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Monday, August 31
Music Monday - "Lately, I've been thinking about everything/Something leaves me stranded in between"
by
Jason
on Mon 31 Aug 2009 09:30 PM CST
Sunday, August 30
The Woman on p. 194
by
Jason
on Sun 30 Aug 2009 09:48 PM CST
A great story about the reaction to a photo of a naked model in fashion magazine Glamour which the magazine dared to run with the model looking normal (ack - a paunch!) rather than air-brushed to Hefner-esque visions of perfection.
Saturday, August 29
A Couple Apple Related Stories
by
Jason
on Sat 29 Aug 2009 10:12 PM CST
State of the Art: Apple's Sleek Upgrade
- The New York Times raves about Snow Leopard, the new update to the core Apple operating system, Leopard. The most amazing thing? After years of features wars that turned OS's and various applications into larger and larger messes, this upgrade may be the first time in history that a software program has significantly reduced its footprint - by eliminating unnecessary files (instead of having GB of printer drivers "just in case" even though most people use one or maybe two at most) and tightening up the existing programs. The tagline "A snow leopard is just like a leopard but faster and with a smaller footprint" definitely applies! Three iPhone Apps with Augmented Reality Support - "Augmented Reality" is adding information to a display of a real event to supplement what you are seeing. A common example is the yellow first down line overlaid on most football game broadcasts today. Here's a YouTube video demonstrating how this works for the London bus app. I'd recently read another article about "10 Ways to Improve the iPhone" or something like that but can't find it again [Edit: Found it.]. One point the article made made which I agree with strongly is that they need a better way to organize your apps. Right now, I have about ten different tabs with anywhere from a couple to a full dock of apps on them. They're grouped roughly as "Apps I Use Regularly", "News Sites", "Games", "More Games", "Book-Related", "Reference Services", "Pace Games", "Camera Related", "Social Networking", "Music" and "Utilities". (Sounds anal but I'm a librarian - what can I say?") The problem is that when a tab fills up, I have to either figure out a way to reorganize things one app at a time or create a new "category" out of things I already have grouped together (I used to have all my "Social Networking" apps on the same tab as my "News" apps but split them apart when I got more than the 16 total apps you're allowed to have on any one tab. Anyhow, since I can't find that exact article again, instead, I'll give you a link to all Ask.MetaFilter questions tagged with "iPhone". Lots of good reading there! Friday, August 28
Friday Fun Link - Obama's Reading List for His Holiday in Martha's Vineyard (August 29, 2009)
by
Jason
on Fri 28 Aug 2009 09:11 PM CST
Thursday, August 27
Hello Rotary Club of Regina Eastview
by
Jason
on Thu 27 Aug 2009 10:19 AM CST
I hope you enjoy my presentation at your luncheon today and it doesn't make you do this...
 Wednesday, August 26
A Question of Justice
by
Jason
on Wed 26 Aug 2009 07:50 PM CST
Came across this thought puzzle via a MetaFilter thread which, in turn, comes from a review of a book called "The Idea of Justice" by Amartya Sen.
Here's the puzzle... "Take three kids and a flute. Anne says the flute should be given to her because she is the only one who knows how to play it. Bob says the flute should be handed to him as he is so poor he has no toys to play with. Carla says the flute is hers because it is the fruit of her own labour. How do we decide between these three legitimate claims?" There's a case for all of the children to have ownership of the flute but my initial reaction was that Bob should have the flute. Obviously, that's a pretty instinctive pick for me and my value system but once you read the MetaFilter comments, you see all kinds of other options are out there including some very creative ways that all three children would benefit (in its simplest form, "Why does someone have to own it? Why can't they share it?"). You also see that the puzzle is worded neutrally in terms of the case that can be made for each child but also that everyone reads into the puzzle, their own meaning and cultural assumptions (some read it as "Carla deserves the flute because she made it" but others point out that she could be a factory worker who gets an hourly wage but has no claim of ownership in this situation.) Finally, some ask how would this be different if the item in question wasn't a musical instrument but something like a university scholarship? Or what if it was food? (Anne is a food lover, Bob is hungry and Carla made the cake - who should get it?) Tuesday, August 25
Medicare in Canada: A Message for Americans
by
Jason
on Tue 25 Aug 2009 11:23 PM CST
The power of social media is pretty amazing sometimes. I found the clip below via a Facebook post a couple days ago. I followed the Facebook link to YouTube when the clip was at less than 100 views. It's now pushing 10 000!
This really speaks to the way that information can go viral and reach different people around the world in a very quick fashion these days. (I tried to do my part - I posted it on Reddit and saw the hits go from 300 to 800 overnight - not all because of my Reddit link of course but definitely part of the upswing that happened in the last couple days as various blogs and other sits picked up the clip.) Monday, August 24
Music Monday - "I've been looking at the sky/'Cause it's gettin' me high/Forget the hearse 'cause I never die"
by
Jason
on Mon 24 Aug 2009 09:43 PM CST
I don't know much in this life but I do know that my version of the great unfinished Canadian novel begins with this line: "There were two kinds of music in my hometown growing up - Country and AC/DC - so the hymn being played at my grandmother's funeral is unfamiliar to say the least."
This hypothetical novel is in the genre of fictional autobiography and it's sad but true that AC/DC does play a very big part in the lives of myself and many of my fellow flatlanders (well, "Sad But True" is Metallica but I digress.) So here in the city that rhymes with fun and across the whole province, people are in quite a tizzy that we're getting a visit tonight from the band that defined so many of our teenage years (and continues to define the lives of those I refer to as "They who stayed behind."  ) I didn't get tickets (okay, didn't try either. High school was a LONG time ago!) but I still thought Music Monday would be a perfect opportunity to pay tribute. There weren't any clips up from the actual show yet (unlike when I did a tribute to another icon of my teen years, MC Hammer) so I found this instead: Sunday, August 23
Here's One For All The Blackberry Lovers Out There
by
Jason
on Sun 23 Aug 2009 11:57 PM CST
Fortune magazine has named Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry line of products, as the fastest growing company in the world. (Apple came in at 39.)
On a more local note, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, came in at #10 due to surging demand for fertilizer in places like China, India and Brazil. Saturday, August 22
My Day As Facebook Updates
by
Jason
on Sat 22 Aug 2009 11:53 PM CST
I rarely do Facebook updates so here's a glimpse of how today would be if I did them all the time.
7:11am - Jason is awake before everyone else to attempt to catch up on his usual e-mail backlog. Getting from 130 down to 50 feels like success. 8:27am - some people say leftover pizza is disgusting. I say it's the best breakfast food ever invented. 9:29am - Having moved all the furniture from the living room to the dining room last night, Jason is a steam cleaning machine 11:00am - Jason, Shea and Pace are having lunch on the patio while the carpet dries. 1:30pm - Jason is trying to convince Pace to have a nap. It's not going so well. 1:32pm - Knees to the face on the day we have family pictures scheduled = no good. 1:34pm - Ouch. And now he's standing and taking running leaps at my head. 1:45pm - Shea's here. Thank god - she'll convince him to sleep. 2:02pm - Okay, well, at least she took him away so I could have a quick nap. 3:00pm - Jason is awake and man, naps are one of the greatest things on earth. 4:38pm - Jason is sitting in the van in the driveway after having taken Pace for a drive - the only way he was going to nap today. So I'm playing crib on my iPhone and he's zonked out...finally. 5:45pm - Jason is off to have family pictures done by one of Shea's colleagues who moonlights as a photographer on weekends. 6:35pm - Jason is pretending to be a model for family pictures at Luther College. Someone tell the photographer that the human body doesn't bend that way! 8:30pm - Jason and Shea are at the Barley Mill to meet one of Shea's old friends and her new boyfriend for a late supper and a drink. 11:02pm - Jason is driving the babysitter home and having a "when did I become an adult?" moment (similar to when he stopped to pick up Pace at daycare on Thursday and one of the kids yelled "Pace's dad is here!" and I was like, "Pace has a dad? Really?" before realising, "Oh yeah, that's me. I'm a dad!") 11:52pm - Jason is going to bed just as soon as he comes up with some stupid idea to fill up his blog post for the day. 11:53pm - Oh, I think I've got one that I could even re-use anytime I'm hard up for material... |
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