New Media

Several douche-bag members of Critical Mass stopped my wife and I from making a turn on the street today on our way home from work. We weren’t attempting to drive through their bike rally, mind you. We were just driving near them (They were actually blocking traffic in all four directions). That was enough to prompt several of their moronic contingent to put hands on our vehicle and grin at us like coked-out chimps.

When I got out of the car to get them to stand aside, they only leaned in closer to stop us from proceeding. Then one pushed me.

I have no intention of charging him with assault. But I do charge him with the offense of being a bullying loser who wouldn’t have the guts to try the same thing if he didn’t have a contingent of his friends to back him up.

Critical Mass is not traffic. It’s a collection of selfish jerks. And in case you think I’m just an isolated crank, here are a few other opinions I’ve gathered quite easily from Critical Mass’ own Facebook page:

Kasia

I’m all for bikes, I think bikes are sweet, I have a bunch myself. I’m all for going green, that’s awesome too. But blocking off Stanley Park and the bridge is the dumbest, stupidest thing ever. It just makes motorists hate cyclists more, not to mention half the city is trapped in traffic. People can’t get home to pick up their children from school, make dinner for their families, or just get to whever they were going without having to sit in traffic for 2 hours. And what’s worse, you don’t represent the real roadies: the ones who wear helmets, abide by the law, and yet still get treated like crap because all you people have lost all respect for cyclists in Vancouver. So do everyone a favour, and display your movement in such a way that yields positive results and does not make the whole city angry.

And this one from a guy who I like because he has the same name as me (different spelling, though)…

Jonathan

If Critical Mass does not stop doing the Lions Gate Bridge I will never attend again.
Shutting down the bridge for over an hour is the most stupid obnoxious and cruel thing it could ever do.
Making hard working people suffer in traffic for that amount of time so that douche with a bullhorn can yell about no blood for oil is an insult to the human race. I hate cars and carbon emissions and the fact that we as a species are about to go extinct, but there is no reason to make people suffer in the mean time.
Consider the effects of your actions! Since that is exactly what the mass is supposed to be all about.

And for full disclosure, I ride a bike too. And when I do so, I obey the traffic laws, just like all the car traffic around me.

I’m traffic. You’re not, Critical Mass.

These are bad times all around. I can already count a number of close friends and colleagues who have already suffered the loss of a job or even the closing of a business. It’s scary economic news out there and I’ve been hoping for something positive to happen that would spark some matching cautious optimism that seems to be the mood among our American cousins.

So I’m heartened by the news from Ottawa that our days of political uncertainty are over. I’m glad that the Conservatives devised a budget that went some ways to deliver relief and I’m also glad the courageous new leader of the Liberals, Michael Ignatieff, has chosen to put his country’s stability ahead of his own ambition. The Bloc and NDP can be counted on to curse their sour grapes and I expected nothing good from them in any case.

We’re not out of the woods yet. I still worry about our situation. But I do feel better than I did yesterday.

In my work for a range of clients, I often have to write various types of communications not only in the voice of that client, but with a degree of detailed technical expertise that one might think would require a minimum of training in that field.

Not so. In my years of “faking it” (and that’s really at bottom what what writing for others comes down to), I’ve learned to follow this proverb that I first heard a long time ago and have probably rendered incorrectly ever since:

“The secret to sounding smart is to imagine what someone much smarter than yourself would say… and then say that.”

It’s fun! And you can do it, too!

In the comments section, please write a paragraph on a topic of which you actually know nothing. Social media, marine biology, politics, coffee-making… whatever you like.

Write your passage in such a way that most people will naturally assume you know what you’re talking about. Except the actual experts. They’ll want to beat you (in which case, perhaps martial arts is a topic you’ll want to stay away from).

I will announce the winner of this contest of “most expert sounding paragraph from a non-expert” at some point in the future. Possibly Monday. Maybe in a month.

Best wishes to our American friends as the new leader of the free world takes office.

Good luck to them.

Good luck to us.

Broken economy got you down? Worried about where you’ll be in five weeks (forget five years)? Or just about to head out into the work force for the first time? Times are tough, but technology is making the always nerve-wracking process of finding a gig a little easier.

Vancouver social media guru Monica Hamburg has put together a phenomenal compilation of social networking sites for job seekers to find that hidden job market at Me Like The InterWeb.

Just one problem, and I say this as a convert to the incredible opportunities offered by social media and as a good friend of the author: between blogging, Twittering, Facebook-friending and all the rest of these very cool ways of connecting with employers, isn’t it way too easy to get caught up with all of these fun things and neglect the brass tacks of a traditional job search (eg. researching companies, adapting and revising your resume, tracking down the person you’re supposed to talk with, submitting your credentials and following up with a phone call)?

I know from personal experience that it’s easy to get immersed in social media sites and blogging, taking significant time away from activities that would have a chance of getting me famous or making me money. There’s only so much time in the day. Where I’ve succeeded in converting my social media efforts into “real-life” opportunities, I’ve made a conscious and dedicated effort to connect in more traditional ways with people and organizations where I’ve created links in my social networks. That last step, so basic and obvious, is not always followed-up without deliberate strategy.

My advice to those just getting started with new media apps would be to make sure you’re managing your time. New media can bring you opportunities. But I’d also caution that after a certain point, unless your business is directly related to social media, a law of diminishing returns seems to come into effect.