• Got more done (way more) that I would in the office


• Was more relaxed


• Had time to go for a run


• Managed to run the same presentations and meetings


• Ate way healthier food than I normally do

I also worked longer and took fewer breaks. I know itrsquo;s not exactly rocket science, and everyone is telecommuting these days, but seriously, this is the first time i really hit me that I actually not only concentrate better at home, but actually get more done.

And I have time to read more internet-ey things: Gawker, Youtube (great Obama clip), and BlogTO (a little bit of sxsw-style action in Toronto?), just to name a few.

Not long ago, it seemed like McMuffins were the only (chain) breakfast sandwich going. In part, this was because of my long-time ban on sober Burger Kingndash;while their breakfast stylings look like a better-than-abysmal option, Irsquo;m not lsquo;usuallyrsquo; drunk at breakfast time, and even today (note: not the day of the actual posting of this blog. Just the day I started this project.), when I was prepared to break the ban temporarily, at 10:20, the BK near my office had already switched to their lunch menu. It may be because off the odd hours I keep, or it may be because all these sandwiches are just a bit disgusting, but itrsquo;s a frosty day in hell that I can handle one of these puppies before 10am. And never, ever could I handle a burger or poutine at 10:20am, so Burger King, yoursquo;re off the listhellip;

Anyway, back to the story. So a while back now, Tim Hortons introduced breakfast sandwiches, and you know what? Theyrsquo;re pretty great. OH BUT WAIT! Then Starbucks came along. Before all this, Subway stepped into the then barely-existant fray, and back in my Acadia days, I enjoyed many a Subway breakfast sandwich. But now that everyone else is inhellip; Subway is all but out (Irsquo;ll explain in a minute).

Now that all these options are available, I think itrsquo;s important that we have a good guide to the world of sandwich-type breakfast options in the lt;$4 arena. Theyrsquo;re all the same, you say? NOT HARDLY! So read along, and comment away with your perspectives, particularly if yoursquo;re not on a BK ban and have any opinions about that particular set of offerings.

My favourite:

Breakfast tacos in Austin, from the trailer by the school for the deaf. Joking. Well, not about them being my favourite, but about them qualifying for this particular round of tasty competition. Theyrsquo;re not readily available as part of my downtown Toronto lifestyle. Particularly not the ones from that trailer by the school for the deaf. And as many times as Irsquo;ve ranted about this particular issue while walking past Torontorsquo;s various Texan, Tex-Mex or otherwise kind of Mexican-like establishments, no one has taken me up on my challenge.

My favourite IN TORONTO:

Starbucks! Who knew. Irsquo;m not usually the first to admit that I like Starbucks. Mostly because other than my usual venti soy chai tea misto with a shot of sugar-free cinnamon dolce syrup (thatrsquo;s right, Irsquo;m one of those douchesndash;but itrsquo;s Pemma who got me onto it), Starbucks doesnrsquo;t have a whole lot going for it in my mind. I really, really dislike their coffee, particularly their drip coffee, but wersquo;ll talk about that later. Actually, letrsquo;s talk about it now: it tastes like burnt garbage. But right now, the point is their new breakfast sandwiches, and let me just say, they are delicious. Specifically the eggs florentine. Eggs, spinach and havarti on an english muffin, grilled to godly perfection? Yes please. The price, however, is a bit higher than Irsquo;d like, but itrsquo;s Starbucks. The other big plus is that they grill them with the cheese in, so unlike most of the other contenders, it actually melts properly and is nice and gooey. Yum. I want one nowhellip; Irsquo;ll be backhellip; (Image courtesy iirraa.)

Most fatty in a delicious way:

Surprise, surprise, Tim Hortonrsquo;s takes the cake on this one. Not because of any proof that their sandwiches are any fattier than anyone elsersquo;s (note: said proof is available here (vs. Starbucks and McDrsquo;s (note: I only looked at the breakfast burritos and the sausage and egg McMuffins. The McGriddles scare me too much to even look.))). No, itrsquo;s not the lsquo;factsrsquo;, nutritionally speaking, though they do support my case. No, the only lsquo;factrsquo; I need is the fact they they but their delicious, factory-made and truck-shipped rounds of eggs and sausage and squares of cheese into a delicious, once frozen, baked, and toasted buttery hexagonal lsquo;homestylersquo; biscuit. Which they then apply more butter to before adding the aforementioned toppings. I donrsquo;t know about you, but nothing says homestyle to me like a perfectly six-sided biscuit. And of course nothing says homestyle to me like 18 grams of saturated fat. Good times, good times. But seriously, all that butter (fat) makes them pretty darn tasty. (Image courtesy Ceci un Matt).

Most traditionally delicious:

Not being one to mistake homestyle for traditional, Irsquo;ve got to step back into the long (?) history of breakfast sandwiches, to what I consider to be, with absolutely no fact-checking or external verification, the home of the original breakfast sandwich. And by that, I mean that growing up, all we had in my town was McDrsquo;s and BK, and we all know where on stand on the Burger King issue. So therefore, the most traditionally delicious breakfast sandwich comes from McDonaldrsquo;s, and is, specifically the egg amp; sausage McMuffin. I also appreciate the breakfast burritos, though they donrsquo;t hold a candle to a good breakfast taco, and Irsquo;ve tried McGriddleshellip; All I remember is the sickness that ensued. So letrsquo;s stick to McMuffins, and letrsquo;s face it: theyrsquo;re readily available, theyrsquo;re cheap, theyrsquo;re fast, and they can be paired with McDonaldrsquo;s delicious iced coffee (a significant advantage of Tim Hortons, whose coffee I neither enjoy, nor can procure iced at most locations not in the Maritimes (Irsquo;m confused by that one too, the sentence and the fact). (Image courtesy Ja-ae).

The ldquo;Thanks for Coming Outrdquo; Award goes tohellip;

Timothyrsquo;s! This is perhaps the latest entry into the breakfast sandwich game of the chains. And, wellhellip; itrsquo;s the exact same as a McMuffin, but maybe a bit less greasy, and made, literally, with the same eggs as Tim Hortons (those lovely perfectly round factory-made wonders). Maybe theyrsquo;re a bit less greasy. Theyrsquo;re DEFINITELY more microwaved. Theyrsquo;re interesting in that ldquo;why do I ever even come to this place?rdquo; kind of sense that you get from most Timothyrsquo;s products, between the total confusion you create when you ask for something other than a large coffee, the complete inconsistency across the chain, and the six years you often have to wait for your sandwich ingredients to come out of the microwave. But good for you for trying, Timothyrsquo;s. Your continued existence continues to amaze me.

Fastest downward spiral:

Let me tell you a story. One time, specifically mid-summer 2002, the Subway franchise in Wolfville was taken over by new management from New Minas. Yes, let the terrifying name scare you. Because that is exactly what it did me. My friends and I at work used to take a mid-morning break for breakfast (because again, who can really stomach breakfast before 10?) and head en masse to Subway. And for most of the summer, it was an enjoyable experience. Until we met the crazy manager from hellhellip; I mean, New Minas. First, my friend asked for her usual: a ham amp; egg sandwich, but instead of ham could she have turkey, because dietary restrictions did not allow her to eat pork. Note: this is not uncommon. The manager told her that this was simply impossible and when my friend said she got it almost every day, the answer was something along the lines of ldquo;well this Subway has been operating in a substandard way for years, and if you asked for that at any other Subway, theyrsquo;d look at you like you had two heads.rdquo; The two heads part is verbatim. So anyway, after that flawed transaction, I was told that there was no ketchup, and had never been any ketchup available at any subway ever (a lie), and harsh words were exchanged. Also, this crazy lady took away the pineapple. What is a sub without pineapple, I ask? Needless to say, I made my own breakfast for a while following this incident.

And in my mind, Subwayrsquo;s reputation never really recovered from this awkward and off-putting hit. Then, to top it all off, they did away with round bread. And let me ask you this: who wants a breakfast sandwiches on a 6Prime; sub? Those eggs come out of the factory round for a reason (oh yeah, they also switched from undercooking the eggs in-store to using the same egg rounds that Tim Hortons and Timothyrsquo;s use). Enough is enough! I just canrsquo;t take it anymore! That said, after BK declined my offer to sell me breakfast, I did end up taking one more stab at subway, on a six inch bun, and it was not good. In fact, it was the whole inspiration for this entry. My goal: to save my non-vegan readers from the treachery of subway and their sub-par breakfast offerings. Just donrsquo;t do it. Itrsquo;s not worth it.

And with that, wersquo;re pretty much at the end of things. From its humble days at my local McDonaldrsquo;s, where a scary group of old men used to hang out and make plaques for themselves above the table where they always drank their morning coffee, to the vast cornucopia of greatness that is the current breakfast sandwich market, the answer to the question no one has asked is: avoid Subway like the plague. Note: views expressed here are no onersquo;s other than my own. In fact, theyrsquo;re barely even mine. Also: it is amazing how many people put pics of breakfast food online. Actually, itrsquo;s just a little bit gross.

http://www.tigurl.org/edpm

Please share this posting with your network and any qualified candidates you may know! And feel free to leave a comment here if you have any question

Notice E-mail:

Dear Luke Walker

Rogers Cable (Rogers) has received a notice stating that activities associated with your IP address are infringing copyright in material(s) owned or exclusively licensed by others.

The full notice is appended to this e-mail below.

Under section 4(d) of the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet End User Agreement (EUA) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), you are prohibited from using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service to engage in illegal activities, including activities that infringe copyright.  Copies of our EUA and AUP are available at:

http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static?.form=termsamp;.intl=ca

Where there has been a violation of our EUA and/or AUP, including the unauthorized distribution of copyright-protected material, Rogers has the right to take appropriate action against you.

If you have any questions about the attached copyright notice, please contact the sender of the notice using the contact information provided in the notice.  Please do not reply to this e-mail.

We trust you will comply with our policies and all applicable laws in using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service.

Rogers EUA Management Team

Sincerely,

EUA Management Team

Rogers Yahoo Hi-Speed Internet

http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static?.form=terms

00798035

mdash;ndash;BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGEmdash;ndash;

Hash: SHA1

Entertainment Software Association

575 7th Street, NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20004 USA

Attention:  Intellectual Property Enforcement

Telephone:  202-223-2400

E-mail:  mailto:esa@copyright-compliance.com?subject=RE%3ANoticeID%3A182%2D48817084ESACanadaNotice

28 Jul 2008 04:01:48 GMT

ISP: Rogers Cable Communications Inc.

ESA Reference Number: 182-48817084

Dear Rogers Cable Communications Inc.:

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is a trade association that represents the intellectual property interests of numerous companies that publish interactive games for video game consoles, personal computers, handheld devices and the Internet in the United States of America, in Canada, and in other countries (collectively referred to as ESA members).  ESA is authorized to act on behalf of ESA members whose copyright and other intellectual property rights it believes to be infringed as described herein.

ESA is providing this letter of notification to make Rogers Cable Communications Inc. aware of material on its network or system that infringes the exclusive copyright rights of and is unlawful towards one or more ESA members.

ESA members are entitled to the full protection of Canadian intellectual property laws, including the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, as amended, in such entertainment software products.

Based on the information at its disposal on 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT, ESA has a good faith belief that 99.233.14.223 infringes the rights of one or more ESA members by offering for sale or download unauthorized copies of game products protected by copyright, or offering for sale or download material that is the subject of infringing activities.  The copyrighted works that have been infringed include but are not limited to:

Title: SimCity Societies

Infringement Source: BitTorrent

Infringement Timestamp: 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT

Infringement Last Documented: 28 Jul 2008 03:13:23 GMT

Infringer Username:

Infringing Filename: Simcity.Societies.Deluxe-RELOADED

Infringing Filesize: 2823979146

Infringer IP Address: xx.xxx.xx.xxx

Infringer DNS Name: cpe000fb5785e0f-cm001692f4f318.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com

Infringing URL: http://tracker.mightynova.com/announce

The unauthorized copies of such game product(s) or the material that is the subject of infringing activities appears on or is made available through xx.xxx.xx.xxx.  Those items are listed and/or identified thereon by their titles or variations thereof, game-related listings/references/descriptions, or depictions of game-related artwork.  Such copies, titles, game-related listings/references/descriptions, depictions, and material that is the subject of infringing activities, are hereinafter referred to as ldquo;Infringing Material.rdquo;

Accordingly, ESA hereby requests Rogers Cable Communications Inc. to immediately do the following:

1.    Notify the account holder of the Infringing Material.

2.     Remove, or disable access to, the Infringing Material detailed above.

3.     Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms

of Service Agreement, including termination of a repeat offender.

Please inform us whether you will remove or disable access to the Infringing Material as requested.  Rogers Cable Communications Inc. or the account holder may contact ESA at the above-listed contact details, with email preferred.  Please include the above-noted Reference Number in the subject line of all email correspondence.

Thank you for your cooperation and prompt response in this matter.

Sincerely,

Intellectual Property Enforcement

Entertainment Software Association

The terror stuff

Three links for you. First, Omar Khadr. The Current (CBC Radio One) played tapes of his CSIS interrogations at Guantanamo today (Video on The Starrsquo;s site. Not easy to watch/listen to). I wonrsquo;t liehellip; Canadarsquo;s (and by that, I mean that government of Canadarsquo;s) treatment of the Omar Khadr file absolutely disgusts me. The fact that itrsquo;s often referred to as lsquo;a filersquo; disgusts me. Hersquo;s a human being. A very young one, who was even younger when he was arrested on allegations of being an enemy combatant. Our governmentsrsquo; (both Liberal and Conservative, though the Liberals have now changed their stance) inability to do whatrsquo;s right an bring this child soldier home to Canada is completely infuriating and embarrassing. Irsquo;m not particularly proud to be Canadian at the moment.

While PM Harper argues that hersquo;s being treated humanely, Christopher Hitchensrsquo; article ldquo;Believe Me, Itrsquo;s Torturerdquo; (in the August issue of Vanity Fair, and recently interviewed on CBC Radio Onersquo;s As It Happens) makes me doubt that my definition of humane is quite the same as that of the government of the United States. A lsquo;favouritersquo; quote, after Mr. Hitchens first-hand experience with water-boarding: ldquo;You are being drowned, but very slowly and under controlled conditions. Itrsquo;s not simulating the effects of drowninghellip;rdquo;

And last but not least, the USrsquo;s terrorism watch list has grown to include a million names (courtesy BoingBoing). Not a million people, but a million names. Because if your name is on there, regardless of whether or not yoursquo;re the one to have done anything wrong, good luck with the whole hassle-free travel thing. Oh wait, no, itrsquo;s not about ACTUAL wrongdoing. The list is all about the suspected potential for wrongdoing, proof (or even public knowledge of the criteria that gets you on the list) be damned.

Back to the internethellip;

In good newshellip; the Top Friends app on Facebook looks like itrsquo;s a goner! But not because people are mature enough to recognize that the kind of friendship gymnastics required by Top Friends are best left back in 2nd gradehellip; itrsquo;s because Facebook has launched a simplified version of the apprsquo;s features (link: valleywag). That said, I understand the rationalendash;kind of. If I were spending as much time on Facebook as I used to (my use is largely limited to Scrabulous these days), I might spend a second or two caring about which friends show up on my profile when people view it, and that is something quite a bit different than labelling people my Top Friendshellip; but that said, if Irsquo;ve added someone to my Facebook, why should I be worried about him/her showing up on my profile? Hmmmhellip; could be grounds for a friends list cull.

Julie Lindsay/Qatar Academy: Co-founder of the Flat Classroom project, totally worth checking out. Giving some great background on IB and the education system in Qatar, a country that has always fascinated with me. Love getting a chance to get a glimpse of a country that knows its traditional resource base/source of wealth wonrsquo;t last forever and is actually trying to do something about it. And the massive wealth makes the process quite an interesting exercisendash;not every day you get the chance to reinvent yourself and have the resources to actually make it happen. (Wifi in the parkhellip; love it).

Education City is interestinghellip; the connection between Juliersquo;s comments about moving from colonialism to a knowledge society while building a city that seems to be filled with American universities and a focus on getting ldquo;an American educationrdquo; ishellip; well, I need to find out more. The point about giving girls the option of an American education (since going abroad is not an option in most cases) is a good one. No time for a whole lot of depth, but there should be some good info posted at her pbwiki

Next speaker, didnrsquo;t catch name: works in Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, and UAE, for Michigan Statehellip; this should be interesting. First American U to open a full campus in Dubaihellip; he runs a great program in Ed Tech (oh, maybe I should check that out :P). Interesting that his initial outreach internationally wasnrsquo;t met with happy smiles. Despite that, it seems to have grown into a pretty big program pretty quicklyhellip; who knows how this will transition to Jim amp; Malirsquo;s work.

Sounds a lot like the challenges hersquo;s presenting as challenges of ed tech in the lsquo;developingrsquo; world are actually universal. Especially if yoursquo;re somehow lumping UAE into the lsquo;developingrsquo; category. Andhellip; hersquo;s out of time.

Trudy Sweeney: emerging technology in Australia. New PM is ramping up computers in studentsrsquo; hands. Ooooh, flash-based learning objects. Not loving any of this so farhellip; Oh but now shersquo;s moving on to talking about blogs, and making some good points about teacher understanding. Shersquo;s talking about points very similar, if somewhat less eloquent, to those of Peter Levine in Civic Life Online (PDF of his chapter, and [shameless plug] check out mine[/shameless plug] in the same book :P) about lsquo;the audience problemrsquo; for user-generated content in the classroom setting, giving the long-tail, etc etc etc.

Talk about ethics (which usually refers to IP/copyright) around here is always interesting/troubling because itrsquo;s so often set in the lsquo;this is the law (or my understanding of it), and this is what we have to follow to be ethicalrsquo;, rather than questioning whether the various laws around IP around the world actually reflect our shared sense of ethics when it comes to using/sharing/remixing our own and other peoplesrsquo; work. Random sidebar in my head, not really the focus of this session, but I would like to see a more active discussion in fora like this about copyright in the 21st century, especially since countries (like Canada) are in the middle of setting the tone for the topic for at least the next couple of decadeshellip; oh, she just compared Ning to Moodle. Seems like apples and oranges to me, but I guess Irsquo;m biased/way-too-focused/way-too-involved in this space

Jim amp; Mali, iEARN Canada, SCSDB: Really good points that the technology is a mean, not an end. Irsquo;d like to say itrsquo;s nothing revolutionary, but so many people just donrsquo;t get it. Interesting point (that even fewer people get) is that standards are more of a mean than an end as wellhellip; Irsquo;d love to see some kind of research from their point this morning about whether or not the projects they do drive student interest in current issues, and whether thatrsquo;s limited to the topics theyrsquo;re covering, or whether theyrsquo;re developing really well-rounded global citizens. Great to see that they have been able to offer the kind of data administrators like to see (test scores (no comment about the merits of that), engagement).

Questions from the audience: Great TIG plug Mali lsquo;Go talk to the guy in the red shirt, booth 4053!rsquo;hellip; I love it. Next question is a bit more interesting, about the network lockdown issue, about the balance between security and collaboration. Julie makes the excellent point that digital citizenship/media literacy is the key, not solely filtering. ldquo;Web 2.0Prime; access is vital for creating engaging learning experiences online todayndash;back to Jimrsquo;s point this morning about ldquo;Lord of the e-Fliesrdquo;hellip; if we block and donrsquo;t educate, where are kids getting the info/learning about some of the issues surrounding ip/safety/etc/etc of the social web? (plus: kids know how to beat filters)

Battery dyingndash;time to post!

I just this great comic on Boing Boing. It does an amazing job of explaining the controversy surrounding the Conservativesrsquo; on-again-off-again copyright amendment legislation, and provides a ton of links to great opinion pieces (including this great blog post from Howard Knopf, mentioning that if anyone is beholden to the US, itrsquo;s Israel, and theyrsquo;ve managed to move away from DCMA-style legislation, why canrsquo;t we?), new sources, and ways that you can take action. Lots and lots and lots of really good information/background.


Two great sources for actions you can take:

• Fair Copyright for Canada (Join the Facebook group)


• Michael Geist has a list of 37 things you can do RIGHT NOW

Irsquo;ve sent emails to most of the people on Michael Geistrsquo;s lists, but need to follow up with some real paper letters. Been a LONG time since I bothered sending one of those.

In other slightly behind-the-times news, check the latest episode of CBC Radio Onersquo;s Spark for Katersquo;s doc on memes! Pretty awesome stuff.

In other slightly behind-the-times news, check the latest episode of CBC Radio Onersquo;s Spark for Katersquo;s doc on memes! Pretty awesome stuff.

I was really interested in the Bubble Project, which I hadnrsquo;t heard of before yesterday. Basically the ad exec spent a few grand of his on money and put big empty speech bubbles on ads around New York so that people could fill in their own captionshellip; Kate took a bunch, I can only assume shersquo;ll be putting them up around Toronto.

Leslie Hall was pretty quiet throughout (though check my flickr/youtube for some excellent bored/shocked poses), until someone started asking about the impact she thinks she having on the lives of girls with self-esteem/confidence issues.





As much as I love her just because shersquo;s hilarious, shersquo;s also probably really empowering for a whole lot of people. Oh, and watch for some pics/video of Leslie in concert, too!!

Cool backchannel thing: http://roflcon.backchan.nl mdash; Ask a question, people vote it up or down, and it ends up on the big screenhellip; then they actually answer them!

Oh, and check out Katersquo;s first guest blog on Spark!

A few quick facts:

1. She did in fact ruin the first ever gem sweater Leslie brought home


2. Leslie was her high schoolrsquo;s prom queen!


3. Her parents knew she had it coming


4. The internet is the first thing Lesliersquo;s mom has ever been the godmother of

So parents, be supportive of your kidsrsquo; dreams. You never know, your son/daughter could become an internet-famous. gem-sweater-wearing superhero to groups of kids everywhere!

Irsquo;m sure Kate amp; I will come up with and cross-post some kind of meaningful commentary on this once the weekend ends.

The interesting thing about ROFLcon is that no one can really put there finger on what it is just yet. Itrsquo;s a joke thatrsquo;s gone too far, but at the same time, therersquo;s some really, really deep stuff coming out, and ultimately, memes/internet celebrities are becoming a really important force in our culture, so figuring lsquo;itrsquo; out is actually really important. David Weinberger (video to come, I promisendash;the Internet in this hotel is crap), made some really interesting points in his keynote about the future of famehellip; Wow, my brain is starting to die a bit (time to go to the lol concert!)hellip; The title quote, ldquo;revenge against 100 years of broadcastrdquo; was his reflection on the insanity thatrsquo;s happening today, and in an interview later in the day (this is where the video-to-come comes inhellip; watch for an update), he made some great points about the very different nature of an accessible, grassroots fame vs. the old-school constructed form of Hollywood fame.

The moral of the story is that we can all be microcelebrities. Or really, that we will all be microcelebrities, and that everyone with a blog or a flickr account or who shares video on youtube is famous to someone, whether or not we know it, and that long tail of fame is pretty much what wersquo;re celebrating here at roflcon.

Update: In case there was any doubt, Web 2.0 is over. Thanks for making it official, Valley Wag.

Now back to workhellip;

1. Bring my own lunch at least 3 days a week


2. Grow vegetables in my backyard


3. Buy organic food when the option exists and make a concert effort to find the option


4. Use my own reusable bags when shopping

Too much work to add these to TIG now, so Irsquo;ll work on it later. Maybe. I really like 43 things/43 places.

A (good?) question from the Toronto Star: Is Earth Day still relevant?

Donrsquo;t look to the media for an answer. I did a quick scan of Canadarsquo;s major newspapers (the online front pages), English and French, and all I found was the Star article above (questioning Earth Day Canadarsquo;s corporate sponsorship) and this cute human interest piece in La Presse (following a 9 year old who launched a ldquo;véritable petite révoltuion écologique dans son école primairerdquo;). Both stories were buried beneath news of record gas prices, dropping interest rates, and Habs fans rioting. A Google News search wasnrsquo;t much more positive than my initial survey. But doesnrsquo;t it seem to be the case that more of us are more interested in the fate of the planet than ever?

You wouldnrsquo;t know it, if you only follow mainstream media. If you do care, and you live in Ontario, make an Earth Day Resolution (like the kind that you make for the new year, but focus on the planet and not your waistline. Or both. But definitely the planet.) and mail it in to info at ocic dot on dot ca, and check out the Ontario Council for International Cooperationrsquo;s news page to see what others are pledging. And if you donrsquo;t live in Ontario, or you do but you just want to spread your pledge a bit, check out 43things or TakingITGlobalrsquo;s Commit tool or fbook app (if you find bugs in either of the TIG tools, email broken at takingitglobal dot org).

Oh, and check out this video. Itrsquo;s not strictly about earth day, but itrsquo;s cute:

That link from Alec Courosrsquo; excellent blog. Oh, andhellip; Vote green next time you get a chance.

Rickrolling is dead. Thatrsquo;s right. Stop it. Right nowhellip; Donrsquo;t even bother. Itrsquo;s over. Itrsquo;s been covered by the Globe amp; Mail. And while I take offense to the thought that ldquo;by all appearances half the participants [of the parts of the internet where these memes evolve] are livestockrdquo;, I do find it interesting when things like LOLcats, Leeroy Jenkins and Rickrolling get coverage in a big way.

I mean, I love all this stuff. Kate and I are going to a conference next weekend that exists solely to celebrate memes. But I feel like I can still talk to, oh, a good 90% of my friends about LOLcats and just get funny looks, or even better, looks of disgust. So when they get coverage outside of Spark and a few other nerdy places, it feels likehellip; someone is blowing something fairly niche WAY out of proportion.

Oh well. All in good fun. And, watch this video. Itrsquo;s not a rickrollhellip; that came earlier (did you find it?). Itrsquo;s my current favourite youtube fad.

Irsquo;m a fan of Sheila Heti, a Toronto-based author. Her book, The Middle Stories, is one of the most amazing books Irsquo;ve ever read. Itrsquo;s more a piece of art than a book. Literary art. And I think of her current project(s) as something very similar.

Every heard of postsecret.com? People send in their deepest, sometimes darkest (but sometimes funniest) secrets to the curator, Frank Warren (who gave an amazing keynote at sxsw), who posts a few new ones every Sunday.

Sheila Heti is doing something along these lines, but a bit more politicalhellip; sort of. Shersquo;s launched a series of blogs, starting with I Dream of Hillary and I Dream of Barack (shersquo;s since added I Dream of Both and I Dream of McCain, for all those Republicans out there.

The process:

1. Clinton, Obama, McCain (mostly the first two, but hey, McCain deserves some credit too) launch the most interesting US presidential race in years and become the talk of the town, creeping into every nook and cranny of our concious and unconcious minds


2. Sheila Heti starts her blogs


3. You dream


4. You send your dreams in to Sheila Hetirsquo;s blogs (only REAL, SLEEPING dreams, people)


5. Sheila Heti posts them


6. I spend hours reading them

Irsquo;d love to say that the time I spent/am spending pouring through these was leading to some deep revelations about the candidates, or the people who dream about the candidates, but itrsquo;s not. Irsquo;m just enjoying it, and hey, Irsquo;m having a bit of trouble focusing today.

Perhaps the best part of this project is this quote, from the Search Engine podcast, a show Irsquo;ve recently started following, and the source of this great findhellip; anyway, the quote:

Jessie: ldquo;Sheila, is there a point to this?rdquo;

Sheila Heti: ldquo;hellip; nohellip;rdquo;

Check out thehellip;. March 6 or 7 Search Engine podast for an interview where yoursquo;ll find that Sheila Heti is learning more, but only just a bit more, from these stories than I am. And read The Middle Stories, seriously. The full text is available online, and the Princess and the Plumber is among the funniest things I have ever read.

The reason Irsquo;m particularly annoyed about this is that every one of these sites asked for your gender. So they know whether Irsquo;m a him or a her. And most of them arenrsquo;t so socially progressive that they offer gender options other than male/female, which might provide the excuse of lsquo;itrsquo;s complicated.rsquo; Seriously, please, fix this horrible grammar.

Wersquo;re finally just about ready to launch the Youth Media Exchange (ymex.org), a new site devoted to sharing and discussing digital media for social change. The site will have a few bugs/kinks to start, but is going to be a pretty cool new forum for deeper conversations on the impacts of digital media on our lives, and how we can leverage it to affect change on global issues. The format of the site is pretty cool, too. Itrsquo;s a social networking tool linked to TIG where you embed media you (or someone else) has posted elsewhere on the web to launch a discussion. Video, audio, writing, images, games, mashupshellip; anything goes, as long as itrsquo;s linked to social issues in some way. Coming soon are group/collaboration tools, a mentoring system, and a more guided user experience, where your interests and past use of the site will help guide you to new skills, new content, and new forms of action. The site is presented in partnership by TIG, Global Kids, and the Asia Society, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation.

So check it out! Once again, thatrsquo;s ymex.org, and if you like it, become a fan of it on facebook and tell all your friends!

1. Having satisfying work to do


2. The experience of being good at something


3. Spending time with people you like


4. Being part of something bigger

She also mentioned that feedback (not report cards or occasional progess reviews, but feedback and encouragement consistently and continuously), instructions, and a mission help make games more engaging than the real world.The whole thing made me think about how amazingly simple it would be to make everything we do more engaging by taking ourselves a little less seriously and thinking more about how we can make people happy. Too often we (thinking specially of TIG and even more specifically about TIGed get drawn into a pretty high degree of seriousness because of the environment in which we operate. When it comes to teachers and technology, there donrsquo;t to be a lot of happy-go-lucky conversations. The blogosphere, listservs, conferenceshellip; everywhere I look is full of conversations about cyberbullying, cheating, lack of access, lack of use, etc etc etc. And as much as wersquo;d like to create paradigm shift, wersquo;re drawn into these conversations and spend a lot of time focusing on all the reasons to not change at all.

So not only was this keynote really inspiring in and of itself, but the fact that itrsquo;s key messages are being replayed over and over again, in slightly different ways in all sorts of different venues is really making me think seriously about all of this. In a lot of ways, Janersquo;s messages are very similar to the things we talk about at WorldBlu Council Meetings, and most recently, Dave Eggarsrsquo; TED Talk (thanks to Alberto via Facebook). He started an amazing tutoring program that relies on principles very similar to Janersquo;s to give students opportunities to learn with a purpose, produce for an audience, and spend time in an environment they enjoy with one-on-one, consistent, continuous feedback. And guess what? Itrsquo;s ldquo;addictiverdquo;hellip; and fun. His pirate-supply-store-cum-tutoring-centre is now just one of many ldquo;fakerdquo; storefronts helping to open learning environments to the community.

Simplify your communication systems. I can get an e-mail/SMS warning me my flight is a bit late, learn that itrsquo;s due to a mechanical issue when I check in with the self-serve terminal, have a chat with the guy checking my bag about howrsquo;s itrsquo;s a flat tire that needs changing. But as soon as I get through customs/security, no one knows anything. The flight time is still listed as on-time, and the gate agents arenrsquo;t sure whatrsquo;s going on, so tell everyone to remain in the area. I know that airlines, even their crews and information systems in any one airport, are massively complicated operations, but reallyhellip; if anything, the place where a bit of information would calm me down the most is when Irsquo;m at or on my way to the gate. Not when Irsquo;m in a shuttle on the way to the airport. Just a thought.

Actually, sidenote: on the way out, I saw a billboard for greyhoud that said ldquo;therersquo;s a reason yoursquo;ve never heard of bus ragerdquo;hellip; But donrsquo;t be too smug, greyhound/bus operators. I feel at least as much rage every time I board a bus as I do in a car, if not more. Possibly because Irsquo;m a control freak and hate leaving whether or not I make it to the airport on time in someone elsersquo;s hands, but thatrsquo;s another issue for another day.

Happy happy sxsw!

Good try, buthellip;