Random Musings and Nicknacks

I just found this article on what we are missing in news reports.

A very interesting read, and I think every reporter should be forced to memorize it.

Then, maybe, I wouldn’t be in this situation of knowing the details of how Sri Lanka ended their civil war, the names of the people on both sides, and yet still have absolutey no idea of the social, political, or geographic circumstances that led to the rise of the Tamil Tigers in the first place – should I be happy that a country is united, or should I be crying for a people who’s independence has been crushed?

You would think that with the hours of news coverage, and pages of print coverage on the topic, somebody would have got around to mentioning how it started, but in the last year of reporting not a single article I have seen nor programme I have listened to felt the need to talk about that.

The resurgence of CBC into relevancy, after years of toiling in near obscurity continues to amaze me, and I would love to know who is behind it.

They have done this by taking advantage of their position as a crown corporation to experiment in ways that a purely commercial venture doesn’t dare, and it has paid – I am constantly amazed at how many people my age rely on CBC, and how popular they are around the world.

They have done it by embracing the technology that is changing the media industry instead of rejecting it – they were one of the first to podcast (which has pushed programmes like Quirks & Quarks to huge popularity in the US and around the world). They stream their radio in multiple formats, so you don’t have to have Windows to listen. They were the first in Vancouver to provide a real HD over the air broadcast, which turned me, personally, back onto The National.

They even made the front page of the (in)famous slashdot by distributing shows by bit torrent.

I just discovered their latest salvo: the CBC iPhone App

A single application that gives you links to listen to CBC Radio 1,2,3, or access a number of their programs on-demand, if you so choose.

I’ve just downloaded it, and I can see there is some thought here – there is a sleep timer built-in, so if you are in the middle of Texas on vacation, you can plug into Radio One to go to sleep, and have it turn itself off. Additionally there is a “frequencies” button – tap it, and it uses the GPS to determine where you are then lists what frequency CBC radio is in your area. You can pull radio schedules on it too.

I love this kind of experimentation – it is great to see a media company experimenting with the new world, instead of being dragged kicking and screaming into it!

I was forwarded this article and thought it would be useful for the future reference:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/silverman/2009/05/how-to-revise-an-email-revised.html#comments

Between the Burrard Bridge trial and the new Canada Line bridge, the issue of bikes and how to integrate them into the city has been in the news a lot lately, and left me thinking about them even more than usual. As a follow up to my previous post on the subject its time to discuss some of the issues that I see with a bike infrastructure.
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Tim showed me a YouTube video the other day describing the Chinese interpretation on the north American grades. It was quite entertaining but also reflected a certain level of truth. Here is what each letter means to the Chinese parents:

A – Average
B – Bad
C – Crap
D – Dead
F – F**ked