...So many names, so many places

Wolfstar down

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:21:38 GMT

I'm annoyed... DSL modem died over-night. Wolfstar mailing lists are down until at least tomorrow. Shopping for a new DSL modem this morning.

Perspective

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:43:49 GMT

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once
more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good..

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends
and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their
journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry ;
God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second
one is up to you and no one else

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take
no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy
lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years,
will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone for everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything
you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life.... Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,
we'd grab ours back..

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Think about it...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:26 GMT

... any questions?

Quotes

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:33:00 GMT

You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself. - Sam Levenson

When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it into practice. - Otto von Bismarck

I had always thought the first quote from from Bismark as well.

Gaming Music

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:51:47 GMT

... Why is it that it seems that the only innovations in the symphony / orchestra music arena these days seems to being driven by the computer gaming market? We've come a long way from 8-bit midi...

Quotes

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:32:22 GMT

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -- Scot Adams
"It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow." -- Ralph Ellison

Wolfstar Down

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:01:44 GMT

Bell's DSL grid in Quebec and Ontario is screwed up, which means my DSL provider is off the air ... Which means Wolfstar is off the air ...

Science Lesson... no, really

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:22:16 GMT

Lifted from dracodraconis ... I haven't laughed this hard at a scientist in a while.

Amen, Sister

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:12:09 GMT

I really enjoyed this talk. I'm going to personally work hard at making my personal space a bit more golden.

No Net for us

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:04:23 GMT

Our Internet connection is down... All Wolfstar-related services are off the air...

Extreme Ice Survey

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:57:55 GMT

... once you're done picking your jaw up off the ground go to ...

http://www.extremeicesurvey.org/

... and then maybe consider talking to your MP or Senator about exactly what their Party is doing to prevent Manhattan, Seattle, Halifax and Vancouver from being underwater memorials by the time our grand children are old enough to look at us and say "What the HELL were you people THINKING?"

Its a Democracy, Stupid ...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:44:19 GMT

... so it turns out, that a few folks want to have the government of Canada ban the Parti Quebecquois from being able to operate as a federal party. They've started circulating a petition. Exqueeze me?

Ok, for the non-Canadian readers in the audience, the Federal PQ's stated mandate is to organize the separation of the Province of Quebec from the rest of Canada. The idea is that, essentially, they are trapped as a country of Frech within a country that is otherwise English, and it makes no cultural or political sense to keep beating each other about the hearts and egos over our differences.

Fine. I completely disagree. But I've gone to war for the right for them to say that. A truly multi-party system is part of what makes Canada great. If you can get enough people to agree that your view represents their view, then you can be one of 305 people who have the job of ensuring that our nation continues to serve its citizens.

So here is the rub. Given that the PQ's stated mandate is the significant alteration of the nation of Canada as we know it, then WHY on Earth would you let them into Parliment. So, as I said above, a few folks have opined that the answer is to ban the PQ from ever having the chance to bring themselves to power and carry out their stated agenda.

Stop right there. "Listen up you primitive screw heads", to bust a quote.

Even at the height of the Cold War, with nuclear interceptors in Canada and Kruschev banging his shoe ... the Communist Party of Canada has always been allowed to put forward Federal candidates.

The -function- of the electoral process is to allow the will of the people to known. You've got to have 153 people agree with you to get anything done in the House of Commons in this country. Quebec has, at most, 75 seats in the House up for grabs. If you know anything about Provincial politics, and Quebec Provincial politics in particular, the odds of a 100% sweep are somewhere between "yeah, right" and "flying turtles".

But lets just say that the entirity of Quebec unities behind the PQ and they take all 75 seats in Quebec. They don't have candidates in any other Province. None. Nada. Zip. It is impossible for them to ever ram-rod this vision of the future down the rest of Canada's throat. They don't even get 25% of the vote.

Alright, lets just say the INSANE happens, and enough MPs of other parties in other ridings say fine then, GTFO!

That represents the will of more than 50% of the people in Canada by definition. You want to ban a political party because they MIGHT be able to convince the rest of a democracy that an earth-shaking change is needed in how we do business?

I have a problem with people who profess to be advocates of democracy and don't understand that part of the RIGHT of a democracy is the right to vote itself of existence. Banning a political organization because its mandate does not agree with your political views is, by definition, the first steps towards fascism. This is not anything that falls within the tenets or values of Canada.

Please, think before you act.

Got Retro?

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:42:47 GMT

http://www.c64iphone.com/

... that's right, its a Commodore 64 emulator for the Apple iPhone.

... What a long, strange trip its been.

Got Snark?

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:11:44 GMT

Why do we give medievalists technology?
We're talking about a group of people who figure an acceptable method of determining governance is beating each other with swords. Why would we be surprised that beating each other with keyboards in social interactions would be second nature?

... and then the King said ...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:37:08 GMT

This weekend at the Great North-Eastern War, Baron Godfroy de Falaise was recognized as was richly his due as being a Pelican of the Kingdom of the East and of the Knowne Worlde. It was a truly moving cerimony, and I loved watching the whole thing. One particular point caught me, and I wish that moment and those words recorded for the value I feel they contain. I am certain to make mistakes in this transcription, but it is the spirit of what he said that is the most important:

"Without the Order of the Laurel, our world would less colorful. It is they that make the garb, sing the songs, and do the research that bring our Society to life.
"Without the Order of the Chivalry, our world would be more boring. The Society is centric around combat, and it is they that bring that excitement and adventure into our game.
"Without the Order of the Pelican, our Society would not exist. It is they that hold the offices, cook the feasts, wash the dishes and do the multitude of tasks that make what we do possible.
"Of all the Orders, I feel the Pelican is the most Noble. I'm not a Pelican, but I've said this before.
"I'm not a Pelican and I don't have it in me to be one. I'm a selfish person. I like to fight. When I get to an event, I don't want to set up the hall, or help put stuff away, or wash the dishes. I want to get out and fight and have fun...
"... I am not going to make you a Pelican. YOU made you a Pelican. I just have the honor of being able to Recognize you as one" -- His Imperial Majesty, Duke Andreas Eisfalke Von Ulm IV, 11 July AS XLIV

Vivat to his Majesty, and my personal thanks to all those in the Society that give of themselves selflessly at each event so that many of the rest of us can have our fun.

Congratulations to his Excellency, Master Godfroy du Falaise. You are very much an example of a what many more of us should try to emulate in some way in helping our Society thrive.

"Home"

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:05:08 GMT

"We need to start believing in what we know" -- Yann Arthus-Bertrand

... Just trust me when I tell you you need to take two hours out of your busy life and click the following two links.

... and then ....

"Home"

... its well worth the visit.

Instant chalkboard...

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:33:18 GMT

... Just add paint!

... I get to write on the wall in the name of business productivity!!!

The Good Conspiracy - Live

Fri, 01 May 2009 23:28:32 GMT

For those of you into either postive thinking as a life style, are down on cynicism, or love fine arts ...

A week ago, an old business collegue called me asking me to help save his project. The project was "The Good Conspiracy" / "La Conspiration du Bien". Through a fusion of modern media services -- Twitter, SMS & Email -- and traditional messaging media -- phone & paper -- the objective was to get Montrealers who don't know each other to share good vibes with each other.

As many of you know, I build phone systems for buisness and media applications. It totalled out to 30 hours of proto-typing, rapid code design and testing. I'll put the technical stuff in my blog but the important part is here:

So, you can hit the website ( www.thegoodconspiracy.com ), send a Tweet to http://twitter.com/inspireconspire/ , or call +1.514-933-BIEN (2436). From there, you leave a message under one of the categories of Good News, A Nice Gesture, Moral Support, The Best Compliment, or What Would Make Your Day.

Subscribers to the Twitter feed, or folks watching the website see the messages submitted. Voice messages even get played aloud.

One person, under the category of "Good News" left a recording that said "The MRI came back negative... no cancer!". I think that's pretty cool; I'm happy for someone I don't even know in a city of 1.8 million.

The Good Conspiracy is now "on display" this weekend at the 6^th edition of La Biennale de Montréal (http://www.biennalemontreal.org/en), a fine arts & culture expo taking place over the month of May. For this weekend, you can visit in person at Ecole Bourget, 1230 de la Montagne, Montreal.

Above, they've got a projection screen of the website aimed at a white wall so you can see the messages arriving on the website.

All around the room are cork-boards with a zillion pins and pieces of paper that you can hand-write something. The paper is not only left up for others to read, but will later be scanned & OCR'd so they will appear on the website.

The red-black diamond-shaped box over the chair in the middle of the room is a directional speaker aimed downwards. All of the voice messages recieved are played back in sequence and loop. Since "go-live" on the 28th, over 140 voice messages alone have been left.

All in all, its a pretty cool idea and I am very proud to have been associated in a small way with the project.

The Good Conspiracy runs from 1 May to 31 May.

Compliments, good news, moral support, wishes of the day, nice gestures.
Inspire. Conspire.
+1.514-933-BIEN (2436) // www.thegoodconspiracy.com .

THE GOOD CONSPIRACY

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:07:37 GMT

514.933.BIEN

Renault - Nissan wins

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:15:44 GMT

... another very cool TED.

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:49:54 GMT

An unfortunate ending for someone who had such a positive effect on the life of myself and so many of my friends.

Dungeons & Dragons' Dave Arneson is dead: Scientific American Blog

Posted using ShareThis

Growing your own air

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:22:06 GMT

I've become a major fan of TED in the past six months. Certainly, there are some supreme gems in there, and digging for them is fun. I watched the above presentation a couple of weeks ago, and its been in the back of my head on "auto-process" ever since. So, today, my darling love dragonlily3 and I walked to the local greenhouse and bought an Areca palm on sale. We're going to slowly rearrange the apartment with a "Green Air" priority.

At the point I am now working from home 75+%, and she spends 75+% of her time at home, air quality here is a bigger issue. Montreal is a dusty city in the warm months; put a fan in front of a window screen for a week if you want proof. So, anything that will keep air clean in here during the snow months and the dust months with a minimum interchange of air is good thing.

I figure if its good enough for a NASA Mars mission, it'll probably work out ok for an apartment where we still have the option of opening a window.

Things you're fascinated to hear... 25 years later.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:01:19 GMT

Vin Diesl was an AD&D player...

Two pleasant surprises

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:21:59 GMT

Yesterday was IDD's Rapier Championship tourney. It was another fun tourney well planned and involving, by Dominus Tarius (crazyroman ). The finals were between Menhard (darkfenix ) and Xavier (xaviersinister) . I watched the closing bouts very carefully, and I can truthfully say that given the obvious veil of fatigue that both fighters were pressing through, that was the best rapier play I've seen from either of them. It could have gone either way and, channeling Kasperov for a moment, it really just amounted to who made the last mistake.

Xavier carried the day, to become the new champion of rapier for the Barony. It has been a remarkable journey for both of them, and I'm proud and honored to have had the opportunity to teach, train with and know each of these fine young men.

Congratulations to both of you; Xavier may be wearing the baldric & hanger for the next year, but you *both* won.

Because he earned it...

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:47:44 GMT

Seven years ago, the Crowns of Kingdom of the East inducted me into Their Order of the Golden Rapier, and in so doing made me the 59th of the Order in the Kingdom, and the first in the Northern Shores Region. There was a lot of work, time and travel that went into that achievement, and it is something of which I continue to be very proud.

Yesterday, John Rathburne (AKA moonandtree ) was inducted into Their Order of the Silver Rapier. I'll leave it to him to figure out where he fits in the list of the Kingdom, but my point is that he isthe first in the Northern Shores Region. There was a lot of work, time and travel that went into that achievement, and it is something of which he can be very proud.

I've had the pleasure and honor of working closely with John over almost half a decade now in his persuit of excellence at rapier. His dedication and genuine desire to raise the skill bar for not only himself but everyone around him with his fire and enthusiasm is wonderful and there are many around him who can and do learn from his leadership by example.

Congratulations John. Enjoy it, you've earned it.