I've Gone Wireless

With more and more wireless devices pushing their way into the house, I suppose this was inevitable (it was my youngest son's PSP that finally put it over the edge). I waited this long because I liked controlling the points of Internet access in the house - most specifically, not in the kids' bedrooms - but I've relented figuring they're old enough now.

There's still a number of wired access points in the house: two in the basement rec room (main computer and XBox), and one in the family room that I am using now. They are faster, after all.

It's always surprised me how most people's wireless networks are not encrypted making it easy for anyone within range to simply attach on. At best they are just hogging your bandwidth. At worst, they can access files on you computer maliciously. Setting up a wireless router for the first time answered why when I discovered that putting in an encryption code is not part of the set-up wizard. It doesn't even suggest how to do it yourself.

It's hardly difficult. I quick google turned this up => 4 steps to set up your home wireless network. Everyone should protect they're wireless networks. Sitting in my family room, in a neighbourhood that is hardly crowded, I can pick up two wireless networks other than my own. Neither of them are encrypted.

I could save myself some money and mooch off of them. Undoubtedly, there are people that do this.

Mike

Canadians Don't Know Their Own Political System

This is sad, especially considering the recent politics in Canada which was a perfect opportunity for people to learn (and for the media to teach) how our system works.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/553762

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1) Who is Canada's head of state?

a) The Queen

b) The Governor General

c) The prime minister

(24 per cent answered correctly)

2) Is the government of Canada best described as:

a) A constitutional monarchy

b) A representative republic

c) A co-operative assembly

(59 per cent answered correctly)

3) True or false: The prime minister is directly elected by the people of Canada.

(49 per cent answered correctly)

4) True or false: Soon after an election, if the government of the day is not able to command the support of a majority in the House of Commons, the Governor General can refuse a prime minister's request to call a new election if the opposition parties can form a government.

(90 per cent answered correctly)

ANSWERS: 1-A; 2-A; 3-FALSE; 4-TRUE

SOURCE: Dominion Institute; Ipsos Reid

Dogbert Explains The Financial Meltdown

The Harper Dictatorship

The head of our social sciences department sent me this one - it's making the rounds through the history teachers.

The current news has already caught up with it a bit, but it's still pretty funny - well, if your Canadian.

I guess the craziness of what has happened in Canadian politics has been noticed south side too. Here's Jon Stewart's take on the situation.

Canada Only Link

Mike

Model Ship Update: Spanker

I think these updates might start coming a little faster now. The second of the eleven sails is now rigged up, the spanker. Also added are two windows for the captain's mess (I think it's obvious that it's just pained black behind the frame). Cutting out the trim for the window was tricky without doing damage. I may end up replacing some of this trim later.

Just to switch it up, I'm trying to get some pictures from some different angles that look like they may actually be taken from deck level, hence the last two pictures. I think I'm getting better at coiling the lines. I'm glad I decided to do it this way rather than just tie them off. Though, I'm still a little disappointed I had to glue down the coils making adjusting the rig not possible. I can also see I need to do some varnishing on the quarter deck - you can see the rough spot in the last picture. There was a glue spill here that I sanded off.



Mike

Model Ship Update: Spritsail

Well, I've affixed the first sail - the spritsail. It is not actually glued or tied to the bowsprit, but held in place (rather rigidly) by a system of four lines. If you compare the second image with the one from the kit a couple of posts ago, I think that you'll agree that I did the right thing in moving the chain and bowsprit stays in order to fit the sail properly. Now it looks like this thing would actually work.


In the third pic you can see how one of the braces is made fast to a belay pin. I've spent a bit of time on a real tallship (not too different in size from this one), and I attached and coiled the line correctly (or, at least, the best I could with tweezers). I've been going back and forth on whether to leave the running rigging "running". This would allow me to adjust sail trim, which I thought would be pretty cool. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that the thin thread wouldn't stay coiled and I ended up putting a bit of glue on the coil making the rigging not adjustable - oh, well.

The last pic is the view from about half way up the formast. You can see in this picture that I added a footrope below the yard. The kit pictures didn't have one, but this is what the crew would stand on while they were adjusting the sail. So I figured I would added it in.

Mike