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June 29, 2003
Pollenation...
I'm starting to contribute to my other blog, pollenation, that I share with Salmon. It has been quiet since January, but there are some things I need to do with it for the handbook, so it is time to play. If you know about Jeff Noon, you might find it interesting. If not... well, you might find the blog ZeroCostComputing interesting. I share that one with Jasjit and Julia Dicum for discussing issues pertaining to... well, ZeroCostComputing and Appropriate Digital Technology. The three Js are meeting for brunch on monday to discuss a publication we're planning relating to it. Oh, ya. And I saw the Matrix on an Imax screen. Very pretty. Pretty vacant. Should blog on it."
Posted by jason at 06:35 PM
June 28, 2003
Jr Panic Time Today.
Rochelle dropped by today, and we (Yuka and I) accompanied her to the UofT bookstore to pick up her iPod and old laptop. Both weren't available, but there was an art opening going on in the computer department. Many of the staff were showing their work. Juice and cheese was served. After that, we three wended our way through Kensington Market, doing some shopping, and stopping by the Moonbeam Cafe. Fun times. While we relaxed back at our place, we were fiddling with computers, and I said, ""Hey, lets pop my spare wireless networking card into your brand new iBook, so you can go online."" And I did. And pop! Her trackpad was dead. She laughed nerviously. That is Rochelle. I freaked quietly. Tried everything, and finally decided to lend her one of my old iBooks while her new one went back into the shop. Obviously some serious problem that wasn't my fault. Though I felt like it was my fault. Well, it was. So I tried one more thing... while everyone watched nerviously. I popped off the cover for the memory slot, and found that the trackpad fastener hadn't been closed properly. Probably when new ram was inserted when Rochelle bought the computer. It was installed at the store. I quickly fastened it down, rebooted, and prayed. Bingo! All was fixed and running. And Rochelle ran off to catch her ride home to Guelph. And I collapsed in to a heap of pigeon droppings."
Posted by jason at 06:04 PM
June 27, 2003
iChat AV
rochelle, Ben, Larry and I have been playing with the new iChat AV beta from Apple. Aside from the normal text message, it allows for voice over internet to whomever you're chatting with. The quality is amazing. No special microphones. Just talk to your computer. Much better than anything I've ever tried aside from the $16k polycom unit at KMDI that I use sometimes. I don't have the video camera to go with it, but perhaps I will get one as soon as I have the funds."
Posted by jason at 05:44 PM
June 26, 2003
PhotoOp.
Here are a couple of photographs of wonderful Toronto that Yuka and I have taken over the past week or so... Mostly from the Toronto Islands... Kayaking, blossoms, the ugly building going up across the road at OCAD. And some family shots. The BenCam, and Rochelle and Jason's Apple Computer menagerie."
Posted by jason at 10:01 AM
June 25, 2003
Stoned for SARS
Roll in the Stones-The Globe and Mail The Rolling Stones are coming to Toronto as part of an $11.5-million, eight-hour rock extravaganza meant to shake the city free of its SARS-tainted international image."
Posted by jason at 08:20 AM
June 23, 2003
Cosmo!
Just added Cosmo's journal to the blogroll on the left. Cos' has been with me working on online stuff since the mid-90s."
Posted by jason at 05:57 PM
June 22, 2003
Drive By...
Was out in a cafe on queen street, doing some re-writing/editing. The place is a zoo (not that zoo. pictures coming of today...) because of the Much Music Video/Music Awards. A nice zoo... queen street is closed and people are milling about. Anyway, people in the cafe jumped up and ran off, so I looked outside. Avril Lavigne drove by in an electic blue 1960s stretch something. She was driving, so I guess she's old enough to now. As I walked home, Our Lady Peace were singing their hearts out for the crowd, but that's all I heard."
Posted by jason at 10:25 PM
Migration
Spend yesterday editing, and cleaning the balcony to its summer glory, and folding laundry. Also found a bug in Moveabletype that I'm working through with Gary. Oh, and finished moving Yuka and Ben's web sites to new servers. Yuka's going to get her own English language blog finally. This morning, it is time to go to the Toronto ZOOOOOOO with Yuka."
Posted by jason at 09:36 AM
June 19, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
re-membering the future - an improvisational dance event A performance by my buddy Ken Emig, for any of you in the Ottawa area. Do you remember the future? Four on the Floor Dance presents: re-membering the future - an improvisational dance event Dance Network 111a Rideau Street, 3rd Floor Ottawa, Ontario Friday, June 20, Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22 at 8:00 pm For tickets and further show information call 613-237-0790 Ottawa (June 11, 2003) ? Do you remember the future? Are you surprised when you do? This is not a self-help course for the absent-minded. This is an exploration. Ottawa?s Four on the Floor Dance has been investigating dance improvisation for over 5 years. They use a multi-disciplinary approach to their work including dance, sport, theatre and visual arts. The performance, ?re-membering the future?, explores the notion that events that happen to us often have their roots in the past. To ?re-member? is to put together the details of the future as they happen ? something that lies at the heart of improvisational performance. The performers challenge is to recognize recurrences as they happen, in the moment, and to do more than simply repeat them, or let them pass us by unnoticed. These fleeting images are woven together to forge a physical expression of ideas and emotions. ?The goal for the group over this research period has been to notice our own patterns, habits, and preferences, and to build upon them to create more complete versions of who we are, alone and in relation to others,? says artistic director Peter Ryan. ?Re-membering the future?, an improvisational dance event featuring solo and trio works will take place at Dance Network Studios on Rideau Street from Friday, June 20th through Sunday, June 22nd at 8:00 pm each evening. Four on the Floor is Julie Cezer, Kenneth Emig, Elizabeth MacKinnon, under the direction of Peter Ryan. For more information contact: Kenneth Emig telephone: (613) 231-2238 e-mail: kengela@cyberus.ca -30-"
Posted by jason at 09:38 PM
Let's Start: Internet English Site
Suzuki Yasuyuki just sent me a wonderful copy of his book Let's Start: Internet English Sites on how to view English web sites, the book talks about how to look at information, unpack design issues, and how to function online in English spaces. I helped him on a book he's developing on the topic of blogging. Thanks Yasuyuki!"
Posted by jason at 11:37 AM
The Influence of ASCII on the Construction of Internet-based Knowledge.
Just finished the final final revisions of ""The Influence of ASCII on the Construction of Internet-based Knowledge."" (.doc file) for Jim Hewitt's forthcoming book OISE-UT Paper in Technology Education Dave Goulden provided his usual wisdom and insight and helped me correct some stuff that I'd not really made clear enough."
Posted by jason at 10:39 AM
June 18, 2003
Fun... wow! Deleting Blogs!
I just deleted all the blogs, with minor exceptions, from Roger's fall class, and my KMD1000 class. I left anything on that had been updated since April 2003 though. Nuking 60 odd accounts/blogs seems strange, but I want to keep things clean, and I just added about 20 blogs for Gary's class at Nodak. Sigh... cleaning up is so hard to do. I also took the BBQ apart today and cleaned off all the rust and re-assembled it, vacuumed the balcony, and I should get 3 loads of laundry done. So, even if I nuked your account, the content is still there, and I can rebuild the account and you can continue. Email me if you want access to your blog back. If the directory is gone, ie you can't view it. Then it is gone."
Posted by jason at 02:15 PM
Summer Jobs
Missed the opportunity for a nice summer job, by one day, with Adult Ed @ OISE. Hmmmm.... going to be a quiet summer, which may in itself be good."
Posted by jason at 01:19 PM
June 16, 2003
Snap'n Drag
I just downloaded Snap'n Drag: Snap'nDrag for MacOS X - Screen Capture Made Easy. Screen capture is when you take a picture of your screen. It is very necessary when showing web designers what their content looks like on your computer. Or for anyone for that matter who says, ""Well, it looks ok on MY screen."" But Apple's OS X does not do as good a job of screen capture than older versions did, because it saves the captures as PDF files, not gifs of JPGs. This tool should help."
Posted by jason at 07:47 AM
From Explorer to Safari...
jimmygrewal.com tells us that Jimmy is leaving his work at Microsoft, and that MS will no longer be developing Internet Explorer for Apple. We will all be expected to use Safari now. That's a goood thing for me, because I like Safari. But who is Jimmy? Things I need to know. According to the article linked to from Jimmy's page, Microsoft will not be making any new standalone versions of IE for Windows computers either. It will be integrated with the operating system. Isn't that what they got sued for a long time ago?"
Posted by jason at 07:41 AM
June 15, 2003
Disaster Pizza
Ben and Simsim were over for Za last night. Ben's sporting his new digitial camera and Kensington computer case. I'd been out sport climbing with Iain, someone I knew from my grad days at York, and now my body was about to collapse into whatever it is that it collapses into after climbing for the first time in 6 months. Couple of bottles of real Rose, pictures of our holidays, munchies, et al. and then a break to put the pizza together. Chat chat, flaten the dough, chat chat, make up the sauce and spread it, chat chat, topings on, chat chat... ""Oh, shit. forgot the cheese!"". Panic ensued. Everything I know about pizza says cheese goes after the sauce. Otherwise the combination will just not come together, the cheese locking in the moisture. Result, soggy pizza. Moan. But pretty good soggy pizza."
Posted by jason at 09:37 AM
June 10, 2003
Conference Picture Gallery
I just put up 20 odd pictures of the members of the Dracula Conference, in Sighisoara Romania. Some good ones of Yuka and Elizabeth Miller, et al. (click on the picture)"
Posted by jason at 02:34 PM
June 07, 2003
Vampire Conference Crew...
Yuka just got this piscutre developed. It is the final dinner, and about 1/2 the presenters are there. And some others. "
Posted by jason at 07:54 PM
June 06, 2003
Influence of ASCII
I just finished a the *final* draft chapter for the forthcoming book OISE-UT Paper in Technology Education called ""The Influence of ASCII on the Construction of Internet-based Knowledge."" If anyone wants to read it and provide any comments, that would be great."
Posted by jason at 02:10 PM
June 05, 2003
Me in the Dracula theme park.
I just got sent a picture of me taken while we were touring the massive plateau outside of Sighisoara, Romania where the Dracula theme park was to go. There are hundreds of century old oaks. I'll find some colour pictures."
Posted by jason at 08:27 AM
June 04, 2003
Harrow Anthology...
I'm art editor for The Harrow: Anthology: Fear of the Unknown. Anyone want to contribute art or fiction?"
Posted by jason at 08:25 PM
Updating MT on the server.
Just a warning to anyone whose blog I'm hosting. I wouldn't update your blog for the next couple of days. I'm still updating the software and the server, and I may have to restore from backups if something goes wrong. Actually, you can update the blogs, but keep a backup of your blog on your server, using the 'export' function. I'll let you know when I'm done."
Posted by jason at 11:55 AM
Panda Movies
Here are four short (15 second) panda movies that I took at the Vienna Zoo:1, 2, 3, 4. I took them with my digital camera, so that they're not that good. But that they exist is important enough. They're about 4 megs each, and they're in .mov format. [The pandas are YangYang (Sunshine) and LongHui (DragonSign), though they have Viennese names as well , I think.]"
Posted by jason at 08:53 AM
June 03, 2003
Clive Leatherdale
Going to meet Clive Leatherdale tonight at Elizabeth Miller's house. Clive publishes not only Elizabeth at Desert Island Books, but his own work. I've got Dracula Unearthed which is a great annotated edition. He's also reprinted a lot of Stoker's lesser known works, and a bit of 18th C Vampire research. Gonna get my copy autographed..."
Posted by jason at 06:20 AM
Changes to Edublog's Blogs
Hey hey... if you have a blog on the edublog.com or jasonnolan.net servers, there are changes afoot. First, I successfully repartitioned the hard drives and reinstalled the contents from backup. This has been a problem for a year, as the server only has a 6 gig drive, which came to me partitioned, and I had no time to fix it back then. That caused lots of problems for updating the OS and keeping it working smoothly. But I waited until the end of the year, so that if things went wrong, not too many students would be discomfited. Next I am going to update MoveableType to the current version, which I know Roger's been waiting for, and I'll attach it to a MySQL database, which will make managing it that much easier. I hope. Finally I'm going to try and move Project Achieve and all the stuff on the achieve sevrver over to Edublog, so I have everything on one easy to maintain computer. The old edublog hardware is a bit hard to update and maintain, versus Edublog, which is an old iMac. If that works, I have no idea what to do with the Achieve server. It is only an old Pentium II/350, but it has 512 megs of ram and 36gigs of SCSI drives. Great for highspeed internet storage."
Posted by jason at 06:14 AM
Thoughts on the Dracula Conference...
This is the tough part... trying to encapsulate an entire week into a post. Of course I can't, but that won't stop me from doing something similar. The conference: This was a strange fish. The conference that is. It was hosted by the Transylvanian Society of Dracula (TSD), of which Yuka and I are now members. This is a global organization based in Romania. Many members are Romanian academics in the fields of botany, physics, history and folklore. I hope I can give some info on them in another post. Visitors from abroad included members from Germany, Scotland, England, America, and Canada. The anticipated Japanese participant withdrew for fear of SARS. He was worried that being Asian, people might think he was spreading it. But his paper was read on his behalf. The conference itself was held in beautiful chambers in the Sighisoara town hall, one of the more august buildings in the citadel. The mayor opened the proceedings, and hosted us in a reception. The building is lovely, even more so for having a bar, nightclub and cybercafe in the basement at one side. And inside it looked like the most obvious hold over from the socialist era, down to the guards and the funky canteen. The meeting room itself was wonderful, and a bit over the top for a conference, but we lived up to it. More than half the presentations were from the Romanians, and thus had to be translated into English for us. Most of this fell to Nicholae Padararu, our host, conference organizer, president of the organization and all around d00d. More on him later, but imagine that he's was the first to organize tours on both Count Dracula and Vlad 'Dracula' Tepesh in the 60s. Here's a list of the papers and authors, in the order they should have, but didn't occur. Just reading them will get you a sense of the diversity of the participants. The papers will be published in Romanian and English this year. Assume that the Romanian sounding names are from Romania: - Prof Elizabeth Miller: Setting the Record Straight: Bram Stoker, Dracula and Transylvania. - Prof. Silviu Angelescu, Institute of History of Arts: ""Fear of the malefic supernatural: the meaning of the vampire/strigoi."" - Prof. Mashimo Atsushi, Univ. Ritsumeikan, Japan: Oni in Japanese folklore and Literature. - Alan Murdie, chairman of the Ghost Club, England: Scared to Death: the power of fear to injure and kill. [Alan's a lawyer, and conducts tours of the haunted Cambridge.] - Dr. Lokke Heiss, USA: ""Extensive research into Emily Gerard, author of Land Beyond the Forest."" [Gerard lived in Romania and was one of the sources Stoker used. Little else is known about her, except by Lokke. We visited the city library in Sibiu, where she lived, and Lokke showed the librarian there her work on the shelf, and they didn't know it had anything to do with Romania. He's sending his paper.] - Dr. Jason Nolan, Canada: Unearthing Early Vampire Stories in England: Fragments from De Nugis Curralium and Historia Rerum Anglicarum. [I got some very useful feedback from some of the members which will save me a lot of work in the future.] - Alexandru Surdu, Romanian National Academy: ""The Philosophic Approach to Fear."" - Dr. Mark Bendecke, Germany: ""Is the death-penalty something that induces fear? - with references to what happens in the fear-struck brain"" [Mark runs the German arm of the TSD, and is a Forensic Biologist. Most of his work was on how the human body decomposes, with a side bar on the medical aspects of impaling, with pictures!!!] - Sorin Comorosan, Romanian National Academy: ""The Deep Roots of Fear Derived from Mathematical Models"" and ""The Sublimation of Fear in Literature"" [Sorin is a retired Physicist who was a fellow at Berkeley. He was probably the hit of the conference. This man should have his own talk show.] - Gabriela Rusu-Pasarin, University of Craiova: ""Estrangement and its dominance by Aesthetics"" - Professor Victoria Amador, Scotland/USA: ""Fear of the Crone: American Actresses of a Certain Age"" - Dr Silvia Chitimia, Institute of Ethnography and Folklore: ""A Disturbing Hypothesis Regarding the Role of the Strigoi/Vampire"" - Prof. Dr. Constantin Balaceanu-Stolinici, Romanian National Academy: ""Fear, Anthropologically Speaking"" [Constantin is the last authenticated living relative of Vlad Tepesh. And he's a retired neurologist] - Prof. Dr. Constantin Rezachevici, Institute of History: ""Fear in the Medieval Ages."" - Prof. Dr. Marioara Godeanu, Director of the Institute of Applied Ecology, Romania: ""The Sentiment of Fear with Plants."" [This was an insane and wonderful study on the science of plant screams.] - Bogdan Popa (Doctoral Candidate), Romanian-German Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies: ""The Vampire in the German Press of the 18th Century"" - Dr Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for the Study of New Religion, Torino, Italy ""Dracula, Go Home! The International Crusade Against Horror Comics, 1945-1955"" [Massimo has 10,000 vampire comics, among other things.]"
Posted by jason at 06:05 AM
June 01, 2003
Pandas part one
And here are the first of the panda shots. No text yet. Having trouble uploading them. Will add commentary soon. [The pandas are YangYang (Sunshine) and LongHui (DragonSign), though they have Viennese names as well , I think.]"
Posted by jason at 08:53 PM
Romania part one...
Here's 30 pictures, slightly annotated from Sighisoara, Romania, where the conference was. These are just shots from around town, without any cropping or touching up, so they're a bit hazy. Click on them for full size. Will have the first of the panda shots up today as well. Making pizza tonight, and bottling some wine, just to prove I'm home."
Posted by jason at 03:49 PM