Author: Bill

The developers are asking for support, any way they can get it… so here’s mine. It looks like a great invention. Minuum got some help from the MaRs Centre over on College Street and the guys are from U of T. Could this be Canada’s contribution to the world of electronic keyboards? Sure looks like it.
With Blackberry back on the rise, Waterloo exploring quantum computing and now Minuum, we seem to be growing out of our role as “drawers of water and hewers of wood”.

Enjoy 3 minutes of excellent fun at the expense of the snotty art business. The Magic Christian has long been on my good list. I saw it when it came out in 1969. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube if you like.

Now the Harper government is issuing gag orders to librarians and archivists. What are the Conservatives afraid of now? Gagging scientists and auditors… loathesome but understandable, considering what the Conservatives want unsaid about their policies and practices. But librarians? Archivists?

“Once you start picking on librarians and archivists, it’s pretty sad”

I don’t mean to belittle the threat that librarians and archivists might represent to the Harper government. Well read people with a knowledge of history might certainly say things about the Harper government that could spoil its chance of reelection.

That’s Edward James, in a portrait by famous surrealist painter René Magritte. Mr James was something of a surrealist himself… poetry at first, then art collecting and finally fantastical architecture in the bejungled hills of Mexico.
James was a Brit born in 1907. He inherited enough money to pursue his artistic interests early in life, then built his wealth further as a coffee plantation owner. In Xilitla, he had enough cash, land and cheap labour to create a quirky 87 acre concrete garden complex.
Friends Cheryl and Lloyd Cooke just sent photos of their visit to Las Pozas, Xilitla.

Sorry about the Mexican dealer headline, Lloyd. Your shades and that Miami Vice background made me do it.
Lloyd called my Blackberry Playbook from his Blackberry Playbook today. Those are screenshots you see, taken from our Video Chat. He and Cheryl are chillin’ in
San Miguel de Allende… no, I guess chillin’ isn’t the word. Lloyd says it’s 30 down there, but I think he’s talking Celsius.
So how was the video chat?

Whoops and laughter coming from the patio tent behind the local Queen Street pub reminded us that Toronto’s Irish (and wannabes) were getting a sunny day for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Celebrations are happening all over town.
I’m fond of the big bird (toucan?) on the pub clock.

The National Post is in court, claiming copyright protection for titles and headlines.
The linked item observes, “This position, if adopted by the Federal Court of Appeal, would have startling and potentially absurd consequences. The automated extraction of titles (i.e. headlines) is the very basis not only of Google News and other news aggregators but of Google, Bing and other search engines. Every scholarly article is full of cited titles.“

For many months, a long plywood hoarding flanked the sidewalk in front of the site on Edgewood where the old school once stood. According to the signage, the fence was protecting the boulevard trees. Good, I thought.
Yesterday I walked by and saw that a major section of the hoarding was gone… and so were some trees. Free firewood, says a new sign.

This little snapshot from our local Good Time Coffee Shop is here in case Ivan drops by. I gave my URL to his mother Lisa today.
Ben and Lisa run a nice, friendly shop that I visit at least once a week. They tell me that Ivan is enjoying his new tablet with wi-fi. Cool! If you find this Ivan, click the Comment balloon above this message and say “hello”.
One more thing. How about showing your Mom how you can take a snapshot (or even a short video) and send it by email to China!

JRC responds with information about a unique operation called Citizen Lab. Click the link to learn more about it. Thanks, JR.