Media Modnay - Sports Edition

This may not make me friends.

I absolutely hate most sports-media. The radio stations, the TV-shows, the ninety seconds I have to sit through between the news and whatever show I actually want to hear/watch; I hate it.

Even the printed papery bits I get every morning.

Oh, and I especially hate it when something leaks from the sports-section into the “real” news section of the paper or show. It burns me that in our world the end of a hockey career takes precedent over issues of real impact in all our lives. I believe it shows that the core of media-communications is rotten.

I’m not saying there is absolutely no good sports-media out there. The Inside Track is a great example of what a sports show can be. Last night I got to know real athletes pushing their limits, and got a lesson in physics from an archer – sounds dorky but it was really cool actually analyze the sport instead of just hearing puked up stats and bravado.

Generally though, sports-media is a lot like American election coverage. It’s glossy, shiny, and light as hell on content. It’s like an excel spreadsheet just crapped into a mic. Good media is made by, to use a sports metaphor, digging deep. Great media is made with deep-diggin’ and a healthy dose of abstraction.

 It’s why top gear absolutelyfuckingdestroys other car shows – although I do struggle a little with calling motorsports motorsports.

Anyway, this is kind of a big roundabout way of slagging some crap I don’t like and sending a public thank you to The Inside Track.

 

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Fixie Flatland?!?

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I'm in your windows growin' your food

Window-Hydro for sustainable growth. Worth checking out, it would probably be pretty cheap and easy to set something like this up.

Discovery News: Sustainable: Hydroponics Comes Out of the Closet

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Copyright Time! Weeee!

Copyright law could result in police state: critics

It's been tabled.

I hope this gets crushed.

I also hope the power behind this (Prentice et al.) choke on a big bag of dicks.

Start calling your MP's offices. Be cool though, don't threaten their children's lives, maybe their chiuauas, but not their children.

**Don't actually threaten anyone's chiuauas

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Awesome Camera Shop

I can't say enough about how great my experiences have been with Kerrisdale Cameras. It was maybe two years ago when I was first shopping around for a digital SLR. I chose the D-80 because it fit my older Nikon lenses, and I really preferred the fit and feel to that of the Canon whatever that was in the same price range.

They matched the best price I could find, which is a challenge for any non-mega-store, and I was happily on my way to filling my hard drive with photos.

About a year in it quit turning off. The switch just wouldn't work. It was definitely my fault, I'd treated the thing less than gently, but they sent it to Nikon for warranty repairs and when it looked like it wouldn't make it back in time for my vacation we swapped for a new body they had in the store. That's without having to buy some bogus extended warranty.

Now I've managed to loose my charger, and they've got a replacement there for me as well as a cheaper generic charger so I can check out both and take the one I want.

It's more than what you'd get at a mega store. I checked with London Drugs and they told me to go to Nikon's repair centre and try to get one there. The kid at Futureshop just kind of looked at me funny and said he didn't think you could by them. I don't know why I even bothered checking with those places, Kerrisdale checked their stock at other stores and brought the stuff to the one closest to me, and they didn't just bring in the one with the most profit built-in, they brought me options.

Oh, and the people who work there seem to actually know cameras. That's something that can't really be said for the armchair experts at the big boxes. I hope they continue to survive and thrive, we need more Kerrisdales in this world.

The Greenest of Getaways

I'm just stoked that more people are cycling in Dawson.


Robber fled Dawson Creek bank on bicycle

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BMW Fabric Car

Shawing!

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Bike, Bubble, Bloom

This is the greatest thing ever!

Last year I played around with planting wildflowers in this crappy concrete jungle. I got seeds and planted heaps, I made some seed balls and chucked them places. A few grew, but most just kind of died because I didn’t make time to care for them and they just got buried under McGarbage.

Had I been seeding wherever I went my marginal success would have made a real impact simply because of scale.

That, and bubbles rule.

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So Long Sullivan

Sam's out, which is probably the worst thing to happen to Vision in the past couple of weeks. I'm now looking forward to a good competition even though I don't live in Vancouver.

6 days to go until we know who will be flying the Vision flag.

Out east, there's just no real excitement. My mayor, papa Corrigan, aint goin' nowhere.

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Ignore it, It'll go away.

I'm working on a dream list of eco-exhibitors and speakers for a proposed conference / event, so I'm surfing around chekcing in with the usual suspects and what do I find at the wonderful desmogblog but this:

Sloughing off a court decision which held that a proposed Imperial Oil (i.e. Exxon Canada) oilsands project is an environmental hazard in the waiting, the Conservative Cabinet of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a green light to the development yesterday.

Canadian Government, Media Officially Unconcerned About Environment | DeSmogBlog

The story can be found in the business section of the globenmail, because really that's where belongs...riiiight...

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Jeeves and Wooster

Somehow I've managed to catch the show a few times over the past week. The show is good, but the music, it's fantastic!

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Lobbying, Influence, and Honesty

24 Hours made good use of an access to information request with Washington state and is reporting some doublespeak with regards to influence peddling and what may or may not be unregistered lobbyists.

Good Connections Open Doors

Definitely not as cool as the Hotel Lobbyists.

Old Photos

I got a huge stack of old photos and slides from my Dad and I'm slowly working my way through scanning them. I threw a heap up on flickr but the uploader went bananas yesterday so I've got a heap of duplicates to dig through.

Anyway, it brings back great memories of growing up.me.

Copywrong Time Again

The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.

Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers

This article is one of the most horrifying things I've read this year. You owe it to yourself and to Canada to read this shit and take action.

Write your MP and voice your opposition to crazy copyright reform in Canada. That is, unless you like having security personnel and border guards go through your laptops and iPods looking for stuff that might be pirated, or if you really do believe your isp should be handing over your personal information to copyright holders without so much as a court order.

It is sick that a minority government might be able to push something like this through. It shows a lack of respect and no small degree of ignorance on the part of Canadians at large.

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Canadian Casinos Cleaning Cash?

The casino situation in British Columbia is fucking depressing. Over the past few decades we’ve been apathetic enough to allow them to become an integral component of our social and public service system. Anyone who has ever worked a bingo for their swim club or bussed trays for baseball understands the dynamic well. Gambling takes advantage of the most vulnerable among us, reaps (or rapes) a great profit, and trickles a little down the line to the organizations in need.

Yet we’re all so placid that only the few and the brave (we like to call them radicals or agitators) among us say anything outside of our own four walls, except for maybe when we’re in Starbucks’ four walls and we want to sound all progressive and shit.

Now, after years of wrangling with FOI requests and some great undercover work the CBC has shed some light into the dark corner we knew was there all along.

As part of the investigation, CBC reporters exchanged thousands of dollars in bills of $20 and $100 for cheques from the casino, demonstrating how criminals could use the gambling operations to hide illegal revenues.Documents obtained by the CBC also showed casino workers routinely observed dozens of suspicious financial transactions each year, but only a fraction were reported to the federal agency that tracks money laundering.

Premier awaits review of casino allegations

So not only is our system so bent that we rely on gamblers to keep our organizations running, but we’ve set ourselves up with a beautifully handy cleaning system.

Just

Fucking

Great.

I’m really bent out of shape about this. It follows the all-too-common theme of negligence when it comes to the oversight of risky business.

What kind of person turns down money because they suspect it’s of illegal or questionable origin? Are they the same kind of people who run gaming houses and casinos? Is it the low-wage earners working the front counter who may risk their jobs or their personal safety by reporting their suspicions? Can anyone honestly answer yes to those questions?

Relying on those who stand to profit the most to regulate themselves is bunk. It’s bunk when it comes to industry, it’s doubly bunk when it comes to policing in casinos and gaming centres.

We’d still be in this mess even if we had reliable funding for public programs and services, but we’d be able to deal with the issues in a way that doesn’t cripple our communities that now rely on gambling as a source of income. As it is, whatever losses BC’s casinos may take will surely affect more than those responsible. From the province, to our cities, to our clubs and charities that are most in need.

Boo.

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Anywhere I Lay My Head

Scarlett, I'm upset. You took a heap of great music and recycled it into emotionless vanity-pop crap-o.

Why would Tom Waits authorize this sort of thing? I guess it kind of bridges him into the younger demographic that a Scarlett Johansson might attract, but gah! Have you heard this thing? The album is a waste of time.

“He's been really supportive - not from the sidelines, but from a far, far distance.”

GIGWISE, Scarlett Johansson: 'I Feared Tom Waits Would Get My Ass Beat In A Bar'

Which is exactly the distance I reccommend you keep yourself away from this steaming pile.

Don't even bother torrenting it. Just stay away. Far, far, away.

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Climbing

I was away all weekend in Squamish climbing.

I go so rarely that I forget each time how amazing climbing really is. That feeling of superhuman accomplishment after working your way up a rock that really shouldn't be climbable. I love that nervous tension that comes from the fear of falling. It takes me a bit to settle in to trusting the equipment, which I think is healthy, but makes for some shaky repels at first.

No photos, I lost my camera charger. Trust me though, it was epic. The climbs in Raven's Castle are pretty dope because you're already most of the way up the Chief so you're looking way down on little Squamish below.

My great new discovery was lying on my stomach by the edge of a cliff. It feels like you're about to be pulled off into thin air.

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Oscar Peterson on Piano Jazz

The best. Spend an hour and recognize.

Listen Now from NPR Music.

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Thursday Top Ten!

I haven't done many lists, but I'm busy so here goes:

10. Citrus on roasted carrots and beans. It's sofuckingdelicious. Take some carrots and green beans, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and squeeze a lemon on them. Roast - eat - be happy.

9. Dry pavement. Longboarding wins ok.

8. Dan’s Homebrew Supplies. For the cost of a batch of wine at a U-brew I got a kit and all the hardware I needed to make the stuff at home. I’m 28 days from drunk.

7. The Tazer probe. I can’t think of anything that sounds more painful than a tazer probe, and my Polish ancestry and transit-rider status make me think probing some tazerers is a good thing.

6. JJ Bean on Commercial Drive. Best friggin Americano in town, and delicious delicious beans for home use.

5. Connect360. No more burning dvd’s.

4. The University of Alberta. I forget why though...

3. Summer in Vancouver.

2. Parties that party.

1. Making things so you don’t have to buy them.

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Wet Wednesday

	Slayer - Raining Blood
	Found at skreemr.com

It's raining. Gah.
Honestly, my attraction to the lower mainland is wearing thin by the day.

	CCR - Who'll Stop The Rain
	Found at skreemr.com

EnCana Breaks off a Little Sumpin

Now every once in a while
There's a crack in my smile
Dark voices are talking to me
Dark voices tell me the way
It's supposed to be
They said "Breakin' up"
They said "It's hard to do"
But what they say
About breakin' up
Y'know it's just not true
Breakin' up, it's easy to do


EnCana has long held it is undervalued by the market and has previously considered spinning off a chunk of its business, believing that the company is less than the sum of its parts. - CNN

I makes sense in a few different ways.

I’m sure investors will be happy with a boost in value. By splitting the tarsands from natural gas EnCana’s halves (or 7/8^ths & 1/8^th) are massively more understandable.

It also insulates Encana’s natural gas operations from any volatility in tarsands extraction – and I for one thing this is the biggie here. Tarsands extraction is one of the most environmentally unsound practices around, and sooner or later someone’s going to be on the hook for a cleanup bill bigger than that time your buddy invited the entire high school over for a party while his/her parents were away. It’s good for EnCana to protect its traditional core should politics shift in Oilberta, or federally for that matter.

It’s the beginning of a trend, I for one think we’ll see a number of similar spinoffs as companies struggling for capital to move more aggressively into the tarsands will split themselves in an effort to both boost valuation and insulate themselves from what could turn ugly.

**Disclaimers: I won’t call it oil sands, the tarsands is tarsands dagnabbit. Also, I think it already has turned pretty ugly, ducks right?

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MIA

I've been away.
It was good.
I may post photos.
Dawson is a strange town full of strange people that I love. I'll tell you a story sometime, just remind me after I've had a drink or two.

-mb

High(er) Education

Emily Carr joins in the 'university status' parade... students plan collaborative multi-medium installation based on themes of 'arbitrary semantics' and 'the ability of language to define reality, man'?

Morning Brew: April 30

• Vocational School
• College
• University
• Technical Institution

 It’s all higher education, but each of the above titles/brands has a distinct meaning. Doctors aren’t generally trained at the same institution as electricians. It follows then that perhaps the institution designed to train doctors may be a different kind of organization than the one that trains electricians.

What has happened over the past week in post-secondary education has been very interesting. Kwantlen is now a polytechnic-university. Douglas is now a university, so is Capilano, and Emily Carr, and Malaspina became a university instead of a university-college.

So what does it mean? Well, I personally think it cheapens the university brand. I have a lot of respect for Capilano university, I studied there and learned a tonne, but can any of us honestly say it’s a university in the same way as UBC/SFU/UofA ?

No, not really.

That's not to say I don't believe in higher education outside of the university pool - I'm mostly college and technical-institution educated, and very happy for it. What I do believe in is a little specialization, which I think is being lost here.

I hope for a big boost in our ability to support the transfer of credentials and credits between institutions.

What I fear is an even more unclear landscape for students.

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Tuesday Tunes

George Harrison wrote Badge with Eric Clapton. It’s a good song.

	Cream - Badge
	Found at skreemr.com

This next one is good too. It's probably the "song I learned to play guitar so I'd be able to play that song" song.

	Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
	Found at skreemr.com

You should go to Dr. Mooney's and find some more songs written by beatles, Clapton, and other people. It's a good blog.

Homelessness :: Photos & Commentary

Over at the Vancouver Sun, Randy Shore and Daphne Bramham have a good slideshow of sorts on homelessness in Vancouver.

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Stealin' Booze

It wasn't me:

...the RCMP released an estimate that its cargo was 1,388 cases of wine — valued between $800,000 and $1 million, or about $60 a bottle.

But then:

...In the end, the thieves got only 168 cases of wine, worth about $20 a bottle.

Wine heist now a beer bust, Mounties say

Which is still a pretty good haul mind you, and paired with the right cheese even a lowly $20 bottle of wine is acceptable. Anyone taking bets on when la Grotta or Amis will be knocked over?

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Saltspring Photos

I Went to Saltspring Island on Saturday with some family. It was nice


I don't know what these are called but they're beautiful.


The geese weren't too happy with us clomping around.


The coastguard has some sweet boats these days.


Oh, and the moss in the damper areas is pretty neat-o.

Kerry Roper is Dope

Stumbled across Kerry Roper today. Lots of his work has an
interesting style, but his treatment of type really stands out for me. I really
like finding good type. If you happen to be in London next week go check this out and let me know how it is.

///YOUAREBEAUTIFUL_FORYOURPLEASURE/typography/design/illustration++++

Helvetica is wank... nice.     

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A Sweet Little Electric Car

They look really nice, at with a 110Mile range and a 65Mph top speed that's more than enough for any city dweller.

Image thiefd from - Think Global Forum

Ford owned this company for a while, and even leased their electric vehicles in the states for a bit. It'd probably be pretty fun to drive; A tiny little car like that up around 80 km/h would feel pretty fast.

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Garbage Patch

I've been looking for actual videos and images from the "pacific garbage patch" for a long time. I finally found it at Vice of all places.

Episode 9 is as reasonable a place to start as any. Be warned though, massive massive bummer ahead.


TOXIC - Garbage Island - Part 9 of 12 - VBS.TV

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Oh Tories, You so Crazy!

Elections Canada alleges the Conservative party violated federal election law by funnelling money in and out of local candidates' campaigns so the national party could spend $1.1 million above its legal limit on media advertising in the last election.

TheStar.com | Canada | Angry Tories unveil raid documents

Also:

Saying they wanted to avoid a "media circus," three party officials also took the unusual step of briefing a "limited number" of invited reporters. But the attempt to frame the party message went awry when other journalists learned of the briefing. To avoid uninvited journalists, the Conservative officials switched hotels, cancelled a briefing, and left via a fire stairwell to avoid pursuit by television cameras.

TheStar.com | Canada | Angry Tories unveil raid documents

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Again with the Toothbrushes?!?

This one isn't recycled, it's biodegradable.

Our Biocete Toothbrush is made with Natural Bristles and Biodegradable Cellulose Acetate, a natural substance extracted from Cotton. Bioceta degradation time is compared to that of an Oak Leaf.

Toothbrushes - bioceta toothbrush

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Recycled Toothbrushes

The worst recycling-offender in my house is definitely the bathroom. All that packaging and new material designed specifically to run or wear out so I have to buy more. Toothbrushes piss me off - I consider them my enemy in the bathroom. I like brushing my teeth but I have serious design issues with toothbrushes these days. They tend to look like freaked-out anime caricatures and have so many different plastics that I can't blue-bin them. Worse are the disposable electric brushes. They're like electric drills with a single bit that can't be replaced.


Anyway, I found toothbrushes made from recycled plastic! And you get return-postage to send them back to be re-recycled.

Preserve - Preserve Toothbrush Ultra Soft - 1210 - Home Depot Canada

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On Negativity in the Workplace

I just had a very surprising experience. I was treated amazingly rudely by an educator.

No shit! You say. Happens all the time right?

Sure, as a student it does, but in my last three years working in education it hardly ever happens as a colleague.

I’ve been working on a big project that aims to bring together efforts from all different sectors at my place of work, and today we introduced the project as a first step and sought input for future directions.

I always expect some resistance when introducing changes to big processes like this one is, but I rarely encounter outright dismissal and condescension. Let alone from someone who stands to benefit in a very immediate way from the new system and seek to cater to during the early stages of the process.

It really got under my skin because of how disrespectful this person’s approach was.

It’s not just me blowing things out of proportion – which I’ll admit to doing on occasion. Other people commented, “oh he’s just that way” or “that group is a nightmare”.

So what do I do? Call out a senior colleague for being a jerk, or bust my hump more than it is to try to bring the “nightmare” to our side?

In  any large organization you find groups of people banding together around a common philosophy, and I notice it a lot where I work. Generally the philosophies are productive, focused doing the right thing for students or clients or customers. What makes me shake my head are the festering groups, seeping aggressive and counterproductive negativity. While it does make me really happy to know I’m not one of them it really sucks to have to work with them. It also really sucks to see the problems ignored because as they’ve festered they’ve also developed a reputation and their legitimate concerns are often ignored along with the griping.

So if I know you and you notice me behaving in this way please, please, please, punch me in the face. Then get me a scotch, but not before reminding me of this post.

Also, if you are this person: Dude, 'cmon. All I want to do is help you. All I ask is you keep an open mind and treat me with the same respect you expect for yourself.

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Tuesday Tunes

"Tropicalia is one of the most significant cultural movements in Brazil encompassing music, film, visual art and theatre."
From Soul Jazz Records

It's all awesome. This album makes me want to grow sideburns. I'm not exactly sure why, but it does. While Beck's take on this stuff is pretty good nothing beats the original. I've been pumping this album for 2 days and I'm hooked like I live on east Hastings.

	Gal Costa - Sebastiana
	Found at skreemr.com

That cut is from Gal Costa, tropicalialista and activist. One of the best things about this stuff is that while it's fun it was a force and a movement, not just a style. That's what first attracted me to punkrock, and why I've for the most part abandoned me punkrock listening habits now that songs-about-girlfriends-and-angst have taken over.

This was, although short lived, an important movement.

Anyway, here's to the demise of Bossa Nova!

Hawksley Workman Rocks!

Holy Crap.
Listen:

The Rut Discontinued

I rambled on a bit a little while ago about how I’d found myself in a creative rut when it comes to my extraemployular activities.

I managed to break through the wall on Saturday night without even meaning to. That’s led me to a revelation of sorts:

Muses are found where one least expects them, and can affect one in ways that are counterintuitive to say the least.

Duh... right?

Let me explain.

For a long while I’ve considered my then-girlfriend-now-fiancé to be my muse. And in a way she is, just not in the way I expected.

For her I do not want to create great art and music, I want to become a better me. She’s a huge part of the reason I work hard at being a good person in general. In a sense I do all things, small and large, for her. She inspires me to hold down a job, avoid alienating my friends and family, and plan for the future – I have failed miserably at all of these things at one point or another.

What I discovered on Saturday is that I am most inspired to create by a group of my friends. I had a great visit with one of them, a guy nearing forty who despite looking like a goateed thug is one of the biggest softies you’ll ever meet. I love this guy like my brother; we’ve saved each others’ lives more than once.

We drank a little too much and talked our asses off while passing the guitar back and forth, noodling with comfortable old riffs and melodies. After a few hours I found myself playing music that was interesting again, rather than recycling the same old boring lines. I’ve been pouring out ideas since then and it’s the most wonderful feeling.

I found inspiration on Saturday night while drinking with my friend the metalhead. It isn't that he's my muse - that'd be wrong - it's the connection to the creative process that we share.

The deal is, we used to play music together all the time and we’ve developed a kind of synergy where our creative outputs kind of reinforce each other. We had, informally at least, a greater vision of what we created. It’s the most bizarre thing to see because we don’t fit together in many ways, we argue like mad over our preferences for anything from food (marmite, seriously, what the fuck?!?) to music (black metal is not, I repeat NOT good music to wake up to) yet we gel in a way I haven’t found with anyone else.

So maybe that’s it. That touch of symbiosis set off my creative switch. Realizing that someone “gets it”, on a level way beyond simply understanding the concepts, foundations, melodies, structures etc... of what I do, and that I “get” their work, it feels good.

So here’s to you Jimmy-ray! He hates it when you call him that.

Next time I’ll have some scotch on hand – that’s one of the few things we have absolutely no trouble agreeing upon. Yay for punker-trash-turned-metalhead/rootsy-recalcitrant-artists. (that’s art-eeeeeeeeeeeee-sts)

Flickr Video!

Video on Flickr

Check out the Group photo video pool.
I may be a dork but I think this is awesome!

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Stop Panicking!

I found my shoes and orthotics.

I know, massive relief eh?

Funny thing is, they were exactly where I left them. I didn’t check the changing room because for some reason I assumed it’d be cleaned by the cleaners and they’d grab abandoned stuff and either toss it out or toss it in the lost-and-found.

I think this means the changing rooms aren’t really “cleaned” so much as wandered through with broom-in-hand.That’s how they look but I always thought stuff like bacteria and fungus would be enough of a concern that cleaning changing rooms was imperative. I may have too much faith in people.

It's not like the shoes were kind of tucked away in a corner or anything, they were just there under one of the benches. What I mean here is if the floors were cleaned to any reasonable standard the shoes would have been in the way, that or the cleaners are so put off by other people's shoes they refused to touch them... In which case should someone who fears other-people-cooties be tasked with cleaning changing rooms? The poor person would be living a nightmare.

I think I’ll bring me some sandals for the showers and changing room from now on. One more thing, or I guess two really, to lose.

Lost Shoes

I lost my running shoes.
That sucks.
My orthotics were in them.
That sucks even more.

Security

Anyone other than an official-source can tell you security is ridiculous in northern Canadian airports. An official-source would probably tell you the same if they weren't scared of being fired.

That link points to a story about an aids-support group, delayed from flying out of Prince George, because a security guard thought their "diseases" were a risk to other passengers.
Here's Duncan McCue's report on the same story.

At the risk of rambling on I want to point out what I feel is crucial to understanding the story - Let's start with this quote:

"He [the security guard] said that he had recognized one of the members or one of my group from [Prince George] downtown. He said he knew this person has diseases and that he was trying to keep the staff and people safe in the aircraft,"

Alison Paul, an AIDS prevention and support worker with Positive Living North in Prince George, B.C.

So if this guy is making calls like this he's been trained to assess health risks right? This must be someone with some education on which diseases are highly contagious, which ones can be airborne, that kind of thing right? I hope there's a hell of a lot of in-house training because here are the hiring requirements for a preboarding screening officer.

Skills:
Technical Specialization:
- Essential: high School diploma
- Preferred: bilingual
Garda job posting

A
W
E
S
O
M
E

I know a city councilor who had to write letters of complaint to authorities because they were sick of having their baggage unpacked every single time they flew out of their northern Canadian town. We're not talking a flight or two a year here either, conferences and workshops are generally held in more southern climates. Also consider that there generally aren't rooms for this sort of thing, it's right there alongside all your friends in the little departure area.

Yeah, because the people dedicated to making their towns more livable are the threat.

I get the planes need to be safe. I actually do understand. What I don't get is that Transport Canada hasn't stepped in in any meaningful way to better a situation that according to most who have flown in the north is abysmal.

Corruption

We all face it in our day to day lives. Heck, I know some people who thrive because of it.

I find it both and liberating, depending on which side of the corruption fence I find myself on, and which side I find whomever I'm trying to deal with on.

A few weeks ago I would have happily bribed a corrupt staffer to get a replacement ID for my fiancé right then and there instead of having to wait what will probably amount to months as we jump through bureaucratic hoops. I know it's right that we actually prove who we are before we get official photo ID to support our claim, but it sure is frustrating when you actually are who you say you are and you can't do a damn thing about it except wait. and wait... and wait...

Trevor Metz has a good article about corruption and the dynamics of being a small-business owner in China over at cbc.ca. Just as interesting, although a bit more dramatic, is Tropa de Elite. It's a great Brazilian movie about cops, BOPE, gangsters, and corruption.

It's an intense movie that looks at the lines drawn between right and wrong. I'm thankful I don't ever deal with anything as stressful as the police, special-forces, and gangsters do in the flavelas of Rio, but it really does make one thing about where they draw the line.

I work in post-secondary education, so I see a boatload of bureaucracy in my day-to-day life. I generally approach my job with the goal of doing the right thing for people instead of the right thing for policy, which on occasion gets me into trouble. Not the kind of murdered-in-a-flavela trouble from Tropa de Elite, just some finger-wagging and a little admonition.

I don’t like to think of myself as corrupt, but I probably am in a very mild-mannered sort of way. I’ll sometimes bump a low-priority item up my list if it comes from a friend, or if regardless of source the request is accompanied by a nice cup of coffee. I know lots of other people do it too. So where does it switch from a favour to a bribe?

Is it when it hurts someone? If so how does one assess hurt?

Is it when it becomes the norm instead of the exception?

Is it when it becomes a wrench in the gears of policy?

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Best Vancouver Blog

No, it has nothing to do with social-network marketing, guerilla-gardening, drupal, the Canucks, porn, pot, or fashion.

David Eby's Blog - The Vancouver 2010 Olympics, displacement and homelessness blog brings a whole lot of context to what we hear about the games, human rights, and civic politics.

It's must-read material because it's one of the few sources of legitimate commentary in a town gone five-ring-mad.

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I Love Northern BC!

5 per cent of Prince George babies born drug addicted, hospital says

"The hospital tracked 43 drug-addicted babies that were born in the
region in 2007, representing five per cent of births, but Hay suspects
the real number may be higher, because doctors can't test newborns for
drugs unless the parents give consent.

In comparison, less than one per cent of newborns suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome."

Via CBC

How completely insane is that?
It's a sign not only of how out-of-controll drug use is in this province but of how little support there is for recovery.

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Drought

I look at the guitar but I don't pick it up.
My new strings are still sitting next to my violin.
It's been two weeks since I worked on my last painting.

I am seriously in a creative rut outside of my work. I'm hoping it's just because I'm constantly using that muscle at work. I musiced and arted a lot more when I was fixing computers or working in construction.

It's definitely great having a job that involves so many of my interests, but sometimes I wonder why I've looked for jobs that involve my interests instead of jobs that support my interests in other ways.

I wasn't making amazing money carpentering, drywalling, or painting, but it was enough to get by and my brain was always free to scheme and plan and compose. Now I'm making more but my brain is preoccupied with work.

Is that a trade off I need to accept? I don't think so. I think I just need some new challenges to throw myself into.

Monday Massacre!

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Royalties and The Social Web

Billy Bragg, apart from a great songster, is a bright light in the battle for rights for musicians.
He's written a nice clear commentary on why royalties are important and how we (musicians and fans) are building the power of social networks by participating but not reaping any financial rewards for our contribution.

Check check check it out.

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No Fun!

No-fun closing times are turning the clock back towards Hicksville

"Vancouver has quietly adopted a policy where senior bureaucrats -- and it's these folks who really run the city -- have decided most restaurants, bar and grills, cafe/lounges and pubs that serve beer, wine and spirits will have to close at midnight, even on Friday and Saturday nights."

For serious?

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Victoria, Music, and Drinking Well

Smith Woodhouse ports are fantastic.
I discovered the ’88 (my new object of desire) at the Oak Bay Marina Restaurant on Sunday. I actually dreamt about it last night, which was a nice break from the terrible swimming club nightmare where I'm forced into a 8-billion meter fly race.

I’ve been thinking a lot about growing up and it has occurred to me that, at least in western culture, alcohol consumption habits are good indicators of one’s grownupedness.

• · Do you own – and use - a beer bong? Not grown up.
• · Do you own a tumbler you prefer to use for the good scotch? Grown up.
• · At a party are you drinking alcohol you “found” in your parent’s closet? Not grown up.
• · Considering that expensive bottle of wine? Starting to grow up.
• · Holding off on opening that nice bottle of white until spotted prawn season? Grown up.

For all of these I should really add "over-privileged" because expensive booze is pretty much the most terrible of things to measure anything other than privilege with. I've just been spoiling myself and ignoring the fact that retirement may some day exist in my world so drinking well has been more top-of-mind for me.

A more realistic measure these days is probably what forces one to be late with bills or rent. It still involves spending on booze, but is inverted compared to the list above. It would go something like:

You were late on rent because:

1. Spent it all on booze for parties.
2. Spent it all on booze at the club
3. Spent it all on natural gas to avoid freezing to death.

I didn’t mean for it to happen, I even consciously tried to stop it from happening to me. I suppose youth, like all things, must pass.

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Robert Bateman - Not a Pretty Picture

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Workman @ St. Andrews-Wesley in Vancouver

Hawksley Workman played an amazing show last night at St. Andrews-Wesley United Church in Vancouver. For not 1, 2, but right around 3 hours he held the attention of a packed church.

It was a great show in a great venue.

Click away at the songs below and enjoy yourself some Workman.

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Consumption meter

I like the looks of this EWGECO meter.
It's still all "ewgeco will be able to..." so it's not like anyone can actually go out and get one, but I'm really looking forward to the day when I can monitor in real time my consumption rates for power and water without having to break into my condo's meter room in the basement.

Ewgeco Utility Meter Gas Electricity Water Meter - EWGECO HOME

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Sun Tower to change

One of Vancouver's most recognizable buildings to get a makeover

CKNW News Talk 980 - CKNWAM

Does this mean thetyee is homeless?

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China, Tibet, and the Olympics

China Cracking Down On Tibet

Via The Onion

Weren't there sanctions when peaceful protesters in Burma were cracked-down upon?

I guess we just don't like Tibetans as much as we do the Burmese. More than likely it all comes down to the shady deal we have with this oppressive regieme, the one I like to call "you give us cheap shit we ignore your crimes agains humanity."

I'm glad the guardian exists and prints real articles. If only we had a strong voice in Canada to help pressure our leadership into growing a pair. That might be the wrong way to put it though, it's pretty balsy to ignore your partners' abuses of human rights.

Good TV goes away

Intelligence, jPod, and MVP cancelled
via insidethecbc.com

Intelligence was/is/might in the future remain a great show.
jPod, well I don't dig Coupland. The best thing about jPod were only's jPod watch posts.
MVP, wait wasn't that the show with Pamela Anderson?

I want to quote a comment from insidethecbc.com's post:

1. LeonT Says:
   March 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am CDT

   Some fine commentary on the blog for this important story, so I’ll keep my comments to the point.

   Under the Stursberg regime, CBC Television has lost a Design department, Costume department, Props department, International Sales department [as of March 31st], and a Communications department. By closing these sections of the production wing, it no longer became a producer and became a buyer. Therefore, there was no personal and artistic commitment behind the creators of CBC programs.

   This created a disposable environment where an unsuccessful program is quickly dropped, due exclusively to ratings, in order to try something else.  In my opinion, until the CBC makes a real commitment to Drama, much like they did with a Drama Department years ago, this is how it’s going to be until they pursue ideas and not ratings.

I'm definitely not an insider so I can't say LeonT is on the money. My only first-hand experience at the CBC comes from interning for 3 weeks with their amazing news crew. What I will say is CBC television swings between "only worth watching for news and current affairs" to "What? A new canadian show that isn't reality TV? Maybe I don't have to gouge my eyes out."

At least CBC radio is top notch. Hey CBC2, Thanks for this:

• Mornings (6-10): Less classical, more light contemporary like Diana Krall and Joni Mitchell. About half of the music will be Canadian. No decision yet on who the host will be.

SWEEEEEEEEEEET!
*gouges ears out, considers whether a fork or a knife is better for the eyes*

Love,
Michael

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Under the weather

It's gray and rainy. Thanks to the timechange I woke up to darkeness. And I feel like dirt, well, a bleary-eyed and exhausted dirt.

The rain and morning-darkness I can't blame on anyone in particular.
The other stuff falls squarely on the shoulders of Michael Ondaatje.

Dear Michael. Ondaatje,
Divisadero ruined my Sunday night in the same way In the Skin of a Lion, Anil's Ghost, and The English Patient ruined Sunday nights in my past. Your books are too good.
"Just a little reading before bed." I tell myself.
Then wham, it's two in the morning and I have to force myself to sleep.

Sincerely,
Michael

Seriously, what's up with Canadian authors? I've discovered (and re-discovered) more great poets, playwrights, and authors this year than I ever thought possible.

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Led Zeppelin

This should help.

	Bustle in your Hedgerow - Travelling Riverside Blues
	Found at skreemr.com

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Hydrangea

I found this sitting right outside the door to our office building.
It's one of those beautiful coincidences that make me smile. In the fall just before the flowers started loosing their colour I was picking them and pressing them in my dictionary. They turned this same gray-brown, but are nice and flat for sticking to something crafty.

I've been holding off on taking a whole flowerhead, but as luck would have it someone (or possibly the wind) placed one just outside the door.

I got in the habit of collecting plants - living or otherwise - in my first year of university. I was studying fine arts under the fantastic direction of Laine Dahlen. The living flowers, leaves, and whatever else I pick up I usually press, the dried stuff like this flowerhead I try to keep intact.

In Laine's classes the majority of our illustration lessons involved the beautiful decay found in plants found drying in their natural environment. He helped me find inspiration in stains on walls and dead plants. I came to love them as much as any painting or drawing and now keep an ever expanding collection in a dry-vase in my home.

Some crumble over time, some become elements in mixed media pieces, others gather dust in their vase and become even more lovely with age. Hydrangeas are one of my favourites because they seem to last forever and their form seems suggestive or supportive to my abstraction and ideation.

Such a globe perched atop a delicate stem.

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Facebook Adblock Followup

With the first afternoon and night of testing over with let's get to the results.

Just over 4,000 impressions and 2 clicks - Who was that? You cost me a good 50 cents jerk.

I haven't received any emails reporting ads other than our own. As for myself, I am seeing other ads but that's probably because facebook won't show me my own ad.

Afternoon and night 1 was a success. I'll continue to monitor this over the next few days, but my first impression is that it sort of works.

With the vast majority of ads we see now under our control at a very low cost how can we better use them?

The adspace could be a fantastically intrusive status update, or I could setup some sort of mystery where hints are given out each day in the adspace. My problem now is that if the ad becomes more interesting in any way the click-throughs will rise and I'll see a bill.

hrm.....Any Ideas?

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Facebook adblock?

I'm just thinking out loud here but couldn't I block competitors ads on facebook by creating an ad that people are extremely unlikely to click and bidding high on the cost per click?

The high bid on CPC would mean my ad would be displayed over a competitors because I've priced them out of the market - but if nobody clicks the ad it all happens at no cost to me.

Where I'm going with this is, should my friends and I decide for some reason we don't want to see advertising on facebook we could create a dummy organization for ourselves. Some brave soul then creates an ad we don't intend to click, and bids high to ensure "our" ad is the one we are served.

Someone tell me I'm wrong about this. Actually, I'll just go ahead and try this out.

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Grandma Rules

I'm a sucker for old games. Cribbage, crokinole, chess; All way more fun than any of the latest  first person shooter, and they involve real interaction and smack-talk instead of the terrible "pwn!pwn!" and "gg!" of the after game lobby.

I picked up a bargain cribbage board about a month ago and I've been sucking my friends and family into playing every chance I get. What I've noticed is we've all developed our own standard set of rules. I was calling them "house rules" until last night, when, in the middle of adding an extra point to an already stellar hand for holding a jack of the same suit as the starter card a friend of mine piped up, "Your grandma rules are a little different than my grandma rules."

That's my term for rules in these games now and forever more. Learning grandma rules for games like cribbage and crazy eights is what made them fun. I was always amazed growing-up at the regional (or can that be grandmarial) variations. Wild cards, switching direction-of-play, countdown; The games became rich and varied and I developed great friendships at cafe's and coffee shops on a foundation of simple old games and grandma rules.

While I've discovered that my "one for the jack" is legit I should be calling it a nob. Check it out.

Also, in *ahem* researching this post I came across Cribbage Inc.'s home page, ON GEOCITIES! YES!

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