pretty random

Note: this is just being posted for me in case I need it and for those poor long-suffering google searchers who can't find this solution easily as it's pretty well-hidden!

The problem: make an event in Outlook (single event or recurring), and invite people to it. Later, your synchronization app like Google Calendar Sync syncs everything up like it always does. However, the next time you want to modify that meeting (like add another person, or cancel it) you can't, because Outlook no longer believes you're the owner!

Note: THE FIXES BELOW ARE NOT MY CODE. DON'T ASK ME HOW TO CHANGE IT PLEASE. I don't know VBA. This is just to help you get a head start if you need it, and for my own reference.


( The fix! )

The federal government has announced that the census - run every five years in Canada - is being changed in 2011. The change which they seem to think is minor, is to spend $30 million more to send it out to more people, but to make most of the questions optional. They say the long form on the census is too intrusive, and the government threatening jail time is inappropriate.

In Canada, 80% of the population receives a short census form, with only five questions. 20% of the population receives a long form, with many more, very detailed questions - how many bedrooms in your home, how much money do you make, how far do you commute to work, etc. The census is required - everyone must complete it. If you don't, Statistics Canada will call you, visit you, remind you, pester you, and finally if nothing else works they will actually discuss the fines and potential for jail time. Like jury duty and paying taxes, a census is something required of residents.

The questions are very detailed, but Statistics Canada is very obsessive about privacy, to the point of not releasing census data from 100 years ago! In the past decade, the Privacy Commissioner has received only three complaints about the census in total.

The census is actually very important. Everything you do, every day, involves that data. The roads you travel on, the transit system - even where the bus routes go in your neighbourhood, the schools your kids attend, the community centres you swim at, the number of Members of Parliament supporting your city... the list goes on and on. Almost all large businesses use the census data as well.

The reason it's so important is that the census is a picture of the actual population. It's not estimated, extrapolated, or guessed-at. If the long form becomes voluntary, then the most vulnerable in your community - who are known to self-report less - will be at greater risk and have fewer resources available to them. The upper middle-class and rich will end up over-represented, and this is the group which many of us fall into -- you've got a computer and high speed internet, and a job? you're probably richer than you like to think.

Anyway. This is a big problem. This affects you. If this change stands, it will actually hurt our ability to effectively and efficiently provide government services, care for our less fortunate, and even just understand where everybody lives.

"Clement’s statistical illiteracy is so profound it gives one vertigo. The notion that simply making the sample bigger can’t fix a skewed sample is something undergraduates learn in first-year classes, yet is somehow beyond the mental grasp of a senior minister of a G8 country. And the comedic benefit of watching Clement fail first-year economics is undermined by the cold realization that he fundamentally does not understand the intellectual foundations of the files that he controls. When he is cornered by his intellectual betters, moreover, Clement’s instinct is to reach for the debating-hall comforts of cheap populism."

- http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/07/16/sometimes-a-gaffe-is-more-than-a-gaffe/

Learn more:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/why-you-should-care-about-the-long-census-forms-demise/article1630413/
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/835993--siddiqui-pm-facing-revolt-over-census-change
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/07/12/the-census-coalition/

See the actual questions from 2006: http://www12.statcan.ca/IRC/english/ccr03_005_e.htm

It's happening on all sorts of sites, not just this Microsoft one, but their approach creates a perfect screenshot for why the whole world has gone insane.



http://blogs.technet.com/mslcommunity/archive/2009/03/16/get-on-the-bus.aspx

Two -- *two!* -- expired cans of Diet Pepsi the other day. I'd forgotten Diet Pepsi expires, and then they just threw their awful taste in my face! Or mouth! Or something!

I've been struggling with how to describe the taste of expired Diet Pepsi. I think I've settled on tonic water mixed with soda water mixed with PC cola. Or something like that. I like PC cola though, so I need something better there, and less excessive than dishwater or sewage. Hmmm.

OK seriously people, somebody needs to fix the internet.

Outlook: must contain work events, also contains reminders as to what I or we are up to in evenings and on weekends.

SkillsWeb*: must contain teaching events and "not available to teach today" indicators.

Google Calendar: must contain my travel-to-teach events, so that everyone can see where I am and when.

I can make SkillsWeb write to Outlook. I can make Google write to Outlook. But I can't make Outlook write to anything else without spending money on synch tools. I dislike this option because I'm cheap.

Argh!


* ASP instructor resource system we use at work. I wrote the front end, another guy wrote the back end. Now maintained by a third guy, while I just write demands for it. It's aging somewhat gracefully, thank god.

Radio: "U2's Bono and The Edge are working on music for, get this, Spiderman The Musical. That's great news! (long pause) ...for Spiderman fans."[Poll #969385]

Weather reports...

...for Charlottetown, PEI: freezing cold
...for Cam's head and stomach: pained and uncomfortable
...for the condo: unsold
...for the condo's carpet: pukey
...for condo resident Lucky: on thin ice
...for Vincent: frustrated

[Poll #779052]

#37: Police seeking revellers who urinated on the National War Memorial in Ottawa

I have never before today felt positive emotions toward any FoxNews host. Wow. Unfreakinbelievable. Not entirely work safe, unless you can close your office door.

FoxNews vs. the "God Hates Fags" gang

FoxNews host: [this channel] "is full of insane people like you!"
Crazy old bat: "bimbo!"

1-2-3-biblefight!


Edit: thanks juandaveed!