Keep reading the news!

[C27]

And shit has started going down something fierce in Egypt.

I've been watching it live on Al Jazeera. It's great to see people taking a stand for freedom and justice despite the odds. This could be the beginning of something really great - at the least, it serves as a warning to governments across the globe that tyranny is on the way out and today's generation demands a better life.

[Greyn]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/8736634/p-diddy-sued-for-1-trillion/

Valerie Joyce Wilson Turks has uncovered for us that the rapper P. Diddy is responsible for the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and even worse, stole a poker chip from her worth literally, "100 zillions of dollars".

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

I keep thinking of V for Vendetta. "The people shouldn't be afraid of their government. The government should be afraid of its people." Or Sam Vimes, reflecting on how when you get right down to it, the police are fucking outnumbered.

But if I had to come up with my own spin on things, I'd say that when enough people are sick and tired of their government's bullshit, you can pretty much stop calling it the government. "The old regime," maybe.

Also This page was pretty interesting and explanatory.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/8736634/p-diddy-sued-for-1-trillion/

Valerie Joyce Wilson Turks has uncovered for us that the rapper P. Diddy is responsible for the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and even worse, stole a poker chip from her worth literally, "100 zillions of dollars".

There is no facepalm hard enough. This is like Poe's Law-tier stupidity (any sufficiently spot-on parody is mutually indistinguishable from any sufficiently extreme/ridiculous-but-true ideology/religious-or-political-view/etc)

[Gpop]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/canada-gets-first-bitter-dose-of-metered-internet-billing.ars

Metered Internet usage (also called "Usage-Based Billing") is coming to Canada, and it's going to cost Internet users. While an advance guard of Canadians are expressing creative outrage at the prospect of having to pay inflated prices for Internet use charged by the gigabyte, the consequences probably haven't set in for most consumers. Now, however, independent Canadian ISPs are publishing their revised data plans, and they aren't pretty.

"Like our customers, and Canadian internet users everywhere, we are not happy with this new development," wrote the Ontario-based indie ISP TekSavvy in a recent e-mail message to its subscribers.

But like it or not, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved UBB for the incumbent carrier Bell Canada in September. Competitive ISPs, which connect to Canada's top telco for last-mile copper connections to customers, will also be metered by Bell. Even though the CRTC gave these ISPs a 15 percent discount this month (TekSavvy asked for 50 percent), it's still going to mean a real adjustment for consumers.

Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing," the message added.

By way of comparison, Comcast here in the United States has a 250GB data cap. Looks like lots of Canadians can kiss that kind of high ceiling goodbye. And going over will cost you: according to TekSavvy, the CRTC put data overage rates at CAN $1.90 per gigabyte for most of Canada, and $2.35 for the country's French-speaking region.

* Gpop sighs

Hey guys you got room for more Canadians to move down?

[Suikama]

...I hope this doesn't apply to Rogers too :ohdear:

[Gpop]

...I hope this doesn't apply to Rogers too :ohdear:

Not yet. You and I (Cogeco User here) are unaffected by this atm, since it's only Bell and Techsavvy members atm. But I won't be surprised if they take this into affect sooner or later.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

Well there goes Canada as a viable country to move to...

[Minch]

Well there goes Canada as a viable country to move to...

There's always Asian countries.

[TakuTaku]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12331024

Canadian police are investigating the reported killing of 100 huskies which had been used to pull tourist sleds in the ski resort of Whistler.

What the fuck, guys. I want to say more about this but I still need a bit of time to get past the rage I'm feeling.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

Wil Wheaton tweeted this image.

[Tengukami]

Wil Wheaton tweeted this image.

Well done.

[Naut]

... since it's only Bell and Techsavvy members atm.

Son of a bitch

[Suikama]

Son of a bitch

"Just another reason why switching to Bell just got better" :smug:

[Gpop]

Someone begged me to do this...

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

Someone begged me to do this...

pfftsnerk

(am I bad for reacting like that?)

[Silent Harmony]

Dow tops 12,000 for first time since June 2008.

[Conqueror]

Mubarak announces plans to step down after next election; protesters continue to protest; US withdraws equivocal support for Egypt and calls for change to begin sooner.

edit: Yemen's president also announces plans to step down.

[E-Nazrin]

Mubarak announces plans to step down after next election; protesters continue to protest; US withdraws equivocal support for Egypt and calls for change to begin sooner.

I have no reaction image able to adequately express the "yes" behind this

It's beautiful

[Gpop]

Holy fuck
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/931775--ottawa-to-review-gouging-internet-charges

OTTAWA?The Harper government strongly hinted Tuesday Ottawa will reverse a CRTC ruling significantly driving up the cost of using the Internet that has consumers and businesses fuming.

?I can certainly undertake to you that this is a top priority for me and my department,? Industry Minister Tony Clement told reporters about a review ordered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

?What we?re concerned with and what the Prime Minister is concerned with is the impact on consumers and that is why we?re going to be reviewing this thoroughly,? PMO director of communications Dimitri Soudas said in one news report.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision has sparked outrage across the country with Canadians rushing to sign petitions asking the Conservative government to reverse it.

?We?re very concerned about this ruling by the CRTC. We?re concerned about how it impacts on consumers, on small business operators, on entrepreneurs, on creators, all Canadians . . . I will be reviewing this decision very, very quickly and will be making recommendations very, very shortly,? Clement told reporters.

?We feel very strongly that we need more competition, we need more consumer choice, we need more choices for small business owners and operators and our entrepreneurs and our creators.?

At a time when businesses and consumers are increasingly relying in the Internet to download videos, documents and even software, Bell Canada, Shaw Communications Inc., and other major players have been given the go ahead to charge users extra when they exceed monthly limits.

Consumers? Association of Canada president Bruce Cran said it?s the same old story of ?gouging? by Canada?s communications companies that have a lock on the market.

?It?s another example of the consumers being gouged by the CRTC decisions in favour of the big providers of Internet servers,? Cran told the Toronto Star.

The CRTC decision also negatively affects the smaller Internet providers that lease space on networks and offer so-called unlimited plans without downloading caps.

Don Kelly, senior vice-president of legislative affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said the Internet is an indispensable tool for businesses across Canada and that the CFIB was sending a letter to the government asking that the CRTC decision be struck down.

?So we have a large number of businesses very worried about an element of their cost structure rising significantly and not having a clue what that might be,? Kelly said.

As for the small Internet providers, Kelly said, ?This would really cut into their ability to tailor packages suited to other clients, so we are very worried this will be really big step backwards in terms of a competitive Internet provision perspective in Canada.?

NDP critic MP Charlie Angus said the CRTC decision emphasizes that Canadian are held hostage by a handful of companies.

?We have a family compact (of) about three companies that now control your cellphones, they control your internet, they control your viewing because they now control the television networks and we are paying through the nose for it. We need competition and we need the CRTC to stand up for consumers,? he said.

Liberal MP Dan McTeague warned MPs that independent service providers ?will be forced out of the market if the CRTC?s decision on usage based billing is permitted.?

The CRTC could not be reached for comment.

The government is ACTUALLY doing something about it! \o/

GO CANADA

[Tengukami]

Mubarak announces plans to step down after next election; protesters continue to protest; US withdraws equivocal support for Egypt and calls for change to begin sooner.

edit: Yemen's president also announces plans to step down.

Yeah, "I promise not to run for office at the end of my term" is not going to satisfy people once you've shut off their internet, shot them with rubber bullets and gassed them. It's a step in the right direction, though.

In a way, I want the US to put more pressure on, but on the other hand, wouldn't it be great if these people created their own democracies, that it was an all-Arab thing? Wouldn't that give much more credibility to the movement, in the eyes of other Arabs? Wouldn't it also destroy pre-conceived notions many Westerners have about Muslims in the Middle East?

Either way, this is starting to look good.

[Edible]

The whole Muslim Brotherhood thing seems terribly overblown to me.  This isn't like Iran where the revolt is being led by a powerful leader in the religious community.

[Tengukami]

The whole Muslim Brotherhood thing seems terribly overblown to me.  This isn't like Iran where the revolt is being led by a powerful leader in the religious community.

Yes, exactly. And it surprises me how many people who ought to know better are wringing their hands about MB right now.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

I'm sorry, I just got distracted by how in the first article

"Mubarak said he wants to die in Egypt - careful what you wish for!" Guapo Plethora, a user on micro-blogging site Twitter, wrote.

Another, Iyad El-Baghdadi, tweeted "Live from Tahrir Square: Everyone considers Mubarak an ex-President and think his days are numbered."

they felt the need to give a brief summary of what Twitter was, but didn't explain "tweeting."

But yeah, this stuff is generally awesome.

[Edible]

@Amat: Check this out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-egypt-islam-poll-idUSTRE7116ND20110202

Good brain candy.

[Tengukami]

@Amat: Check this out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-egypt-islam-poll-idUSTRE7116ND20110202

Good brain candy.

This is what we're seeing a lot of from moderate Muslims in the Middle East. They believe their faith has an important and vital role to play in politics, but for the most part reject extremists and fundamentalism while valuing democracy very highly.

And this of course brings up democracy vs human rights. The majority of those polled believe men and women should be segregated at the workplace, that adulterers should be stoned and thieves have their hands cut off. This violates human rights, of course, but if the majority feel this is OK, then it's democracy.

Democracy's flawed, yes. But I still think it's a better alternative to say, totalitarianism. A pretty radical opinion to have, I know.

[Iced Fairy]

Democracy's flawed, yes. But I still think it's a better alternative to say, totalitarianism. A pretty radical opinion to have, I know.

"Democracy is the worst system of government, excepting all the others."

And honestly we won't do ourselves any favors worrying over who ends up being in charge democratically.  It'll only cause what little influence we have in the area to slip, and it's not like there aren't democracies nominally allied with us doing worse.

[Tengukami]

"Democracy is the worst system of government, excepting all the others."

And honestly we won't do ourselves any favors worrying over who ends up being in charge democratically.  It'll only cause what little influence we have in the area to slip, and it's not like there aren't democracies nominally allied with us doing worse.

That's really true. I don't want to see the US get involved with Egypt and Yemen in any military sense, in support of the people. My instinct is to want to see democracy born in these countries "organically", without outside intervention. Of course, America probably wouldn't have been able to become an independent democracy itself had it not been for foreign military intervention, but that was help that was asked for.

Also, I think given how hugely unpopular our military forays into the region have been, the best America can do is give vocal support, possibly a trade embargo (although that's always risky). If there are regime changes in Yemen and Egypt, the US will probably come away from that with two new allies in the region, when all is said and done. No, I don't think fundamentalists will take over either state (some good background on Yemen here).

It's an exciting time. I really think this is America's chance to start to win back the trust of the Middle East. But more importantly, Egypt and Yemen are taking control of their destinies.

[Naut]

Canadians rejoice, our government owns:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/crtc-will-rescind-unlimited-use-internet-decision-or-ottawa-will-overturn-it/article1892522/

[Stuffman]

Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait. Just hold on a sec and let me get this straight.

A government did something...good?

This is just way too much for me to take in all at once :ohdear:

[E-Nazrin]

Hey Gpop, you got room for more Americans to move up?