Flotsam & Jetsam

The day after the first snow (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:23:09 -0500

The day after the first snow (Taken with instagram)

Somewhere out there is a mountain. First snow of the season....

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:56:17 -0500

Somewhere out there is a mountain. First snow of the season. (Taken with instagram)

Taken with instagram

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:31:17 -0500

Taken with instagram

Sxsw 2008 How many of these services still exist?

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:55:12 -0400

Sxsw 2008 How many of these services still exist?

1977 A Pivotal Year for Music

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:32:00 -0400

While at lunch with Massimo Farina today, I remarked that 1977 was a brilliant year for music. Not because of one thing, but because of the explosion of different styles that could be heard that year. It really was remarkable.

Here’s a sampling of some of the classic records and events from 1977 (with, much, much more in Wikipedia on this year in music.)

MAINSTREAM CLASSICS

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Bob Marley - Exodus

Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!

Queen - News of the World

The Eagles - Hotel California

Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville

Billy Joel - The Stranger

Jackson Browne - Running on Empty

Eric Clapton - Slow Hand

Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments

Steely Dan - Aja

Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell

Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever

Foreigner - Foreigner

Styx - The Grand Illusion

Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

EVENTS

The Supremes officially disband

Elvis dies

Marc Bolan of T.Rex dies

Keith Richards arrested in Toronto for heroin possession

Lynard Skynyrd plane crash killing 3 band members

Studio 54 opens in New York

FIRST ALBUMS

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bullocks

The Clash - The Clash

The Boomtown Rats - The Boomtown Rats (I Don’t Like Mondays)

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (first solo)

Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77 (Psycho Killer)

The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus (Peaches, (Get a) Grip (On Yourself)

The Damned - Damned, Damnd, Damned (Neat, Neat, Neat)

Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (Alison, My Aim is True)

The Jam - In the City (In the City)

X-Ray Specs - Oh Bondage, Up Yours!

Richard Hell and the Voivods - Blank Generation

Motörhead - Motörhead

The Tubes - The Tubes (White Punks on Dope)

PIVOTAL RECORDS

David Bowie - Heroes

Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

Television - Marquee Moon

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

Ramones - Leave Home & Rocket to Russia

Blondie - Plastic Letters

BANDS FORMED

B52’s

INXS

Stiff Little Fingers (Don’t know them? Green Day should pay them royalties?)

Human League

Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army

Bad Brains

Black Flag

999

Plasmatics

1978 had a tough act to follow.

I Want a Lighthouse

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:40:00 -0400

In May 2010, the Canadian government declared almost 1,000 lighthouses surplus. People and organizations interested in owning a lighthouse have 2 years to submit a proposal. They will then be responsible for all costs associated to the lighthouse.

Here’s a CBC report with more details. And a video.

If you want your own lighthouse, the system is a bit cumbersome to navigate.

Parks Canada on the sale and transfer of heritage lighthouses:

The Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act facilitates the sale or transfer of a heritage lighthouse, particularly to promote on-going or alternate uses for the building.

All non-federal owners of heritage lighthouses will be encouraged to adopt the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada to guide their conservation efforts.

Should the lighthouse contain an aid to navigation that will remain operational, the new owner would be required to enter into an agreement with the Canadian Coast Guard in order to provide for the maintenance and operation of the aid or to permit access to the site for such purposes.

Parks Canada on surplus lighthouses:

The Act requires that all federal Ministers who administer lighthouses maintain and make accessible to the public during the two-year petitioning period (May 29, 2010 – May 29, 2012) a list of all lighthouses that are surplus to operational requirements.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans: Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act Implementation:

Table of Active Lighthouses Declared Surplus (fixed aids to navigation) identification number in the Department’s List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals and in the Directory of Federal Real Property (DFRP). The DFRP is found on the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada website.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Information on each active lighthouse

Search by the DFRP identification number of the lighthouse (from Department of Fisheries and Oceans), to view a description of the lighthouse.

See it on a Google map with satellite view:

Step 1: http://maps.google.com/

Step 2: copy the Longitude and Latitude from the Treasury Board Property Description

Step 3: past the coordinates into the Google map search window as number, number

Table of inactive lighthouses (fixed aids to navigation) and their identification number in Fisheries and Oceans’ List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals.

There’s a problem with finding the locations of these lighthouses. The lighthouse number that is referenced in the table does not correspond to any number in the Directory of Federal Real Property (DFRP) search offered by the treasury. So there’s no easy way to get more information on each location. The only way to learn more is to contact the director of each region for more information. I’m sure that they’ll love fielding so many questions from the public.

When you purchase an inactive lighthouse, there is no obligation to the government to keep it functioning.

Caveat from the DFO:

Please note that there may be some administrative or legal issues to be addressed in relation to some of these listed lighthouses that would restrict the capacity of the Department to transfer ownership. We recommend that those interested in submitting a petition for a surplus lighthouse contact Andrew Anderson at (613) 990-8886 or andrew.anderson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca for further information prior to submitting a written commitment to acquire a surplus lighthouse.

Sign Generators

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:32:35 -0500

You never know when you’ll need a custom sign to illustrate your point. I’ve happened upon these and thought that they were fun enough to share here.

Warning Label Generator

Street Sign Generator

Tombstone Generator

A Ton of Other Signs

African Body Art

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:48:00 -0500

Someone on Twitter posted this link, and I apologize for not remembering who. I’ve had the tab open on my browser for a week and I haven’t been able to bring myself to close it, so beautiful are the subjects and the photography. So, I thought it best to share it here. Now maybe I can close that tab!

Tribus de L'OMO / Hans Silvester Publish at Scribd or explore others: Images Culture river corps

Tag! I'm it! Flickr Meme

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:08:00 -0500

I’m not a fan of chain letters, and rarely participate these things, but I was tagged by my friend Brian Rendel in a Flickr meme. I like Brian a lot and I like Flickr, so, OK, I’ll bite. Here is the sixth photo on the sixth page of my Flickr stream.

This photo is from a trip I took to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is one of Canada’s best places for surfing, but I was there in 2002 to relax and say farewell. I would be moving back to Montreal 3 months later and would not see an ocean again for years (I’m still waiting). This is the view from our cottage. Just a short stroll through the temperate rainforest to the beach, where the Pacific waves came crashing ashore. It was wonderful.

Strangely Brian’s picture was one of exploring, as was Ben’s, the person who tagged him.

I must now tag six other people to post their sixth photo from the sixth page of their Flickr stream. They are six incredibly intelligent, creative, talented, interesting women:

Musical Interlude

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:10:00 -0500

Lately, I’ve been really enjoying Blip.fm as a place to find new music, reminisce with older songs, play with my friends and meet new people.

Then, last night I discovered a new meme/game on Twitter that’s right up my alley. In Musical Join the Dots (#MJTD) you link words in song titles from one person to the next, like a game of tag. The originating post offers this example:

There must always be some clear connection between each song and the next one. This is usually achieved by linking a word from the title, artist or album name from one to that of the next. For example, ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen could be followed by David Bowie’s 'Queen Bitch’.

I was tagged by @DaveFleet with The Final Countdown by Europe. I decided to continue the game in Twitter and augment it with Blip.fm. In turn, I tagged @RandyMatheson with Countdown to Chaos by Bette Dillinger.

In a retro mood, I’ve since, started 3 new games tapping

@TWalk with Tattoed Love Boys by The Pretenders,

@HeatherShorter with Cities in Dust by Siouxsie and Banshees

and @Merlene with Come Undone by Duran Duran.

I’d like to see this integrated with Blip.fm to make the game more, well, musical. To me, it’s more fun to hear the songs and follow the connection that way.

Give it a try!

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between...

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:22:29 -0500

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

Lest we forget.

Peace Is Up To All Of Us

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:56:00 -0500

Yesterday was monumental. I’m proud of my American cousins to have elected a person with a different approach, who happens to be of colour, and to try something new. But, I am cautiously optimistic.

Expectations that Barack Obama will right all the wrongs of the past - political, economic, racial - are far too high for any individual to bear. I fear that people who have placed an unrealistic hope in this one man will be bitterly disappointed if he is unable to fix these problems.

There is the potential for a major backlash by fervent supporters whose fantasies may be destroyed. They may feel duped and become angry, akin to discovering that there is no Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.

In that environment, things could get ugly. There is the potential for factions on any side of the race card to pick a fight out of pure disillusionment. Even now, in the heady honeymoon phase, there are those who feel direly threatened and those who harbour feelings of revenge over past misdeeds, whether politcal or racial.

And the tinderbox potential scares me. I wish that colour didn’t enter into this discussion and that it was merely an afterthought. But with firsts, it is the thing that is untried that gains the attention.

(Frankly, there are many things about race in this election that befuddle me. Just as Tiger Woods is as much asian as he is black, Barack Obama is as much white, as he is black. Yet, somehow these truths get downplayed, because of skin tone alone. In the end, we’re all genetic soup.)

And so, like yesterday, I am appealing for peace. If you are celebrating a win today, be sensitive that there are many feeling a loss. Be joyous without being callous. Be a good sport. Hold out your hand in condolence and collaboration. Build a bridge for your future.

I summed it up in a tweet this morning:

Gloating does nothing for unity or peace. Please be inspired by how inclusive and humble both candidates were in their speeches last night.

My hope is that we’ll all see this opportunity to take a collective deep breath, create room for everyone and choose peace in our lives.

———–

Here’s my Twitter train of thought on the election over the last 24 hours:

Good morning Twitter. This is a big day and I have one wish for my American cousins, on my personal blog: http://adelemcalear.tumblr.com

@HeatherShorter Oh, it’s a very big day. I hope that warm hearts and level heads prevail. No rioting, no violence. I may not be ‘round much.

@vargasl I wish that your people become agents of peace, inside and outside of your country. That would be the *best* cultural export.

Poking my head back in… is it safe yet?

NBC calls Obama

@ScottShorter Your country just made a huge step to heal a long and short history of wrongs. Celebrate this moment. Wake your children.

@ScottShorter That said, I worry that your new president can’t possibly live up to the heightened expectations placed upon him as a cure-all

I hope that peace prevails tonight and in the coming days and months.

@ScottMonty Not yet…you still have Iraq to deal with. But a big step in the right direction.

[@leahjones] Champaign all around the bar! Please G-d, keep him and his family safe.

@leahjones That is my fear as well. Let peace prevail.

[@Jillfoster] @adelemcalear Big win, big, big win … thinking of you

@Jillfoster This is a wonderful moment. A big moment. May level heads prevail. May your country live up to it.

MSNBC showing Kenyans celebrating in the village of Obama’s father & paternal grandmother

Five minutes until the big speech.

[@BaghdadBrian] @mosqueda not yet. #baghdadbaby missed our expectations as I fear Pres Obama is bound too. Probably within 24 hours of election end though

@BaghdadBrian How could any person live up to the expectations that are on the man (by his own design or not)? C'mon baby! Nov 5=Guy Fawkes

Good night friends. Sweet dreams. Please don’t screw this up. Thanks.

[@BaghdadBrian] @adelemcalear the question should be when will we stop idolizing and acknowledge our own power? We are the change we want to see in theworld

@BaghdadBrian I couldn’t agree more. Except where forces of nature are involved. Then things move at their own pace. Right Dad? :)

Gloating does nothing for unity or peace. Please be inspired by how inclusive and humble both candidates were in their speeches last night.

@HeatherShorter Good morning Heather :) I hope you enjoyed your champagne last night :)

[@vargasl] @adelemcalear awesome points to keep in mind…now we move FORWARD.

@vargasl I’m such a downer when people want to revel in their democratic revenge. Is that a defining Canadian trait? (Good morning!)

[@vargasl] @adelemcalear No, you are not…very wise words. What did you say yesterday about the best export?! (Good morning!)

My favourite tweet last night, just after the announcement, from Australian @fifikins So the war is over and we are out of recession? Sweet!

A Wish For My American Cousins

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:07:00 -0500

On this day, as you elect a new President, I wish you peace.

Peace in your democratic exercise.

Peace between your people.

Peace with other nations.

Whatever the outcome of today’s election, no matter which party wins, no matter if you celebrate with joy or weep in despair, may peace be your guide.

I leave you with wise words and a hopeful heart.

“If our modern world should be able to recapture the power, the earth’s natural resources and web of life would not be irrevocably wasted within the Twentieth century…..True democracy founded in neighborhoods and reaching over the world become the realized heaven on earth. And living peace, not just an interlude between wars, would be born and would last through the ages.”
– John Collier

Democracy is an objective. Democratization is a process. Democratization serves the cause of peace because it offers the possibility of justice and of progressive change without force.
– Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Let us continue to strive together for a more inclusive, democratic, and peaceful future for us all.
– Fernando Cardoso

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
– Albert Einstein

Friends, Comrades and fellow South Africans. I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all. I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.
– Nelson Mandela

WANTED: ZappApp Developer & Investment

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:55:00 -0400

Concept:

Remotely send a shock through someone’s keyboard while capturing the moment on video. Video collected and auto-posted to ZappApp site. Takes the Facebook poke to the next level.

Needed:

Developer mad scientist
Investor

The birth of the idea:

adelemcalear: I am officially grumbly

StarrGazr: @adelemcalear Well, Ms Adele, that is just not acceptable! Please reach into your depths, pull out your smile and slap it on – NOW! :D

adelemcalear: @StarrGazr I would much rather slap someone else. That would make me smile. Good morning Tracy.

StarrGazr: @adelemcalear Hee…hee… I suspected that. Go for it! You’ll feel better. ;)

adelemcalear: @StarrGazr Oh, if only the Interwebz had that. Can you build me a virtual slap machine? Make sure it has video to capture the moment, ‘k?

StarrGazr: @adelemcalear LOL!! That would be awesome! We should build one!! We’d be quadrillionaires!

HeatherShorter: @adelemcalear Oh, we need to work on one of those. Definitely. That would make me very happy.

adelemcalear: @StarrGazr Maybe there’s a way to send a shock through the keyboard? That would be almost as good. Just as long as it was on video.

adelemcalear: @HeatherShorter Yes. I would make me happy too.

HeatherShorter: @adelemcalear @StarrGazr Zzzzzzzzzzzzzap! That might be even more entertaining than the slap machine.

StarrGazr: @adelemcalear Haa!! That would be so wonderful!! Imagine how rich we would be if we developed that??

adelemcalear: @StarrGazr @heathershorter Right, so now we just need a developer and some investment to get us started. A quick call out to Twitter? ;)

HeatherShorter: @adelemcalear Yes, let’s.

StarrGazr: @adelemcalear Yes, we need investors! Perhaps a Chip-In and a call to those technically inclined. We definitely have something here.

All hail Joe Strummer! This picture makes me happy.

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:35:00 -0400

All hail Joe Strummer! This picture makes me happy.

Rolling Stones, April 22, 1979

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:33:27 -0400

Rolling Stones, April 22, 1979:

I was at this concert. One of two that day, actually. The famous Keith Richards CNIB benefit concert that he was sentenced to do by a judge in Toronto. The Oshawa Civic Auditorium held 1300 people. But well beyond that, is the memory of meeting someone in the parking lot who would become one of my dearest, and lifelong, friends. We are lucky enough to know the date to celebrate our upcoming 30th anniversary of meeting. :)

You can order the bootleg, or just check the set list, here:

http://www.bruceb.com/boots/stones/live/70s.htm

My first shot at a cooking video. Vegetable chili - yum!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:33:00 -0400

My first shot at a cooking video. Vegetable chili - yum!

Burl Ives or Peter Gabriel

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:31:00 -0400

A little voice work from last June: bumpers for a friend’s...

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:42:00 -0400

A little voice work from last June: bumpers for a friend’s podcast.

Revitalizing a Dead Tumblr

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

This place used to just aggregate RSS, mostly from my Twitter stream. And then, mysteriously, it stopped doing that in January ‘08. It was boring then, and I assure you, the archives are even more dull now. Nothing to see here…move along, move along.

Instead, I’ve revitalized the Tumblr account to be the catch all for interesting things I might like to link to that don’t belong on my main blog.

Mind your step, it could get messy 'round here.