The Unknown Studio

All my vague memories of staying home sick as a child involve watching the Price Is Right, being waited on hand and foot, and generally having a very good time of it. Now that I’m an adult, being home sick absolutely blows. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6% [?]

I’ve had politics on the brain lately, as we released episode 9 of the Unknown Studio this long weekend. On this episode, we discussed the state of politics, citizen engagement and the party system in Alberta and Canada with guests Dave Cournoyer and Duncan Wojtaszek (you can download the episode here or subscribe via iTunes). Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6% [?]

A few weeks ago, Rachel took me out for my birthday. We’d talked a lot about going to the recently re-opened Muttart Conservatory, located in the very picturesque neighbourhood of Cloverdale (and in fact one of my favourite neighbourhoods in all of Edmonton). Talk turned to action when she took me down to this gem of the river valley to celebrate my being old. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13% [?]

I received an email from Geoff yesterday explaining the ongoing harassment he’s had to suffer since he graduated from our alma mater, the University of Alberta, in 2003. It begins: “So ever since graduating back in like 2003, I keep getting notices from the U of A that I owe a $5 library fine. I chuckled at this folly until this week, when I decided to take action and sent the following to their online appeals system [...]”

I wish to appeal my $5.00 late charge at the Sci Tech library. I don’t have any excuse for this charge; rather, I am appealing because maintaining this fine is costing you too much.

I apparently incurred this fine in 2003, which is also the last year that I attended the U of A.  In the 4 and a half years since, I have been receiving a quarterly statement in the mail reminding me of this grim financial burden. Each time you mail me this notice, it costs the University 52 cents. By now, the U of A has spent $9.36 of some poor student’s tuition money on my $5.00 fine. And this is solely on postage. What about the cost of the printing, the envelope, and the lost time required to administer your relentless collections juggernaut? Surely you are now pushing the $15.22 mark, depending on how well you negotiate your bulk paper discounts.

And all of this is to say nothing of the toll that your oversized envelopes and reminder slips take on the environment. For shame, Library Services. Your actions speak louder than the students in Rutherford South.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Dave, an acquaintance of mine from the university, has been threatened by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach for registering “edstelmach.ca” and using it as a redirect to his blog. Before this threat letter, he had had no contact with the premier’s office. Snippet:

This letter was sent to me regarding my ownership of the domain name edstelmach.ca, which I purchased for approximately $14.00 on April 4, 2007 (four months after Mr. Stelmach became Premier of Alberta). The letter accuses me of interfering with and misappropriating Ed Stelmach’s personality (I’m really not sure where Ed Stelmach’s personality is, but I certainly didn’t take it).

It’s being covered quite heavily by local media, and there are lots of comments at Dave’s blog. Some expound on the legal virtues of Dave’s case—i.e., that there are none and ICANN rulings on the issue mean Stelmach might win this fight—but I think there’s something even more interesting here that Dave touches on: the ridiculous route the premier’s office decided to take with this.

Rather than try and get in touch with Dave to see if they could get him to somehow hand the domain over to Stelmach, they’ve gone ahead with all their muscle and are threatening to sue him. For someone who isn’t doing so hot in the polls, this is an absurdly shortsighted direction to take. Whatever your politics, you can certainly appreciate that the optics of suing a starving student over a $14 domain name aren’t terribly positive.

Good luck to you, Dave. And shame on you, Stelmach.

Popularity: 2% [?]