I believe that internet service providers need to be treated as “dumb” utilities like hydro, water, and sewage are. Canada as a country is following behind with innovation; small companies (traditionally the true innovators) will have difficulty paying access fews to providers like Bell, Cogeco, or Rogers.

Please take the time and watch the below video.

SaveOurNet.ca provides a fairly informative poster discussing some of these issues. If you believe the CRTC has failed to look into the consumer’s best interests like I do, please take the time to sign the Disolve the CRTC petition.

It has been quite a while since I have used Yahoo! Answers. I often find many of the answers to questions are blatantly wrong or that the person answering doesn’t really provide a link to additional information. This blog post is designed to include additional information on the Get & Post methods of HTTP and what should be one of the simplest topics, but isn’t because some people insist on using large words like idempotent.

HTTP uses two methods of getting and receiving data from a webserver, generally these two methods can be split into two simple phrases:

The default for form submission, or even just simple website browsing is a get request. Basically, every time you click a link this a get request and most of the time you submit a form this is a post request. When using a get request to pass information, you will often see what variables after a question mark, called parameters in the url.

Get Method
This blog post’s web address ( http://brcline.com/blog/?p=98 ) makes use of a parameter in it’s url. The parameter or variable is simply the letter p which we can easily see is equal to 98 and because of the parameters being in URL.

Unfortunately as a result of the parameters being in the url there is a limit of how much data can be submitted (256 bytes is the limit in some browsers.) Obviously, using get requests is not a secure operation as the user can clearly see what is being passed along and what each value is equal to. One of my favourite uses of the Get request is to use it for anything, I would want the user to be able to link or bookmark as this page should always work.

Post Method
Post is the slightly more secure of the two methods but should never be the only technique used for operations involving Credit Cards, Identification Card Numbers (Social Insurance Number, Driver’s License Number,etc ).

Post relies on data being sent back to the server in a content message that contains the parameters and their respective values. The content messages do not have a defined maximum length, so this is the prefered method of submitting anything with lenghty text or many answers.

I’ve been involved in interviewing people, and like everyone I have also been interviewed. I believe that when you are interviewing for a company, it is a time for both parties to determine if you will fit into the corporate culture so everyone should ask questions. I strongly believe that if something really bothers you in an interview that you should walk away if you have any doubts.

I usually ask at least these four questions, although sometimes I will ask more to clarify something I’m concerned with or to show that I don’t quite understand but would like to understand.

Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
This question really determines if I will be able to get into a really productive mind set or if I will struggle most of my day getting in and out of the zone. I believe that there’s no harm with a programmer sharing an office with someone else, but it wouldn’t be very logical to put a programmer beside someone else that is always on the phone.

On average, how long does an employee remain with your company?
You should never suggest or use the phrase “turnover” because you will probably just receive a simple response like “low.” Obviously, if the company is younger or a startup this question might be completely meaningless. Ideally, you will hear that there are some programmers that have been with the company for several years.

Could you explain to me how the development process works here?
I don’t usually expect much of a response to this question if the person works in Human Resources, but hopefully you will hear about processes being documented.

How do you track/follow bugs/issues?
This question is used to probe how organized the development and maitenance processes are. Ideally, the team will be highly organized which should make your time used effectively and software released with fewer bugs.

Sometimes, when I have applied for full time employment in the past I have seen job ads or received responses from companies asking what books I’ve read. Nearly every time, I have heard this question I was so shocked because I didn’t ever keep track of what I had read or where I had gleamed those little bits of valuable information.

This list will be updated at least monthly, although when I have an abundance of extra time I might be able to read an additonal book or two. Please note that this list only contains books I am interested in professionally and in no specific order.

Books Finished:

• ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed
• Beginning Ubuntu Linux
• C# How to Program
• Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code
• Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
• jQuery In Action
• Network+ Guide to Networks
• Learn to Program With C++
• Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP
• Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World
• Teach Yourself HTML 4 in 24 Hours
• Visual Basic 6 Complete
• Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites

Currently Reading:

• Operating System Concepts

Although the list is getting pretty extensive, please understand that these are books I can verify as of September 7th 2009. The title suggests this is only books, so please remember that I definitely have visited many websites along the way.