OK, this is just too much fun.

I’m sure there are people who study this and publish about it. To them: forgive me. I am not really interested enough to track down and read the literature. I mean no offense. It’s just that I’ve noticed a few things that I find amusing…

I’ve been on FaceBook for about 2 1/2 years and it’s fun*. I catch wind of lots of interesting articles and news items through FB. I’ve noticed though that most people seem to approach FaceBook “friendship” in one of a few ways:

1. They only friend actual RL friends and family.
   1. These are often the people who reveal a little TOO much. Perhaps they think FB is a private space. That anyone can see.
2. They friend colleagues and professional contacts.
   • These people are the ones who tend to share news of a global or SIG nature. I hear about lots of interesting things from these folks.
   • They also tend not to say much about their personal lives.
3. They friend ANYONE.
   • I call these FaceBook Tramps.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s thoroughly disgusting when a University fires someone who has worked for them for more than 35 years. Their ‘crime’? Getting sick as a result of being abused at work. Despicable! (note: I am NOT talking about Mount Royal).

What will be done about it? Probably NOTHING. This is not new for this institution.

I quit a job there that I loved because the place is no longer safe for someone who is not willing to

1. lie
2. look the other way
3. be abused
4. admire the Emperor’s suit

I am teaching a course there this term as a favour. I really like the course. The students look like they will be interesting, and fun. The PLACE still makes me sick. Literally.

Why do they continue to do what they do? Because people let them. It REALLY is as simple as that.

I live about 15 minutes from the city limits. That means that part of my drive includes highway, secondary highway, and country roads, paved and not.

One of the things I love about the drive home is that during the last 30 minutes or so of the drive there are only 2 intersections with traffic lights. For the last 10 miles or so there are none.

On a good night, I feel myself starting to unwind as soon as I leave the city lights.

On a good day, the turn off of the main highways signals the last and funnest part of the drive. I realized today that not many people get to do this. I am grateful that I get to.

Read the rest of this entry »

(C) 2010 M.Parker

SPOILER ALERT:

If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t already know how it goes (and can’t guess) then DON’T read this post. I won’t tell you exactly how it ends, but guessing will be child’s play after reading this.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved this movie. I’m listening to the soundtrack right now. It was visually stunning. Beautiful. Could easily develop a fantasy crush on one or two of the Na’vi men.

BUT……

Read the rest of this entry »

We are making a mess of our planet. Whether you are a “believer” in the so-called ’settled science’ of Climate Change or one of those heretics that the Movement derisively refers to as a ‘denialist’, most people would agree, however grudgingly, that we need to change how we use the world if we want to survive as a species. (Note: The world itself will survive. The question is whether or not we will, and what species are we going to take with us to extinction.)

Hexxus

Among the Believers, there is often an assumption that this is a binary issue: one either subscribes to the preachings of the moneyed Climate Scientists (which apparently includes agreeing not to question the “science”), or one is under the influence of Big Oil  (lead, no doubt by Hexxus, made famous in Ferngully).

Some of us do not wish to be associated with either group, thank you very much.

Read the rest of this entry »

We make them every year – at least, many of us do. The whole notion has been so maligned that some of us have taken to keeping them private.

What’s wrong with making New Year’s resolutions? It’s as good a time as any, and a date that most of us can easily remember.

It’s a time to think back, take stock, and strive to do better. That’s what they’re about, aren’t they? If I really gave it some thought, I could come up with a very long list, but I think a shorter list is easier to focus on.

In that spirit, here are mine (NOT in order of importance – that’s a whole different can of worms):

1. Lose 15 lb.
2. Have more fun.
3. Laugh more.
4. Forgive faster.
5. Judge less.
6. Write more blog entries. (Actually, that could be write more just generally.)
7. Finish writing the 5 books I’m working on.
8. Pay more attention to the people who matter to me.
9. Get rid of some of the clutter.
10. Find meaningful work that also pays well.

Stay tuned…

I don’t usually do this sort of thing but I’m making an exception. My family doctor is an amazing guy. I’d like you to look at what he’s doing.

Like I said, I think he’s an amazing guy. It’s not because he’s been a good family doctor for me and my family for the last 20 or so years, although he has been that.  He’s been a small town GP for most of his career. That’s rare these days, but that’s also not why I want more people to notice him.

A few years ago he started a foundation called Basic Health International whose mission is to provide basic health care to remote communities around the world. He doesn’t just talk about it or try and get people to donate to the cause. He does actual doctor-stuff in places like Tibet, Ethiopia, and Peru.

He’s quite an unassuming man, but when he tells you you should get more exercise, it’s hard to ignore. You see, this past October he attained a rare distinction: he became a member of “The Seven Summits Club: at least, he has made it to the top of the highest peak on each of the seven continents. If I know this man at all, whether or not he ever makes on the ‘official list’ is not as important as the ability to parlay this into ways to help more people.

Two years ago he did Everest (the highest). I saw him as a patient a few weeks after he’d returned. His face was still quite burned and the tips of his fingers were still black with frostbite. He’d been the expedition doctor on that trip (he’s a high-altitude specialist), and happened to be the only physician on that part of the mountain at the time. He ended up helping out a few other expeditions along the way, at least one of which suffered fatalities.

This year was Carstensz (probably the trickiest). That’s after trying, and failing last year. I tried to get him to tell me some stories (forgive me, Dr. Hanlon) but any time I try he gets very uncomfortable, mumbles a few words and then changes the subject (usually to the plight of some of the people he’s met on his adventures). I did manage to get out of him that he ended up caught in a mudslide and spent 3 weeks in the jungle with some native headhunters.

What’s next? Today, he left on a 2 month ski trip. Sounds cushy, huh? Well, this one is to the South Pole.

Any publicity he gets from this goes to try and bring more attention to his Foundation. So, if you are so moved, take a look. Maybe even make a donation.

Universal healthcare is good, right?

For everyone, right?

Even the people who live at the tops of the world.

p.s. He’s Irish. So I figure there’s a greater than zero chance he’s off to the Antarctic after Shackleton’s scotch ;>

all photos (C) William Hanlon

I’ve always told people that they should assume that anything they put on the web should be considered public, whether it is on a public site or not. If you don’t want the information known, then don’t put it out there.

Thanks to modern data mining techniques, we can now predict whether or not you are gay by looking at your friends on Facebook.

That’s kind of interesting, though personally, I don’t really care if someone is gay or not. It doesn’t (or shouldn’t) affect their ability to be a decent person.

On the other hand, I am FAR more interested in finding out whether they are honest or not;  loyal or not; bullies or not. THAT would be useful. I wonder if looking at someone’s FB friends can tell us that?

I have now lost track of how many people I *thought* were my friends, who have let me down by not standing up for honesty and integrity and for treating people decently and fairly. They always have an excuse, but the truth is, it is easier to lie than to be honest, and it is easier to be indifferent than decent. Cowardly, but definitely easier.

One thing I have learned is that people who defend someone who is dishonest or mean are a bad risk.

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. – Proverbs 12:26

At MIT, an experiment identifies which students are gay, raising new questions about online privacy.

The Internet is a Schrödinger device.

On the interweb, after a while, things are simultaneously there and gone. They might be there, or they might not, depending on some earlier random event.

On Kindle, when we look in the box, we see the book either there or gone, not a mixture of there and gone (just like the cat).

For webpages, they too are either there or gone – sometimes they even stay there long after they’re gone.

There really is no way to predict which it will be until we look.

Here’s a well-written explanation for why most of the media-effects studies really don’t tell us anything:

WHY VIDEO GAME RESEARCH IS FLAWED

By CHRIS LAVIGNE

Studies that spread the idea that video games are harmful to children are conducted by researchers whose knowledge about video games is embarrassingly poor.

May 25, 2009

Read the whole article here

Working Sheepdogs

I don’t usually do this, but this is a response to another blog, found here.  The piece I am commenting on is part of a larger post about what Canadian troops are doing in Afghanistan. It is in support of our Canadian Military and repeats a sheep and sheepdogs metaphor written by Dave Grossman. My own thoughts about the military (well, some of them) are below. The quote however, demonstrates Grossman’s ignorance once again. Having been in the military does not, in and of itself, qualify you as the last word on the subject. Not only does he have no real clue about videogames, but he now demonstrates he has no real clue about sheep, sheepdogs, or wolves. If you are going to use a metaphor, at least use one that doesn’t show off your lack of insight. That kind of defeats the purpose.

Read the rest of this entry »

By now almost everyone online is familiar with the wonderful story of Susan Doyle.

There are many interesting dimensions to this story, like the one discussed by Henry Jenkins having to do with how quickly the world came to know about her (in How Susan Spread and What It Means). Like most people I’m sure, I too am happy for her current good fortune. It always makes me happy when something nice happens to someone – all the sweeter if they appear to be decent, deserving people. And there’s the rub, isn’t it?  We (i.e. the great unwashed) were very quick to pass judgment on this lady and then changed our judgements when we discovered she really could sing.

Well, here’s an article that offers another way to think about it: What if Susan Boyle Couldn’t Sing? by Dennis Polumbo

How would the story be different if her voice had been unremarkable, or even ‘worse’ (interesting how that seems an appropriate adjective) flat or scratchy or off?

What does this say about us? It makes me ashamed. I was caught up in the hubub too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being happy for her. The problem lies in how we judged her beforehand, AND with the fact that somehow it was OK to do that.

Think about it.

Compare: (these are all taken from the Environment Canada Weather Site)

The day before there had been a severe winter storm warning. Nothing happened. Read the rest of this entry »

Net Gen kids cheat, they say….

OK, this annoys me.  Apparently, we learn very little through the millennia.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” ( Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato ~400BC)