A Dark Day?

First of all, let me say to the party or parties involved with the posting of the sign: why didn't you do that before I was downtown taking some photographs? I would have gladly included that in my blog posting from yesterday.

With that said, there is a groundswell of interest in what may or may not happen with the south side of Colborne Street. Today the local paper carried an article regarding a letter from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. There is some concern now being expressed at Queen's Park about the demolition of the south side of the street. The opening paragraphs expressed this interest:

City officials are trying to get to the bottom of a surprise letter from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, hoping it won't present another unexpected "bump" in plans to demolish 40 buildings on the south side of downtown Colborne Street.

The letter, from Chris Schiller, manager of culture of the ministry's culture services unit, informed the city that the ministry has taken an interest in the city's demolition plans and requests that it conduct a full assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act of the stretch of properties slated for imminent demolition.

According to the letter, obtained by The Expositor, the assessment is to include a "thorough heritage evaluation ... prior to any demolition of the properties noted to satisfy that there is no provincial interest in these properties."

The letter also requests that the city carry out an archaeological assessment "required" under the province's regulations for determining archaeological potential -"prior to any ground disturbances and/or site alterations."

I suspect, among other things, the city leaders must be getting frustrated that there is now all this interest, when for so many years none was being expressed. It seems only when the City has decided to expropriate the property and them come up with the idea of tearing it all down, that people are now coming out and saying the South should be saved. I do confess even written a blog or two about the south side as well.

Recently, a blog regarding the downtown showed up in the Spacing Toronto website. This site is the online presence of the great Canadian magazine "Spacing", for which I do have a subscription to, at least I do remember renewing it, I'll have to check. The article, written by Nigel Terpstra is entitled "Brantford's downtown destruction". Even thought the article features a photograph of part of the north side of Colborne, which was pointed out in some of the comments, Nigel does make some interesting points. He writes:

Both the mayor and the town’s councillors seem to believe that developers will flock to the newly vacated space, but the chances of this happening are slim. Furthermore, when the older structures are torn down, the individual parcels of land upon which they stood will be too small to be developed on their own and will therefore be bundled into bigger and more profitable tracts. The buildings which will be built on these new lots will also be larger and will contain fewer opportunities for individual retailers to establish themselves, changing scale of the street completely. It seems therefore, that what we are faced with is less the surgical removal of a specific set of structures in an effort to revive a larger precinct, than the clear cutting of three blocks at the whim of a pro-development city council.

It is simple enough to say the council is simply pro-development and does believe the notion that the best thing to do with the old is tear down and construct something brand new in its place.

It has been pointed out by many, the south side was not devoid of life, there were shops and restaurants, some that survived years in their location. They had built a strong and loyal customer base and brought some people into the core.





They thrived despite the environment which was not the healthiest.

The response of the City has been to seek clarification and to understand. The same article in the Expositor pointed out none of the properties have ever been declared heritage property, meaning they have been changed.

So what happens now? That is the good question. I wonder if the Ministry responding to pressure, or do they want to ensure all is being done according to the rules. If they are interested in considering the preservation aspect, will they release some money for restoration?

So I ask myself the questions:

1) is the only answer to the problem, raze and rebuild?
2) is the University the panacea to all the ills, or a part of the solution, an important part indeed, but still part.
3) how can the city ensure that the downtown is the fun place to be in Brantford
4) how to bring about the critical mass of people consistently downtown so there is reason for business to become established.

When there is something happening, people do come downtown. The challenge is not only bring people for the special events, but ensure they think of coming downtown when they want to do something.

Buzz Off, Buzz

As you know from reading some of my past blogs, I do enjoy the social aspect of Web 2.0, to use some of the language all the cool kids use. I am now back on Twitter and understanding it a lot more, for example I was able to follow what was happening at the Olympics simply by following the various Olympic based hashtags, so I knew when Canada had won a medal and the nation certainly did win a lot of them. I'm also on Facebook and post a lot there.

If I can go back to Twitter for just a moment, I do understand it and know why it is so popular and has such great press. Just recently it was reported people post something like 600 tweets a second or 50 million a day. That is an amazing number of tweets and while it has also been pointed out a very large majority of them are dumb, the classic "eating popcorn in my beanbag chair", or "today the cat horked up a hairball". There is some good news aggregates happening and the information that can be posted and read is quite amazing, especially if you follow the trends of the day. If something happens that is big, it's going to be on Twitter.

As for Facebook, its for friends and family isn't it? It's where you can post some news, photographs and videos. I know there's a lot of those games, such as Mafia Wars and FarmVille, things I have managed to avoid, thank you very much. So its good way to keep in touch with others and pass on information.

One of my other favourites if Pikchur. it's a good place to post the photographs and send it to all the sites I frequent. It does make life easy for me.

I could go on, Brightkite, Plurk, all places I hang out to post and interact.

As you can expect, when Google announced Buzz, i was interested. When the announcement was made I immediately went to gmail and waited for it to show up in my inbox, or at least on the side of my account. After all, another social network, one simply can't have enough of those.

The information was posted to a google blog with this as part of the pitch:

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there's always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you're sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

Yup, waited and when it showed up I quickly got it going in my gmail account. I could go into a long explanation of it, but just follow this link to PCWorld. It lasted a week. After that time, I decided to read up on how to get rid of Buzz.

Yes that is right, I am not using it right now. The reason I had was not the security or privacy concerns that some have pointed out in posts and articles. I simply found it too noisy, which is interesting because that is the one thing Google wanted to avoid. it was too much and very confusing to follow. I didn't care to much for how it was set up and the fact that Buzz was clogging up my inbox. There was also the fact that so many people were following me and I wasn't sure where they were coming from or why did they want to follow me. Not that there is anything wrong with having people following me, but I discover it becomes too much if there are too many following. That is what caused me to give up my first account with Twitter.

There is the privacy issue as well, Molly Wood had a very informative post in her rant about Buzz.

Buzz is no longer a part of my gmail account. Does this mean I'll never use it. I don't know, perhaps in a month or two I may venture back and discern if it has improved. If it has, I may use it in a limited way, if not, I won't use it again.

That is my google blog for today.

You can follow me on all those social network sites I have links to, see you there.

When the Lights go down in the City

Journey made this song a hit a number of years ago:

When the lights go down in the city,
and the sun shines on the bay,
do i want to be there,
in my city,
ohoh ohohoh ohoh

So you said your lonely
well my friend i'm lonely too
i want to get back, to my city
by the rain, ohoh ohohoh ohoh

its sad ohh,
theres been morings
out of the world without you,
without your charm
ohohoh nah nah nah ohoh

when the lights go down in the city
and the sun shines on the bay
do i want to be there, in my city oh oh
ohoh ohohoh ohoh

Now it appears to be the theme for the south side of Colborne Street. Not only is the blue fence of death up, but the lights along the south are coming down. City crews have been busy taking them down, after all, no one is going to be walking on that side for quite a while.



As well, the buildings are starting to look even more run down, if that's possible:



On the other hand, as the song contains words of encouragement, of returning to the City, let's hope life does return to downtown Brantford.

To quote Josh Bean of the Brantford Arts Block:

"I've always been a huge advocate of downtown development, whether we have (refurbished) heritage buildings or new buildings," Bean said.

Now that the demolition is imminent, he said he sees his role as doing whatever he can to hold the city accountable for its decision to build anew.

"Whatever we have (coming in) there had better be heritage 50 years from now. If you're going to sacrifice these (old) buildings -which I still disagree with -you had better make it good."

Look to the Earth! International Year of Biodiversity

I'm going to take some time off from the south side of Colborne Street, after all, I've said my peace it's now up to all who are concerned about the future of the city of Brantford to decide. Who knows, the demolition and rebuilding of the Street may be what the City needs, in the short term it will create a number of construction jobs, which has to be a good thing.

With that, its time to concentrate on the Environment. It's been awhile since I've done anything with this subject. There was Copenhagen, which has to be a disappointment if not a total disaster. If you go to December, you can read some of my blogs, so I will say nothing more.

I have now discovered that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. This year is to celebrate and to protect biodiversity on the planet, since it is very important for this to happen. Nature exists best when it is diverse and not in monoculture. Monoculture is a risk, and its something we cannot afford to continue to develop.

The goals of this year are:

Enhance public awareness of the importance of
conserving biodiversity and of the underlying threats to
biodiversity
Raise awareness of accomplishments to save
biodiversity realized by communities and governments
Promote innovative solutions to reduce the threats to
biodiversity
Encourage individuals, organizations and governments
to take immediate steps to halt biodiversity loss
Encourage dialogue between stakeholders for the
steps to be taken in post-2010

The target for the year is:

To achieve, by 2010, a
signi cant reduction of
the current rate of
biodiversity loss at the
global, regional and
national level, as a
contribution to poverty
alleviation and to the
bene t of all life
on Earth”

It's to make a difference and to protect the rich heritage of life that we all enjoy on this world. All have been created to fulfil a specific role and that means all life is important and essential. We must do what we can to protect the environment. This does mean, among other things, to end the extinction of life. For too long species have been driven to extinction, not by human greed, but often because of neglect, usually through the destruction of habitat.





So now, as we start a cycle which includes Earth Hour and Earth Day. It time to celebrate true diversity, the diversity of life.

Famous Stilt House

With a sunny weekend, it was time to go downtown and find some places to take photographs. After all, with the potential demolition of the southside Colborne Street now only a matter of time, might as well get some photographs as mementos of the place.

As I took pictures, there were other people out with their cameras, obviously the same sentiment is being felt by the others as well. From what I could tell, there was some quite good photographers, with some quite impressive equipment.

I decided to take the camcorder out and find some good shots. I'm not sure about the good part, but here are some photographs from this past Sunday:









There were a few people checking out the buildings as well.



There was also a Chilli tasting festival going on and this brought me to Harmony Square:

And so it is Scheduled


The local paper stated it clearing in the opening paragraph:

Say goodbye to the south side.

Even though it seemed a great deal of interest was beginning to coalesce towards saving if not all, then some of the buildings along the South Side of Colborne, it now appears the Council has decided that such interest is not in the interest of the City.

I suppose it can be said, as a number of councillors have opined, that all this opposition, or perhaps in the positive, suggestions and ideas should have been placed before them at least a year ago when the process was in the early stages.

Perhaps they have a point. I wonder if part of the situation was no one believed it was possible. After all, there was a few road blocks, such as not all the money coming forward from the Province or the Federal governments. Also, the idea that since Brantford Laurier had issues with funding, plus the Y, it may have been seen that this was simply another pipe dream that had no possible way of taking place. If that was the case, then part of the problem can stem from the fact that there was a wide acceptance, or an unwillingness to see beyond the status quo. That is, people were now used to seeing the south side as the collection of dilapidated old buildings that kept people and rats housed.

It was only when the talk of it's demolition began to heat up that people decided to look again at the south side and realize there were some potential architectural gems in those roughs.

Although with the fact that people are coming forward, as well as the fact publicity is now being generated to save at least something of the south side, there still might be time.

Ah article in The Record, the paper of the Waterloo Region, lists groups that are interested in working with the City to halt the total demolition of the area. One professor is quoted as saying:

Rick Haldenby, the director of the University of Waterloo school of architecture, said the old buildings should be carefully assessed and studied to see what they could be used for.

“I was going to send an email to the mayor and council saying, ‘We have a lot of experience in dealing with these kinds of situations here and would be happy to look at it.'

“There needs to be some serious consideration given to this and some serious study done on the options that are available at this point,” Haldenby said. “We should not be demolishing the largest stretch of pre-Confederation architecture in the country.”

The issue can also be brought forward all this publicity seems to be having a bit of a negative effect on the leadership at Brantford Laurier:

The university is trying to distance itself from the controversial move by the City of Brantford.

Leslie Cooper, the vice-president/principal at Laurier Brantford, said the university has “no firm plans.”

“We are not out there pushing the council to demolish south Colborne Street,” Cooper said.

The university is taking no position in the increasingly heated debate.

“They have political processes that they go through in terms of the acquisition of buildings, demolition of buildings, consultation around buildings. They have a democratic process,” Cooper said. “Laurier Brantford respects that process.”

So the question has to be asked, is it all over? Or will this continue to drag for a few more weeks, or months until someone, somewhere comes up with a concrete proposal.

If you go to Colborne, you will notice the blue fence up around the buildings, I guess now it's just a matter of time before the equipment comes along. Apparently the hope is to have everything down and grass planted by July.

The World is Flat: a Review

During my recent trip down to the sun and sand of Cuba, I brought a book to read. Nothing unique about that, since most of the people who were lying by the ocean were reading books. In fact I thinking reading may have been more popular then going into the Ocean, the only thing more popular was the art of lying on the beach.

The book I read was entitled "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. It is subtitled 'A Brief History of the 21st Century'. First of all, let me say at over 600 pages, it is anything but brief, but this is not to say the book is a struggle to read or tedious, in fact with his position as a journalist, Thomas Friedman has garnered his opinions from an interesting worldview, based upon his years of talking to some amazing people from quite a large number of nations.

The book begins with his coming to understand that the world has changed, it has become flat, or as some might describe it, as the playing field being leveled. I should point out that Friedman's thesis has brought about a number of critics who disagree with his points, but that's for another blog, perhaps. Friedman believes the world is flat and it has been the incredible transformation of technology which has brought this about, to him, the flatness can be found in the fact that companies are now being established to read x-rays, tax returns and do customer service, in places such as India, and later on you will read the same services are also expanding into Latin America, for example, to deal with the demand and the downtime on the other side of the world. The flatness is found in the interconnectivity of the world through technology.

The irony is that all this was brought about by the collapse of the tech bubble in the late 20th century. All of a sudden, all the digital infrastructure that had been put in place, such as the fibre optic cable was cheap and because it connected places such as India to North America, it now became possible to establish technology companies in India. Couple this with the fact that India decided to give up it's almost 50 year experiment with a socialist economy and build a more trade friendly one, brought about this massive explosion. It became good to be an entrepreneur, and with the fact that the post secondary education system was filled with some brilliant engineers and computer technologists, the country found itself in a place to take full advantage of the opening created.

At the same time, Friedman warns that the same technology that brought about some incredible change is also being used by groups that are not as benign. The tools are being used by groups such as Al-Quada to flatten the world in a way that is not so positive.

Thomas Friedman believes in globalization. While at times, this world has elicit scorn and anger from many quarters, to him it is the way in which people throughout the planet can raise themselves from the poverty level. He sees globalization as the expansion of jobs into places where such work doesn't exist and lifts people up. His criticism towards those who are anti-globalization is that they have no plan and the fact they tend to centre upon multinationals and not the people and nations that benefit from the jobs.

He discusses the various iterations of globalization; to him it all starts in 1492 when Columbus decided to sail west, rather then east and 'discovered' the new world. To him this is Globalization 1.0, in which nations were the main source of influence, wealth and power. It was during this period the world became round. This period lasted until about 1800, when we entered the stage of Globalization 2.0, this period was marked by the rise of corporations that quickly became multinationals. It was the time of robber barons and colossus, who ruled the world. It was also marked by the rise in both transportation and communication, so the world became small. The period we are in now is Globalization 3.0, and this is marked by the individual using the tools at his or her availability to make a difference in the world. The world is no longer round or small, it is flat.

An important part of the book is the ten forces that flattened the world. To him the great levellers are:

1. Fall of the Berlin Wall
The events of November 9, 1989, tilted the worldwide balance of power toward democracies and free markets.
2. Netscape IPO
The August 9, 1995, offering sparked massive investment in fiber-optic cables.
3. Work flow software
The rise of apps from PayPal to VPNs enabled faster, closer coordination among far-flung employees.
4. Open-sourcing
Self-organizing communities, � la Linux, launched a collaborative revolution.
5. Outsourcing
Migrating business functions to India saved money and a third world economy.
6. Offshoring
Contract manufacturing elevated China to economic prominence.
7. Supply-chaining
Robust networks of suppliers, retailers, and customers increased business efficiency. See Wal-Mart.
8. Insourcing
Logistics giants took control of customer supply chains, helping mom-and-pop shops go global. See UPS and FedEx.
9. In-forming
Power searching allowed everyone to use the Internet as a "personal supply chain of knowledge." See Google.
10. Wireless
Like "steroids," wireless technologies pumped up collaboration, making it mobile and personal

The above list was taken from the interview Wired Magazine did with Thomas Friedman.

The point he does try to get across is China and India are not interested in racing the West to the bottom, they want to race us to the top. They want to experience the comfortable life we now have in the West. They have had enough poverty, it's time for their moments in the sun and they have the resources, because we all do, the drive, desire and brainpower to do just that. If the West is to stay on top, it won't take place through protectionism and isolationism, but rather by educating ourselves with the skills to live in this new century. We need to develop greater strength in mathematics, science and the liberal arts. We need to add innovation and extras to stay on top. He also believes one place the West can stay on top is through the development of green technology. He wants to end dependency on oil, since oil has been a bane not a boon to those nations which possess it. This point is further developed in his latest book "Hot Flat and Crowded", which I did a review of a few months back.

While he is a supporter, he acknowledges the problems of globalization, for example there are still a lot of people who have not been able to enjoy the benefits of the change. These people are on the fringe and there is still a lot of them. They are there because of situations and circumstances- for example the wrong caste or the fact they are sick to give a few examples. They have been shut out because of their poverty. He does say the poor are not angry at the rich, they are angry because the way for their own wealth is block by circumstance probably not of their making. An important reason is also too humiliated. He looks at this point which has led to the rise of radical Islamism and groups such as Al-Qaida. They look at their history and their circumstance and realize they are not where they should be. Whereas at one time they were the dominant world power, they have lost a lot of strength. While much of the Islamic world is wealthy,due to oil, this wealth has not really brought about much innovation. So they seek to blame or return to that period of time when the Muslim world was the world power. Plus when they come west, they are often on the outside still, looking in, taking low end jobs and facing discrimination. This is where the suicide bombers are recruited, because humiliation leads to anger and anger to lashing out against those perceived source of the humiliation.

The book is fascinating. As I said few can have Thomas Friedman's perspective on global issues, since he's the one that talks to the people. He encounters billionaires, on one hand, and grandmothers in Utah taking his Jet Blue reservation in the next. He presents his case, not as either a cheerleader, although he admits as much, nor as someone who hates globalization, he is a realists, giving us the full portrait.

The size may frighten, but it is interesting enough to keep you going throughout the 600 plus pages.

Available through Amazon and other online retailers as well as local bookstores.

A Tale of Two Downtowns

This weekend, the downtown celebrated Frosty Fest, Brantford's Winter Festival. It was celebrated in Harmony Square with some action taking place along Dalhousie Street. By the article in the local paper, it was a success, and as I can attest, there was a lot of people in the Square. The ice rink was filled, the various carnival rides had long line ups, and I have to believe the Coffee Culture store must have been doing an incredible business.

So there it was great, then you look south and see the signs of impending destruction for the south side of Colborne;




It seems the sad legacy of south Colborne will soon be a memory, and while there are many who will be glad to see it all down and gone, there are still other voices lamenting its soon destruction. There are those who will make very good arguments, that the downtown has looked bad for years, or that right now, it is a open sore on the city, something that makes people apologize to outsiders for the horrible way it looks. Or the perception is this must be an area of high crime, because things look so run-down. I don't have the statistics in front of me, I have to say that any time I make a quick perusal of the police blotter in the local paper, its often the north end where are the crime takes place, such as break and entry and other types of robberies.

Other voices are now joining the fray, the noted columnist from the Toronto Star, Christopher Hume, an urban architect has now began to make mention of Brantford's soon to be act of 'urban renewal'. He has written two articles so far this month, the first was entitled: "Brantford aims wrecking ball at its future". This article gives people a quick history of Brantford's downtown and what the plans are for its future restoration, although that may not be the right word for what is planned. He talks about the introduction of the University to the core and how there has been effort to revitalize heritage structures within the core, rather then building new structures. Even right now, the former CIBC is being restored for classrooms, and it's located at the corner of Market and Dalhousie, right across from Market Square, which must be on everybody's list of uglies. I've already got photographs of the place, so I will save you from seeing them again.

His most recent article is more his opinion of the plan and its not nice. He is very critical of Brantford's plan for south side Colborne. He writes in the article "Brantford will live to regret the tragedy of edifice wrecks". It's a pity one can sit down with him and ask the question, now Christopher, tell us how you really feel. To him it is a tragedy that needs to be stopped and stopped now. As you read more of the plans, the scarier it sounds. He quotes from the Mayor of Brantford:

And the notion of heritage, of valuing a building because of its age, holds little sway in these parts. Listen to what Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock told a local newspaper last week: "I think the worst mistake we could make is to have a solid plan. Let's just take it down and look at what we have got. Then we can start deciding together what should go there."

Wreck now, think later. Now that's faith.

The strategy of Council is to get everybody out, tear down four blocks of building and then hope some sort of plan is developed to replace the torn down structures. This makes a person wonder if the strategy of building new structures for the University and the Y is just a pipe dream. So what will that mean for those who live and work downtown, instead of old building we get to stare at plywood sheets and some sort of framing. Will there be blocks of poster covered plywood which will make things even less appealing?

I recall reading that quote and shaking my head. What do they want to do with the downtown then?

I understand there will be time taken for environmental studies and to consider the entire grade of the slope to discover what can and cannot be built. One concern has to be regarding the structures, the problem with institutional construction is that it tends to be ugly and devoid of life. Just consider the average city hall, if there is any building that sucks the life and creativity for a city, it is the municipal structure, its no wonder most cities function in a dysfunctional manner, just look at where they work! They work in a place where life and creativity is destroyed.

Mr. Hume gives this opinion:

As that phase of our evolution now draws to a close, it will be interesting to see what's next for Brantford. Though it's not mainstream yet, the back-to-the-core movement is well underway. The results are transformative. And in fact, Brantford is an attractive, compact city well poised for its next incarnation.

On the other hand, this is also a city that has made every postwar planning mistake in the book and then some. The gospel of growth at any cost turned out to be another lie, and a lot more expensive and destructive than anyone expected.

What is impressive is people do want to come to the downtown. If there's something that is fun and appeals to all ages, people will come and have fun. They can bring money to the core, the renewal can be the reality. Just needs the right vision and plan.

A Market, Empty Space and Pedestrian Friendly

A few blogs ago I discussed the need for an urban core to become pedestrian friendly. I know this is now one of the buzz words being used in any dialogue for a city to redevelop its downtown core. If there is a place that both has the opportunity and the need it is downtown Brantford. What is needed is for something that makes people to want to be downtown, to establish the critical mass of people that allows the development of further space and place for people to gather.

Much is being made for the plan to tear down all the buildings along south side Colborne and build more university buildings and a Y. Apparently partnerships are being discussed to make that happen. Brantford is attempting to transform its downtown into a university campus which will bring the population of the core up and with that further retail entering the place.

One of the challenges facing the downtown has to be Market Square. Here a massive structure of commercial and retail stands for the most part empty. There are only a handful of businesses within it. If it wasn't for the City of Brantford, and a church it would be very empty.





From personal experience I recall going to the Square and watching a bat fly around the ceiling. Yes a bat. Nothing says desolation like a bat flying inside a building. The good news is there were no mosquitoes within the building. Still it speaks volumes of the state of the structure. I was reading the fascinating blog The Brantford Blog. He's a self-proclaimed grouchy old man. He had a blog entitled Cursed, that examines a bit of the history and problems of Market Square. Some do speak of the curse, others suggest the curse has more to do with the collapse of both Eaton's and the economic foundation of Brantford. It apparently was a fairly busy place with a number of very good shops that catered to the downtown business community. However now its stands an empty shell. How bad is it? When Freedom House Church moved in, it was greeted with cheers from the local newspaper. In fact the Expositor made the move a part of its editorial, it cheered the move as part of the revitalization of the downtown.

One result of all this empty space has to be the depressing of commercial value in the downtown, I did a little research and discovered rent in Market Square is about 10-12 dollars a square foot. Likely as long as Market Square stands empty that will be the reality. On one hand, this should inspire people to move business in, on the other hand, it stifles development- if you're not going to make any money on it, why bother?

If there is one question that comes to mind is why hasn't the University used this structure; they've been busy buying up all sorts of empty building to expand, when they are not building there own, and yet they keep away from the Square. While William's exist as part of the place to hang out if you're a student, there is not much else. Even when there is retail development, it is heading south of Iconn Street, in the Price Chopper Plaza.

I suppose if there is any scepticism towards the development of south side Colborne it has to do with the fact this City has gone down that road of new structures only to end up having very large white elephants that add nothing to the downtown but empty space and homes for bats.

South of South Side Colborne

It seems the plans will go ahead. The article states thta money is now available to start tearing down the buildings. While many are looking forward to that moment there are some voices of concern regarding the entire exercise. I don't mean from groups who believe some of the structures are heritage structures and perhaps still may have a future use in downtown Brantford. There is a lot to be said for preservation and restoration, which I'm not going to get into. Although I will say some of the architecture is quite interesting. I do admit to not having any past or ideology regarding the downtown core, I just want to consider a few things that's all.

However and this has interests me, how it will take place. One of the local writers made some points. Tim Philips in a recent commentary mentioned his concern about the numbers which are being used to describe the costs of the project.

Now you have to demolish the buildings. While demolition is not rocket science, this site holds some particular challenges for engineers and contractors. At some places, the difference between Colborne Street and Warfe Street is more than 15 metres. The challenge is to keep Colborne Street from sliding down the hill into the parking garage.

This means that you cannot just bring in the bulldozers and start knocking down buildings. This is especially difficult as the tender calls for the complete removal of the foundations except, I believe, for the front wall if needed to stabilize the slope. Bear in mind, a similar issue of shoring up a structure existed at the water-treatment plant and the result was a building that tipped over and a bill for millions of dollars.

The distance between the two feet and by that I mean vertical feet, or metres is the challenge. As he states, its not a matter of getting the bulldozers out and start levelling, but to consider the fact that the ground slopes and it does that with different depths over the area.

With that in mind, I took my trusty cellphone and decided to take some photographs. Fortunately, it was a lovely afternoon:









There is some scale issues which need to be addressed. Still they were built that way and the topography hasn't changed since the first structure was built and from the dates on the buildings, they have passed the test of time. It seems the issue has to do with the overall collapse of the economic base of Brantford rather then anything which might have caused the dilapidation to this part of the street. Perhaps some are concerned with the potential structures to be built, more University buildings, a Community College, and a YMCA. All three have the potential of producing some large structural footprints and with the slope, then again the hope is the city will hire the right sort of engineers and contractors. People that are not just demolition experts but are aware of things such as soil and the effect of slope on demolition and building.

The costs so far are just under $7 Million for the purchase of all the properties. All of which must put the City of Brantford as the major tenant and landlord throughout the downtown core. The end, we all hope is that a revitalized downtown with buildings and people not only learning and working but living. I believe I have mentioned that what downtown Brantford lacks is the critical mass of people living downtown. If they achieve it, then the entire picture of the Core will change and the downtown will be reborn.

The plan is for everything to start in February and finish in June. I shall be there to record it all.

Crush It! A Review

Time for some disclosure. I don't drink wine, my knowledge of wine is very limited. I don't understand tasting at all. So, why am I reviewing a book by Gary Vaynerchuk who is better known for his very popular video podcast Wine Library TV. The answer is simple, because the book is not about wine tasting, drinking or anything to do with wine. What the book is about is Gary's philosophy of how to live your passion and make a career out of it. Just mentioning about his video blog, as he refers it, let's you know Gary is a man out there in web 2.0. His blog has got him interviewed on a number of mainstream shows, as well as internet shows. He took his career as a successful wine entrepreneur and brought it to the web, using the means of social media to expand his brand and also to demonstrate his enthusiasm for wine.

The book Crush It! is about his personal philosophy on how to live your life with passion as well as an instructional book on using the Internet and its tools to develop your own brand. I am going to assume the title is as much a play on wine making, crushing grapes, yes there's that much I know, as well as just getting out there and taking full advantage of life.

His philosophy can be summed up in three statements and he makes these early in the book
1) Love your family
2) Work very very hard and
3) Live your passion

I should say I listened to the audiobook, which I purchased through itunes, it is also available through Audible.com. The book is read by Gary and so you get to hear his passion for his philosophy and life, you also get his asides. He likes to break in to other thought not necessarily expressed in the book, which is part of the beauty. He presents the three points through personal experience and understanding how it worked in his life and how to transfer to your life. Ultimately, he wants us to enjoy life and to him its done through living your passion. He also is honest and reminds us to be true to our DNA. By this he means, not all of us can be Gary V, he states that if we're not comfortable making a video blog, perhaps a audio podcast is better, or maybe the written word is our strength, but stick with what we are.

Perhaps I'm jumping ahead here, what he tells us is to build our brand online. He tells us that the tools on the Internet makes this very possible and very inexpensive. If you wanted to start your own business based upon your passion and to Gary it is possible because if you are passionate about something, there's always someone who wantss to use that passion as a tie in to selling something. He states its important to build that brand and through the tools of social media it is possible. Twitter, Facebook and personal blogs with personalized addresses are just some of the tools that are inexpensive that will build that important web presence. He lays out the tools in a simple, straightforward manner that all of us can grasp and apply.

There are other great comments from Gary, such as Legacy is more valuable currency. It all goes back to passion and transparency. For the latter he shares about the time he appeared on Diggnation and some of the forum members thought he was very arrogant. He told that he spent time writing emails and comments of apology to those who were offended by his actions. This is apply that truth to his own life. He is living it and sharing that inspiration with us. He gives other advice, such as first knowing what your passion truly is and then shareing it with others. But again and again, he wants us to get out there and make it with our passion.

So the book, part discussion of the social media tools that exist today, part a book of inspiration. It is truly a fantastic book, in fact as I write this review I think of example and example he writes and more of his philosophy but I think I would rather you read, or listen to it and learn for yourself.

I understand it is a relatively thin book, only 160 pages or so. To listen will take a little over three hours, which makes it a good book to listen while working out at the gym or going for walks.

It is a book that will inspire you in so many ways. I want to conclude with the conclusion of another review, because he said it best:

“Crush It” is an excellent book offering personal stories that illustrate the importance of passion, patience, hustle and the value of doing what you need to do to be happy. Success takes hard work and this book does a great job of showing anyone the framework for making what really makes them passionate and turn it into an online business.

Available through Amazon, Chapter-Indigo and other fine booksellers.

One more thing, he's a big fan of the New York Jets, saying his plan is to purchase the team, that would not surprise me.

Pedestrian Friendly Brantford

An article which caught my attention a few weeks back in the Brantford News. The headline spoke of the need to develop a pedestrian zone along the south side of Colborne Street, as part of the overall transformation of the area. This was from the city's 'walkability taskforce, which one person in the comments noted that committees seem to be one of the few growth industries in Brantford. We seem no end of task forces. Everything is centred along the southside of Colborne. At one time it seemed the idea of tearing it all down and building some brand new structures was a no brainer. One person I know suggested they get the 56th Field Artillery Regiment to bring a few howitzers out and enjoy some fun target practice. It could be a major fundraiser for the city or a number of local charities. Still I digress. Although it might be a lot of fun.

The issue of making a city 'pedestrian' friendly is now a concept which is gaining steam in a number of places. It's the idea of making a city, or a downtown more people rather then car friendly.

One article defines the concept this way:

Pedestrian-friendly streetscaping is the process of recreating
streets and sidewalks as the center of communal
life. At one time, streetscapes were where people
of all ages walked, biked, shopped, ate, played, and
met their neighbors. But today, streets with this kind of
activity are the exception rather than the rule. Towns
and cities are full of barriers that discourage walking or
bicycling as a means of transportation, recreation, commerce
or keeping fit and healthy. The occasional pedestrian
is often made to feel like an alien in a world
made only for cars.

As it stands, downtown Brantford is anything but pedestrian friendly. In fact there's not a whole lot of pedestrian traffic, unless it's near areas such as the University.


It seems to me what needs to be understand why people want to be some place. I think the three things people want to do are:
1) stroll
2) shop and
3) eat.

Any part of a city that allows people to do those things will be considered pedestrian friendly. I believe these three should be asked for anything planned for the downtown. Right now, there are some placess to stroll, such as the area around Harmony Square:



As for the other two, while there are a few restaurants and places to eat and or enjoy a few drinks, they are still not generating the critical mass required. As for shopping, unless you go to Crazy Bill's, hard to say, hard to say. In fact the downtown almost begs you to shop at the mall and to Brantford Commons.

Another article I read, gives this overview of the pedestrian friendly city:

If you go to the best neighborhoods and downtown areas, you’ll find pedestrian friendly streets. If you visit economically depressed downtowns or neighborhoods, you’ll often encounter environments that are hostile to the pedestrian. Pedestrian friendly streets help foster economic growth

The writer also gives this idea for the concept of what can be done:

.
Pedestrian friendly streets follow one simple rule—the pedestrian is the priority. These streets tend to share the following physical characteristics:
• Pedestrians are effectively separated from moving traffic. Separation is provided through the use of wide sidewalks, onstreet parking, and landscaping.
• Pedestrians can cross the street safely and easily. Intersections are designed to reduce pedestrian crossing distances,crosswalks are clearly marked and aligned with sidewalks, and pedestrian crosswalk signals are automatic not push button.
• The streets are full of life. Storefronts and buildings are continuous and contain many openings that create visual interest and activity. On-street parking is available to support healthy retail and is never replaced by bicycle or travel lanes, or landscaped medians. Well designed paving, street furniture and lighting make the street a place where people want to be.

This last point needs to be the priority, where people want to be, the downtown of Brantford can have a number of fun things which bring people to the downtown, such as the "Find your Spirit", the Jazz Festival and the upcoming Chili Cooking. Certainly all of these are fun and enjoyable and having Harmony Square as the Centre is important, but what can happen that brings people to the streets on a consistent basis and brings that sense of life and celebration that helps with the development of the downtown core.

Just a few thoughts for this day.

McGwire Admits Using Steriods!

Seriously. Does anyone believe his tearful confession and admission of steriod use?

As you know from reading the blog I am a big baseball fan. I love the game. I am a big fan of the Detroit Tigers. I think it is a truly wonderful sport, filled with history, statistics and wonderful memories.

This is not to say the sport is perfect, certainly if one goes through the history, it is a collection of the best and worst. From cheaters to heroes to colourful figures. There is the moment of the young boy going to "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and asking 'say it ain't so Joe', in light of the Black Sox Scandel.

But Baseball has always been able to spring back.

Now Baseball has finally concluded the era that has become known as the 'Steroid Era', a time when records fell as players decided to juice up with all sorts of interesting substances. All of this was done because practically everyone, including us fans, decided to look the other way.

Of course the big news is the admission of Mark McGwire that he took steriods during the period when he was the king of the long ball, breaking the coveted most home runs in one season record that was held, and let's be blunt, still held by Roger Maris. Mr. Maris did it honestly, by hitting the ball out of the park 61 times over the course of 162 games, which earned an asterik because Babe Ruth did 60 in 154 games. Now we fast forward to the 1990's when McGwire and Sammy Sosa put on an offensive display with the purpose of breaking one of baseball's hallowed and important records. As I recall, there was a lot of joy that night when McGwire put it over the left field fence. He embraced and was embraced by team mates and opponents alike. After he touched home plate, he went over to the Maris family and showed them his support.

Now we know the reality, that night was based upon a lie. He did it because he was maxed out on steroids. His chase for the record was based upon not natural ability but because he injected himself with performing enhancement drugs.

His name started to appear on lists and in a book written by his teammate Jose Canseco. A lot of people tended, at first not to believe, after all, Jose was a cheat. He injected, he was not loved, plus by the end of his career he was a bit of a buffoon. However, we understand this, Jose Canseco was absolutely right. Every word of it.

What is disturbing, is not the fact Mark McGwire took so long to confess, but the fact that so much of it was still based upon bafflegaff. I think the big lie that he's still trying to get us to believe is he really didn't need to take steroids. He did only to speed up the healing process. This is what he says:

During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too."

The Sporting News, has this article about his tearful confession.

Should we believe him now? Should we believe that he could have done all those wonderful things and not needed the 'roids or the growth hormone. You know what, we don't and right now it doesn't matter. He did take it, he did hit all those home runs and because he denied it for so longs makes one to think that he knows he wouldn't have been able to hit as long, both distance and duration if it wasn't for what he used. The fact he took it and could make say such nice things to the memory of Roger Maris makes him even more dispicable. He chased the record with junk in his veins. The magic season is nothing more then smoke and mirrors, and now Mark McGwire has the nerve to think he can say a few nice words, cry a few tears and think all is good. It isn't.

The question is why now? Perhaps his new job as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals has something to do with it. Does the fact he spoke now means there can be no more discussion or questions on the subject. Are we all now to simply think, well he admitted it, all is right in the universe, we can now love him and forgive him.

No we can't. I would suggest that each and every batter of the Cardinals be tested often and regularly for steriod use, after all, I'm sure McGwire will teach those young batters all he knows, including what is the best stuff to take.

Of course, not a lot of sports fans are buying this. We can see through an orchestrated confession done to say as little as possible and make the confessor a figure we should forgive and feel sorry for, well we don't. It was contrived, we know a script when we see one. As well, we should never forget the steroid era, we should remember what a joke it made of the game. Sadly this lesson is not being learned by the Commissioner. Bud Selig said, in a statement that was probably equally prepared beforehand stated:

The use of steroids and amphetamines amongst today’s players has greatly subsided and is virtually nonexistent, as our testing results have shown. The so-called steroid era — a reference that is resented by the many players who played in that era and never touched the substances — is clearly a thing of the past, and Mark’s admission today is another step in the right direction.

That's it, no more questions, keep moving, nothing more to see.

Forget it. We must never allow it to happen. We must never allow ourselves to be blinded and wink at the obvious. We must make sure those who cheated are chasticed and those who played clean be honoured.

I noticed Mark McGwire said this has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame, which means it has everything to do with the Hall of Fame. He should be allowed in, only when a special wing is established as the 'Roidheads Hall of Fame'. There are too many players who did it right, they don't need their legacy tainted, like it has already become.

Mark McGwire, a cheat.

The true home run king, Roger Maris.

The Ham Sandwich

I was listening to one of the food podcasts provided through National Public Radio. The topic in question is what food became important or distinct during the first decade of the new century/millenium. The guest was Henry Balzer of the NPD Group, an organization that studies among other things, the food and eating habits of Americans.

When asked about what food became important, he stated it was yogurt:

Dr. BALZER: Well, if there is one that defines this decade it would have to be yogurt.

NORRIS: Yogurt?

Dr. BALZER: Yogurt would be the category or the food that has increased in our dietary habits more than any other food during the past 10 years.

NORRIS: Color me surprised.

Dr. BALZER: And it probably, if you think about your own behavior, I'll bet you start your day off a lot with yogurt or have it during lunchtime, or maybe have it as a dessert or a side dish or as a snack, more than you did probably 10 years ago.

This is interesting and as I thought about it, he's absolutely right, yogurt is now a part of everyday eating, it's quick and easy, either to throw in the lunch bag, box or pick up at the convenience store. The individual size makes it perfect for all meals and snacks.

What got me thinking about this blog is a statement he made near the end of the interview:

What won't change is what we eat. I will tell you the number one food that we will eat in the year 2020 will be a ham sandwich. And I know that because I've been doing this for 30 years and I was hard pressed in 1980 to be asked what we'll be eating in 1990. When I discovered that the ham sandwich was the number one thing we ate in 1980, and I made a prediction that we'd be eating it in 1990. And guess what we ate in 1990 - a ham sandwich. What do you think it was in 2000 - a ham sandwich. 2010? A ham sandwich.

So do I have to go out on a limb to tell you that the number one food we'll be eating in this country in the year 2020 will be a ham sandwich? What I don't know is what will be the bread. There will be something new about the ingredients or the condiments that go on this. But when I ask you, what did you have? You'll say, oh, I had a ham sandwich.

The one consistency of the last half century, and perhaps even longer is the Ham Sandwich. Again, I have to agree, what sandwich is easy to make, easier to consume and goes good with everything? The Ham Sandwich. When one considers our obsession with all things bad for us, such as fat and stuff, it's amazing it has lasted as long. Pork is either liked or hated and with the ham sandwich, it should be on the downward slide, yet it persists.

Perhaps because we simply like it. As I also said, it's the easiest sandwich to make, you take two pieces of bread, a few pieces of ham and cheese, add some butter, mustard, perhaps some lettuce and or tomato, stick them together, put it all in a sandwich bag and you have the basis of a good lunch.

There's also a certain ability to invent, for example, the type of ham can be varied, from cooked, to black forest, sugar and honey cured. Then there's mustard or the spread one can, to say nothing of the bread or mix the whole thing together with some mayo and make a ham salad sandwich or roll.

While doing my research, which included making a ham sandwich with leftover cooked ham, some cheese and a bagel, making sure the ham covers the hole, so not to have a cheesy mess all over the plate, I discovered a number of great recipes for ham sandwiches.

One declares the "Perfect Ham Sandwich", in fact it is a signature creation.

Another amazing sandwich is Croque Monsieur

.

There is also a feminine version called the Croque-Madame, which sounds equally nice, especially with a fried egg on top.


So cheers to the champion sandwich of all time, a survivor that marks decades as easy as we eat them.

The Nexus of the Universe

The reference is, of course to Seinfeld. Over the past couple of days, we have witnessed the launching of another cellphone by a previously non cellphone company. I am talking about the Google Phone, the Nexus One. When it was announced, the spokespeople at Google declared it to be not just a smartphone, but a superphone.

It has some interesting features:

3.7 inch touchscreen
1GHz snapdragon processor
5 Megapixel camera with LED flash
GPS and compass
Accelerometer
Noise cancellation technology
Voice recognition can be used with all applications
Light sensor changes screen brightness to conserve power
512MB Flash memory with SD card slot (expandable to 32GB)

There is also one more feature, and for this you need to visit the Google Nexus One site, because should you do so in Canada, you will be greeted with these words:

Sorry, the Nexus One Phone is not available in your country.

That is correct, the phone is going to roll out in the US, many parts of Europe as well as Hong Kong and Singapore. Again, no mention of Canada.

It is interesting to note one article mentioned that Android based phones are beginning to show up in a number of countries, none of them Canada. It seems we are now considered a technological backwater when it comes to telecommunication advancements. The nation that gave the world the telephone is now not considered on anyone's list of the newest products. Remember how long it took us to get the iPhone, I believe we got it before Turkey, but I'd have to look that up.

The reason for all this is, our well protected, well insulated cellular industry. The big three, Rogers, Bell and Telus treat us as complete dolts and believe we exist to serve them, not the other way around. Why put out money to improve networks, when it will mean possible expenses. You might recall a few months ago, they started to drop their 'service access fees', and then increased their monthly rates to compensate. Then again, there is a long history, it wasn't too many years ago that Bell Canada had a little surcharge on everyone's bill that was for the cost of digital phones. Indeed, they charged everyone for the privilege of having a digital phone, even though something like 99.99% of Canadians had a digital phone. I wonder if those six people with the Rotary phones still had to pay. Tell me that didn't bring in a whole lot of money for Bell.

All this was done to increase the value of the companies and make their ownership teams very wealthy. It is no wonder Canadians view cellphone companies in the same light as politicians and, politicians. It is also no wonder we are becoming a backwater. One statistic I saw suggested that cellular growth in Canada is slow, with only 60% of the population owning and using a cellphone.

Canada ranks last in cellphone penetration among developed countries.(6) In the final quarter of 2007, cellphone subscriptions averaged 99.7 per 100 inhabitants in the developed world, compared to 60.9 per 100 inhabitants in Canada, according to the Merrill Lynch Global Wireless Matrix. Of the 53 countries in the developed and developing world tracked by Merrill Lynch, Canada ranks 44th, just ahead of Peru, Pakistan and Indonesia and just behind Morocco, Brazil and the Philippines. However, many users outside North America have multiple cellphone accounts. Because the data does not correct for this, comparisons between mobile phone penetration in Canada and the rest of the world should be made with caution.

This is not good. It speaks of the fact Canadians have a strong hate on for these companies and would rather shut themselves out of the growing technology then give any money to these robbers. I suppose the amazing part of it, is that we are into digital when it comes to cellphones, instead of analog phones. Remember those yellow bricks?

However, with the fact the spectrum is now being opened up, one of the new providers are looking at the potential of bringing the Nexus to Canada.

They also are positioning themselves to use the new technology

WIND Mobile's third-generation network is based on the same basic technology as Canada's three incumbent carriers in Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp.

Yet its 3G devices run on a different frequency band called AWS (Advanced Wireless Services), also know in telecom circles as band 4. The Nexus One is designed to run on band 4, as well as bands 1 and 8.

The three bands make the Nexus One compatible with most operators around the world. But not all.

Unfortunately for Rogers, Bell and Telus, the three do not use band 4. Or 1 or 8. The three firms use bands 2 and 5 for their smartphones. The Nexus One can still theoretically work on their GSM-based networks, but the performance of the device would be degraded.

Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2010/01/07/why-wind-can-offer-google-s-nexus-one-and-others-can-t-a-3g-band-primer.aspx#ixzz0c52iNUR3
The Financial Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.

Wind Mobile has made a few enemies because of its lack of the right number of Canadians sitting on the Board of Director.

TechCrunch, by the way, had a review of the Nexus One, you can read here.

The question is now, when do we get the Nexus One, then again, the question is, when will Canada cease to be a cellular backwater?

Stay tune

Ipod Decade

I know I'm a few days late with this posting, but I've been thinking about the first decade of the new century, new millenium, however you want to describe it. When you think back there's been a lot of things happening; from 9-11, the War on Terrorism, Hurricane Katrina, the latest global recession and all that. So much to think about and write about. While all that could be considered important enough to mark a decade, I've thought about a few other things, trying to keep positive about it. After all, how do you deal with two wars and the expansion of terrorism. It's easy to point all sorts of fingers and while many have tried to make this a 'west' vs 'east', especially in content of radical Islam, it goes far deeper then that as the only reason.

There's was a fair discussion regarding the decade,just as was the case in the year 2000, was that the first year of the millenium, century, or the last year of the previous? I know those who keep count will say the thing doesn't begin until you see the number '1'. I got to agree, so as I write this it's the last year of the first decade, so I think I'm safe.

A few years ago I purchased the book The Cult of the Ipod. It was written about 5 years ago and give one person's look at the impact of this little music player. It's rather interesting to consider some of the statements made by the book. Leander Kahney does wax a bit eloquent when he writes:

The ipod is a bona fide hit- a genuine cultural phenomenum..The Ipod is changing the music industry- not just how it is played and enjoyed but how it is distributed and perhaps how it is made. The Ipod has usurped the album as the key product of the music industry, replacing it with the playlist...The Ipod has rescued and redefined Apple. The company may yet turn into a music company or one that sells all sorts of entertainment devises.

Steven Levy wrote a book and called it "The Perfect Thing", which sums up his feeling about the devise.

As disclosure is good for the soul, I have been an owner. I've owned the Mini, the Nano and now the IPod Touch. While not known as a MacSlappy, I would say it is one of my favourite electronic devises. I've gone from listening to music and podcasts, to viewing photographs to now, movies, televisions show, in High Def of course, audiobooks and games. Apple calls the Touch, the funniest Ipod ever and when one considers all that is possible, one would be hard pressed to call that some hyperbole.



It has been pointed out that the IPod was not the first MP3 player, but since its launch in Octobe 2001 it has defined the genre. In fact since its launch companies have tried to imitate it, not only in service but looks. It has become the gold standard of that is to do with portable music. Probably it could be said there are other devises that are at least comparable in looks and ability, perhaps even adding a few more features and certainly a lot cheaper or at least more at the same price, but it still holds true, there's something about the IPod.

As I read those comments I have to say, that even after 5 years, those words hold true. It has tranformed Apple, yes it still has computers and my understanding some very nice computers, but with the ipod and iPhone it has become the player on portable computing/communication devises. the iPhone has transformed the cellular phone industry as well, now everyone is attempting to build the "IPhone Killer". What it has, others must make a feature. Touchscreen? Better have it in an upcoming devise? Apps? Your app store better be growing, because all of a sudden people want apps on their smartphones and more then something to simply make notes and keep a list of contacts plus a calendar. The environment better be seamless as well so the people who own the devise don't have to go out and find content.

So has this devise defined the first decade, I would say it has. When it first came out, the white earbuds was the status symbol, you could look and see if a person had them and you knew they had an ipod, now if you see someonen with an mp3 player you naturally assume it's got to be an ipod, or touch or iphone. It just has to be.

The 2000's, the iPod Decade.

Memes!

I was listening to a podcast from NPR, in particular the episode talked about those wonderful things called "Internet Memes". The guest was Kenyatta Cheese of the excellent site "Know Your Meme". One that caught my interest was the one dealing with StarWars Kid. While it may be debated on what this was like, there was a fair bit of fallout from the posting of the video. While it inspired a lot of people to have fun with it, making things with it. The result of it was a lot of lawsuits.

Honestly, you look at it and realize its just some kid having a bit of fun with a video camera and pretending to be a character from StarWars. Like everyone who has done that since the release of the first movie. I realize this is the mid 21st century and obviously the parents wanted to protect their little boy from the humiliation of being made fun of by this thing called "Internet".

Let's move ahead a few years, perhaps instead of calling for lawyers, the parents should have called for a few agents. Give them the duty of turning this little bit of video into a money making opportunity. Get him a few minutes on Oprah, or Ellen. The money would have rolled in. Yeah, it's amazing how a few years would have turned something like a little embarrassment into a major source of tee shirts.

So parents of StarWars Kid, I hope you enjoyed the few dollars you made on the settlement, just meditate on the income you lost over the years.

Respect the Meme.