that canadian girl

Latest adventures…

  • The Ivan Noble bursary

    The BBC has set up a new position within its science and technology news team, in honour of Ivan Noble, who died of a brain tumour earlier this year.

    Over a period of six months, the bursary winner will work on the Science/Nature and Technology sections of BBC News Interactive, which produces stories for the web and other text platforms, such as Ceefax and mobile phones.

    “Ivan’s illness was only a very short period of his life and the bursary is there to remember his life before he was ill,” his wife Almut said.

    “He was a science and technology writer and this is what the bursary marks. I’m very pleased and honoured that the BBC has chosen to remember his professional life before he was ill.”

    Anyone tempted to apply? Interviews will be held in the Autumn.

  • A Dragon in Trouble: Red Letter Days

    Oh Rachel, Rachel… What were you thinking? It’s one thing to be on TV pointing fingers at people who have sometimes imperfect business ideas on Dragon’s Den. But while you’re out there, don’t forget to keep an eye on your own business!
    Rachel Elnaugh
    I previously commented bitched about Red Letter Days, being seriously unimpressed with the quality of the service they offer and the backwards policies they have. A company that treats customers, and likely staff, like a bunch of numbers when it’s meant to provide a unique wonderful experience, is bound to have problems staying afloat.

    “…Another Dragons’ Den judge Peter Jones is teaming up with ex-Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis to buy the company’s assets.”

    Either Pete & Co are kicking a dead horse, or they have some serious plan for draining the bad and pumping some new energy into the company. There is still great potential for a company that acts as middleman in organising the most unique activities, such as gardening with Charlie “No Bra” Dimmock or getting cooking lessons from pro chefs, but people are becoming too online-savvy, booking a bungee jump or a spa day through Red Letter Days will start appearing wasteful and unnecessary as all those companies have their own websites.

    So who’s gonna bail you out next time, Rachel?

  • Observation

    It’s only Monday night and my brain already feels pickled… This might turn out to be a long week! 😯

  • Public Service Pamphlet for Bloggers

    The Nonist hits it in the head with “What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression” (via apophenia)

    Even funnier though is the news it led me to, on Blue Damage. (Yes it’s old and it’s a classic piece of meta-blogging – deal with it!)

    “The latest tech sensation is blogging, a new form of media that is sweeping the internet with it’s cold and sweaty hands. No doubt, the hundreds of new bloggers that pop up daily can attest to this. Blogging is huge! However, many people don’t realize the hazardous and possibly deadly addiction that it is to blog.

    A correspondent of Blue Damage caught up with Michael Jimberly, roommate of Tom Burgess who recently died blogging. Michael recalls the beginning days of Tom’s blog addiction. “It started off quite innocent. He would come home from work, spend a few minutes writing on his blog and he would be finished,” Michael said. “Then he started to change. He would be blogging for hours upon hours a day, it was quite scary.”

    At this point, apparently, Tom had dropped out of USF (where Michael still attends school), quit his part time job of waiting tables at the local bar and would rarely ever been seen away from his computer. “He blogged so much, sweat beads would form on his upper lip,” stated Michael. “I mean, dude spoke in XML. He would freak out any friends I invited over when they would try to talk to him. He would always say shit like, ‘You don’t validate as RSS 2.0’ and then try to hurt them.”

    Michael found Tom deceased at his computer a few days ago coming home from work. His cold hands still grasped the keyboard after he was pronounced dead. Surely enough, there were 15+ tabs open on Firefox, the bloggers preferred interweb browser. All of the pages open were blog related. The police were baffled and stated that this was the first case of blogging death that they have on record. “I just want people to know that blogging is potentially dangerous. I wish I could have helped Tom before it was too late,” Michael sobbed.”

  • The Camel Game

    Ok, here’s a memory test, first of all for my sisters, but for anyone who might recognize this game!

    You had to race across the desert on a camel, walking or running, ensuring you ate, drank water and gave your camel some rest. The Barbarians weren’t far behind and could catch up with you. You came across oases, caravans and at the end, your father’s castle or something along those lines.

    It must’ve been the mid-90’s or so, I would guess I played it on a Mac since it’s all we had at the time. It was played in a small window no bigger than a DopeWars window, with the buttons for eating, drinking, etc. I thought it had “Desert” in the title, but I guess not because doing a Google search, it only comes across “Through The Desert” and that definitely doesn’t seem like the right game.

    Somebody help me remember, and if possible, find this little crap game that’s been making my brain itch for a few weeks!!!

    Edited on 02/08/05: MY SISTER ROCKS! She may not have found the game itself, but she found the name for me – Desert Trek, dating back some years… This made my day! Merci Jo, t’es trop cool! 🙂

  • Musical re-discovery of the day

    The Herbaliser – Good Girl Gone Bad

    Well hello Mr. Subwoofer, I forgot you lived under my computer desk!

  • The day citizen media went mainstream

    This reflection by Duncan at The Last Minute (via Antoine) matches my observations of the events,

    I couldn’t help but notice how different my media consumption has been surrounding the terrorist attacks in London from September 11th. When my girlfriend came and hammered on my door on the morning of September 11th I turned on CNN and just watched. When I heard about the bombings in London I looked it up on Flickr, Nowpublic, Wikipedia, Wikinews to mention a few.

    Even though I turned to the BBC News rather than CNN on September 11th, my reaction to the bombings was very similar to Duncan’s. I sought information through the blogs of Londonites I knew, and as each one started posting, I followed an immense web of links to further information all written by “real people”.

    It was surreal to see camera phone photos and videos within minutes of the event. Over time, BBC News has accumulated all these photos, but to see them pop up on independent blogs and services like Flickr first spoke volumes about the movement away from the classic information media.

  • so. much. better.

    My head is buzzing with new ideas. My ears are buzzing with so many languages spoken at the same time around me. My brain has definitely woken up in the past 2 months.

    I don’t fall asleep out of boredom in meetings anymore. I feel my ideas are worth something. I wake up feeling positive.

    Having a job you enjoy is SO underrated.

  • GTA: San Andreas Sex Scandal or The Story of America, Backwards Country

    America is truly mad.

    The House of Representatives has called for an investigation after finding out about a hidden sex scene in a game with a “Mature” rating (17 and over) in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Now, allow me to find a few flaws in their sudden uproar and indignation.

    Before I even say anything, have a look for yourself and tell me whether that’s too heavy for the eyes of a 17-year old. [Sorry about the advert that you need to skip…]

    First off, GTA: SA’s little hidden sex scene is hardly any worse than the average suggestive hip-hop video you’ll catch on MTV mid-afternoon. Seeing a digital gangsta have sex with a cheaply rendered model of a girl with triangular boobs won’t inspire anyone to have sex. All-ages TV and movies have dished up worse sex scenes, however much America tries to play prude.

    Secondly, if your 17 y/o son has managed to get on the net and find that Hot Coffee patch, install it and run it, he’s most likely seen much MUCH worse already on the net. If his mates haven’t goat.se’d or tubgirl’d him yet [mothers, please don’t ask… and most of all don’t follow those URLs], his curiosity’s probably led him to a few naughty sites anyways. Reality is, most kids that age have seen worse than what Rockstar Games has sneaked into the game for a laugh.

    So all in all, if you want to shelter your 17 y/o son to ensure he sees none of this dirty thing they call sex until he turns of age, that leaves you, dear American parent, a whole 12 months at the most before your innocent sweet child can legally watch filthy movies and play games with naughty hidden scenes. Yep, keep convincing yourself that’s really going to change anything to his upbringing.

  • Orbitz, you blew it!

    This is why you should never piss off a customer over a small amount of money.

    I should print this out and give it out as gospel for our customer service team. Never ever piss off anyone who’s got a website – they’ll spread the word and you’ll reel from the pain.

    When you type “Orbitz” into Google now, you get Maddox’s rant about the impossible itinerary within a few results from the top. Between that and word of mouth, Orbitz has certainly lost a good chunk of money. All over a $94 haggle!