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Google is losing a lot of friends lately. Their recent decisions to discontinue iGoogle and Reader are making many people unhappy . Today, to the great dismay of many Gmail users , Gmail's new compose interface - a small box in the corner of your screen - became the default. Google says the previous compose style - the more typical large box in the centre of your screen - will be discontinued. Why? Why not give us options? If some people like to compose an email in a small box in the corner of their screen, that's grand. They can. And if other people prefer to compose an email in as large a space as possible, in the centre of their screen... well, why can't we? I do not understand Google's continuing drive to dictate to its users how they should use Google products. The technology to allow for customer choice clearly exists. Why not let users decide how best to use a product? Why does Google care where and how we type our emails? Why not let us decide? This actually af...

If you're in the Mississauga area and you're interested in hearing this blog live and in person, I'm giving a talk on Tuesday, April 2, sponsored by the Mississauga chapter of the International Socialists. Here are the deets. * * * * It's Pro-Choice or No Choice – Protecting Our Rights Stephen Harper promised he wouldn't re-open the abortion debate, but one Conservative MP after the next has tabled motions that would limit - or even destroy - Canadian women's reproductive rights. What are those rights, and how are they threatened? What can Canadians learn from the state of reproductive rights in the U.S.? Join us for an informative talk by long-time pro-choice activist Laura Kaminker and a discussion of the issues. WHAT: "Pro-Choice Canada – Protecting Our Rights" WHEN: Tuesday, April 2, 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Room CL-2, Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga Parking in the garage under the library is FREE after 6 pm. Sponsored by the Miss...

Supporters of U.S. war resisters in Canada may be interested in hearing about the War Resisters Support Campaign  event earlier this week. A large crowd came out to share a meal, hear an update on the Campaign, and raise funds for legal fees for the court martial of war resister Kimberly Rivera. War resister Jules Tindungan kicked off the evening by speaking about the letter from Iraq War veteran and resister Tomas Young , which I'm sure you've all seen. We watched Young himself read the letter on Democracy Now ( here ). It was announced that war resister Justin Colby was sentenced to 15 months in prison, which his lawyer, James Branum , was able to get reduced to nine months. Justin returned to the U.S. "voluntarily," meaning he was not deported or technically forced out by the Harper Government, but had he been granted status in Canada, his decision might have been very different. Courage to Resist has posted about Justin.  They are asking supporters to write respec...

The degree will not be official until May, but I've just completed my very last school assignment. This means... I. AM. DONE. Done!!!!! My apologies to everyone who already saw this at Facebook, but such momentous news must be posted on wmtc! I am honestly unable to express my joy and relief at finishing school. I sometimes wonder if I'm making a big fuss over something quite common, something people do every day. Then again, if people do return to school after nearly 30 years and pilot through a complete career change in their early 50s, every day, then good on them, because it isn't easy. I had a ton of help. The support and encouragement from friends - in person, on wmtc, on Facebook, or all three - helped so much. People did amazing things for me, like a Campaign friend who gave me a key to her house near campus and insisted I use her spare bedroom for a lie-down anytime I wanted. For my first two years of school, that rest and re-charge let me continue to attend WRS...

Since blog comments are not a very useful way of sharing information, I'll post this again here. A list of alternatives to Google Reader can be found at ReplaceReader . I'm very interested in this, even though I stopped using Google Reader a long time ago. I tried several times, and each time found that using any feed service hugely exacerbated that feeling of drowning in too much information. Worse, using a feed reader triggered my anxiety about not having enough time, just about the last thing I need. Thus my own internet reading continues to be the only thing in my life that is purposely erratic, unmethodical, and disorganized - and that's the only way it works for me. Despite that, I hate that Google has discontinued Reader and iGoogle, and I hope another good feed reader service becomes hugely successful as a result.

A while back, I expressed my frustration with the current massive emphasis on mobile apps, and with organizations that use Facebook pages instead of web pages: the walled-off internet, or why facebook and mobile apps are good for them and bad for us . For a more complete view of this sad fact, you might want to read this 2010 article from Wired : The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet by Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff. It's old in internet terms, but more relevant than ever: If we’re moving away from the open Web, it’s at least in part because of the rising dominance of businesspeople more inclined to think in the all-or-nothing terms of traditional media than in the come-one-come-all collectivist utopianism of the Web. This is not just natural maturation but in many ways the result of a competing idea — one that rejects the Web’s ethic, technology, and business models. The control the Web took from the vertically integrated, top-down media world can, with a little rethinking o...

photo by andreyohanes3 One in eight people on this planet do not have access to safe drinking water. Each day, 3,000 children under the age of five die from diseases caused by drinking unsafe water. Half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water. In a world of such great plenty, how can this be? It's not inevitable, and it's not beyond our power to change. Go to WaterDay.org to see an impressive photo gallery highlighting the global water crisis. In Canada, the Harper Government has removed protections from almost every lake and river in the country. They are trying to cut environmental assessments for massive projects (like pipelines) that endanger the fresh water supply. The Council of Canadians asks you to join the fight to protect Canada's water as a public commons, not a free giveaway for industry. Water is a human right.