Yesterday's Library House event was held at the London IMAX theatre near Waterloo station. Definitely a very cool facility, and even cooler? The presenters got to throw our slides up on the IMAX screen... :)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Presenting on an IMAX screen
Yesterday's Library House event was held at the London IMAX theatre near Waterloo station. Definitely a very cool facility, and even cooler? The presenters got to throw our slides up on the IMAX screen... :)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Third Reich of Sri Lanka?
Alright, I tend to avoid political discussions about Sri Lanka for a bunch of reasons... not the least of which being that I tend not to understand all the complexities of the situation... and also because it (like every other civil war) is just incredibly difficult how two groups of people can hate each other enough to trade their futures to live the present in a hate-filled war that reduces everyone to living in the middle ages.
Now, all that said, it sounds like there's some crazy stuff going on in Sri Lanka at the moment... and it sounds like the government isn't behaving too differently from the Nazi's several decades ago.
Quick brief: There're two sides of this conflict, the Sinhalese (ruling party/ethnic majority) and the Tamils (widely appreciated as being the repressed party).
A Sinhalese newspaper (The Sunday Leader) published a piece recently, comparing recent government action to the same atrocities the Nazi's committed. This is strange for a number of reasons... not the least of which being that it's a Sinhalese paper.
Some choice excerpts.
If you want to read more, you can find the full article here.
I really don't know what to say... more stupidity... more blatant acts of government-sponsored terrorism... and the governments of the west aren't doing anything. If anyone's curious why I'm generally of two minds about sending our troops into dictatorial countries, it's because I think that every now and again the world needs a heavily armed cop to put repressive and murderous governments in their place.
It may sound arrogant for those of us in the west to say that we're right and another country/culture/religion/whatever is wrong... but sometimes the world really is that black and white.
Now, all that said, it sounds like there's some crazy stuff going on in Sri Lanka at the moment... and it sounds like the government isn't behaving too differently from the Nazi's several decades ago.
Quick brief: There're two sides of this conflict, the Sinhalese (ruling party/ethnic majority) and the Tamils (widely appreciated as being the repressed party).
A Sinhalese newspaper (The Sunday Leader) published a piece recently, comparing recent government action to the same atrocities the Nazi's committed. This is strange for a number of reasons... not the least of which being that it's a Sinhalese paper.
Some choice excerpts.
Secular Sinhalese hung their heads in shame last week as government storm-troopers rounded up the Tamil citizenry of Colombo and herded them into busses, to be taken to God knows where. Young and old, shy and bold, they were equally affected: no one was spared. Grandmothers separated from their grandchildren, sisters separated from their brothers, diabetics separated from their insulin. In scenes reminiscent of the Final Solution, the Mahinda Chinthanaya swung into action, leaving no one in doubt that Sri Lanka's is a government of the racists, by the racists, for the racists. It is but a short step from here to requiring Tamils to wear a mandatory arm-band with a 'T' (in black, of course) emblazoned on it....
It is only a sick and cynical society that can countenance so brazen an assault on human rights and look the other way. It is gratifying that all Sri Lanka's political parties, barring the SLFP, JHU and CWC, vociferously opposed Rajapakse's action. No one knows what brand of Buddhism it is that the monks of the Urumaya profess to follow, but it is evident from their action that it is not that advocated by the Gautama Buddha(Note: Isn't it curious that in Sri Lanka, even the Buddhists are militant warmongers? Now if this doesn't teach us how dangerous religion can be...)
In the last couple of years we have taken to bombing the villages in the north that are thought to harbour Tigers. One rarely meets a Sri Lankan, however, who sees how utterly bizarre this is - bombing your own people. When the JVP attacked Colombo, did the air force bomb Akuressa and Hambantota, its strongholds? What would people think of a government that bombed Sinhalese? Yet, the Tamils are bombed daily as a matter of routine, and not one Sinhala voice of protest, be it ever so small, is heard. Now we seem slowly to be discovering that there simply are too many dissident Tamils (= 'terrorists') to kill: we are deporting them back to their homeland.
If you want to read more, you can find the full article here.
I really don't know what to say... more stupidity... more blatant acts of government-sponsored terrorism... and the governments of the west aren't doing anything. If anyone's curious why I'm generally of two minds about sending our troops into dictatorial countries, it's because I think that every now and again the world needs a heavily armed cop to put repressive and murderous governments in their place.
It may sound arrogant for those of us in the west to say that we're right and another country/culture/religion/whatever is wrong... but sometimes the world really is that black and white.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
... Texas ...
Just when you think that at least Austin's the civilized part of Texas... "An angry crowd in Texas beats and kills a man who was in a car that hit and injured a young girl."
Turns out the car was moving quite slowly and the girl wasn't seriously hurt. When they stopped to check on the girl the insane beating began...
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6224538.stm >
Idiotic Toronto politics
A bunch of city counsellors are arguing over whether or not Toronto should remove the yellow "support our troops" ribbons on Toronto fire trucks.
Who are these idiots? Supporting brave young men and women putting their lives on their line for what their democratically elected government has sent them to do, is not the same as supporting the war. Of course we support our troops and of course the ribbons should stay.
Argh. Idiots.
Who are these idiots? Supporting brave young men and women putting their lives on their line for what their democratically elected government has sent them to do, is not the same as supporting the war. Of course we support our troops and of course the ribbons should stay.
Argh. Idiots.
*ARGH* re Red Herring
So, not only did Red Herring disappear from Zinio without any notice for quite a while... they've now relaunched with some browser-based reader from Olive Software that's awful... Offline viewing is a pain at best (involving loading the page in advance, setting your browser to offline mode, etc.) ... which is almost the whole point of an electronic magazine to me : I'd much rather read paper at home or in the office... I use Zinio because I want to read things on my laptop on the plane, without having to lug a stack of magazines with me... and this new reader totally breaks that use case.
Anyone else use electronic magazines this way, or is it just me?
Anyone else use electronic magazines this way, or is it just me?
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Muslims and Identity
Via The Economist.
Pew Research Center polled a number of muslims in 5 western countries: Britain, Spain, Germany, France and the US. They were asked a few questions, including whether they considered themselves Muslim first, or if they first identified by their nationality. They were also asked if they thought life was better for women in their country or in Muslim countries.
The scary data? 81% of British Muslims consider themselves Muslim first and British second. The same stat in the US is 47% (personally, as a first-generation Canadian, and a proud one at that, I find even that high a number a bit disturbing).
Even more surprising was the fact that 54% of Spanish Muslims thought that life is better for women in Muslim countries (vs. Spain). Only 38% of French and American Muslims surveyed felt the same.
Understanding and addressing the data seems pretty important to healing the rift that's being created all across the western world between nations and their minority (not just Muslim) citizens. I wonder what the data would show if Canadians (as a whole) and Torontonians (as a subset) were sampled...
Pew Research Center polled a number of muslims in 5 western countries: Britain, Spain, Germany, France and the US. They were asked a few questions, including whether they considered themselves Muslim first, or if they first identified by their nationality. They were also asked if they thought life was better for women in their country or in Muslim countries.
The scary data? 81% of British Muslims consider themselves Muslim first and British second. The same stat in the US is 47% (personally, as a first-generation Canadian, and a proud one at that, I find even that high a number a bit disturbing).
Even more surprising was the fact that 54% of Spanish Muslims thought that life is better for women in Muslim countries (vs. Spain). Only 38% of French and American Muslims surveyed felt the same.
Understanding and addressing the data seems pretty important to healing the rift that's being created all across the western world between nations and their minority (not just Muslim) citizens. I wonder what the data would show if Canadians (as a whole) and Torontonians (as a subset) were sampled...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Facebook Sync violated Facebook TOS?
Via Sam.
The website for FSB Software mentions that Facebook Sync was taken down as it violated Facebook's Terms of Service. It's unfortunate, as it sounds like a cool app that took your friend's contact details, etc. from Facebook and piped them into your Mac's Address Book ...
You can totally understand Facebook's take on the whole thing: They want to own the platform, and let you extend it... not take data out of it, never to return again.
... and while these apps are clearly not competitive to Facebook, there's a bit of a slippery slope: they'd probably really dislike a "Export my Facebook to Bebo/Hi5/etc." app.
Makes me wonder: when you open your platform up for other people to embrace and extend, how do you set the ground rules? What's okay, what's not, and how are users and developers going to feel about it?
The website for FSB Software mentions that Facebook Sync was taken down as it violated Facebook's Terms of Service. It's unfortunate, as it sounds like a cool app that took your friend's contact details, etc. from Facebook and piped them into your Mac's Address Book ...
You can totally understand Facebook's take on the whole thing: They want to own the platform, and let you extend it... not take data out of it, never to return again.
... and while these apps are clearly not competitive to Facebook, there's a bit of a slippery slope: they'd probably really dislike a "Export my Facebook to Bebo/Hi5/etc." app.
Makes me wonder: when you open your platform up for other people to embrace and extend, how do you set the ground rules? What's okay, what's not, and how are users and developers going to feel about it?
Friday, June 15, 2007
Keeping Up With The Gouchers
Nike's got a set of videos talking with and about a couple who happen to also be kick-ass runners. They seem really nice too. Man they make me sick :-)
Seriously though, worth a watch if you're a runner (or, like me, are pretending to be one...)
Seriously though, worth a watch if you're a runner (or, like me, are pretending to be one...)
Morning reading
Was skimming the recent issue of The Economist this morning and came across some great articles worth checking out.
Biology's Big Bang talks about a lot of fundamental new research in biology, and specifically around RNA ... something that we used to think wasn't terribly exciting or interesting, and are now rethinking. Some cool thoughts on using lipid microbubbles to deliver RNA treatments as well... very cool. Another related article as well.
Thoughts on the changing of the air travel industry ... from newer planes, to the doubling of traffic in the next couple of years... a whole bunch of interesting articles for anyone who travels a lot, or is concerned that air lines contribute 2% of the man-made CO2 released into the atmosphere.
And what discussion of CO2 would be complete without talking about cellulosic ethanol? :) Another great article that seems to be able to get even people with zero understanding of cleantech (like me) up the curve into understanding what all this treethanol stuff is all about.
More reasons to be ashamed of being Canadian? Our intelligence services aren't perfect either, as this discussion about the inquiry around the Air India investigation discusses. The worst kind of imperfection? When we walk away having learned nothing.
And finally on a lighter note cicada's are very cool insects, only emerging every 13 or 17 years... with one brood showing up in parts of the midwest now... kinda' makes me want to hop on a plane and check it out.
Biology's Big Bang talks about a lot of fundamental new research in biology, and specifically around RNA ... something that we used to think wasn't terribly exciting or interesting, and are now rethinking. Some cool thoughts on using lipid microbubbles to deliver RNA treatments as well... very cool. Another related article as well.
Thoughts on the changing of the air travel industry ... from newer planes, to the doubling of traffic in the next couple of years... a whole bunch of interesting articles for anyone who travels a lot, or is concerned that air lines contribute 2% of the man-made CO2 released into the atmosphere.
And what discussion of CO2 would be complete without talking about cellulosic ethanol? :) Another great article that seems to be able to get even people with zero understanding of cleantech (like me) up the curve into understanding what all this treethanol stuff is all about.
More reasons to be ashamed of being Canadian? Our intelligence services aren't perfect either, as this discussion about the inquiry around the Air India investigation discusses. The worst kind of imperfection? When we walk away having learned nothing.
And finally on a lighter note cicada's are very cool insects, only emerging every 13 or 17 years... with one brood showing up in parts of the midwest now... kinda' makes me want to hop on a plane and check it out.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Two weeks of running and I'm feeling great...
So, I got my body-fat composition numbers back a couple of days ago... it's added more motivation (well that and the second test in 6 weeks!) to keep up with the new healthy eating/working out plan.
So far, I've got to say I'm feeling great and have lost a little weight. Still a long way to go before I'm ready for my next race, but I think I should be in shape for the Tahoe marathon by the end of September.
Tip for getting type-A's to keep working out? A friend and I both picked up new Garmin Forerunner GPS watches... the idea is that we can share our run data between each other as a way to motivate one another (i.e. he's running faster AND farther than me? Time to get out for the next run...) and so far so good. I'll let you know how it goes. Though, one note: the Garmin software is incredibly bad. So bad it's amazing they actually shipped it. Their website, MotionBased isn't much better, and has an interface designed by a war criminal. It's surprising that there've been literally years of work that've gone into building these pieces of software that look like pre-alpha stuff to me.
BUT... aside from the crummy software, the watches work well enough, and the software is AT LEAST good enough to view and share your workouts with someone. Fingers crossed they hire a good product manager to redo their software, though...
So far, I've got to say I'm feeling great and have lost a little weight. Still a long way to go before I'm ready for my next race, but I think I should be in shape for the Tahoe marathon by the end of September.
Tip for getting type-A's to keep working out? A friend and I both picked up new Garmin Forerunner GPS watches... the idea is that we can share our run data between each other as a way to motivate one another (i.e. he's running faster AND farther than me? Time to get out for the next run...) and so far so good. I'll let you know how it goes. Though, one note: the Garmin software is incredibly bad. So bad it's amazing they actually shipped it. Their website, MotionBased isn't much better, and has an interface designed by a war criminal. It's surprising that there've been literally years of work that've gone into building these pieces of software that look like pre-alpha stuff to me.
BUT... aside from the crummy software, the watches work well enough, and the software is AT LEAST good enough to view and share your workouts with someone. Fingers crossed they hire a good product manager to redo their software, though...
Why do Canadians still pay long distance?
In this age of VoIP, why is it that Canadians still pay long distance charges within the country? Each of the local telco's has a coast-to-coast network, with termination points all over. Bell and Rogers are loudly proclaiming free calls amongst their subscribers across the country. Clearly there's no incremental cost difference between a local and long distance call any longer (within the country), and yet, our operators feel free to gouge us for these calls.
There was a time (and I'd guess it's still true) that it was cheaper to call from the US to Japan than to Canada, and I'd guess that the CRTC hasn't given the operators any incentive to change the nearly-usurious termination charges that have lead to this.
On the mobile side of things, T-Mobile USA's myFaves calling plan allows a subscriber to pick 5 numbers across the US and call them for free at any time. It doesn't matter if the number's local, long distance, land line or mobile. Why not? Because the costs don't really matter any more... T-Mobile realized this and created a plan that works.
What's Rogers done in Canada? Created an obvious knock-off plan that includes only local calls. Why? I guess they're afraid of kids off at school calling their parents back home without paying for it.
There was a time (and I'd guess it's still true) that it was cheaper to call from the US to Japan than to Canada, and I'd guess that the CRTC hasn't given the operators any incentive to change the nearly-usurious termination charges that have lead to this.
On the mobile side of things, T-Mobile USA's myFaves calling plan allows a subscriber to pick 5 numbers across the US and call them for free at any time. It doesn't matter if the number's local, long distance, land line or mobile. Why not? Because the costs don't really matter any more... T-Mobile realized this and created a plan that works.
What's Rogers done in Canada? Created an obvious knock-off plan that includes only local calls. Why? I guess they're afraid of kids off at school calling their parents back home without paying for it.
Friday, June 08, 2007
What country is the Tour De France starting in?
Not a trick question... this year it's starting in London, in Trafalgar Square on July 7. Aparrently one of 5 or 6 times in the long history of the Tour that it's not started in France.
Anyone got suggestions on where to go to watch? :)
Anyone got suggestions on where to go to watch? :)
Chinwag party - London, July 5
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
In London in June?
I'm speaking at the Library House Essential Web '07 event on June 27. Swing by if you're in town.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
2 things I hate about Chapters.indigo.ca
Two basic things, at that...
I was looking for the book Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis. It's got the apostrophe in the title. If you search for the book on chapters.indigo.ca, it won't return the book... it'll show the audiobooks only.
If you search for "Liars Poker" (the wrong title) it'll find the book. Okay, so the book's title is incorrectly entered in the book database, but it doesn't take a lot of fuzzy search magic to realize that a search for "Liar's Poker" should probably return "Liars Poker", yeah?
The second? It always manages to forget my stores... It's in theory a great idea: tell the site which bookstores are near you, and it'll always show you the number of copies in stock for whichever book you're looking at. In theory. In practice it tends to forget the stores you've selected every now and again... grumble...
I was looking for the book Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis. It's got the apostrophe in the title. If you search for the book on chapters.indigo.ca, it won't return the book... it'll show the audiobooks only.
If you search for "Liars Poker" (the wrong title) it'll find the book. Okay, so the book's title is incorrectly entered in the book database, but it doesn't take a lot of fuzzy search magic to realize that a search for "Liar's Poker" should probably return "Liars Poker", yeah?
The second? It always manages to forget my stores... It's in theory a great idea: tell the site which bookstores are near you, and it'll always show you the number of copies in stock for whichever book you're looking at. In theory. In practice it tends to forget the stores you've selected every now and again... grumble...
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