Category: Uncategorized

Edmonton Next Gen WiFi Focus Group

edmonton next gen Unfortunately I am not going to be able to make it to this event (I’m going to San Antonio on Sunday) but I thought I’d mention it in case someone else wants to go and can fill me in later! Edmonton’s Next Gen organization is hosting a focus group on WiFi, to discuss the next steps in their initiatives for public wireless access in our city:

Now, Next Gen and the City’s IT branch are preparing a new report to City Council, which will give an update on the success of the pilot projects over the past year, and recommend next steps to take towards Next Gen’s vision. If you would like to take part in deciding what those next steps will be, please contact Megan Pilby at megan.pilby@edmonton.ca to RSVP for our upcoming session.

The deadline to RSVP is tomorrow at noon. The event takes place on Sunday, April 13th, from 1pm to 4pm. Location details will be given once you RSVP.

For background information, you can read the NextGen report on WiFi (PDF). To learn more about Edmonton’s Next Gen, check out the website.

Dessert Party

As my Twitter followers all know, Sharon and I hosted a dessert party on Sunday. When Sharon pitched the idea to me (she had been thinking about it for a long time) I thought it sounded kind of neat. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I figured it would be fun anyway. What I didn’t realize, of course, is how much work it would require!

Dessert Party Invitation

Sharon has this book that gives you tips on how to host parties like this. I’m guessing it was written a long time ago, before Facebook came along, because it of course says you should send invites. And so we did! I bugged her a lot about sending paper invites to our friends, all of whom have Facebook and email, but in the end I actually really liked the invitations. I think they looked great!

Over the last couple weeks we did some “practice runs” of the desserts that we wanted to serve. For instance, we made the chocolate cake and the white chocolate tartlets. Turns out that was a good idea, because we were able to learn from and fix the couple of mistakes we made the first time around.

We got started at around 1pm on Saturday, and weren’t really finished until 1pm the next day when the party started! Okay it didn’t take 24 hours obviously, but it certainly felt like all we did was bake. Though the worst part was definitely having to re-wash dishes repeatedly!

CupcakesCookies
White Chocolate TartsPanna cotta

Our final menu consisted of: Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Tartlets, Panna Cotta with Strawberries, Cupcakes, and Cookies with Strawberry Jam. We also served coffee, tea, and wine.

Sharon had made the panna cotta in the past, so I was pretty sure it would turn out well. It was delicious as expected! My favorite was probably the cookies, but that might be because they were the hardest to make. Piping dough is not for the faint of heart! I learned you need to warm it up a bit to make it easier on yourself. My least favorite were the tartlets, though they tasted good and everything. They were sort of difficult to make as well, thanks to the phyllo pasty.

I think everyone enjoyed the desserts – there wasn’t too much left over when all was said and done. I was glad to have some extra panna cotta and chocolate cake to eat though 🙂

I don’t think I’d jump at the chance to host another dessert party, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. I’m getting better in the kitchen too!

My photos of the dessert party are here.

UPDATE: Sharon’s much more detailed post is now up!

EdmontonTweetup anyone?

twitter A few weeks ago status_girl, myself, and a few other local people on Twitter started throwing around the idea of having a meetup (for some reason it seems weird to use a Twitter friend’s real name until I’ve met them…status_girl is actually Melanie Nathan). She created a Twitter account, etowntwits, and asked anyone who was interested to follow it. So far, twelve people have.

Nothing happened since then, and I started thinking about it again a couple days ago. I learned that there is actually a name for these events; a Twitter meetup is called a Tweetup. It seems to be less organized than a barcamp, but a quick Google search reveals Tweetups happening in Buffalo, Atlanta, Huntsville, Boston, and many other places. Why not Edmonton?

So being the geek that I am, I registered edmontontweetup.org, and created the requisite Twitter account. There’s nothing at the website yet, but I think a wiki or something would work well. Every day I find interesting new local people on Twitter, so I think a Tweetup would work quite well!

A few location ideas that have been thrown around so far are Three Bananas Cafe downtown in Churchill Square, Cargo & James Tea on Whyte, as well as the other coffee shops along Whyte Avenue. The first two have free Wi-Fi which makes them especially attractive.

If you’re on Twitter, would you come to an EdmontonTweetup to meet your fellow tweeters? If you’re not on Twitter, would you come to learn what it’s all about?

On a related note, I came across TwitterLocal today, which is a cool site that helps you find people on Twitter near you. Here’s a list of people near Edmonton.

Earth Hour: Lightcrime

lightcrime I thought I was done with Earth Hour-related posts, but then I came across this article at the National Post while reading Larry’s blog. You really need to give it a read, but here’s a bit of a teaser:

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four invoked the nightmare of “thoughtcrime,” by which dictators sought to erase even the possibility of challenge to their rule. His Thought Police were based very much on the techniques actually used by the Soviets. They sought by surveillance and other methods to root out any trace of “unorthodoxy.”

On Saturday night, the awful possibility of “lightcrime” appeared on the deliberately dimmed horizon. Who among those who knew about Earth Hour did not feel an internal compulsion to turn down the lights for fear of public disapprobation, even if they believed that the whole thing was either a pointless or subversive stunt?

Author Peter Foster explains the metaphor further, and finishes by sharing this incredibly sad comment from a 12-year-old in Toronto:

“Earth Hour is important to me because my kids and grandkids will be living on this Earth,” declared Morgan Baskin, aged 12, at an event at Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto. “I don’t want my kids to be around for the end of the Earth.”

Like Peter says, this is child abuse. Instead of being taught to learn about the environment, to read and to think, children are being taught that unless you turn your lights off for an hour along with everyone else, the world is going to end.

Read: Lightcrime

Does Starbucks really offer 87,000 drink combinations?

starbucks I’ve written in the past about Starbucks and how it claims to offer 87,000 different drink combinations. I haven’t ever questioned that number though, and in retrospect I really should have. Fortunately, the Wall Street Journal’s Numbers Guy did question it:

Over the following weeks, I placed several phone calls and sent several emails, but didn’t get an explanation for the calculation. Nor could the company tell me who did the math. “It’s something a statistician put together, based on our menu board,” Starbucks spokeswoman Lisa Passe told me. “If you take all of our core beverages, multiply them by the modifiers and the customization options, you get more than 87,000 combinations.” She said a spreadsheet contained the relevant calculation, but added, “it’s not something we’ve ever circulated.”

Turns out he never did get a straight answer. The math isn’t simple. You’d have to know all of the various syrups, sizes, milk options, cream options, etc. You’d have to know all of the drinks and bean types, and you’d have to keep up with menu changes. I’m not surprised that no one seems to know the true answer. It would be nice if Starbucks could justify their marketing somehow, though.

I guess at the end of the day it doesn’t matter much. Even if it’s closer to 8700 than 87,000 the simple fact remains, there’s no shortage of choice at Starbucks.

Read: The Numbers Guy

In Edmonton, we like to drive

Statistics Canada has released some new data from the last census that shouldn’t shock anyone who lives in Alberta’s capital city. Nearly 80% of us get to work in a vehicle:

The new data from the 2006 census found that 12.7 per cent of workers in the city of Edmonton get to work using public transit, while 79 per cent either drive or travel in a vehicle as a passenger.

Statistics Canada said the reliance on cars seems to increase with the age of the commuter. While those under the age of 25 travelled by vehicle 70.7 per cent of the time, that rate increased to 81.6 per cent for those aged 25 to 34. The rate was even higher for those aged over 35, at 87.2 per cent.

Cheap Gas?

The average Alberta commuter takes a car 84% of the time, so we’re slightly better than the rest of the province.

I guess Bob Boutilier, our city’s Transportation Department GM, wasn’t kidding at the ETS conference a few weeks ago when he said a big challenge is the “pickup truck and two car” mentality of most Albertans. Thanks to the census data, I now have a number to attach to that statement.

Some people like to suggest that we’ll never improve our public transit system until everyone experiences just how bad it is right now. Maybe there’s some truth to that after all. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the majority of that 80% have never been on a bus or LRT car.

That needs to change.

Annual ignore the blogosphere day

Don’t forget that it’s April 1st in a couple of hours. And you know what that means. The “jokes” have started already, actually. I like what Anil Dash posted earlier:

Having been blogging for a few years, I’ve developed a few annual traditions. This one’s a favorite: Warning you off of lame April Fool’s jokes on the web. Every year, I get called a curmudgeon, or lambasted for having no sense of humor. And every year, the jokes online get lamer and lamer.

Here’s his great post from 2006. April Fool’s Day was a lot more fun before blogging was so popular. Now it’s just annoying. Last year was extra ridiculous, when people were still posting things more than two weeks into April. I hope that doesn’t happen again.

Question everything you read for the next 48 hours. Or at least check it against the list at Wikipedia.

The conversation will take place with or without you

conversation I don’t often make “reactive” posts, but I did on Friday when I posted about local radio station Big Earl 96.3 switching formats and becoming Capital FM. I had noticed a lot of incoming traffic to an old post of mine about Big Earl, and decided I’d figure out why. I learned that the radio station “flipped the switch” on the new format that afternoon, and as a result, hundreds of listeners took the web to find out what happened. I posted about it so that others would learn the answer as well.

Now both posts are getting lots of traffic, and the new one has received a bunch of comments too. There are two questions to be asked here: why are people coming to these posts, and once they arrive, why do they comment?

My old post is the #1 result for the “what happened to big earl” search query, and my new post is #2 when you search for “96.3 capital fm“. Until today, it was actually #1, ahead of the radio station’s own website. The top five search queries that people used to find the posts yesterday were “capital fm edmonton”, “96.3 capital fm”, “big earl 96.3”, “big earl fm”, and “big earl”. In the last 24 hours alone, those two posts have been viewed more than 300 times.

So the reason that my two posts are getting lots of traffic is that they are ranked very highly in Google, and the reason people are searching is that they were given no notice about the switch. I guess that’s the way the radio industry works, you can’t really prepare people for a complete 180. As a result, lots of people were curious.

Once they arrived, why did they comment? I think the answer is very simple – Newcap Broadcasting simply isn’t participating in the conversation. Some listeners are happy about the switch, and they want to let the station know. Others are very unhappy, and they too want to voice their opinions. Aside from a very cumbersome “Members Club” section of their website, Capital FM doesn’t make it easy for their listeners to communicate. I think it’s a shame, really.

Like newspapers, radio stations are on the decline. Listeners are abandoning the airwaves for the web and iPods. And companies like Newcap aren’t doing much to reverse the trend. Which would you prefer – a radio station that suddenly starts playing completely different music than what you’re used to and basically says “tough luck”, or a radio station that changes its tune and also tells you to “have your say on our Facebook page?” It’s a no-brainer (even if your opinion won’t change anything, you’ll feel better about being able to share it).

CKRA has changed formats so many times now that you’d think they’d be better at it than they are.

It’s a different world than it used to be. Fifteen years ago, if a radio station switched formats, an article in the local paper would probably be about the only coverage it would get. Today, the web makes it easy for anyone to chime in.

As the comments on my post illustrate, the conversation will happen anyway. Newcap would be wise to join in.

UPDATE (4/1/2008): They’ve created a Facebook group! You can check it out here.

One hour is just 0.01% of a year

earth hour From Wikipedia:

Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8 pm local time until 9 pm to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.

I’ve written about this already, and I don’t think there’s much else to be said. If you’re participating in Earth Hour, that’s great, I’m glad you have an interest in making the world a better place to live.

But next time you feel the need to be green, pick an activity that will actually make a difference. Replace your lights with energy efficient ones. Turn the thermostat down in the winter. Buy a fuel efficient car, or better yet, switch to transit. Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

You don’t lose weight by going on a diet for an hour, so don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll make the Earth more green by turning the lights out for an hour.

Big Earl 96.3 is now Capital FM

I never listen to the radio anymore, so the only reason I know about this news is because I’ve seen an influx of traffic to one of my old posts about Big Earl 96.3. Back in December of 2005, the radio station switched formats from “96X” which was hit music, to “Big Earl” which was country music. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

If you’re scanning the radio dial here in Edmonton, you’ll notice we have a new station. Or, more accurately, an existing station that has for the thousandth time changed formats.

They’ve done it again. Big Earl is out, Capital FM is in. Here’s what they say on their website:

Finally Edmonton has a radio station that plays all your favorite songs from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s.   Welcome to the NEW 96.3 Capital FM, Edmonton’s Greatest Hits!

Yeah, because we don’t have that already? Whatever.

I have to agree with the verdict at the Edmonton Radio Ratings site:

It needs to be said. Someone has to take this lame horse of a station to a corner of the pasture and shoot it. Two’s company but three’s a crowd with the greenhorn seemingly regulated to always be on the outside looking in over the fence of the country radio market.

It remains to be seen how much longer Newcap general manager Randy Lemay can sustain the misery before accusations of radio cruelty can be levelled. Exactly five years ago the 96.3 frequency enjoyed a fifth-place 9.6 share … what was somebody thinking?

If you check out the ratings archive, you’ll see the clear decline. I guess they think that yet another format change will save them. Once again however, they’re going up against a Corus radio station that has been very successful for a long time (Joe FM at 92.5).

Currently, the Wikipedia entry for CKRA-FM still identifies the station as Big Earl. The latest switch is the station’s fifth since 1995.

Capital FM? Even the name is completely uninspired. It’s like a terrible car accident happening in slow motion that you just can’t look away from.

UPDATE: This Edmonton Journal article has more information.

UPDATE (4/1/2008): They now have a Facebook group – check it out here.