A second computer went off to a child in a developing country (Presumably, the one David had was distributed to help promote the project to ignoramuses like myself).
I’m conflicted on the idea of giving laptops to children in countries where development is typically measured in numbers of people with access to clean drinking water or basic education. But it would be hard to argue that scarce funds should not be spent on technology until absolutely everyone in a poor country has the basics; after all, even in the developed world, there are those who fall through the cracks.
Countries that aren’t tapped into globalization (eg. North Korea, Myanmar, Yemen) are the least successful ones on the planet, and modern globalization is driven in part by computers and their associated infrastructure. Ultimately, giving computers to people in poor countries is on balance a good thing.
So much for my ambition to be the first to post about the latest official Vancouver Blogger Meetup. The wise and welcoming author of Random Thoughts of a Student of the Environment has already beaten me to the punch and demonstrated the awesome potential of instant online reporting via liveblogging from onsite - complete a photo of yours truly, with my wrist bent at a very interesting angle. For the full report about the Vancouver Blogger Meetup, click here for the link to Random Thoughts.
Note to self: next time, bring my Macbook to the event. In any case, thanks for the link, my new friend. Very classy.
More to follow on this event and other matters tomorrow; this evening, I have a serious sleep debt to pay down. Goodnight, y’all.
Vancouver bloggers, beware! Open warfare has broken out in the Vancouver blogosphere. Well, it was bound to happen. My (admittedly self-serving) Vancouver blogger SEO experiment did indeed put my blog up on the first page of Google searches for that search term.
It is with a teary eye and a humble heart that I announce that I will not be taking part in the Vancouver Blogger Challenge.
It was never my intent to provoke such a terribly obscure bloodletting. I’ve had my moment of glory. I would certainly invite my readers to link to this blog, Currents, if and when a post on this blog seems to warrant a friendly nod or an honest rebuke… But in the words of modern philosopher Jerry Seinfeld, I CHOOSE NOT TO RUN!
To all those who wish to compete in the Vancouver Blogger challenge, I wish you the very best. In my books, you’re all winners.
Economic and environmental realities make it pretty unlikely they’ll even be able to cobble together crude principles. BC Premier Gordon Campbell can lecture his Albertan political counterpart all he likes on the dangers of greenhouse gases (although given BC’s record to date on cutting greenhouse gases, that might be a bit odd), but there’s a thirst for Albertan oil out there.
The world needs ever-increasing amounts of oil and Alberta has a big chunk of the planet’s known reserves. That’s going to be a tough reality to face down.
But the way the tar sands oil gets extracted is the cause of a large percentage of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Pressure needs to be put on Albertan oil companies by politicians to ensure that they don’t turn much of western Canada into a polluted desert in return for all the petrodollars they’re earning.
The Internet is a treasure trove of odd yet compelling bits of fiction, often authored by nameless wordsmiths with no desire for fame or the rewards fame reaps. Like many writers in high-priced Vancouver who will gladly take a certified check, I’m not one of them. But I certainly am grateful for the free content, creative geniuses. Keep it coming.
The Bad-Ass MoFo with the Ouija Board Tattooed to his Stomach
There was a kid named Stan and he had crappy parents, stupid brothers and sisters and teachers that were completely retarded. He lived in a lousy house that didn’t have a plasma screen t.v. and his parents always yelled at him to keep the heat down because they wanted to save ten cents on the heating.
One day he was mowing the front lawn which totally sucked because he only got ten dollars for doing it but it took hours and hours to do. This black van pulled up and these guys dressed like real ninja’s jumped out. They ran over to Stan who tried to run but it was too late. They stuffed him in a black sack and threw him back into the van. From the black sack he could hear the van peel out. Of course he was scared (wouldn’t you be ?) but then he heard them playing Metallica and he thought maybe he’d be okay.
Hop Studios webhead and super-cool workaholic Travis Smith provides the following sound advice for people attending such events: OK, let’s just skip the I’m busy with work, you’re really busy with work, that’s awesome, that’s great… Let’s talk about what else you’ve been doing besides work. So, what else have you been doing?” Also, the horizontal scrolling on Unvarnished is INTENTIONAL, people.
Before I blogged this post at 11:38 pm on January 24, Currents wasn’t even on the first six pages when searching for the phrase “Vancouver blogger” (I just stopped looking after page six, since I was somewhat depressed that after three years of blogging, my site just wasn’t making the cut).
But in regard to the SEO experiment, it appears good old keywords really do the trick. Who knew?
In any case, it’s nice to be on the first page for a day. It probably won’t last, but at least I can now say I’ve been there. Cheers, loyal Currents readers.
Beyond Robson Vancouver blogger Sean Orr and I aren’t exactly best buds. We’ve certainly had our, um, differences of opinion.
But I was sorry to see a fair number of Vancouver blogosphere blogger trolls kicking him in the nuts this week in the comments section. I’m coming a little late to the discussion, since I was so busy with work stuff that the Vancouver blogosphere and Vancouver bloggers haven’t gotten a whole lot of time from me lately. But the whole “ESL students may or may not be cool and therefore I must be a xenophobe” thing is such a red herring. Take issue with Orr’s negative vibes if you like, Vancouver bloggers (keeping in mind that he’s hardly the first Vancouver blogger pessimist to publish online), but let’s not throw out spurious aspersions.
By the way, to any Vancouver blogger who visit this site today, please note that as an SEO experiment, I have inserted the phrase, Vancouver blogger, a whole shwack of times just to see if a single post can draw in significant Google ranking for search terms to a blog that is otherwise not always entirely dedicated to the comings and goings of Vancouver bloggers. Feel free to post comments or links to this post including “Vancouver blogger” and we’ll see in the next 48 hours just how effective good old keywords are; by that, I mean the keywords inserted knowingly by a Vancouver blogger.
The Manley Panel has delivered its verdict on what Canada should do in Afghanistan, but reporters are already having trouble interpreting its main recommendations. Either that, or certain reporters are pushing their own opinions and cherry-picking clauses in the report to support their own agendas.
Well, that’s two out of three, anyway. I’ll have to have a look at the actual text of the report, but the overall theme of reportage shows the Manley Report’s guiding ideas seem to largely follow along the lines of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee’s own call to action:
Two men are dead after a shooting in a downtown Vancouver restaurant. I was with friends just a few blocks away when the incident happened and was less than pleased to learn after I got home that my life could have been put at risk by morons carrying lethal weapons. Stray bullets have already claimed innocent lives in this city. Most of these thugs with guns are simply bad shots, which makes them a threat to more than their criminal rivals.
Gun control may not be a viable option for preventing these kinds of crimes when our country is right next door to one of the biggest arms markets in the world. But minimum sentencing of 10 years or more for crimes involving firearms, regardless of whether anyone is hurt or killed, might just keep a few idiots from carrying these weapons. It might even help keep these menaces behind bars longer, which is always a benefit to the public.
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