small webcasters.' The rates the RIAA negotiated (or rather, extracted) is too high for some hobbyist webcasters, and paying it would put them out of business. I hope these guys are successful with the suit.

Illegal Art Here's a Wired Online article about artists pushing the boundaries about what is fair use. A new exhibit called Illegal Art has been opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and it features works pushing to boundaries of current trademark and copyright laws. There's art that co-opt the logos of corporations, that rips off other artists works, or just take owned property and use it.

Street Festival continues Went to the Street Festival yesterday again. My wife and youngest was with me. We walked from Eglinton to St. Clair, to catch the Arts. My daughter was impressed with the classical music being played by the Toronto Philharmonia Quintets, but not the Jazz by the Laura Hubert Trio. I wasn't impressed by either. We also saw the "Dy-no-mite" Cirque - which was a couple of women performing high wire acts to thumping dance music ... sorry, but it was kind of crass and undisguised in its pandering to the macho male audience, who were more interested in seeing two big-breasted women in tight clothes, prance about in the heat. It was not the circus I wanted to see. The Men in Tights also left something to be desired. I've seen these guys a number of times already, and they've got the same damn act, the same jokes ... get something new guys. The only thing worthwhile at St. Clair was the Al-Lat Dance Company - they performed some amazing dance moves to thumping music. We walked back pretty quickly to Eglinton after being unimpressed with St. Clair. At Eglinton, my daughter got to see Strange Fruit. Same show as yesterday, but they were impressive. We caught the ending 10-minutes of their act, but it was great! We also saw Bedlam Oz perform their "Familie" act. Impressive! Who thought that giant slinkies could invoke such emotion or be so impressive? (Pictures of the act will be posted soon.)

Canada Slips The United Nations will be releasing its 2003 Human Development Report on July 8th, but the news is already out for Canada - we're on the decline. In the 1990s, we had a stranglehold on the list, consistently ranking number 1, then last year, we dropped to number 3, and now, to 8th place. We've been surpassed even by the United States. The Human Development Report measures the quality of life using life expectancy, education, health, income, poverty and environment data. If we're in doubt about the findings, we just have to look at the recent SARS crisis for confirmation on how we're doing. SARS hit us hard (especially Toronto, which can be used as a litmus for the quality of life in the rest of the country, as we have the rich and the poor here). It was only hard because of the shock to the system and our inadequacy in responding rapidly and effectively. No doubt the opposition political parties will use this as ammunition against the parties in power - but this decline wasn't made overnight. We've had it coming for years now, we just only now seeing the results. We're in a democracy as well - the opposition has responsibilities as well. The politics have to be put aside if we want to make a difference - forget politicians who will only use public opinion to further their personal agendas. We as Canadians need to act and do something about this. If we start now, we might actually see results in a decade or so. Check out the report when it's released. It won't be an easy read.

Whale Rider movie The choice was my wife's ... as I joked with her afterwards, it the title was Whales With Guns, Whales Strike Back or even Hungry Whales That Eat People (or something like that), I would have chosen to watch it myself. Alas, it was my wife's choice to see the movie. The movie was wonderful! Keisha Castle-Hughes, in the starring role of Pai is amazing! The young actress was eleven when filming started, and played the twelve year old Pai, a Maori girl, who is destined to become the leader of her tribe, and lead them into better days. She's a powerful actress. She played imbued her character with such emotion, that it was not possible to believe it was genuine. I was impressed. At one point of the movie, I almost has tears in my eyes. (I usually don't get emotional in movies ... easy to understand when I usually limit myself to the SciFi/Action/Comedy genres.) I won't give a summary of the movie, as you can get that from the movie's site. Just know that this was a gem of a movie that probably won't get noticed much by the public. It comes highly recommended by me ... and those who voted to give it all the awards it has been getting. Whale Rider is based on the book by New Zealand writer, Witi Ihimaera.

Street Fest continues. Caught two acts midday today. Cirque Sublime's Pendulum, and Strange Fruit. Both were amazing. Cirque Sublime's reminded me of Cirque du Soleil, while Strange Fruit was just ... well ... strange. Both acts were about 30-minutes in length. I took a number of pictures of both. Stay tuned, and check my webshots/galleries, as they will be posted online soon!

Street Festival: Yonge & Eglinton [11:45AM] I'm writing this now, sitting on a street bench on Yonge, just a block north of Eglinton. I'm enjoying a Tim Hortons coffee, people watching and relaxing into the cool breeze that's blowing. It's going to be a hot day, but in the shade right now, with the wind, it's nice. The setting up for the Street Festival is happening all around me. I'm here alone to check things out (everyone else are off doing their own things this morning), and from all indications, this is pretty big. I saw the preliminary set up on Friday, when I drove into work - I didn't expect it to take up so much of Yonge Street. This is BIG. Surprise! The main stage is already in use by a band, tuning up. The street acts are almost completely set up, and the number of people walking the street is growing steadily. There are lots of happy, smiling faces, and this guy who just walked by me with too much clothes on, pants with the crotch down to his knees, and short heading to his ankles - he wears a frown on this his face. That must be cool. I'm thinking that I should encourage my wife to join me down here this afternoon and maybe check out the other venues tomorrow. This looks to be fun.

Labatt Blue's Festival The family and I went down to Harbourfront tonight to catch the Blue's festival. We had Indian at the World Cafe for supper, then caught the first act for the night - Dawn Tyler Watson & Corey Diabo. Check out Dawn Tyler Watson's website - there are a few sample clips of her music. Listen to number 5: "Hey Hey" ... that was pretty good. She's got a powerful voice and a great stage presence. They were pretty good. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the second act, which I was really looking forward to: Corey Harris and the 5X5.

Weapons of Mass Destruction A friend from work sent this to me. Go to Google UK, type in a search for weapons of mass destruction, then instead of clicking 'Google Search', click on 'I'm Feeling Lucky.' Now read the error message. The error message is actually a humor site, but it's a nice set up to the punch line.

Grow-A-Brain Here's a great waste of time. Go here instead of watching TV.

Porn Filters I find it rather amusing that 'conservative' countries in the world put such efforts into controlling access to porn on the internet, yet do so little in combating pressing, and sometimes mundane problems. They do it under the guise of protecting their citizens from evil influences. Sorry, but porn can be viewed in two ways in my opinion: 1) Men exercising control over women (this argument falls apart in quite a few porn scenarios however), and 2) We're animals, and it has been built in us to propagate the species; we will look for any and all avenues to satisfy those urges. If porn is such an evil influence, then the argument can be extended to say that the censors who have to view the sites in order to classify them as evil must have either a strong moral fibre, or the most corrupt and base individuals due to their exposure to porn. The blocking of porn sites is all about control of the population. It's about a few people in power, exercising judgment for everyone. You will find that the same countries that block porn sites, are also much too willing to block sites like Amnesty International ... and let's not even start to discuss what an evil influence that organization is!

Street Festival Drove into work this morning, coming down Yonge Street. When I left work last night at 6:45PM, everything was just normal. It appears that overnight, Yonge & Eglinton was transformed for the Street Festival opening festivities that starts at 8PM tonight. A stage has been constructed on Yonge, facing north. Speakers are already about. The cops are alread around, point out the obvious to drivers that a block of Yonge Street is no longer accessible, take the detour like the sign says. There's a lot happening in the City this weekend - a lot to keep track of. The best sites to find out what's going on and to plan your time are, the City of Toronto's site, and Toronto.com. Hope we have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

20 Hot Technologies to Watch From PC Magazine, comes another take on the future of technology. It's a another list, yes, but we like lists, don't we? Check out the article for bite-sized chunks of information on what the editors of PC Magazine have decided will be the next big thing.

Carbon Nanotubes - is there nothing that this stuff can't do? Stronger than steel and spider-webs, able to leap tall buildings in a single jump and maybe even tether space elevators in geostationary orbits. Carbon nanotubes can sometimes display the behaviour of a metal, and sometimes a semiconductor; that is, they can not only be configured to transport current, they can also be used to store information, or build smaller transistors.

Biosensors - see my log on sensors below. Now think of some of those things floating around inside of you? Think of the applications - from monitoring out patients, to those with health issues ... your onboard doctor, being able to not only monitor, but diagnose if necessary, connecting to the internet to order to your next batch of drugs, or tell on you to your Mom. Why stop there though? Think of ability to monitor criminals on parole, being able to either update law enforcement on actions, or deliver minor 'reminders' that being naughty just doesn't pay. Phillip K. Dick saw this coming, didn't he? Or think of the physically displaced family that can stay together.

Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography - the technology that will allow Intel (and their brethren) to continue to release faster, and faster microprocessors. You will need the speed damnit! How else are you suppose to have a better life?

E-bombs - no, not dot-bombs. That's now passe. This is high-power microwaves (electromagnetic pules) as seen in the Matrix movies. They will last only a few microseconds, and will be able to kill anything electronic, without cooking people or their neighbourhoods.

Infrared Countermeasures - most surface to air, shoulder launched missiles use IR to track and destroy its target. There are some 500,000 of these missiles around the world. Some are in the hands of people who would celebrate the downing of a commercial airliner. The entire missile launch to the inevitable kaboom, takes about 8 seconds. IR countermeasures are supposed to detect, track and use lasers to confuse missiles into going off target (and hopefully not killing some other people).

Self Driving Cars - let's face it, aircraft can fly themselves in 3-dimensional space. Pilots are there just in case. So? Forget the systems that rely on implementing magnetic strips in the road. Car makers are working on visioning systems that will be able to drive you safely home by navigating the roadways the way we do. Just wait till your 10-year old ask if s/he could borrow the car for their afternoon date at McDonalds.

Fuel Cells - and to power your self driving car, you will need long-lasting, environment friendly fuel. Hybrid cars are already coming on the market. The outcome is inevitable - it's only a matter of time.

Plastic Transistors - why not? Plastic is already ubiquitous. Industry is hard at work to make plastic displays that are flexible and now to embed transistors directly onto plastic. This is all possible with organic materials. Your future computer may look nothing like today's grey box.

Silicon Photonics - forget your highspeed connection at home (that really isn't highspeed). Welcome to the future and super-highspeed! Silicon photonics utilizes light to deliver information, rather than electrons. Because light moves way faster than electrons, voila! Now everyone harps on the last mile (km for us Canadians) being the slowest. While that's a bit true, the ISPs can hardly keep up with highspeed traffic today, what makes us think they can even begin to sustain super-highspeed?

Microsoft SPOT - think of every device, everything piece of clothing, just everything, being able to connect wirelessly to form your own personal are network (PAN). Now think Microsoft running in the veins of your infrastructure. Now scream! And run! But no matter where you run to, there you are, and Microsoft is there spoon feed you their spiked digital pabulum. Smile, cause it's the future, and you can either enjoy it, or ?K.

Mesh Networks - see my log below on sensors. Mesh networks are the networks these devices will form. Isn't that a bit like SPOT? But wait, Microsoft didn't invent mesh. Ah...

Grid Computing - remember SETI@Home? Think of the technology being exploited by computers in your home, or in your business. Think of all that idle CPU time that could be tapped to run algorithms that drive business value. Too bad most IT shops can't get their heads out of their butts to start thinking creatively.

Quantum Cryptography - I remember going to lecture on this topic in University many years ago. It's good to see some of this finally coming to fruition. Today's cryptographic standards are extremely difficult to hack - but given a couple of years and a supercomputer, it can be done. If a quantum computer is ever built, you can throw out your encryption software. They will be able to crack them in little time. Quantum cryptography is impossible to crack. Now if only we can see some progress with quantum teleportation.

RFIDs - see my note on sensors below. These are sensors that would be attached to products you purchase off the shelf, and would use radio frequency to communicate. When the lights go off in the store, what will your products talk about?

Magnetic Memory - see my log of June 10 on MRAM. This will basically allow your computer to startup like the light when you flick the switch - instantly! Now that would be cool!

Social Gaming - I don't know. I still can't figure out why I would want to go spend time online chatting with people, forming social bonds, rather than going out with friends for a movie or a coffee. Maybe I'm getting old. I still enjoy people watching, and can't see the fun in avatar watching. Although I'm sure the folks from There.com would like the opportunity to change my mind.

Text Mining - forget data mining in information warehouses. Most information can't be found in nicely structured databases, and helpful aggregates built for the data neophyte. Most valuable information can be found in the experiences of the individual, and most of those are captured on corporate networks in email, voicemail and other unstructured documents. Imagine being able to wrest intelligence from that quagmire. You would be a superhero. Or big brother.

Reverse Engineering - ever wonder what happen to your old PCs? Most likely they're being stored in garbage dumps as a nice surprise to haunt future generations. Folks are finally thinking of reclaiming the waste from old PCs. Save the world, man!

Cognitive Machines - robots that think, or at least to fool us into thinking that they can think. For guys who love their cars, this is isn't such a big jump.

Linux made Sinbad Dreamworks became the first studio to produce an animated movie completely using Linux boxes. Read the short article on eWeek.

Microdrive Grows I thought at 1GB, IBM's microdrive was awesome. They're growing. Think capacities of 4+GB. WOW! Now all I need is a digital camera that can take advantage of it!