Canada’s national Do Not Call registry

1-866-580-3625

Finally, people in Canada can call a number, give their phone number, and tell telemarketers not to call them.

Here’s what you need to say::

1. “English” or “français”
2. Your number, starting with the area code, one digit at a time (or beep it in)
3. “Register”

You can listen to the rest, which is mostly a long legal disclaimer, or hang up.

The telemarketers have been lobbying against it and have managed to get some exceptions:

• Political parties
• Charities
• Newspapers trying to get subscribers
• Any business that you’ve dealt with in the last year

Those you must tell individually, yourself, to take you off their calling lists. To register a number, you must call from it. What that means, of course, is that you can’t register Ident-a-call numbers with special rings by telephone. But you can use the web site: National Do Not Call Registry (Canadian).

It takes 31 days to get the message to telemarketers but is good until November, 2011.

Song: Pack up Your Sorrows

This is awonderful song “Pack up Your Sorrows” sung by Richard and Mimi Farina with Pete Seeger. It was written by Pauline Baez Marden and Ricard Farina. Good for chantpleure (singing while crying).

Here’s another version:

I like this one:

Tony Robbins on CBC’s The Hour

Did you know that Tony Robbins’ non-profit organization “feeds two million people a year.”

Tony Robbins is about 6′ 7″ because of a tumor on his pituitary gland in adolescence that caused a huge growth spurt.

He says he can clear any phobia in one lesson. He shows people how to break their pattern and change their biochemistry. Actions change your body chemistry.

“I don’t want to talk to anyone, we just want to communicate to them.”

Song: I Loved You Once in Silence

This is “I Loved You Once is Silence” from Camelot will illustrations of Kyo and Tohru from the anime Fruits Basket.

Song: Glory Days

Bruce Springsteen on aging heroes:

STC Admin Council meeting

We had a productive meeting tonight, planning the shape of the general meetings and events for the next two years. We voted to carry out the program that we’ve been hashing out for the last couple of months.

Dinner with science bloggers!

…and real scientists, in town for the American Society for Microbiology general meeting. I was honoured to be invited. Larry Moran and Tara Smith organized a dinner of science bloggers previously acquainted only over the Web. We met at the University of Toronto. The picture shows some of us sitting on the steps in front of the Medical Sciences Building: Larry Moran of Sandwalk, Jonathan Badger of T. Taxus, Andrew Staroscik of Mixotrophy, Tara Smith of Aetiology, and John Logsdon of Sex, Genes, and Evolution. Chris Condayan, the ASM public outreach manager, was off recording an interview with Eva Amsen of Easternblot. (He interviewed several people for a podcast on the ASM’s Web site.)

Eight of us walked down to Baldwin Street for Indian food and a long, chatty, interesting dinner together. The food at Matahari restaurant was both good and unfamiliar. I had a good time and I think everyone else did, too. Here’s

• Larry’s “Bloggers in Toronto”
• Tara’s “Science Bloggers storm Toronto!”
• Jonathan’s “Mini-blogger convention at ASM 2007″

I’m home!

I’m home from my twin courses, two days of “XML and Structured Authoring” and one day of “Moving from Unstructured to Structured FrameMaker” in Cambridge, Ontario.

That’s a long time to pay attention, and I think my brain is full.

Richard Dawkins film at the Brunswick Theatre

One of our local Toronto repertory film-houses is showing Richard Dawkins‘ BBC documentary on March 15 and 19:

“The Root of All Evil?” is a BBC documentary film, written and presented by Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion), in which he argues that the world would be better off without religion. This film explores the unproven beliefs that are treated as factual by many religions and the extremes to which some followers have taken them.

This being Canada, the theatre invites:

Join us after the film for a respectful and open discussion about the film and the issues is raises. All are welcome to attend and participate.

In other words, be nice!

Whither STC?

Bill Swallow’s Waxing TechComm is hosting a continued discussion of the direction of and appropriate strategies for the Society for Technical Communication.