Month: May 2013

I’d like to contribute this data point to the study.
It’s still the best accordion picture ever.

The abstract for a study conducted by three French researchers and published in the journal Psychology of Music has a rather dry way of putting it:

Men’s music ability and attractiveness to women in a real-life courtship context

This experiment tested the assumption that music plays a role in sexual selection. Three hundred young women were solicited in the street for their phone number by a young male confederate who held either a guitar case or a sports bag in his hands or had no bag at all. Results showed that holding a guitar case was associated with greater compliance to the request, thus suggesting that musical practice is associated with sexual selection.

Simply put: Ladies love musicians! I could’ve told you that, and the Globe and Mail explains the study in more detail.

Everyone also seems disillusioned with the latest movie version as well.

Boston area-based Bekka Wright’s site, Bikeyface, features comics about urban cycling. Contrary to what Toronto’s stupid mayor will tell you, biking is actually a practical way to get around a big city that offers a number of advantages over the car and public transit (and yes, I also use them too).

Her How to Build a Bike Habit comic shown above offers ideas on how to make more and better use of your two-wheeler. I’m at phase 4: I often bike commute from home in High Park to client meetings or social events downtown, take the bike to do grocery shopping and even use it to explore less-familiar parts of the city.

Last week, in was in Tampa, hanging out with the girlfriend and getting a head start on summer activities:

But that didn’t mean I was idle. I managed to get a fair bit of work done, even while on the road, thanks to some handy mobile technologies…

…as well as an ability to get the job done any place, anytime. This was my view from a wifi-equipped stadium, where I took a call via Skype, took notes with Evernote and did some quick lookups and email with Safari:

On Sunday, I made my way back to Toronto, but I wasn’t headed home yet.

Toronto was the first leg of a business trip to Calgary to do a client consultation. I’m here all week to help them sort out their mobile technology strategy.

Here’s the obligatory “after ten hours in airports and planes” “selfie”:

And here I am yesterday morning on my way to the client’s office:

Like Portland, Calgary has a light rail system that’s free as long as you’re just travelling within the downtown corridor:

From my hotel, I went east a couple of stops and then walked north a few blocks towards this area:

The client some very nice space and was kind enough to loan me a corner office for the week. The windows look north and east, providing a spectacular view of the Bow River valley:

…and here’s where I’ve set myself up until I head home on Friday: