Lurq Who's Talking

My Grandmother's St. Patrick's Day Cookies

2010-03-17T05:33:00.004-05:00

Anybody who knows me well knows two things: 1., April Fools Day is Sacred; and, 2., Every Day is April Fools Day.

But the best April Fool's Day joke I ever pulled wasn't on April Fool's Day at all. It happened on St. Patrick's day, and the joke was on my then 72 (and now 86) year old grandmother.

All throughout my childhood, my Grandmother was always baking things. Desserts. Pastries. Treats. And she still makes them, too - "Dainties," as she calls them. Best of all, though, she makes particularly good cookies, so it was always a real treat to get a plate full of dainties several times throughout the year - cookies, buttertarts, nanaimo bars, peanut butter marshmallow thingies - the variety depended only on the occasion. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, and Easter all had accompanying treats, including the extra-special fresh Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday.

So a number of years ago, while in the mood for cookies, I happened to realize that it was March 17th, and a nefarious little plot began to hatch inside my head. I picked up the telephone, called my Grandmother, and asked, "Nan, where are the St. Patrick's Day cookies?"

She replied, "David, I've never made St. Patrick's Day cookies in my life."

"Sure you did," I said. "Every year. Don't you remember?"

She emphatically denied it, but four hours later, she showed up with perfectly-shaped shamrock cookies, artfully decorated with green icing.

While I was duly impressed with the results of my little joke, and quite happy to have the cookies, I found out years later that there was in fact more to the story. In the time period between my phone call and her showing up with the cookies, she had phoned my Aunt Colleen, as my grandmother was suddenly really starting to doubt her sanity.

My Aunt later told me that my grandmother had recounted our conversation to her and then asked, "I never made St. Patrick's Day cookies, did I?"

My Aunt, somewhat preoccupied at the time for a reason I cannot recall, answered, "Sure you did."

"I did?" my grandmother asked.

"Every year," my Aunt added.

Apparently my grandmother was somewhat bemused. "Then what did I use for a cookie cutter?"

My Aunt, growing ever more annoyed at what was turning into a lengthy interruption, abruptly said, "I think you used the club from the cards set or something," and got my grandmother off the phone. It wasn't until later that my Aunt gave it more thought and realized that she'd been mistaken.

In the meantime, my grandmother had checked her cookie cutter drawer, and sure enough, the club cutter was there. She mixed up some dough, cut out some clubs, and then took a knife and cut off a piece of the bottom to give it a curved look and make it look like a shamrock. She later told me that she thought to herself, "Well, it actually looks pretty good; that must have been how I did it," and she proceeded to bake a batch. She made the accompanying green icing, decorated them, and I imagine was somewhat relieved that she didn't miss this longstanding St. Patrick's Day ritual which, for some reason, she couldn't seem to recall for the life of her.

In my defence, I did own up to it a few weeks later. We enjoyed a good laugh as she told me how she had seriously began to wonder, and I gloated over the well-executed results of my somewhat impractical joke.

The incident was all but forgotten and things were quiet until the following winter, when my sister and I conspired to relive the magic. My sister went shopping and found a Halloween cookie cutter in the shape of a cat, and snuck it into the cookie cutter drawer while our grandmother was away on vacation.

Our grandmother returned home from her trip at the end of January as scheduled. On February 2nd, I called her up, and asked, "Nan, where are the Groundhog Day cookies?"

"David," she told me, "I've never made Groundhog Day cookies in my life."

"Sure you did," I told her. "Every year…"

"Dude, Where's my Followers?" New Feature to Prevent Drunken Tweets

2010-01-06T23:56:00.008-06:00

A new feature will soon be available to prevent embarrassing tweets, morning regrets, and mass unfollows.

"Between the failwhales, the Service Unavailable 503 messages, and the new RT feature, Twitter has already covered most of the bases to make the service as confusing as all hell to the inebriated user," said a trusted inside source who refused to be identified.

But now, there will be an extra layer of protection. Excessive Typos, repeated use of the backspace key, and prolonged moments of inactivity while the drunken user stares at the screen trying to decipher his or her unintelligible text will now trigger a new algorithm requiring the user to enter a two-word, case-sensitive Captcha before the tweet will be posted.

The algorithm will remain active in the associated account for a period of six hours or until tweet quality dramatically improves.

"The ultimate intention is to keep the twitstream relatively sober," the insider said. "Plus, it'll help reduce all the late-night @replies @Alyssa_Milano gets from guys saying how hot she was in junior high. It really puts an incredible strain on the servers."

The new feature will be rolled out very, very slowly.

Hacking Humanity: how viruses REALLY spread

2009-11-06T02:59:00.005-06:00

I'm sceptical about pretty well the entire internet, and out of an abundance of caution, I suspect just about every link. Computer viruses can be nefarious things, so I'm very careful about where I click. I try to satisfy myself as to the link's authenticity before I dare click, and I have to admit I'm sometimes downright paranoid about shortened Twitter links.

Because of the popularity of online communication and social media, a great number of viruses appear to come from good friends. Worse, the message triggering the virus is usually something designed to look real and go unquestioned by the recipient.

The term "virus" is used loosely here - the same principles can apply to most any program, script, or other malicious code. But almost all have one important thing in common: the user usually has to do something to get infected, even if simply clicking a link or opening an attachment.

Whatever its form, malicious code is famous for its ability to promulgate through exploits of security vulnerabilities. Sometimes these are due to flaws in an Operating System, or in a software program such as a web browser.

The code takes advantage of the flaw to take over, creating another version of itself, and both then continue to seek out new victims. New exploits are being reported all the time, but the software vendor is usually quick to release a patch that seals up the exploit and protects you, and the hackers who release the program are getting quite creative. Some new variants of exploits even masquerade as anti-virus or anti-spyware programs that flash warnings of infection which lull the user into a false belief of being protected, while the malicious software carries out its purpose, whether spam, porn, or identity theft.

(I'm still waiting for a creative hacker to release an exploit that uses the victim's computer resources to surreptitiously contribute to scientific research via projects like BOINC or http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.)

Patches only work, though, if you hunt them down and apply them. Keeping up-to-date on security releases is very important, but what's most important is to exercise common sense.

Most of the viruses people seem end up with are spread through email or IM, and usually involve some sort of social engineering. And what is social engineering, you ask? It is simply tricking you into doing something innocuously and unconsciously, so that you probably don't even notice the results, and nothing registers on any conscious radar screen as being dangerous.

Say Alice signs on, and a screen pops up from Bob, suggesting that Alice check out pictures of her. She clicks, and is whisked away to some decoy site while the code safely ensconces itself within Alice's hard drive, curling itself almost inextricably around her operating system, so that the two now operate as one. And it all happens so slick that Alice doesn't even notice, until a couple of weeks later she gets a phone call from a friend who tells her to run a virus scan already because her friend is sick of getting ads for teeth whiteners from her.

Sound like a realistic scenario? Naming off the dozens of examples you've seen yourself? Almost got tricked by one, or did and are too ashamed to admit it? This is how these viruses are spread; they rely on the trust of the user.

The more reliable the message seems, the less likely it is to raise any red flags. Social engineering is used in these cases to exploit natural human tendencies as a means to promulgate the virus, whether it's unleashed by a bored teenager on a weekend with nothing to do, or spread as part of a major billion-strong foreign botnet.

Fortunately, many of the IM and email viruses that rely on tricking the user are not usually too sophisticated on the software side of things. Removal is usually as simple as identifying what variant is at fault and searching for the proper removal instructions.

Searching the name of the virus and "remove tool" might bring up a handy little program that you can download, run, and have it scrub your machine free of all trace. By this time, though, hopefully you've learned to approach links with scepticism, and you don't automatically download the first thing you come across. Discernment is crucial; be careful where you click.

Mac is a putz. Watch his movie!!!!!

2009-11-05T23:03:00.000-06:00

from the absolute brilliance over at macouno.com...

Tidal (for the bins) from Dolf Veenvliet on Vimeo.

(Dolf, you are my hero. Just remember that I was the wind beneath your wings!)

Twitter Weekend of Terror

2009-10-31T19:49:00.005-05:00

Halloweens all seem to be pretty much the same. Whether you go to a bar or a party, what you're going to run into are a bunch of slightly-to-severely inebriated people wearing semi-passable costumes explaining to everyone they meet what they're supposed to be dressed up as.

This year, I just don't have the energy for it. I've decided to stay in, and get the jump on a bunch of work-related projects and assignments; not only work relating to the legal field, but also some writing projects that I've had on the backburner for considerably way too long.

Work has been rather demanding lately, and I'm almost at the point where I've got everything caught up, but the demands of the past few months have really impacted on my ability to particpate on Twitter. I feel in some ways like I've been neglecting a best friend. I've been around a little more frequently the past couple of weeks, but still, there's no comparison to the times a few months ago when our group would regularly end up "in #twitterjail" for having posted too many times in an hour.

So, while discussing halloween plans with Verleen, we decided... why not haunt our favourite haunt? Why not spend the evening creating mayhem and raising cain, just like we used to, on Twitter? Seems like the perfect night for it!

And so begins the inagural Twitter Weekend of Terror. Join us - @verwon and @Lurquer - for a fun-filled time of screams and riots! And watch out for #twots!

Lists Add Value... and might just threaten Apps

2009-10-19T00:01:00.004-05:00

Twitter's new Lists feature has opened up a whole new level of functionality. Not only does it allow tweeps to provide more value to visitors, it just might threaten tweetdeck and some of the other twitter clients out there, too.

Twitter's Web interface has shown a lot of improvement since I actively started using the service in March 2009. The site feels less clunky, loads a lot more smoothly, and is a lot more responsive than I remember at first. Its clunkiness was what sent me searching for an alternative, which I found in tweetdeck.

One of the reasons I liked using tweetdeck was because of the Columns feature, where you could create groups of users and have the tweets displayed in different columns on the screen. While tweetdeck has improved on that feature in its various software updates, Twitter's new Lists feature opens up a whole different world.

Following a lot of cat lovers? Put them together in a Cat Lovers list. You can choose to group users by area of interest, geographic location, language, political views, or any topic you wish. You will benefit by being able to load a customized page that shows all of those related tweets together.

But the Lists feature isn't just a handy way to organize tweets. Properly used, lists can also add value to your Twitter profile. Visitors can see your public lists and even choose to follow them. You can therefore give the twitterverse new ways to access new sources of information by creating lists of tweeps with similar interests, while at the same time giving the visitor insight into the things that you yourself find interesting.

You have the option to make a list public or private, and you can change the settings later. You can make a public list "on the fly" by making it public initially, or set it as a private list until it's reached the level of completion you prefer, since changing from private to public is a simple toggle on the edit screen.

Building a list also gives you the opportunity to promote the people you respect and admire, paying homage to their contributions to the twitterverse by including them. Visitors inevitably will review your lists, and your friends will gain new exposure as a result.

With that in mind, here are some things to keep in mind when constructing your various lists.

Make a private lists if it's geared for your personal use only. Make public lists for groupings that might appeal to a broader audience. Personal lists are great for organizing casual groups where conversation is more social and not as content-driven.

Keep your list collections manageable and relevant. Given that only a few of the included users will show up on the follow list at a time, visitors are bound to lose interest After a couple of pages. 50 is probably a good maximum, although you might want to aim for half of that.

Be discriminate and selective. Don't include tweeps just because they're friends. Include them because they make worthwhile contributions to the list subject. If one of the tweeps in the list is a prolific poster, that person's messages might drown out all of the others on the list. That person might be more appropriately placed in a list with more frequent posters to balance out the ratio between contributors.

Use good descriptions in your list titles. Choose words that adequately and aptly reflect the content of the collection of tweets and tweeters. Vague descriptions likely won't encourage visitors to visit the list in the first place, let alone click through to the listing of tweeps.

Check your list pages to see how the final result looks. Would this list be more appropriate as a private list? Is one person's tweets dominating the display? Is the follow list unwieldy and unmanageable? Does the list title properly describe the result?

Keeping the above points in mind will allow you to create lists that are relevant and useful, and will create additional value for your twitter profile. Get into the habit of using the lists yourself, too. You might find yourself relying less on your app of choice and simply hitting up the Web for a quick check on a particular topic. Before long, you might be wondering why you're using an app at all.

Let's get Dala Girls on the MMM Top10!

2009-07-24T00:42:00.007-05:00

If you haven't yet heard of Dala Girls, your life is not complete.

Dala, of course, is the absolutely amazing duo from Toronto. Their myspace page lists upcoming appearances through May 2010; their facebook page has over 1300 friends; their official page is absolutely gorgeous. And once word gets out about their twitter page, I'm sure they'll beat out ashton kutcher and CNN combined! (And, yes, yours truly, @Lurquer, is following them!)

Check out this video of their new single, and listen to their stunningly beautiful harmonies and blending tones:

Now that you've seen and heard how absolutely amazing they are, hop on over to the MuchMoreMusic Top10 Countdown page and vote for "Levi Blues!" Here's How:

Open the MuchMoreMusic Top10 Countdown page

Scroll down and look in the left hand column for 'Levi Blues.' It is five songs above the 'Submit' button

Select 'Levi Blues'

CLICK SUBMIT!

Vote early, vote often!!!!!

Best of luck to you, AmanDA and SheiLA (DALA - get it now?)

United Breaks Guitars: Effective Social Media Use, or Artistic Inspiration?

2009-07-10T17:31:00.002-05:00

So your band is flying between gigs, and during one of the legs, you happen to see your equipment getting tossed around as it's loaded into the plane. When you finally become reunited with your luggage, you discover that your guitar has been terribly damaged, despite its robust packaging.

Then you face a brick wall when you complain to the airline, who refuses to pay. Then what are you supposed to do? Call a lawyer? Call the Better Business Bureau? Call the media? Organize a boycott to draw attention to the cause?

One creative musician suffered that experience, but he chose a different way to get results. And, it appears that it's worked, and perhaps in more ways than one.

Dave Carroll, a Halifax songwriter and member of the band Sons of Maxwell, spent months negotiating with United Airlines. After repeatedly getting absolutely nowhere, Carroll wrote a song, produced a (quite admirable) video, and uploaded it to Youtube, where it has been seen almost a million and a half times in the past four or so days since its upload on July 6, 2009.

The video is reproduced here:

The day after the video appeared, United appeared to come around. After the video had gone viral and been viewed about 150,000 times. It appears that the matter is actually settled, with Carroll no longer seeking compensation but suggesting that a charity be named to receive any funds in this follow-up video posted today, July 10, 2009:

Now, this still has to all play out. The song "United Breaks Guitars" is the first of three that Carroll vowed to write; he indicates on the follow-up video that he is continuing to write the avowed songs. At first glance, this story appeared to be about getting satisfaction in an ongoing dispute. Now, though, the story seems to split into different directions.

On the surface, this appears to be another example of the use of Social Media to get the attention of a major company to address some wrong. As the story continues to unfold, though, it looks as if Carroll has embraced the opportunity for artistic inspiration and has written a very catchy tune with some very poignant lyrics. (Let's not forget the absolutely amazing use of airline stewardesses as representing the airline - this is brilliant in and of itself! And so beautifully acted!)

So now we must ask the question of ourselves - did this work because it was a complaint, or did it work because it was an opportunity to get a damned good song AND video out there for a whole new audience to find? The response has been quite amazing, and the song and video are very, very good. This seems like it's turned into an incredible opportunity for the band, and I look forward to the next installments!

If you'd like more background, check out the cbc story here.

Twitter Tools: Tweaking your TwitList

2009-04-25T04:34:00.006-05:00

If you are a twitter user who believes in reciprocal following, there are a number of tools available to help you manage your lists. As with everything in life, there are pros and cons to each. Here are a couple of tools that will take the pain out of managing your TwitList.

Important Note: While there's a wide selection of twitter-helper "follow" tools available on the Web, many require your username and password to access your data. These types of sites tend to use your API allotment, which is limited to 100 per hour. (API means "Application Programming Interface" and is the protocol that lets third-party applications access twitter's servers.)

If you use up all of your available API, you are then forced to wait about an hour until your API limit is reset. This means you also have to wait to be able to tweet with applications like Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop.

Important Note: Because you are only allowed 100 API accesses per hour, you can quickly burn through your allowed API usage with some applications and end up hitting your hourly limit within minutes. TwitterKarma, for example, is a very popular tool designed to help manage your lists, but it does utilize API. In addition to affecting third-party applications like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop, it also becomes unwieldy if you either have an especially large number of followers or are following a very large number of people. While TwitterKarma is handy for Tweeters with small lists, it quickly becomes cumbersome and unmanageable with larger twitter lists.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution. Two invaluable sites, http://FriendorFollow.com and http://DoesFollow.com, can be used together to help maintain your follow lists, even if you are dealing with large numbers of followers. These sites allow you to easily find out who is not following you back, and you can also find the people who are following you but you're not yet following. Because these two particular sites do not use your API allocation, they will not affect any third-party applications you happen to use.

http://FriendorFollow.com/ compares the people you're following with the people who are following you, and does not require that you give your password. At the main screen, simply type in your user name, and click on the "submit" button.

The site then grabs your follow lists and breaks down the information into three categories, which are accessible by choosing the appropriate tab at the top of the screen. The choices are:

A) the people you're following who aren't following you back,
B) the people who are following you but you're not yet following, and
C) the people you're following who are also following you back.

Each section appears with its own tab at the top of the table where the information is displayed, making navigation quick and easy.

The follower/following data itself is presented in a graphical format which displays the picture or avatar of the user. When you hover your cursor over an individual's picture, a little pop-up window tells you the user's name, username, the number of people the user is following, the number of people who are following the user, the date of the user's last tweet, and the date the user joined twitter.

The default display shows the users in alphabetical order. By using the pull-down menu at the upper right corner, you can change the display to sort by Username, Name, Location, Number of Followers, Number of people the user is following, the date of the users last tweet, and the date the user joined twitter. Clicking on an avatar opens the user's twitter home page in a new window, where you can then choose to follow or unfollow, depending on which FriendorFollow tab you are viewing.

Important note: The information presented on the FriendorFollow results page is not necessarily current. Some of the content is cached, so the actual stats may vary. It is a good idea to refresh the list periodically by going back to the main screen and re-entering your username to conduct a new query.

Remember that the FriendorFollow information is not always current, so it's a very good idea to verify whether someone is following you back before you remove them permanently. This is where http://DoesFollow.com/ comes in handy. This site lets you type in two user names to see if one is following the other, and using this resource will keep you from accidentally unfollowing someone who is actually one of your loyal followers.

These two tools should help make your follow list management effortless and easy. If you have found any other twitter resources that have helped you manage your followers, please leave a note in the comments section below, and I will post a review of them once I have had a chance to check them out. Thanks in advance for your input, and happy tweeting!

Richard Bandler, the Master Hypnotist

2009-04-01T21:49:00.002-05:00

Paul McKenna has uploaded a wonderful video to youtube which tells the story of the extraordinary Richard Bandler and how he helped a woman overcome her terrible fear of flying.

The lady's fear was legitimate - she was a victim of a hijacking while a passenger on a plane in Peru and genuinely feared for her life. For almost three decades she lived with a terrifying fear of planes and flying, made all the more sad because she was a trained pilot herself.

This short program illustrates the brilliance that is Bandler and how he uses seemingly simple techniques to overcome acute fears and phobias.

Based on my studies of Bandler, the explanations of Bandler's techniques are oversimplified and somewhat inaccurate, but the video is worth the watch to see the effects he achieves.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Google's Virtual Eye: Expanding "Street View" with In-Home View

2009-04-01T04:49:00.011-05:00

Google, the unofficial owner of the Internet, plans to unveil its newest project today, which expands upon its popular Google Maps, Google Satellite, Google Earth, Google Street View, and other related services.

Google In-Home View, tentatively dubbed Google's Virtual Eye, will allow users to type any street address or phone number into the search field and instantly be transported to a screen that shows the interior of the home. The technology uses a new proprietary API developed in conjunction with web cam manufacturers and cell phone developers, and has already undergone extensive secret beta testing.

Virtual Eye will have two options - a Cached View, showing Google's most recent capture of the interior of the home, and an optional Live View which will provide visitors with a Real-Time peek inside the walls of the requested business or residence, using the existing web-cams attached to in-home devices.

The new service is designed to work with all browsers and platforms, including Android, Windows Mobile, iPhone, and the as-yet-unreleased Palm WebOS.

Future plans include synchronizing the system with portable camera-enabled phones to provide Real-Time views of images captured by cell cameras, allowing unfettered and unrestricted access to almost every camera on the planet.

Google does not plan to charge for the service. Watch for the official announcement later today.

Irrelativity

2009-03-31T00:25:00.003-05:00

A new noun, irrelativity: The notion that time actually passes according to human experience, as opposed to an orderly flow as it is normally assumed to be.

To us as humans, time obviously flows at a uniform rate. After all, if we set up a clock, it will tick away, measuring specific increments of time. Right?

But, oh how different this is from our actual subjective perception! Standing in a line-up at the grocery store can be an excruciating experience. Seemingly hours can go by. Time, in these circumstances, just drags, now, doesn't it?

Time can fly, though, too. Think of how often we're amazed at how quickly something seemed to go, relative to how that clock was ticking away over in the corner.

And with those experiences where time drags, we can be equally amazed at how relatively little time actually passed.

There's a sub-set of those experiences, though; there are times where we will glance at our watches, stare at the clock on the wall, and basically obsess about those little moments ticking away.

Maybe we want to be doing something else, maybe we have an appointment and can't be late. The opportunities for frustration abound. And it almost seems as if the more we observe how slowly things are going, the more slowly they actually seem to go. Time literally drags.

How can our experience of such a "uniform force vary so greatly?

Here's where Einstein missed the boat. He concocted his entire theory on the presumption that this thing called time was regular, predictable, and uniform, and the definition he used was based on the velocity of light - how fast it is moving. It is inherently time-dependent.

The ticking of our clock dictates how much "time" is passing from an objective standpoint. Each interval is carefully measured, in a uniform fashion, giving us an objective evaluation of the passage of time. That's the yardstick we use to measure how long things happen.

Thank God for the clock. If we didn't have it, how would we measure our day? How would we know when the doctor will be able to see us? Or, how would we know when he's supposed to, given that he's usually late?

Well, that clock we use to measure everything was invented by a human. Imagine, for a second, a Swiss craftsman working away at a mechanical watch, building a true quality timepiece.

By that craftsman's determined efforts to install those little tiny gears and springs, the watch comes together, a piece of machinery that will last for years, and keep good time. It will do the same thing over and over and over, namely tick. At a constant rate and in a constant fashion.

The watch gets purchased by a businessman who must closely observe his schedule. The quality and craftsmanship assure him that he will always be on time. All thanks to that Swiss watchmaker who painstakingly made sure, indirectly, that this businessman would always be on time.

The woman standing next to him in a queue, though, won't appreciate that when she asks him for the time. She's gotta be home before the ex drops the kids off, and she still has a gazillion things to do, and this line is taking for frickin' ever. When she asks for the time, the businessman glances down at his quality timepiece and tells her its current measurement.

From an objective standpoint, both of them now know what time the Swiss watchmaker's device reads. But both treat the result of that reading very, very differently.

From the moment the first clock was invented, that idea grew in its manifestation and set the referential point from which all things would eventually be measured. Other clocks would follow, and become synchronized. The proliferation of identically-set clocks allowed for the exact measurement of a passage of time according to the pre-established rate, based on that first human observance, recording, and reproduction of it.

But how does time pass for a tree? If a tree had eyes, would it see us as a blur? Relative to itself, of course, which exists for many decades in the same physical location.

For that matter, how does a rock perceive time? Or a crystal? Or a mountain?

The only answer I have is: much, much differently from us.

Einstein: The Amazing Parrot

2009-03-30T23:25:00.004-05:00

If you haven't heard of TED.com yet, you're missing out. There's a plethora of fascinating video lectures available for free, streaming right into your browser. Jane Goodall, Dan Dennett, Dr. Brian Cox, Tim Berners-Lee, Jill Bolte Taylor, Hans Rosling.. all of these lecturers have brilliant little 20-minute clips available for your viewing pleasure. Treat yourself, and check it out. Then, become addicted, and enlighten your mind.

From a pureley entertaining perspective, this nice little clip of Einstein, an African Grey Parrot, illustrates the magic of communication and how humans and animals can learn to interact. It isn't so much a display of intelligence as it is a demonstration of how animals can learn to manipulate humans to get what they want.

original organic link here

new pic: Lurq hard at work at the office!

2009-03-26T07:09:00.011-05:00

A quick pic for all my new twitter friends... snapped March 24th 2009. Just about as current as they come!

Yup, that's me, working hard at the office... and yes, that's a bluetooth headset in my ear, but I *am* happy to see you..

I can't remember if the bluetooth was on at the time; mostly I keep it in my ear so I don't lose the darned thing or have it accidentally turn itself on in my pocket - a pocket is a dangerous place to keep it, because it has this annoying tendency to connect and call people at random. Maybe it looks goofy hanging off of my ear, but.. I just don't care =)

Still looking for some site/app that will run on my Windows Mobile 5.0 Treo 700wx.. the mobile IE browser will NOT load the mobile twitter site, nor can I log into twitter proper using the phone.. any advice greatly appreciated! If you can help, twoot me a tweet @Lurquer =)

Thanks!

Amazon re-Kindles

2009-02-10T02:26:00.002-06:00

The Kindle 2 is out. Well, it will be on February 24, 2009, anyway. The nice folks at Amazon have announced the new and improved version of the Kindle, their ebook reader, with a sleeker look, longer battery life, and even a Text-to-Speech option (so your ebook reader can actually read to you). Amazon even makes it easy and effortless to purchase electronic versions of books with a built-in free 3G Wireless access to Amazon's servers.

Definitely worth checking out if you want to save trees and don't mind inconveniencing a few innocent electrons. Amazon boasts upwards of 230,000 titles available for download, so there's sure to be something to please every imagination.

Even though the official release date isn't until February 24, you can take a sneak peek and even pre-order right now.

Seeing what isn't yet there...

2009-01-20T04:44:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, people looked at a large piece of marble and saw it as a weathered, pathetic hunk of stone.

Michaelangelo looked inside it, and saw The David.

He carefully helped lose the parts that kept The David from being The David. With loving and meticulous care, the Artist freed, for the world to see, the divine beauty that was there within the stone all along.

Look within. What do you see?

Insanity Defined

2009-01-15T05:26:00.003-06:00

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."

So far, via various Web searches, I've found that quote attributed to Richard Bandler, Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, and Rita Mae Brown. All of whom had/have brilliant minds, of course, but I still don't know yet who said it first.

Not that it really matters. They're still brilliant words to live by. What it boils down to is:

If what you're doing isn't getting you what you want, do something different!

Google's new (but slightly unpolished) Chrome browser

2008-09-03T22:33:00.007-05:00

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, saw the release of a new Web browser from Google. For reasons unknown, it is called Chrome, and can be downloaded here. (It appears that, so far, only Windows Vista & XP users may partake.)

Google offers a nice confusing explanation of how it's different from other browsers by using a completely incongruent and unhelpful comic-book tutorial, but I'm afraid that most readers won't understand what on earth they're talking about or why any of it matters.

The gist: Chrome handles memory better, and can clear out unnecessary or unused areas of your computer's memory very quickly, which the traditional browsers aren't very good at. Chrome also isolates individual elements of pages, so that if one starts to act up, it can terminate that one process rather than the traditional browser response of shutting down every instance it can.

Definitely, Chrome needs work. Full integration with other Google services (like a right-click menu that includes a "send to > Gmail" link) would certainly be nice. Google also freely admits in its nice little comic book that Chrome won't necessarily work with all Web pages. And, from what I understand, the history doesn't comunicate well when you're using multiple instances of the program. However, I trust that the Chrome team at Google will integrate these sorts of things very quickly.

The customizable bookmarks bar is a nice touch, and importation of bookmarks from Internet Explorer was a cinch. Chrome has tabs, and even has an "incognito mode" - where your browser history doesn't record or track the sites you visit, presumably so that those pesky partners or parents can't tell where you've been or figure out what you've been up to.

While I hope the Google Chrome team soon integrates the other Google services and amalgamates the history settings across multiple instances, I have to admit that after only about two hours using it, I think that I'm already sold.

By the way: This entry was written using Chrome.

Dear Mr. Gore and Mrs. Kyoto,

2008-07-08T18:46:00.022-05:00

I've been hearing a lot about what you've had to say about carbon dioxide. You know the stuff, whose molecules are made of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms combined in some force scientists still don't quite fully understand. It's the stuff human beings - and most living creatures - breathe out after making use of the oxygen they breathe in. Sorry... in case you hadn't heard, it's a bit of a Biological Truth.

Carbon dioxide - or CO2, as it's sometimes* abbreviated, is a fundamental part of our Earth.

* Technically, the 2 should be a subscript, appearing as a smaller-sized number placed about halfway down the line. The C indicates that there is one Carbon atom, and the O indicates the Oxygen aspect. The 2 placed in such a fashion indicates that there are 2 Oxygen atoms in the molecular equation. That's how a chemist looks at it, anyway, and that's how you'll find it written in the chemistry books. The abbreviation described herein might also be utilized by people who know how to make such a damned symbol on a Web site or, better yet, care to bother to learn.

Carbon Dioxide, when frozen, makes this cool stuff called "dry ice." It's what allows smoke to swirl about the stages in theatrical productions everywhere, and it's what lets smoke billow forth out of a witch's cauldron in plays along the lines of MacBeth.

Apparently the stuff has industrial uses, too.

But the most fascinating aspect of all, in my most humblest of opinions, is that Carbon Dioxide is also used by plants in the magical process of photosynthesis, where visible spectrum light radiation (from our friend, the Sun) provides energy to convert the demonic gas into substances the plant needs to survive. This process, coincidentally, creates a byproduct - which just happens to be the Oxygen that we need to survive and eventually end up breathing.*

* Oxygen, coincidentally enough, as an individual atom, can join up nicely with two Hydrogen atoms. This makes the substance commonly referred to as H2O. Referring back to the notation process outlined in the earlier note, the 2, which should be subscript, denotes 2 Hydrogen atoms present in the molecule, with one Oxygen atom rounding out the trilogy. These atoms combine with each other to make the magical substance known as Water - which, by all accounts, seems to be pretty darned important to human survival, too. Go figure!

I don't know about anybody else, but suddenly I'm hearing strains of Elton John's voice streaming through my head, with fuzzy visions of lion-like creatures bandying about.

- Astute readers will have noted that water plays an integral part in the production of Electricity, a point which will be elaborated upon and further explained in the upcoming paragraphs.

So, they tell me, Mr. Gore and Mrs. Kyoto, that you report drastically rising levels of CO2, and offer terrible predictions about the future of this planet Earth, which, I remind, just happens to still be continuing to allow us to live on it... for now.

And I hear mention of some "Carbon footprint" people are leaving by using too much Electricity*. Somewhere, you have lost me in that leap of logic.

* Electricity is the forced march of electrons through a conducting material, which is manipulated to accomplish various tasks. Electricity is generated (ie, forced to march) by a combination of coil windings of conductive wire and a set of corresponding magnets, either of which may be forced to rotate. This rotation then forces electrons to travel down the conductive wire in a particular direction, which is known in electrical parlance as Direct Current.

Alternating Current, on the other hand, was pioneered by Nikola Tesla in the late 19th century. It uses a specially-placed array of magnets and a specially-designed set of coils, and when rotated against one another, a standing wave of Electric current is created in the conductive wire, which in a sense travels in both directions at once with the electrons basically doing a mini-jig back and forth. Alternating Current is more versatile, safer, and can be easily converted into Dirrect Current power to energize those devices which require it. Alternating Current is such an advanced concept, in fact, that several standing waves can be created in a wire at once at slightly different intervals. This is known as a polyphase system and is preferential because the system as a whole loses much less energy through heat than as with Direct Current; the reduced heat also makes the system safer.

At a fundamental level, almost all of the Electricity we use is generated by making the components spin. Whenever a component of an Electrical generator uses something to make it spin, it is usually referred to as a turbine. Wind turbines use blades to harness the power of the wind, causing the components to spin. Most turbines, however, are placed in an enclosed system and driven by forced water, as in the case of hydroelectric dams, or steam, created by fuels such as coal or natural gas.

In the case of hydroelectric dams, gravity provides the force to pass the water over the blades of the turbine, causing them to spin. In a steam generation system, pressurized steam (ie, boiled water) passes* past the turbines, causing them to turn.

* Turbine design traditionally has the gas passing against perpendicular blades. Nikola Tesla, however, designed a powerful generator whose blades were actually parallel to the flow of the high-pressure gas, using a little-understood principle of hydraulics that caused the gas to congeal between the tightly-spaced blades, providing forward impetus. The Tesla Turbine, while a practical success, never received the popularity and usuage it probably deserved, however.

The means for creating steam includes coal, natural gas, petroleum products, and radioactive materials. Radioactive materials? That's right. A nuclear power plant, despite the years of "public education" about the technological advance of "harnessing the power of the atom," is nothing but a big container for radioactive material that makes the water surrounding it boil. The steam from the radiated water is then piped past perpendicular turbine blades, making them turn the parts of the generator attached to it...

Starting to doubt the "nuclear age" yet?

But back to Carbon. The methods of generating Electricity indicated above don't all use carbon. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum products certainly do; they use a lot of other chemicals, as well. Hydroelectric dams, though, don't inconvenience any carbon at all, but quite often a lot of surrounding habitat undergoes changes as the water levels change and channels seal off the migration of the life forms - fishies and things - living in the water.

Nor does Nuclear power seem to have anything Carbon at all, even if the technology is possibly the most deceptively stupid ever developed in the past century. Sorry - no carbon here, sir.

The so-called Carbon Footprint, as applied to Electricity, seems to be an imaginary concept designed to create an imaginary sense of social responsibility. If it's about Energy Conservation, then call it that. But blaming Carbon hardly seems fair, and, Mr. Gore and Mrs. Kyoto, you frankly ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

If C02 really is the problem, people, there's probably another explanation. Over the past century especially and to a lesser extent the few preceding it, Humans have been taking a greater and greater hold over the surface of the Earth. As part of that process, Humans have "tamed" the Earth, turning it from its natural state into what Humans either Wanted it to be or Believed they Needed it to Be in Order to Survive.

That means that a huge part of the surface of our Mother Earth has been stripped of Her natural vegetation and has had removed the plant life that once did abound, replaced with what Humans wanted to be there - be it wheat, barley, oats, corn, or any variety of crops Humans happen to believe they may need at the moment.

I am reminded of the poem by Joyce Kilmer:

Trees and Other Poems (1914)

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
When you think of love and fame
And all that might have come to pass,
Then don't you feel a little shame?
And don't you think you were an ass?I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Text courtesy Wikipedia; permission courtesy express psychically channelled permission from the author

Of course, more apropos to the C02 debate may be Ogden Nash's elaboration:

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all.

Text from memory; permission courtesy express psychically channelled permission from the author

Have you never thought, Mr. Gore and Mrs. Kyoto,

that it's maybe not Humans driving up CO2 levels the way you think - maybe it's because we cut down all the frickin' trees?????

Want Happiness? Now you can have it - free!

2008-07-05T03:28:00.005-05:00

There's a brand new magazine out there on the Web. Happiness Magazine has just been released.

Do check it out! The inaugural issue includes a wonderful article by the venerable Richard Bandler himself, entitled "The Girl on the 7/7 Bus." It's about a survivor of the London bombings and the techniques Bandler used to help her get past that traumatic experience. Well worth the read! (You'll find it on Page 9.)

The rest of the magazine is great, too. You can download your free copy here. Get it now, while you still can!

www.wendi.com - the Wonderful World of Wendi

2007-07-19T23:20:00.001-05:00

Wendi Friesen is an amazing hypnotist, and is poised to become known as the World's Greatest. (Yes, everyone knows I'm a Bandler junkie, but even HE might want to watch out!)

Wendi has appeared as a guest on the internationally syndicated radio program Coast to Coast A.M. with George Noory, and for the past year also hosted her own radio program. Wendi now provides free live teleseminars via her Web site, where she offers sage wisdom and advice on a variety of topics. Visit her site and click on the "teleseminars" link to check out upcoming topics and past archives.

You can also check out her hypnosis CDs on stopping procrastination, losing weight, public speaking, confidence building, migraine relief, insomnia, and even improving your sex life.

Wendi's style and effectiveness are amazing, and her compassion makes her one of a unique few. Try her out and change your life.. or not!

What will you do?

Kozier Announces Run for Kirkfield Park Riding

2007-01-11T23:58:00.000-06:00

Christopher Kozier, former UMSU president, present Associate with the
Cassidy Ramsay law firm, and all-around brilliant guy, is seeking nomination as the Provincial PC Party Candidate for Kirkfield Park.

February 12, 2007 is the date to mark on your calendar.

All of us at Lurquer.com (and especially Lurq!) wish Chris the best in his nomination, candidacy, and eventual election. (You heard it here first)

New Years Revolutions

2006-12-31T20:42:00.000-06:00

Every year, right around this time, people set their minds to the changes they would like to make for the future. They call them "resolutions."

A "resolution" is a noun; the relevant definition is "the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc." (thanks to the nice people at dictionary.com for that.)

So, a New Years Resolution, then, is choosing a course of action to effect change. Pick something about yourself that you'd like to change, and "resolve" to change it. Countless people follow this tradition each and every year - they resolve to quit smoking, they resolve to lose weight, they resolve to be more caring to their spouse or other loved ones. They resolve to make more money, they resolve to get out of debt, they resolve to improve their lives in some way.

Within days, however, these "resolutions" usually fall by the wayside - the mind creates rationalizations, excuses, or reasons to stop following through on the "resolute" chosen course of action. Those good intentions have paved the way to - well, you know where.

This year, why not try something a little different? Instead of a resolution - create a Revolution. Identify the things you'd like to change about yourself. Identify the behaviours that you don't want to continue. Identify the ways you would like to act - or react - in a different way. Then, plot your course, decide how you're going to allow those positive changes to become a part of your life, and pivot from the way you used to be. Find the benefits to the changes you wish to make, and concentrate on those. Figure out who you'd like to become - and then become that. Aim yourself in your new direction, and continue forth in the knowledge that you are becoming the ultimate you - the person you want to be. Change who you were by becoming who you want to be, and rest assured that each little baby step you take in your new direction will carry you towards the ultimate you.

Change doesn't have to be painful. It doesn't have to be lengthy. It doesn't have to be a battle or a struggle or a fight. Instead of creating an inventory of what you would like to change about yourself, why not approach it another way? Use this opportunity to really change your life. Create a personal Revolution. Be resolute in your resolve, but aim it in a positive direction. Point yourself in the direction that will carry you to where you want to be.

So, this New Years, don't resolve. Revolve.

Go Figure

2006-09-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

I just took the Famous Leader test at http://similarminds.com/leader.html, which purportedly tells you which famous figure or leader you most resemble (billed on that site as "an amusing personality test").

Here is my result.

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Quite entertaining. Plus, it explains all the bad hair days lately.

Go take the test. I recommend doing the full 45 answers, although you can opt for less (and for less accurate results, I would imagine, although I got the exact same result using the 9 answer option afterwards.)

Fun. Post your results in the comments section!

-Lurq

oh, ps, somebody told me I had to update the blog, so I did...

My Busy Saturday

2006-04-02T00:53:00.000-06:00

The early flight to New York was worth it. The meeting late-morning meeting practically turned into an impromptu bidding auction for the next novel, with some of the "without prejudice" offers consisting of a tidy sum and including first rights to my next six books. Go figure! It seems we've agreed to adjourn the issue, so to speak, pending provision of further information regarding the outline. Thanks to the NDA, that's all I can say at this time, but I expect to be able to make a further announcement regarding same in a relatively swift time-frame.

The afternoon was simply a time of wandering through shops and taking incredibly long cab rides, for some reason... but it was neat to look at all the different kinds of buildings. The couple of late-afternoon meetings were productive as well, with the promise of quite interesting projects on the near horizon.

And then, the flight back home.. never a more relaxing one before.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead. 'Tis the season!