Buy it now anyone ?

The Ipad has left the building

Bush Trail in Beckwith (eastern ontario)

The tulips of spring arrived but sadly so did late season snow

The public school board has no plan for the future. Discuss.

The public school board has no plan for the future. Discuss.

What happens when winter comes

What happens when winter comes

The blog post now has it's own blog and a voting response gadget.

What happens when winter comes ?

I so like this

via fastcompany.com

One good reason not to use the Cloud

I received this email from live.com telling me that they have deleted all my data. Guess their idea is that the cloud is transient.

Microsoft^® My Phone

Dear User,

Thank you for using the Microsoft My Phone service. To help protect your privacy, accounts on the Microsoft My Phone service that are not synchronized or accessed for approximately 7 month(s) are automatically deactivated and any online data is deleted.

Accordingly, we have removed your account.

To establish a new account in the future, please visit http://myphone.microsoft.com .

Thank You

Microsoft My Phone Support Team

Spring came early - warmest day yesterday on record

Zoo Creatures

Latest installments to the Zoo Creatures Photo Gallery at

http://neternity.smugmug.com/Nature/Animals/zoo-creatures/

Ice on the river

nikon d700 - iso 25,600 - outdoor night shots in the dark

but don't ask to see a larger image
that said, I could not see much of anything with my eye
it was night time about 9pm with no outdoor lights

walking shots were handheld using liveview to help focus
cottage shot was using fence as a brace

all shots using an ancient nikkor 55mm 1.2
manual everything
lens was modded by a local camera shop by grinding off some metal to allow it to work with digital bodies

nikon d700 body
iso 25,600

I needed to register the MAC address of my router at home to let my ipod touches know where they are

Thank you for submitting a Wireless Access Point to Skyhook Wireless. The following information has been received and will be processed shortly:

MAC Address: 00:18:F8:F3:92:08
Lat/Lon: ..., -...

It can take up to a few weeks before you see your Access Point in some of our production systems. In the mean time you can download Loki to start using Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System on your laptop or desktop. Go to http://loki.com/download to start using Loki today.

Happy Mapping!

The Skyhook Team

TEDx Youth Ottawa 2010

http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org

TEDxYouthOttawa, North America’s first TEDx conference made entirely for youth, by youth.

TEDxYouthOttawa was North America’s first TEDx conference where all presenters are youth age 25 and younger,
and with a majority of attendees recruited from local high schools and community organizations.
Follow them on Twitter (www.twitter.com/tedxyouthottawa)
Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tedxyouthottawa)

What follows are pictures I took of the event with program notes in-line. I tried to capture the essence of the event in pictures as best I could.

Mark Ouseley (age 21) Mark has passion for environmental science and technology, a keen sense for trends, developments, and possibilities for the future, and opportunities for youth as social entrepreneurs. Mark is in his final year of studies at Queen’s University and has been active in environmental issues for as long as he can remember. From working on neighbourhood cleanups, to helping Queen’s become the first worm-composting residence in Canada, he has overseen a variety of sustainability initiatives, both large and small. Through his travels, he has observed sustainable lifestyles abroad in Japan, England and, most recently, China.

Ronan MacParland (age 22) The Canada we’re looking for is not to be found, but rather built by the hands of people willing to come together to break the cycles of poverty and pain that have kept us from our incredible potential. What does it mean to be Canadian? Ronan MacParland will tackle this question in his presentation, titled ‘Identity Crisis’. Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Ronan is a co-founder of the Canadian Roots exchange program – a week long road trip that takes First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous Canadians around Canada’s provinces to visit and learn from our country’s Indigenous communities. A recipient of Youth in Motion’s ‘Top 20 Under 20′ in 2007, Ronan is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto.

David Charette (age 18) Song, dance and language unify – For our children’s sake we must continue to dance, for each movement is a silken strand in the larger web of the all: the pattern of the Whole. David Charette is a grade 12 student at Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School in Ottawa. He has been dancing since he was a young child, performing at Powwows from New Brunswick to Alberta. David’s interests outside of dancing include motion photography and culinary arts. David’s first dance will be a Straight-Up grass dance, which originated amongst Prairie tribes, and was traditionally used to flatten down the grass for feasts, powwow or a place to set up camp. The second dance is a Crow Hop, which mimics the movement of a crow on the ground. This dance may be performed in exhibition or competition, and celebrates the role of the crow in Native culture and religion.

The Children’s Republic An excerpt from a play by Hannah Moscovitch, performed by cast members from the sold-out 2009 production, presented by the Great Canadian Theater Company and the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. Dr. Janusz Korczak is the King of Children. Doctor, author and champion of children’s rights, Janusz runs a remarkable orphanage in Poland. But when the Nazis invade, the Jewish orphans are forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. Janusz follows to protect their rights and dignity. In a world devoid of freedom and even the necessities of life, what else do you have but your honour and ideals? A powerful and true tale of beauty, heroism and legacy.

Dandelion Dance (ages 19 and under) Grounded in the belief that youth have important ideas to share and that dance is a powerful medium with which to share these ideas. Dandelion Dance Company is an Ottawa based youth dance theatre company which explores social issues through movement. The company’s repertoire is driven by the experiences, reflections and passions of the young women, who range in age from ages 13 to 19, and include such topics as child labour, hunger, war, equality and inclusion. All the performance pieces are chosen, researched and choreographed by the members of the company, under the mentorship of Hannah Beach.

Philip Schleihauf (age 19) Six hours on the road every day leaves a lot of time to think. Unicycling for a cause for three months provides lots to think about. While balancing an engineering education, a band, being director of the Queens University branch of Engineers Without Borders, and photography for a feature-length film, Phil’s favorite thing is planning big unicycle tours. He got his first unicycle when he moved to Ottawa eight years ago, and got practice by riding it to his high school, Lester B Pearson, every day. In April ‘09 Phil set out from Victoria BC on his single wheel to become the second person to ride the 4700km – in unicycle terms 1.7 million wheel revolutions – to Ottawa. The goal: raise awareness of the child soldiering by the LRA in Northern Uganda.

Brigette DePape (age 20) Performing from her self-penned, critically acclaimed play, ‘She Rules with Iron Stix,’ Brigette DePape asks whether art is an escape from real world problems or part of their solution. A playwright since the age of 15, and a third year international development student who has contributed to sustainable development projects in Senegal and Bosnia, DePape explores the possibility of new worlds: changing our actual world through activism vs. creating new worlds through fiction. She attempts to reconcile responsibility and creativity, suggesting that plays can be a powerful tool for cultural change.

Shawn MacDonell (age 25) He has travelled across the world, started (and runs) 3 companies, sits on over a dozen active social enterprise boards and committees, coached four different sports at all levels from local to national, raced cars all over the country, and sometimes attends university. Shawn currently runs Creativision – an organization with the philosophy that every person has a passion or two that they might not be aware of. Sometimes people either don’t know their passions or they just don’t do anything with those passions. They become hobbies, things that people look forward to engaging with when they are retired. This, according to Shawn, is definitely not cool! Shawn spends most of his day in the world of educational alternatives, youth leadership, entrepreneurial culture building, and active living encouragement.

Rylan Allemang-Grand (age 22) Rylan’s discussion, “Our Plastic Brain”, is a glimpse into the inner workings of our brain to demonstrate how the fundamental units of the nervous system adapt in the face of learning and experience. With the use of modern functional imaging techniques, we are able to watch the brain rearrange its circuitry in order to adapt to the dynamic environment that we live in. Rylan will reveal evidence of how everyone has the potential to change their brain and how important this is during adolescence, and recovery from brain injury. We have known for some time that the brain is the most sophisticated organ in our body. However, the fact that it is constantly changing and reorganizing itself makes it the most complex entity in our universe. Prepare to become a believer! --------------------------------- Marcus Jameel (age 22) The 2008 Capital Slam champion has shared the stage with the likes of Amir Sulaiman, Black Ice, Shane Koyczan and Dwayne Morgan. His conscious, articulate delivery style has been winning slams – and winning over audiences – throughout the National Capital Region. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Marcus Jameel anchored the Ottawa Slam Team at the 2008 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, where they broke the national team scoring record. Since 2009, Marcus Jameel has held another unique position (on top of being a full-time accounting student), tailored especially for him, as Director of English and Poetry in prison systems assisting inmates with lyrics and performing arts. He further explores his entrepreneurial side as an agent – the Canadian representative of Black Ice, a star of Def Poetry well established in the North American spoken word scene. Marcus Jameel will use his verbal talents and critical mind to explore social psychology and the mentality of public speaking itself. ------------------------------------- Dave Hale (age 21) Embracing your youth – how can your age help you make it big? When national brands look to target the youth market, they turn to serial entrepreneur, Dave Hale. An Ottawa native, Dave co-founded O2 Entertainment when he was 18 and built the company into North America’s largest mobile paintball attraction in under two years…while still working over 60 hours a week as the marketing coordinator at local entertainment institution, Saunders Farm. Building off this success, Dave pursued his true passion and co-founded Re:Cognition Branding, an Ottawa based creative agency which has worked with recognized local and national organizations. Dave also serves as the Director of Marketing for Impact Entrepreneurship Group, Canada’s largest youth-run entrepreneurship organization. Since 2004, Impact has been providing the necessary tools, programs, and opportunities to facilitate the entrepreneurial development of young Canadians and has assisted in producing some of the country’s top young minds.

Samira Ahmed & Zach Hayes (ages 22 & 20) What is learning? Moving into 2010, we see an increasing need for traditional methods of learning to be supplemented by new collaborative student-driven forms of education; to see education as a more open, two-way process between those with knowledge, and those learning. FYBY News is a new open movement that enables students to explore issues they care about, ask questions they may not otherwise ask, and share their findings with the world through video and other multimedia applications – students, finally, get to own their education.

Aliai Lual (age 23) Aliai A.A. Lual emigrated to Canada from war-torn Sudan with her family on June 10th, 1990. Driven by the passion her parents had in providing opportunities for their community, Aliai was inspired to take on a role as an international voice for Sudanese youth displaced around the world and in refugee camps. Aliai is a Youth Engagement Officer for 3 Dreads and a Baldhead, powerfully contributing to the black community and the Black Youth Conference Day, an annual event that brings together black youth from different schools and backgrounds in the Ottawa area with the aim of creating a vision for themselves and their community. Among her achievements, Aliai was named the 2008 United Way Community Builder of the Year and one of the Top 50 people who are shaping the future of the Nation’s Capital (Ottawa Life Magazine).

Theatre Ashbury (age 18 and below) Theatre Ashbury is not always for the squeamish or faint at heart but it is always meticulously produced to appreciative audiences and frequent ovations. Theatre Ashbury’s philosophy is to produce plays of social significance. Their multi award winning productions offer the cast and crew opportunities for meaningful discussion and debate – and the opportunity for audiences to experience often provocative theatre at its finest. Students will perform a segment from their recent production of “The Glory of Living”, written by Rebecca Gilman. The play has been the recipient of many awards and was a finalist for the Pulitizer Prize in 2002. Audience members should be prepared to be shocked, moved and perhaps even somewhat disturbed by the content, while being amazed by the skill and talent of the actors.

Stunt Double Circus Stunt Double Circus is a brand new collaboration between “Phantastyk” acrobats Joey Albert and Paul Perreault (www.phantastyk.ca) and “The Pogo Dudes” Fred Gryzbowski and Nick McClintock (www.thepogodudes.com). Ever since the uprising of special effects in mainstream action movies, professional stunt doubles all over the world are left without any work. Ever wonder what these brave jobless thrill seekers do to pass their time? Well now you can wonder no longer! Stunt Double Circus is an extremely high energy acrobatic show filled with character-based humor! Watch as these absurdly stereotypical out-of-work stuntmen perform big time stunts in a number of rare circus art forms!

http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org

TEDxYouthOttawa, North America’s first TEDx conference made entirely for youth, by youth.

TEDxYouthOttawa was North America’s first TEDx conference where all presenters are youth age 25 and younger,
and with a majority of attendees recruited from local high schools and community organizations.
Follow them on Twitter (www.twitter.com/tedxyouthottawa)
Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tedxyouthottawa)