Oh Turkey Days!

Canadian Thanksgiving, October 9th

technorati tags:Thanksgiving, Turkeys, Yams

Blogged with Flock

Idea box....

A Box Of InspirationKeep all of your good ideas in a box, safe for those rainy days.more...

ReadyMade: Instructions for Everyday Life

technorati tags:ideas

Blogged with Flock

The Tricky Part of PayPerPost

I like the idea - in theory. The trick is in the prodct placement, methinks.

But only if you would blog about something anyways, does it perhaps make some sense to get paid for it. Sould there be disclosure? Well, sometimes it’s just simply obvious.

And then your readers willl go away. Stilted conversations, trying to come up with something that sounds reasonable… it’s hard to keep that going for long.

The best question yet to be asked - what advertisers are taking advantage of the PayPerPost crew? I think you would be surprised. VERY Surprised. 

technorati tags:payperpost

Blogged with Flock

Vonage Forums - Inside News for Customers - WOW!

Curious, in my research of Vonage, and how to best provide a consultative strawman for a new solution I'm working on, I stumbled upon the Vonage Forum.

Despite it having no direct ties to Vonage, it does a *really* good job of having the right info, at the right time. I poked through the Vonage Canada Community forum, and found that the biggest challenge was being able to complete 1-8XX calls. Not to worry wee vonage folks, that could be old news soon.

Considering it's an independant site - it completely rocks. My money is on it getting bought by the vonage folks, simply for the quality of service and voice it provides for the vonage customers. I'm thinking customer service 2.0. Now all it needs is a blog!!! :-)

technorati tags:vonage forums, VoIP

Blogged with Flock

New Tactic to Get Results on YouTube Goes Up In Flames

Girl burned in lighter fluid attack Oct. 4, 2006. 08:02 PM

13-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her chest after two boys sprayed her with lighter fluid and set her shirt on fire in York, police say.Two teenage boys were recording themselves with a digital camera as they played with lighter fluid and set their clothing on fire in the Eglinton Ave. W. and Black Creek Dr. area around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.When the girl who was with them refused to have her own clothing ignited, she was held down, sprayed with lighter fluid and had her T-shirt lit on fire, police said.Two 15-year-old boys, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are charged with aggravated assault, mischief endangering life and assault with a weapon.

TheStar.com - Girl burned in lighter fluid attack

My thoughts and sadness go out to this girl. Thank god it wasn't any worse that it was.

My first thought after reading this story - "the boys were trying to make a video to put on youtube.com." I bet I'm not far off the truth. Sad commentary. I can only hope that the punishment is severe, and that it's the punishment that gets the publicity, as opposed to the act.

My second thought - "why the hell would a 13 year old girl's parents let her hang around with 15 year old boys?"

technorati tags:youtube video, girl burned by boys

Blogged with Flock

Art.com Update

Whoot! God love the internet, and UPS tracking. Our art arrived in Mississauga this morning.

It left Louisville Kentucy at 4 am...There was a weather delay in Mississauga (that's what woke the smapp dog and I up early this morning - thunder and lightning and rain enough to soak the bedroom curtains). And now *the art* is theoretically on it's way to us!

It's *IN TRANSIT*.

My doorbell could ring before I finish this post!

MISSISSAUGA, ON, CA	10/04/2006	7:14 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	10/04/2006	6:28 A.M.	ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS CAUSED THIS DELAY
LOUISVILLE, KY, US	10/04/2006	4:31 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
MISSISSAUGA, ON, CA	10/04/2006	2:18 A.M.	RECEIVER'S CUSTOMS BROKER ASSIGNED. THE SHIPMENT IS NOW RELEASED FOR DELIVERY
LOUISVILLE, KY, US	10/04/2006	1:31 A.M.	EXPORT SCAN
	10/04/2006	1:21 A.M.	EXPORT SCAN
	10/04/2006	12:49 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
MISSISSAUGA, ON, CA	10/03/2006	9:09 P.M.	REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;SHIPMENT SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY
	10/03/2006	9:09 P.M.	REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;RELEASED BY CLR AGENCY. NOW IN-TRANSIT
COLUMBUS, OH, US	10/03/2006	8:31 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/03/2006	8:19 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
US	10/03/2006	4:25 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

technorati tags:art, UPS

Blogged with Flock

The Safety of Children

Reading this morning of school shootings, again. Not even the Amish are safe now.  In a world/culture/environment where random acts of violence are becoming commonlplace, where do you turn to achieve peace and security?  When one human can effect change and tragedy on so many, so easily, what can be done? The wave of incidents over the past month has led others to wonder if there is a copycat mentality... or simply not enough news coverage of other events, to keep the public distracted (a la 9-11).

I'm left wondering, at what point will tragedy close in, and touch someone I know or love? It's simply a matter of time. Statistically speaking. And there isn't anything to be done to avoid it. it's a sad commentary, when you know that evil is going to happen, and you can't do anything to prevent it. Are we all now just waiting?

technorati tags:school shootings, safety, child safety

Blogged with Flock

Happy Birthday SARA!!!

Happy Birthday
Originally uploaded by Sara Lou.

I have a feeling you are officially OLD now!!

YouTube.com Drives Over 1000 Hits

Funny, the things that bring visitors Had I known that my wee article on youtube.com - Teens Fighting in Orangeville was going to drive oodles of traffic, I’m sure I would have written something more meaningful and profound. As it turned out, I was writing from a motel room in Rimouski, during a recent business trip.

Even now, weeks after the posting, folks are still flocking, and I didn’t even include a link to the video. Alas, now I cannot even find a worthy fighting video link, which, in hindsight, is a good thing. The flury of media attention is likely making these young Ontario ruffians salivate at the chance to be famous, even if only for 15 more minutes. Last night, DateLine had an interesting scoop about “Bum Fighting”. Kids out searching for homeless people, to beat up and catch on video. The segment included teens from Calgary, and as it turns out, these kids were caught, and sentenced.

It’s interesting commentary on society, what is considered entertainment. Likely even I am adding fuel to their fire.

technorati tags:bunfighting, youtube.com, Orangeville, Calgary

Blogged with Flock

PayPerPost?

Get Paid for Blogging. You’ve been writing about Web sites, products, services and companies you love for years and you have yet to benefit from all the sales and traffic you have helped generate. That’s about to change. With PayPerPost™ advertisers are willing to pay you to post on topics. Search through a list of topics, make a blog posting, get your content approved, and get paid. It’s that simple.

- tech whisperer - PasPerPost?

Take a peek at what I’m saying in Tech Whisperer about the idea of payment for posting. It’s a grey area, in terms of bias. 

technorati tags:PayPerPost, TechCrunch

Blogged with Flock

PayPerPost?

Get Paid for Blogging. You’ve been writing about Web sites, products, services and companies you love for years and you have yet to benefit from all the sales and traffic you have helped generate. That’s about to change. With PayPerPost™ advertisers are willing to pay you to post on topics. Search through a list of topics, make a blog posting, get your content approved, and get paid. It’s that simple.

PayPerPost :: Get Paid for Blogging, Blog Advertising, Advertise on Blogs

Wow - at first I thought this might have been a ship in the night, but apparently payperPost has teeth, and is settling in to become of of the more interesting Web2.0 companies that may indeed have a business plan with viability, providing companies and vendors the ability to advertise on blogs. After only 3 months, they’ve been able to now secure financing, and Techcrunch has interesting details with the executives of PayPerPost as to what their future directions look like.

Now, the question simply begs to be asked - would you write for money? Are their inmplications to a service such as this? Would your audience have to know that they were reading a post that was “sponsored” by the company you were posting about? What happened to non-biased writing?

Matthew Ingram has a serious article about the implications of disclosure/non-disclosure - and the credibility of the posters. 

He makes a valid point - and the question - “are you going to take a blog article seriously, if you know that the person is being paid to write about it?  Is there a difference between an advertorial, and say, a review of a tech gadget that someone has been given?  What about publications like EWeek and Information week, who are able to sustain themselves with advertorials and reviews?  They are still credible sources, but I bet that they get BIG BUCKS from companies for favourable reviews.

technorati tags:PayPerPost

Blogged with Flock

Ugly Betty?

In an era where we are just beginning to understand the significant implications of culture, fashion and entertainment on self esteem, it behooves me to wonder why and how a TV show named Ugly Betty gets released.

I’ve been parousing the news sites this morning, and stumbled across the Ugly Betty ad, right beside another ad from Dove, which actually is an outstanding service announcement about the implications of low self esteem on girls, and what women can do to support a young girl’s self esteem. Mixed messages, or what?

MamaVISION has another take on the idiocy of TV, and the messages that are being sent to the young women of today on “America’s top Model….  

Sigh. Who let this one out of the stable, and what sort of justification could there possibly be?

Silly people.

technorati tags:ugly betty

Blogged with Flock

Being in Love means Never Having to Use the Same Browser

… strange, but true. Simpler wordes were never spoken.

The wiz and I, by mutual agreement, don’t use the same browser when we are on the net, even if we may use the same computer.

It keeps things simple, sane and agreeable. We have our own favourites, our own way of doing things, and even better, we can keep our preferences and passwords to ourselves. He likes IE, I am a Flocker.

The other night, we were discussing why Flock was better than Firefox. (I am painfully aware of how geeky that sounds). It was easy for me to say:

• the blogging capabilities in Flock are amazing
• the tabbed browsing rocks
• the integration with my delicious bookmarks and flickr make it solid

But the best reason, Flock knows what to do with IE sites that are made JUST for IE. Firefox doesn’t (or didn’t) know what to do wth those sites, and went off and pouted when I tried to access them. This would be especially true with corporate intranets (those beasts are always made for IE)…

Still, the list could go on, and yet, the wiz just shook his head with a grin.

And then opened his IE browser. Neophyte.

technorati tags:flock, firefox, IE

Blogged with Flock

The Uber Nap

MetroNaps

MetroNaps is proud to introduce the MetroNaps pod. The MetroNaps pod was designed with one thing in mind: the Powernap. Its contours are perfect for napping; its mechanical processes are perfect for waking.

Finally - the art of napping has reached a new height, and perhaps a new audience.  The power napper. We need these in every office in canada.

technorati tags:MetroNaps, Power Napper

Blogged with Flock