I used to get a lot of wrong numbers calls from the same few people. I got tired of answering it and telling them over and over that they had the wrong number, so I created a phone book entry called Dumb Ass. Now when they call, I see "Dumb Ass Calling" and just ignore it. One guy kept leaving messages telling me when he gets off work and what time to pick him up. I guess after not getting picked up a few times, he finally got the right number. Another one was some kid. The last time he called, he left a message saying "don't forget to ask your mom if I can stay over tonight."

Below is a copy of the email I sent to Vic Toews, the sponsor of this terrible legislation. I again suggest that all thoughtful Canadians contact their Member of Parliament to voice their concerns.

MP's email addresses and other contact information can be found here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

Dear Mr. Toews;

Thanks for taking the time to send an automated response to the automated email I had previously sent to you. In contrast to our previous correspondenced, this email represents my considered position and thoughts as a citizen of Canada, and not those of a robo-responder, nor of a political staff.

In response to the "Myths and Facts" listed below your correspondence, I respectfully submit that I don't buy a word of it. There's a common expression used to describe information which is not representative of the truth, which I'm sure that, coming as you do from an agricultural area like Provencher, you are quite familiar with. It's commonly used to fertilize pasture-land.

Bill C-30 is a poorly written, overly broad and dangerous piece of legislation. One thing which has been demonstrated over and over again is that when delegated powers that intrude on privacy, those in authority inevitably will abuse them. I have no doubt that the power resulting from C-30 will likewise be abused, and that it will, contrary to your statements, be used for non-criminal purposes. This legislation is fatally flawed and should be abandoned forthwith.

I'd also like to point out that though I vehemently oppose this legislation, I am certainly not "...with the child pornographers". I find your characterization of myself and other thoughtful Canadians to be offensive in the extreme. You remain unrepentant for this despicable comment, instead denying making it though one finds it readilly available in video and in Hansard. I would hope that at some time you might offer an apology to myself and those Canadians who might not agree with you. I suggest to you that it is un-Canadian to use such extremist rhetoric.


Paul Blank
Vancouver, Canada


From: vic.toews.c1@parl.gc.ca
To: xxxx
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:47:02 -0400
Subject: RE: Stop Online Spying

Thank you for contacting my office regarding Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.

Canada's laws currently do not adequately protect Canadians from online exploitation and we think there is widespread agreement that this is a problem.

We want to update our laws while striking the right balance between combating crime and protecting privacy.

Let me be very clear: the police will not be able to read emails or view web activity unless they obtain a warrant issued by a judge and we have constructed safeguards to protect the privacy of Canadians, including audits by privacy commissioners.

What's needed most is an open discussion about how to better protect Canadians from online crime. We will therefore send this legislation directly to Parliamentary Committee for a full examination of the best ways to protect Canadians while respecting their privacy.

For your information, I have included some myths and facts below regarding Bill C-30 in its current state.

Sincerely,



Vic Toews

Member of Parliament for Provencher

Myth: Lawful Access legislation infringes on the privacy of Canadians.
Fact: Our Government puts a high priority on protecting the privacy of law-abiding Canadians. Current practices of accessing the actual content of communications with a legal authorization will not change.

Myth: Having access to basic subscriber information means that authorities can monitor personal communications and activities.
Fact: This has nothing to do with monitoring emails or web browsing. Basic subscriber information would be limited to a customer’s name, address, telephone number, email address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the name of the telecommunications service provider. It absolutely does not include the content of emails, phones calls or online activities.

Myth: This legislation does not benefit average Canadians and only gives authorities more power.
Fact: As a result of technological innovations, criminals and terrorists have found ways to hide their illegal activities. This legislation will keep Canadians safer by putting police on the same footing as those who seek to harm us.



Myth: Basic subscriber information is way beyond “phone book information”.
Fact: The basic subscriber information described in the proposed legislation is the modern day equivalent of information that is in the phone book. Individuals frequently freely share this information online and in many cases it is searchable and quite public.

Myth: Police and telecommunications service providers will now be required to maintain databases with information collected on Canadians.
Fact: This proposed legislation will not require either police or telecommunications service providers to create databases with information collected on Canadians.

Myth: “Warrantless access” to customer information will give police and government unregulated access to our personal information.
Fact: Federal legislation already allows telecommunications service providers to voluntarily release basic subscriber information to authorities without a warrant. This Bill acts as a counterbalance by adding a number of checks and balances which do not exist today, and clearly lists which basic subscriber identifiers authorities can access.

This is a terrible video of a really mediocre pop tune, but I still love it. Like so many crummy pop tunes this has a great hook, and man did Whitney have a fantastic set of pipes. I would have paid good money to listen to her sing the phone book.

We'll miss you Whitney, but really we've been missing you for a long time already- ever since you first picked up that nasty fucking crack pipe. Funny, I feel the same way regarding her death as I felt when Amy Winehouse died- anger and sadness at the unfulfilled potential tinged with the knowledge that their premature deaths were inevitable given the choices they made.

>> ^alien_concept:

>> ^visionep:
Here's the text version of what you were looking for. Yes, quite amazing.
>> ^alien_concept:
There's an episode of QI, where Stephen Fry gives a bunch of facts about Brian Blessed that I've been trying to find since it went out on TV, but remain unsuccessful. He is an extraordinary man.


Thanks for that. It doesn't mention something they said in the episode about him having something like a 1000 living creatures in his ACTUAL HOUSE!


There's people in new york that have 1000s of living creatures in their beds...

>> ^visionep:

Here's the text version of what you were looking for. Yes, quite amazing.
>> ^alien_concept:
There's an episode of QI, where Stephen Fry gives a bunch of facts about Brian Blessed that I've been trying to find since it went out on TV, but remain unsuccessful. He is an extraordinary man.



Thanks for that. It doesn't mention something they said in the episode about him having something like a 1000 living creatures in his ACTUAL HOUSE!

Here's the text version of what you were looking for. Yes, quite amazing.

>> ^alien_concept:

There's an episode of QI, where Stephen Fry gives a bunch of facts about Brian Blessed that I've been trying to find since it went out on TV, but remain unsuccessful. He is an extraordinary man.

Your video, QI - A Christmas Party Trick With Phone Books, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Thanks for the promote!

In reply to this comment by carneval:
*promote the blessed

>> ^Morganth:

Here's the sift where some Dutch guys made their own video testing this (it was also the winning submission in a Mythbuster contest)
http://videosift.com/video/Winner-of-the-Mythbusters-Compe
tition-The-Phone-Book-Myth


I was thinking the same!

Here's the sift where some Dutch guys made their own video testing this (it was also the winning submission in a Mythbuster contest)

http://videosift.com/video/Winner-of-the-Mythbusters-Competition-The-Phone-Book-Myth

Can't stop cash, it is funny how something that is still completely as possible as it was 300 years ago is so far from peoples minds that an "E-payment" shut down means your out of business. Well, in my day.....(something about phone books and VCRS).

Alison Krauss could cover the Phone book and still get an upvote from me.

>> ^Mi1ler:

Finally a time saving way to puncture phone books, this is going to save me so much time!


I totally agree. The bullets were costing me an arm and a femur!

Finally a time saving way to puncture phone books, this is going to save me so much time!

i got the sack from my job in august, so i spent sometime on unemployment.
heres the deal with unemployment:

1. you're supposed to do a set number of job searches each week, my number was 5, my friends number was 3.. so somewhere between 3 and 5.
you're supposed to keep track of these job searches on a log sheet they provide you, but those are easy enough to lie on and i was on it for months and noone ever asked to see them, they could at any moment i understand but still, easy enough to lie about... or to just randomly call businesses in the phone book, ask if they're hiring and write down who you called and when.. that would count as a job search... even though you aren't honestly trying to get a job.

2. you get 26 weeks of regular unemployment at what is supposed to be 80% of your normal wage, up to $400/wk (it might vary state to state depending on cost of living, not sure). $400/wk is less than 80% of my regular wage so i maxed out at $400/wk. not at all what we were accustomed to living on, i was lucky enough to make decent money before the lay off and had a hefty bit of savings, which i had to break into. not everyone makes enough money to have any savings to speak of. but i was very very grateful for that $400/wk and it kept us afloat.

3. IF your 26 weeks runs out AFTER febuary 20th, you're fucked, that its. no extensions (maybe they fixed that and texas hasn't updated its website). the first tier of emergency extensions was set into place by Bush... extending it another 20 weeks, then obama extended into a second tier going yet another 13 weeks untop of that. are you following the numbers? we're up to 59 weeks. but only if you got laid off before about august 1st 2009 and received no severance package. (i was laid off a week later with a severance package, i wouldn't be eligible for ANY extensions)

4. IF your regular unemployment runs out before febuary 20th , you get tier 1 and 2 extensions, THEN after you use those up, that is to say AFTER you have been on unemployment benefits for OVER 59 weeks, you are eligible for emergency unemployment extensions determined by your individual state, paid for by stimulus moneys. those benefits are the ones set to expire on febuary 27th. the people who are going to be affected by this have been receiving unemployment benefits for WELL over a year.

this is where my mixed feelings come in, i know the economy is really bad, i know there are millions unemployed and there are not enough jobs. i was lucky to find a really awesome job that pays very well, the problem is that instead of working 40 hours a week, im only working 10. so really great hourly wage, very few hours. i'm under employed. im very lucky to be qualified for relatively high paying jobs and im lucky enough to be really really cheap, have had a savings account, a 401k and, if i need it (thank god i havent yet) a wealthy family i could ask for help, i'm not sweating too much. millions are in much worse situations.

BUT unemployment has to end at some point, you can't stay on it forever. especially considering how easy it is to just claim benefits and not actually be looking for a job. the people who are affected the febuary 27th deadline have been on unemployment for well over a year. i don't know when the right time to cut off benefits is. a year seems like plenty of time in an economy that is not in recession. but im not sure about right now.

what they need to be focused on (and maybe they've already done this and i just haven't heard about it) is all the people who lost their jobs after august and are eligible for NO extensions what so ever.

what infuriates me about this is congress seems to just be playing games right now. with EVERYTHING. everything is crumbling, peoples families are falling apart and it seems that on every piece of legislation, on every fucking issue, they're just playing and posturing. they're not getting anything done because of pompous wind baggery and showmanship and reelection campaigns. and it fucking pisses me off! and the only people screaming about anything in my part of the country are the fucking tea bagging dipshits who aren't even pissed off about anything REAL and encourage this kind of political bullshittery. AND IT FUCKING PISSES ME OFF!

RAGE!

soooooo *quality this raging fit and dipshittery.