Halloween D.I.Y Project

Happy Haloween!

Halloween D.I.Y Project: Make Your Own Zombie

Lifehack is awesome!

Blogged with Flock

How long does new and shiny last?

I just wanted to maintain my network of friends and colleagues, and make some new connections along the way.

Last night on the way home from work my girlfriend said she was bored with facebook. She isn’t interested in the applications. She doesn’t want to superpoke, zombify, share-a-drink, garden, whatever-else-you-can-do-now…

The fun was in finding old friends, building new connections, and sharing embarrassing photos. Increasingly it seems facebook users are being turned into lobbyists for their interests, hell bent on converting all of us into drunk aquarium-owning zombies of web 2.0. AAACH! I SAID IT!

I have been noticing that more and more of my friends’ profiles are looking myspace-esque. The clean and functional design that originally drew me to the site seems to be fading fast.

One friend of mine has managed to rig up her profile with just about every single widjet/application/quiz/poll imaginable. The result is the ugliest page I have seen since I stumbled upon MIA’s myspace. WTF...Seriously, WTF.

I love the whole power-to-the-people ideal, but why do people have to use their newfound power to create something so damn butt-ugly. The real killer-app for facebook would be an optimizer. It would take a critical look at your profile, all the applications you’ve installed, and then reorganize and format the page to be reasonable.

That, or maybe it could just uninstall the stupid things altogether.

Blogged with Flock

Hacking Ads?

I Hate Love Hate Love respond with strong emotions to advertising. Bad advertising will make me change the channel in an instant, really bad advertising makes me turn of the TV or radio.

Apple, love em or hate em, make some reasonably cool ads. I was floored to learn a new television ad for their iPod touch was actually a tweaked fan-ad found on Youtube.

Here's the video:

As a believer in empowering people and celebrating success I applaud Apple for making a great move.

AdHack opened my eyes and mind to DIY advertising, although I've always been one to ask "real people" rather than trust a marketeer. It's exciting to see something they've been evangelizing produce such great results.

Their post on the subject links to Digg comments as kind of a proof-of-concept. Man, I like it when Mondays make me happy.

Blogged with Flock

Bringing Web-apps back to the Desktop - Prism

When I first started learning about web applications I was super excited that my workflow could be unshackled from my computer. I loved them, except for when explorer/firefox/flock/safari crashed while I was browsing another tab.

Mozilla, brilliant folks that they are, has given us an awesome solution.Rather than needing to use a web browser to get to your web-app, prism, well, here's what they say:

Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.

Mozilla Labs Blog » Blog Archive » Prism

I'm stoked on this because I use a boatload of web applications - stuff like the google calendar, gmail, facebook. Really, it's like one of those annoying popup interfaces but rather than popping up out of a website beyond my control, I get to choose what resides inside or outside my browser. I'm a big fan of me running my own show, and a huge fan of others enabling it.

Blogged with Flock

Marketing and Communicating and Relating to the Public

Now that I'm in marketing and communications I thought I should shoutout a cool marcom/pr group. They are cool, and they fit with the duties of the day:

The DesmogBlog.

oh, and happy action day everyone.

Green Hosting?

OK, I’ll confess, I’m a bit of a greenie. I spend more time and money to buy vegetables for the week by going to a farmers market. I unplug things, turn other things off… You know, all the little things that maybe offset my disgustingly wasteful western ways a bit. But as a tech nut I know my lifestyle has a gigantic footprint thanks to power-consumption and that strange “need” to have an up-to-date computer/cell/laptop/etc.

I’ve gotten on the e-cycling train by donating my older (only slightly) tech to charities, but I always wondered about websites and hosting. I’ve seen server rooms and they certainly aren’t a natural kind of space. Is all of that energy consumption really a step forward from the world of paper?

I’d just like to thank:

http://www.ethicalhost.ca

http://www.aiso.net/

http://www.greenesthost.com/

and others for bringing a bit of tree-hugging hippy back into the mix.

Thanks.

Why I don't buy (many) albums

In between bashing my head against a wall trying to keep a little staircase clean I spend a ridiculous amount of time with music. Stumbling around the net looking for some completely unrelated stuff I found Ill Doctrine.

ill Doctrine is a hip-hop video blog hosted by Jay Smooth, creator of hiphopmusic.com and founder of New York's longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI's Underground Railroad.

Jay makes a good point here.

For the setup please see the original post.

I has now been two full work-days since I called the city of Burnaby about the garbage issue surrounding the steps.

I took the wildflower seed infused papers, soaked overnight as per the directions, and planted them under a little dirt. I made sure they were really soaked and that the dirt was wet because it was beautifully hot today and I was worried about them drying out. They may dry and die anyway because I don't think there's much in the way of rain on the way, and I'm leaving town for three days on Sunday.

We'll see, tomorrow I'll force myself from in front of the lcd for long enough to wander down there with a jug-o-water.

The Garden Continued

For the setup please see the original post.

I’m not the greatest go-gettingest-self-priming-and-starting-briggs-and-stratton gardener you’ve ever met, so I decided to start small.

Four shopping bags and a half-time refreshment small.

I spent about 45 minutes picking up garbage, although I stopped for a “pop” halfway through so I couldn’t have spent more than half-hour on actual work. I filled the four bags with garbage, most of it cups and wrappers from Micky Dee’s. Looking at the base of the steps things are definitely cleaning up, but at the top I barely made a dent in the surface garbage.

I used a stick to dig down a layer and I think the situation up top is more along the lines of an excavation than a simple cleanup.
This’ll require professional help.

Enter the Burnaby Engineering Department – 604 294-7210.

I didn’t expect it to be this easy. The site is near the train tracks and a highway. I thought I would get bounced between departments while trying to figure out which taxpayers, and which taxes, would be finally responsible for helping with the cleanup. I've run into similar situations trying to tell a story about potholes and who is responsible for filling them in.

The absolutely professional and pleasant person at the BED was more than happy to write up two work orders for me. One was to have a city crew remove the remaining refuse, the other was to have the area assessed for garbage-can-installation-viability. I’m happy the city will send someone(s) to clean, but it kind of stinks (and will for a while I imagine) that the area has to be “watched for a few months to see if we can put a garbage bin there.”

So, with an hour work (including commute) and a phone call we’ve got a moderately cleaner staircase that is about to get a whole lot better.
I am going to celebrate today’s success with a “pop” or two and the beach.

Oh, and sometime tomorrow I have to plant these earth-day flower-papers I found while organizing my filing cabinet.

The Garden

An experiment in unauthorized park and flora establishment for the betterment of public space

For about a year now whenever I make the decision to walk to work I pass a flight of stairs that look, for the most part, messy and ugly.

Not that I don't absolutely love seeing plant life that has begun to take over, but the overgrown and unruly flora distract only slightly from the collection of McRefuse and Tim’s own unrecyclable paper cups.The leftovers not only look disgusting, but the smell on a hot day was bad enough to make me swear off McDonald's forever (probably a good thing.) I honestly think the warm ice-teas and whatever-with-cheeses are stewing under the undergrowth and if left unchecked Burnaby could find itself facing something along the lines of a Troma video.

So yeah, it’s gross. But why has it happened?

I believe the main reason for the garbage-buildup is the bus stop.

Not that the bus stop is itself responsible, but the startling lack of a garbage bin means people who don’t want to break Translink rules by eating or drinking on the bus (thanks Translink!) find themselves forced to toss their refreshments willy-nilly on the ground when boarding.

At first I tried not to blame the bussies because I like to think of transiteers as a more socially responsible group, but I have been walking this route the better part of a year now and not once have I seen another person anywhere around the steps other than bus stop. The lack of substantial foot-traffic could be because of the disgusting smell, but really I think people don’t come down the steps because there simply isn’t much to go down them to.

It’s a quiet street with very little in the way of traffic, and even less in the way of homes or businesses. It borders on the train tracks, so there really isn’t even a south side of the road for anything to reside-upon.

I’m going to take this neglected patch of urban landscape and create an enjoyable public space. I’m hoping the small amount of foot-traffic through the space means once this little project is underway there won’t be a high amount of day-to-day maintenance.

The hidden gem is the most beautiful anyway right?

What needs to happen:
• Remove garbage.
• Install or have installed a garbage bin for the bus stop.
• Trim bushes and remove old trimmings.
• Weed (that’s remove-em you hippies.)
• Plant some plants.
• Find some buckets or barrels for rain-water.
• Install seating and sign.
• Throw a party.

Benelopy Cringlsey

Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz are right outside my office door. Filming is being done in and around the broadcast centre for what I assume to be Elegy.

Fun times.

Oh, and Penelope's stand-in is apparently one of our applicants for next year.

No cellphone, no camera, I can't even post proof that I'm easily as tall as either of these two (rare for me!)

Comments on Comments

The Tyee is launching what they call “…a new approach to readers commenting here…”

As a frequent reader, but extremely infrequent commentator (commenter?) on their website I’m very interested to see what comes of this. More often than not comment strings on blogs or online journals quickly degenerate into bickering matches that sidestep whatever article or issue started the discussion and become increasingly hurtful as they grow. Why? What gives?

I am a long-time internet user. I frequent forums. I browse blogs. I peruse postings and observe online communities and the squabbles and infighting that inevitably take place.

For the world at large the issue caught on fire when Kathy Sierra started getting some startlingly obscene and threatening comments on her blog, which led her to finding more threats and even some frightening photoshops on other blogs. The "startlingly obscene and threatening" link will take you to a story from Wired about the sources of the threats.

The double edged sword of online anonymity is razor sharp. We love the feeling of security, but we abuse the power it bestows upon us. Comments, postings, and rants often feel venomous.

It’s as if when logging on we’ve collectively come back from the Secret Wars, and as was the case for our good friend Double-P, we find the mask or costume we wear has come with a little added bonus.

Or have I got this wrong? Are the original authors and content creators more like our beloved Peter Parker with readers and playing the roll of Eddie Brock?

Our online relationships are symbiotic. While mutualism would be nice, more often than not what we wind up with is parasitic readers venting their rage – a rage free of the bounds of regular interpersonal relationships because of the strangely empowering nature of anonymity.

This is a big story right now because online journals and blogs now rival traditional media, but even back in the days of Wildcat! online tough-guyism has been an issue. The term “flamer” took on new meaning as we learned (or tried to) how to deal with a world in which everybody is an instant expert.

One site I think has it right, Something Awful. This may seem ridiculous at first when we compare the content to the material covered on “serious” sites, but if we break it down to the relationship between readers and the site the issue is clearly one of ownership or partnership from a users perspective. They've got a heap of regulars that want the community to continue to exist, and contribute to the site and community through posting in the forums. Only a certain few are actual writers for the front page, but many feel a sense of ownership or at least partnership because they have ample opportunity to contribute.

The site’s readers have spawned many an internet war, including hijacking virtual communities, mass-swarming other sites, stalking each other, and generally just being inappropriate.

The forums, unlike comments on blogs or journals, exist because of a real community. Sure it’s dysfunctional, but the site is better off because readers are more than a fake email address and a few angry comments.

Users can be put on probation, banned so they have to sign up again, and even permanently banned where steps are taken to try and ensure they will never return. People are held to account for their words and actions, something very difficult to achieve for a blog or website with no persistent community.

Sure there are the regular posters in the comments sections of sites like The DesmogBlog, Insidethecbc or The Tyee, but what other than deleting their posts can be done to weed out the bad seeds. Breaking from the article/comment format has allowed the users and moderators at Something Awful to build something more than the simple reactionary relationship we see on the web.

Perhaps then, the past is the future. The potential to spark a debate, and exist as a responsive and dynamic organization, can be found in the form of a forum.

Would users stop flying off the handle or hijacking debates? No.

But could a site deal with users who prove themselves to be reactionary hot-heads? Yes.

In any case, I'm looking forward to watching The Tyee's new approach to comments. I, like many others, am saddened when a great discussion about an article is taken over by loudmouths with an axe to grind.

some photos

Breakfast

I love eggs!

I hate shopping for eggs because I always think of things like this.

Back at home in rural Canada we got our eggs from a farmer. They tasted better, and the chickens sure as hell weren't all locked up in "battery pens."

Now I've got to pay top dollar for organic free range eggs, whereas I used to be able to buy dozens for a buck-fitty straight up.

Stupid city.

The Sun Run

Helen and I ran the Vancouver Sun Run.

As a tribute to the absolutely ridiculously massively hugely gigantic number of people registered, we decided to pace ourselves at exactly one minute per thousand people registered to run.

54:45 was my time, pretty close eh...


OR

Helen had a hangover and I hadn't run in about a week so we took it pretty easy (or were unable to really giver.)

Truly My Favourite Band

Music is probably the single most important thing in my life. I could be (and have been) cold, alone, hungry, sad, dirty, hungover, and injured - but a good bit of music will pull me up out of the muck.

One of the bands that really inspires me is Folky Strum Strum and the Postmodern Bluegrass Boys (or Orchestra, or just Folky Strum Strum.)

I've done my fair share of jamming with songsmith Ian Bruvold, and always found him to be a creative if offbeat (but usually on or at least very near the actual beat) musician. The same goes for Reno Fitch, and especially Graham Kerr who I do believe is quickly becoming Western Canada's best bass-clef-based musician.

I can remember the first time I heard these guys rip through a set, actually it could have been more of a meander or stroll.

It was fantastic. Ian, Graham, and Reno became something more than a tall guitarist, a tall mandolinist, and a tall bassist. They became a a musical distillation of rural Canadian life during a time that saw farmers turning into oilmen and oilmen turning into drugmen. That, and they didn't have to stand on a stage to see over the crowd while doing it.

There is constant talk about style in music. We analyze genres and scenes, we pick apart influences and commonalities. For the most part, and I say this with no great joy, bands can be categorized. But the Folky Strum Strum became more than a genre or scene or a fusion of styles. They were, during their brief existence, the touching voice of something beyond human. Hearing their songs live was like tapping into actual meaning.

Louis Armstrong said, "What we play is life."

Folky Strum Strum did, and I hope we all can find whatever truth they managed to connect to.

Ian Bruvold, I hope my praise doesn't embarrass you too much. You're pretty good at the music stuff.

The Mojito

Sweetness and citrus
Summer and rum I sit and sip
Muddled lime and mint

I love a good mojito.

Work

I've had a few jobs over the last few years; Painter, carpenter, editor, computer technician. There are a few more I could add to that list, but rather than focus on what I've done I'd like to focus on what I do.

Right now I'm working at BCIT, I've got the ever-so-impressive title of Assistant Instructor - Broadcast Journalism.

It's a fabulous job for so many reasons, number one being that sharing information (teaching) is actually the best way to learn AND it's about the single most rewarding thing you can do.

As my contract expires in June I have begun the search for employment, and I realize that I've been working for the competition. Not BCIT, but the students in the Broadcast-Journalism program.

Should I be pleased that I've done (from what I hear) a good job, or should I be terrified that now there are 42 more budding journalists vying for the small pool of jobs in the region - this set had even more training that I did, although I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference because so far the most important things I've learned about broadcasting I found out on my own or while working.

K'naan nets a BBC3 World Music Award

K'naan is awesome and completely deserves the award.

His album The Dusty Food Philosopher is a breath of fresh air in the polluted world of hip hop.

The winner for the Americas category is Gogol Bordello. Their new album Gypsy Punks sounds (to me anyways) like a more frantic while less Latino Manu Chao. If that doesn't sell you on it then you should load up your ipod with nothing but Manu Chao for a week, and then load up on Gogol Bordello for the next week. BAM! Two weeks of contempo-folk-world-punk will make you see the light and sell your crappy major-label hard rock to 12 year olds on craigslist for just enough money to buy a bottle of rum and a couple o cd's at scratch.

More fun than a barrel of baby red-pandas with sweet ass mohawks wearing plaid zoot-suits.

Another streaming mag

I keep trying different solutions (all free) for streaming the Mag. Googlevideo was easy with the uploader, and they don't shut me down because the show is more than 10 minutes long.