July 2011
56 posts
This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me - Changing... →
From across the pond.
June 2011
50 posts
Our Friend the Atom, reimagined ...
via commondreams.org Fukushima Spews, Los Alamos Burns, Vermont Rages and We’ve Almost Lost Nebraska | Common Dreams
Tumblr and posterous
Been autoposting from the latter to the former and autotweeting from both. I like them both, for different reasons, but … splitting traffic?
What to do about vertical integration? Absolutely...
Over-the-top services need to be left alone and possibly even nurtured as competition to vertical integration. Of course, the CRTC has already nearly screwed that up when it gave its blessing to usage-based internet billing, which would have effectively castrated such services. Amazingly, and somewhat perversely, the market responded by working as it should. Since the regulator fouled up, the...
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Mayor Ford, #Pride, and political calculus |...
Difficult to know what to make of Rob Ford’s decision not to take part in the Pride parade.
We can only speculate how the handlers must have wrestled with it. It would be natural to want to keep him from situations where he’s likely to face hostile crowds and be goaded into going off-message. On the other hand, there are those who argue that that sort of unmediated spontaneity is the...
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Via @awsamuel: Riot vigilantes speak for...
Nothing pretty about mob justice.
Riot vigilantes speak for themselves
by Alex on 6/21/2011 in facebook | mob | Vancouver riots
In the past couple of days I’ve heard from people who were initially enthusiastic about the crowdsourcing of rioter identification, but now see the concern with this kind of vigilantism. I’d love to take credit, but I’m not the most convincing voice in this argument.
...
Crowdsourced repression: Could it happen here?
From Alexandra Samuel:
The debate that is unfolding online about crowdsourced surveillance — what Christopher Parson referred to as Vancouver’s Human Flesh Search Engine – rests on two implicit assumptions. It’s time to get clear about what they are, so that people can talk more constructively across their differences, and perhaps even rethink their positions.
Let me start with the implicit...
US police smash camera for recording killing -...
US police smash camera for recording killing Miami man hid cell-phone memory card in his mouth to preserve footage in the latest battle over recording technologies via english.aljazeera.net Can’t really be surprised when people who abuse their authority don’t want to be exposed. Nothing new there. But that whole narrative thing? Clearly the struggle for influence...
The lost citizens of hockey need to be engaged
via vancouversun.com An interesting reflection on the notion of civic engagement in the wake of the Vancouver hockey riot …
Full Meltdown: Fukushima Called the 'Biggest... →
Vancouver riots shape the future of the Internet →
A follow-up from Alexandra Samuel. The money quote:
The Internet isn’t something out there that we plug into, throwing up our hands and claiming that “this is just how it works”. It’s not a set of technologies we must passively accept: it’s a culture we must actively create. And with social media in particular, we have a responsibility to think about what we are...
Pomegranate molasses
Anyone know where you can get it in Toronto? Recipe for a special dinner for one of Laura’s friends …
Meaty magnificence at #DeliDuel2
Wychwood Barns, and the knives are out. Fat, salt, cholesterol and tsuris. Got a problem with that? Sent from my BlackBerry See the full gallery on Posterous
Overheard at #DeliDuel2
“No, sweetie, you go sit in the shade. I’ll stand in line in the sun …” Who could have foreseen such a thing? Sent from my BlackBerry
Deli duel, Round 2
Wychwood Barns, June 19 … Sent from my BlackBerry
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@StrollCity | Music on Ossington | the sign said...
but who’s keeping track …
@StrollCity Trinity Bellwoods, Saturday June 18
VID-20110618-00006.3GP Watch on Posterous Sent from my BlackBerry
Special-needs kids: this shouldn't be happening
(H/t @aureliacotta) http://commoncentsmom.com/2011/06/18/special-needs-and-the-tdsb-a-nightmare-j… This is, I’d like to think, an extreme example, but as a matter of policy, your child’s access to support and resources shouldn’t depend on your luck in finding a sympathetic principal. Or on your ability to advocate and work the system … Sent from my BlackBerry
Stonekettle Station: America: You Keep Using That...
So, I’m driving into Anchorage this morning. Along with the usual herd of jackasses who, despite living in Alaska still don’t seem to know how to drive in snow, one vehicle in particular caught my eye. It was one of those enormous black pickup trucks, with the huge knobby tires and smoked glass windows and chrome roll bar complete with half a dozen giant chrome halogen lights and a ten...
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Crowdsourced surveillance turns ugly. Who could...
Via Politics ReSpun (quickly becoming my new personal heroes), the digital witch hunt is turning racist, sexist, ableist, and seventeen other different kinds of ugly. Might want to think this through a bit before we start using Facebook to rat each other out. Apparently it’s got a downside. Who knew?
Via Politics Respun: the Canucks riot and the...
via politicsrespun.org Oh my. Could there possibly be a class dimension to this thing? Maybe even some focus on the structural underpinnings, and the condescending attempt to use it to demonize the idea of legitimate public protest? Gotta fill those new jails, after all.
NextMedia animation of the Vancouver hockey riot
Best part? Not the lovely little turn-the-other-cheek stereotype, but the bit at the end where they say that “Peace and order” prevail in Canada, but NOT “good government” …
We've seen Big Brother, and he is us: On the...
From Alexandra Samuel:
My blog post for Harvard Business today looks at the troubling online reaction to last night’s riots in Vancouver. Reflecting on the widespread enthusiasm for using social media to track down criminals, I wrote:
I don’t think we want to live in a society that turns social media into a form of crowdsourced surveillance. When social media users embrace Twitter, Facebook,...
DAMMIT JANET!: Letting Your Inner Stasi Out
via scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com Umm … isn’t catching bad guys supposed to be what we pay the police for? If we’re going to be ensuring public safety by ratting each other out on Facebook, we might as well save the money …
Can Canada really be scared of free-thinking? |...
via guardian.co.uk Rule by the stupid. Strap in, folks, it’s going to be a long four years.
Social media idiots (h/t @coreymintz)
Sent from my BlackBerry
tumbled by sol chrom - Hockey, loss, riots and...
A little disquieting to see the script for the G20 pressed into service so quickly in the wake of the Canucks’ loss last night. I’m not sure what evidence there is to suggest that it was all the fault of black-bloc extremists, anarchists or political activists of whatever stripe, but it’s even...
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Hockey, loss, riots and citizenship
A little disquieting to see the script for the G20 pressed into service so quickly in the wake of the Canucks’ loss last night.
I’m not sure what evidence there is to suggest that it was all the fault of black-bloc extremists, anarchists or political activists of whatever stripe, but it’s even more worrisome to see the authorities call for people to post pictures of vandals and...
Understanding Vancouver's "Hockey Riot" | The... →
Not so easy to blame anarchists and extremists if you think for more than half a second.
Creekside: 'The War You Don't See' →
At some point I need to set some time aside and watch this all the way through. So does anyone working in media.
@StrollCity Yonge / St. Clair guy waiting to turn...
… prohibiting left turns. Angry motorists lined up behind him honking. If I’d just whipped the BB out a little faster, I coulda gone all TwitPic on his sorry ass. #damntheseklutzymoments Sent from my BlackBerry
Best line from the Vancouver riot
Just park your car in the Boston goal. It’ll be safe there.
All the Names | Toronto Standard | News, Media,... →
@TabathaSouthey rocks.
Guess this place is on the Catholic school board's...
Sent from my BlackBerry
@StrollCity Two stopped clocks ...
… should be right four times a day, no? Sent from my BlackBerry
My Father’s Day Pledge « Keith McArthur →
I just don’t have any words for this.
Guess the Catholic School Board doesn't shop here...
… rainbows being the mark of the Beast and all … Sent from my BlackBerry
Here’s a Guy Deliberately Crashing Into Objects...
via nymag.com
A painful way to make a point, and yet … pretty cool.
@StrollCity Blinded by Bixi Bikes
… I missed a much better image of a woman carrying two bouquets taller than she was … Sent from my BlackBerry
@StrollCity stretching both ways #trinitybellwoods
Balance Sent from my BlackBerry See the full gallery on Posterous
@oldjews - I can't believe I haven't shared this... →
My personal favourite:
There’s been talk of turning her laugh into a ring tone.
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Over at @SixthEstate, an important contribution to...
The author of this blog has launched something he calls the Doctors Project. In it, he’s attempting to provide a counterpoint to the narrative, pushed by institutions like the Fraser Institute and the like, that says Canada’s public health care system is out of control and unaffordable, and that the only solutions lie in privatization, cuts, and “adult conversations”...
Small victories: Orange Flowered Bike Safe for Now...
via torontoist.com Thin end of the wedge, of course. Can the city survive in the face of an unauthorized-art onslaught?
@StrollCity A poignant thank you note ...
… from the operators of a shuttered variety store, Queen & Ossington Sent from my BlackBerry
Sun News Quotes: Oh hai →
sunnewsquotes:
So, looks like this Tumblr got popular right quick. Neat. I apologize for my slackness in updating. As in all things, I endeavour to improve.
Unfortunately, combing through Sun News clips for comedic gold can be time consuming. And I do have a life. Not a great life, obviously, but certainly one…
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BBC News - Global war on drugs 'has failed' say...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13624303
It’s a BBC story, but the dynamics are very much reminiscent of all the “tough on crime” rhetoric we’re hearing in the context of Canadian politics these days.
It’s not as if expensive and ineffective policies are anything new. Other than providing short-term political boosts, one wonders what good they accomplish.
...
YouTube - Open Government at City Hall
Bleak image, no context @strollcity
Next to a large hole near Front and Spadina … Sent from my BlackBerry
@AureliaCotta on why helping kids is in the public...
From: @AureliaCotta Sent: Jun 1, 2011 19:41 When a child succeeds or fails solely on the basis of a parent having the ability to fight for them, we all lose. #onpoli sent via UberSocial On Twitter: http://twitter.com/AureliaCotta/status/76070944665387008 Sent from my BlackBerry
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Today in Respect for Taxpayers and street-level...
In the Star today: Artist says city erased mural it paid him to paint.
According to the piece, Joel Richardson’s work was funded mainly by local businesses, proving so popular that the area’s former councillor, Adam Giambrone, helped secure $2,000 in municipal funding for additional work.
Yeah, well.
Best part is the discussion with city official Elyse Parker, who’s quoted as...
