m u s i n g s

Hate it when SPAM works ...

2012-01-24T15:50:00.001-05:00

Yep I hate SPAM as much as anyone.

So working at my desk here right now and up pops an email - subject line "coffee news." from "coffee girl". I happen to be sitting here with a coffee in my hand.

The email is plain text, nothing flashy. Says simply, "I was having coffee with a friend, it tasted great. I really like my coffee. The girl asked her friend what kind it was - He said it was "Acid Free Coffee"... Google it. I think it is called Tylers, or something.

So I did.

Now some mitigating circumstances ...

Two of my buddies are completely off coffee on Doctor's orders. I like coffee, doesn't seem to affect me, but have read and heard about too much etc etc

So, I Google Acid Free coffee and find this.

http://www.tylerscoffees.com/

Nice site, rather low key sales pitch ....

SPAM or no SPAM ... I would try this if I can get it. certainly if I was in the States I would order it right now.

Weird, eh? When SPAM works.

Social Media

2012-01-08T15:42:00.001-05:00

Social Media

2012-01-08T12:56:00.001-05:00

Price vs quality

2012-01-05T14:27:00.001-05:00

Just got back from the garage.

I needed to replace a tire. I thought I t was a slow leak, but the sidewall was damaged so out with the newish damaged tire - in with a brand new one. Life is like that.

The garage I chose - had to be close, as I was losing air rapidly - was down the street, Queensway Auto Body. Big place that does collision work and repairs including a large bay for steering and tires.

The guy who greeted me was great - ordered a replacement tire, did all the right stuff and was not that expensive. Probably could have shopped around for a cheaper tire, but this was neither the right time nor place for that! What do you do when you go to a place to have a tire repaired and find it is not repairable. OK, put it back on I will have this towed to a cheaper place? No. They did not gouge me that is for sure, but it certainly was not the "deal of the day."

He then called me over "Hey, you are leaking oil under here.

That's never good.

He put the car on the hoist and went underneath. The diagnosis was that the oil drain plug on the oil pan was leaking. We both figured it was simply loose. No, it was not loose. It was completely stripped.

Having done a bit of DIY mechanic work I knew what could be involved.

Now, I had just recently had an oil change. Here is where the problem started. I will couch that and say "probably" or "may" have started.

A month ago I went to one of those local, fast, oil-change places. I am not naming names here because there is no proof they are at fault. But, prior to getting that oil change - everything was fine avec da wheels.

The mechanic today, while I watched him, surveyed the situation. The oil plug was completely stripped and in trying to take off the oil filter - it was not threaded on right. It was jammed.

To remedy the situation there were two possibilities. The first would be to get a new oil pan. Not cheap. The second, would be to try to repair the oil filter area and then re-tap the oil plug socket and put in a larger size oil pan plug.

I asked him his recommendation. He said lets try the second, but was concerned about the oil pan being too damaged. He said however, if it does not work, we will have to go for the new oil pan, but promised that if he cannot fix it he will not charge me for the first attempt and only charge me for the new oil pan work. Fair enough I said - have at it.

I really enjoy watching someone who knows what they are doing. He finally got the oil filter off. A complete mess. And dug out the oil pan plug. He cleaned the filter area thoroughly and re tapped the drain to accept a bigger plug.

Both of us satisfied with this - he proceeded to do an oil change.

The quick service oil change place, although attractive at it's price was ultimately the cause of an unnecessary cost - assuming they, the fast place, did this.

Having done a bunch of oil changes myself, on old cars that I once had, I did not think twice about going to a fast oil change place. How tough can it be?

Well, perhaps, too tough for the guys I went to. Seemingly, according to the mechanic today - they stripped the oil plug screw, probably using a hydraulic drill to secure the bolt, resulting in a leak, and did not screw on the oil filter properly - they just jammed it on - more than likely in haste. They are a fast oil change place, no?

I park on gravel and never noticed the leak. Had this guy not caught it - he said I had lost a lot of oil to date, that would have been a blown engine ... in excess of two grand.

The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweet smell of cheap price has long gone.

Price vs cost. Here endeth the lesson.

Search me?

2012-01-01T09:46:00.001-05:00

By Peter Mosley

The top searched for words last year.

Every year I look for this as I like to include it in lectures and speaches.

Hang on!!!! These are not "searched for" words? These are words people typed into "their Googley!"

They meant to type these it into their Navigation Bar. But, I betcha, if you asked 10 folks on PCs, more than half do not know what it is. And, furthermore, I will put this test out there ...

"Ask 10 people what browser they use on their PC?"

I am not talking the small percentage of us that inhabit the Net on a regular (Meaning: round-the-clock) basis. So don't ask one of your Netizen or Geek friends - ask some real folks. You can tell real folks they do NOT have a Twitter account!

I have done this!!! Way more than half say they use Google as their broweser. I ask them if that means they have the Chrome browser ... no my sceen is black, they tell me. Ok then ...

Now, I am not talking about Yokels, nor Seniors who are just discovering the online world, or for that matter, computers in general, I am talking about well-educated folks that have no clue. These same folks use computers at work on a daily basis. I bet there are millions and millions of them. I run into them all the time. Mostly on Facebook.

I have been so fortunate to have been a Mac user since day one, which was 1985 in Canada. Most folks I know use PCs. And the vast majority of those folks have missed out on experiencing the joy of the relationship with a computer, namely a Mac, and inherently the relationship with the Net. Oh, and sadly Alice, the Net is not Facebook.

In the early 90s, "AOL" was today's Facebook. Those folks who did not know what a URL was, nor where their browser's Navigation Bar was, nor how to copy and paste, nor scroll ... God it goes on and on doesn't it? They all went to AOL. It was easy and shiny. Today they go to Facebook.

I was reading an article recently and the writer said he gets way more information from Facebook and Twitter than from Google. Oy! Son, you need to go outside and play for a bit. Both literally and figuratively. In itself, that is probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It also is the laziest.

"Oh and on your way outside, CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM!"

How can you do your work if you cannot use the tools?

Ask these same ten folks, mentioned above, about bookmarking?

First, they probably do not know the term. Oh? You mean my favorites? Yep. Then, ask them if their "favorites" have sub folders? Are the favorites sorted? Oh, do you use a social bookmark site? Do you use a favorite toolbar?

This is why Facebook has become so popular. Just like AOL did in the 90s and as witnessed by your friends, who online for the first time, sent you a thousand jokes ... old jokes, the same old jokes that you saw 15 years ago ...

It will stop. Trust me.

I have faith in us humans. I really do. Eventually, we will get sick and tired of all this drivel.

I was looking at a "Year in Review" type article, or predictions or NY Resolutions. But instead I want to share some hope.

I got sick and tired of TV, that was 15+ years ago. Last year, I made a Creative Manifesto for myself to follow. My resolution, my dream and my hope of hopes is that all we will see on the Net is each other's creative moments. Nothing more, nothing less.

Peace

Creative Manifesto

2011-12-16T05:07:00.001-05:00

I just had a weird idea, or maybe it was a stroke of genius, or both?

I have never made New Year's Resolutions. I am not that type. But, right now, sitting here I think I have just made one.

I don't know if I will be able to do it, live up to, nor maintain it into 2012 and beyond.

BUT, BY GOD, I THINK IT IS A GREAT IDEA.Social media is everywhere. And it has turned a wee bit sour for me. Now, whatever you folks do is quite alright, carry on, but I am planning something different.

I will no longer post anything that I did not create. Call it my Creative Manifesto.

The idea of RTing, or finding that great meme, or reposting the funny shot of the kitten (God forbid!) seems like, well, so anti-Cluetrain.

It says in da book … "Once we get tired of hearing ourselves speak, then we will find the power of the internet." I think it should read … "When we get tired of repurposing, something that someone else posted, that someone else posted, of someone doing something creative, then we will find the power of the internet."

I am going to try and find the purpose of this thing we call the Intertubes.

I am not a videographer. If I happen to see something that is life changing I could capture it and post it. But I probably will not. There is something that bugs me about the plethora of video. TV minds. TV modality. If I was that enamoured with TV I would have one. I do not. It bugs me. I think it does stuff to us when we watch TV. I have done some research over the years and I simply do not like what I hear, and have never heard a single doctor or psychologist say "TV is great we should all watch more!"

I am a photographer, if I see something interesting, I will capture it and perhaps post it somewhere. I am a writer, if I have a thought, or something I want to say I might post that too. I am a musician, I might post stuff I write, record or play.

Not that I do not appreciate all of the wonderful things that float around in these here Intertubes, I just do not want to subscribe to the laziness I feel is inherent in the social web. I have never been lazy. Why should I be lazy here?

Let me take you back to the early 80s. A hand coupler modem, where you placed the handset of a phone in it. It squawked and squeaked and after much prodding a command line came up on my old PC "Hi Pete!" it said. I then typed … "Hi Al!" This was my first experience in the digital world. Two guys - one in his office way downtown, me in my apartment communicating to each other on our computers. You have no idea how hip that moment was!

The next foray was the BBS - I fell in love. MAGIC, BMUG, The Well, Atavachron, TVO and on and on … serious, heady shit. That was real exploring from the mid 80s till the early 90s. Then the web. Weird, when I first saw it? A thing called a browser - Mosaic - the first ever web page my friend at MAGIC pulled up for us was the Rolling Stones site (Well, we didn't call it a site then, did we?) It was a strange experience. New things always are.

From there it all went along with the flow. From cybermalls, to e-zines, to storefronts, to MLM, to email marketing, SPAM, databases, Flash and so forth. And then I went personally to building sites, to running internet firms, to blogging, to portals, to The Cluetrain, to social media.

And all of a sdden (Although some of us saw it coming) video hit. Hit big time. A tsunami of epic proportions that has drowned us.

I feel sometimes that I am that weird guy standing on the overpass with the flimsy sign that says "THE END IS NEAR!"

And, much like that guy, my voice is not heard as I am drowned out by the steady whoosh of traffic below, the occasional yell from a car - similar to the Loogans who drive by a farmers field and scream "Moo" at the cattle. Or the highly-evolved types who drive by goof courses and yell, "Four!" (They are so stupid they jeers are misspelled!) but, no heed.

Sorry, je digress …

So the Intertubes are now becoming nothing more than cheap TV. And again the Cluetrain states quite eloquently that, "The more the internet is like TV, the less we will need it."

I have believed the power in these here Intertubes are in the utility and tools they provide us. Productivity, delivery, customization, SEARCH and the data that can talk to other data. Remind me of events, hold things for me have your data talk to my data. The best explanation I have for what social media is:

"Up until SM we put word docs online. Now we can put up Excel! docs. Data interacting with data!"

Sadly most online video is like PowerPoint. And don't get me started on that!

Seeing someones video, which is more than likely a shitty, low quality recording of some tune with a static picture, or a kitten vid or the latest viral piece of shit, or the multitudes of self proclaimed video celebs, does nothing for me. It would be like having a last meal and asking for a Big Mac. No thanks. I will have the rack of lamb, please ... and a bottle of somethingred from the 12th century!

Now there are videos that are beautiful. Of course. Old clips of artists, athletes, thinkers and pure genius that was captured and preserved - no doubt about it. But when the web started we all knew it was 90% garbage. You had to search for the sites that were gems. With video the stats are mind blowing …

82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online.
By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video.
48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day
Over 3 billion videos are viewed a day
Users upload the equivalent of 240,000 full-length films every week
More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
YouTube's demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
800M unique users visit YouTube each month

My question is how much searching does one have to do to get to that 10%? And more importantly, how much fucking time is being wasted!

Mind blowing!

If you have a chance to do something, should you not try and do your best? Experience the best? Be the best?

That requires effort. Social media to me is the antithesis of effort. It is too easy.

My challenge for myself is to make an effort - it is going to be very very tough. I probably will have to post a video on one of my blogs, I probably will RT something I care about, and I will no doubt find something so damn funny I will share it.

But I will try and do what I think is necessary - and that is be original.

SPAM - My Solution

2011-12-06T12:49:00.001-05:00

Saw this post on Fast Company about email being dead and a large company banning email.

Years ago I suggested a solution to SPAM. I'd like to share it with you again ...

Here is the back story.

As a long-time denizen of the online world - dating back to the pre-web days of the 80s - I have been using email, a lot, like crazy. I have had multiple email accounts for years. At one time I managed at least 22 accounts. These were for different client's sites, blogs, associations, business and personal use. That meant I would get upwards from 500 emails a day, sometimes way more. Using three sets of filters helped keep my inbox(es) somewhat manageable, but not completely.

Here is my take on SPAM. Although I understand where the abolitionists are coming from, censorship is not the answer. User Experience is, and always has been, the answer.

Lets say I am sitting at my desk and my inbox receives the following message from www.SPAM_WOW_FREE_INSTANT_WIN.com addressed to "Dear Bozo" …

The subject line reads - Win a round of Golf with Mike Weir (Insert fave golfer here) Second prize a set of Taylormade Clubs. Third Prize win a dozen Titleist Golf Balls!

Hang on!!!!!

As an avid golfer, I have already stopped everything I was doing, entered the contest, printed out the email, passed it to a dozen golf friends and then sat, with a cup of tea, and went .. ahhhhhhh. Golf.

"But, but, but … this is SPAM" they cry!

Nope, not to me it isn't! It is heaven. It has touched my soul. Want to get in touch with me? Talk to me the way I talk. Talk to me about stuff I am interested in.

SPAM to me is stuff like ... "work from home" "get rich quick" "Viagara" and "Porn." Why are they SPAM? Because I (the user) am simply, not interested. Go away.

My suggestion to get SPAM in check and thereby solving the "in box" mess, is the following.

Set up a universal site - www.spam.com

Every user would be encouraged to log in - and select from a long list of topics that they are interested in. Of course, if you are interested in No SPAM you can check that too. But, if you're like me, you probably would check something like Drumming, Golf, Apple, Cycling and Travel. You would be guaranteed to receive only these offerings.

The folks, who engage in SPAM for a living, would have access to the site and could harvest all the emails they would like by category. "Hey guys send me everything you have! I am putting my hand up to be served here!!!!" I think that would also increase the open rates, click through rates and conversions to sales.

The ISPs would also play a role. They can surely monitor the emails sent by their clients, the large emailers, and would place a tariff/tax on each email sent - say a tenth of a cent, or a hundredth of a cent, per email (something small and practicable) - this would be collected and applied to community infrastructure - say bandwidth to schools, getting real Teleports for communities - or support some worthwhile cause - like feeding people.

You see, SPAM is not SPAM if you want it. SPAM is anything you get that you do not want.

Let the user dictate what SPAM is. Let the user control his or her inbox.

Enhancing shareholder value

2011-11-21T14:22:00.001-05:00

Just saw this Tweet

Rebick: (I assume Judy Rebick - I cannot find the quote) "They're trying to change the world, who cares if they break a few bylaws?" (via @RyanEmberley)

Watched as much of the OWS, and Toronto and DC as I could.

Am definitely not opposed to heavily criticizing the US financial institutions. The Canadian scene is quite different as we all know. Yes, in Canada, as in other parts of the world, there is an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. Always will be. We individuals can only be responsible for the outcomes of our acts. Unless you were born a Thompson, Eaton or Molson. But most of us were not. We all had to fight for ourselves. And still can. In fact probably your moral duty to be as good as you can be.

Demonstrations certainly cause change - women's right to vote, segregation changes, gay rights, animal rights etc etc Furthermore, a demonstration pointing out the evils of corporate greed are fine and dandy. But we do have laws. WE made the laws. If we want the laws changed we can certainly do that. But not bec ause a small group finds the laws inconvenient. I for instance find it very inconvenient to have to pay for certain goods at stores. Hell it is only a chocolate bar? Why can't I take it?

Anyway, every time I hear the words "corporate greed" there is a tiny voice in my head that screams.

"ENHANCING SHAREHOLDER VALUE!!!!"

So who are these shareholders exactly? Well, probably you and me and your dad and Mom and the next door neighbour and larger ones that that matter (by invested dollars and girth) e.g. the teachers pension fund. Oh and all sorts of other union funds. (Unions are the guys that were there supporting the occupy folks - I see a tad bit of hypocrisy here.

Hang on! So if they are the shareholders of these corporations,

http://www.otpp.com/wps/wcm/connect/otpp_en/Home/Investments/Major+Investments/Corporate+Shares+%28Alphabetical+listing%29/

... then aren't they the ones pressuring the corporate executives of each of those companies to do what ever it takes to "ENHANCE SHAREHOLDER VALUE!" (I hate that voice screaming in my head.)

Here is the background on that mess. (Never been a fan of Mr Welch - I think he is a bully.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholder_value

I do love this quote

History

On August 12, 1981, Jack Welch made a speech at The Pierre in New York City called ‘Growing fast in a slow-growth economy’.[1] This is often acknowledged as the "dawn" of the obsession with shareholder value. Welch's stated aim was to be the biggest or second biggest market player, and to return maximum value to stockholders.

In March 2009, Welch criticized parts of the application of this concept, calling a focus on shareholder quarterly profit and share price gains "the dumbest idea in the world".[2] Welch then elaborated on this, claiming that the quotes were taken out of context.[3]

And as it turns out probably a very slippery character!

I know about this stuff - having run two public companies where the shareholders wanted "X" and "Y" returns no matter what. No matter what it took.

Basically screw everyone, we want our ROI and our dividends. And worse they want a return in months (like quater to quarter) not long term - as in years.

So lets not be to quick to point fingers at the greedy. Maybe you* have help cause this mess?

* If you own shares, mutual funds or other investment instruments, you are probably a shareholder.

Bye Firefox

2011-11-19T14:59:00.001-05:00

Something happened in the last month. Either Firefox, or Adobe has screwed up.

Flash has crashed at least a dozen times in the last month and Firefox has crapped out - either hung or went into spinning wheel of death mode.

Did really, really like you from day one. But I need to work. I need you to work.

Chrome - thanks. Works.

Accidents, I mean collisions, can, and should, be eliminated

2011-11-11T12:02:00.001-05:00

I have been brooding over this for decades. It really pisses me off.

If you listen to the media, which I desperately try to avoid, every accident reported is a cry for more laws, more controls and more Nanny State Rules.

Three recent events have prompted this rant.

1 - In Waterloo they love round-abouts.

Recently a school girl was struck and injured while trying to cross one of these.

We need more signs! We need to hang the politicians who built these! We need bridges over the round-abouts!

2 - In Toronto it is a non-stop-war "Car vs Bike"!

A young pregnant mother was killed on her bicycle in Toronto.

We need to ban BIKES! We need to ban cars! We need more bike lanes! We need to license cyclists!

3 - Racing (Or driving faster than your abilities allow ... the new natural selection method.)

Yesterday a woman was killed when her SUV flipped and burst into flames on the DVP as a result of driving at a high rate of speed.

We need to put speed limiters on all cars! We need to jail racers for a hundred years!

It is pathetic. Full stop.

All of the above incidents are not accidents. These are called collisions. There is no such thing as an accident. Well, sure, if a tree falls on your car while it is parked, yeah, ok that is an accident. Everything else is a collision.

We all find great comfort in seeking "who's fault is it?" when bad stuff happens. God forbid we accept, that as humans, we all make mistakes, we are sometimes distracted and we are generally ... stupid.

When you are out and about during your day, especially when it involves being in, around or near cars, please ... wake the fuck up! You on a bike or walking vs a car? You lose.

I saw a few things that were posted and written concerning the poor woman who was killed in Toronto. All of it well intended, none of it useful. Some of it downright dangerous.

One fellow, a bike courier, gave a lengthy instruction dissertation on "How to ride in the city." Well, if this is how you are supposed to ride a bike in the city, I am surprised we don't have a dozen fatalities a day! If you have read this couriers manual to defensive driving and believe it, sell your bike and walk - you will be a danger to yourself and others if you follow any of it.

I know a wee bit about bikes, and cars, and collisions and know a whole bunch about Dundas & Stirling in Toronto.

I grew up there, cycled daily through there. I was also a cop in that division. I studied driving, driver safety and accident investigation and spent over 400 hours just learning to drive properly. As well, I commuted on bike for years and raced road bikes for many of those years. For the record, I have driven since I was 16 - 44 years. No tickets, no collisions in a car or on a bike. I also will never, ever get into a collision. Why? Because I know how to drive properly.

There is a simple solution to all collisions. (You can use the word accidents, if the word collision and its inherent meaning that it was caused makes you queazy.) The solution is to learn how to operate your vehicle and slow down.

If you are in a hurry, slow down.

If you are angry and frustrated, slow down.

If you are not sure if someone sees you, slow down.

if you are a cyclist or a pedestrian and are not 100% sure you have free and safe right-of-way slow the fuck down.

In fact, it will NEVER kill you to just stop. It might kill you, if you do not.

But we don't. I see road rage way more prevalent than ever before, I see cyclists riding their bikes like they are invincible (a form of passive aggressive behaviour) and I see our overall ability to drive deteriorating year after year.

We do not need speed bumps. All we have to do is obey the posted speed limits. We do not need bicycle lanes. All we have to do is learn to ride bikes properly. Trust me learning to ride a bike properly is not difficult. And we do not need to put governors on our cars to stop them going over a certain speed. All we have to do is follow the rules of the road. Net/net - we need to learn how to drive. Or in the case of a bike learn how to operate a vehicle based on the rules of the road.

I investigated hundreds of accidents. Many involving cyclists. And looking back every accident was preventable. Easily preventable. One I remember was involving a young boy who was run over by a truck on Queen near Sorauren.

In the case of the boy who was killed, there was a simple solution to the tragedy. He had borrowed a friends bike. It had hand brakes rather than coaster brakes that he was used to. The bike also was too big for him. He took the bike out on Queen W at rush hour for his first spin and panicked in traffic. He started to peddle backwards to stop never having used handle bar brakes before. He fell off to his left into traffic and was crushed by a truck and killed instantly. There is more to this story ...

I was first on the scene. It was a very disturbing sight. I crawled under the back of the truck to see if there was anything I could do for the victim. Sadly, although I am not a doctor, I knew there was no hope. There was very little left of the boy. What was there was unrecognizable as a human being. I called the ambulance and rushed to the closest place of business, which then happened to be a pool hall and asked if anyone had anything I could use to cover the accident scene. A guy literally ripped a curtain down for me and I took it out and covered the boy. The accident teams arrived with the EMS the scene was investigated and the boys body taken to St Joe's. I had to find and notify the parents. I went up Sorauren to an address that the friend of the boy who owned the bike provided.

I went to the door, knocked and it was answered by the same man that had given me the curtain. Our eyes locked. He knew. At the scene he did not recognize the bicycle as it was not his son's. And as a result of the severity of the accident the boy was not recognizable.

The man collapsed.

I remember a dozen or so cases where I had to notify loved ones of tragedy caused by one of these "accidents." These images, like the image of the 10 year old boy under the wheels of the transport truck never go away. When I get behind the wheel of my car, or on my bike ... I know, I will never, ever cause anything like this to happen.

Maybe one way to get the message through to people who enjoy the privilege of driving and riding bikes is perhaps letting them see what happens when you are stupid, or careless, or distracted, or in a hurry or angry.

The consequences of something as benign as borrowing your buddy's bike can be life-changing.

New Calgary.ca site. Search? Really? Where's the beef!

2011-08-17T08:17:00.001-04:00

http://www.calgary.ca/

According to Marketing ...

City favours search style over drilling down through endless menus

Log on to the City of Calgary’s new website and you won’t see the usual text-heavy, drill-down-the-tree-to-the-roots site favored by most governments.

The new $3.2 million website launched Monday is built around a Google search application and utilizes keywords that allow users to quickly access city information and programs, said David Watson, general manager, planning, development and assessment, and project sponsor.

Read the rest here http://bit.ly/qPmmKn

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I read it, with interest, and went to the site.

I tried a half dozen quick searches - the obvious ones (to me at least) - jobs, music, kids, dogs and golf. The results I guess were ok? But what I experienced was ... why can't I just have a proper user experience and use the well established science of heuristics to allow me to find what I want? This is not a social call to the City of Calgary. I would guess no one will say Hey lets be wild and crazy! lets go search the City of Calgary for stuff - I probably want something specific and I probably know what it is? (Events, Licenses, Departments, Kids stuff, Parking etc etc ) I will not be going to the City of calgary site for shits and giggles. For that I use Stumbleupon ...

Has web development become so "old fashioned" that we can't do this anymore? And 3.2 mil for a search structure? Come on!

I have built dozens of sites with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pages ... it ain't that tough. This has been done before with many city portals and quite successfully.

This is the ultimate in self serve. But instead of eliminating the hassle you introduce the "WTF!"

In banking for decades we have had ATMs. Great perfect. At the gas pump - self serve - again perfect, but here in every search all I was left with was ... "Is that really what I wanted to find?" Because quite frankly when I am going to a city site I kind of know what I am looking for - a department, a phone number or at least a site that gives me the hours of an event etc etc

This just does not work for me.

If it worked so seamlessly, then why would they put a banner "I need help using calgary.ca" and yet another search button...

Sorry - calling bullshit on this one.

m u s i n g s

Hate it when SPAM works ...

Social Media

Social Media

Price vs quality

Search me?

Creative Manifesto

SPAM - My Solution

Enhancing shareholder value

Bye Firefox

Accidents, I mean collisions, can, and should, be eliminated

New Calgary.ca site. Search? Really? Where's the beef!

City favours search style over drilling down through endless menus

Just dawned on me ... My 10 Client Scrolls

Service, or the lack thereof.

Just noodling

JUST HAD THIS SENT TO ME - VERY CUTE (ABRIDGED VERSION)

Why we (I) golf …

Joni and video and Mingus

My break-through moment

Site traffic

Must explain last post

I cannot believe this is still going on

Found this humorous.

So how long exactly am I supposed to wait Mr Star?

Why can't we all just get along?

Penalty shot to tie it up Iginla

smallish RANT - the CRTC, the UBB and my fear for what will happen

SNOWMAGEDDON - The END of Toronto as we know it

Wordle ...

Winter 2011

Winter ... Was cold in here, but not now!!!

Sergeant Russell and others ...

Gervais over the line

CBSC

Merry Christmas

Accd to 680 NEWS Craigslist has removed prostitution ads in most Cdn cities except Halifax - reminds me of story

Speaker Wiki

Speaker Wiki

Vacation, frustration and sadly no hope

All set

Timely

Weird day. Why not wrap it up and finish it off with one of my favorite jokes ...

Mitch under da lights

Model trains at BD party

G2 Birthday Party

Customer satisfaction re the Alaska Airlines incident @armano

Class action suit - is this true? (I aready checked Snopes = nuthin there?)

Still my favorite SM video

More than a wee bit confused?

Lying on a bed, wondering ...

I did a small timing test

test

Senior Wedding Top Ten ...

An appropriate addition.

This deserved a Blog Post

(Meaning DO NOT go grocery shopping hungry. DO NOT come home and whip up a dinner while starving.) .... Totally stuffed. Full stop! (But it was GOOD!)

It deserves a Blog post.

I have been away in Waterloo for most of last week and then, away all weekend in Rochester. So, looking at the refrigerator today it had mustard and an egg. There was something else in there but not sure what it once was? Note to self get rid of whatever that was! Not good.

Anyway, I had planned the empty fridge though knowing I would be away for a while did not want to through out a bunch of food when I returned. It is a bugaboo with me - hate throwing out food.

So off I went to the grocery store to replenish my larder. Bought the usual ... eggs, milk, bread, bagels, fresh produce and fruit plus some other stuff.

I was walking by the meat counter and there it was. A T-bone steak with my name on it. Well, it didn’t really have my name on it, but they were on special. This was about 12 pounds I reckon and decided - Oh yeah! I made the mistake of going shopping whilst hungry.

So, after my selection of the steak I went to the produce section picked up some new potatoes, fresh mushrooms and some beets and fresh dill.

Of course on the way home stopped off at the LCBO and grabbed an Argentinean Malbec.

Home. Put said groceries away. And started prep. Potatoes in water. Check. Beets in pot. Check. Wine opened. Check. When the veg had cooked, tossed in dill to the potatoes and put on the steak - French Pan Fried in garlic and fresh ground pepper.

Well, I am sitting here having finished said meal - waiting for the nice refined stroke to hit me.

My God it was good!

You know, I like to think I can do everything ...

Joke NSFW (But neither am I)

New Spiffy Blog Post

Seeing as I just hit a cyclist with my car - lets talk about bikes shall we?

Well, maybe not the quality so much?

When word of mouth needs a bit of context

Social media pranks, scams and other whatnots

Houston we have a (communications) problem ...

G20 what we saw and what I leaned

Taylor Swift and why I want off this ride

Fucking PIGS!!!!!

The front fell off ...

Need a small Rant moment here ...