Turns out there’s some evidence that, at a recent protest (the “Montebello summit”), there were some police provocateurs (My original spelling of the word was “Provocateaurs”, which was pretty close, I think). Basically, police officers there undercover to try and start a riot.

Police deny it, but (of course) there’s a youtube video:

According to the Star article I read (linked up above), there’s some damning evidence in that video… I don’t really see it. I see one damning thing - that the three masked men made it through the police line pretty quickly (there’s resistance initially, but it seems like one of the masked men says something to one of the officers, and then they get through).

A closer watch (apparently) shows that the three masked men are all wearing the exact same combat boots - and at least one officer is wearing the same boots as well. That seems a wee bit more then a coincidence.

Other then that… don’t really see any damning evidence (that old guy at the beginning has some balls though - to take on three fit young men (one of whom had a rock) - though old dude seems a bit wacko near the end, going on about “boulders”).

The Star has something really interesting though:

Video also shows the three eventually being led quietly away to police vans. By contrast, Coles said four legitimate protesters - whom police say were the only people arrested and charged at the summit - were “roughed up pretty good and dragged away.”

So, the three people who were sent off in handcuffs WERE NOT CHARGED AS PROTESTERS. THAT, I think, is damning.

This’ll be interesting, to see what comes of this.

SWAG = Stuff We All Get

Who knew that it was an anacronym? I thought it was just a funny-sounding word that somehow got attached to something… like schlong.

So, what does SCHLONG stand for? I’ll also accept entries for what a frustrated “BAH” stands for (how about Bastards Are Hellish)?

Pick your own word if you should like, and put up an anacronym for it (must be dirty or otherwise interesting).

Winner gets half the batch of the next bake goods that I make (might be muffins, might be cookies, might even be brownies).

If there’s no real competition, I’ll assume that my competition idea sucked and I’ll come up with a better one, for the same prize.

It’s gotta be that - they’re either dumb, or they’re evil. I’d bet that they’re all nice people, with good intentions though, so it must be stupidity. What else produces THIS:

Dear Legal Studies student,

As a Legal Studies major, you may be interested in the Financial Regulation specialization, detailed at http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/ARTS/legal_studies.html.

This specialization requires successful completion of 7 specific courses, including AFM 332: Accounting, Assurance and the Law. The course is only offered every 2-3 years, and is currently scheduled for the Fall 2007 term. However, due to low enrollment at this time, there is a risk of the course being cancelled.

Pre-requisites for AFM 332 are:
-AFM 101/102 or AFM 131/123
and
-AFM 231 or MTHEL 100

If you are intend to complete the Financial Regulation specialization, I strongly encourage you to enroll in AFM 332 immediately. If you require further information or assistance, please contact me or Professor ProfGurl13.

All the best.

A Woman

A required course is only taught once every 2-3 YEARS? Wow dude, that just blows. I’m not in the Financial Regulation option, but on none of the sheets I’ve gotten for LS have they ever put in brackets, “LS 101 (Offered every fall term); MTHEL 100 (Offered every three terms except in leap years)” - you’re just supposed to make your schedule, fitting things in whenever you can.

Therefore, there’s very likely no warning before this for the Financial Regulation students. And in this case especially, warning=good because THERE ARE PREREQUISITES. Even if every Financial Regulation student said, “Shit, I wanted to graduate this year!”, if they’re taking one of the prerequisite courses in the fall term, they’re doomed.

And there’s a good chance it will be CANCELED this year? Of course, the best part is that they just realized it now. I filled out my course selection a few weeks ago - why, right after the second-year enrollment appointments closed, didn’t they realize this mess? Also, I see things perhaps differently then the school does. I figure, if someone’s paying you thousands of dollars for their education, you have a RESPONSIBILITY to offer them required courses.

It’s just not optional, and not based on numbers - you say, “you need this course to graduate” - you make sure that they’re given the opportunity in a timely fashion or are able to schedule things in such a way that they’re able to take the course.

Little birdie says that they’re rebuilding my program from the ground up next year… with crap like this happening it’s no surprise.

The frolicking, the projects taken up with reckless abandon…

Aaahh… reminds me of my younger years…

Sweet, juicy justice:

Bottom line: NBC Dateline wanted to do a shock-piece about hackers having a convention. They placed an under-cover reporter there to pose as an attendee with a hidden camera, so that she could get someone on tape confessing to committing a felony.

I thought that it was absolutely awesome, the way that Defcon handled it. The Defcon organizers heard about her presence, and on four seperate occasions they offered her a press pass - they don’t mind the press being there, but you have to KNOW who they ARE - and she declined.

Finally, as a last-ditch effort, they brought a bunch of people into a room and played, “Spot the press” - she fled before they even got her picture up on the projector. Then, about 150 attendees followed her out to her car.

According to reports, she’s still welcome back - but this time, she has to come with a press badge.

I thought it was really telling, as she walked away pursued by people with cameras, that she didn’t say a single thing as they tried to rile her up. It’s the same crap they (reporters) try (someone actually made reference to, “To Catch a Predator”, the show where they blindside predators with TV cameras - a show that has also resulted in several suicides). She did the smart thing; say nothing. I think you could tell that she was flustered though, she tried to exit the parking lot the wrong way.

Interestingly, from the “tech media”, the response seems to be universally supportive of Defcon and the way they handled it, and heaps condemnation on Michelle Madigan (the Dateline Associate Producer who tried to infiltrate the show)

I never believed before that, by being at the scene and reporting the truth, justice could possibly be served. This is a pretty cool moment for citizen journalism; as we probably wouldn’t have heard much of this event were it not for the videos captured by ametures (this won’t exactly lead the 6:00 news, I don’t think).

Here’s what some reporters have to say on the event:

First report I saw on the event In-depth report (which is pretty good - he was actually there) A less-good report, but with more info on how they lured her into the room where they outed her

Favourite Quote: “I dont know why you”re so unhappy - you chose a life in front of the camera”

Edit: Check out 1:30 - she says, “Guys, I’m just…” then catches herself. Were this NBC, this is where I’d be saying, “Unable to come up with a defense of her actions, she chooses to walk away in shame”

I want to have a post where I can say, “Facebook’s getting a little better”, but they just won’t let me!!

Now they’re removing core functionality so that developers can take a crack at it:

4:48pm Wednesday, Jul 25
Developers - Now is the time to build education applications on Facebook Platform! Facebook will be phasing out its Courses feature in early August, and we wanted to make sure you were the first to know.

Collaboration services and applications are a big part of the world of Education. Especially on college campuses, where we first found our roots. Many of you have probably used some kind of collaboration software as a part of your courses. Our courses application was a great way to connect with new friends, and find your classmates. But, we think Facebook Developers can create even more robust ways to create, connect, and collaborate around teaching and learning in the classroom.

This is a great business opportunity, with vast distribution potential, and a great way to fundamentally affect an important part of the lives of students worldwide.

Courses, of course, is that area of the Facebook site where you list what courses you’re in - that way, with one click, you can see everyone who’s in your class and on Facebook who did the same. It’s a nice, easy way to put a name with the face of the person who sits next to you.

“Great business opportunity” indeed… the only reason the old system worked was that most everyone used it - splintering people into a half dozen different applications would make them all useless.

At least keep the old system, and layer a “web2.0ey” application ON TOP - don’t take away the simple features for those who like them. I admit myself that having a cool note-sharing application for classes would be awesome; I’ve long thought about starting up a blog where all I’d be posting up are my notes - letting people comment to give me feedback on ‘em (or setting up a wiki).

Having it in facebook would ensure a usefully large userbase for a “wikinotes” application - but you’d be gaining maybe 5-10 people in your class who want to noteshare, and loosing the ability to see nearly everyone in the class.

I see it as a net loss - if I can see everyone in my class, I can at least choose them to share notes with. If I’m using a noteshare application, I’ll only be able to see a few people (who may or may not have the IQ of a day-old piece of toast).