For those of you poor bastards still running Windows, my friend Ted has a public service announcement for all of you:

Should you receive an e-mail directing you to the website at familypostcards2008 dot com delete it immediately and do not click on the link contained in the email. Following the link will direct you to a hostile malware related website.

Additional information can be found at the sites below...

• antirootkit.com
• siteadvisor.com
• securityzone.org

It would seem that the virus/spyware/trojan writers are getting pretty smart. Now they send you an email that links to the bad stuff since everyone knows not to open email attachments but somehow, if it comes from a website, it's more legit.

So yeah, don't go there... unless you're not using Windows. In that case, by all means, go and download the file a few hundred times and use up their bandwidth ;-)

Happy Christmas/Solstice/Kwanza/Eat-food-sleep-and-get-presents everyone!

I'm up in Kelowna with the parents for a few days so don't call me unless you're willing to buy me dinner in exchange for the cost of the phone bill ;-)

This was a nice laid-back couple of days, with my parents spoiling me with lots of nifty presents that will likely be rediculously difficult to haul back to my apartment from the bus station. I got to see the family, and meet my cousin's new boyfriend who is actually pretty cool as well as see my Aunt and Uncle's new place in slightly - less - than - the - middle - of - nowhere - but - still - nowhere - I'd - ever - want - to - live. Fun and food was had by all.

Oh, and to get to the subject of this blog post, check it out: INVADER ZIM RINGTONES!. The site uses an AJAX-type system to download the mp3s which makes it really hard to just download the whole lot, but still, it's all there. You can even search the list by speaker or keyword :-)

THE PANTS COMMAND ME! DO NOT IGNORE MY VEINS!

We've all seen the really cool stuff that can come out of mixing computers and TV but until now I've not seen anything this amazing. Setup: easy, navigation: simple, cost: Free! This thing hooks into your television, your dvds, your saved movies, your telephone and can even call you when someone trips your home alarm. It's frickkin' amazing, and it's called Linux MCE.

Watch the demo on tech-talk.

I'm lying out on my bed watching National Treasure alone in my nifty new apartment. I'm freshly clean and enjoying the company of my usual technical toys as well as the killer view.

It's good to be home.

Because I know that everyone reading this blog is so desperately looking for things to buy me for Christmas, I thought that I would point you to the following cool things for Dan list:

• CarryABigSticker.com: Coexist Tshirt
• CarryABigSticker.com: One Less Car Tshirt
• My Deviantart Wishlist
• My ThinkGeek Wishlist
• My Amazon Wishlist

Even if you're an avid follower of the news, you've probably missed it. Buried beneath the Pickton trial, Aqsa Parvez's murder and Schreiber vs. Mulroney, was a very important story: the Canadian version of the DMCA... it wasn't released to Parliament.

As a refresher for the uninitiated, the DMCA is essentially a copyright bill that runs things in the US. It's designed mostly to keep the copyright holders in power and keep those of us who would use "their" intellectual property to create our own art from doing so without permission. It's used as the backbone in lawsuits when the RIAA sues 12 year-olds for file sharing, and it prevents you from ripping CDs and DVDs or from doing research into important stuff like cryptography.

Anyway, until now Canadians haven't had to worry about this sort of bad policy, but today the Conservatives were supposed to unveil their new, even more restrictive version of the DMCA for Canada... but they didn't. Most likely due in large part to the major public outcry orchestrated by copyright activists like Michael Geist who understand the importance of copyright law.

This stuff is very much worth educating yourself about. Check out Geist's site and if you're interested, there's also the Facebook group, Boing Boing and of course, a Youtube video to show you what you can do.

Disc Drop

On a related subject, you might want to check out a new project by CBC's The Hour called Disc Drop. Here are the details taken straight from the site. I'm gonna get right on this. Anyone else interested?

There's nothing more satisfying than sharing the joy of music. Disc Drop is your chance to turn a total stranger on to the tunes that changed your life. Who knows? Maybe you'll change some-one else's life while you're at it.

• STEP 1: Make a mixed CD of your favourite tunes. Somewhere on the disc write: DISC DROP - cbc.ca/thehour. Be sure to include a track-listing so people can track down more music by the artists on your disc.
• STEP 2: Drop off your disc in a random public place.
• STEP 3: Go to the I Dropped a Disc - What Now, click on the comments, and write down where you dropped off your disc and the track-listing. Check back later to find out who picked it up, and where it's heading next.

Yes, it's exactly what you think it is. For those of you who don't read Spacing Wire, here's a link to the Youtube video of the girls pole dancing on the subway. What a fabulous use of our shared spaces ;-)

I found this just now while I was trying to find the origin of the commercial component of Christmas (my Grandmother was interested). Julebukking sounds fun though, anyone interested? First we'll need a motorhome...

Julebukking

Julebukking is a costumed holiday tradition of Norwegian origin. Between Christmas and New Years Day people wearing masks and costumes (Julebukkers) go door to door, where neighbors receiving them attempt to identify who is under the disguise. Julebukkers will often disguise their voices and body language to further the masquerade. Offering the Julebukkers holiday treats and something to drink is customary. Once identities are known and the food is eaten the Julebukkers continue to the next home.

Julebukking is believed to have originated in Norway where Pagans worshipped Thor and his goat. During holidays they would disguise their appearance and go house to house carrying a goat head. Christian missionaries modified the tradition and divorced its meaning from Paganism.[2] Though the practice may be dying out, it is still observed in areas in America with large populations of people of Scandinavian descent such as the rural areas of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and in Petersburg, Alaska and Ketchikan, Alaska.

The practice has also been modernized by the use of a recreational vehicle, in a holiday tradition known as "Winnebukking." Winnebukking involves driving revelers from house to house in a recreational vehicle dressed up as a Christmas tree. The revelers stand in the doorway of a home, singing Christmas songs until the door is opened. Once the unsuspecting homeowner has opened the door, the revelers rush in to consume his or her beverages, kidnap the homeowner and travel to the next home. By the end of the evening, the Winnebago is filled with revelers in varying degrees of Christmas spirit.

- Julebukking, from Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia

It's hard to believe it sometimes, but I just realised it today. It's been 3months since I left Toronto. Not that I've had time to settle of course. Only one month here in Vancouver, and while I'm well on my way, I'm no where near "settled"... won't be for some time I think.

Adjustments have been tough too. Sure it's still Canada but Vancouver is a very different place... at least for me. I've had to move back into the life I left, crowbar the new me into the old me's social circle. Some people still fit, others don't. And family... well we're always family, but it's taking them some time to get used to who I am now and not fixate on who I was when I left.

Living with the grandparents has been entertaining though. Aside from the fact that they're unapologetic racists, I've had pleasure of trying to explain to my grandfather that the reason his computer crashes with this program has performed an illegal action when he's looking at certain sites is not because they are trying to prevent it, but rather that his computer is running Windows 98 and is over 12years old.

I've also been able to "come out" to my grandparents with regard to my religious leanings. Until now, they were the only members of the family who didn't know that I was pagan and strangely enough, I was able to have a quiet, civilised conversation with my grandmother about it. She's Orthodox Christian, therefore she's not big on evangelism, so it was easier than one might think.

My grandfather still thinks I'm crazy for not believing in his god though, but he likes talking to the Jehovah's Witnesses so I don't take him too seriously :-)

For the most part though, I'm glad to be back. It's hard to explain, but the feeling I get when I tell someone that I'm going to the Vancouver Public Library is pretty great. It's a hell of a thing to live in a city with so much beauty. Seriously, Toronto people: come visit, see what I'm raving about.

After much researching and even more disappointment (not to mention literally going around the world to find what I want), I've finally found and purchased my first MP3 player, the Cowon D2.

It's a personal media player, so it not only does MP3, OGG and WMA, but it also does DivX video files, images and text files. It's got 8GB of flash memory (read: if I drop it, it won't break) and also supports additional SD cards so I can have as many auxillary cards as I like with different kinds of tunes and/or videos on them.

But the best part, the part that made me get this particular toy is that it works well with Linux. I can play OGG files (w00t!) and use nifty tools like rsync to put my tunes on the toy and keep them in sync with my library. I can use mencoder to resize any video for my D2 with a simple command... and that'll even work straight from a DVD. I'm super-excited ;-)