False Positives

Last weekend we visited Toronto’s Harbord Street dessert trends restaurant at 169 Brunswick Ave (google map link) (north east side, between Spadina and Bathurst; south of the Annex, west of the UoT, north of College street), which opened Sept 1st 2005 and is already seeing lots of traffic.

It’s a small space : light, sleek, chic and unfussy. The desserts match the decor, in addition to being delicious with a great presentation. On the first visit we tried the Lime Cheesecake and Taramissu: mouthwatering. (I’ll add more as we eat our way through the menu). The sandwiches look very promising, and I know the (made in-house) bread is great. We will be trying the jam this weekend.

Owner/Chef Donald A. Doung also has a thriving Wholesale and Wedding / Special Occasions Desserts and Cakes business, working out of west end Toronto. I understand his pastries are available at Pusateri’s Fine Foods, Holt Renfrew , and -in the Bloor West Village - Max’s Market, and Cheese Boutique. See the website for details.

We were very happy to re-discover Donald because ET had taken a cooking course under him, and that lead to him doing the chocolate truffles for our Wedding!

Oct 1st Update : The Blueberry jam is amazing, packed with b-berry goodness. We have been back and can report the Sandwiches, soups, and breads are very yummy. Also, Alchemy Baking, artisan bread maker now in Kensington Market, also carries his Desserts. Start asking your local dessert counter if they have “dessert trends” desserts!

2006 update : second Dessert Trends Patisserie-Bistro opening in downtown Toronto in Fall 2006

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As reported by the Globe and Mail, a poll commissioned by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, tries to link free downloading - which is not illegal in Canada - as a gateway crime leading to bigger illegal things.

“Not only does music file-swapping harm artists, but it also points to an erosion of respect for intellectual property that threatens Canada’s economy and values at the core of our society,” said Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, which commissioned the polls.

“The ‘if it’s there, it’s free’ thinking extends far beyond entertainment products and software to ideas themselves,” Mr. Henderson added, noting a rise in plagiarism in schools and universities.

another poll by Environics suggests that “Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29 are much more willing than other age groups to make illegal copies of software programs, cheat on exams or even shoplift”.

Next out : poll suggest evil “downloads” less likely to floss, and eat vegetables.

“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”

More in the LinkRoll under Copy Right, Now on Boing Boing (I gave Cory a bad url, ack!) and SlashDot with the comment Correlation does not imply causation, and Michael Geist also weighs in on The Onion, CRIA Edition, also the G&M’s Jack Kapica comments on the reaction to original report CRIA’s file-sharing claim ‘wrong headed,’ group says and asks - in his no perm link / no comments blog like thing - for sept 29th Cheating and downloading music How can the CRIA expect us to believe Environics’ research when it’s conducted by effectively the same company as the one that handles the CRIA’s publicity?

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Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper has a special “Report on Hong Kong” and its booming economy, but no mention of democracy.

It’s hidden away on their website - no way to do a “special “Report” with their expense CMS? - under it’s International Asia / Pacific section with these articles :

• 24/7 BOOMTOWN : Reports of the territory’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The prices at Hong Kong’s newest luxury hotel are almost as breathtaking as the harbour views from its windows….
• Territory’s fortunes rise on China’s economic flood: Investors are playing the mainland’s growth story through the city’s markets. Mi Laoshu and Dang Laoya have come to Hong Kong. For the uninitiated, that is Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The opening this month of Hong Kong Disneyland is yet another sign of changed times…
• Canadians by choice, Hong Kongers by nature: A growing tide of Canadian passport-holders are returning to the city, lured back by the booming economy and growing business opportunities,…
• ‘Hong Kong never sleeps — it moves all the time. It’s a deal-making city’ : Montreal-born Allan Zeman is the man behind the enormously popular Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district. He talks to GEOFFREY YORK about making it happen…
• What China lacks just makes its capitalist enclave stronger : Communism is the best thing that ever happened to Hong Kong. Communism at arm’s length, that is…

There are also 3 pieces not online (Update: buried Links below) about 1) Hong Kong’s new Disney Theme park; 2) the recovery of property market (an important source for government revenue); and 3) Hong Kong thinks big and works fast in creating some of the most spectacular infrastructure in Asia (something they do very very well ) like the facelift of the Peak Tower, the worlds longs road and rail bridge Tsing Ma and much more.

and certainly ET’s Family and Friends are moving there, doing well and finding opportunities that didn’t exist a couple of years ago.

However, the “Report on Hong Kong” didn’t mention the political dimension, which is a mixed bag at best.

on the plus side news the Hong Kong’s HK Democracy Bloc Visits Mainland : The pro-democracy bloc of Hong Kong’s elected lawmakers has been allowed back onto the Chinese mainland for the first time since the 1989 massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. , during which (See Glutter) elected legislator, resident trouble maker, Leung Kwok Hung, as usual causes a bit of ruckus and pushes the boundaries . Now if only Chief Executive Donald Tsang, aka “The Duck“, could show some back bone.

News out of China continues to be negative (bad to worst) with :

• new rules against Internet “Subversion” in China which ban the spreading of any news with content that is against national security and public interest. Established news media needed permission to run a news Web site, while new operators had to register themselves with government information offices. (slashdot). Also Peking Duck on China’s bold vision of a bland, kowtowing, harmonious Internet
• The uprising in the village of Taishi, a small village of Taishi (population about 2,000), in Panyu districty, Guangzhou, after local village “elections”. Simon World has the details, of which I only heard about.
• The G&M also inculded a commentary “The truth about truth in China” by Frank Ching about the fact, then –and even now — anything that has not appeared in the official press can be considered a state secret, no matter how innocuous.. Joy. 1984 is alive and well. If you can’t see it otherwise read it as a PDF. And Danwei has more on Chinese state secrets.
• and today news also includes : Chinese audit uncovers mass corruption :China’s annual audit of government departments uncovers litany of abuses.

Unfortunately many in Hong Kong may not care about politics if the economy is doing well. It will be easier to stand up to the CPP when times are good. And a modern economy needs the free flow of information, and open and transparent governance. (So, yes democracy is a economic issue) Lets hope they continue to shout out, push for, and demand real and full Democracy for Hong Kong. For their sake, for China’s sake and for our sake.

For More see linkroll Hong Kong

Update Sept 30th: Ok, I missed one story from the Globe &Mail Macau: Vegas of the East gives HK a run for its money, and found - buried - links to the other 3 stories : Prices are on the way back to sky-high :With China surging, Hong Kong housing is going merrily along in the slipstream; Making mega marvels; and The mainland’s newest theme park? Hong Kong : Tourism is booming again, thanks in large part to the burgeoning middle class of the People’s Republic of China.

Also Simon kindly linked back to me in Hong Kong boom town with some add info and Andrea makes an interesting comment pointing out that Sir Donald and Guangdon’s governor are heading to a number of North American cities for a “invest in HK & Guangdong” roadshow and which lead me to find that they are going to be in San Francisco on 14th October 2005, and Vancouver on October 24th, 2005. So is the whole “Report” is really a softing up “special advertising insert”, pay for by whom?

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remember that del.icio.us FalsePositives Wish list and the Amazon Wish List are there to guide you in showing your thanks. just saying….

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I know, I know it’s too soon to think about snow and winter! But its now Sept 21st, the start of Fall, so Get over it.

And in another sure sign of the change of the Seasons, Toronto’s High Park Ski Club ( a not-for-profit club run exclusively by member volunteers, since 1950, for people in the GTA) is geared up for another season of Downhill skiing, Cross Country skiing, and Snow Boarding (and other fun too).

The volunteer organizers have been busy this summer planing and booking. The web site is updated with Long Trips, events on the Social Calender, and plans for our days trips (Weekends and Wednesdays).

Sign up and New Member Info Nights are Thursday evenings on October 6, 20, 27, November 17 and January 12 and prospective members can get all their questions answered at Lithuanian Hall, 1573 Bloor St. W. at 7:30 pm (just west of Bloor and Dundas West; closest subway station is Dundas Street West on the Bloor line). Just down the street from the HPSC office / club house ((416) 537-7669 1669 Bloor Street West).

If you what to learn as a beginner, get back to skiing, improve your skill, or just have fun (and meet people) (see 10 Reasons to Join) come on out and join us.

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Update : Late Winter 2006 is up

Omni TV 2 (channel 14 on Roger’s here in torontoland) has posted their listings (now at now at http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/supercinema/, see below) of “Super Cinema Night” for Sept Oct, Nov and early Dec are now up.

Jan 5th 2006

Update: Omni TV 2, in thier “wisdom” changed the url for listing, but kept the old page up!
It’s now at http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/supercinema/. Stupid Rabbit!. Sorry for not catching this sooner.

I’ve previously blogged their schedule for Spring 2005, Winter 2005, and Fall 2004. This summer they were runing either really bad movies or reshowing from the past 12 months. the next couple of months looks more promising.

If you are looking for more good Kong Kong Movies look over the winners and nominees for The 24th Hong Kong Film Award or Hong Kong’s The 10th Golden Bauhinina Awards, also the links under Movies

All Movies run on Saturday’s at 9:00 PM and go for 2 hours till 11:00 PM.

September 10 Himalaya Singh 2005 Comedy

Way over the top, Silly Hong Kong meets BollyWood done Kung Fu Hustle style with out any of the pluses that might come from that, althought there where a few funny bits and the girls (Cecilia and Cherrie ) are very cute.  Ronald Cheng, Sean Lau Ching-Wan, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Gauri Karnik, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Cherrie In

September 17 Addicted 2002 Drama

South Korean Film also know as Jungdok. Man who may be possessed by his brother? sounds creepy.  Lee Byeong-Heon, Lee Mi-Yeon, Lee Eol

September 24 Beyond Our Ken 2004 Drama

Looks interesting, and well done. Winner of Best Screenplayer in Hong Kong’s The 10th Golden Bauhinina Awards. The Chinese title translates as “Revenge of a Princess”.   Daniel Wu, Gillian Chung, Tao Hong, James Wong

October 1 Korean film “Sword in the Moon” also know as “Cheongpung myeongwol” 2003 Action

Two close friends,17th century Korean swordsmen, face each other.  Very good sword fighting clamied.   Choi Min-Su, Jo Jae-Hyeon, Kim Bo-Gyeong

October 8  My Sweetie 2004 Comedy

A light weight romantic comedy.   Sammy Leung, Stephy Tang Lai-Yun, Ella Koon, Kristal Tin, Yan Ng.

Very Very Light weight.

October 15 Korean film Pisces or Mulgogijari 2000 Drama

Looks interesing, and could be very good ( based on the IMDBreview).   Lee Mi-Yeon (Lee Mi-Yeon), Choi Woo-Jae (Choi Wu-Je), Yoon Ji-Hye (Yun Ji-Hye).

Ack. I’m not a fan a Korean domed romance films.

October 22   “Crazy N’ The City” 2004 Drama

Cop Soap Opera, with a little comedy with its drama. looks promising.   Eason Chan Yik-Shun, Joey Yung Tso-Yi, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Yan Ng Yat-Yin, Chloe Chiu Shuet-Fei, Meng Zhang, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Lam Suet

October 29 The Ring Virus 1999  Horror

This is not ‘Ringu’, but the Korean adaption of the movie based on Suzuki Koji’s bestselling novel.  Eck! run away run away.   Shin Eun-Kyung, Jeong Jin-Young, Bae Doo-Na, Kim Chang-Wan

November 5 Hidden Heroes 2004 Comedy

Another screwball Comedy but this one with “robots from the future”. Oh Dear.   Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin

November 12 The Legend of Gingko  2000 Action

A Korean channeling of Conan the Barbarian, only without the good parts.  But does the hero get to become Governor? Kim Seok-Hoon, Kim Yun-Jin, Seol Gyoung-Gu, Choi Jin-Sil, Lee Mi-Sook

November 19 One stone Two Birds  2005 Comedy

A slapstick comedy that parodies recent HK sword flims such as House of Flying Daggers, Hero. (which may be a good thing or not)    Jackie Wu, Ruby Lin (Lam Sum-Yu), Eric Tsang Chi-Wai

November 26 Hwaiteu ballenta-in aka White Valentine 1999 Korean Drama

Sounds like a romantic drama, very worth watching, especially because this is the debut film of Jun Ji-hyun, who has since gone on to star in the 2001 big hit My Sassy Girl (aka “Yeopgijeogin geunyeo” which if/when my sister-in-law returns the dvd I can watch!, a very good - if a little slow moving - romance film with a clever and sweet ending. I had the directors cut, but I don’t if that changed the ending or inserted more material. Anyone are to comment? ), which became as massive Asian hit, and eventually became one of the most popular South Korean films among Asian-Americans in the United States.  Hey, she has a Wikipedia entry so she must be Big!  Park Sin-Yang, Jeon Ji-Hyeon, Jeon Mu-Song, Kim Se-Jun, Kim Young-Ok.

December 3 : Rules of the Game (1999) Action

Darker than average triad flick that frustrates. Might be interesting to see if the tanned Louis Koo can be believeablie in a non comedy role. Louis Koo Tin-Lok,  Kristy Yeung Kung-Yu,  Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Sam Lee Chan-Sam

December 10 Turning Gate or “On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate” or “Saenghwalui balgyeon“ (2002) - Drama

Looks like it could be very very good.   Kim Sang-Kyung, Yeh Ji-Won, Chu Sang-Mi

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Boycott : A boycott is a refusal to buy, sell, or otherwise trade with an individual or business who is generally believed by the participants in the boycott to be doing something morally wrong. It may sometimes be labelled as an “embargo” by its proponents.

Ok, I knew this word, but watching Jeopardy I learned something new: the origin of the word (confirmed via Wikipedia) :

Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1823-1897) was born in Norfolk, England, in 1823. He came to Ireland to work as a land agent for Lord Erne, the local landowner in the Lough Mask area of County Mayo in the western part of Ireland.

In 1880, as part of its campaign for the 3Fs (fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale) to protect tenants from exploitation, the Irish Land League under Michael Davitt withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne’s estate. When Boycott tried to undermine the campaign the League launched a campaign of isolation against him in the local community. Neighbours would not talk to him. Shops would not serve him. People in church would not talk to him or sit near him. His physical safety was also threatened.

Boycott left Ireland soon after. His name however became immortalised by the creation of the verb to boycott, meaning ‘to ostracise’.

Oh the power of words, good TV, and the wikipedia.

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Boing Boing reported that TiVo won’t save certain shows or allow moving them, and the refuted claim by Tivo that “noise” could cause a TiVo to block recording. (trust me instances of standard TV shows being affected by new copy protection restrictions likely are “false positives.”, now stay still!) Also : TiVo DRM scare, and kottke:TiVo hates its customers

Cory pointed out that since 1984’s Betamax decision, Americans have had the right to record TV shows even if the rightsholder doesn’t like the idea, which makes what Tivo is doing very troubling. (New slogan : “Digital Rights Managment is Property Theft!” ). and he has talked about how you can Build your own PVR and get a TV that you really 0wn! (also: Low-Budget TiVo Substitute) - which is a great business opportunity.

But I have another question: Could Tivo be doing copy protecting by default?

What I’m thinking is that the failure of a checksum (caused by the analog noise) meant the device assumed something was wrong (”Help, Help, I’m being attacked!”) and therefore did not store/record it “just in case”.

A new kind of “Don’t Trust, Don’t Store” variation on Trusted Computing (Trusted Transmission)?

The PVR Blog has more on More on TiVo’s Red Flagged Recordings, and there’s the Links DRM

Sept 17th Update

Looks like TiVo’s “accidental” no-save locks applied to more programming. Cory comments :Perhaps there’s more of that pesky “noise” creeping into the TiVo signals

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Bryan Mason will set out on Saturday September 17th 2005 to run Ontario’s Bruce Trail end to end in 14 day’s from Queenston Heights to Tobermory on Georgian Bay Lake Huron, spanning the entire Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

Let’s see .. that’s 800 kilometres over 14 days means running an average of ~57 km per day for 2 weeks. A marathon is 26 miles or ~42 kilometres. Oh My.

You can follow his daily progress via the Conquer the Bruce website, and support him in his run.

Bryan is an experienced marathon and ultra-runner, with an excellent running support and crew team and a detailed logistics plan, but at the end of the day, it’s one guy versus 800 km of forested trail. Watch out for those roots! (Did I mention that he’s 60? A very youthful 60. Time for my nap…)

Why is he doing this? Apart from adding some extra twinkle in his eyes (like he needs it!), Bryan hopes to raise awareness and generate donations to help the Bruce Trail Association (BTA) to realize its primary goal - to secure and preserve this major corridor through the acquisition of properties along its route. (Any truth to the rumour that your wife is redecorating, Bryan?)

Full disclosure: I once ran after a bus, unsuccessfully.

Minor Update Sept 15:

The Schedule page is now up and running on Conquer the Bruce giving the Day by Day AM and PM leg distances and places. So now you know where to be to give him road side support, in addition to donations to help the BTA.

Also, we have a credible denial on the redecorating rumour, so the Debbie Travis sightings were in error.

Update Sept 20th:

And he’s away.. Bryan is making his distances (56 & 65 kays!). Checkout the “Updates” section for progress reports. Go Bryan…

Update Sept 23: A Setback

Bryan was worried about shin splints, but turns out to have a bad foot and leg infection, contracted on the trail, and requires serious antibiotic treatments. He’s retired from the field after ~240 kilometres and 5 days.

I know this will be a disappointment to Bryan, but it’s still a remarkable accomplishment! For now : Rest , Get healthy, and listen to Susan! ( Next time you run, can we stick a web cam to you?)

Update Oct 3rd : It can be done

Todays Globe & Mail is reporting on the Trail-blazing runner goes end-to-end on the Bruce run of 38 year old Clayton Smith, who completed his 850-km 15 day run on Sept 24th. Mr Smith also describes just how hard the run was : “I started getting shin splints on day six, which I’ve never had before,” Mr. Smith said. “Days nine through 13, it was a struggle just to get out of bed. I was running with extreme pain.”.

Bryan is the 61 year old runner mentioned ( near the end ) going in the opposite direction - Bryan mentions him in his day 4 update.

Update :sadly the ” Conquer the Bruce” is no longer up. Bryan Mason continues to run strong.

Here is a new site Running The Bruce Trail by Tim, with the my goal is to run the entire Bruce Trail in 2008.

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I’m working my way thur “Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby”, chapter 4 “Floating Little Leaves of Code” and ran it a problem doing the “Making the Swap” sub-section example (part of 3. Chaining Delusions Together” - (on a Win XP box, with Ruby version 1.8.2 ) - with repect to where the Hash of code words is used in anther program using the require function/method (message).

Although the wordlist.rb loaded (confirmed with more testing), when I went to use the variable defined in it (”code_words”) , I was getting “undefined local variable or method `code_words’ for main:Object (NameError)”. WTF?!!

To simplify, the wordlist.rb was :

code_words = {
'starmonkeys' => 'Phil and Pete, those prickly chancellors of the New Reich',
'catapult' => 'chucky go-go', 'firebomb' => 'Heat-Assisted Living',
'Nigeria' => "Ny and Jerry's Dry Cleaning (with Donuts)",
'Put the kabosh on' => 'Put the cable box on'
}


and, to make it an even simpler example, the calling file (SimReq.rb) could have been:

# SimReq.rb to test require loading
require 'wordlist'
code_words.each {|key, value| print "Key:", key, " for Value:", value,
"\n" }

After a bit of head scratching and hair pulling, I got around the problem by making code_words global with “$” on “code_words” in both files. (i.e. “$code_words“). Which work but was un satisfing. global variable are evil, and messy for any non trivial example.

So was it a scoping problem? Was there a better, or best practice, to do something like this trivial example or is this Chunky Bacon payback for actually doing the example or someother PEBKAC issue?

The anwser was YES.

Posting on the comp.lang.ruby groups (once again exploding my ignorance so you don’t have to) resolved my problem and increased my understanding (oh happy day), to wit :

a) I should be using the fixed version of the Poignant Guide @ http://qa.poignantguide.net/, not the usual url location. (and why isn’t the version @ http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ upto date or redirecting? Health concerns about the colour blue, apparently. So it was only recently caught and is in the process). The fixed version used suggetion b), as well as the load method, rather than require. Is there a differance?

b) Using a Constant is a better practices and in this case the simplest thing that works. So code_words becomes Code_words in both files. (convention is the constants should be all upcase, so it should be CODE_WORDS rather.

c) Making a Class is a best practice especiallyif your doing something more than trivial. to quote:

Local variables used in a file you ‘require’ do not appear in the requirer’s scope. Usually the best thing is to wrap what you need in a class or module:

class CodeWords
def initialize
{ 'a' => 'b',
'c' => 'd' }
end
end

then in the requiring file:

require 'codewords'
code_words = CodeWords.new

Also, in the Ruby’s Docs for the load method it notes :

In no circumstance will any local variables in the loaded file be propagated to the loading environment.

.

I just wish it said that under require, or “see load method, wrap=true”. …sigh…Many thanks to David and Dominik, and of cource, why ..and now back to the brain busting.

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