Lynda Sez » Uncategorized

Drive your own day

lynda — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:02:43 +0000

Today is my day for sniffling and wheezing with a head cold, rather than taking the road trip I had planned to Kitchener for a needlework show. Instead, I dropped into a recent tech conference in California via YouTube for Tim O’Reilly’s talk while I knitted a sweater ordered recently from the net, based on a blogger’s recommendation. I need to remember what I did with my life before it was driven by the network, so I am going for a walk.

As the tech turns

lynda — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:44:04 +0000

An old iMac (very old, but still runs OS X) found a new home today, from my mother’s basement into the hands of the seven-year-old daughter of a friend. My sister, the original owner, used it daily for years to do her work as a publicist for theatre, TV shows, films and assorted celebrities. After she moved on to a faster machine, it served as a backup for family members and ultimately a handy email machine for my uncle who visits in the summer. I spent part of today doing minor maintenance on an old iBook, which will take the place of the iMac in the basement. Only challenge with this one is that the letters have worn off the keyboard buttons. No problem for my mother, the touch typist, but not so easy for me, who needs to hunt and peck. I might need to hook up an old external keyboard for my uncle; I’m sure I have one or two. We don’t like to waste technology.

A walk in the woods

lynda — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:50:37 +0000

Today I went for a wonderful hike in a nearby forest, not just for myself, but for my mother, whose declining health makes it impossible to do some of the things she loves. The woods were alive with sprouts of trout lilies and wild leeks, and there were blooming hepatica, bloodroot, and coltsfoot and even a solitary trillium in bud. I took pictures of all of these, plus the hart’s tongue fern, the holly fern and the walking fern. With each sunlit step, I thought about the ease with which I moved along, and even when the going was tough, I was thankful for the hard-won breath and aching muscles. It’s the simple things we lose when we’re not ready. I shared my pictures with my mother and we pledged to go out together, at least as far as she can, while the weather is good.

Blogging for Ada

lynda — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Commemorating 19th century geek Ada Lovelace is as good a reason as any to (1) start blogging again after a long hiatus and (2) honour two people I know who are admirable examples of women who embrace technology and science with enthusiasm. I am very blessed to know them personally – they are my mother and my daughter. My mother is herself an active blogger and wastes no opportunity to coach and mentor her peers so that they too can enjoy the world wide web, a world she delights in every day for keeping in touch with friends and family and always learning something new.

It’s no surprise that my daughter is comfortable with technology. Her generation grew up with computers and as a world traveller she counts on skype and texting to keep track of people back home. She has pursued a career in animal behaviour, but now she is expanding her knowledge of the sciences by studying conservation biology, while still working directly with animals at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

Both of these women have had very different influences and experiences from the genteel countess, “The Enchantress of Numbers” Ada Lovelace, but I think they both share her passion for learning and delight in what technology can make possible.

Sound all around

rgdaniel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:13:34 +0000

Julian Treasure, who is in the business of making sounds work better, especially for people who sell things, gives a quick primer on how sounds affect us in this short TED talk. I especially like his closing comment, offering bird sounds, which he prescribes at a minimum of 5 minutes a day.

Roadwitching

rgdaniel — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:33:46 +0000

I had some great conversations with people I don’t normally see while I was away in Toronto. One friend recommended a conference called Gel, short for Good Experience Live, usually held in New York. Its user experience focus brings together creators and thinkers from various fields, making it somewhat like TED, but more affordable. Here’s an example from one held in Europe in 2006: Ted Dewan talks about his efforts to slow traffic with art events on his street in Oxford.

Where we came from

rgdaniel — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:53:12 +0000

Do you remember what life was like before the Internet? Even my generation and older may have difficulty looking back to when personal computer technology was new and amazing. Here are some videos that may help, what they call the “mother of all demos” from Stanford in 1968. Lead presenter Doug Englebart mentions, among other projects in progress, the ARPA network, the precursor of the Internet.

Time to celebrate

rgdaniel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:12:00 +0000

My team at PMH declared me officially a five year survivor today. In cancer talk, that’s the major milestone to make, since statistically most recurrences diminish tremendously after that. We still watch and wait, but heck, another reason to celebrate! I went down to the catacombs to thank the people operating “my” radiation machine. The personnel have changed, but I know they like to see people who have made it.

Off to see the wizard

rgdaniel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:30:23 +0000

I’m off to the big city tomorrow to do a number of important things. First up is a routine visit to the wizard at Princess Margaret Hospital who blessed me with a cure almost five years ago. When checkup time comes around I always have to ask myself if I have earned it by smelling enough roses. No roses ready yet this year but the lilacs are sublime. On the next day I’ll visit a dear lady who unfortunately has not had the blessing I have. We’ll spend a pleasant hour or two chatting about this and that, and with any luck have a few giggles. With visits to sister, son and daughter, plus a few friends, I’ll be busy until Saturday, when I am speaking at the Editors’ Association of Canada national conference. Then it’s back home to smell the peonies.

A change long overdue

rgdaniel — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:28:47 +0000

I’ve been a subscriber to The Globe and Mail on paper for way too many decades to admit, even continuing paper delivery after we moved up to Owen Sound. Today I finally gave up on the spotty delivery (sometimes late, sometimes never) and switched to the e-reader version. Maybe one day I’ll let go entirely, but for now, I can easily browse and navigate in an excellent interface, and even download the paper as a pdf. And yes, I can take the laptop out to the patio and read it there if I want, so no sacrifice has been made.