the darkerside to rants

Updated last week of training on the tri blog.

Truly sucks, I just tried to install a tool that would have prevented that, but for some reason I can’t get the graphics to show up.

I have to try this again tomorrow, if anybody (who isn’t a spammer) is reading this and has some advice: Tell me.

And I really, truly hope that the next release of WordPress will offer a “register” option by default. Would be nice to only let people comment who register first.

I would like to point out an article in “The Lancet” that speaks about the current state in Iraq and how much the “freedom” the us has brought has so much cost the Iraqis in blood.

This is interesting to note as one of the main reasons to invade Iraq (these days anyways) is the safety and freedom of the Iraqi people, or at least so are we supposed to believe.

The US is voting in two days, maybe it is partisan “advertising” that this article gets published now, but I think even if not, it is a document that should be read by people who even vote for Bush to understand that their local political decisions have far reaching implications in the world.

Read: The war in Iraq: civilian casualties, political responsibilities

The present conflict in Iraq signals a contrast of paradoxical proportions. The Iraqi people, their interim government, and their largely US and British occupiers are preparing for landmark elections early in the new year. Yet a ruthlessly violent insurgency is successfully destabilising these arrangements, murdering foreign civilians and Iraqi law enforcement officers in the most brutal ways imaginable, and exploiting the world’s media in doing so. Amid this deep national uncertainty, it is hard to judge what is happening among Iraqis themselves. This week The Lancet publishes the first scientific study of the effects of this war on Iraqi civilians.

In a unique US-Iraqi collaboration, Les Roberts and his colleagues report substantially more deaths in Iraq since the war began than during the period immediately before the conflict. Much of this increased mortality is a consequence of the prevailing climate of violence in the country, and many of the civilian casualties that are described were attributed to the actions of coalition forces. These findings-and the tentative countrywide mortality projections they support-have immediately translatable policy implications for those charged with managing the aftermath of invasion.

There is also a summary article on Indymedia.

Cory Doctorow is fuming at Apple once again as they apparantly broke one of his favourite apps (iPod Download) with their latest iTunes upgrade.

If you’re an iPod user, you would have done well to have availed yourself of iPod Download, an OS X app that made it easy to move your music from your iPod to your Mac. Of course, Apple hated that poor little app, so it was sometimes hard to find, as Apple devoted expensive laywer-hours to shutting down all the sites that were hosting copies of it. Of course, there’s more dough where that came from — they’ll just pass the cost on to you in your next iPod.

As it turns out, you’re shit-outta-luck even if you managed to snag a copy. That’s because Apple just devoted some expensive engineering hours to updating iTunes to version 4.7, with the “improvement” of breaking iPod Download. That’s right — Apple’s spending money seeing to it that features are removed from your iPod. Thanks a whole lot, Apple.

Even though in general distrust large companies I do think that they might have a valid reason this time. They just released the new iPod Photo together with a new version of iTunes. My suspicion is that they changed the format of the XML file they use to keep track on tracks on the iPod, so obviously an app that isn’t supported by Apple would break as well.

Let’s see how long it takes for the developers to come up with a fix, if I am right it shouldn’t take too long.

Comments are open on ALL the blogs, but because I receive tons of spam lately they all go into the moderation queue, so no panic if they don’t show up right away online, it might take me a bit to go through all the stuff that piles up. I try to clean up once a day, but if I am too busy it might be a bit longer.

No comment (that is not spam / baseless advertising) will be deleted.

All you Ghoulies are coming out tonight to play.

If you rather stay in, may I recommend two movies? Enjoy, and don’t eat too much candy.

ZED had an interview with Avi Lewis last night about his new movie “The Take” which follows workers in Argentina as they try to reclaim their old factories. The Interview he gave to Ziya Tong was very interesting indeed.

You can see the Interview online.

Avi Lewis defines New Activism, and takes us through the experience of making “The Take.”
The documentary – which he made with wife Naomi Klein – follows a grass roots movement in Argentina that challenges the global work structure.

Taken along Queen Street East in downtown Toronto.

These and more can be found in the Toronto Gallery.

The New York Times has a short article about three technologies that are available in Europe and Japan but won’t make it to North America, at least not in the forseeable future.

Fear of legal action has also stopped Toyota from offering its Intelligent Parking Assist feature, which is now available on the hybrid gas-electric Prius model sold in Japan.

This device automatically parks the car, maneuvering the Prius backward and into the space. To activate it, the driver first pulls alongside the forward vehicle, then drags a picture of a flag marker and parking triangle on the car’s touchscreen display, until they are positioned where the vehicle should wind up.

But the system cannot respond to changing conditions, like the vehicle in front suddenly backing into the space the Prius is about to enter. Nor can the system respond to unexpected road obstacles %u2014 a soccer ball rolling into the gutter or a child running in the way.

While the system seems ideal for congested streets like New York’s, “we have no plans for the U.S.,” said Jon Bucci, corporate manager for advanced technology at Toyota Motor Sales. “This is a very litigious society.”

Emphasis mine.

I have to say I was always amazed how easily people seem to sue one another. One of the things I found scary was the following:

I talked with a colleague maybe a year ago about how you can be charged if you don’t help someone who gets into an accident. I told him it was mandatory in Germany to have a first aid kit with you in the car and I was surprised that this wasn’t the case in Canada. He told me that he found this rather funny, in Canada you would probably be sued if you helped somebody and they got some damage that may be linked to your help (in Germany you are protected by law from something like this).

Think about it, someone has an accident, might be bleeding out in their car, but you better don’t come close and put pressure on the vein, because if you do and he still bleeds out, you’ll be charged / sued.

Cool, isn’t it? (Note sarcasm).

The Toronto Sun had the following cover today:

Sounds almost like 900 jobs are lost, right?

Well, not if you look closer, then you’ll see this:

So it’s actually good news, but hey, good news don’t really sell that well, right?