That’s the slogan of the Vancouver Olympic Games which is from a line in Canada’s National Anthem

A man I know, an accountant by trade and excellent musician, has a very unique way of looking at the world and wrote this in an email:

Another fascinating aspect of the marketing of the games are the spiritual hooks in the [sloganeering]. The current games use "With glowing hearts…".  I thought "exploding hearts" would be more apt, considering McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are the official food providers.

Love it!

I found out about the passing of Lhasa de Sela on New Year’s Day 2010 early this morning on CBC Radio 1. I couldn’t sleep so I was distracting myself by configuring a new tech device and wasn’t paying attention to the content. However, I did hear the announcer mention her name and death before playing an interview from April of last year made around the time of her latest album release.

I’m not sure how it happened but all of a sudden the name clicked and I realized who I was listening to and felt immense sadness. I remember reading a review of her first Vancouver appearance in the late 90’s and how the critics were blown away by the emotional depth of her singing for someone of such a young age [25]. This video is a song from that first album:

So what did Lhasa do after her first album? She went to France and joined a circus.

I had the privilege of seeing Lhasa perform at the Vancouver Jazz Fest in June 2004. It was a great performance even though I understood very few of the words she sang. This is a video from that time:

Lhasa talent is almost ineffable and she will be missed by many, including me.

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Driving home from a morning meeting yesterday, I watched a man oblivious to the world, start crossing the street against a red light at Main and Hastings. It mattered to me because he was crossing during my left turn, green flashing “go-while-you-have-the-chance” light.

I can’t really explain the feeling of calmness that I had at that moment. While driving we are expected to go with the flow of traffic as the signals demand. That wasn’t going to happen, so I waited for him to pass me. I had no anger about his actions, only compassion and hoped he would have a good day.

[The driver behind me didn't honk either.]

A few short weeks ago we had a winter like no other in Vancouver

Photo by Cyprien

and today, a sure sign of that Vancouver is back normal has been found!

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We may not like the Change that comes our way. While we cannot go back, going forward will be unlike anything we have experienced so far. Source

A stun gun sounds high tech, like Star "set phasers on stun" Trek and harmless. Nothing could be further from the truth:

I believe the headline has now been changed.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081029.wtaser1029/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081029.wtaser1029

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/10/29/edm-taser.html?ref=rss

Bonus: An article about Sarah Palin’s use of language during the Presidential campaign by Anil Dash

On Friendfeed, one person asked this question:

"What is the optimal way to express and store facts in plain text that are standalone, modular, self-documented, interoperable, reusable, recombinable, unambiguous, easy to write, easy to read and easy to data mine?" Source

My answer [also at the link]: "A book.:-) With an index and bibliography."

Which reminds me of this gem:

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Downfall is a 2004 film depicting the last days of Adolph Hitler, Fuehrer [leader] of Nazi Germany,

isolated from the world, desperately ordering counterattacks that will never happen, from armies that exist only on maps, commanded by men who are most likely dead. Played by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Hitler is presented as he was in the last months of World War II: a sick, exhausted man but dreaming still of a Greater Germany amid the ruins of war-ravaged Berlin and callously ranting against the ‘weakness’ and ‘deserved destruction’ of the German citizenry. Source

A few creative people on the ‘net have taken one scene in which Herr H. loses all composure, rages against his staff and added there own subtitles to match the event that they want to parody. Earlier this summer, Twitter was experiencing a severe disruption in service and someone posted this video on July 1, 2008:

For another view of Twitter, take a look at Lisa Nova’s Twitter Whore

Fast forward a few months to the Financial Crisis of 2008 and we get this gem posted September 15, 2008:

Here’s a sequel.

Not to many people like Hitler for a number of reasons, but what these people did with this material is brilliant!

Thinking about Climate Change/Global Warming in macro terms:

Humans are a virus and the planet is getting a fever in order to be rid of us.