Month: August 2013

One of the gems in Toronto’s local indie/startup tech outfits is Unspace, whom I’ve often referred to as “local Ruby heroes”. They’re a small company that’s had such a disproportionately big effect on the world of software development, from producing people who’ve gone on to 37signals and Microsoft, to putting together some of the best developer gatherings ever held — RubyFringe, FutureRuby, Technologic, Throne of JS, and Embergarten — to generally buoying the local tech scene with events like Ruby Job Fairs, Rails Pub Nite and gatherings on their rooftop patio above the heart of the Queen/Spadina district. And yes, they also write great software for their clients.

In the most recent post on the Unspace blog, Unspace CEO Meghann Millard (pictured above) wrote about how an electrical fire broke out at Unspace last week, reducing their wonderful workspace from this:

Software developers gather at one of Unspace’s rooftop parties.

Make a note of the pinball machine.

Yes, I know these are all party pics, but they were taken at Unspace, and they know that programming is a social activity.

The crowd gathering at “Technologic” (one of their events), just before the presentations.

to this:

Luckily, no one was hurt. Eric, who helps keep the office in working order, was on the rooftop and trapped as a result of the fire breaking out. He managed to escape into a neighbouring apartment, evacuate its occupants and call 911.

While a burned-out office is a setback, Unspace is unbowed. After a quick gathering for lunch, the team set off to continue working from home, and Meghann’s working on securing some new space. She writes:

Oftentimes, I think people believe the byproduct of a great company culture is just what work can be produced when you provide great incentives, developer autonomy and personal flexibility. By contrast, I think I’ve finally identified where Unspace differentiates itself in this space — the sense of family inherent to a very carefully curated team – who cares for one another as much as their respective craft — is what ensures the gears keep turning through any crisis.

Of all things that have happened in the history of Unspace, I think this is what I’m most proud of. All we lost in the end was some stuff and a pile of bricks, and I’m very much looking forward to building “Newspace” with the team over the forthcoming weeks.

I can think of more than a few businesses that can learn from Unspace, who understand the importance of building a good company culture. It flows into everything, from the great work that they do for their customers, to the way that the people there feel a sense of family, ownership, and responsibility, to the positive effects they’ve had not just on Toronto’s technology community, but the world’s (seriously). They pulled together, and I have no doubt that they’ll pull through this situation.

Go and read their blog entry about the fire and the aftermath, and if you run into them in person or online, give ’em your love and support. They’ve earned it, and they have mine.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

The Mad Rock Tumblr’s idea is simple and clever: take scenes from Mad Men, and subtitle them with dialogue from 30 Rock. The end result is pure comedy gold.

My favourite Mad Rock mashup so far is this one, which takes Don Draper’s tragic presentation to Hershey (which turned into a breakdown and sad recollections of growing up in a bordello) and mixes it with Tracy Jordan’s bizarro recollections from his childhood:

With the Australian federal election coming up in a few weeks — it happens on Saturday, September 7th — it’s time to share an important public service announcement about Australia’s ranked voting system. In a ranked voting system, also known as a preferential voting system, you vote by ranking the candidates on the ballot. You assign a “1” to the candidate you like the most/loathe the least, “2” to the candidate you like second most/loathe second-least, and so on.

The comic below — You Can’t Waste Your Vote, subtitled This is AUSTRALIA, not America — explains how the Australian system works, and as a bonus, it does so quite amusingly:

I’m not too familiar with Australian politics, but I assume that the major parties parodied in the comic are are the current ruling Labor Party (left-leaning) and the Liberal Party (right-leaning), and that the Australia Australia Australia party are a comic stand-in for “The Nationals” (to the right of Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine).

This photo was taken at a Days Inn in the U.S.. Decades ago, having a set of wall-mounted clocks, each one showing the time in a different far-away city, used to be a cheap and simple way of saying “look at me, I’m a citizen of the world!” Nowadays, it just says that you’re looking for a cheap and simple way of faking that you’re a citizen of the world.

To borrow a line from The Matrix: “Whoa.”

No matter where I’ve gone in North America, people have the same complaint: “It’s really hard to date in this city”. Toronto is no exception, and an anonymous, single, not-yet-30 Toronto woman has decided to express this with her Tumblr, Single in Toronto. The intro to the site reads:

It’s been said that Toronto is the worst city in the world to date, meet someone, or find love. That is what it’s like for me. P.S. Toronto still kicks ass a part [sic] from this.

It’s one of those “What Should We Call Me” Tumblrs, which is a reference to What Should We Call Me, a Tumblr that became popular — and then, widely imitated — where entries were everyday situations followed with animated pictures of reactions to them.

Here’s Single in Toronto’s reaction to: “When I find out he lives west of Ossington, north of Bloor, or east of Parliament”…

For you non-Toronto people, those streets mark the boundaries outside which most hipsters never venture.

Here’s: “When he suggests meeting up at Jack Astors, Milestones or Pickle Barrel”…

Do people in Toronto intentionally have first dates at Jack Astors, Milestones, or Pickle Barrel? They’re perfectly decent places, but unless you live deep in the ‘burbs, are doing dinner-and-a-movie and dinner at one of these places is the only possible way the timing will work, or are a character in The Office or Office Space, you should try a little harder and pick a place with some charm and ambiance that wasn’t defined by a specification department from a distant head office. This is especially true for people in Toronto, the city where new restaurants pop up all the time.

And Earl’s is a definite no-no for a first date. It’s for you and your bros to stare at the waitresses, who are hired primarily for their looks. You might as well have your first date at Hooters.

The only acceptable chain restaurant for a first date is Montana’s, only if (a) you go ironically, and (b) you order their best dessert: the straight-from-the-deep-fryer teeny donuts with the powdered sugar and chocolate and caramel dipping sauces. They are magnificent. Okay, the baked-in-a-skillet chocolate chip cookie a la mode’s not bad, either.

Not all the posts are Toronto- or Canada-specific. Here’s one that many people, no matter where they live, can sympathize with: “When I try really hard to remember what sex was like”…

Ouch. We’ve all been there.