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Apparently soundexchange has the right to collect “royalties” from non-RIAA independent artists. This could have a negative effect on independent internet radio to understate a little…
Archive for April, 2007
29
Apr
07
links for 2007-04-30
15
Apr
07
Localcooling.com
Localcooling.com has created a very interesting application. The application helps you optimize your power saving settings and then tracks how much energy you have saved. In addition to tracking how many watts you save, it also tracks this in terms of trees or gallons of oil saved. Interesting idea anyway.
14
Apr
07
links for 2007-04-15
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You have heard of guerrilla gardeners, well now there are guerrilla benchers. Their goal is the same: to improve neglected spaces and add something positive to public life.
Today as it was above freezing (yes – still cold here in Toronto – we even had snow a couple of days ago) I went back out on my bike to do errands instead of spending an hour in the basement gym on a stationary bike. It felt somewhat liberating to be able to get places quicker than by bus (and even a few places poorly served by transit), get my errands done (health food store, cheese shop (for Sage and Paul), health food store and library. One thing I noticed, though, was the number of truly excessive cars out on the road. Taking transit as I usually do, I usually have my nose in a book or am engrossed in a podcast and fail to notice the truly disgusting displays of consumption that are on the road these days. It may have been the neighbourhood (not mine – the one I went to) but there were so many luxury SUVs it wasn’t funny. It’s going to take a lot more than me taking transit and riding my bike to offset even one of those behemoths driving around the city. And as if to drive the point home, when I was almost home there was a stretch Hummer pulled up to the gas pumps at the nearby station.
The afternoon was spent watching a couple training modules on doing my annual performance appraisal which were mind-numbingly boring. Even the narrator sounded as if he couldn’t bother to keep himself awake. I quickly finished my own review and then went to cook dinner. Tonight I’m making an experimental hybrid of 2 recipes (plus some of my own creativity) for chickpea vegetable stew with wheat berries cooked in the pressure cooker. If it comes out good I’ll try post my best shot at the recipe.
As I was cooking, though, I thought about the performance review process. Review your competencies, review last year’s goals and how you did, and set some new ones for this year. Your goals are generally based on guidelines from above and tailored to your position. And while there is much cynicism about the process everywhere I’ve worked, I find it helpful. I began to wonder if there might be value to something like this in one’s personal life. We set goals all the time but how often do we revisit them. Why don’t we do the same for our personal lives (goal: read one book a week, go swimming with kids at least once a month, write grandma a letter every two weeks, switch all bulbs in the house to CF), and then revisit them periodically, adjusting as necessary. Align your goals to your family, your friends, and your planet (and your faith if applicable) How much of our problems have to do with improperly aligning our goals and never sticking to them?
13
Apr
07
Still around
Kim asks: “Are caffeine use and blogging frequency linked?”
Not directly that I can tell. But you’re right, my frequency (aside from automatically posted del.icio.us links) has been pretty abysmal – terrible, really. I think my last “real” entry was sometime just after Christmas. So what is it that keeps me from posting? A few things, I think.
First off, I haven’t been particularly inspired to write about any one topic. I’m not sure why that is but it may be due in part to the fact that I am now Sage’s news clipper. What I might have written something about before is now forwarded to Sage for potential content for her podcast. So it is sort of like having a writer on staff to say my thoughts for me – and in all cases in a very dramatic and much more interesting way than I could have.
Mostly, though, it is because of my routine. Since my post-Christmas “computer fast” of nearly two weeks, I just haven’t been as interested in the computer. And as I spent less time online, my schedule shifted to fill in the blanks. Where I might spend several hours each day online, I now spend 1 or so in the morning while I wake up and then a little bit of time online at home before bed. Instead, now, I seem to have managed to recover the lost time I was lamenting about in previous entries. With that shift, I have made several changes.
First off: I have been feeling guilty about eating meat for a while and as I noticed my blood pressure edging up and my weight being higher than I want it (6′ and 205 lbs if you were curious), I decided going vegan again was a good idea. I was vegan for about a year in 1993 or so and it was the best I’d felt ever. So far I’ve been at it since early March and it has been a big help.
We’ve been extra-good about dining out and Sage has helped a bunch, doing prep before I come home so that all I have to do is put the dinners together.
Second, As Kim reminded us, I have given up coffee. In fact, I have totally kicked caffeine – no coffee, chocolate, or tea. My mornings usually start with delicious vanilla rooibos. Not quite the same but very pleasant nonetheless.
At the same time as all of that I started going to the gym pretty much every day. I’m averaging 5-6 days/week for about a good hour each time.
Seeing as I couldn’t give up my car to reduce my carbon footprint, I purchased a bike instead and now when it is warm enough, I travel by bike. I found it gets me around Toronto as quickly as transit but with better health effects. My resolution has been to bike instead of ride TTC where weather and time permit.
After my trip to Quebec City, I had resolved to improve my French. And now my Sunday afternoons are spent practicing and learning more French. I am still not ready for full conversation but I can read a lot more and understand a bunch as well.
What have the effects been? First off on the positive side, I have lost about 10 lbs in the past month or so while not limiting food quantity at all. I also ended up with more energy now than I had when on coffee which surprised me. On the negative side, giving up coffee gave me 10 days of withdrawal with an almost constant headache (temporary relief offered by going to the gym oddly enough). There were several nights of very weird dreams and anxiety not connected to anything. One night a dream “bled into” reality when I woke up “realizing” that I knew the previous nights’ anxiety had been about. One part of my brain (the half-asleep one) figured out that it had something to do with our car and that I had never made a car payment or perhaps I never returned a rental car when I should have. The sane side of my brain was amused and interested at the fact that this anxiety was so obviously made up. After about 10 days of headaches and strange nights, the worst was over.
One other side effect, for better or worse, is that my schedule totally changed. I now wake up later, and leave by 7:00. When I get home from work I sign up for a machine at the gym, have a snack upstairs, and head back down to the gym for an hour workout. When I return from the workout, I cook dinner after which point it is about 8:30 or 9:00 so after eating, Paul and I hang out until we both are ready for bed. You’ll notice that there really isn’t time for blogging in there.
So as you can see, I’ve been doing my best to do the right thing on a lot of levels. And while I’d love to write something new I haven’t really figured out how to fit it in. With work looking as busy as it does, I’m guessing that won’t change until sometime in June. There may be an interesting trip, though, in June so perhaps I’ll have some content then.
12
Apr
07
links for 2007-04-13
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“The Future of Food” deals with the history of the agricultural industry and the development of genetically engineered food,patenting by corporations and how the FDA’s and EPA’s regulations does not ensure labeled products.
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Many of my favourites are here – most of Michael Palin’s travels, and nearly all of the David Attenborough nature shows including the Private Life of Plants. No, Kim, this isn’t why I haven’t been blogging – I will be writing something again soon.
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