Youtube: Bert & Ernie Ante Up

What's the result of ongoing 5% growth?

Watch this video for important insights into the future of the world.


Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.

I've taken to sharing links and quick posts on my twitter account instead of here. Twitter is a real-time micro-blog network. It lets you write short posts and also watch a feed of messages from people you follow.

People can follow your posts without you following them back, making for an interesting usage slope: how much publishing vs reading. Wildly different uses result.

This blog remains the place for longer writing. A blog is a simple way of creating permanent public webpages. An important tool in the cyberage.

Why do I publish media online?
To share information.
To entertain.
To advertise my business.
To advertise causes I believe in.
To write the history of my life.
To help write the history of humanity.

Watch the video The Machine is Us for a powerful visualization.


What about Facebook?
I am still a fan of Facebook. I find it useful for events, photos, and entertainment. Facebook remains a walled garden, so it doesn't compete with blogs or twitter for real web publishing. It excels as a more private communications infrastructure.

One of the speakers at Interesting Vancouver scoffed at Facebook as a community tool. Well, my pictures from the last Vancouver Zombie Flashmob were mostly collectively tagged when I added them to the event page on Facebook. That is community building.

Interesting Vancouver 2008 was a delightful little conference covering a wide variety of topics. Here's a recap of some of the points that I liked the most.

The Luxtoberfest 2008 award ceremonies are being held inside online Lux Delux on Sunday at 1 PM Pacific / 4 PM Eastern / 8 PM UK / 9 PM Europe time.

All Luxers are eligible to vote for the best map of the year. Please vote now!

Lux Video of World Domination.

VIDEO: The Harper government: here for a good time?

The year is 2,348 A.E. (A.E. — After Earth) OR 12,349 C.E. and Earth has been rendered uninhabitable—forcing humanity into the Galaxy. The forces of New Earth fight for order, while the many crime lords hope to destroy it. It is a turbulent place, filled with thieves, mercs, warlords and those ... [read more...]

2,348 A.E. was created by Xeros Armera. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Karen Fung is doing an amazing job captaining the SkyTrain Unconference Blog. There's an open in-person meeting on Saturday with Translink. I don't think I'll make it, so here are some thoughts on their targeted issue of Safety.

SkyTrain stops are are hubs that lots of people pass through. Usually when there are many people around safety is not a concern. Problems can arise when a hub has relative down-time (empty except for a few people) or in quiet areas close-by.

The worst case is when you get off a skytrain or bus in a totally deserted area, or with only a few sketchy people and nobody else.

One powerful path to improvement is to build more community and commercial services around our transit hubs. A coffee shop, restaurant or bar right beside a transit hub is a world above a deserted hub in terms of safety.

Vancouver doesn't do this very well. Many large transit hubs are completely devoid of any services. These hugely traveled areas could support a variety of businesses, or serve as excellent locations for community activities if allowed.

Location, location, location! Translink needs to build more sticky activity in its centers. Safety through active community is the real way to improve the situation in and around transit hubs.

Locking the system down with turnstiles or more cops is an easy sound-bite solution, but doesn't address the root of the problem.

Rules:
-The Air Force Bases & Phase Canon can attack any UFO hull, but the hulls cannot attack back.

-Capturing the 2 secret air force bases will incur a penalty

-UFO cockpits control the laser beams, which can attack all areas within the target continent. In other w... [read more...]

Nevada - Alien Assault was created by Mark Bauer & Drifter. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

One small world. One big island.

Countries are connected if adjacent or linked by a dotted line. The "N.W. African Coast" and "E. Brazil" are connected; as well as the "W. Australian Claim" and "New Zealand".

Map based on Dymaxion map projection.
(Compass design has ... [read more...]

Dymaxion was created by yi3artist. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

The FM 100 Hue Test is an interesting little game.
See how well you can detect color changes.

I scored 82 without spending that much time on it (a perfect score is 0). You?

The front-runner for the nomination of the President of the United States misinterpreted the media's definition of a "battleground" state. Taking the term literally, the candidate brought his own private army to New Hampshire assuming that it must be conquered by force in order to win the election... [read more...]

New Hampshire - The Last First Primary was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Vintage Sesame Street - Put Down the Duckie.

The year is 1711, for decades the European colonists have lived in relative peace with their native neighbors. However more and more colonists arrive everyday, straining the already tense situation. The most powerful tribe in the region is the Tuscarora tribe. The Upper faction of the tribe, led by... [read more...]

North Carolina - Tuscarora War was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Okay, here's how it works. Each "platform" is made up seven chunks and is worth ten bonus armies for controlling it. At the center of each platform is a "teleporter". A "teleporter" can attack any other "teleporter" and may also attack (one-way only) the outer-ring of any "platform" except for t... [read more...]

Teleport was created by Patrick Cummings. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

It is the 16th century and the kingdom of England starts to miss some crucial natural resource to meet its needs.

The king decides to send a naval fleet in order to discover other territories to fill their lack of resource.

The fleet discovers an island which abounds in ... [read more...]

Hand Island was created by Eric Labadie. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

It is August 1780; the American situation in South Carolina is bleak. The continental Army under general Gates has suffered a devastating defeat at Camden leaving the American army in shatters. Now, the only Patriot forces left are scattered bands of militia. General Clinton seizes this opportunity... [read more...]

South Carolina - Revolution was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Zipcar and the Co-operative Auto Network both have cars parked right outside my building. Members can use the cars when they need one. This would be great except for the fact that neither of them will let me join.

Zipcar and the Co-op both require customers to have 3 year driving records. I only recently got my BC driver's license, and I still have my N, labeled as a novice driver.

As a new driver, I think I'm the prime demographic for a car sharing service. Lock me into your program when I'm young and getting started driving and there's a good chance they'd have me as a customer for a long, long time.

It's been good to see the 2 services competing against each other by adding more locations around Vancouver. I'm hopeful that one will see the opportunity here and create a way for new drivers to join.

Rejecting new drivers hampers the growth of car sharing, and pushes people to buy cars. Here's the research on how to buy a used car and Canadian car buying tips.