David Akin’s On The Hill

The day after announcing that fired CEO Frank Dunn had resigned his seat on the board of directors, Nortel announced a new director: Former deputy prime minister and former Ottawa-area MP John Manley. Manley ran unsuccessfully to succeed Jean Chretien and recently turned down offers to become Canada's ambassador to the U.S. Known by political satirists as “Beeker”, Manley is about a straight a shooter as you get in a politician. I'd say that's a nice pick-up for Nortel.

Ordered some Dahlia's from Vesey's. Grabbed the Bishop Canterbury Dahlia and the Blue Streak Dahlia. Bishop to the left and Blue Streak below. Also bought some Lilac Time Phlox for the birchtree garden. I'm starting to wonder if stuff will ever grow there! if the Lilac Time phlox grows, that will be some beauty stuff over there. (Pictured at the bottom) Also today: We put 30 25-L bags of topsoil on the front lawn and then overseeded it with Sun and Shade lawn mix. Also planted some Wave petunias in the front garden. Also of some note: The Zinnia seeds planted last week already have shoots. I think the Asters are coming up, too. Popped in some Bells of Ireland seeds in the front and curbside gardens.

Canadians go to the polls on June 28. Paul Martin wants to win his first election as prime minister. Canada's chief elections officer has some key dates.

Back in November, Toronto police made history when they charged an alleged child pornographer with “theft of telecommunications”, believed to be the first time such a charge was laid in Canada. Now, it seems, that Peel Regional Police (Peel is a municipal region to the northwest of Toronto) have caught on, too. The following was forwarded to me on May 21 me by a reader of the Hamilton Spectator (an old employer of mine, incidentally). I reproduce chunks of it below as the Spectator's Web site is set up mostly for subscribers. Thanks, JPiercy, for the pointer.

Psychiatrist faces Internet theft charges A Burlington psychiatrist accun Msed of possessing child pornography and banned from the Web has been charged with stealing a neighbour's Internet. Dr. Allan Beitel, 57, was charged Wednesday with two counts of theft of telecommunications, two counts of breaching his bail conditions, and unauthorized use of a computer. Police accuse Beitel of accessing his neighbour's wireless Internet connection to conceal his Internet activity. He remains in custody awaiting a bail hearing. Beitel faces charges of possessing child porn and stolen property from 2003 for allegedly stealing a laptop computer. He was charged in January with possession of stolen property, fraud, personation and breach of recognizance. Beitel was barred from using the Internet as part of his bail conditions. Peel police Detective Kelly Kippen said yesterday that investigators discovered Beitel was hacking into his neighbour's wireless Internet service with a laptop. The computer has been seized. —[snipped]— Beitel remains in custody awaiting a bail hearing tomorrow at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton.

UPDATE: On May 16, 2009, I received the following e-mail message. As the sender did not provide a telephone number and the e-mail originated from a free Web-based e-mail service, I have not been able to satisfy myself that this is authentic or that the information passed on to me is, in fact, true. That's not to say it is not authentic or correct. Because of the issue involved, however, I present it now and hope to be able to check into it later in the week.

Mr. Akin

Your website shows a May 23, 2004 article about me which appears when my name is “googled”.

All of the charges referred to in your article were stayed by the Crown on February 3, 2009 after 6 years of fighting the charges.

I would appreciate it if this article were removed from your site as it causes unwarranted ongoing prejudice.

Sincerely

Allan Beitel MD

Front Garden: Planted the Wave Petunias. Creeping phlox appears to be fading. Dogwood looks great. Lots of white flowers. The rhododendrons are flowing. The Catawba is a little behind the Williams. The day lilies are showing lots of activity. Throwing up lots of flower stalks with multiple flower buds. Planted the Wave Petunias today purchased yesterday at Terra.
Also ordered the following from Veseys:
hank you for placing an order online at Veseys.
Seed Products, Books & Accessories: Generally we ship these items out as soon as possible UNLESS XPRESS POST OR COURIER IS REQUESTED, in which case we will make every attempt to ship within 24 hours. However, for orders placed during our testing/packaging season (November to January), we normally do not ship until late January. If you require your seeds, books and accessories before this date, please email us at tracyc@veseys.com.
Cutting Plants: Cutting Plants are shipped at the end of April.  Please refer to our catalog for the cutoff date for orders or contact us for further information.
Perishable Goods: We do our best to ensure that you receive your product at the proper time for planting.  Perishable Goods requiring spring planting including Spring Bulbs, Spring Perennials, Roses, Shrubs, Potatoes, Onions Sets, Garlic Sets, and Berries will begin shipping in late March/early April, commencing with customers located in the higher hardiness zones.  Fall Bulbs, Fall Perennials and Fall Garlic will begin shipping in late September commencing with customers located in the lower hardiness zones. For those ordering after these shipping dates, you can expect delivery approximately two to three weeks after you have placed your order (most locations), unless we consider it still too early for your region.
Please allow a reasonable time for orders to reach you. If you require further assistance, please phone 1-800-363-7333, fax 1-800-686-0329 or email us at customerservice@veseys.com.
CONTACT INFO:
David Akin
905.847.7486
david@davidakin.com
CREDIT CARD INFO:
Mastercard
****************
04/2005
BILL TO:
2125 Glenfield Road
Oakville, Ontario
Canada, L6M3S4
SHIP TO: Billing Address
ORDER SUMMARY:
SPRING BULBS
SHIPPING Charge: $4.95
Lilac Time Phlox
   Item #: 33205, Qty: 2
   Price: $3.48, Extension: $6.96
Bishop of Canterbury Dahlia
   Item #: 33529, Qty: 3
   Price: 1 package of 3  for $9.48, , Extension: $9.48
Blue Streak Dahlia
   Item #: 33534, Qty: 3
   Price: 1 package of 3  for $7.98, , Extension: $7.98
SUBTOTAL: $29.37
7% GST: $2.06
TOTAL: $31.43
* NOTE: Why is my order divided into several groupings?
You may notice that your order is divided into several groupings.  This allows us to ship your order from our different warehouse locations, or to hold back those items which are perishable and need to be shipped at a time more appropriate for planting in your hardiness zone.
Please note that the packing slip received with each parcel will detail only one grouping.  
A separate charge will appear on your credit card statement for each grouping.  Therefore, we recommend that you save this email as a reference until your entire order has been received.

The gladiolus are coming up. A couple have poked their snouts above the ground.
The Williams rhodo has popped a few flowers. The the Catawba rhodo looks a little behind.
The hyperion daylilies have formed flowerheads. Some of them have anyhow.
The phlox is in full form as are the double beauty of Appledoorn.
The dogwoods front and back are forming their flowers.
Aster seeds were planted curbside.

After studying the issue for two years, the Canadian government felt it had enough information to do something about spam. Unfortunately, what it decided to do is strike a task force to study the issue for another year or so.
That pretty much sums up what we reported a couple of nights ago on CTV National News.
Seriously, though — some things to remember as you consider the news in the press release.
First, a federal election is just about to be called, likely on June 28. Traditionally, task forces and other committees struck just before elections are lame duck initiatives as the incoming post-election government will frequently shut down the committee or change its mandate altogether.
Second: As many experts noted, including my friend Michael Geist (appointed, I might add, to that very same anti-spam task force), Canada already has some reasonably effective anti-spam tools at its disposal. Canada can use its anti-fraud laws, its competition laws, and its unique-in-the-world federal privacy laws to combat spammers. What's needed, as Geist et al said, is more resources for enforcement. We've got the laws we need already and we ought to use them.
Still, even if Canada was completely effective and shut down all the spammers operating in the country, we would only be getting rid of about 6.8 per cent of the world's spam, says Sophos Inc. Most of the world's spam — 57 per cent — originates in the U.S., Sophos says, and that's tops in the world. (At 6.8 per cent, Canada was second, followed by China at 6.2 per cent.)
One anti-spam measure I hope gets some serious consideration is e-postage. No, I'm not kidding. Read what a really smart guy like Tim Bray (and others) has to say about combatting spam using a modified form of e-postage. This proposal also gives the world's post offices something to do in the digital age.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) says that the new single from the Tragically Hip has been a magnet for music pirates.

CRIA says that, over a five-week stretch from March 30 to May 7, there were more than half-a-million unauthorized attempts to download the Hip's “Vaccination Scar.”

I haven't had a chance to follow up with CRIA to ask the obvious question: How do you know? How do you track something like that?

The song has been available at online music stores and CRIA says 1,000 copies of the title were purchased online.

“Any reasonable person will be staggered by the disparity in those numbers,â€�  said Hip bassist Gord Sinclair, in the CRIA press release .  â€œThe grim economic reality aside, it shows how widespread the practice of downloading has become. Don't get me wrong. Anything that gets people into music is okay with me, but at some point people have to recognize their role in the creative process. To me it's an ethical question. If you hear something you like, go out and support the artist. Tell your friends, see a show and buy their records. Your support helps the artist continue to create and it funds the discovery and development of new artists and new music. If you do your part, we'll all benefit.”

CRIA, in its press release on this issue, loaded up on outrage from some top Canadian acts. Here's Ed Robertson, singer/songwriter from The Barenaked Ladies: “I'm totally fine with people downloading music, as long as they steal everything that they want. If you want pants, go steal them. If you need gas in your car, you should steal it, because you can. As long as people are consistent I don't have a problem. As long as they see themselves as thieves in general then I don't mind if they steal everything that they like. But it irks me that it's only okay to steal music.â€�

Canadians, more so than our dear American friends, love to use Internet search engines and there's one engine we love more than all: Google.

New research out this morning from Comscore Media Metrix says 85 per cent of Canadians use a search engine at least once a month, compared to 73 per cent of American Web surfers who search once a month.

And while Americans tend to use a variety of search engines, Canadians are in love with Google.

Google handles 62 per cent of search queries originating in Canada. Google handles just 35 per cent of queries in the U.S., still good enough to be number one there just it is number one here in Canada.

Canadians search more often, too. Canucks perform an average of 40 searches a month, compared to the Yankee average of 35 searches a month.

Don't know if that changes your day but aren't you glad to know all this?