Welcome to the effin' future!

I just downloaded hundreds of classical eBooks for free using bittorrent. Normally a file transfer service for illegal items (movies, music, etc), these books are now public domain and cost around $3-$5 at the local bookstore - so to buy them would cost thousands of dollars. Over a life-time, I might actually spend the money. But now, in the future that is, those books are available to anyone with an internet connection. Or has a friend with an internet connection.

These are the best books our civilisation has created. And they're there for the taking by anyone who chooses to read them.

Free knowledge. Can anything be so idealistic? Yet here we are. And anyone who wants it can pull them.

So the brave new world isn't that these books and knowledge and great literature isn't there, ready for the taking.

It's why haven't you read them yet?

Easter Gouging

You know, four hours you finished eating and you can still taste the food? Gorging yourself to the point of biblical gluttony and feeling like a drugged sloth? Thats how i am feeling right now. I will regret my actions tomorrow.

Special shoutout to Uncle John Lydall for taking us out to the country club for a welcome Easter brunch.

"Gouging" was for Rurh ;)

Don't go see Hunger Games

Some of you may have heard about a movie being released tomorrow called Hunger Games. It's about a society with full bellies that describes many cities that Canadians or Americans live in. The twist and premise of the book is the society is captivated by an annual game of children fighting to their death in an arena full of booby traps and mutated monsters.

The problem is that by watching this movie, and be rooting for the main character while she kills her opponents in various ways, so we are basically being thrilled at the Hunger games just like the society that's being criticised.

But the only way to not be that society is to not watch Hunger Games - or at least have it do poorly at the box office.

Unless you admire sending children to fight for themselves to the death. Then by all means, you sicko.

MasterCard World Fashion Show 2012

My first fashion show. My core belief is that everyone is weird. But you need to get to know someone to find out how. With fashion shows, their weirdness is right there on their sleeve.

Fashion Show 2012

Looking around, I realize this is "a scene" just like when I was salsa dancing, or swing dancing in Toronto. People do this as their life hobby. And some of them do their life hobby as their work. You can tell who they are. Even the girls handing out discounts and show guides have this look. They're living their dream in the modelling world. Even if they aren't a model or designer, they're a part of something, and industry they love.

I'm there as a spectator. I don't know or care about fashion. I'm participating like I would as a photographer at a cycling race or a Hindu colour festival. I'm a tourist. I stick out because I'm not unique. My clothes, standard uniform for a business casual bank, have no fashion sense or creativity attached.

Ignore me. I am normal.

I scan through my photos in Lightroom. They're not really pretty, my wife says. No, these are the people who were made fun of in high school. There are no cheerleaders or beauty pageant winners. But every model has a "look", that looks great from the front. From the side, not so much. Reality ruins perfection.

The fashion Show rages into the night. Me, I go home easily catching the 610 train. The universe of fashion is not mine, the vacation is over.

The iPad is here. Again

You may or may not know that the iPad was released today. Hundreds of million post-pc devices have been sold by Apple, and there's a good chance there will be hundreds of millions more. I suspect those with current owners probably will still be happy with their old iPad, so Apple will have to do some convincing to get more folks to buy the new one.

But at work, we discussed what we use them for. Surfing the web. Email. It's often used to supplement our TV watching. But no one uses it to create. Does anyone blog with them? Besides sharing, do people post extended diatribes with them on Facebook? Or are they the next version of passive, consuming being just a little more interactive than tv?

Apple has released iPhoto, and likewise Adobe has released a similar Photoshop app, for 1% of the full blown CS6. Is the hope really to get rid of laptops? Because all I see right now are apps geared towards sharing, not creating. Has anyone written a novel or taken the tablet to the next level?

These are not work machines. They're toys. Remember that.
-- written on an htc amaze

The refinement of Google+

A new feature, unannounced and unknown as far as I know, was introduced into Google+ and nobody seems to have noticed. There is now.a."what's hot" circle that tells you what is going viral right now. Kinda like digg or trends, it simply draws attention to what is being shared by lots of people.

To me this is.cool. its awesome that the public is able to declare what they like, and ignore what the media thinks is relevant. This a boon for artists. When someone is creating art in their garage (foo fighters) it doesn't matter that they didn't have the best tech, they were able to do.it. by themselves. Other artists can get noticed more easily. Google+ makes it easier.

Facebook tells me what my friends are reading. Google+ tells me what the world is reading. And what my friends are up to.

Very cool.

The dealer

The man looked shifty. Consulting a text on this expensive smart phone, he moved towards the dark parking lot where an unimpressive Mazda approached. A woman got out, and in quiet voices she opens her trunk. An arrangement made, the man hoists a loaded cooler from the dark hatchback and without looking back takes his unidentified container dragging noisely behind him on plastic wheels on the cement.

At this late hour, no one notices him. No cops jump out to confront him or his mysterious package. He moves into an unimpressive townhouse, his package now safe.

He opens the cooler, estatic it made it home safely. Inside ice is filled to the brim, and hidden amongst the ice are orange lidded sterile containers from a hospital, specifically the NICU at Credit Valley, a local destination for expecting mothers.

His hand dives into the ice, pulling out a container and he unscrewed the orange lid. He.sniffed mightily, but as expected he smelled nothing. On the street it wad called White Juice or Liquid Coke. To most people it wasn't something that was bought and sold anywhere,  but the man was not a part of normal society. He was a select faction whose place wasn't even yet known.

He had enough containers to last six months. Maybe more. He put it in the fridge to slowly thaw. His child would drink Gods medicine tonight.

It was breast milk. And he had enough to last til his daughter would eat steak.

Awesome.

And thanks Faye for facilitating. You're the best dealer ever! And Zazie is a close second. She just can't move as much product ... And it wasn't nearly as suspicious as Faye.