The best thing to come out of World War II was the idea that there are universal human rights to which all human beings are entitled — without limitation.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. It wasn’t until 1950 that Human Rights Day was formally established, making today, December 10th, 2009 the 59th Human Rights Day.
family and education are featured human rights

reading in a tree
He’s known from a very young age that “people are not for hitting”. He has great empathy, which helps him to respect the rights of others. He understands the value of sharing, and helping others, even in adversity when there is a personal cost. He knows the value of sharing because he is a part of a greater community. I trust him not only to know what’s right, but to do what’s right.
I can’t begin to express how much I love and respect this young man who couldn’t wait to turn seventeen so that he would be old enough to donate blood.
technology causing change
In almost sixty years many of our governments seem to have forgotten the powerful words held in this document.
We are living in a period of enormous change. When I was a young child I remember going on a tour of a local university and seeing a gigantic room sized machine called a computer. You could ask it questions by punching holes in a piece of cardboard. How amazing was that?
Yet the world my child has grown up in has always had the internet. This technological marvel has created sweeping changes that have impacted on all our lives in many ways.
Our world is rocking still.
Change is never easy. Even good change, like marrying the person you want to marry, or getting the job of your dreams cause a great deal of stress. Because the internet changes are so sweeping and fast, many of us are having a hard time understanding what is really happening.
GNU Linux helped to start the ball rolling on a whole new way of thinking with Open Source software. I attended my first Ontario GNU Linux Fest this year, and it struck me how amazing this world was. There is a whole community of people creating computer software that is both free as in beer AND free as in speech. People are working at creating this stuff to share because they love it and because they know it is important. There is a whole new way of thinking.
Open source folk have two problems. The first is that they are trying to figure out ways to convince the world at large to accept this free software. I know this sounds crazy, but that is a serious problem, since the concept is so alien to the business models that have held sway for so long. The other problem is how they might monetize some of the work they do, because then maybe they will be able to afford to spend more time doing it. None of them are considering NOT doing what they do. They love it and they will continue to do it because it is good for them and the world. These guys aren’t just willing to do this work for free, they ARE doing the work for free.
Contrast this with the Copyright World War. This War is being waged on the citizens of the world by corporations seeking to control our culture. On one side you will find the open source type of people who use creative commons licensing to give away what they create, be it software or art. The other side of this war is a powerful group of media companies are attempting to coerce governments around the world to legislate anti-progress. Their objective is to undo the societal evolution that the internet has wrought. At the behest of these powerful special interests, governments around the world are negotiating an international trade treaty to redefine copyright to the specifications of the corporate interests. In spite of leaked documents and a growing unease expressed by constituents, not a single government involved has revealed what is being negotiated.
ACTA is this secret treaty.
The leaked ACTA documents are making it clear that this international trade agreement will not suspend many of the rights promised in this declaration.
A world where profit margins are considered more important than human rights is a giant step back.
Human Rights Abuses Have Not Gone Away
There are many other much worse abuses being perpetrated on citizens of the world today. The ACTA issue is small potatoes in comparison.
But.
The internet has already proved to be a powerful tool in not only educating people, but in helping in the fight for human rights in some of the most repressive areas of the world.
An extremely compelling reason for Net Neutrality.
On YouTube you can see an excellent Universal Declaration of Human Rights video recommended by Joan Vinall-Cox.
An insightful look at the human rights issue can be found in the blog One Day For Human Rights: To Care or Not To Care suggested by Sandy Nunn
In celebration of Human Rights Day everyone should take the time to read the declaration.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
- Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
- Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
- No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
- No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
- Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
- All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
- Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
- Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.Article 12
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.Article 18
- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.Article 22
- Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.Article 28
- Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.Article 30
- Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Happy Human Rights Day.
Cory Doctorow”s boingboing column today mentioned Knowledge Ecology International’s Writers and Journalists Open Letter in Support of WIPO treaty for People who are Blind or have other Disabilities
This important open letter says in part:
“In 1985, WIPO and UNESCO published are report calling for a new treaty to solve this problem, and create a global system of distributing works to persons who are blind and have other disabilities. Today WIPO is considering just such a treaty. We urge every country to move swiftly to support and enact such a treaty, so that a person who is blind, or has other severe disabilities, can read what we write.”
doctorow Writers needed to sign onto letter in support of copyright treaty for blind/disabled access http://tinyurl.com/yeox3l3
PLEASE RT!
As a reader, I want to be able to read what I want to read. Not being able to would be… indescribably sad.
As a human being, I think that everyone should have access to the world’s knowledge.
As a writer, I hope that anyone wanting to read my words has the opportunity to read my words.
I’m no Cory Doctorow, but I too urge all writers to support this. Thanks!
Accessibility is necessary to build a healthy global community.
[And now back to working on my novel.]

Inconstant Moon cover art
What I said was,
“No, I don’t have time…. because the novel isn’t done yet.”
He went on to express surprise that I wasn’t as predictable as he thought. Hah! Thought he had >me< pegged, did he? Well.
Uh. Here I am, writing a blog post.
[It's rough to be so predictable. But I should have learned by now that the greatest kid in the world is pretty much always right.]
I think I’m about half way through the outline (although it’s hard to tell since its so badly in need of rejigging just now. The characters have been asserting themselves with some force.)
But I plan on working my fingers to the bone for the rest of the month and see how much I can get done. Hey, its the weekend, and I vow not to do another blog post (after this one) before December.
Really.
I will be back to blogging (guilt free) come December, but I will keep going on the novel until it’s done. Because this is what I REALLY want to do.
[Besides, I need to finish this one so I can start on the next one.]

Sign of the Times: NaNoWriMo Caution - Novelists at Work
During the month of November, should you find yourself in a coffee shop, restaurant, internet cafe, or really anywhere with electricity and WiFi, you may very well spot a clump of people furiously tapping away on laptops. If you look closely you are very likely to see a sign like this one.
This means you’ve stumbled on a group of NaNoWriMo writers.
1999 marked the beginning of NaNoWriMo. It all started with twenty-one people in San Francisco who wanted to write novels. It has grown to these proportions as reported via this NaNoWriMo tweet from Twitter:
NaNoWriMo stats found on Twitter 15 November, 2009
November is National WriMo Month
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writer’s Month, has become an international event. Its quite simple really… if you’ve ever wanted to write a novel, all you need do is head to the NaNoWriMo website and sign up. This makes you a participant. The next step is to write a 50,000 word novel before midnight on November 30th. If you succeed, you become a NaNoWriMo winner.
I first learned about NaNoWriMo from my sister-in-law Nienke, but I’ve never quite managed to make the time. Over the last year I’ve taken to blogging, and have rediscovered how important writing actually is to me. Since the frequency of my blog posts has been on the rise, and some of the longest have sit the 3,000 word range, it occurred to me that maybe my writing muscles were up to facing the NaNoWriMo challenge.

My Blog: in the wind
One of my problems is my attachment to my blogs. It is so easy to get sucked into email, or browsing, or even worse, writing a blog post. I just had to take the time to whip up my Remembrance Day post… except it ended up taking the better part of the daylight hours.
An issue that has been large in my life has been the fight to save a local natural space from being “surplussed” and developed.
Having written letters to the local papers and politicians as well as blogging about it, amazingly Victoria Glen Park was actually saved, I should at the very least be trumpeting the good news, but I’ve a pretty good idea how much time that will take.
I’m doing NaNoWriMo for me.
This is the birthday present I’m giving myself.
[Note: This is NOT a hint...
Too busy with NaNoWriMo to have time left for frivolities like birthdays.]
because time is of the essence for NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo @ WLG (me-in-the-middle)
I was surprised to discover that NaNoWriMo does not simply involve locking oneself away from the world and writing the month away. There is a whole social aspect I knew nothing about. When you find your region you discover that there is an ML, or “Municipal Liaison”, who is the unpaid volunteer who serves as our fearless leader. The ML organizes and supervises the writers, the forums, and tries to keep everyone focused and motivated.
NaNoWriMo society

Caution: NaNoWriMo Novelists at Work

Whole Lot-a Gelata: writing home away from home
I attended the very first Write-In at Whole Lot-a Gelata, just to see what it was like. Even though I didn’t have my outline written down, I had enough bits floating around in my head that I could do a few opening scene/character sketches. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the words flowed sitting in a room with a bunch of total strangers, all of whom were typing away in their own little worlds.
NaNoWriMo support
The NaNoWriMo web site is pretty extensive, with plenty of forums (and if the topic you want isn’t there you can jump in and create it. NaNoWriMo provides videos, and blogs, and chat rooms and pep talks… it is really rather amazing. The only thing about NaNoWriMo that I find fault with is that they have designated the people who succeed in writing 50,000 words “winners”. My problem with this is that the flip side would be that those who do not finish would be “losers”.
I would think that the participants themselves would know what they’ve gotten out of NaNoWriMo. If you’ve finished with the prescribed 50,000 words, but feel it is unreadable or un-editable, being told you are a winner will not change the fact that your experience was not successful. By the same token, if you’ve only managed 25,000 words by the end, if you’ve learned something important, like how to outline, or that it is possible to write as many a s 25,000 words in the space of a month, you may well feel like a “winner” until told otherwise. I find it a little bit sad that this distinction is drawn, because NaNoWriMo can be a great experience for different people in many different ways. Writers of all people ought to know that creativity doesn’t fit in a box marked “one size fits all”.
From flitting about in the various forums, I’ve discovered a few interesting websites put up by other NaNoWriMo participants. Since it is so tempting to wander through forums and check out websites, I’m trying to limit myself. I thought I’d just share these two blogs which I found a lot of fun. I’ve only read bits of them, but they’re intriguing enough that I’ve book marked these so that I can pop round and read them at my leisure after NaNoWriMo is done.
“Why do you keep giving him such silly names,” Lauretta asked, raising one eyebrow at me.
“Why do you?” I countered.
“I’m Eight.”
I couldn’t say much to that, so I went with the standard, “I’m Evil; I can do whatever I want.”
From the sidebar:
“First drafts are often bad. Repeat after me: Bad bad bad. Embrace the bad.”
NaNoWriMo has been great for me. I finally got the outline done, and now I’m ahead of the game, beyond the half way word count, so I can make this blog post. My novel may yet undergo great alterations between now and the end, and I have a suspicion that it will take rather more than 50,000 to finish, since I’m not as far along the outline as I probably should be. But that’s O.K. I can always edit it into good order in December.
What NaNoWriMo has done is provide me with a deadline, and help me remember how to find a focus. The best thing that NaNoWriMo has done for me is provide impetus. It’s helped me carve out a place in my life where I can get back into the writing I love. It’s providing support and reminding me of how great it is to have other writers to consort with. And the writing itself is going just fine.
Thank you NaNoWriMo.
note: no time to proof this… sleep is a bigger priority just now. Please comment or email me about typos & I’ll fix them later
In Canada we celebrate Remembrance Day, on the Eleventh Day, of the eleventh month. Gathering together in churchyards, schools, or war memorials, we hear stories of Canadian sacrifice, and listen as a lone trumpet plays “Taps”. If all goes well the last haunting note dies out as the clock ticks over to the eleventh minute, when we bow our heads for two minutes of silence and reflection.

This is a tradition which began with the formal conclusion of “The War to End All Wars” on November 11th, 1918, on Armistice Day.
During that terrible modern war, in 1915 Canadian Doctor John McCrae wrote what I believe to be the single most powerful piece of anti-war poetry ever written.
I doubt I am the only one whose eyes tear up just thinking the words of the first line of his poem,
“In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
between the crosses row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
Sadly, humankind has not yet managed to do away with war. The simple words of this immortal poem, so eloquently expressed by this sad and demoralized front line doctor, have permeated the Canadian consciousness.
Part of the poem was printed on the Canadian ten dollar bill a few years back, then in 2004 the poppy as the Canadian symbol of Remembrance was commemorated on a quarter.

Poppies and poetry adorn the ten dollar bill.
My first consciousness of the horrors of war was a visit to an interactive-museum in a train car I visited as a child during Canada’s Centennial year. I remember:
walking through the recreated World War I battlefield… sand bags… explosions…
The photographs, lighting and sound effects made a vivid impression on me that is still with to this day. To educate my own child we’ve visited the extraordinary McCrae House museum in Guelph.
I’ve watched movies, read fiction and poetry, as well as many historical accounts that have left me convinced that war is something to be avoided if at all possible. I am well aware that I’m incredibly lucky because I’ve never been up close and personal with war. But although I’ve never lost a loved one to war, I know those who have not been so fortunate. At the same time I have been humbled knowing my life has been lived in freedom paid for with Canadian blood.
Every year of my adult life I have made a point of putting money in the little Canadian Legion box for a poppy at least once every November, even knowing there are ranks of poppies at home in my drawer. I’ve worn a poppy every year. Until now.
The perversion of the concept of “Copyright” has spread to the Canadian Legion.
I am simply appalled by the Canadian Legion’s dreadful behavior. It seems that they believe they “own” all rights to the use of the poppy, and have been heaving their prodigious legal might
– fueled by all of those donations we’ve all made to their “worthy cause” over the years–
against anyone who dares appropriate what they believe to be their exclusive symbol.
It incenses me when I read about the Canadian Legion mustering their forces against:
It is pretty clear that they are not even in the right, since the first instance of the poppy as a symbol was initiated by an American YMCA worker who encouraged the American Legion to adopt it as a symbol (before the Canadian Legion did), and the poppy design currently used internationally is based on the work –the Intellectual Property of– a French woman. The white poppy of peace is something different, and it too dates back a ways to 1930’s England. The fact that the Canadian Legion copied everyone else in adopting the red poppy symbol is the only claim that the Canadian Legion can reasonably make.
But they used their power to stop a white poppy campaign anyway… because they could. The fledgling Canadian peace movement changed their symbol, and are now known as the White Peace Dove Campaign. Their only crime was the lack of a budget to stand against the Canadian Legion blitzkrieg. I find it disgusting that my donations to the Canadian Legion have made it possible to trample other Canadians purely by intimidation.
Of course the Canadian Legion has also attempted to block the British Peace Pledge Union from distributing white poppies in Canada.
What on earth is happening in the world?
The madness has been escalating as corporations and organizations seek to take ownership of things that they have no real right to. Years ago I remember thinking how absurd it was that Toys “Я” Us laid claim to the letter “R”. Apparently they made a case for their creative use of their backward letter “R” to represent the word “are”. It seems incredible that any court would foolishly allow any corporation exclusive rights to a letter of the alphabet in current use, let alone as a symbol for a common word in our language.
Whether or not that was the intent, Toys “Я” Us has ever after aimed their legal juggernaut at any company daring to use the letter “R” — pointing in any direction– as a word ever since. “Right” doesn’t come into it. Without deep pockets and a crack legal team, no one can stand up to an onslaught by Toys “Я” Us.
And amazingly enough Toys “Я” Us hasn’t yet sued Sesame Street for creating songs and videos about the Letter “R” Actually I wonder why they aren’t bringing their corporate might to bear against all the internet chat room uses of the letter “R” in place of the word. Or the even more common usage in the face of the Twitter and Identi.ca 140 character limit imposition? Maybe Toys “Я” Us are just biding their time, adding up all the infringements.
Makes you wonder why the YMCA hasn’t sewn up the rights to the letter “Y”. Or wonder which University will be first to lay claim to ownership of the letter “U”.
it isn’t the same thing at all

Poppies in the Sunset on Lake Geneva photographed by PDTillman, Wikimedia Commons
Letters of the alphabet are actually human constructs, invented symbols. If you had actually invented a letter of the alphabet you would actually have reasonable grounds to copyright the letter.
[Of course if you started charging royalties every time your letter was used, your letter would rapidly fall out of favour.]
But a poppy? A poppy is a living thing, a flower, part of a plant that grows in the ground. Poppies have been in existence long before the Canadian Legion. The Canadian legion didn’t invent poppies. And in fact the poppies mentioned in Dr. McCrae’s poem were wildflowers growing free, planted by no one, owned by no one. Under no copyright. Why should the Canadian Legion have any special claim to the poppy?
If you look at the Canadian Legion’s website it is pretty clear that they feel perfectly justified in appropriating Doctor McCrae’s story and his powerful contribution to the sum of all knowledge. The Legion makes no secret that they have adopted the poppy as a symbol because of Dr. McCrae’s poetry, which he so freely gifted to the world. If the poppy as a Remembrance Day Symbol is anyone’s intellectual property it would be the two YMCA workers responsible for its implementation, one from France, one from the US. (Note: Neither was Canadian.)
But because the Canadian Legion has very deep pockets they are more than willing to go to war on other Canadians daring to “poach” from what they perceive to be their private preserve, the symbol of a poppy. The Canadian Legion has proven themselves willing to abuse their power to intimidate anyone they feel is competition. The reason the Canadian Legion has such deep pockets because of Canadian largesse.
The Canadian Legion’s “war chest” is courtesy of ordinary people like you and me, shelling out for their little poppy pins. Supposedly they don’t “charge” for the pins, it has always been a donation box. The idea is of course that anyone can have one gratis if you can’t afford to donate, but we all put in as much as we can spare, and many of us have happily put in more. I don’t know about you but its been a long time since I’ve put anything lower than a five dollar bill in one of those boxes. (I’d be surprised if stamping out a poppy pins costs more than a penny or two.) And when you think about the fact that the pins seem designed to work free of your jacket, I’ve found myself making multiple donations pretty much every year. And I didn’t mind because I was suffering under the belief that it was in good cause.
It would have never have occurred to me that The Canadian Legion would use money I had donated to attempt to stifle a fledgling peace movement.
Still less would I have been able to imagine that the Canadian Legion would spend money I donated to actively stifle fundraising efforts intended to benefit the families of veterans.
Or that the Canadian Legion would squander my donations in the petty power play which blocked the Highway of Heroes pins.
Obviously the Canadian Legion is more interested in securing their own little fiefdom by engaging in intimidation and oppression of Canadians than in doing good. Perhaps they are afraid that peace will put them out of business. I don’t know, nor do I care. One thing’s for sure, they certainly have too much money at their disposal.

The 2004 Canadian Mint Remembrance Day Quarter
All I can do is write about my anger in my little blog and cease supporting an institution which seems bent on doing damage to the freedoms so many Canadians have fought and died for.
The Canadian Legion has betrayed my trust. I regret every dime I’ve given them over the years, and they’ll never again receive so much as a poppy quarter from me.
What gives them the right?
It is clear that the only thing that Doctor McCrae was trying to promote with his little poem was peace. Somehow I doubt that the good Doctor would have ever approved of the Canadian Legion’s corruption of his imagery, and worse their perversion of his poppy symbol as an instrument of oppression.
Like most people, I don’t have time to read everything, but I’d like to thank M. Spector for this excellent blog post which opened my eyes to this issue http://www.rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/memetics-and-semiotics-poppy
[Note: My intent was that my first November blog post would deal with my NaNoWriMo participation, but I just haven't been able to get this out of my head today-- LLR]
Ubuntu's Karmic Koala T-Shirt
Ubuntu is the Open Source operating system software I use to run my writing computer. When I was starting out I loved writing in WordPerfect, and I’d be using it still except my version stopped being supported. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t get printer drivers. Which is why WordPerfect lost my business to Open Office. (Microsoft Windows being the most widely known non-open source operating system. ) New releases of Ubuntu are distributed twice a year, in April and October. Each release is named for an interesting animal, in alphabetical order like hurricanes. The last distribution was Jaunty Jackalope, and the new distribution is called the Karmic Koala.
[Aside: Just did a quick google to find the Windows link and I accidentally clicked the wrong thing, landing on an old Windows updates page that illustrates exactly why I prefer Open Source... My thinking is that since >I< bought my computer, >I< get to decide what software goes on it. This accidental click sent me to an old Windows update page: Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site The page informs the unfortunate Windows user what browser I must use (Internet Explorer 5 or higher) in order to be able to access Microsoft updates.
Or if I really have to use some other company's browser (you can just hear the condescension) Windows will grudgingly allow me to download updates so that this other browser will work on the Windows website updating the program that >I< purchased from them.
But clearly what they really want me to do is authorize automatic updates. Boy, that was a long time ago. Nowadays you have no choice if you've been forced by circumstance to have Windows VISTA on your box. Vista removed all choice about automatic updates, you just get them whether you want them or not. And of course nowadays the only way to keep VISTA from "phoning home" would involve never going online.]

Ubuntu Release Parties
The very first Ubuntu release party I ever attended was at Toronto’s excellent Linux Caffe.
Unfortunately there was a fairly substantial technical difficulty: the people who were putting on the party couldn’t actually attend due to a Toronto Transit strike, so I never did get “Hardy Heron” installed that day. However, it was my introduction to the Linux Caffe. What a great place to go in and plug in while sipping cappuccino or scarfing back gelato.
This year I made it to the Kwartzlab Ubuntu release party in Kitchener, Ontario. Although a “hacklab” that’s just getting started, they have already begun establishing themselves in the community. Recently Kwartzlab members shared their expertise with a local high school who were building an electric car.
One of the Kwartzlab members created laser etched limited edition picture disks to commemorate the Kwartzlab Karmic Koala release party.
Everyone was friendly as always, because the great thing about GNU Linux Open Source software is that it is really about community. That’s why it works. People with greater expertise assist people with less to get the software up and running.
I used my cel phone to take these photos at the beginning of the evening before it got really busy. When it really got going there were at least thirty people there, many of whom I recognized from Ontario GNU Linuxfest. Because my antique laptop’s battery is long gone I stuck close to my wall plug during the busiest time.
There were a few demonstrations to the whole room, but for the most part it was one-on-one as Ubuntu users helped Ubuntu users while munching pizza, deviled eggs and later the Ubuntu Cake. We’re talking about a class act here: the actually had brand name soft drinks on tap and they recycle. We’ll have to make do with a few photos of the Ubuntu Circle of Friends logo being consumed since in my unfamiliarity with my cel phone camera I seem to have neglected to save the photos I took of the entire Ubuntu cake. All is not lost, as there were several others snapping photos so I’m sure you’ll find a shot of the cake on the Kwartzlab site.!

Kwartzlab Release Party
A good time was had by all. Great job Kwartzlab!
I have been a writer all my life, but sometimes the writing hasn’t had the opportunity to find its way outside my head. For a brief heady time I made a living as a writer, learning a great deal from the old pros I worked with back when I was a young pup. (Funny, I’m now substantially older than the old pros were then.)
I’ve enjoyed my childrearing hiatus which has of course produced the most amazing kid in the world. Since he’s now in high school, I’ve been dusting off my skills and doing a fair bit of thinking. Over the years I’ve accumulated a reasonable amount of life experience, and rather a lot of story ideas. Best of all, I also have a dedicated laptop, which is the place I’ve set aside to bring my writing to life.
Computer Stuff Digression
My “new” laptop has very little in the way of bells and whistles. It’s primary feature was that it was dirt cheap. We’re talking a rugged little IBM machine that would probably survive a fall from a cliff or being run over by a car, but is also so old the hard drive has less capacity than a writable DVD. Since the antique Windows 98 it came with is unsupported, I’m running Ubuntu (one of the more popular versions of Gnu-Linux) on it, since the hard drive is much too small for the current versions of Windows. So I finally have my open source desktop, and am loving being windows free on this machine, let me tell you. Open source software is awesome.
I’m actually gearing up to a changeover on my “real” computer; I attended my first Ontario GNU Linuxfest yesterday, I learned a lot, got some great advice as well as several different versions of linux to try out at home to decide which is best. There’s this great new technology where you can run a “virtual boz” on your computer, so you can have several different operating systems running on your one computer. The advantage to this is that you don’t have to commit to any specific home version of linus, you can try them out at your leisure. When you’re ready just go ahead and install it. (Until yesterday I had this crazy idea that there was only one home version, Ubuntu, the one on the laptop. I now have disks for fedora 11, Free BSD, opensolaris and opensuse As well, there will be a new release of Ubuntu in a few days which will apparently be able to use Photoshop (which has been my sticking point). And if that still isn’t good enough there’s an Irish version called Mint that is supposed to run video nicely “out of the box”.

Marcel Gagné: Linux without Fear
I really enjoyed the talks although much of it was way over my head. Which is probably why Marcel Gagné was my favorite presenter in his talk “Linux Without Fear”. Although aimed at giving pointers to Linux users on spreading linux software in the wider community, he was both entertaining and understandable to neophytes like myself. My other two favorite presentations were Emma Jane Hogbin’s lively talk on “Writing Effective Self-Help Guides for World Domination” and engineer Neil Bunn’s awesome discussion of designing and building “SciNet the largest Linux System in Canada”.
back on track
Part of the reason for having a separate writing computer is to keep the writing focused. I am in fact writing this blog post on the laptop, because it can go online (just). Because online is so slooooow the temptation to internet distraction will be much less.
Being old and slow myself, I can write at my own speed which isn’t too fast or too much for Open Office on this machine. If I need to do a quick & dirty bit of research it does the job. Serious research, blog posts, photo stuff, email and the like take too long. But for writing, it’s lovely. The keys are comfortable, they have a good solid feel.
It’s time I returned to the novel form. My first attempt at writing a novel in grade nine convinced me that I was not a writer. At the time it seemed clear that writing wasn’t a viable career path for me. So. After mourning the loss of what I thought would be my life’s work I headed off to college where I instead studied media arts (since i love movies and TV almost as much as i love books). As it turned out I became a writer anyway.
Maturity and experience have taught me the problems with my first novel were a combination of writing derivatively and not having the maturity to realize that an outline is a necessary foundation to writing fiction. Essential.
An outline shouldn’t be written in stone since your characters may have other ideas as they come to life. But even if you throw it out in part or in whole along the way due to changing circumstances, you must keep re-writing the outline, so that you the writer knows where you are heading. I have yet to meet a fiction writer who would rather outline than undergo root canal surgery, but it is a necessary evil. The outline remains as essential to writing good fiction as language is.
My talented sister-in-law has helped to keep my dreams alive over the years with her blog The Writing Life. Nienke offers ideas and writing outlets and avenues to follow. Sometimes it’s just a funny story or an interesting anecdote, but I’ve always found what she writes to be of use. Because even when I didn’t make the time for writing, writing has always been a part of who I am. In the back forty of my brain notes are always being taken.
It was through Nienke that I first heard of NaNoWriMo. The idea of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is to write a 50,000 word first draft during the month of November. Yikes. Yet some of us work well to deadlines.
In the past I’ve never been in the right place in my life to be able to get it together to try something like this, but for me this year everything is right. Maybe because I’m old enough to know if you want to do something, you must commit to making time for it. I do believe that I’ll do it for the same reason I was finally able to quit smoking two years ago: I think it’s the right time for me.
Probably this blog will suffer a bit of neglect during the month of November. I may pop by here from time to time with status reports, or with more musings on copyright consultation submissions. I’ve found reading them to have a restorative effect on my soul, and I know going in that writing anything definitely has moments when a restorative is called for. Of course when immersed in intense writing going for a walk in the woods may well prove to be a more effective break. Being November hopefully there won’t even be pesticide out there!
So just in case I don’t manage to get back here at all during the process, rest assured that I will return after NaNoWriMo is all over. Whether or not the novel flies, I am having too much fun within the wind. Maybe someday I’ll wind it down, but not anytime soon.
You know what? I haven’t started the novel yet, but I’m having fun already.
Thanks Nienke!
[OK, I confess... I just used my "real" computer to make a couple of corrections and added a few links I missed on the laptop. Ye olde laptop is definitely not for blogging. Let's put it this way... it was faster to refer to the paper program from yesterday than to open up new web pages...
More strolling through the Canadian Copyright Consultation Submissions…
I keep coming back to this magnificent outpouring of ideas about Canadian copyright law and all that goes with it, and I am so very impressed.
Chen Shen wrote a great one. Here are a couple of my favorite bits:
“the purpose behind copyright should be reevaluated, and reforms should achieve a truly balanced approach to protecting the interests of both content publishers and content consumers, which is based in reality as opposed to the fantasies of media conglomerates clinging onto an ancient media landscape.”
– Chen Shen, copyright consultation submission
Beautiful use of language. And this part is so simple, yet so sensible.
“Generally speaking, restrictive protections should expire soon after content ceases to generate significant revenue.”
– Chen Shen, copyright consultation submission
Google found me the blog. This tiny excerpt says SO much:
“The government’s message is clear: lying on the sex offenders registry is less harmful than sharing your favourite songs on the internet watching DVDs on Linux.”
– cshen.ca blog
Jeff Cliff programming student/composer has a lot of very interesting stuff to say, interweaving philosophical ideas with everyday practicalities.
“Digitally locking the hood of a car so that only the dealer can maintain it restricts who can learn to fix it — this is not how things happen in the future Canada that I want.”
– Jeff Cliff, copyright consultation submission
If this is a typical Canadian student, Canada could have such a bright future.
“Let your children, at least, be free”
– Jeff Cliff, copyright consultation submission
Dusty Phillips, freelance software developer/member of the Pirate Party of Canada
“The distribution channels are irrelevant; they know this and are lobbying for laws to make it harder and/or illegal to access content without paying them. This is like trying to pass laws that we all use typewriters instead of e-mail because typewriters and the postal system are no longer relevant. It serves a set of industries already well-known for misusing artists and consumers alike.”
– Dusty Phillips, copyright consultation submission
This submission brings up an interesting ramification that I hadn’t thought of: the privacy issue
“The privacy problem is that policing such laws would require knowing every movie I watch, every book I read, and every packet I transfer across the Internet. The authorities would have to read every e-mail to ensure I haven’t attached an “illegal” file to it. This is clearly a drastic invasion of privacy.”
– Dusty Phillips, copyright consultation submission
Which of course could be the strongest motivation for efforts to alter Bill C-27 to grant such draconian abilities to the telecom providers.
Another aspect Dusty Phillips discusses is the Canadian “desire to create”. The world of repressed Canadian culture Dusty describes here is actually the dark ages of music and art that the internet is in the process of freeing Canadian culture from.
Of course, the old guard keeps trying to claw us back into the pit because they were much happier when they controlled everything. What they are missing is absurd. If artists are allowed the freedom to find their own audiences, when they are established they will still prefer to affiliate with a distribution network. Because artists want to create, not sell.
The biggest difference in the new model would be that the artists and the distributors would be entering into a more equitable arrangement.
The deal is no longer that the artist has to sell their soul to a company that will try to make them a star. At first blush Big Media doesn’t want that shift of power. I suspect long term it would work out better for them too. But they must have the flexibility to adapt. Instead of trying, they are trying to legislate turning back the hands of time. Not gonna happen, folks. What will happen is the little guys doing the distribution now will end up replacing the big guys who are too rigid to adapt.
During my growing up years the wailing and gnashing of teeth by Canadian politicians of all stripes was: “Canada needs an identity.” or “We don’t have a national identity.”
Even as a kid my take on it was that the Canadian identity is that we were NOT American.
So what is happening in the here and now? The digital age that has arrived has already gone so very far in allowing Canadian culture to grow freely. In the last decade, Canadians have been growing a culture by making use of these technologies. Not just to produce their art but to distribute it.
This is awesome. If allowed to flourish in the fullness of time… perhaps even already… there would no longer need to be any Canadian Content law. Canadian art and music and movies would be allowed to grow and find audiences on their merit and appeal to audience.
In my day, many really talented Canadians had to leave Canada to “make it big”.
Lets just for one moment look at a few Americon iconic characters brought to life by Canadians who couldn’t make a living at home:
Elwood Blues: Dan Ackroyd
The original ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce Donald Sutherland
Captain Kirk: William Shatner (yes, sadly he’s one of ours)
Scotty: James Doohan
King Kong’s original true love: Fay Wray
Pa Cartright: Lorne Greene
Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones: Kim Cattral
Perry Mason: Raymond Burr
Nero Wolfe: Maury Chaykin
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Tonto: Jay Silverheels
Which is why Canada Post keeps honoring “Canadians In Hollywood”. So many of our best and brightest have had to go below the border:

Canada Post: Canadians In Hollywood stamps
Just a few Canadians who had to leave home to develop intellectual property:
James Cameron (Titanic)
Norman Jewison (Fiddler and the Roof)
Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters)
Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live)
And of course some of Hollywood’s brightest stars were Christopher Plummer, Dorothy Pickford, Leslie Nielson, Lorne Greene, Michael J. Fox, Jim Carrey, Glen Ford, Robert Goulet, Raymond Massey,Meg and Jennifer Tilley, Norma Shearer, Martin Short, Kate Nelligan…. the list goes on and on and on.
Maybe if Canada were to embrace the new model, as so many of the copyright consultation submissions suggest, things will continue to change and more of our brightest stars will be able to stay home.











