Category: It Happened to Me

In response to the Monkey Knife Fight graphic that I posted along with my original announcement about Blogstravaganza (it’s the one pictured above), Damian”Babbling Brooks” Brooks wrote in the comments to Bob “Let it Bleed” Tarantino’s blog:

OK, the monkeys going all Jets-and-Sharks doesn’t bug me. Batman

standing over the little guy like that is a bit off-putting. But the

Wonder Twins swapping spit in the back? Ewwwww.

I pointed him to this Penny Arcade comic (click to see it at full size):

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All this reminds me of a story which in turn reminds me of another story.

About a month or so back, I was in a conversation with a group of programmers when one posed a hypothetical business model question that started with “Is it evil if…”

Reg, one of the programmers and an all-round astute guy, jumped in before the guy asking the question could finish: “You know, if you have to ask, it probably is.”

What I decided not to bring up at that point is that I remembered once, back at Crazy Go Nuts University when someone asked me “Hey, Joey, is it, uh, incest if…if I…”

“You know, even though you haven’t finished,” I replied, “I’m gonna go with ‘yes’.”

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I’m full of stories. Wanna hear some? Come to Blogstravaganza tonight!

(This article was also posted to Tucows Developer.)

Last night, the second Toronto

DemoCamp — a monthly series of meetings of

developers where they show the projects they’re working on — was held

at the offices of Radiant

Core in the “Liberty Village” area of town (the same

neighbourhood as Tucows). Judging by the crowd, which was around 60

people at its peak by my count, I would have to call the event an

success.

(Here’s

a video [5MB QuickTime] that I shot. I’m panning from one end

of the room to the other to show you just how crowded it

was.)

Last night’s demonstrations

were:

• Radiant Core

  Foundation: A very user-friendly web content

  management system developed by Radiant Core, a web design and

  development shop run by my friend Jay Goldman. Radiant Core developed

  Foundation so that they wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel for every

  new client. It boasts and easy-to-use interface that minimizes the need

  for clients to run to them for help and also exposes an API for clients

  with development teams who want to do some serious

  customization.

• 2ndSite Online Invoicing: Another

  user-friendly web tool for business: this time, it’s a web invoicing,

  timesheet and support ticketing application. It’s a good example of the

  type of business application that can be moved from the shrink-wrapped

  pay-once desktop app model to the subscription-based web app one. They

  also brought up some a very important point about pricing schemes that

  they learned through experience: simpler is

  better.

• Kweschun: Chris Nolan’s social

  software project that harnesses “the collective wisdom of the net to

  predict the future”. It allows you to pose questions and suggested

  answers, track the responses and search for questions by

  tag.

• WaveDNA: The only desktop

  application of the evening, WaveDNA is a “music reverse engineering

  tool” whose purpose is to analyse music for patterns. It breaks down

  music into fundamental units of pitch, duration and “feel” and perfoms

  analysis on those elements and their arrangement. The potential uses

  for this application are vast and interesting, ranging from analysing

  what makes a good commercial jingle (by analysing the most-remembered

  ones and seeing what their common qualities are) to a Ph.D. thesis

  project in which a researcher is trying to determine what makes a song

  a lullaby. The University of Toronto and a local music recording

  studio, MetalWorks, are involved in this

  project.

• Favorville: Another social software

  application: this one’s a “bulletin board” where people who need

  favours — perhaps they need work done, or advice — can post those

  needs and people who can help can see them. It’s an excellent blending

  of social software technologies and local community

  involvement.

• Canada’s SR&ED

  tax rebate program was explained by Wayne

  Bradley from Development Associates. This tax rebate program gives

  money to Canadian companies to encourage them to work on R&D.

  You don’t have to provide a business plan or promise profitability —

  in this case, the criterion for qualification is that you’re breaking

  new ground or advancing the field. You can make up to 66% of your

  salary investments if you qualify.

As with the

first DemoCamp, which was held in December, it was a good opportunity

to meet with other developers in town and see what they were working

on. Even better was the palpable feeling of inspiration that came from

being in a gathering of people who want to write cool and useful

software. I expect great things from DemoCamp in the months to come. My

heartiest congratulations to David

Crow for making it a success!

The next

DemoCamp, which will be held in February, is already being planned.

I’ve offered Tucows as the location — watch this space for more

details!

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More DemoCamp Reading

David Crow: DemoCamp 2.0 Rocks the

House

Here’s a flickr photoset

of TorCamp photos.

The BarCamp

wiki. Here’s the wiki’s DemoCamp

page.

An explanation of what BarCamp

is.

Here’s

Foo Camp — short for Friends Of O’Reilly Camp — which led

to the creation of

BarCamp.

And finally, the last of my notes from the January 11th all-candidates meeting for the Parkdale-High Park riding, complete with closing statements. If you’d like to see my other notes, follow the links below:

• All-Candidates Meeting: Opening Statements
• All-Candidates Meeting: First Two Questions
• More Questions from the All-Candidates Meeting
• Even More Questions from the All-Candidates Meeting

For all these notes, I’m wearing my “citizen journalist” hat. That means

that I have attempted, to the best of my ability, to provide an honest

account of what I saw and heard at the meeting. Any of my personal asides will appear in red italics.

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Question 10: What are Your Energy Policies?

Peggy Nash, New Democratic Party  

• Stop subsidizing oil and gas — more investing in solar and wind energy

  

• Currently, we’re making substantial investments in non-renewable resources

  

• Would advocate a slow phase-out from non-renewable energy — remember, many people make their livelihood off them

  

• Look at alternative energy sources: wind, sun, ethanol

  

• Alternative energy is a key part of the NDP plan

Rob Rischinsky, Green Party

• End subsidies to all wasteful industry

   

• Solving the energy problem also requires looking at the demand side of the equation

   

• We feel that nuclear energy is a bad option — that’s what differentiates us from the NDP

   

• Alternative energy sources can provide us with 10,000 Megawatts of power

Sam Bulte, Liberal Party   

• In our 2005 budget, we invested in co-generation, wind and biodiesel

   

• Our energy efficiency and retrofit programs

Lorne Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist Party

• Stop subsidizing oil

   

• Invest in wind power instead

Jurij Klufas, Conservative Party

• The Conservatives will establish a national standard where all fuel is at least 5% ethanol by 2010

   

• That would cut greenhouse emissions by 4 million tons [or is it tonnes?] per year

   

• Biodiesel is also another solution

Terry Parker, Marijuana Party   

• [incoherent mumbling]

Closing Statements

Terry Parker, Marijuana Party

• Prohibition kills

   

• We call for legalization

   

• Legal marijuana will generate lots of tax revenues

Rob Rischinsky, Green Party   

• We advocate a new style of thinking

   

• The “left/right” distinction in politics is from the past

   

• Our system was created in the 19th century, run by 20th century parties trying to solve 21st-century problems

   

• We run campaigns based on hope; we believe hope trumps fear

   

• We are diverse people, moving into a post-national era

   

• The Globe and Mail said that we were the party making positive statements

Lorne Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist Party

• In this meeting, there were no questions about the international situation

   

• We would form an anti-war government

   

• We are opposed to wars of aggression on sovereign states by the U.S.

   

• We condemn the complicity of the Canadian government

   

• Our reputation as peacekeepers is undeserved

   

• Wars fought for “humanitarian interests” are a fraud

   

• We are “junior partners” in the U.S. plan

   

• Wars are fought for business

   

• We would uphold the U.N. charter of non-interference

Peggy Nash, New Democratic Party   

• In the last election, I finished a close second

   

• This means that people want changes

   

• The NDP will invest in:       
             
  • Seniors

             

  • Education

             

  • Public health care — and stop its privatization

             

  • Environment

         

• We will give you a clean government

   

• I’ll consult with the riding regularly — “You won’t only see me at election time”
• [Enthusiastic response from crowd]

Sam Bulte, Liberal Party

• On January 24th, either Paul Martin or Stephen Harper will be prime minister

   

• You can either have a fend-for-yourself system run by a man whom the lauded as “Pro-American”

   

• Or we can strive together for a common goal

   

• Canada is doing well: we don’t borrow, we are active in world social programs and we are a society where newcomers are welcome

   

• What change do you want — a backwards fight where we rehash old debates, or moving forward and building

   

• We are the party of “medicare to multiculturalism”

   

• We are the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Jurij Klufas   

• Do you want more of the same, or do you want real change?

   

• The Liberals brought you the sponsorship scandal

   

• They have an entitlement mentality

   

• We would bring in a Federal Accountability Act

   

• We would cut the GST from 7% to 6%, and then to 5%

   

• The Liberals believe that parents can’t be trusted on how best to spend money on their children — they say you’ll spend it on beer and popcorn

   

• We would make sure the immigration policy was fair

   

• The Liberals say they are the unity party but have no credibility in Quebec

   

• Mention of their man in Quebec, Jean Charest

   

• On guns:       
         
  • We will crack down on illegal guns

         

  • We support mandatory sentences for serious gun crimes