I came across this article today that I thought was strange and reeked of intimidation or worry by Facebook. 

My big question is “when did the use of the word “book” become a trademark by Facebook? Does that mean we are going have to start calling “Books” by a different name? What are we going to call a notebook? Are Blueline, Mead or Cambridge next up for the courts? I mean, Facebook might think that everyone could start writing status updates in them and mailing them to their friends or leaving them in designated bins for people to pick up and write their status in there.

What about Notebook software? Is Smart Technologies next in line for suing? What about the bluebook and your little blackbook? Where is this going to stop?

Next thing you know, YouTube will start kicking RedTube’s ass and taking TeacherTube to task over their use of the word “Tube” in their names.

NOTE: I didn’t link to Redtube for a reason. The word “Red” is there for a reason so if you want to go visit it you can go there yourself.

Now, I can understand Apple not allowing anyone to use that “i” in front of a product name…that is a little obvious in being an infringement. Same with McDonalds not allowing that “Mc” in front of a product that might get confused with their product. Those are pretty straight forward.

But “book”? I would think that Facebook would take the use of “book” in Teachbook as flattery. Isn’t imitation the best form of flattery? Besides, is anyone really going to get confused between Facebook and Teachbook. Isn’t this the same sort of situation as Youtube and Teachertube?

Get off your high horse Facebook and be happy that what you have created demands to be imitated in a different forum. Spend your time, effort and money in fixing your own product. Stop taking liberties with people’s privacy. Concentrate on your own issues and leave others alone.

Let me explain. I live on the corner of a 4 way stop at the start of a school zone. I walk to work and back home twice a day and my entire 3 block walk is in the school zone. At least once a week I am nearly hit when crossing at one of the 4 crosswalks along the route.

The school zones in Yellowknife have a speed limit of 30kph that is in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. 365 days a year the school zones have this supposedly enforced speed limit. I call BS. Most days along this route I can guarantee that 50% of the drivers don’t do the speed limit. In fact, in the evenings I would think I lived near a freeway with the speed that some people drive. Do the city by-law people seem to do anything about it? No! I think in the 4 years I have walked the school zone I have seen a ghost car (that everyone knows) maybe 6 or 8 times parked in the open for everyone to see hoping to pick off a speeder. Occasionally they get one and then call it a day and it might be 6 months until we see them again.

The same thing with the 4 way stop by my house. After 6:00pm I have watched and counted numbers as high of 80% of the cars not stopping at the stop signs. Does by-law do anything about this? About 2 or 3 times a year, that obvious ghost car sits across the street from my house watching the corner and they will sit for maybe 5 or 10 minutes while drinking a coffee or coke.

Every now and then they take off after someone to collect some money for the Christmas fund but most times they get bored after their few minutes of watching and off they go. Probably to refill the coffee cup or get a new coke.

So today was the first day of school for the Catholic Schools. The route I walk is the route that has 3 schools along it and 2 of them are Catholic schools. With the first day of school it seems that the by-law officers were prepared to crack down on speeders. The ghastly ghost car was sitting in plain view as I left for work this morning. As I arrived at work he took off after a speeder.

Just before lunch time the by-law enforcement team showed up in my parking lot…3 officers and 2 cars. They set up shop in our parking lot with one officer holding a radar gun and one of the cars sitting at the ready to flag speeders down. Awesome! As I was arriving back from lunch the crew just broke camp and were headed away. I am not sure how many speeders they caught but hopefully they were able to slow a few people down.

Much to my surprise, the crew showed up again around the time that school was getting out for the day and they spent another 45 minutes with the radar gun. Again awesome! So after walking the same route for 4 years the by-law enforcement decided to actually take the radar guns out of moth balls. This was only the third time I have seen them set up so it was good to see.

Now that they have been out I hope this is something that I don’t have to wait 4 years again to see. This route is abused with speed and by-law needs to spend more time slowing people down in this area. This stretch of road has as many as 1600 students attending school and the way people drive along here I am surprised that someone hasn’t been injured. Now, if only by-law will be as diligent on the 4 way stops it will make my home stretch of road a lot safer.

Good job today by-law guys. Keep it up. And thanks for making me change my post.

With this ability to access information anywhere and any time, people need to know that what they say online can (and probably will) be seen by anyone at any time after it is posted. It may not be read right after it is posted but it is available to read anytime…even years into the future. You have to be aware of that. If it is on the internet it is there for everyone to read.

A couple of items piqued my interest this week when it came to the power of social media. First off there was a blog in Edmonton that received a nasty response from an Artistic Director/Actor of a local theatre company. An attempt to resolve the issue privately failed as another blogger was basically told the same thing. I won’t go into the details of the whole thing as you can read them at the links in this paragraph. The second blogger decided to write a post responding to the initial and subsequent nasty responses and posted this on his blog. He then sent a tweet out to announce his blog post as he always does.

This tweet was re-tweeted over 100 times and who knows how many times after that it was re-tweeted or the link to the posts tweeted or added to other blogs. The first blogger also wrote a response which also received much attention. Between the 2 blogs there were over 230 comments left by others wanting to leave their opinion on the matter.

The blog posts ended up going far and wide as people from various regions of Canada and the USA along with Australia ended up commenting with their thoughts on the matter. In addition, the Edmonton Journal, The Globe and Mail and iNews 880 in Edmonton all did a piece on the whole thing. There are even notes on the actor’s Wikipedia page detailing the controversy. So from a local blog post with someone’s opinions we have people around the world participating. This is social media at work…at its’ best and worst.

Also during the week I was shown an article about how a teacher in the Boston area lost her job because she posted something about the parents/students of her school on Facebook that she thought was private. Imagine her shock to find out that parents read what she posted and brought it to the schools attention. Needless to say it cost her her teaching job at that school and it will be something that future employers will look at before she is hired again.

So what do we get from this? We have found out the power of this new media. We have found out that anyone can find anything if it is posted online. We have found out that it is very easy for information to reach around the world. And most importantly…once it is out there for the world to see it is out there forever.

Erin Bury’s quote above speaks volumes about how people need to be aware of what they post online. If you have an opinion on a topic, there will be thousands more with their own opinions and many are willing to share those opinions. The best advice in addition to Erin’s that I have heard about your online presence is you have to make sure that you wouldn’t say or do anything online that you wouldn’t want your mom to see or read.

So, it has been way too long since I have posted. I have always had lots to say. I mean, I am an opinionated person. It isn’t that I am always right (although I usually am), it is that I have something to say about anything I am interested in or that catches my interest. I am also interested in what others think about the subjects that I chose to post on.

The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is in the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

So in the past couple of months I have had several people who used to read my posts ask me if I was going to start writing again. 2 of my readers even went as far as saying that my writings on my struggles to lose weight and control my diabetes was an inspiration to them to either lose weight or live more healthy. For those thoughts I am humbled.

So, I have my computer set up and I will be back posting and hopefully people will come back and read what I have to say. You may not always agree with what I post but your opinion is as valuable to society as mine so either way, please leave me comments. It is this interaction that makes blogs and social medias successful.

Many, I think, were expecting a MacBook Air without the keyboard portion. What they got was a large iPhone/iPod Touch. So if this is not really a Mac then what is the purpose of it? I am not a Mac lover by any stretch of the imagination but I could understand Apple making a device that ran OS 10.5 (or whatever the latest version is) that relied completely on the touch screen. In fact I would have even thought that to be partially worthwhile. But what did they give their fan base? A large iPhone/iPod Touch.

I know the Twitterverse was a buzz with tweets last week with over 177,000 tweets on the iPad in the first hour alone. Many people we super excited about the device but my biggest question is why? What is the purpose of the device? If I have an iPhone or iPod Touch then what would be the reason to buy one? The only advantage I can see is the larger screen for web browsing but really, is it worth the money just for that? I know there will be some games developed over the next while to take advantage of the touch screen and the ability to play driving games while using your iPad as the steering wheel. But really is it worth it?

Where are the USB ports for me to hook additional storage? Where is my web camera so that I can Skype my friends and family? I know, you can add a webcam…no wait, that would require a USB port which there are none. Where is my replaceable battery so I can carry a spare in case I run out of power on the fly?

So someone, anyone, please tell me what the purpose of the iPad is. Tell me why I should/must have one because right now I really don’t see what the fuss is all about. I have my iPhone and it does everything the iPad does unless I am missing something.

Technorati Tags: Apple – Apple Inc. – iPhone – iPod – iPod Touch – iPad

I went to the new market on Saturday as part of my Saturday grocery shopping routine and was quite happy with what I saw. I had heard that Le Stock Pot was moving their kitchen supplies over to the new store and there was indeed an entire section for all the high quality knives, pots & pan and other kitchen gadgets that were available at the old location.

The market also has a bright produce section right up front with a dairy case at the back and shelves of the same kinds of oils, vinegars, relishes, jams, condiments of all sorts and other food stuffs that we were used to seeing at Le Stock Pot. There is also a butcher section for fresh meats, a Deli area for sliced meats and cheeses, an Antipasto section that has various dips & spreads like hummus, antipasto, salsa, spinach dip etc., a salad bar and a cafe that serves sandwiches and coffees. They also have a section with bulk coffee beans and a rack full of linens that used to be in a small room at the old store.

Here are my thoughts on what I saw. I liked most of the layout of the store. The produce was up front which was nice although with it up front they are going to have to make sure that it is always full and fresh. A less than brilliant looking produce section might just send customers away before they even get into the store. The dairy case was just another dairy case and unless they are going to carry things like rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, greek yogourts and other specialty items then it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the items in the store.

I liked the Deli section. It will make for some good competition with the deli at the Co-op and is a lot larger than the old one at Le Stock Pot. Again, instead of carrying the same things as the Co-op they need to make sure that while items may be similar that they keep a variety of items not found anywhere else. I was very pleased with the produce on this visit. The product was fresh and everything that I purchased or checked prices on was a fair bit cheaper than the same product at the Yellowknife Co-op or Extra Foods. For example: Red Peppers were $4.50/kg at Nico’s and were both over $11.00/kg at the other 2 stores; Bananas were $1.23/kg at Nico’s while they were $1.70 at Extra Foods and $1.93/kg at the Co-op; a large Cauliflower at Nico’s cost me $2.58 while the same thing at Extra Foods would have been $3.59 and $3.49 at the Co-op; an Avocado at Nico’s cost me $0.79 while the same one at the Co-op would have been $2.59. Quite a price difference if you ask me and as long as they keep it up, the consumer will be the benefactors as the other 2 grocery stores will be forced to drop their prices.

The salad bar product was good and fresh and the antipasto bar had a good variety of items again all looked pretty fresh. The kitchen section was large and bright which is good and bad. There are lots of items but probably the same amount of items that was at the old store. I kind of like the small cramped area at Le Stock Pot though and I found it a little more intimate.

Ok, a couple of things that I didn’t really like. The first was butcher shop area. While the area was a continuation of the deli, the product looked like it had been sitting a while. The beef and pork looked like it had started to dry and the skin on the chicken looked like it had started to darken and the salmon filets didn’t look as nice as the ones I buy at Extra Foods. I also didn’t like the location of the cafe. It is situated up front beside the check-outs with its 2 tables and seemed to add to the congestion of the area. The items at the cafe look good and they are made fresh so that is always a positive. The last thing that I didn’t like was that they were not ready to go at the tills. I spent half an hour walking around the store looking at what was there. When I got to the till it took another half hour to check out and there were only 5 people in front of me. It appears that many of the items were not in the computer and check-outs were slowed as people had to check prices. I had 8 items to purchase and 6 of the 8 items had to be searched for as prices were not in the computer. Not a good way to end a first visit. One last thing, exiting the Center Ice Plaza parking lot is like exiting the mall that M & M Meats is located in. Almost impossible to turn left and turning right takes you no where unless that is the direction you live. It is only going to get worse as new stores open at the Plaza.

In all, Nico’s Market will be on my regular shopping schedule once the bugs are worked out. I think I will leave the Butcher Shop alone too until I see a busy, regular turnover in the product. I think that Nico’s gives the people of Yellowknife a viable alternative to shop and they offer a good variety of specialty items the other stores don’t carry. It will definitely be interesting to see how this venture turns out. I hope it is a success. You can read more about the market at YKOnline.

Technorati Tags: Yellowknife – Nico’s Market – Le Stock Pot – Le Frolic – L’Heritage – groceries – shopping – produce

For many years I had been over weight. I knew it and everyone I knew also knew it. I had several people including a doctor tell me over the years that I needed to lose weight. All those years and as much as I knew it, I didn’t have the desire to lose weight. Sure, I had those half hearted attempts at weight loss. But somewhere deep down I didn’t have the want or desire to stay with it. I knew (or thought I did) the potential health problems that could occur with continuing to be over weight yet I still did nothing.

When I found out that I had diabetes I knew that my weight probably had a lot to do with it. I knew before that my weight had caused issues with high blood pressure and cholesterol but this time it was different. This time the doctor told me I had to lose weight and something inside me clicked. This time I really had the desire to lose weight.

I don’t know if the thought of diabetes was the actual trigger or it was just the time when I really wanted to change things. It might have been the combination of being scared of the diabetes (although I am not sure why the high blood pressure or cholesterol didn’t scare me) and the desire to start feeling less tired and have more energy.

I know that all those years I didn’t do it for my kids even though they suggested it. I didn’t do it for Mrs. EB who thought it might be a good thing. I didn’t do it for my doctors who had strongly suggested it. For some reason I didn’t want to do it and so the weight continued to pack on. It packed on to a point that I was almost double the weight that the BMI chart showed I should be. It packed on to the point that I was considered morbidly obese. Yet I still did nothing until that day in May 2008 when I said “I want to lose weight and get healthy and I want to do it for me”.

That day was the beginning of my life-long (or the remainder of it, although I don’t plan on going) journey to be a healthier me. 85 lbs have been shed, 10 inches have been lost from the waist line, my body fat has been cut in half, my chronic snoring has disappeared and I have the energy to do things that I used to run out of breath doing. I actually weigh now what I did when I graduated high school all those many years ago.

In the end you have to lose weight because YOU want to and YOU have the desire to do so. If it isn’t for YOU then you won’t succeed.

Technorati Tags: weight loss – health issues – healthy living – you – obese

It was at this conference that I first heard about the idea of Con Mine being used to help heat the downtown core of Yellowknife using geothermal heat. What an interesting concept. Con Mine was one of the 2 gold mines that used to operate in Yellowknife and was closed in 2003. Since one of the mine tunnels runs close to the downtown core it would make sense to use the energy to heat this area.

Back in early 2008 the city had a feasibility study done which showed that Con Mine has the potential to be used as a heat resource for the City of Yellowknife. The resource, if developed could significantly reduce the City’s dependency on fossil fuel, make savings on energy costs, and reduce carbon emissions. This would be a great use of an alternate energy source.

The City of Yellowknife then submitted a plan to the federal government’s $1-billion Clean Energy Fund asking for funds to cover half the project’s estimated cost of $32 million.

It was announced by Natural Resources Canada and reported by CBC today that the city has been successful along with 18 other applicants to share in up to $146 million over the next 5 years. The Northern Application of a Geothermal District Heating System Project with the lead proponent being the City of Yellowknife was listed as one of the projects that is to receive between $10 and $20 million over the next 5 years. This is great news and this is something that will help to reduce energy costs and green house gases in Northern Canada; a place that is famous for its clean, clear air.

All that remains now is for a written contribution agreement to be signed by both parties, and until this is done there is no commitment or obligation existing on the part of the Government of Canada to make a financial contribution to these projects. We will keep our fingers crossed that the “t”s are crossed, the “i”s are dotted and the John Hancocks are added to the signature lines real soon so that this project can start to progress as a viable source of alternative energy. Great job and vision by the City of Yellowknife.

Technorati Tags: City of Yellowknife – fossil fuel – Natural Resources Canada – Clean Energy Fund – clean energy – Yellowknife – geothermal – Con Mine

So in no particular order these are the secrets that I found to losing weight. I might have missed some off the top of my head and I will elaborate on the ones I mention plus others that occur to me in further posts but this will at least get you thinking. If you are interested in knowing more about what I have done before my posts or want to understand the various points more fully before I elaborate on them then just leave me comment and I will try to send you an e-mail or base my next health post on that topic.

• You need the “want and desire” to lose weight for yourself.
• Stop eating white foods and limit the processed or fast foods
• Read the food labels
• Weigh everything you eat that is not in a specified serving size
• Record absolutely everything you eat
• Walk
• Talk to your doctor
• Weigh yourself weekly and consistently

This looks like a long list but for the most part it is something that can easily be accomplished. Once you have adopted the right mindset then it becomes second nature and part of everyday life. I hope my success will help get you inspired to become a healthier you.

Technorati Tags: food labels – serving size – second nature – losing weight – mindset – weight loss – health – healthy living

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The Yellowknife Education District #1 (YK1) made the same decision 4 years ago and it is a decision that I have to manage and defend on an almost daily basis as the Manager of Information Technology Services. What Lee Stem, the general manager of IT services at TDSB, talks about with cost savings with the current trend of applications moving to the web is right on the mark. Mac computers cost roughly double what an equivalent or even higher level PC costs. Since both platforms can do the same things and with the emergence of web based applications anyway, the hardware is becoming less important every day. Having an internet connection with a computer running a browser is all you need for much of what people need to do.

At YK1 we started to take it even one step further. In one of our schools we set up a lab of PCs running virtual desktops that will cut costs even further and if successful (as it has been so far) we will look to implement it district wide. The virtual desktops will allow us to get away from PCs or Macs in the labs and use dumb terminals when we evergreen our existing labs. It will also allow us to use our existing equipment longer that we currently do. Why? Because all that is needed to run the virtual desktop is a network connection. The computer will boot to a virtual desktop hosted on the server and the students will be given a Windows desktop with all the applications they need.

This will save additional money because computers can be used much longer, and instead of having to update and upgrade operating systems and programs on each computer we just have to create an image and make sure that one image is up to date and in a matter of seconds we can push that out to the server for use in the lab. A student can log off, for example, having just used a Windows Vista desktop and login in again and get a Windows 7 desktop. Absolutely the greatest thing. As an IT department we will just have to make sure a computer turns on and has a network connection; no more problems with software installations or problems.

Another great thing is that our students will be able to access the virtual server from home using a browser (again there is no need for it to be a PC, Mac or even Linux computer specifically) their login using their AD credentials and get the same desktop at home that they get in the school. This allows them to start work or projects at the school and finish them at home without having to worry whether or not they have the same software.

Unfortunately we live in a time of increased cuts to funding in education (but that is a subject for another post) so we are all looking for ways to cut costs whether it is by using free or inexpensive web applications, standardizing to a less expensive platform or using virtual systems. I can say from 4 years of experience that the TDSB made the right decision and are on the road to cutting costs which in the long run will benefit the students.

Technorati Tags: toronto district school board – information technology services – tdsb – yellowknife – YK1 – computers – virtual desktops – education