CRTC - Let's Talk TV Hearings

I must not saw off the branch on which I am sitting.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Sec. 55, p. 31

The Oracle of Ottawa has been watching television for darn near as long as television has been around. My earliest memory is watching The Friendly Giant on the mother ship of the world famous CBC. It was pretty awesome on the 26 inch Zenith with the wooden curtains! The whole broadcast universe back then consisted of less than five channels. The Oracle still has very vivid memories of watching the development of the United States Gemini space program. And I can still vividly remember that summer night when man first walked on the moon, and the screams of my mother when Oswald was capped on live television. Television back then was important.

Television - Finally at the fork in the road?

 Now the Oracle of Ottawa watches his television on a bitchin' 42 inch Samsung, with the digital box, with way more than one bundle. There is something on channel 1 through to channel 999! And even though he has enjoyed it for a couple of years now, the Oracle of Ottawa is still blown away sometimes by the images from high definition. But like most Canadians the Oracle of Ottawa has a lot of gripes with his local cable provider.

The main bitch that the Oracle of Ottawa has had and still has with his cable provider is trying to get rid of that bundle buried in the bundle(s) that he has already paid for. The Oracle of Ottawa calls this the STC bundle. And it doesn't matter what bundle you pick you always get stuck with the STC bundle. You just can't be rid of it. The STC bundle consists of the Sheets, Towels and Chopstick channels. For some weird reason in Canada and with Rogers Communications you just can't be rid of these useless channels.

Most Canadians don't give a shit about what it costs. We just want what we want, and some body better give it to us or we will make other arrangements. The cable companies still claim that it is technologically impossible to provide pick and pay! And they still deny that the cable box does not tell them everything that I do through their cable box remote! The Oracle of Ottawa is very relieved that his tax dollars have been spent maintaining  the CRTC regulatory agency. These pick and pay hearings I am sure are going to bring us all a lot of relief.

 So far it has been mighty funny watching the corporate whore lawyer from Bell spout the old same tired crap. But this time there is real fear in his voice. The Oracle of Ottawa just loved that. Pick and pay is coming, and it will no doubt be forced down the overfed throats of the corporate whores of media. May we all get to feast in our equal shares of the burnt savory offerings!

'Harper Government' - A Verizon Of Choice

Perhaps the most obvious feature of the use of symbols to represent things, events, or processes is the economy of representation. 
Marx W. Wartofsky, Conceptual Foundations Of Scientific Thought, p.37

You know it is a terrible idea when the beached whales (i.e. James Moore) of the dying 'Harper Government' are dumping their latest right wing Bilderberg Group ordered directive in the deepest dog days of summer on hapless Canadians. Now the brainwave is that the way to get cheaper cellphone rates in Canada is to invite Verizon, the Wall-Mart of communication companies, into Canada and in turn destroy the whole industry. I guess the punks in short pants at the Prime Ministers Office thought this this would be a great idea.

'Harper Government' gets the call...

But the Oracle of Ottawa has to admit it is just music to his ears to hear the scum at Rogers, Bell and Telus  complain for a change! Recently when the Oracle of Ottawa called Rogers to bitch about the lack of Major League Baseball, he was told that he couldn't complain! Oh the Oracle got to complain all right, and it is a terrible thing to make a temporary foreign worker cry.

Of course if Verizon is allowed into Canada there will be thousands of lost Canadian jobs. As a matter of fact the Oracle of Ottawa is quite surprised that no one has figured out the real reason that wee Jimmy Moore is rolling out the Red and White carpet to Verizon. The Oracle of Ottawa has it on good authority that it is really about the creation of that new labour union that is going to called UNIFOR, which is going to take place on this coming Labour Day. The Oracle of Ottawa is really going to enjoy it when the NDP start pumping this rude fact out to the Canadian public during the fall sitting of the House.

 And it is all really just another sign of the failed ideology of the 'Harper Government'. By failing to do their job and stepping in to protect the Canadian consumer as it is the job of a real government to do, they are now in desperation, going to contract out their responsibilities to Verizon, with hopefully a cell phone price war just in time for the next Federal Election.

City of Ottawa - Demand Price Parking

"do not lift your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck."
Psalms, 75:5, NRSV

The Oracle of Ottawa was quite surprised today to discover that his usual Saturday routine parking spot downtown at the City owned Laurier garage has been turned into an automated billing, no person present, paid parking garage, even on Saturday! Well, the Oracle of Ottawa had to make a decision. And he threw it into reverse and headed elsewhere.

Heads will someday roll?

There has been much in the old style local vulgar visual and print media lately about another new insane idea of the City of Ottawa to bring in demand price parking. This simply means taking the opportunity to gouge your worthless ass because some skid mark contractor has managed to bullshit (bribe?) it by some hapless City manager.

The Oracle of Ottawa is always ready to be a good citizen and be as helpful as he can be. As regards to downtown demand price parking, you have to include a numerical value for demand. Please allow the oracle of Ottawa to help the worthy skidmarks at City Hall with a starting value for down town parking demand. Set the value to ZERO! Because it dawned on the Oracle of Ottawa that he really doesn't have to be downtown at all! Ottawa is a big city now, and the downtown can be easily skipped.

If you happen to be some poor hapless "entre-pren-whore" who is trying hard now to eek out a minimum wage living from a bar, grill or other eating spot, and you have your lease coming due, take the Oracle of Ottawa's advice and do not renew it. This is all going to backfire so bad, that, soon, the only thing that will be rolling down Bank Street are skateboards, bicycles and tumbleweeds!!

If you thought the earth moved on that day councilor, just wait until the next election...

Suhana Meharchand - Awesome Again!

There is no need for torture: Hell is other people.
Jean Paul Sartre, No Exit, Act 1, Scene 5

It still appears that Suhana has still not signed the Jimmy Moore purity pledge! You go girl! And though she is one of the few full time federal civil servants still employed with the Mother Ship of the CBC, otherwise known by the 'Harper Government' as the "state broadcaster". She is certainly not "dogging it" like Rex Murphy by choosing only the wimpy safe topics for the great radio show Cross Country Checkup.

Suhana for the Order of Canada!

Today's topic was the incredibly hot "How do we stop bullying" on the internet! Well it was on in the car for about ten minutes before the Oracle of Ottawa and his significant other broke out into a terrible row! The Oracle of Ottawa has a few things that he simply must get off his handsome and fulsome chest on this very hot issue.

What the hell does a brat under the age of twenty one need a Facebook page for anyway? The Oracle of Ottawa pondered if he would have opened one in his youth and I always give it the fail! Who the hell needs a hundred "friends"?? The Oracle of Ottawa is amazed at all the I-Phone zombies that he always observes in Ottawa while out for recreation from the secure bunker. Why it was only a few weeks ago that the Oracle of Ottawa observed a sweet young thing melt down into a complete nervous breakdown because her facebook page was somehow screwed  up! The Oracle of Ottawa is still shaken by the event. The whole freaking world is going freaking nuts!!

It was Karl Marx who once said in volume one of Capital, that men had successfully dressed themselves for centuries without ever knowing what a tailor was! Well the Oracle of Ottawa is saying that you don't need stupid facebook and an I-Phone to get friends. And if you do, and your brats do, it is time for the kitty shrink! The Oracle of Ottawa will explain how this all came about....

It is all to do with corporate over whore marketing. The parents are part of the frightened and obedient work force of surplus labor. They have no time to be engaged in anything except their own selfish goals of like; surviving. They instill the same values into their brats. Go along and get along. Start whoring out yourself now brat, just like Mommy and Daddy do with a smile on their face everyday. Because sweetheart although you are not working yet you are already owned by Capital, lock stock and soul, which if you could, you would probably try to sell on E-Bay like Bart Simpson! How long will a society like this stand? Not very long...

It seems that just as the crime stats are crashing like the mortgage market in 2008, the corporate over whores need a new crime and they need it soon! There is going to be a Super-Max prison system in Canada and damn it, the corporate over whores have got to have candidates, any candidates! The Oracle of Ottawa feels like he is living in a cross of 1984 and the Brave New World!

When  the Oracle of Ottawa went to high school in the 1970's there was not one suicide of a peer that I can recollect! And this was in the era of an insane drug culture that was just everywhere in Canada at the time. Kids did not burn down their parents for the new pair of Nikes, threatening permanent personality damage if they had to go with out! But in today's world I have seen a good Dad go to death from the never ending demands of daughters and wives. God this world is so insane and it is so greedy ugly!! The Oracle of Ottawa needs a good old style tune to lift him up....

 Sigh... The Oracle of Ottawa is just an analog man, Thank God....

Why Does Google Suck?

Reality never corresponds perfectly to logic; neither, therefore, can our analysis.
Leslie Lipson, The Great Issues of Politics, (Seventh Edition), p. 15

You know when a large corporate over - whore changes something un - announced in the dog days of summer it can only  be seen as nefarious, that is, really not in your best interest. Such was the feeling of the Oracle of Ottawa as he opened his You-Tube page on that fateful day last summer recently passed. The Oracle of Ottawa has no idea what the Google organization is trying to prove by making all their products and platforms worse and less than they were the day before. Perhaps it is a misguided marketing strategy?

Another Netscape?

Well after a ton of tinkering and resetting of bookmarks the Oracle of Ottawa, managed to get some semblance of a usable home page for his you-tube fix. Now the Oracle of Ottawa  was once a real Google fan, and a very early adaptor. But now, recently, he has really been tested. Grave doubts are entering his mind. So much so, that he removed Google News as his home page, and replaced it with the CBC news page. The Google business can only survive if you loan it your eyeballs. No eyeballs, there will be no Google, and it can happen very, very fast. Remember Netscape?   

Google shitter connected to the internet...

Anyone would think that it couldn't get any worse. But you will always be wrong. Last night all Blogger users were forced to use the new and improved blogger interface. Now the Oracle of Ottawa sent "feedback" several times complaining that the new blogger interface is no improvement for bloggers! Of course none of this ever gets read. It is just corporate over - whore standard action to make you think that YOU actually matter. Well, sucker, you don't! You would think that Google could let people just choose between what type of interface they want. That seemed to be the pattern in the past, and the Oracle of Ottawa just can't understand why Google would change that.

The major problem I have with the new interface is that the dashboard is squished. The stats graph is all distorted due to that useless left hand side tool bar. That tool bar should be placed across the top, out of the way. What I think the overall problem is, is that the new "interface" is designed for those stupid new screens that are all but standard today.  The ones that are like movie screens. The Oracle of Ottawa thinks that really sucks and clings to his old T-41 with that nice traditional square screen that is now considered so uncool. Also, it has crossed the Oracle of Ottawa's mind that the redesign also has a lot to do with marketing, that is to help harvest your poor ragged ass with useless money gobbling products that you don't need. The Oracle of Ottawa ponders how many bloggers will be lost in the near future, as the people in the third world can not just run out and get a new computer? But the guy at Google Headquarters, that shits in the high tech toilet, that massages his ring piece and nuts after he has a granola dump, would not even be thinking of that! Now would he?

Not a joke anymore, is it?

Changing My Bookmarks

Demonstrations in general are not so much for those who wish to learn as for those who wish to dispute.
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World As Will And Idea, Volume I, p. 89

Well dear readers, it has been a very relaxing summer, so far. The Thinking About Thinking project has hit a very rich vein. The Oracle of Ottawa has been pursuing it with all his vigor. But computer administration calls for a round of slight attention. It was in the deepest dog days of summer that it was announced by Bell Media that the "pay wall" to the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper was going up! It appears that they no longer like being the most visited news site in Canada!

Another brand pissed away by Bell...

Now, anyone that knows about such things, can readily tell you that the Globe and Mail is still 85% owned by the Thompson family and 15% owned by Bell. Why these people are so rich that they could bar all advertising on the web site and the hard copy newspaper and give it away as a free daily and still make a ton of money from it! Influence is all rather priceless isn't it? Yes indeed.

Enough is enough. The Oracle of Ottawa is damned if he is going to pay to read the news on the internet! A substitute for the daily spot that the Globe and Mail held in my daily rotation was very easy to fill.Yes, dear reader,  the Oracle of Ottawa has substituted in the main news page of Canada's "state broadcaster" the good old CBC! There will never be a pay wall at the good old "state broadcaster" and I must say, they have certainly been trying harder with the use of my tax dollars and their site is a whole lot better in every respect than the tired Globe and Mail. And, of course,  the pleasure of fucking Bell one more time is rather, well, priceless! And the Thompson family should remember the good advice of old Roy or Lord Thompson of Fleet; you must be really really careful who you hang out with....

It is the Oracle of Ottawa's fondest wish and hope that all my fellow Canadians do the same! And while we are at it, let us help the good old CBC make up the recent 'Harper Government' budget cuts by making sure that upon each and every free visit to the CBC news site that you click on all the ads! At least once! And unlike the ads at the Globe and Mail they will not load malware and spybots into your computer,(it was all so bad, that adblock plus had be permanently deployed...) and your browser will not crash! Happy surfing!

Can you say bye-bye?