Through the cold and into the dark

It's been hovering around 0C for a couple of days now -- a welcome relief from that bitterly cold weather we've been having.

I was talking with a guy today who makes snow at Mt. Sima, our local ski hill....I found it quite funny because the streets are piled 3m high from all the snow that has fallen on our roads and is being cleared right now. I guess the natural stuff we're getting isn't good enough!

Amnesty International Film Festival

I had the chance to see some films at Alpine Bakery this weekend and was moved, shocked, angered and comforted by what I saw. Finding Dawn was a bittersweet film about violence against First Nations women, and The Mushuau Innu: Surviving Canada was a poignant moving tale of what could be called made-in-Canada genocide. Interesting to see that National Press Gallery and MPs were invited to watch way back in 2004.... The last film of the festival and the last I saw, was 10 questions for the Dalai Lama, which was entertaining and illuminating. A nice way to end the festival. Hearing about the Dalai Lama's thoughts on Compassion was a great way to end the weekend.

Cold Cold Cold!

We're reaching 3 weeks of cold weather, and now this weekend, it's headed down below -30 for the entire time. Our car outdoor thermometer only goes down to -30. so as we've felt up to -45 windchill, the car reads a cheery (and now almost feels like it can be bearable) -30.
They say the weather is supposed to go up to -5 this week, but I'll believe it when I see it.

First snow in the Yukon!

Well, snow on the weekend...about 4 inches. And it's cooling off fast - with the wind today it felt quite a bit below 0C. Nothing like the 2 feet of snow in NY state, however. And what about the earthquakes in Hawaii? Quite a while time.

The chill in the air matches the chill I feel, now that the Yukon Party is back in office. I was really hoping for a minority government. I hope federal transfers take a steep drop, and then we'll see how Fentie manages....it's easy to govern when the money's good and the economy is doing
"well". I think this mini-boom we're having is directly connected to the Canada Winter Games we're hosting in early 2007. We'll see what happens when the visitors (and money) goes back south.

The elections for mayor and councils are coming up in a few days...but we'll anyone vote since all the wake of the territorial election...it'll be interesting to see what voter turnout will be like.

MojoPAC computer to go

Check out this new MojoPAC sounds too good to be true!

Yahoo Mail down! :-(

Yahoo Mail went down this afternoon, and I was just finally able to log back just a few minutes ago. It's funny...I just finished saying...."Yahoo is great...it never goes down" and here it's down for a good 8 hours! Nothing coming up in search engines, either....strange.

Snow on the mountains around Whitehorse

It's been getting colder, and I'm glad I finished staining the deck because there was snow on the mountains this morning! All the rain we've had and will be getting will turn into snow up higher, I'm pretty sure.

Fall is here!

Yesterday we had wind, hail, rain, and hey, even a little sun as well! Nighttime temperatures are dipping down close to freezing, but looking at the next 15 days, it's going to be warm for a little while longer yet. Maybe I can even finish staining the deck!

Meet the Dalai Lama or Chinese reps?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like how Monte and Jason are meeting with the Dalai Lama in Vancouver, and putting off talks with Chinese officials. This may be the last and only time I say this, but good choice this time.

Free music downloads (but...)!

SpiralFrog has cut a deal with Universal music to allow free downloads! Apparently the deal's for one year, so we'll have to wait and see, and they're going to launch December 2006. I hear that CD burning and iPod use will not work, and users need to visit SpiralFrog at least once a month to keep their subscription going.

Also in development is QTrax, a free and legal P2P service.

It's good to see music provided the way consumers want...free, free, free!!

House for a paperclip!

Congratulations to Kyle Macdonald for getting a house for a red paper clip! I think his adventure shows the social networking potential of the Internet!

Race and humour

I've encountered a couple good intersections of race and humour. The first is Dave Chappelle, who takes on race relations head on and succeeds with a great amount of laughter! The second is ¡Ask a Mexican! which is a great Q&A column that combines witty slangly language with well thought out, well-research responses.

City Mitts

I remember the sticky bus and Skytrain poles and tried not to think to much. Now Emily Beck has created stylish gloves for transit use. Pretty cool idea!

Peace at last! War to follow??!?

I'm so glad to hear that a peace of sorts has been reached in Lebanon. It' s heartwrenching to hear about people coming back to bombed-out homes.

But I'm unnerved at all the attacks that Canadian soldier face, and yet another soldier being put to rest back in Canada. We have no one to blame but Harper and his militaristic aping of Bush's policies.

I liked this article on cognitive reasoning -- it's provides a nice panacea to the millienialism that seems to be appearing all over US television networks. Cynical types like me would see this kind of news programming as preparing the US public for a war on Iran.

A living National Treasure may leave Canada

It's so sad to think that Oscar Peterson, a man I think is a National Living Treasure, would have to leave Canada because of racial harassment. Why can't these criminals be found and punished?!? This story is a reminder that we, as Canadians, have a long way to go -- tolerance is not enough.

IM so does NOT mess with grammar!

According to researchers @ UToronto, we don't need to worry about IM when it comes to grammar.

Satellite TV at Wal-Mart

While driving past the Wal-Mart parking lot, near the road, closest to the Starbuck we noticed that someone had setup a TV satellite dish just beyond their stairs (obviously not an unusual idea). I thought that I'd much rather have a cabin than a RV montrosity. But hey, why leave a life that one is "accustomed to"?

Lebanon

Some shocking news about American evacuees -- they have to pay to get out!! 300 billion for war and Halliburton, but nothing but more grief for citizens who want to leave. In the KTLA story above, Canada got a big mention for its evacution efforts, despite criticisms in our Canadian press.

Altin music festival

It's been a week now since the Atlin music festival, and that was a lot of fun. It was great going with my Japanese friends, and they sure appreciate the natural setting and all the events that went on. It was fun to have BBQ three days in a row (although I wonder what kind of cancer causing agents like dioxin I ingested?) But hey, I don't smoke!

Parabens

I was reading about Parabens (preservatives in many cosmetics products) because I heard they could cause cancer. However, I checked with the American Cancer Society, and the picture seems less clear. Of course, it seems better to stay away from all the the product at the drugstore, but then what about skin cancer?

Coffee as identity

Coffee as identity is not limited to Vancouver/Seattle culture.
Check out this quote from an office worker in Japan.

"Simply putting a Starbucks cup on my desk kinda makes what may have
been jumbled seem a lot cleaner. I can't give up that feeling," she
says. "Your computer, your documents, whatever is on your desk is
almost all company property, but your coffee cup is a symbol of your
own identity. Some people at work tease me about the cup being so big,
but the cup is also a way of expressing 'me' at work."
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/
20060629p2g00m0dm036000c.html

Cool and rainy

For the past couple of days the weather has turned cool and rainy...we're not getting about 14C today. It is a nice reprieve from the 30C weather a couple of weeks ago. Like I tell people...it's easier to throw on clothing than to take it off!

Warmest in Canada

I believe now that we've had 3 of the warmest days in Canada, reaching close to 30C every day with blazing sun and dry, dry conditions. I'll be grateful for the weather later in the week when it cools down. All the sun has sure done wonders to our garden...the rhubarb is just sprouting everywhere!

Wass, Sharon's son, on vacation starting this week, is starting high school in September and I'm very proud of him. I think high school is going to be a great time for him, where he can grow, and fully participate, and do all kinds of cool things.

I've off to Worship Matters this week and I think it's going to be pretty exciting. It'll also be good to see old friends, and go to the VAG and have some Artigiano coffee, and it'll be the best $5 cup I get.

Banff Centre

I'm at the beautiful Banff Centre this week with Sharon and am having a nice time playing tourist. The sun has been out and it's been over 20C everyday. I've done some hikes close into town and along the Bow River, but nothing too far away from civilization because the bears are out, and there was an attack recently. The Centre is an amazing place in a wonderful setting that is alive with creative energy. It's very exciting to be here.

Customizable clothes

MIT's Media lab is coming up with a way to use OLED-based clothing so that the clothes you wear can be customized. For now, I'm just happy to be able to download ringtones.

Old blog - writing about life in Baker Lake

I thought I should link to an old blog I started while I lived in Baker Lake. This is an informal journal that chronicles some on-the-ground observations.

It's getting brighter....

While it's still cold at night, with temperatures hovering around -3C and getting up to around 10C during the day, it is remaining light outside very late already! Dusk extends well after 11pm, and dawn starts around 4am. It's great to wake up in the morning and have the full sun shining in all the windows, and I'm happy we got dark blinds to help us sleep at night!

Musicians denounce industry hacks

Canadian musicians have stood up for Canadians who want the freedom to download music online. It's obvious the music publishing industry wants to increase its revenue stream, but remember that we all pay levies on blank media as it is. The CRIA contines to pressure the Heritage department to tilt the playing field away from consumers. Don't forget that they donated thousands to Sam Bulte, the former Parliamentary Secretary to Heritage. I'd be curious to see how much this group has been sending MP Bev Oda's way...

Harper's "accountability"

A report has just come out that slams Harper's new proposed "openness" legislation. What the legislation will do is actually slam the door shut tighter on access to government. In fact, Gomery would not be possible under this proposed legistlation, because the journalist would have had their request quashed. Open government, indeed.

John Reid, the Information Commissioner says, "No previous government [...] has put forward a more retrograde and dangerous set of proposals to change the Access to Information Act."

Ask me if I'm surprised! Harper is looking more like Dubya all the time.

Derek Hotel

On I lighter note, I found that this upscale hotel in Houston offers trips in the Derekmobile. Cool!

Harper's bungle

I was interviewed by CBC yesterday on the Harper mismanagement of access to arrival ceremonies of slain
soldiers. Let's not forget Bush did the same thing; the media had to use a Freedom of Information Act request to get photos. I think this is a that Harper, like Bush, only wants his website press releases to be the "news". Where's the commitment to "accountability" when the media is muzzled? We've started with Emerson and it's getting worse.

It's also interesting that the Tories, usually seen as being staunch military supporters, are refusing to lower the flag on Parliament Hill. According to a Vancouver radio station poll, 2-1 are voting that the flag should be lowered. Why the announcement? It is because the human cost is becoming too great -- now 15 -- and Canadians will start asking tough questions?

Getting my phone to do new things

I've been experimenting with a data cable to get photos and new ringtones into my phone.

Configuring the cable was a bit tricky, but it works great now.

Then, formatting pictures for the phone wasn't too bad, although I found that after using Irfanview to resize, I had to use Paint to load/resave to get the phone to "see" the photo.

Finally ringtones. First, I found that my 2125i Nokia uses MIDI. I tried moving a few files on to the phone. It kept saying "the file is too large", but after removing some file manipulation, there was success!

Simpler MIDI compositions work best, although I am working with a MIDI sequencer called Jazz++ to try to shoehorn new tones into SP-MIDI format. I'm very happy it's open source! So yes, I'm finally into the ringtone craze! The sounds of Knight Rider and Ms. PacMan are revived, along with Brick, one of my favourite tunes.

I'm also trying ConvertRingtones, an online conversion tool. This site works great! Now I have Stephen's last night in town.

Iqaluit goes wireless!

Here are some examples where the North is using technology.

Iqaluit is one of the first communities in Canada where you can access free wireless. Nunavut also now offers high-speed Internet access through QINIQ in all its communities. In Whitehorse, cellular phone service is being offered though Ice Wireless, a Yukon provider, with service to other communities planned in the near future.

Back home

Well, I returned to Whitehorse this afternoon, and had a great time at the conference!

I learned a lot, met old friends, made new contacts, and was very heartened by all the passion and energy at the conference. It was very good.

I didn't have much of a chance to update the blog much, but stay tuned for more soon.

BCLA Pre-Conference Day

Here in Vancouver now at the first meeting. Podcasting (WordOfTheYear, 2005).

Resource list @ bclacast.blogspot.com.

I made this blog live while I was at the meeting, since I was sitting in front of the computer. I've heard comments by email that this live log should be cleaned up, so I've done some editing and left the mechanics of podcasting out.

What’s a podcast?

Media (usually in MP3 format) available on demand, for any user who has found and set up a subscription to it. It’s on demand, because it's downloadable to a portable media device, usually automated by subscription and RSS. Blogs

How are podcasts being used?
They are already being used for instruction ie: lectures, cooking, languages, music, corp. training.

What’s the potential audience?
There are now more than 55 million MP3 players out there, and many more devices that can play MP3 files.

Why should we use podcasts @ the library?
1) another medium
2) increases profile
3) voice - connection
4) print-disabled friendly
5) media shift - we’re seeing a shift to small groups publishing content

Here are some ideas for podcasting:
1) Promote library services/events
2) Book reviews
3) Storytelling
4) Author readings / guests
5) Community events / campus meetings
6) Panel discussions
7) Bibliographic instruction
Consider as new trend--
8) Reviews / Comments by users/patrons – patron-generated content

Some rules to consider (despite the fact there are no formal rules):
1) Use a consistent format – like radio programs, podcast audiences like to hear a consistent production
2) Produce only when there's content – don’t slavishing follow a schedule
3) Respect the users who subscribe to your feed – produce quality content

A large caveat: Providing podcasts for download can take up a lot of network resources
1) Consider bandwidth -- balance sound quality with file size
2) Bandwidth costs money! Consider bandwidth and impact on institution
3) May want to consider a hosted solution with a free service, especially if IT resources are limited

Interesting questions that came out of the discussion -- could libraries serve as a mirror for podcasts of interest? Set up a page of podcasts of interest? Have live pages that pushed content of interest to its users? Providing podcasting reference -- push list of podcast feeds to user groups?

After the presentation/discussion we talked about how to create a podcast and tried out some tools, all at http://bclacast.blogspot.com/.

Many thanks to Will for the presentation!

Thoughts not so joyful today

Nicolas Burns speaking on behalf of the US said today, ""We are going to act to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability," according to AFP. Bush is also quoted as saying: "All options are on the table."


I shudder to think that the US would ponder going nuclear, but if one pauses to consider the many forays using depleted uranium weapons, and tests of so-called "bunker buster" weapons, then it follows that a nuclear strike could follow.

Let's pray for peace and wisdom!

Easter Monday

A good day to hunker down and relax. Got a busy week coming up!

Holy Saturday

It continued to snow and I had to shovel another 2 inches of snow of the driveway!

After a couple of frantic hours late last night, I've started on a Google-hosted website, and started out here in Blogger.

I just found that the United Church of Canada is seeking to engage people who are 30-45. Being a part of this group, I was intrigued by the initiative.

I also found an interesting place online for Uniteds to chat. I found one April Fool's Day posting was very, very provocative.

Good Friday, 2006

Two inches of snow today, Good Friday! Just when I was going to get the BBQ set up! And I heard that it was 22C+ in Ontario??!? And this the big beginning of the RV season. I'm just grateful I made it to church this morning for a moving Good Friday service.

This first day of the long weekend was spent with renovations and reorgainization. It's very satisfying to improve the living environment.

Welcome to my world!

HI there....here's my first stab at blogging, in all its angst-ridden, tedious glory.

Enjoy the posts!