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Nanoman's Personal Pages

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Links Collection

Lundi Links

Every Monday ("lundi" en francais) from 2011-03-21 until 2015-03-16, I posted links to external content that I recommended viewing for entertainment and/or general interest purposes. I called these "Lundi Links", and I posted these as News articles.

Originally, I had a finite list of links that I wanted to share, and I planned to share about one link per week until the list was depleted. Due to the number of subjects that interest me, I kept discovering links that I wanted to share, and I eventually realized that I'd be adding to this list forever.

During the four years that I posted these, my workload and other responsibilities grew increasingly overwhelming. To make time for everything else, Lundi Links became one of many things that I had to sacrifice.

This website is now used primarily as a tool for supporting customers of Nanoman's Company, so it wasn't appropriate to keep my Lundi Links on what is now my company's News page. I don't want to delete these because I know that some people enjoyed my Lundi Links, and I reference these occasionally. I didn't want to move these into my blog, so I created this page, and moved them here.

Please note that some of these links aren't appropriate for all audiences, so please go elsewhere if you're a younger or sensitive viewer. Note also that some of these links are now dead, and facts may be outdated.

2013-09-02: Soylent

Introduction: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/nothing-but-the-soylent-were-trying-1-full-week-of-the-meal-substitute/

Day 1: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/ars-does-soylent-day-1-embrace-the-chalky-weird-sweetness/

Day 2: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/ars-does-soylent-day-2-my-god-what-have-i-gotten-myself-into/

Day 3: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/ars-does-soylent-day-3-moderation-leads-to-actual-for-real-enjoyment/

Day 4: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/ars-does-soylent-day-4-the-soylent-powered-man/

Day 5: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/ars-does-soylent-the-finale-soylent-dreams-for-people/

2013-05-27: Canada's Economic Action Plan

Director's Commentary:

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfrFAJ10IV0

2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Wi9k8Eqzc

3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmSkAxn2w4w

4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KvSH4DLKqY

SHD.ca version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlsgkG9vAo

Breakdown from The Beaverton:

http://www.thebeaverton.com/stats-2/item/528-canadas-economic-action-plan-a-breakdown

More pointless Canadian expenses:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/02/15/senate_finance_data.html

2012-12-03: Stop Darlington

Just East of Toronto, there exists a large building that's responsible for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of highly toxic waste. This waste will remain a threat to the public for thousands of years, and some of it leaks into Lake Ontario, which is the source of drinking water for millions of people. Rather than spend an estimated thirty-six billion of our tax dollars on a few more decades of continuing this contamination of our water supply and habitat, it's my opinion that our money should be invested elsewhere.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darlington/154293134613131

2012-10-15: Conflict Kitchen

We need a Canadian version of this, and ideally a chain with one location in each Conservative riding.

http://conflictkitchen.org/

2012-09-03: The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher

This essay is remarkably similar to what I've been saying about school since I was a child. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in my beliefs. This should be required reading for all students, teachers, school officials, and politicians.

http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html

2012-04-23: The Boy Who Played with Fusion

As much as I detest nuclear power and its failures like Chernobyl, I have to admit that this story is pretty amazing:

https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-played-fusion?page=all

Bonus Lundi Link! Are you familiar with Canada's Nuclear Liability Act? It declares in its "Insurance and Financial Responsibility" section that, in the event of a nuclear "incident" (failure), the nuclear operator will be liable for an "amount not exceeding seventy-five million dollars":

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/N-28/index.html

2012-04-02: IETF RFCs

The Internet Engineering Task Force has published thousands of RFCs (Request For Comments) that have been used to build the Internet into what we use today. Here are some of the most important:

RFC 1149: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt

RFC 2324: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2324.txt

RFC 2549: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2549.txt

RFC 2550: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2550.txt

RFC 2795: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2795.txt

RFC 5513: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5513.txt

RFC 5841: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5841.txt

RFC 5984: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5984.txt

RFC 6593: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc6593.txt

2011-12-26: 'Twas the Nocturnal Segment of the Diurnal Period

I thought this was hilarious when I first read it back in 1994, but I still don't know its origin. Asking Google, I get conflicting answers.

http://www.textfiles.com/holiday/night.hum

2011-11-21: Free Byron

On 2010-06-22, at age thirty-seven, Byron Sonne was arrested for the first time in his life. He was held in a medium/maximum security prison for eleven months without bail or a trial, and it wasn't until this month that his trial finally began. Here's what he did:

  • played with a potato cannon at his family's cottage
  • performed science experiments at his home
  • practiced gardening and cooking at his home
  • became a member of various professional and hobbyist organizations
  • worked professionally to analyze information technology infrastructures
  • took photographs of a major event that was happening in town
  • openly criticized the government's decision to spend a billion dollars on a single weekend event

Basically, he was engaging in several nerdy activities that interested him, and he did so in a safe and responsible manner. He never hurt anyone, he didn't damage any property that wasn't his own, and he had no intention of ever doing so, nor did he ever knowingly indicate such intent.

This story is of great interest to me because what happened to Byron could have happened to me or any of the hundreds of nerds I've met in my life. I've never played with a potato cannon, but I've done everything else listed above, and there are many thousands of people who have done the same. I'm not on Flickr, but looking at the photographs I've taken over the past year, I see all kinds of documentary and hobbyist images like those in Byron's account.

I've been stopped by the police dozens of times while going about my daily life, but as far as I know, none of them have ever investigated my personal life or my hobbies. If they discovered that I was taking photographs of historic buildings, reading about aviation security, downloading technical specifications of mechanical components, or using poisonous chemical cleansers, would they arrest me too?

Normally, I encourage imagination and creativity, but the ideas expressed by people like the police detective in this video are absolute insanity. I guess this detective's ability to fabricate such wild hypotheses is how he was able to make $120516.01 CAD plus $336.70 CAD in benefits in 2010, which is significantly more than most crime fiction writers make in a year. The Crown prosecutor made even more in 2010 ($131176.86 CAD plus $218.94 in benefits), so with crime declining in Canada, I guess some people are trying to justify their salaries. I could speculate further by suggesting that these officials were conspiring to destroy a life for financial gain, but this theory seems less incredible than theirs.

2010-06-23: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/g20/2010/06/23/middleaged_white_guy_doesnt_fit_terrorist_profile.html

2010-06-25: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/the-strange-case-of-the-artist-and-the-hacker/article1615797/

2011-05-03: http://torontolife.com/city/how-byron-sonnes-obsessions-with-the-g20-security-apparatus-cost-him-everything/

2011-05-18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0y5MW7XZI

2011-11-10: https://web.archive.org/web/20120414043946/http://toronto.openfile.ca/toronto/text/ruse-violated-byron-sonnes-rights

2011-11-18: https://web.archive.org/web/20120123121841/http://toronto.openfile.ca/toronto/text/lies-and-videotape-byron-sonne-trial-continues

2011-08-22: Coal Cares

Coal power advocacy:

"Wind turbines can kill up to 70000 birds per year, or 4.27 birds per turbine per year. Coal particulate pollution, on the other hand, kills fewer than 13000 people per year."

http://www.coalcares.com/

2011-07-18: Nutri-Grain

This commercial really makes me want a Nutri-Grain bar, so I'm surprised it was rejected by Kellogg's. The original link that was sent to me over seven years ago no longer works, but I found a copy on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rE0EakhG8

2011-06-20: Heritage Moment: Telecommunications

I'd imagine that the woeful incompetence of the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) makes it easy to write comedy sketches about their blunders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wWQqP73Ek

2011-05-02: Jim Belushi's Campaign

Today, Canadians will vote for their local Green Party candidates in the 2011 federal election. Albanians, meanwhile, will be contemplating a vote for Jim Belushi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA-XtUnHM-c

2011-03-21: Markets of Britain

Every Monday ("lundi" en francais), I'm going to post links to external content that I recommend viewing for entertainment or general interest purposes. I'm calling these "Lundi Links", and I'll continue posting these until I deplete the collection that I've gathered over the years.

Some weeks, I'll post multiple links, but this week, I'll post only one. Behold a video titled "Markets of Britain":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSG2pD-2O2g