A bit of a joke... anyhow, if you have e-mailed them once offering (I assume) to forward misdirected mail, and they haven't bothered to answer, you're well within your rights to just set up an auto-delete using Gmail's filters. Good manners always is the first option.

If you're archiving and reading other people's misdirected e-mail you're a little bit creepy though, and I somehow doubt that you'll do this.

As for the rest of your problem, just set up a second Gmail address with a nonsensical middle name (first initial).turnip.(common last name)@gmail.com and have it forward to your "real" gmail address. Problem solved.

The great thing about G-mail, Facebook, and pretty much every site that isn't a bank, is that you can in fact make up a new name and have it work.

You're right in suggesting that Canadians almost certainly also had their data stolen.

Aside from that, one correction. This story deals with security breaches.

These are Canadian breeches.

Passwords are not case sensitive and can't include special characters (e.g., #, %, etc.). Passwords must be 8-16 characters long and contain at least one number and letter. - be 8 to 16 characters long - use at least one number and one letter - not include spaces or special characters (e.g., #, %, etc.)

Whew! I'm glad I'm with Scotiabank, who just this month is forcing everyone to answer a bunch of "Mother's Maiden Name" type "security" questions.....

Oh shit - hold on - Scotiabank too - case insensitive!

Lord - things are never dull over at easyDNS. Hot on the heels of the decision above, some called the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is demanding that easyDNS play Cop.

It's almost surreal to be getting this letter from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) addressed to ICANN Registrars requesting that "you adopt and implement policies and procedures, consistent with this letter,", given the timing of what we just went through with the City of London Police takedown requests. What are those policies and procedures the NAPB wants all ICANN Registrars to adopt? Glad you asked:...

People are still buying and upgrading computers.

It's just that they're buying and upgrading the tiny computers that they carry in their purse or pocket - their smartphones.

I probably do 65% of my computing on my phone, with the desktop reserved for bookkeeping (because I need to run a Windows VM for Quickbooks); long form writing (because a phone screen keyboard still sucks for anything beyond two sentences); and for the kind of on-line research and reading that just doesn't work on a phone screen.

For all of those my 5 or 6 year old Dell is good enough. I added a second monitor, and I do plan to add to the RAM and another drive, but that's it - it works.

I upgrade my Linux distro every couple of major versions, and let most applications just upgrade themselves. I may need to upgrade the bookkeeping software at some point, but hopefully it will still chug along under Vista.

In any case, I can't see any reason why I would buy a new desktop PC unless this one just ups and dies.

Like most libraries, our local has embraced all manner of e-technology. Although the vast majority of users still prefer 'real books," they also offer e-books, e-reader loans, music downloads, and audiobook downloads, as well as access to a large group of databases.

As an end user I'd call most of this a disaster. Books are simple - you sign it out, take it home, and renew it until you're done reading it. If someone else needs the book they can place a hold, and you can't renew it any more. If you need a book not on the shelf you can place a hold.

I had been using them for audiobooks to listen to in the car on my Android phone. This worked great except that pretty much the only company servicing Canadian libraries is Overdrive, and their software is bar none the worst that I've encountered.

Still, it was just usable enough that despite the really poor selection of audiobooks, the limited number of "copies available", the lack of any way to renew books, and the really, really, really horrid interface on either PC or phone, I could live with it.

This year Overdrive updated their software, with a new added "feature": you could no longer limit downloads to WIFI. Or even pause a download in progress. As a consequence one ill-timed audiobook download consumed my entire month's cel phone data cap in less than a day.

I deleted it, and let my library know that I was using Pirate Bay from here on - faster, easier, better selection, and no chance of getting hammered with data overage charges.

Beyond that it's pretty well known that publishers define an e-book as only being downloadable for a few dozen times - alleging that this replicates the physical life of an actual book. It's an obvious lie, and ignores the longstanding practices of rebinding and repairing books - something that libraries have done for many decades.

Our library has a pretty remarkable section of CDs on loan, and actually has surprised me many times with the stuff that they have on the shelves. The downloadable music offering Freegal lets you grab a grand total of THREE songs per month. DRM free, but kind of useless.

At the end of the day I wish that our library would go back to lending physical artifacts - the restraints on them by the publishers makes any attempt to provide e-content pretty much impossible.

Our client base is primarily in West Vancouver BC - the richest municipality in Canada. The kind of town where a $3 million house is a "starter", and will immediately be pulled own to build a 20,000 ft McMansion.

In many years of working with clients in WV, I can recall TWO that actually ever turned on their alarms, and would estimate that half of our clients don't even lock their doors.

If nothing else they demonstrate that Vancouver's criminal class is either really dumb, or can't afford a bus pass.

It isn't that hard if you reject consumerism and learn how to invest properly

And are lucky,

And don't suffer a major illness which takes you out of the workforce for several years. Or which, in the US, has to be paid for with your life savings or by selling your home.

And don't invest is supposedly safe things that tank during a major economic recession. The things that supposedly highly trained investment advisors told you to buy. (or are you suggesting that every single person regardless of background, intelligence, and education should be expected to play the markets on their own??)

And don't find your previously well-paying job shipped offshore, leaving you working at McDonalds.

And of course, lets not forget that many millions of people were promised by both industry and government that if they worked hard in their jobs for the requisite 35+ years they would receive a decent pension at age 65 and would be allowed to relax and enjoy their so-called golden years.

Those people have been shafted in the most a callous and despicable fashion, and with no plausible reason. The demographic age bubble has been rolling along for more than half a century, and everyone knew it. There's no reasonable excuse why the various pension schemes couldn't have been managed in a responsible way so that the promises made to these ordinary working people would be honored.

It's time to stop blaming the victims that are struggling to live in retirement poverty, and start blaming the businesses and governments that are putting them there.

Canada. Because drunken idiot boaters are at least as a dangerous as drunken, idiot drivers.

Seriously. $75 to $100 a month for cable? Haven't done that for years. $8.95 a month for Netflix, plus a bit of Pirate Bay to top up the offerings. You tell me what makes more sense.

Although honestly I'd be happy to pay say $25-30 a month for some hybrid of the two - at least for news channels.

Of course the downside of not watching cable or network TV is that you really appreciate how horrible advertising is. Easily the most painful part of going out to a movie.

Very aware. But it's one thing for our own spooks to wrongly accuse someone; it's something entirely different to pull them off of a plane, ship them to Syria, and torture them for several years in a prison.

Besides which, it's not a fucking competition.

I lived and worked in the US for a few years prior to 9/11, and travelled to many parts of the country. I still have a lot of good friends down there, and surely there are a lot of places that I'd love to visit again.

The problem is that since I moved back to Canada there have been a seemingly endless series of stories like this. Whether it's Mahar Arar being grabbed and shipped to Syria for torture and imprisonment; Jacob Appelbaum being detailed by US customs with no reason and no explanation; innocent people who are having their laptops and phones seized and copied with no warrant or explanation, or who are quite simply harassed at the border on the whim of any customs agent. - it just seems to be happening more and more each year.

Being innocent (whatever that means to Homeland Security) is no protection. All it takes is one renta-cop with a bad attitude.

To my American friends: I am honestly terrified by the thought of crossing your border, and I am not alone.

1984 - if only so that you'll know that 90% of people who reference it have never read it.

Moby Dick - (actually, as an audio book) because it really is an amazing and epic tale.

The Elements of Style - Strunk and White - because, like, teh Interwebs

One problem is that the trains go through small towns with volunteer fire departments, not well schooled in handling a derailment and explosion.

More importantly, the towns through which these trains travel aren't told what's being shipped through them. Even after Lac Megantic the Canadian government is doing everything possible to allow rail companies to not provide prior details of dangerous cargo being shipped by rail.