I’ve been enjoying IT Conversations for some time now. It’s this great library of audio recordings (as well as some text) of speeches, interviews and commentary from the world of information technology. You can download the material individually or subscribe to podcasts, and participate in rating the various recordings.

Cool enough.

Here’s what I love about it: this is free. It’s a little like PBS, in that they… Read more...

I’ve just been comment-spammed from the IP address 142.22.186.12.

What’s interesting about that particular address is that it belongs to the British Columbia Systems Corporation… a division of your friendly provincial government. Eeep.

I’ve alerted the authorities. And I’ll keep everyone posted on developments… Read more...

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling allowing provinces to sue tobacco companies for the damage they’ve done is just one more nail in the coffin of the tobacco industry. The developing world may be the promised land for nicotine pushers, but here in North America, it’s just a matter of time.

I can only imagine what it’s like for Big Tobacco executives. Knowing your days are numbered; seeing every week you’re… Read more...

About a month ago, after Pat Robertson’s on-air call for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, I called for mainstream Christianity to repudiate the far-right extremists that have hijacked the brand. In an offhand comment, I acknowledged that a few brave souls were doing just that, but getting very little attention from the media.

What was missing from that post, of course, was any reference to just… Read more...

I’m seeing more and more references to the importance of a sense of place. Phrases like “a place-based approach” keep cropping up in stuff I’m reading, and it’s central to one of the projects I’m working on.

Now one of the coolest Google Maps applications I’ve seen yet has launched. Placeopedia does one tiny, simple thing: it lets anyone link a Wikipedia article to a particular place… Read more...

…is Friday, October 7 at the Laughing Bean. I’d be delighted to see you there, and this time I’m offering bribes: mention this blog post, and your first drink’s on me. (That’s not as generous as it sounds. The Laughing Bean isn’t licensed. But it’s awfully good coffee.)

The show starts at 8:00 pm; seating’s limited and usually vanishes quickly, so call if you’d like a reservation – 604-251-5282… Read more...

From my latest deluge of comment spam:

“you have a very talented and skilled writting.”

Wow. Coming from such an accomplished writter, that’s quite the compliment… Read more...

It’s hard to pull off humour in the middle of a pitched labour battle — the stakes are high, and earnestness has a huge gravitational pull all its own — but the locked-out CBCniks have done it.

Meet Tokyo Rose’s match, Contract Charlie:

“Contract Charlie”, an anti-union propagandist and CBC management true believer, began broadcasting his insidious patter via short wave radio soon after the lockout began… Read more...