Mixed bag... Canada style

Ontario referendum: Gee whiz, they're about to vote... and I hear more about the Ontario referendum here in Québec... than in Ontario.

Mhhh... when someone says referendum and constitutional amendment, it's true that we get all excited here. :)

I had a chat recently with a former forum colleague living in Toronto, and I was floored to hear that he doesn't care about the referendum. However, the bickering about McGuinty, his wife and about confessional schools seem far more important than the referendum on the way Ontario will elect their politicians for many generations to come.

I can't proclaim that I'm an expert in Ontario politics, but that seems to be the general mood. This is sad, I think.
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Afghanistan: There's something quite indecent to see ministers Bernier and Oda parading in Afghanistan, at the government's expense of course.

At the same time, Denis Coderre whose been denied all government supports, has to go literally -on his own- to Afghanistan (and at the time I'm writing these lines, he's currently in Pakistan. He should arrive later today or tomorrow in Afghanistan). People are a little bit worried for his safety, should the words spread out that he's a Canadian elected official... and not an "ordinary tourist".

To hear minister Bernier saying that Coderre's trip to Afghanistan is "irresponsible" makes me puke.

Coderre (Liberal) *IS* a member of the Parliament, just like Bernier and Oda (Conservative, the ruling party here in Canada).

It is by the will of the Parliament and not of the ruling political party that our troops are there in Afghanistan.

Also, the Canadian government isn't ... a branch of the Conservative party.

So Coderre has every right to be in Afghanistan and meet our troops there. As a member of the Parliament, it *IS* the duty of the Canadian government to bring him to Afghanistan, safely. So there, Mr. Bernier. You should be ashamed.

Since we're having a minority government, it's not very politically savvy to soooo openly pissed off a member of an opposition party, one of the parties that has helped the Conservative... to stay in power. Capitche, Mr. Bernier?
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Mr. FixIt revisited: Funny, there are times I feel like I'm a doctor . :) I think that I'm also a church minister, which people confess their worst sins. :)

I'm a little bit under the weather (cold... sigh!!), but yesterday I got a call (err.. a SOS) from a friend that her computer doesn't work and she needs it absolutely for this weekend.

When I had my tech forums years ago... I had coined this phrase: Put a rubber on your modem!

Upfront, she confessed that she visited many "dirty" sites (porn, and many gay *male* porn, to my surprise) and she had installed many "viewers". She thinks she went to one dirty web site... too many. She also does file sharing, and I spare you the names, you know them, and I despise these programs. Oh... anti-virus? She got it... but the subscription expired 2 years ago. You get the picture. In other words, I have to do miracles... as always...

Oookay. When a nice lady sends you a SOS... I can't say no. :) So I brought with me my laptop, some CDs and DVDs (including an old version of Knoppix, a fully functional Linux operating system, which is always useful to boot a sick PC with it) . I spent the afternoon and part of the evening in bringing her computer to a reasonably functional state.

I'm a data professional, much like a doctor when friends call me to help with their computer problems. So I don't blush easily at the things I see on someone else's computer.

I'll make this clear: I don't blush at the things you think that will make me blushing, but I wish you blush at the things *I* see!

Funny how people feels ashamed when I click on a file and suddenly a naughty picture appears on the screen, while I see nothing wrong with that (raise your hand if you don't have any dirty pics on your computer! So you see my point. :) ).

However, I'm a little pissed off when I see pirated softwares, pirated songs, etc, while to most people, they don't mind. We're talking of intellectual property... and that is my daytime job, as a computer programmer. So, respect my job and the job of my brothers and sisters, please!

(For the same reason when I'm giving music CDs to friends, I buy retail, I don't make copies. I want respect for my work, so I respect others' work. It's reciprocal... and I think that my salary is high enough to afford the seemingly "extra" cost ...)

Since I can put links here, I might mention an interesting online diagnostic tool that has been around for years: Housecall, by TrendMicro ( http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ ). It was useful yesterday, as the computer was too sick to update the already installed anti-virus nor to install another anti-virus.

Oh, it goes without saying, anti-spyware programs like Adaware and Spybot are also "must have" programs (that must be kept updated!) on a PC...

I appreciate friendship... but I wish for my friends... the best. Really! ;)

-Doctor Eskimo...