PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: What's Cool - The Top 3%!

I don't often cross post on Pownce and here on my blog, but this is worth an exception I think. A few minutes ago, a friend reminded me of the Barenaked Ladies' cover of Lovers in a Dangerous Time. I hadn't heard it in years and I'd never seen the video. The song is as good or better than I remembered. I don't care what you think of what the band's done since the famous (at least in Canada) and elusive Yellow Tape, this cover stands on its own.

The fantastic Canadian Design Resource has an article today about the historical flag of Canada's Metis people. I've made several posts in the past about flags and the Metis flag fits well with the other standouts I've mentioned previously. According the description, the Metis flag "represents the coming together of two distinct and vibrant cultures, European and indigenous, to produce a distinctly new culture, the Metis... the infinity symbol suggests that the Metis people will exist forever."

I've been spending many of my recent weekend days working from cafes near my apartment in San Francisco. There's a new one called On the Corner on Divisidero about two blocks from where I live and it gives me a nice break from my small apartment to go down there to write email and work on Pownce stuff — plus their coffee is very drinkable.

However, I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels guilty throwing down a couple of bucks for a coffee and then mooching wifi, power, and a comfy chair for a few hours. I try to get up every once in a while and grab a snack or a coffee refill. I hardly need the extra caffeine and I especially could handle eating fewer pastries, but I feel obliged to support the cafe.

In many ways, cafes serve a very similar purpose as co-working space. Many people come much more often than I do and stay longer, essentially using the cafe as temporary office. For co-working space, like the Queen Street Commons, people pay a decent sum for the convenience.

I'm curious if anyone out there has seen cafes experimenting with alternative payment schemes? I could imagine either a subscription scheme or something as simple as special tip jar clearly indicated as a 'thanks-for-the-wifi-comfy-chair-music-bathroom' donation. I know I'd be willing to pay — and my body would thank me for the reduced consumption of guilty pastries and extra cups of coffee.

I'm currently in Toronto at the Mesh conference taking place at the MaRS centre on College Street. Today was the MeshU day of workshops, including great presentations by John Lax, Leah Culver, Ryan Carson, John Resig, and a bunch of others. I presented in the morning and promised that I'd stick my slides online, so here they are. If audio is available later, I'll try to add it on, but I promised to get them up there at least in a basic way. Thanks to anyone/everyone who came out!

As I've talked about at a few conferences recently, one of the exciting/difficult things about working in-house, on a project with the scope of something like Digg, is the luxury/challenge to adapt your own work. The comments system on Digg is a perfect example. Just this past week, we rolled out the latest iteration of the comments system, which is the fourth major adaption of the system since the site launched over four years ago. It's a project that's been a long time coming and has been under development for a fairly long period. What a relief to finally see it out in the wild.

In his blog post about the release, Micah described several of the important changes that we made from both a design and performance standpoint. From the design side, we've made the comments visually lighter, reduced the metadata around each comment, improved the visual flow down the comment threads, added subtler functionality, and significantly improved the interaction design. When I say we improved the interaction design, I mean that as you interact with the comments (e.g. digg a comment, write a comment, edit your comments, etc) all of the pieces fit together more naturally.

The next step will be to iterate on the comments system once we've seen how people use, abuse, and break the one we just built. We certainly plan on doing more small adaptations over the next months as opposed to waiting to perform a large revision. As always with Digg projects, it's pretty exciting to watch a few million people use a feature that, up until launch, had only been seen or used by a few people... it'll be interesting to see what they do.

Other than a friend's parent when I was a kid and the Undertone's song "There Goes Norman", I have little contact with Normans. Norman, the internet service provider tech, however expanded the Normy part of my world by 50% yesterday when he was over to check the issues with our high speed. He showed me all the weird wiring in our house installed by the last owners, he rigged us up to a more powerful line in the next street over...he gave me his work cell phone number. Later today - on Norman's direction - a switch should be thrown that allows us the most powerful access to the information super highway that has been known to mankind. Or at least the level of serivce I have been paying for for two years.

I didn't tell him we had been checking out the competition but if he pulls this off I am sticking with Bell because that means sticking with Norman.

...or is it heli-cicle? I spotted this between Lowville and Watertown on Sunday, a snazzy frontlawn ornament indicating that jetcicles, cop-cicles and even putting your very own truck on a concrete or metal stick is well within the hopes and budget of all average folk anywhere.

And thank you for your anticipated praise as to the quality of my drive-by 50 mph photography. Yes, it's that good. Click on either image for more detail.

Boy, a week with very limited internet access makes for a very relaxed feeling. The continuing lack of good access at home has me wondering if all this effort to make Hans happy is worth it - but what a silly thought. Hans is to blogging as those white kittens in TV ads for toilet paper to...TV ads for toilet paper.

But I have been thinking about changing the format and schedule. I think this should be more about questions and answers. So you pose the questions today. See if that works.

I feel badly for Hans. I even drove near Heuvleton, NY on the way here so the whole family could wave at the ancestral home of Hans. But I have to get to the South Portland library to post this week, it was closed yesterday and, frankly, there is sea life to consume instead of blogging. Notes so far:

• Hotels with no free breakfast are not good. I had to hunt for groceries at 10 pm on Friday instead of waking up to someone else's work of making me faux scrabled eggs and "breakfast links." Oddly, Double Tree with no breakfast is part of the same hotel group as the much preferred, feast o'breakfasting (yet cheaper) Homestead Suites.
• The smoked chowder at 3 Dollar Dooies is still great.
• Get to the South Portland Library early as there is already only one computer free. People do not whisper here, either, which is good. No library nazis.
• Gas is not as expensive here as in NY state. We went from 4.09 a gallon upstate to 3.69 here.
• Renting a cottage in a normal neighbourhood is a great thing. My neighbour came over to help with the garbage. My kids are among families with kids. I walk to ice cream.
• I am going to kick the second annual 35 yard field goal in America as part of my continuing "Glory Years" project - this time with a 19.99 NFL sized Wilson. Last year was celebrated in Ithaca NY with a CFL ball. When I kick my 35 yard kick, my kids will shout "you still got it, Dad" because I am going to give them ice cream if they do.

I like Maine. You know I like Maine. Google knows I like Maine for God's sake. This year we are renting an urban cottage and looking forward to it. I have no idea as to the internet access so we will see how you cope.

• Your weekly PEI is outraged over something update: Now the government is apparently outraged this week at the media's lack of magic mushroom coverage.
• One Canadian politician now wants our own cult of sport apparently. I hope I spelled that correctly.
• Eight days later, my take on Georgia? Don't attack Russian held ground. El Tigre points to other views.
• Nigeria has given away a chunk of itself to Cameroons after an international court ruling based on an early 19th century colonial agreement between Britain and Germany. How refreshing and relatively peaceful - and as worthy a settlement as the Georgian-South Ossetian debacle is disturbing. All hail Nigeria and Cameroon! I will now support each at the Olympics and buy their products.
• Chris Taylor poses the aeronautical question - how dey do dat?
• Beautiful photos from North Korea. This must be the prettiest girl in the land. Read the whole set to see how poignant a shot that is. This one, on the other hand, is not.
• Health watch: I knew this and apparently I knew this, too.

So goodbye for now. I am at the whim of librarians and hoteliers for my internet access. It's not like I would buy a laptop to do this, you know.

I doubt not that moderate Drinking has been improv'd for the Diffusion of Knowledge among the ingenious Part of Mankind...drinking does not improve our Faculties, but it enables us to use them.

Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood, No. 12, 1722.

Franklin was 16 or 17 when he wrote that under a pseudonym. Smart kid. You know, quoting Franklin on beer can be dangerous stuff but, in this case, you know that is it true because you can read it for yourself on the internet. When I read that passage above in the introduction of Salinger's book, I thought not about Franklin or his sayings but beer goggles. They were in the news lately, as this piece from CTV reminds us:

Anyone looking for a mate in a bar, take note: Beer goggles really do make people appear more attractive, British researchers say. Scientists at the University of Bristol found that study subjects who consumed alcohol considered people to be about 10 per cent more attractive than did people who did not consume alcohol...Both the male and female subjects not only found members of the opposite sex more attractive, they also found members of the same gender more attractive, too...The researchers also found that men deemed women to be more attractive for up to 24 hours after they consumed alcohol.

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.

Isn't that what the wee dram (or whatever the scientists of Bristol gave their human guinea pigs) did? Did it not cleanse the mind and reveal beauty? Is that no what Franklin saw when he was but a lad?

While in Maine, I headed out one night with pals who lived there to find a new Belgian beer bar that I had heard plenty about - Novare Res. We had a bit of trouble finding the place at night as it sits in a mid block courtyard near the corner of Exchange and Middle Streets in the old port part of town but once we found the right alley we were in for a treat. Set up with two main sections, a beer celler as well as a courtyard beer garden, Novare Res provides a layout that will work on a stinking hot Saturday afternoon or a stormy winter night. Inside, it's brick with new Ikea-esque pale pine laminate on the benches and tabletops. Very comfortable.

There is a solid draft line up, from which I picked a Monk's Flemish as well as a Bernardus 12 for one of the company. The food selection is limited to cold cuts and cheese plates but that was fine with me - though the lack of Belgian fies gave a moment's concern. This approach must help keep costs down, however, as the real feature is how reasonably priced everything is. Our waiter was friendly, interested in knowing what we knew about beer and a keener herself - I got to explain that "oudbeitje" sounds a lot like "ode bitchie" but with less bite and a bit of a loopy "yee" sound at the end. Prices? I will have to check my receipt, still out in the car, but I think a full measure of Bernardus 12 was $7.49. The De Ranke XX we split was close in price to what I would expect to pay at a retail bottle shop like Tully's. Verdict? Go.

I really shouldn't call this a book review when I have only read the introduction. Has anyone else seen this book by Sharon V. Salinger of UC Irvine? I found it at the Fort Stanwix gift shop in Rome, NY yesterday as we were driving back from Maine. From the first bit I have read, it appears to be a strong academic text with an interesting point of view - the antecedents for American patterns of drinking. So far I have learned that the Dutch in the 1600's were raging alcoholics in the eyes of contemporary commentators but we have to be mindful of the fact that the Dutch and English were then warring naval powers. That being said, it is note worthy that the slurs "double Dutch", "Dutch treat" and more pointedly "Dutch courage" remain in common English usage.

Anyway, I will follow up as I read and will certainly let you know where I see this book fitting in the oddly sparce and unsatisfying histories of the beer and the United States. Here is a 2003 review to further peak (or even pique) your interest.

We stopped in at Allagash to pick up some supplies yesterday, three hours early for the tour but that was fine. I was really looking just to shop on the one rainy morning during our week in southern Maine. I plan to be on the beach most days at 3 pm. Not that I usually mention landscaping but Allagash sits in what must be one of the nicest industrial parks going, nestled amongst mature pines. Not that that makes the beer different but driving into the place with the malty sweet brewery smell mixing with evergreen forest as the grain truck unloaded was good.

The staff person who helped us was nice as all get out, even remembering my pal who had schlepped a mixed six of their big bottles when he visited up north months ago. And the prices were excellent. Stan would be slapping me on the back of the head, calling me a doofus for thinking it wouldn't be so. A 2-4 of their white ale, my favorite white going, was just 48 bucks. The Four and Black were under eleven bucks for a 750 ml cork top. Who knew? Maybe I have been buying their beer just too far from hom when I find it in upstate NY. Maybe I'm just a doofus. It's quite an operation with eleven brewing staff as well as four in the office. Not huge, not small. Dedicated to Belgian brewing only in a land with no cultural or gistoric connections to Maine...other than seafood, which the white goes unbelievably well with. Last night, I doused scallops with the white after they had spent just about a minute in a hot buttery pan. I had their stout, Black, as well. Tasty but not overly Belgique in terms of spiced yeast. And why no Allagash saison? Hmm??

I took some photos but I still can't find a well placed USB port that accepts my poorly designed photo memory card to USB converter. Why must these things happen?

One of the many great things about Maine is you can buy beer at a grocery store - and wine and what they call "haaaard liqaaaah" around here. So far I have only hit two stores in South Portland, Shaw's and Hannaford, but it is interesting to note the different treatment. At clean and bright and helpful Shaw's, the beer is in the chip and soda aisle. There are a few locals but it is treated as largely a commodity beverage with no focus on craft or even Maine. This is odd because at the other side of the store they have a dandy and quite large fine wine area with phoney rich wood panelling as well as a lay-out that creates a quiter shopping moment.

Hannaford, also clean and bright and helpful, clearly takes a different approach with a significant placement at the end of the aisles for Maine craft beers, plenty of fridge space including Allagash white - and, low and behold, fine high end craft beer in the fine wine area. There were well-priced examples from Allagash and Dogfish head as well as a few others. Nothing to compare with a specialty shop but clearly an effort to point out that instead of that bottle of red or white Ozzie or Cali plonk you may want to try a locally made triple for about the same price or maybe even a little less. A great idea and a great way to put good beer into the hands of your average family shoppers or folks like me travelling through.

More as I continue my quest to consume the entire output of the north Atlantic Ocean.

The difference between America and Canada is that Americans don't care what the difference between America and Canada is.

Adams' method was established in Fire and Ice: he notes at one point that in the U.S. SUVs outsell minivans by two-to-one, whereas in Canada it's vice versa. That's a fact. The fancy is in the meaning he appends to it. "This is a stark difference," he writes, "whose roots can be traced directly to the differing values of our two countries." This assertion seems to have no basis other than a casual assumption that Canadians are more environmentally responsible and thus more concerned with "excessive gasoline consumption, pollution and safety violations."

Isn't there a more obvious correlation? Minivans are cheaper than SUVs, and Canadians have less disposable income than Americans. It's easy to be "socially responsible" if you've got no choice in the matter. On the Continent they're driving around in things the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's cup holder, so presumably they're more "socially responsible" still. In Canada those who can afford SUVs buy them, it's just that their numbers are smaller. Remember Herb Dhaliwal? Well, no, you probably don't. But a couple of years back M. Chrétien made him minister of natural resources, and he certainly got through a lot of them. He drove around like a Hamas warlord in a three-ton Cadillac Escalade. That's bigger than my SUV and I'm in favour of global warming. The difference is that the high living of a Liberal cabinet minister is confined, north of the border, mainly to Liberal cabinet ministers while down south it's more widely available.

I've used both my Mastercard and my Visa card here in the USA, in restaurants and shops in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and I've not once had to sign a credit card slip. Apparently, at least for purchases under $25.00, this is the rule here now. Weird.

Which is not to say that having to sign was ever a great security feature, but you'd think that the direction would be from signature to PIN (the model in Europe), rather than from signature to nothing.

Remember the Mustang and the Volvo I received last year from Hertz when I'd reserved a "Toyota Camry or Similar." Well I'm on to their game: now I regularly reserve the cheapest car on offer, usually "Ford Focus or Similar," and every time I get automagically upgraded to a

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I head off for a loop of travel tomorrow: first stop, Yankee, where I'll head on the direct Delta flight Sunday afternoon, driving up to my usual perch at the Jack Daniels Motor Inn before spending two days with my colleagues there on part two of a site re-architecting exercise.

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Remember my mobile web server? Well, in addition to all its juicy mobile goodness, it also has a nice RESTful API. For example, this URL:

http://ruk.mymobilesite.net/rest/presence/devicestate

will get you an XML file, served from the web server on the phone, that looks something like this:

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I'm doing some experimenting with Nokia's Mobile Web Server application, and so, at least while I'm within wifi range, you should be able to visit ruk.mymobilesite.net, which will connect you to the web server running on my phone:

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<Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor plays at Pitchfork. Photo taken by Flickr's Staciaann Photography.