Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Duffy, Wallin, Greene among Senators interesting!
OTTAWA — Career broadcaster Mike Duffy, his former colleague Pamela Wallin and Olympic athletic icon Nancy Greene are headed to the Senate as Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Monday that he is filling all 18 current vacancies, triggering a debate over patronage as the fate of his government hangs in the balance.
Mr. Duffy currently hosts a daily political news show on CTV called Mike Duffy Live. Ms. Wallin was also a prominent figure at CTV and CBC before being named consul-general to New York by the former Liberal government.
Ms. Greene helped break the European stranglehold on downhill skiing by winning a gold medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics. She was named Canada's female athlete of the 20th century in a vote by Canadian Press members and will take a seat in Parliament just before her province hosts the Olympics.
Both Mr. Duffy and Ms. Wallin have agreed to join the Conservative caucus and have pledged to oppose the proposed coalition of opposition parties threatening to unseat the government next month.
Wallin was one of 18 new Senators appointed by Stephen Harper Monday. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada. Meaghan Ogilvie" height="244" width="188"> Pamela Wallin was one of 18 new Senators appointed by Stephen Harper Monday. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada. (Meaghan Ogilvie)
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Appointees will receive a $134,000 annual salary indexed to inflation until they retire or reach age 75, followed by a very comfortable pension — and both are indexed to inflation.
Mr. Harper has always believed senators should be elected and he refrained from filling most vacancies while trying to make the upper chamber more democratic. Those efforts ran into roadblocks erected in Parliament and by Ontario and Quebec.
Liberal-affiliated senators had occupied 58 of the seats, while 20 were held by Conservatives.
Mr. Harper's timing, just before Christmas when most Canadians are preoccupied with holiday cheer rather than politics, suggests the government isn't anxious to showcase the appointments.
Opposition parties have questioned whether Mr. Harper has the political legitimacy for a patronage spree, having averted the almost-certain defeat of his minority government in the Commons only by suspending Parliament until the new year.
And the Prime Minister himself has admitted he takes no joy in having to stack the Senate, a move seen by some as tantamount to waving a white flag of surrender on his dream of reforming the chamber.
“I've waited for three years,” he noted in a recent TV interview.
“We've invited the provinces to hold elections. We've put an electoral bill before the House of Commons. But for the most part, neither in Parliament nor in the provinces has there been any willingness to move forward on reform.”
Until now Mr. Harper had appointed only two senators — Alberta's Bert Brown, victor of a Senate election in his province, and Michael Fortier, who got the plum so that Mr. Harper could have a minister from Montreal in his first-term cabinet.
The other appointments announced Monday are:
-Former Conservative MP Fabian Manning will represent Newfoundland
- Fred Dickson, a lawyer
- Stephen Green, a former chief of staff to Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald
- Michael MacDonald, a Nova Scotia businessman with ties to the Conservative party
- Percy Mockler, a former Conservative MLA in New Brunswick
- John Wallace, a former Conservative party candidate and lawyer who has represented Irving Oil
- Patrick Brazeau, the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, a group representing off-reserve aboriginals that has been largely supportive of the Harper government
- Suzanne Fortin-Duplesis, the first woman elected to the Municipal Council of Sainte-Foy and a former MP for Louis-Hebert from 1984 to 1993
- Leo Housakos, the co-founder of the Montreal Hellenic Chamber of Commerce
- Michel Rivard, a former Parti Quebois MNA for Limoilou, Que. who joined the Canadian Alliance under Stockwell Day
- Nicole Eaton, director and vice-chair of the National Ballet of Canada
- Irving Gersetein, an Ontario business man and chair of the Conservative Party's fundraising organization, the Conservative Fund of Canada.
- Yonah Martin, a former Conservative candidate in New Westminster-Coquitlam
- Richard Neufeld, B.C.'s former minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Services
- Hector Daniel Lang, a former Yukon MLA
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Majel Barrett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts become known. |
| Majel Barrett-Roddenberry | |
|---|---|
 Majel Barrett sits as she signs autographs at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 2, 2007. | |
| Born | Majel Leigh Hudec[1] February 23, 1932[1] Cleveland, Ohio, United States[1] |
| Died | December 18, 2008 (aged 76)[1] Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, United States[1] |
| Other name(s) | M. Leigh Hudec |
| Occupation | TV, film, voice actress |
| Spouse(s) | Gene Roddenberry (1969–1991)[1] |
| Official website | |
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (born Majel Leigh Hudec, February 23, 1932 – December 18, 2008)[1] was an American actress and producer. She was also the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.[1]
As a result of her marriage to Gene Roddenberry and her ongoing relationship with Star Trek – participating in some way in every series to date – she was sometimes referred to as "the First Lady of Star Trek". She and Gene Roddenberry were married in Japan on August 6, 1969, after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series.[1]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Biography
Born Majel Leigh Hudec on February 23, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio,[1] Roddenberry began taking acting classes as a child. She attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, then had some stage roles and came to Hollywood. In the late 1950s and 1960s, she had bit parts in a few movies and small roles in TV series.[1] She worked at the Desilu Studios on several TV shows, including Bonanza, The Untouchables, The Lucy Show, and The Lieutenant. She received training in comedy from Lucille Ball. In 1960, she played Gwen Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver. She was also briefly seen in the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? in an ad parody at the beginning of the film. Barrett was the mother of Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr.[1]
[edit] Star Trek
In various roles, Barrett had been in every dramatic incarnation of the popular science fiction Star Trek franchise, including live-action and animated versions, television and cinema, and all of the time periods in which the various series have been set.
She first appeared in Star Trek's initial pilot, "The Cage," as the USS Enterprise's unnamed first officer, "Number One." Barrett was romantically involved with Roddenberry, whose marriage was then on the verge of failing, at the time, and the idea of having an otherwise unknown woman in a leading role with a position of authority, because she was the producer's girlfriend, it is said to have infuriated NBC network executives who insisted that Roddenberry give the role to a man.[2] In Star Trek Memories, which he dictated to Chris Kreski, William Shatner corroborated this, but he added that female viewers at test screenings hated the character as well.[3] Shatner noted that women viewers felt she was "pushy" and "annoying" and also thought that "Number One shouldn't be trying so hard to fit in with the men."[4] Barrett often joked that Roddenberry, given the choice between keeping Mr. Spock (whom the network also hated) or the woman character, "kept the Vulcan and married the woman, 'cause he didn't think Leonard [Nimoy] would have it the other way around."[5]
Her role in subsequent episodes of Star Trek was altered to that of Nurse Christine Chapel, a frequently recurring character, known for her unrequited affection for the emotionless Spock. In an early scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, viewers are informed that she has now become Doctor Chapel, a role which she reprised briefly in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Barrett provided several voices for Star Trek: The Animated Series, including those of Nurse Chapel and a communications officer named M'Ress, an ailuroid officer who served alongside Uhura. She would return years later in Star Trek: The Next Generation, cast as the outrageously self-deterministic, iconoclastic Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, who appeared as a recurring character in the series. Her character often vexed the captain of the Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard, who spurned her amorous advances. Barrett later appeared as Ambassador Troi in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where in stark contrast, she developed a strong relationship with Constable Odo.
She provided the regular voice of the onboard computers of Federation starships for Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and most of the Star Trek movies. She reprised her role as a shipboard computer's voice in two episodes of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise. She also lent her voice to various computer games and software related to the franchise. Roddenberry had also made a point of attending a major Star Trek convention each year in an effort to inspire fans and keep the franchise alive.[1]
Less than 10 days before her death, on December 9, 2008, Roddenberry Productions announced that she would be providing the voice of the ship's computer once again, this time for the 2009 motion picture relaunch of Star Trek.[1][6] Sean Rossall, a Roddenberry family spokesman, stated that she had already completed the voiceover work, approximately December 4, 2008.[1]
[edit] After Star Trek
| “ | "My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that 'Star Trek' fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away." | ” |
She appeared as Primus Dominic in Roddenberry's 1973 post-apocalyptic TV drama pilot, Genesis II. After Roddenberry's death, Barrett took material from his archives to bring two of his ideas into production. She was executive producer of Earth: Final Conflict (in which she also played the character Dr. Julianne Belman), and Andromeda.
In a gesture of goodwill between the creators of the Star Trek franchise and of Babylon 5 (whose fans often engaged in a rivalry),[7] she appeared in the latter series' episode "Point of No Return", as Lady Morella, the psychic widow of the Centauri emperor, a role which foreshadowed major plot elements in the series.
Parodying her voice work as the computer for the Star Trek series, Barrett performed as a guest voice on Family Guy as the voice of Stewie Griffin's ship's computer in the episode "Emission Impossible".
The Union Pacific Railroad used her voice talent for their track-side defect detector devices, used in various locations west of the Mississippi River. When a defect is identified, the system responds with her recorded voice announcing information to the train crew over the radio.[8]
Barrett-Roddenberry died on December 18, 2008, at her home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California as a result of complications from leukemia. She was 76.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Jablon, Robert (2008-12-18). "Majel Roddenberry, widow of 'Trek' creator, dies", Associated Press, San Jose Mercury-News (San Jose, California), MediaNews Group. Retrieved on 18 December 2008.
- ^ Solow, Herbert F.; Justman, Robert H. (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0671896288.
- ^ Star Trek Memories, dictated by William Shatner and transcribed by Chris Kreski, which HarperCollins published, with the ISBN 0-06-017734-9, in 1993, made this claim in the chapter on "The Cage."
- ^ William Shatner, Star Trek Memories, Harper Collins, 1993. p.65
- ^ Bio and interview of Majel Barrett, "Creation presents Majel Barrett"
- ^ Roddenberry Productions press release, December 11, 2008; accessed December 18, 2008
- ^ http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/countries/co/guide/053.html
- ^ "Live Railroad Radio Communications". RailroadRadio.net. Retrieved on 2007-02-12. Select UP San Francisco Bay Area for real-time communications feed.
[edit] External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Majel Barrett |
- Majel Barrett article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Majel Barrett at the Internet Movie Database
- Majel Barrett at Allmovie
- AP Obituary in the Los Angeles Times
- Obituary on User Friendly
 | Wikinews has related news: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of 'Star Trek' creator dies of cancer at 76 |
| |||||
Friday, December 19, 2008
protecting customers from active attacks against Internet Explorer.
MS08-078 Released
Posted Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:28 AM by MSRCTEAMHello, Mike here,
Today we released security update MS08-078, protecting customers from active attacks against Internet Explorer. This update will be applied automatically to hundreds of millions of customers through automatic updates over the next few days. And, for our enterprise customers - with multiple systems within their networks – this update can be deployed through all standard security update management systems including, SCCM, SMS, WSUS, and Windows Update as of 10AM PST today.
As with all security updates from Microsoft, we have verified that this update meets the quality, deployment and application compatibility criteria. It is a high-quality update, ready for broad release, and we encourage customers to test and deploy this update as quickly as possible.
Given the extremely short fix timeline and the attention on this issue I wanted to share some of the work going on behind the scenes as we readied this update for release.
We initially learned the details on these attacks in the early morning hours of December 9th, and immediately activated off our Emergency Response process (SSIRP) to monitor the threat environment, fast track the product development and testing and to deliver guidance to customers. By the next day, we published Security Advisory 961051 - this advisory listed workarounds that blocked all known attacks. Over the course of the next eight days, this advisory was updated five times, adding newer workarounds and mitigations. In total, over eight different options were available to customers to block attacks. While all of these workarounds are listed in the advisory, the Security Vulnerability Research and Defense blog contained even more context around the how the workarounds blocked the attacks, and why they were effective.
In addition to these workarounds, we were able to share detailed information with our partners in the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) and Microsoft Security Response Alliance (MSRA), allowing protections to be created for over 24 different security partners' products. This is further validation of our commitment to ‘community based defense’ and means customers that hadn’t yet applied the workarounds, and maybe weren’t even using Microsoft products, were also protected from known attacks.
Along with this information sharing, we also continually monitored the threat environment, noting when the attacks began to change in nature and scope. In fact, the folks in our MMPC published a detailed blogs both last Thursday and over the weekend discussing this changing threat environment to ensure customers were aware of the evolving risk.
And early yesterday we gave our worldwide customers a heads-up that an update was planned for release this morning.
Finally, after rigorous development and testing, we released the update to customers. Some customers that follow us closely, might know that saying “the update” is a bit misleading, as it is actually over 300 distinct updates for over six versions of Internet Explorer that apply to over 50 different languages. And despite this huge number of distinct updates, they’re all being offered to customers automatically, regardless of their specific Internet Explorer configuration.
Even with that, the release Emergency Response process isn’t over. There is additional support to customers and additional refinement of our product development efforts. The MSRC and development teams will incorporate learning back into the Security Development Lifecycle. And The MSRC and our Customer Support teams are standing by ready to assist. There are two special webcasts today, open to anyone, and are standing by ready to answer questions, and you may register by clicking on the links below:
· December 17, 2008 1:00 PM Pacific Time
· December 18,2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time
We will continue to monitor the environment, ensuring customers are able to apply the update successfully, and that attacks are blunted.
Thanks,
Mike Reavey
Director, MSRC
Thursday, December 18, 2008
"The First Lady of 'Trek' " dies
Roddenberry died at her home in Bel-Air after a battle with leukemia, said family spokesman Sean Rossall.
Once dubbed Cby the Chicago Tribune, Majel (sounds like Mabel) Barrett Roddenberry was associated with "Star Trek" from the beginning.
In the first TV pilot, she played a leading role as Number One, the first officer who was second in command.
She also was the voice of the Starship Enterprise for six of the 10 "Star Trek" movies that have been released, as well as the 11th, which is due out next year.
Roddenberry also played Dr. Christina Chapel in two of the "Star Trek" movies, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek: The Voyage Home."
And she played the recurring role of the flamboyant Lwaxana Troi on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."
Roddenberry, whose pre-"Star Trek" acting career included guest appearances on series such as "The Untouchables" and "The Lucy Show," had no idea she was establishing a career path in science fiction when she took her first "Star Trek" role.
"Not at all," she said in a 2002 interview with the Tulsa World. "I certainly didn't have any idea that I'd be doing it this long, for so many different shows and films -- especially as a product of a series that was a flop. The original was only on for three years. It wasn't considered a success by anyone's standards."
The show took off as a pop-culture phenomenon after it went into syndication, however, and Roddenberry, who was married to Gene Roddenberry from 1969 until his death in 1991, attended her first "Star Trek" convention in 1972.
"You know, when the conventions started out, I'd attend four or five a month," she said in the 2002 interview. "But after a while, it got where there was no time for anything else. You'd just travel from city to city, making the same speech, answering the same questions."
Rossall said both Gene and Majel Roddenberry maintained warm relationships with "Star Trek" fans. And as late as August, he said, Majel Roddenberry attended a "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas.
As she told the Buffalo City News in 1998, "It's been a hell of a ride."
Born Majel Hudec in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 1932, she attended the University of Miami and acted in regional theater before heading to Hollywood in the late '50s.
Several years after her husband's death, Roddenberry discovered a pilot script and notes he had written for a series in the '70s.
And in 1997, with Majel Barrett Roddenberry as an executive producer and playing a recurring role, "Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict" began airing in syndication. She later was an executive producer of the syndicated "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda."
She is survived by her son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry Jr.
Roddenberry had a love of animals and was dedicated to animal rescue. Instead of flowers, the family suggests donations in her name to Precious Paws, www.preciouspaws.org, or CARE (Cat & Canine Assistance, Referral and Education), www.care4pets.org.
Funeral and memorial service details are pending.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Yes can you tell i am not a fan of this!?
Canadian soldiers mourn loss of fallen comrades
Last Updated: Sunday, December 14, 2008 | 4:18 PM ET Comments64Recommend38
CBC News
Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of Task Force Kandahar said the fallen soldiers, all stationed at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown near Fredericton, will be remembered for "their devotion to their chosen profession."
Comrades of Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin and Pte. Justin Peter Jones gathered at Kandahar Airfield Sunday as the bodies were loaded onto a plane for the journey home to Canada.
Thompson said the three served as members of the Provincial Reconstruction Team and their job was to conduct regular security patrols.
On the day they were killed, the members of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, were sent out to investigate a report that someone may have been trying to plant a bomb along the road, the CBC's David Common said.
Saturday's explosion was so powerful it flipped over their armoured vehicle, witnesses said.
On Sunday, Thompson stood under the bright summer sun in front of the cenotaph honouring Canadians killed in Afghanistan, while the Canadian flag flew at half-mast.
"We share this moment of grief together today and think of these young men who were so full of life and full of promise," he said. "We will remember their intensity and their devotion to their chosen profession. It’s not easy to face their departure, but we will share their stories and honour their memory together.”
Hamilton, 26, was born in Truro, N.S., and grew up in Upper Musquodoboit, southeast of Truro.
Thompson said Hamilton had served in Haiti and was on his third tour of Afghanistan. He was known as "Hammy" to his friends and loved to hunt and fish. Thompson said Hamilton's "first love" was his daughter Annabella.
Jones, 21, was from Baie Verte, N.L.
"Pte. Justin Jones was a friendly Newfoundlander who loved to play his guitar and drive his pickup truck. Jonesy, as he was known to his friends, loved to learn," Thompson said.
"He frequently volunteered for new courses. His buddies say that Jonesy was the kindest person you’d ever meet," he said.
N.L. premier offers sympathies
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams expressed his condolences and said deepest sympathies and prayers go to the colleagues and loved ones of the soldiers.
"Words cannot express our sorrow for this tragic loss, especially for the families and friends of those who have sacrificed their lives in selfless service to others," said Williams.
He added Jones's "bravery, dedication and commitment to peace will be his legacy and will never be forgotten."
Flags at Confederation Building in St. John's will be flown at half-mast to honour Jones, the premier said.
The age and hometown of Curwin was not made available.
Thompson said Curwin was a "natural" at everything he attempted and was the "voice of reason" among his group of soldiers, "making sure that when they were getting rambunctious or planned to get into mischief that he put the brakes on it."
"Pte. John Curwin was a quintessential family man. He was a dedicated dad to his three children and he always said that his wife, Laura Mae, was his best friend," Thompson said.
The bomb that killed the three soldiers and wounded a fourth was planted on the same stretch of highway where three other Canadian soldiers were killed on Dec. 5.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean offered their sympathies to the friends and families of the latest casualties in an incident that pushed Canada's military death toll from the Afghan mission to 103 soldiers.
"This tragic incident demonstrates the considerable risk faced by the exceptional men and women of the Canadian Forces as they work to promote freedom, security and democracy in Afghanistan," Harper said in a statement from Ottawa.
The prime minister said while the country is profoundly saddened, it will not waver in its support for its troops.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The B.C. Crown at work loving the RCMP in Dziekanski's death
I think a civil action is needed now too
Crown says death of man at Vcr airport not directly caused by Taser
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The B.C. Crown says there will be no charges against four RCMP officers involved with Robert Dziekanski, who died after he was stunned by a Taser at Vancouver airport last fall.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said Friday that Dziekanski was jolted five times in total but the cause of death was sudden death following restraint, and not directly caused by the Taser.
A bystander's video of Dziekanski dying was released a few weeks later and has been seen by people around the world on TV and the Internet.
The video shows the four RCMP officers confronting the confused and agitated man, and seconds later using the stun gun on him.
Dziekanski died on the floor of the airport in the early hours of Oct. 14, 2007, as officers kneeled on the still-struggling man.
The incident prompted several investigations, including a public inquiry beginning in January that will examine Dziekanski's death.
Lowe said the stun gun used on Dziekanski initially malfunctioned, and the probes didn't stick to him. He was hit twice by the Taser while he lay on the ground, struggling with officers.
An autopsy showed no drugs or alcohol in Dziekanski's system but did show signs of chronic alcoholism.
Prosecutors say he may have been in the grips of alcohol withdrawal, dehydrated and hysterical.
A pathologist speculated those factors caused delirium that may have contributed to his heart stopping, along with being hit by the Taser and being restrained.
Lowe said the charge assessment went through three levels of approval, which concluded there was no likelihood of conviction against the officers involved.
He said the actions of the officers may be seen as having contributed to his death, but they are considered lawful.
Dziekanski's death, and the shocking video of his last moments, focused attention on the use of Tasers by law enforcement officers.
The B.C. public inquiry that got underway earlier this year looked at the general use of conducted-energy weapons by law enforcement. It will continue in January with a second phase looking specifically at Dziekanski's death.
After the Crown announcement, Assistant RCMP Commissioner Al MacIntyre said the force respects the findings of the Crown.
He noted that several layers of investigation remain, among them the B.C. public inquiry and a pending coroners inquest.
MacIntyre said the Mounties have made changes to their policies on the use of Tasers since the incident, and are prepared to make further changes if needed.
He said there has been a lot of emotional debate around the use of Tasers but he says facts, not emotion, should guide the debate.