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Reconstruction Site – The Weakerthans


This song's been going through my head a lot since Pace was born:


And I'm broke, like a bad joke

Somebody's uncle told at a wedding reception in 1972

Where a little boy under a table with cake in his hair

Stared at the grown-up feet as they danced and swayed

And his father laughed and talked on the long ride home

And his mother laughed and talked on the long ride home

And he thought about how everyone dies someday

And when tomorrow gets here, where will yesterday be

And fell asleep in his brand new winter coat

Posted 21 July 2007 § Baby § Main Page § PopCulture § Travel § Video ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Friday Fun Link – Harry Potter and the Death of Reading (July 20, 2007)

“In 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors.”

Just in time for the biggest book release in the history of the universe, a contrarian view from the Washington Post.

It’s out tonight at midnight but rumours of leaks have been happening for the past few days.

Harry Potter’s publisher has been going after any web site that even links to a site that distributes files purporting to be the leaked work.

They’ve even been going after sites that link to sites that are distributing the leaked work if you can believe it!

Posted 21 July 2007 § Censorship § FridayFunLink § Main Page § PopCulture ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

My Birthday By The Numbers

34 – age I turned today

25 – age someone recently told me I was really at



4 – Number of gifts Pace got from Shea today

2 – Number of gifts I got from Shea today

2 – Number of times Pace almost peed on me
1 – Number of times Pace peed in his own eye

7 – Number of people who partook in my birthday cake at work for our “birthday cake social club”
8 – Number of pieces I cut the cake into because seven would require an engineering degree

27 – Number of “birthday wish” wall posts I got on Facebook
1 – Number of wall posts I did for other Facebook friends who were born on July 18

6 – Number of people in on a conference call at noon with me
1 – Number of times I've been marked as “absent” in an earlier conference call I did attend after not saying very much for the hour

9 – Number of hours I would've gotten if I'd slept right through from the time I went to bed until the time my alarm was set for
7 – Number of times I was awakened in the night by Pace crying or squeaking or murmuring while eating or otherwise making noises.
2 – Number of diapers I changed during those nine hours

Posted 19 July 2007 § Baby § Internet § List § Main Page § Shea § Work ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Photo Update

I have absolutely nothing to say right now so instead, will point you to Flickr where Shea has uploaded a few more photos of the Pace-man.

The realisation has hit that the sole purpose of having a child is to dress them up in embarrassing outfits or photograph them in embarrassing situations. 

Here's one where he looks just plain cute…

Posted 18 July 2007 § Baby § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (2) °

The Open Library: Wikipedia meets Amazon?

“Imagine a library that collected all the world’s information about all
the world’s books and made it available for everyone to view and
update. We’re building that library.”

(via MetaFilter)

Jessamyn West blogged about the site on Librarian.net and suggests checking the “About the Librarianship” page which says:

“For the first time, we'll have an open, public, curated, universal
catalog of all books. But this also presents an enormous challenge: we
need to develop a schema for all that book information.
Like the MARC format, we'll want our schema to contain all the
important bibliographic information that librarians want to collect
about books. But we'll also want to take advantage of all the things
we've learned since MARC.”

Posted 17 July 2007 § Library § Main Page ‡ Comments (2) °

From Stacks To Snacks and Books to Beers – A Friday Gathering

You are invited to A Post-Work Gathering For Regina and Area Librarians

Friday, July 20, 2007 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm 

To be held at Cathedral Village Free House (2062 Albert Street) -- your hosts are Jason Hammond and Julie McKenna

This is a chance for any librarians in Regina and area to get together for drinks and snacks this Friday after work.

The event officially starts at 5 pm but Julie McKenna will be there at 4:30 pm to wrangle spots so feel free to come a bit early. 

Also, feel free to bring guests, colleagues and friends but please let Julie know if you plan to attend or bring others so we have a rough idea
of how many to expect. 

This invitation has also been extended on Facebook through the event at http://uregina.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2388729758RSVP there....

Also, please pass this message on to anyone we may have missed -- everyone is welcome....

Hope to see you all on Friday!

Julie McKenna and Jason Hammond

Julie McKenna
julie.mckenna@uregina.ca
Librarian, University of Regina
On administrative leave pursuing a Master of Human Resource Management until August 1, 2007
 
Julie is inviting everyone to consider sponsoring her participation in Librarians Run for the Cure -- online at http://tinyurl.com/33ysw
Posted 16 July 2007 § Library § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

Canadian Nurses Can See "SiCKO" for free this week

MICHAEL MOORE OFFERS TO REIMBURSE THE UNITED NURSES OF ALBERTA FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF HIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED FILM SiCKO

CANADIAN DISTRIBUTOR APPLAUDS MICHAEL MOORE'S ACTION AND OFFERS FREE
ADMISSION TO ALL NURSES ACROSS CANADA STARTING MONDAY, JULY 16TH

TORONTO, ONTARIO – July 12, 2007 –  In an effort to encourage members
of the public to see Michael Moore's latest provocative and acclaimed
film SiCKO last week, The United Nurses of Alberta purchased 150
tickets to distribute to the public.  Today, Michael Moore
congratulated their efforts and offered to reimburse the union for
their action.

When reached for comment, Michael Moore stated, “Nurses across Canada
are on the front line in the battle against those forces who want to
inch the Canadian health care system toward the American way. They know
that once a Canadian sees SiCKO, the last thing they will want is an
American-style approach. The problems that do exist with the Canadian
system are a result of it being under-funded. The solution to better
health care in Canada cannot be found south of the border.”

As further show of appreciation, Alliance Atlantis* Motion Picture
Distribution announced today that it will offer one free admission to
see SiCKO to all nurses across Canada for a limited time starting on
Monday, July 16th  through to Thursday, July 19th.  Nurses must present
valid documentation at the box office of participating theatres**.

 
“Sometimes it takes an American like Michael Moore, to remind us of
what Canada does right,” says United Nurses of Alberta President
Heather Smith.  “Some people are constantly pushing to turn health care
into a profit-making business. SiCKO is an excellent vaccination
against that privatization disease. It's good for our health.”

Jim Sherry, Executive Managing Director of Alliance Atlantis* Motion
Picture Distribution comments, “We applaud the United Nurses of Alberta
for their enthusiasm and hope to encourage others in the nursing
profession to see the film that continues to spark debate across this
country.  By offering this opportunity to nurses across Canada, we are
acknowledging the considerable amount of interest that has been
expressed to us by several nurses unions and it is our hope that this
gesture will resonate in continued dialogue and debate surrounding this
remarkable film.” 

Canadian exhibitors, Cineplex Entertainment and Empire Theatres, have
displayed overwhelming support by participating in this special
promotion as well as displaying generous support to the nurses' unions
throughout the country.

SiCKO, Michael Moore's highly acclaimed and entertaining expose of the
American health care system, continues to captivate audiences across
the country. It is written, directed and produced by Michael Moore. The
film is produced by Meghan O'Hara and co-produced by Anne Moore.
Kathleen Glynn, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein serve as executive
producers.

**Nurses must present one of the following along with photo id at the
box office to obtain a free ticket for SiCKO:  License, Practice
Permit, Registration Card or Valid Union ID.  Participating theatres
include Cineplex Entertainment, Empire and Landmark Theatres only.

About Motion Picture Distribution LP

Motion Picture Distribution LP (“MPD”) is a leading distributor of
motion pictures in Canada, with motion picture distribution operations
in the United Kingdom and Spain. MPD distributes filmed entertainment
to theatres, on DVD, and to television broadcasters. Alliance Atlantis
Communications Inc. (TSX: AAC.A, AAC.B) indirectly holds a 51%
ownership interest in MPD and Movie Distribution Income Fund (TSX:
FLM.UN) indirectly holds the remaining ownership interest in MPD.

-30-

*          “Alliance Atlantis” with the stylized “A” design is licensed
from Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., an indirect limited partner
of Motion Picture Distribution LP, not a general partner.

Posted 15 July 2007 § Canada § Main Page § Politics ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

When Did Facebook Replace E-mail?

Okay, we're not quite there yet (or you aren't if you're my age – I suspect 18-24 year olds are) but it feels like we're heading in that direction. 

E-mail was the original “killer app” of the Internet.  It was the one service that everybody online had since you got issued an e-mail address as soon as you signed up with an ISP or registered at a college.  If you were looking for a bit more permanence, you got a Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail or Gmail account.  Even though these services are web-based, they were really about e-mail, not web.  And not only did everybody have e-mail but it was the one thing online, possibly challenged only by Google, that everybody used as well.  (In fact, the only sites rated higher than Google on Alexa today are MSN and Yahoo – mainly on the strength of the traffic their e-mail systems bring in.) 

E-mail was (and is) effective because it provided a great mixture of  flexibility, speed and access.  You could send files with nearly any kind of attachment, your message would (usually) arrive in near instantaneous fashion no matter where the sender and receiver were in the world and, although there was never a successful e-mail directory like there are for phone numbers, you could usually hunt down e-mail addresses of the people you wanted to reach fairly easily. 

There were (and are) problems with e-mail.  Have you  tried sending a message with a large attachment lately?  How many spams do you get every day? Ever send a message to the wrong person in your address book accidentally?  But even with those problems, e-mail was the ultimate connector in a way that no single web site – not Wikipedia, not YouTube, not Ebay – could be. 

Now, that seems to be changing.  Facebook continues to grow exponentially and its messaging features are a big part of the reason.  Ironically, you need an e-mail address to sign up for a Facebook account and then, the default is that you get e-mail notification whenever anything happens related to your profile – a new wall post, a new private message, a new comment on a photo you've uploaded.  But Facebook has proven so “sticky” with the majority of people using it (ie. users log in regularly – often multiple times per day) that you're bound to see these items anyhow even if you never look at your e-mail in-box first. 

So we're heading to a point where Facebook could possibly be seen web site that finally shifts the e-mail vs. world wide web divide.  Why is this?

Advantages of Facebook Over E-Mail
1. Permanence
The problem with that ISP or college generated account is that it changes when you moved cities or graduated.  Hotmail and Yahoo! were free and traveled with you but (used to have) severe restrictions on how much space you had and often suffered security errors or data losses.  Facebook provides a new type of permanence in what (so far) appears to be a very stable platform. 

2. Spam Blocking
Facebook acts like e-mail but isn't so spam messages can't get through to your account in the same way they can with a standard e-mail address.  In fact, by being a closed system, so far, nobody seems to have found a way to send messages to your profile without your explicit permission at all.

3. Space Savings
As with Gmail, Facebook appears to have unlimited space provided for storing not only your messages but also your photos and blog posts (called “notes” in Facebook lingo.)  A major failing if Facebook is trying to replace e-mail is that it doesn't allow direct attachments and instead requires you to link to a file hosted elsewhere.  But if this option were included, e-mail's demise might be assured. 

4. It's E-mail (plus)
As noted above, Facebook provides a number of activities beyond what standard e-mail allows – everything from meaningless “pokes” to sharing blog-like posts, photos and more.  The recent addition of Facebook applications extends this capability infinitely and makes Facebook something even bigger – more akin to a web-based Windows than a web-based e-mail system. 

5. It's Also The Phone Book
Facebook provides what the massive range of e-mail providers never could – a single spot where millions of people are able to find each other and be found.  I've written how this still isn't perfect – people sign up using false names or initials, women can't provide their maiden name, people aren't required to join networks which would make it easier to find the John or Jane Smith you sent to high school with.  But if you're on Facebook, chances are pretty good that you've had better success tracking down long lost friends than via anything online allowed previously.

Those are just a few thoughts off the top of my head.  Here are a couple articles I found that touch on the same topic:

“Is Facebook Replacing E-mail?”
This article adds a couple reasons to my list above about why Facebook is replacing e-mail – namely that it's Mobile features are like having a free e-mail delivery service and also that the in-box layout is more intuitive than traditional e-mail.

“Facebook is stickier than email”
“How is Facebook stickier than email? Facebook is email, plus more (a lot
more). You use Facebook to send friends messages. Facebook Inbox will become
your spam-free email – only Facebook can do it because all your friends are on
it…That's why 50%+ users return
daily. Facebook's network effects make it impossible to duplicate their
network. Facebook is the phone number you will never change. Facebook is built
to last more than anyone. Now, which do you think is stickier?”

The Proprietarisation of Email
A negative take on the idea of Facebook (or any other closed system) replacing standards-based e-mail: 

“It would be terrible if email were to descend into something like the
multiple incompatible domains that afflict instant messaging – the
heroic efforts of gateway providers and multi-protocol clients
notwithstanding. Will we one day need accounts on every social website
in order to stay in touch? Will someone need to write a
Facebook/MySpace mail gateway?”

Posted 15 July 2007 § Internet § Main Page ‡ Comments (9) ° Tagged:

Friday Fun Link – If Public Libraries Didn't Exist, Could You Start One Today? (July 13, 2007)

The author of the popular Freakonomics book looks at the question, “If public libraries didn’t exist, could you start one today?”

“But
here’s the point I’m (finally) getting to: if there was no such thing
today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to
establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew
Carnegie once did), what would happen?

I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book
publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual
property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one
copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of
strangers borrow it? I don’t think so.”

He doesn’t bring it up but I wonder if an analogy could be made to bit torrent sites
today? One person buys a legitimate copy and then others are able to
obtain a free copy? The only difference is that instead of dozens of
uses as for popular library items, bit torrent allows thousands of
copies to be downloaded. The other big difference is that bit torrent
tends to focus on movies, music and TV shows that don’t have the
history of “free” borrowing like books in a library do. And of course,
you don’t have to “return” a digital copy.

It’s not a perfect analogy but the similarities are there.

(via Reddit)

Oh, and in a semi-related story, a PhD candidate in economics contends
that the optimal length of copyright in today’s digital age is…fourteen years. (via Boing Boing)

Posted 13 July 2007 § FridayFunLink § Internet § Library § Main Page § PopCulture ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Why I Owe Pace $100

I've had four speeding tickets in my life… 

#1 – I was driving home late at a night from a summer job during college after a week working in northern Saskatchewan.  Anxious to get home, I was going pretty fast when an RCMP officer passed me just outside a town on the other site of the Qu'Appelle Valley.  He whipped around, stopped me, then warned me that “speeding is dangerous because of all the deer” as he handed me the ticket (which also ate up the sales bonus I'd just earned that week as an added insult!)

#2 – I was going to pick up Shea during a practicum here in Regina when she was a nursing student.  I went through a school zone at about 7 clicks over the posted speed limit but in what could only have been an attempt to get more money, the cop wrote up the ticket as if the school zone was in effect already.  (It wasn't – the school zone began at 8am and I went by at 7:57am – which is the time he wrote on the ticket.  So I protested that ticket on these grounds and the court dismissed it.)

#3 – when I was working in Alberta, my boss flew down from Edmonton to Calgary, rented a car and picked me up to go to a meeting in Crows Nest Pass.  But we were way behind schedule so she asked me to drive while she worked on some paperwork.  She also told me to “fly” and so I did.  Along the way, there's a town called Longview which does the most evil trick a town can do – it goes from highway speed to town speed to school zone speed within a very short distance.  I was whipping through town, slowed down to town speed but completely missed the school zone sign while talking to my boss about our upcoming meeting.  I got stopped, tried an excuse and when the cop said “Well, the children at the school won't care if you're late for a meeting if you hit them.” Ouch!  So when he went back to his cruiser to run my license, I asked my boss if the organization would pay for the ticket since she'd been the one who told me to drive so fast (and truth be told, was the reason we were late due to a scheduling mistake on her part.)  She said it would so I handed over the ticket and we carried on our way. 

#4 – on a Sunday morning, I was driving through Calgary with Shea's parents on a mad quest to find a Flames jersey since I'd managed to score a single ticket for the first Flames home playoff game in seven years.  I didn't get a jersey but I did get a $100 ticket from a photo radar camera a few days later.  I protested this one too, mainly because I object to photo radar in general.  The reason I used was that the photo didn't clearly identify the driver but since the vehicle was registered to me, I got the ticket.  How was I to know that it wasn't my father-in-law driving?  They didn't write off the ticket but reduced it by 50%.  I never did end up buying a jersey though.

So anyhow, I was sure that ticket #5 (and my first in probably three years) was going to come today.  I took today and tomorrow off so we were heading out of Weyburn for Regina at noon.  I was accelerating up to highway speed on a road leading out of Weyburn but which was still a 70kph zone.  So the cop stopped me and I was sure that I was in for a nice big ticket.  But he saw Pace in his car seat and after glancing at my license and registration, said “I don't want your son to stay in the hot sun while I'm writing you up so I'm going to let you go.”  He didn't even write me a warning!  So anyhow, Pace, if you're reading this someday, I owe you a hundred bucks (probably more than that actually – I don't even know what speeding tickets are these days.) 
Posted 13 July 2007 § Baby § Canada § Main Page § Saskatchewan § Shea § Travel § Work ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: