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Starting next month (May), Granite customer will be able to pay their bills through Royal Direct as well as Visa.
Be sure and visit some of these great Easter sites available on the net:
My nieces and nephews who live in the city (read Winnipeg) are involved in activities
similar to this. There is a difference, though. In large centres there is a large pool of
children to choose from when planning these activities. All the neighborhood children get
involved in different activities. When you show up for your activity, there is the
opportunity to meet new friends (see how I'm spinning a positive slant here). The 10 year
olds play with and against other 10 year olds. After all, in large centres there is no
shortage of 10 year olds.
During Pinawa Jam Can, all of the kids in town are there - there is no where else to be! The kids show up and know every other kid out there on the ice. True rivalry develops as the Grade six boys play the Grade six girls. True sportsmanship shows up as two 11 year old boys play on the same team as two 8 year old girls. The kids learn a lot about tolerance in an atmosphere like this. The boys cheer for the girls when they get the rocks over the hog line - a big accomplishment for the younger ones. The picture to the right shows the great effort put out by these kids to do that. You may notice in this picture where the hog line is. Sure, let the little ones move up a bit, and up and up... its all in the name of sportsmanship.
How does a tradition like this survive the ages? My hat is off to the Pinawa / Lac du Bonnet
Recreation Commission. The efforts of Michelle Chudd, our Recreation Director, is one of the
primary reasons events like this continue. She certainly doesn't do it alone, though. The number
of volunteers involved astounds me. The adults are busy selling penny candy, hotdogs and
coffee (for those early morning games). Teens volunteer to supervise the kids games, often in
between their own games. Local businesses donate prizes that are drawn daily.
I had the opportunity, while watching the games of course, of speaking to a grandmother who has been watching jam can for all of those 35 years. She was there with her kids, and now she's there with her grandchildren. This article may be more about the greatness of living in a small town and less about curling.
I hope I get the chance to watch my grandchildren jam can in Pinawa.
Discover Manitoba's Finest Private Campgrounds at the new Manitoba Association of Campgrounds And Parks. Information about all the members of this group can be found there. While you're mind is focused on camping, check out the Mantago Bay RV Park and Campground website as well.
The Whiteshell Workforce Adjustment Centre was established in October, 1999 to serve individuals affected by the AECL downsizing; in partnership with the Bargaining and Management representatives from the Whiteshell Laboratories along with the Provincial Government Department of Manitoba Education & Training and the Department of Labour. This site is loaded with some great job search information, as well as a skills inventory in case you're looking for that perfect employee.
The North Eastman Health Association has gone on-line this month. Information about health care services and facilities in Eastern Manitoba is available, along with an extensive amount of information about the North Eastman Health Association in general.
The courses will be covering the following topics:
The group is intending to hold further sessions in communities throughout Eastern Manitoba. Watch the Granite Homepage for more information.
Bill Mason. Born and raised right here in Manitoba. This is a guy who started paddling on the lagoon behind Grand Beach and went on to become one of Canada’s most accomplished canoeists. But he was also much more than that. In his too short a life he was a writer, artist, filmmaker, naturalist and one of our country’s foremost authorities on whitewater paddling.
He was one of the members of the Manitoba canoe team that won the cross Canada canoe race in our country’s centennial year. He went on to become famous for his work with The National Film Board earning recognition both nationally and internationally – something almost 70 awards will tend to do. I had read his books Path of the Paddle and Song of the Paddle and had fallen in love with the imagery he painted with words of Canada’s rivers and lakes. But I didn’t know much of his artistic works – sketches, watercolours and oil paintings that he had done in his years in Canada’s wilderness – this was , in fact , his real passion.
I find it very easy to enjoy any of his works – it isn’t hard when you share the same love for a country such as Canada. As a kid I used to paddle those same lakes and rivers as Mason – Lake Brereton, Rennie, Whitemouth, Whiteshell, and Winnipeg Rivers. We spent a lot of time at such places such as Seven Sisters Falls, Dorothy Lake and all along the Winnipeg River. And, like Mason, I got to know and love the land between Québec and Manitoba as we made the trip so many times. I grew to love the landscape along Superior’s north shore and even the northern route through Nipigon, Kapuskasing, and Parc La Vérendrye north of Montreal (yeah it was named after the same guy who came through these parts – Lac du Bonnet, Beausejour etc.) Interestingly, the town of Rennie and Rennie River were named after the same person as my former high school in Québec - John Rennie - famed English engineer responsible for such notables as the Waterloo and London Bridges in London among other things. (I wonder what he would think of the Lee River bridge).
Anyway, I recently picked up a book of Bill’s paintings – "Canoescapes". Now these aren’t Robert Bateman style “photographs” made to look like paintings. Many are impressionistic in style which allows one’s eye and mind to use a bit of imagination. But if you’ve spent any time in our wild country it doesn’t take much to imagine this part of Canada as seen through Bill’s eyes.
I have to admit one of my favourites is not one of his favourites. Titled “Pine Island Storm”. It is a watercolour of a small granite island on Lake of the Woods near Manitoba’s Pioneer Camp in the middle of a storm. I myself have been on many such islands – some in the middle of a storm such as the one he depicts on his painting.
Others that I like are ones where he includes the famous Chestnut Prospector Canoes. One of his best is “Campfire on the Pukaskwa River”. I can smell the smoke and hear the water as it rushes past his campsite. He loved this spot so much that he featured it in a few of his NFB films.
But the one I like the most is “Red Canoe in Rapids, Fall Colours, Petawawa River”. The canoe looks a little odd until you realize that the paddler (Bill) has been thrown clear and the canoe is being carried down stream as it is slowly being ripped apart by the rushing river and rocks. Although it was set in an eastern Ontario river, it was inspired by a spill he had in the Whiteshell River 37 years before he painted it.
Bill Mason is gone now – but the country he knew and loved is much the way it has been for the past several thousand years. Most of it untouched – left much as it was the way the creator that Bill had so much faith in - had originally made it. He was very much a person who identified with the people who lived here for centuries and did everything in relation to the land – something many of us don’t do very well. The visual images he left to us are very valuable. His paintings teach us to stop, reflect on our own experiences, and think. In his own words, “to fully enjoy nature, one must learn to see.”
Are you Secure?
Ah yes, the question that inevitably arises to anyone and everyone who uses computers and the internet. And the concerns surrounding security as to information attacks, virii, and other forms of electronic espionage. How secure are you, and are you placed in a vulnerable position by your electronic floatsam and jetsam?
What is a virus? A virus is a program or macro which is executable (can be run). Period. You can not be infected by a virus from email or other forms of internet communications without accepting and executing these programs. Although software developers are very often interested in ways of ensuring they receive payment for someone to use their product, they are under legal parameters which prevent them from doing things like formatting your hard drive. Professional companies are very unlikely to intentionally cause harm to your computer or information. Macro viruses are caused by functionality within software applications to be somewhat re-programmed. This either leads to damaged text documents or in the case of MicroSoft Office, macros can be created which can cause further harm to your computer and information.
The only other form of virus are informational. These are the email or other messages you may receive from time to time telling you that AOL or ICQ or Bill Gates or some other company or individual will give you something or cause harm to you or your computer. Like any urban myth, although these may be entertaining to those who are informed about the relevant topic and know the information to be false, this information can be problematic to those who currently do not have knowlege or information relating to the message. It is wise to laugh at these "jokes" and wise to only pass this misinformation along to friends with disclaimers.
Sites related to information virii (hoaxes):
http://www.icq.com/temp/notice.html
http://vil.mcafee.com/villib/hoax.asp
http://www.nai.com/services/support/hoax/hoax.asp
From myth to reality:
securing your computer.
One urban myth or running joke is that "such and such" (popular)
software is a virus. The reality of this might be that a popular program
may have (what the vendor might call) a certain functionality. In the
real world, they're called "bugs". A bug is a non-intentional
(mis)functionality in a program. Most bugs are fixed from programs
before the software is released. Rarely does software go out without
at least one or two bugs. Just like rarely will you receive a magazine
or newsletter that doesn't have misplelling. Once again defined, a
program is any code
on a computer which can be loaded into your computer's memory (RAM)
and be run or executed. An operating system like Windows is a program.
Java is a programming language. A java compiler is a program which
takes the Java code and converts it to a (java) program. If you write a
program in any
language and compile it to a program, there is a likelyhood there will
be a problem. If I am a program and I am an operating system like
Windows or MacOS or Unix and these errors are not caught before
I am unleashed on the unsuspecting consumer, I can cause a lot of
frustrations and damaged information. Sometimes, these bugs are
not known by the vendor who created the software, but are found
by a malicious individual or group and is then used to "infiltrate"
your computer or information and either cause damage or retrieve
information you may not wish them to have.
On security:
The only security for digital information is keep your computer
turned off and never put any information on your computer. With
my toungue out of my cheek, if someone truly wants access to
information you have or information about you they will find a way
to get it. Now, paranoia aside, the world is perhaps not such a
terrible place. There are a few things you may wish to do to
protect yourself which many people use, or you may wish to
become a security expert and have every piece of digital
information locked up in some way.
In order to protect yourself from virii, there are many good anti-virus software programs out there which you can obtain either by download or purchasing at a computer software store. Only if you continually retrieve and add upgrades for new virii will you ensure a strong level of safety. And remember, you must use (run) this software in order for it to work. Most do this automatically. If you receive any program through email or otherwise, you need to run it through the virus checker. Many statements on receiving software suggest that if you are unsure of the source, check it on a virus checker. You are as likely to receive a virus from a friend as from someone you don't know. This is because of the way virii don't usually show themselves until a specific benchmark such as a time or date or process, your friend might send you the virus without knowing they already have been infected. Some people run more than one brand of virus checker in order to be sure they are safe.
In order to protect yourself from run away (buggy) programs, ensure you have the most recent version of the software or the most recent upgrade or patch. It does occur that these upgrades or newer versions can have the same bugs, new bugs, or more bugs. New software is often called beta. There is pre-release beta and "post- release" beta. Pre-release is when the vendor offers you an opportunity to try out the software before anyone else has the ability to do so. What I have called post-release is when the software becomes available to the world with a label called "beta". Either way, there is a disclaimer that they do not warrant or guarantee the software and if it erases all the data on your computer, it's not their fault. Another type of software which can often be dangerous is newly released software. This is probably the most dangerous in the sense that the software has been released to the general public, with the assumption that it is in good working condition. A rule of thumb is to allow the software a 3 month cooling period (ie: other people are the guinea pigs, not you). This allows you time to see how the software has functioned on a large user base of computers. Most bugs will be known and/or fixed by this time and you can obtain a new release or patch which should be "cleaner".
What about information espionage and other forms of direct attack from other computer users? This is one of the most difficult challanges right now. There is encryption software available which allows only the rightful viewer to read documentation intended for them. Both on your computer, and on files sent to others, including email. PGP (pretty good privacy) and 128bit encryption is the most popular. Other forms are available. To prevent others from getting information from you while you are on the internet, another few methods of security are as follows:
A final word on security and privacy:
When we are conceived and born, we are immediately at risk. The
moment we communicate and store information digitally, that
information is at risk. Discussion on the subject is never ending.
Possibly the best advice I can offer on the subject is that if you use
a computer, and you communicate digitally, your are at risk and
you must assume the responsibilty of that risk. Meteors fall
through the roofs of houses, tornadoes run amock, wild animals are
wild (and some tamed ones are, too). We go on about our
business as best we can to ensure we are safe. On the internet,
as with digitally stored information, we use it because it serves a
function. It is at risk. Our best defence, if we so choose to defend
our information, is more information in the form of knowlege, and to
use that knowlege wisely.
Play safe, kids!
Network Manager’s Report
by David Hnatiw
Network Manager Report
March 1999 Changes
LAC DU BONNET - Extra analog lines were to be removed; delayed until April 1, 1999. The mail server had a software upgrade. Some Year 2000 patches where installed.
WHITEMOUTH - No changes.
PINE FALLS - MTS replaced a line card on March 11, 1999. Granite replaced the entire modem pool on March 16, 1999 and upgraded the operating system on the router. Granite replaced a bad modem on March 19, 1999 (this modem was not in service). Granite and Cisco Systems are still looking into the problem with some modems dropping calls. Granite would request that all users using the Pine Falls POP that are have problems email support@granite.mb.ca with their modem type, manufacture, computer brand/model and any other information about their modem/computer. This will help us compile a database to look for a pattern.
April Upgrades/Maintenance
LAC DU BONNET - A new server is on order. The new server will take over hosting major sites. The old server will become the mail server thus reducing the load on the current server.
WHITEMOUTH - No planned maintenance.
PINE FALLS - No maintenance planned; just continual monitoring and work with Cisco and MTS to solve unresolved problems.
Network Statistics
Modem pool usage
| LdB Analog #1 | LdBAnalog #2 | LdB Digital | Whitemouth | Pine Falls | |
| December | 34% | 11% | 3% | 24% | - |
| January | 37% | 13% | 23% | 27% | - |
| February | 38% | 12% | 32% | 24% | 0% |
| March | 31% | 20% | 28% | 31% | 10% |
Lac du Bonnet Digital Modem Information:
Highest Speed
| 50000 kb < 1 % | 44000 kb 9 % | 38000 kb < 1% | 31200 kb 20 % |
| 49333 kb 5 % | 42667 kb 1 % | 37333 kb < 1% | 28800 kb 8 % |
| 48000 kb 3 % | 42000 kb < 1 % | 36000 kb 1% | 26400 kb 3 % |
| 46667 kb 1 % | 41333 kb < 1 % | 34667 kb < 1 % | 24000 kb 2 % |
Check out our previous newsletters: