No sir, modern service, with modern amenities. The difference?

No menu. You eat whatever's cooking around the fire. We're gonna roast that pig (or cow or sheep or whatever's handy) over a giant bonfire in the center of the place. No limits. You pay a flat fee per head, and drink and eat until you pass out (at which point, we throw you out). Bench seating. Buxom waitresses. Beer brewed on site, by our brewmaster. Fresh bread, and a nightly stew. Live entertainment.

That's what I'd do, if I had capital.
 

It's bitterly cold in Victoria right now; the snow is piled up, but it's small grains of ice, like thick piles of hail. Bloody cold, and the wind is hard.

Still though, a mead hall. I could get somebody to bankroll me for that, right?
 

And listen: literally writing the book on surviving in the Wasteland (the Wasteland Survival Guide, natch) and then happening upon a dead wastelander corpse beside an irradiated pool with a copy of your book in hand? Funniest shit ever.

Furthermore: that game is haunting, terrifying, and hilarious, all at once.

If you have a 360 or a PS3 or (hahaha) a PC that can run the game, seriously, check that shit out. Game of the Year, in my opinion.

FYI: Fallout 1 and 2 remain as probably my favorite games of all time. It's debatable, of course, but they did things games just don't do. And Fallout 3 seems to be managing the same.

I'm exhausted. We spent the night at the local neighbourhood pub, watching the election. Hockey games on some screens, election coverage on the others.

We raised a toast when he won. Eight or nine of us, or so. When Obama gave his speech, the bar turned off the hockey game audio and switched on the speech audio. The whole bar quieted down, and listened. Politics overrode the sports bar, probably for the first time.

As a Canadian, I really appreciated that he mentioned those of us who were watching but weren't americans. Your elections weigh heavily on the rest of the world and how our lives play out, so it's really nice to see a candidate who is clearly conscious of that.

After tonight, I'm taking a news break. No more news for a while.

But I'm pretty proud of you obnoxious yankee bastards tonight. You done good.  Welcome back.

<3
 

income inequality within (and among the) feet of Wall Street
Originally uploaded by incendiarymind.

...This closing down of concern for others is echoed by Scandinavian research. Academics discovered the middle classes supported greater equality of opportunity in education only as long as the middle class was expanding - in other words, only on condition that their children's social position was not threatened by others' upward mobility. Last week researchers at Oxford University concluded that Britain was in just that position. There was a big expansion of the middle classes from the 60s to the 90s, but the academics warned it was a one-off event. From now on, any upward mobility would have to be matched by someone else's downward mobility.

 I've been thinking of opening my wireless network. Currently, it's pretty secure -- WAP2, zero broadcasting, MAC filters, and so on. It's a sort of iron curtain, and it keeps the computers on my system secure and invisible and difficult to detect.

But having my wireless invisible and locked down somewhat violates some of the things about an information futurestructure that I find useful; that is, the idea that wireless should be pervasive and open; that you should be able to wander around town, get a signal whenever you need it, and talk to the internet.

Pervasive internet, an informational field that cloaks our civilization, is the goal, is it not? Like electricity, or the law, it should always be available, always active, wherever you need it.

I could open my network right now, of course. I could tunnel into my router from work, flip a few settings, and BAM! Suddenly its visible, the door is unlocked, and anybody can hop a ride on Wireless-N goodness.

There are considerations, of course. First of all, how would I secure local devices? I run a WinXp PC and a vista Laptop, and I would have to lock those bad boys down. We're talk soft firewalls. I'd have to make them invisible to each other on the network. Same with any devices that hooked into it; I don't want somebody sniffing out the map of my net and then poking around the innards of my PC.

Then there's bandwidth issues, as well; I don't want somebody hijacking my crappy Shaw bandwidth to torrent teh pr0n. That seems uncool.

And, of course, there's the murky grey area of liability. I have no idea how case law works in Canada with respect to crime committed on open networks, in the event I had somebody do Very Bad Things from my network.

I suppose I could get around the bandwidth issue by local traffic-shaping. I could make every device not my own a second class citizen, and have to wait in line for my own greedy bandwidth needs. I might do that.

Anybody out there run an open network? How do you protect your devices?

"The Rule of Law is fundamental to our existence as a civilized nation. The Rule of Law is not a goal which we merely aspire to achieve; it is the floor below which we must not sink. For the Rule of Law to function effectively, however, it must provide actual rules that can be followed. In this instance, the relevant rule—the law—has long been clear: Waterboarding detainees amounts to illegal torture in all circumstances."

uvic at night
Originally uploaded by uvic.

Dear Steve:

We are pleased to confirm that you have been authorized to re-register
for Winter Session, 2007-2008. PLEASE NOTE THAT REGISTRATION IN WINTER
SESSION BEGINS IN LATE JUNE. Your registration date and time will show
on WebView starting May 10.
If this email has been sent after May 10, your registration date/time
will not show on WebView until 24 hours after the time this email
was sent.

To access WebView, link to http://www.uvic.ca/webview then select
"Authorization to Register and Registration Access Date" AND the Session
option of "2007-2008 Winter".

The following websites provide timetable, registration and course
information:
- Registration and Timetables (http://www.registrar.uvic.ca/undergrad/)
- WebTimeTable (http://www.uvic.ca/webtt)
- WebReg (http://www.uvic.ca/webreg)
- WebView (http://www.uvic.ca/webview)
- UVic Calendar (http://www.uvic.ca/calendar)

**IMPORTANT: Your status in the session is "on probation". You
**will need to obtain a minimum sessional grade point average of
**2.00 in order to qualify for continued studies at UVic. Please
**refer to Sample Letters/Information Regarding Academic Standing
**on the UVic Records website:
** http://registrar.uvic.ca/undergrad/registration/
**for important information.

Best wishes in your studies.
Records and Registrarial Services
University of Victoria

Enter MY heart
Originally uploaded by مرفوقه عن هواكم.

HELLO

My name is doris i am a female I was impressed when i saw your profile and i will like to establish a long lasting relationship with you. In addition,i will like you to reply me through my e mail box ({email scrubbed for this LJ post, so as not to spam}) This is because i dont know the possibilities of remaining in forum for a long time. please If you are interested in knowing more about me, and for me to send you some pictures of mine,

please reply me back through my email and with your email so that i can contact you
Thanks waiting to hear from you .
doris