December 3, 2005

    I was in London Drugs today, and found they were still selling the Sony XCP Montgomery Gentry, and Nickleback albums, plus a Keith Urban CD with the same logo.  I told them that Sony had issued a recall for those CDs, and were being sued for selling them, but the sales manager said "their distributer hadn't issued a recall for them".

I got an email I needed to forward to wafl@phonebusters.com the address you forward scam Nigerian emails to.

December 2, 2005

    Who knew that Stompin' Tom is a bit of a snob?  Why else would you badmouth art dedicated to you, and then deny the media an explanation?

    I came across this new Windows security [oxymoron] scanner by Microsoft today. Another one is here.  If people use this instead of paying for Anti-Virus and anti-spyware software, then the Internet would be a safer place.  The downside is that they make you run the site with Internet Explorer, instead of Opera or Firefox which are better.  Firefox just came out with their new version 1.5, three days ago.

    In Truro, Nova Scotia, the prudes have won.  A Mi'kmaq 12m statue when viewed from its left, had the appearance of depicting a visible penis, when in fact it's the statue's right arm.  So they severed the arm and are going to alter it to be at a different angle so prudes will stop complaining, and other people won't get to see a funny coincidence that could have made it a famous North American tourist destination.  Better to be safe than sorry right?  Heaven forbid a God of Creation have a penis!  The irony creates a feeling of mirth in me.  At least I think it's mirth. [Update: My brother said he heard the artist was supportive of the modification, since the company that built the statue didn't build the arm to the right specifications.]

    Tech savvy web designers in the Conservative Party?  Nope.
"In fact, as Michael points out, if you attempt to donate money to the CPC, the site will tell you the site is secure when it's not. Your credit card information will go over an insecure web connection."  I belong to an email list that pointed this out literally months ago.  It's not surprising to me that they didn't fix it, or notice the problem.  For instance, I tried telling my Yorkton-Melville Conservative MP for months that the Liberals could be attacked for Bill C-60's invasion of Canadians' privacy, and for boosting Internet costs, but he didn't reply once to my three emails.  He didn't even have someone reply with the minimum of customer service expected today: a form letter telling me to go away.  If this is what passes for "Government On Line" from elected tories, watch out when they come  to power and don't have to listen.

    Sony is offering a mail-in exchange for consumers affected by their DRM infected CDs.  Be sure to tell your friends, if they get a Sony CD for Christmas, don't pop it into the computer without turning Autoplay off first.

    A video game with a "Democracy" meter, and scoring "Liberty points" when shooting terrorists or insurgents would be an interesting bit of spoof propaganda.  The American Army video game for the XBox needs some solid competition after all.


December 1, 2005

    Mr. Hotz, who's working on taking Sony to task in Canada, made an excellent point about the biggest problem with spyware.  Spyware affects the people least able to avoid it, and they also happen to be the people least capable of removing it.  Thus a booming computer industry, where spyware removal is the new centerpiece, has been born.  Viruses are no longer the primary threat, since spyware is just as insidious and more likely to be found on a computer these days.  Why aren't we holding the makers of GAIN/Claria/Gator, MyWebSearch, 180Solutions, and Sony XCP up to the same harsh legal standard as the writers of the Melissa virus, or Sasser worm?  The answer is money.  Money is being made hand over fist in an unethical way by spyware writers and distributors, while the writer of Sasser only wanted to prove he could write a worm from which he didn't stand to make a dime.

Sent to CBC ":Your View"
    The Green Party's Jim Harris should be in the Leaders debates. I find it completely unacceptable that we have four debate sessions, and the Green Party is not permitted at any of them.  With twice as much time [as last election] for the leaders to debate the issues, the lame excuse that too many leaders would create confusion, no longer applies.
The "Chicken or the Egg" paradox applies here.  A party gets to debate when its poll numbers are up, but it won't get high poll numbers unless it gets equal media coverage.

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/analysiscommentary/candidateschanges.html

November 30, 2005

    I was contacted today by a law firm in Ontario this morning.  Normally when you're "cold-called" by a law firm, your first thought is "Oh goodness, who would want to sue me?"  Fortunately this was a lawyer with a request instead of a demand, as he'd like me to help people in Canada reach his firm, so Canadians can launch a class action lawsuit against Sony for their DRM spyware.  News came out yesterday that F-Secure knew about Sony's rootkit infection on their CDs, and had cautioned Sony to do something about it, presumably to recall the CDs or issue a patch.  Sony did nothing through the whole month of October after they were informed by at least Oct. 3 by F-Secure, and refused to act until outcry grew from a grassroots movement on the web after October 31.

    www.hotzlawyers.com : If you've run a Sony CD with XCP DRM spyware, contact Glyn in Ontario.
Both www.boycottsony.us and www.sonysuit.com will have more information for Canadians soon I'm sure.

    I contacted CJME to offer to be a "People's Panel" guest on their afternoon radio show one day during the election campaign.  I also tried to solve the Sask. Smartest Radio Listener contest too, but was way off on the answer.  The question was who was the SK politician who ran in 3 elections within 7 months.  I had to guess within seconds of hearing the question and I guessed Elwin Hermanson [which is way wrong], because it was an NDP federal candidate who I think they said switched parties after losing the first time, and won in place of John Diefenbaker when he died in 1979, and then again won when Clark's government fell the same year.

November 29, 2005

    It was yet another cool day out, and I stayed inside.  The election campaign is "heating up" as "they" say though, so I'm sure the news won't be boring at least.  Oh wait, it will be.  We did the same thing just 15 months ago in June 2004.  Here're my 2006 election predictions:

• Harper will say the Liberals are corrupt and hate marriage.
• Martin will say the Conservatives are scary and hate gays.
• Layton will say, "What about health care?"
• Duceppe will say, "What about Quebec?"
• And the Canadian public will say, "Who's Jim Harris? You mean there are 308 Green Party candidates?  There are that many Green Party members in Canada?!"

    And on January 24th, the Tuesday after the Monday election, we'll all be saying, "Why in the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. did we just spend $400 Million on an election to get another Liberal minority government with fewer NDP seats, no Green seats, a lot more Bloc seats, and just enough Conservative seats to send Harper out to pasture to use his spiffy new cowboy hat?"  So put away about $12 for each person in your household, because that's how much you're paying for this exercise in democracy.  Merry Canvassing everyone, and a Happy New Government!

    I'd like to see fewer Liberal seats, more NDP and Green seats, and more Conservative seats in Quebec and Ontario.  The chances of this actually happening is what Santa is for.  If anyone can bring a miracle, it's Santa.  All I want for Christmas is a new democracy; one that doesn't break the day after it comes out of the ballot box.  And one that isn't hogged by Ontario and Quebec; they'll let other provinces play with it.  One that protects the privacy of Canadians, and upholds the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  At least with a minority government, we can send the toy back to the makers if it breaks before its five year warranty expires.  But, you know what a pain it is to get something fixed when it breaks; you have to send it away to Calgary or Oshawa after finding just the right sized box to pack it, and that's when you noticed the product was made in China. Wait. This analogy is over.

November 28, 2005

    I went to Preeceville and Canora today.  It was fine weather going there, but on my way back from Canora at 4:00 there was blowing snow.  I had to stop outside of Yorkton for a couple deer who darted across the road in front of me.

    The Liberal minority government fell today.  The Conservatives are busy picking apart the Liberal's past record, while the Liberals are picking apart the likely future if Harper is Prime Minister.  It's two vastly different approaches to winning, and it will work in different parts of the country.  Naturally CBC and other Main Stream Media centers will not be mentioning the Green Party even though there will likely be 308 candidates running across the entire country again, so if you have a blog (and friends) be sure to remind people they can vote Green if they aren't happy with our current political system and predictable media coverage of it.

November 27, 2005

    Wikipedia has an excellent summary of the upcoming Canadian election.  Charts will all major and minor political parties and a lot more.  If you need a crash course in the issues, after five minutes you'll be fairly well informed.

    Roadside attractions in Saskatchewan.

    The 93rd Grey Cup was on tonight from Vancouver, and it went into Over Time!  Edmonton came out the winner 38 - 35 after going up by a field goal, and then Montreal in a bizarre play passed forward twice after Calvilo caught his own blocked pass.  They ended up out of field goal range to tie it back up, and ran a few desperate failed plays to get back into range before running out of downs.

November 26, 2005 Saturday

    NASA reports that lunar dust may cause silicosis, a disease that kills on earth after someone breaths in lots of silica dust.  Silica dust can come from mining quartz most commonly.  Worse, Mars dust might contain poisons that can burn skin like lye, or contaminate water.  Technology using static electricity is being developed to lessen the threat to explorers' health.

    I took a test drive today in a 1999 Nissan Sentra XE.  I'm thinking about getting a vehicle and haven't decided between three of my choices yet.  I'm also shopping around for a new bike.  I need to get 3 quotes to SGI and once they approve one I can get it.  On an unrelated bike note, one of my friends had his new bike stolen in Regina and another friend's bike lock was trashed in a failed attempt to pick it.

    Digital copyright laws are going to change in Canada soon, and for the worse unless you give your MP input.

    An unconfirmed post by Steven Page of the Bare Naked Ladies band claims the new USB memory release of their music is free of DRM infection.  This is good to hear, and this is why I'm posting information about their release, since their music is awesome, and they don't support DRM even though they are a CRIA member.

    I had a link in the place of this sentence leading to a Glop and Pail online newspaper story of a man in Canada who paid off his cedit card bill pennies at a time to clog the payment system.  The system is in the USA so it's subject to privacy invading Patriot Act II laws, instead of Canadian law as a Canadian company should be observing.  The bill he got in the mail was over a 2cm thick printout.

    Is my blog the Best Blog in Saskatchewan?  Possibly, unless there are other blogs in Saskatchewan, which the links to the lower right on my screen seem to indicate.  If I had more time, I could set up a poll to help determine who reigns supreme, although I know I'd not win, so why bother, right?

November 25, 2005

    There's an update this morning from an Australian website concerning the Sony DRM spyware called XCP.  "XCP contains the facility to download banners from Sony to display while the CD is playing. It is suggested that Sony should send a download banner that informs all users about the XCP recall. A good corporate citizen would do this at once on suggestion, but with Sony we'll have to wait and see."  I wonder if Sony will do it willingly, or be forced by the courts to make the broadcast.  Given the way they've treated the rest of this sham, they'll have to be forced.  They're already looking at putting another DRM infection on their next batch of music CDs.  And all you have to do to beat it, is to cover the [outer?] edge of the CD with a dark marker or tape so the computer can't read the data but can get the music from the disc still.

    It's -8 out this morning, which doesn't mean I want to go anywhere, but I'm going to go to Nutters for food anyway some time around lunch.

    PowerBook was born to Lisa Macintosh while on Safari in the PC Jungle. The child enjoyed sitting on Pa Apple's laptop while he worked in a Photo Shop. PowerBook had a run in with a Tiger at age X. Surviving a SCSI childhood in the mean streets of Motorola, PowerBook grew up to play with Firewire. His only friend was a simple mouse, and he put his Intellect to work at losing weight as he grew up.
==

    I came across an interesting site telling about things in Belize, a country south of Mexico.  There's a shower head powered like an electric kettle, and a description of daily life.

    I finally found Local Internet TV in Yorkton on the Internet.  I've looked before and couldn't find it because I didn't know the address and it doesn't show up high enough in Google.

    Curious about which are the most searched words on Google in a given month or year?  Have a look, there aren't too many surprising words, but what amazed me was how often people look up a celebrity.

November 24, 2005

    www.smalldeadanimals.com is a conservative leaning Sask. blog and they noticed that the www.raiseaflag.ca poll was stuck at 90%-10% and wouldn't move even when the blogger asked her readers to vote to move the poll.  It turns out the government had frozen the votes because someone bombed the ballot box likely by writing a program to vote many thousands of times.  Conspiracy theories are flying though that the NDP skewed it on purpose to influence public opinion.  CBC writes, "Calvert said that is not what happened. He added he doesn't trust anything called "Small Dead Animals" especially when it encourages people to vote "no" [for a fair resource deal with Ottawa]."  He then probably added that Little Green Footballs in no way represents the views of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and doesn't trust it either.

    I was looking around my bank account, and noticed a new feature.  They let people at TDCT view their written cheques online.  But this is a Big 5 Bank remember, and even though it doesn't cost them anything to provide it aside from the scanning machines that I assume they have been using for quite a while so far, they say this:

A fee of $1.50 will be charged in the currency of the account for each cheque viewed. The fee will be debited from your account by the next business day. You may view a cheque as many times as you wish during your current EasyWeb session. The View Cheque service is free for customers who have the Paperless Record Keeping option [which of course is not a cheap option].

    I watched the two CSI episodes that were on, and skipped the third one about New York.  I have tomorrow off, so I'm going to sleep in a bit.

    Fellow Sask blogger Brandon from Regina wrote to tell me that "Conexus Credit Union has provided free cheque viewing as long as I've had an account there."  Conexus has only existed for about two years, and was Sherwood and other Credit Unions before.  Assiniboia also now has a Conexus CU which I don't use, and probably never will.

November 23, 2005

    I drove to LeRoy today, and the roads were great, although the day got colder as it went on.  The dude in the picture is John McCallum LeRoy, the person who died in WWI from which the town is named after.  I had lunch at a cafe on the main street, and it was fantastic.  The special was a bacon tomato sandwich with tomato vegetable soup, and I got fries with gravy on the side.  After work I went to the doctor, and my leg is doing so well that he decided not to give me a needle, yay!  I saw someone I met in Saltcoats library months ago, and some people who sat next to me saw I was reading a book, and I showed them it was Straight From the Heart by Chretien and said I paid 25 cents for it.  They said I "got ripped off, eh?"  Indeed, but reading it now is a bit of a comedy.  I made it through the introduction where he talks about quitting politics (this is 1985), and how Mulroney pandered to Regan in the US.  In light of the softwood dispute, the views on free trade so far expressed, have turned out to be valid.  I'm only about 6 pages into it though, and who knows when I'll pick it up again.

    I went out for coffee today at Boston Pizza, after a short nap.  I taped This is Wonderland, and it's the first episode of the season and it has a new and better intro.  The last season they took the original graphics and put a poorly matching song to them, which was a step backward from the interesting theme song they had in the first season.

    Not surprisingly there are reports today of the XBox 360 crashing while doing ordinary things that a game system should do.  I guess Microsoft wanted to make sure it was compatible with its other unstable products, and hook new users on the "Windows Update" model of software repair.

   Slashdot.org pointed me to a fun audio project where thousands of free audio clips are available to people.  They don't yet have the sound of a tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it.  Although I've not checked to confirm it, but they probably don't have the sound of one hand clapping, or a butterfly beating its wings in Brazil.

November 22, 2005

    Well the XBox 360 is out in stores now, and the media is hyping it more than Tickle Me Elmo.  I've avoided gagging so far, but only by not watching the TV "news", and shutting off the radio shortly after I heard a game reviewer saying they'd not buy one for their nephews if they asked him, since it's about $600 when you have a game and second controller for it. 
    Here's my XBox 360 rant:
    Where are all these people that have $500C for a game system with no games? Do they have no other forms of entertainment that they must buy a bleeding edge Microsoft game console? Might I remind them politely that they can get a computer for the same price, and it can do games and everything else task the XBox 360 can do, and not be locked into Microsoft-only XBox 360 games and software?

    Why not buy an XBox Original and get oodles of games for it if you don't already have a game system. You get way more entertainment bang for your buck. I guess keeping up with the Joneses is more important these days than it's ever been in the past?

    The media coverage this thing is getting makes me nearly sick. It's on the radio, the TV, and in print. I guess there's no real news to cover and Microsoft issued enough press releases that publishing them is easier than doing real journalism. Don't the parents buying this for kids realize that their heating bills are going to be about 50% more this year?  What would you do with $500 right now, and could buy anything or any service that's already been invented?  Let me tell you, an XBox 360 would be near the bottom of my wish list, but slightly above a Sony Rootkit CD.

    In response to my rant, someone remarked that I shouldn't "draw conclusions about the whole world based on [my] neighborhood"

    The whole world is my neighbourhood though, as it is your's. The mistaken belief that it is not is the reason things like Sept. 11 was so shocking to people here. Things we do in North America are felt all around the world, and if we act like affluent ignorami, then we're going to have the rest of the world rather mad at us. There's nothing wrong with success, unless you rub other peoples noses in it, then it's about excess not success.

    It's because we live in a bubble here. I know you couldn't say to the face of a starving Myanmar child that it's reasonable to own 4 video game systems because you have $1000/month disposable income; you have a heart. But because our bubble [that is sometimes breached by scary events like Sept. 11, and Hurricane Katrina] makes sure we don't have to face the harsh reality of the rest of the world, we can sit in front of our $1000 entertainment center with a clear mind and soul. I like my digital camera as much as the next guy, but I'm not fooling myself. I know I'd have to give it up if the rest of the world, the 3rd World, ever had the ability to go to war with my country and possibly win.

November 21, 2005
    Today on CJME.com, John Gormley had Tim from www.boycottsony.us on the air to answer questions and explain to people the effects of the Sony DRM spyware rootkit.  He did a good job, and I have a feeling that Sony's in for some small claims court lawsuits in the coming year.  Tim's site has instructions on repairing your computer if you've been affected, and also details how to turn off Autoplay which prevents your computer from installing the DRM infection in the first place.  Don't buy CDs that say the content is copy protected.  It's not a real music CD, it's designed to break your computer in a misguided and wrong attempt to prevent CD copying.

    Sony today got sued by Texas, in Texas, for Texas.  The moral is: Don't MESS with Texas, Sony!  The list of lawsuits can be tracked at www.sonysuit.com

    Mr. Gormley didn't name me on the air, but I was one of the people he referred to as emailing him after last week on his show someone said their computer had been rooted [AKA taken over] by a Sony music CD.  He emailed a thank you today for a tip I gave to his follow-up story, which was very nice of him.

    I saw the CSI: Miami episode tonight which was supposed to chastize the gaming industry for violent games like Grand Theft Auto, but ended up being a preachy bore with a silly message.  The show is usually an amusing puff piece, and mystery thriller, but this one tried to convey moral outrage over violent video games while at the same time showing things and people getting shot up on my TV.  I think the irony was lost on the writer, or they were told to write it and made sure it would seem really stupid to the viewer to protest their orders, and still satisfy the clueless Hollywood hack that ordered the script of a hatchet job on mature games.

November 20, 2005

    John West Salmon made a funny advertisement in the 1990s, which I was reminded of today when I read that bears were being given contraceptive drugs to keep their population down.  You know you're losing on the food chain battle as a species, when another species determines when you can breed.
"PWN3D" is "Leet Speak" for "I Own You!"

    Jack Thompson is a lawyer in the USA who wants to ban violent video games since he thinks that all children are incapable of distinguishing between reality and fantasy.  He's suing Amazon now, since they've let people post scathing reviews of his book which he claims are libelous.  Mr. Thompson is a man on a mission, but it's not one I agree with.  Violent games are not the reason there are school shootings or bullies.  There is a tiny percentage of children who should not be playing video games at all, because they are actually incapable of understanding that fantasy isn't real, but it's up to the parent of the child to recognize this and be a parent to their kid.

    If you look at his book for sale on Amazon, they'll tell you what other books people are buying if they've bought Jack's book.
Here's a sample of the ads:
How to Use DRM to Improve Your Profits
  by Sony BMG

In The Line of Fire: A Case for War
  by Scooter Libby

Censorship for Dummies
  by the Parents Television Council of America
[Yes, those are all made up titles.]

    There was a fire alarm again this afternoon, but no firetrucks showed up so I guess all is well in the neighbourhood still.

November 19, 2005

    The snow is melting slowly today, and I can't wait for the pavement to be bare again.  Then hopefully the next snow won't be so icy and the sidewalks will be passable.

    CBC finally mentioned the Sony DRM rootkit scandal, but watered down the problem of course.  They didn't mention DRM by name, and failed to do any interview with someone who knows about the technology and could describe the legal troubles that Sony is facing because they betrayed their customers.

    Here's an animation of my 2nd Place Sunflower growing up over the Summer of 2005.

November 18, 2005

    The radio topic today was simply infuriating.  Mr. Gormley figures that a push to lower the legal alcohol blood content limit, is simply a misguided lobby group initiative.  He couldn't be more wrong.  He actually said that the worst part of lowering the limit is that more people would be caught as drunk drivers!  Why are we supposed to have sympathy for someone who's drinking and driving?  Someone who drinks and then drives in the same night is taking their chances.  If they aren't sure about their BAC, they should play it safe or live with the consequences whether they be legal or deadly ones.  Drunk drivers are criminals who place themselves and others in mortal danger.  It's too bad that Mr. Gormley is on the side of criminals this time.
    Figuring that only +.08BAC drivers are the "most serious threat" is glossing over that other BAC levels are dangerous too.  Any amount of alcohol is going to affect someone to some extent, so why take that chance?  Apparently letting borderline criminals off the hook is more important to Mr. Gormley and about 50% of his listeners, than holding these irresponsible people to account for their criminal behaviour.

    Sony today is working with Amazon to refund buyers of the music CDs infected with spyware.  Here's some details on how Sony's CDs also infringe upon a software writer's copyright.

    I was in Ituna and Melville today.  I installed a new colour printer for Melville, that prints poster sized photos, and drove past Goodeve for the first time.  It's got a big onion dome church like many other towns in the area.  There was rain for most of the afternoon, and some more of the snow melted but it's getting down to -6 tonight, with a chance of more melting tomorrow.

    I got a P3 Kill A Watt meter for my Dad back in May, and have since borrowed it to meter nearly everything in my house just for fun.  Yeah I said fun, because if I consider plugging things in to test for Wattage use as fun, that's fine.
Here are some of my results:
Air Conditioner wall unit: 2 hours: 17 minutes = 3.12 kWh and 1300W when running on high.

Fridge from the 1970s: 141 hours = 6.31kWh [and 126W only when chilling].

Microwave from 1980, 888W when running.

Clock Radio by Candle from 1986, with the radio on and volume low, 0W measured.

Computer 1800+ AMD, 3 IDE HD, and Radeon AIW 8500DV /Speakers/LCD Monitor/Modems/Sony VCR, 13" TV, UPS, all typically used, and the computer running 24/7:
185W approximately and 214 hours = 38.62kWh and 1083 hours = 188kWh

NASA Converts Home CPUs Into Space Computers

"NASA researchers are developing advanced computers that can process information accurately even when they're bombarded by space radiation. "Using the same inexpensive, powerful Pentium and PowerPC chips found in consumer PCs would help tremendously for on-site data processing, but to do so, the problem of radiation-induced errors must be solved. This is where a NASA project called Environmentally Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Computing (EAFTC) comes in. Researchers working on the project are experimenting with ways to use consumer CPUs in space missions. They're particularly interested in "single event upsets," the most common kind of glitches caused by single particles of radiation barreling into chips." Audio of the article is also available."

November 17, 2005

    Are you addicted to video games?  If you see a computer and instantly think of your favourite game, you might be addicted.  I think I know some people who are, and I certainly could qualify at some times in my life as addicted to video games.

    Do your Sony music CDs have a spyware program waiting to infect your computer?  Thousands or even millions of people do, and Sony is working to spin the story that they simply made a mistake.  They in fact deliberately infected their CDs to restrict you from exercising your fair-use copying rights.  Sony Music broke many US and UK laws, and although I've not confirmed it yet, my suspicion is that Canadian law may have been broken too.  Sony Music is going to lose many millions in the coming lawsuits.  Adding to the irony of this story, First4Internet the UK company that wrote the spyware, used code they stole from a free software project that violates the draconian American Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

    Canada's highest court ruled unanimously Thursday that Mega Bloks can continue to sell their Lego styled stackable blocks in Canada. CBC writes, "The Supreme Court of Canada decision marks the end of a long-running trademark battle between the Montreal-based Mega Bloks and Denmark's Lego." My article paragraph was posted to the front page of Slashdot.org today.

    Caution to any queasy people reading; skip this paragraph as it contains medical procedure info.  I went to the doctor today to follow up on my recovery after my bike accident.  There's still a bruise and lump on my leg where the van hit me, so the doctor took a look and asked if he could take a needle to it :-O!  I said with great enthusiasm, "I guess?," and he drained 23mL of blood from the lump.  It left a "dimple in my skin" as he described it, and honest to goodness there was a crater in my leg where the lump was :-O.  I get to go back next week for more drainage if it comes back, oh goody!  I never felt the needle, but his pushing on the lump caused a little yelp, and I don't yelp often when having stuff with needles done.  Usually it's just a cold sweat and general feeling of queasiness that makes it oh so enjoyable.

    Just before 6PM my Internet dropped out again.  I hope something in my computer or other equipment isn't dying.  Either way it's getting annoying.  Technobabble ahead, just so I can fix it again if I have to read how: I rebooted the modem and router a few times, and after an hour, rebooting the router after the modem had been on for a while, then releasing and renewing my router's IP obtained from the modem, I got my address back.

    There should be meteors visible in the sky tonight, the Leonid shower is passing.  It's cloudy outside in Yorkton though, so I'll miss them this time. [Update: The shower actually peaked this morning, and the sky is perfectly clear at least in the east at 9:40 PM.]

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