Category Archives: News

I’m back!!

JumpingJohn

After a few years away, I am back on the blog.  Last time was a tryout.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.  It was just a passing thought, a way to see if I really liked writing.  It turns out I do.  I feel like I have lots to share and don’t spend enough time doing it. I am awesome after all, so why not share the amazeballness with the world?!

I have been thinking about lots of stuff and will try to post something at least once a week.   I figure that gives me some leeway if I don’t find time or am lazy.  You know, normal hedging of the bets.

One thing that I can share right away is Energy Smart Show.  My better half at Maestro Events is putting it together with partners. This consumer show’s goal is to educate more people on the options to Save Money and Save The Planet.  It will also be building a community of like-minded people who want to share information and make our world a little bit better every day through reduced energy footprints.  Nobody likes an electric bigfoot trampling through their yard.  Oh… Electric Bigfoots (Bigfeet?).  Now, there is a subject for another time.  (Note to self:  Follow up on Electric Bigfoot.  Not the monster truck.  The Sasquatch.)

So, it turns out that thinking about something to write about before bed is probably a bad idea.  Sleep well little ones.  We shall meet again soon.

A very new year

It is with renewed enthusiasm that I greet the new year.  The turning of a number is but a symbolic marker, but can be used as a psychological turning point as well.  The trials and tribulations of the past have a great chasm to cross to stay in the present.  The road ahead is paved with good intentions and more possibilities than we can imagine.  We will all be better off if we only put our minds to it and lead the naysayers to look at the world differently.  There are pots of gold under the many rainbows to come and are ours for the taking!  🙂

I am glad to say that 2008 is over.  It was a year of great turbulence personally and professionally.  2009 holds many challenges and a lot of unknown, but it is new.  I look forward to learning more about myself, others and all that is new in the world.  I want to push myself further than I have before and impose and new self-discipline so I can feel better about myself.

There is more news to come in the new year.  Stay tuned and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Revision3 layoffs

If you watch Internet TV, you probably know about a little outfit called revision3.  There worked, up until today, Martin Sargent and Sarah Lane who, among others, were laid off.  Of course, the spineless CEO claims that the uncertain economic times precipitated his decision.  In the words of Neal Stephenson, this is bullshytt.  Anyone with a little common sense can see that this yet another in a series of layoffs being blamed on the credit crunch.  It is very convenient for the CEO’s of this world to have a scapegoat handy.  Unfortunately, the Internet is an amazing communication vehicle that executives seem to ignore, even when their company is based on it!

There is obviously more to the story than we are led to believe from both sides.  The layoffees are smart enough to not burn any bridges.  They are worked together before and probably will again.  They are taking their time with their blog posts and not pushing back.  The layoffers are trying to quell the storm by posting standard corporate rhetoric.  It may even be the truth, but jaded fans, who almost feel like they have friends in these two online celebrities, take offense to any perceived mistreatment of their icons.  Martin and Sarah have been smart about bringing fans in to the fold and will hold on to them through this.

It is no longer the employee that belongs to the corporation, but the corporation who has the priviledge of being the employer.  The people see the looming battle for human capital and are positioning themselves to be the winners.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Do Not Call – Canada

So, the CRTC launched the Do Not Call list in Canada yesterday at www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca and BIG surprise, the site was overwhelmed in the first day. 1.2 million phone numbers registered the FIRST day. For a country of 30 million people, that is HUGE! With the site crashing, the calls starting coming fast and furious at a rate of up to 1,562 call per MINUTE!!!

I would not complain about a site crashing or not being able to get through to a call centre. If people honestly believe any government agency or private company will ramp up to take a one day deluge, they are seriously out of their mind. I say BRAVO for getting it back up so quickly and registering the mass they did.

This also speaks to the great hatred Canadians have for telemarketing. If only the law was a little broader and did not contain so many exemptions, such as newspapers, political parties and any company you already have a business relationship with. I think people will be surprised that they will still get many of the calls they get today with no recourse other than to listen to the spiel, continue to play tricks on the poor souls manning the phones and / or simply hanging up on the dead air you get for 5 seconds because the auto-dialer is just a little off.

PS: Don’t call me, ok?

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Large Hadron Collider

If you have not heard about it, you need to read this article: Wired – LHC

This will have implications on how we understand the universe and, ultimately, all our lives, whether you know it or not!  And don’t believe all the black hole hype.  You have a better chance of winning the lottery.  Hmmmm, maybe I should buy those soon so I can take advantage of the money before…

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Daily Sites

I have a bunch of sites that I browse on a daily basis.  It usually takes me between half an hour and all day, if I have nothing better to do, to read through the headlines and the stories that pique my interest.  I guess I could use an RSS feed and some an aggregation site to read through, but the “old fashioned” bookmark file just seems right to me.

In the interest of sharing some of the interesting sites I have found and in a effort to try and keep you, the reader, interested in coming back to read my daily fodder, here are just a few of my favorite sites, in no particular order:

  1. www.bourque.com (Daily news headlines out of Ottawa and a WHACK of links to other news sites)
  2. www.digg.com (User generated content site that has some funky stories and is pretty popular).
  3. www.cnn.com (Yes, they are still useful and have added a bunch of video content.)  🙂

I hope you enjoy these sites and bookmark some of them.  Come back tomorrow when I will post some content sites for your enjoyment!

Stay interested and interesting!

John