Uploaded "A Year in the Deep End Excerpt" to SoundCloud and Internet Archive

I uploaded to SoundCloud and the Internet Archive a ca. 2 minute excerpt from a piece four times as long I call "A Year in the Deep End." This is my last track for 2010 to mark my first year in electronic music.

The SoundCloud version is here: http://soundcloud.com/trancedoctor/a-year-in-the-deep-end-excerpt

The Internet Archive version is here: http://www.archive.org/details/AYearInTheDeepEndExcerpt

My goal for 2011 is to create one track a week.

Uploaded "I Am on SoundCloud Announcement" to Internet Archive

Yesterday (December 30, 2010) I created a little voice recording announcing my presence on SoundCloud that I uploaded to the Internet Archive. I placed it in the public domain so anyone else on SoundCloud who wishes to use it can. I've also posted it to my SoundCloud account.

Uploaded "One Track One Mind" to SoundCloud

I uploaded "One Track One Mind" to SoundCloud. It contains the sounds of a synthesized harp. If you need something to lull you to sleep after a hard night of New Year's Eve partying, this might do the trick. You'd have to loop it or fall asleep real quick like as it's only 3 minutes, 30 seconds long. I've enabled downloading on the track.

Uploaded "Tilly's Lament" to SoundCloud

At the suggestion of a family friend and relative I wrote this tribute to a favorite family pet and called it "Tilly's Lament". Have a listen on my SoundCloud account. It's just under 3 minutes so won't take up much of your time.

Update for May 8, 2011: I deleted this track to create more room to upload more. It's had 17 plays since I uploaded it on December 28, 2010.

Uploaded "Lost Transformations" to SoundCloud

Imagine you're on an island, an island unknown to most of the world, an island lost in space and time. Hey, wasn't that the name of a popular TV series, something about being lost on an island. So if there was a beach club on the island and you could hear the sounds of the jungle and the beach in between the beats, is this what you would hear, the "Lost Transformations"?

My wintry piece of music "Winter Breaks" uploaded to SoundCloud

Lovingly built with synthesized sounds and music loops, I hope you'll enjoy my wintry piece of music over the holiday season. It's called "Winter Breaks" and you can listen to it in its entirety through my SoundCloud account.

Uploaded "Intersections Part 1 Excerpt" to SoundCloud

I uploaded a one minute excerpt, the ending actually, from "Intersections Part 1" to my SoundCloud Internet Archive account.

"Alien Species Invade BC" uploaded to SoundCloud

I asked a couple of folks at the Royal BC Museum if they'd like to listen to my little composition inspired by the alien species natural history program. They said yes, sounds intriguing, so I've uploaded it to my SoundCloud account where you too can listen to "Alien Species Invade BC". It's 3 minutes and 53 seconds long. Downloading is disabled.

My New Year's Anthem Producer Challenge track on SoundCloud

I saw an advert for a musical challenge that I couldn't resist: a New Year's Eve anthem. The entry cost was nominal: $5 US for some sound samples you had to incorporate into your piece. I smashed together a seven-minute long club dance/disco/tech-house extravaganza with a wee bit of Latin and Indian flavor thrown in for global measure. The entry had to be made via SoundCloud, kind of like a Facebook for musicians. Since the entry is part of a SoundCloud Group run by the contest's sponsors and the group is moderated, my entry, if it qualifies, may or may not be live at this URL (see below for an update, but it got rejected and I've made it public but not downloadable):

http://soundcloud.com/trancedoctor/dance-the-year-away-new-years-anthem

The contest closes on December 16, 2010 and as of December 15 there are a mere 20 entries (excluding mine). So as not to be influenced I never listened to any of the competition. And still haven't. Honest.

Update for December 16, 2010: So far I've been unable to get my track uploaded via either Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. The fact that SoundCloud had undergone scheduled maintenance when I was trying to upload it yesterday did not help. And today the site is still having problems! Comments from members of the group that was set up for this contest are varied, with several negative comments. I may end up posting something there myself as it looks as though technical difficulties may hinder my entry attempts.

Update for a little later on December 16, 2010: I finally managed to get my track uploaded and converted to the SoundCloud audio format. You can't listen to it until and if it gets approved by one or more of the moderators.

Update for December 17, 2010:  My track got rejected by the record label that co-sponsored the contest. No real info on why other than "not fitting." I objected as the contest rules and a blog posting by the other co-sponsor implied that the track only had to meet the qualification of including one or more of the purchased sound samples. I've made the track public but you can't download it.

TranceDoctor

SwarmJam opens in Victoria

The Victoria daily newspaper the Times-Colonist through its parent company Postmedia is helping sponsor SwarmJam, an group or collective online buying/shopping service that launched for Victoria residents on December 1, 2010. Having participated in a group online buy in the past through an individual vendor, I can attest to the deep discounts are possible. Of course you have to be into online shopping and pay attention to e-mail notifications in order to make the most of the daily shopping opportunities that are presented.

And no, I haven't been paid to endorse this service.

Uploaded "Out Along the Rim Take1" excerpt to the Internet Archive

I've uploaded a 59-second excerpt from a six and a half minute long musical extravaganza I call "Out Along the Rim", all inspired by some software synthesizer sounds and my memories of Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island and the early work of musician Terry Riley in his 1969 piece "A Rainbow in Curved Air".

Update for May 8, 2011:  This excerpt is no longer available through my SoundCloud profile. Between December 28, 2010 and May 8, 2011, the track on SoundCloud had 23 plays.

First big snowfall of the season for Victoria

The meteorologists were right about the effect of El Nina on Victoria's weather for the coming winter. The first hard snowfall at sea level started coming down on the morning of November 22, 2010. The Canadian government weather office Web site is calling this "flurries", but it looks like a solid, socked-in snowdown to me.

Uploaded "Call of the Wild Strings Take 1 Excerpt" to the Internet Archive

I've uploaded a 52-second excerpt from the first take of "Call of the Wild Strings" to the Internet Archive.

STOP ... Premier Gordon Campbell resigns ... STOP

Yes, it's true and all over the media in BC and beyond, but Premier Gordon Campbell resigned today as leader of the BC Liberal Party and has called for a leadership convention at the earliest opportunity. Here's a link to a Google News Canada search that will bring up news stories about this event.

"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" TV movie shoot in Estevan Village, evening of November 1, 2010

There was a TV movie shoot taking place on the evening of November 1, 2010 in Estevan Village, a neighborhood shopping district in the municipality of Oak Bay. The shoot was entirely confined to the barbershop. It looked to be a professional effort as there were several big trucks parked on Musgrave Avenue. There were some lights set up so the barbershop appeared as it would in daylight. Walking on the other side of the street I was practically blinded due to the angle of one set of lights.

According to a newspaper article on November 9, the shoot was for a TV movie starring Richard ("The Waltons") Thomas and titled "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" for airing on the Hallmark Channel in 2011.

Danno's dead, we'll miss

And now we bid a fond aloha to James MacArthur who played Danno on the original Hawaii Five-O TV show for 11 years. Just before the new series aired, he didn't rule out the possibility of making a guest appearance. He won't have that chance now, but he'll live on in my heart and mind whenever I hear the phrase "Book 'em, Danno."

Uploaded "Halloween Acoustic Mix Ending Excerpt" to the Internet Archive

I've been working on a lengthy piece of music mixed with sound effects inspired by that spookiest of all days in North America, Halloween. I've uploaded the ending of part of the piece to the Internet Archive under the title
Halloween Acoustic Mix Ending Excerpt. I hope to have an hour-long CD that might be called Birch Street Sound Bites for sale next year.

Uploaded "Sweet the River That Carries Our Dreams" excerpt to the Internet Archive

I've uploaded an excerpt from a new, ambient piece I call "Sweet the River That Carries Our Dreams" to the Internet Archive. I've been working on several other pieces as well and will upload excerpts from those over the coming days and weeks.

Friends of the BC Archives talk on early BC photographers from Great Britain

Yesterday (October 17, 2010) I gave a talk to the Friends of the BC Archives called "Wild and Picturesque: The British Contribution to Early British Columbia Photography." Much of my time over the past couple of months has been devoted to that project. Thanks in part to a wonderful editorial by Times-Colonist journalist and BC historical research booster Dave Obee on October 15, 2010, Old Photographs Help Us Explore B.C.'s Past, the Newcombe Conference Hall in the Royal BC Museum was filled to capacity. I knew many people in the audience from my years working on the reference desk at the BC Archives, so that made it easier and a more pleasant experience to share some of research into the lives of BC's 19th century photographers from the British isles. If you were there, thank you very much for turning out on a beautiful fall day!

Royal BC Museum launches new collections database

The Royal BC Museum has launched its new collections database. As of October 12, 2010, you can access new databases for Ethnology, Archaeology and Modern History. Databases that utilize existing search engines and have yet to be transitioned to the new system are the natural history collections and the BC Archives.

Guess the Giller contest from Scotiabank

If you're psychic and love a good read, have a go at the Guess the Giller contest sponsored by Scotiabank. It must be a popular contest as when I tried to cast my vote I got the error message "We are experiencing technical problems. Please try again later."

And the nominees are:


The Matter With Morris by David Bergen

Light Lifting by Alexander Macleod

This Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Uploaded "Synthesize My Heart" excerpt to the Internet Archive

I uploaded to the Internet Archive a 56-second excerpt from near the ending of a piece I call "Synthesize My Heart". It's a single MIDI track played back through four different software synthesizers.

Six Apart's Vox blog publishing service closing September 30, 02010

Six Apart is closing its Vox blog publishing service effective September 30, 2010. A few migration paths are available. I was able to move The Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums to Blogspot. Some additional work is required to prettify the site, but at least it will have a longer life and be easier for me to maintain at Blogspot.

Uploaded "Stronger Than Magic, Weaker Than Science" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Welcome to September and a few more musical pieces. I uploaded a 48-second excerpt from my "Stronger Than Magic, Weaker Than Science" little dance tune to the Internet Archive.

The Twittering of the Search World by David Mattison is online

My latest article for Searcher magazine is available for free in its September 2010 issue: "The Twittering of the Search World".

Searcher magazine cover, September 2010

Free download of four Native Instruments' sound and sample players

Beginning September 1, 2010, Native Instruments, a German company based in Berlin and Los Angeles, is offering a free download of a new product, a series of bundled sound and sample players called the Komplete 7 Players. While the players include "a 1 GB sound library and 450 high-quality presets and effects ready to use in the studio or on stage," Native Instruments is hoping you'll be so impressed that you'll return to their online store to buy more virtual instruments and effects.

This is a smart move and kind of mirrors what some other companies such as Camel Audio have done with its Alchemy "sample manipulation synthesizer." While you pay for its Alchemy Player, they'll throw in one free sound library of equal value. Camel also has a promotion running until August 31 where you can pay whatever you want for the sound library Planet Earth and they'll note only donate by default half of your amount to charity, but they'll also throw in the Alchemy Player for free.

My Ten Thousand Year Blog now available for commercial syndication

My Ten Thousand Year Blog is now available for commercial syndication through Newstex. Details are available at http://www.newstex.com/publisher-search/Blogs/The-Ten-Thousand-Year-Blog/

Yet another version of "The Paint Machine Mix" uploaded to the Internet Archive

I think I've finally smoothed the groove in my "Paint Machine Mix", so check out the Take 3 Excerpt on the Internet Archive, all 31 seconds.

Uploaded "Morning on Mount Baker" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Inspired by a morning view of Mount Baker in Washington State from Willows Beach in Oak Bay, BC, I laid down a MIDI track, ran it through some software synthesizers and a drum machine, and came up with "Morning on Mount Baker," what I hope is a soothing listen in the ambient groove.

Uploaded "Strings n Things" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Here's a link to the ending of a piece I call "Strings n Things" that I uploaded to the Internet Archive. You can also play it in your Firefox Browser through the toolbar player below.

"Through Her Lens" Knowledge Network short on Hannah Maynard

I was hired to do some research and writing about 19th century Victoria portrait photographer Hannah (Mrs. Richard) Maynard for a video short, one of a series called "The Edge of the World," that's available for free online viewing on the Knowledge Network. The title of the short is "Through Her Lens". I'm credited at the end of the video.

For a treatment of Hannah Maynard within the developing cultural community of arts Victoria, see Karen Finlay's exhibition catalogue "A Woman's Place" (2004).

Uploaded "The Wild Pianos" excerpt to the Internet Archive

My "The Wild Pianos" one-minute excerpt on the Internet Archive contains the transition between the first slower part and the second faster part, with the latter incorporating a drum track based on the MIDI version of my keyboard improvisation. The total piece is just over nine minutes in length.

To save you a trip to the Internet Archive, I've embedded the audio clip here:

Uploaded "Sappers March" excerpt to the Internet Archive

I uploaded an excerpt from my "Sappers March" to the Internet Archive. It's my tribute to the Royal Engineers of the British Army who were an important contributor to early British Columbia. You can read more about the Royal Engineers in British Columbia through the Royal Engineers Living History Group.

Working on setting up MP3 downloads through CreateSpace

I'm working on setting up MP3 downloads through CreateSpace, an Amazon.com company. These will be for sale.

New musical samples uploaded to the Internet Archive

I uploaded four new musical samples to the Internet Archive:

1. The Paint Machine Mix, Take 2 (32 seconds), with much more of a club sound and beat.
2. Angels We Have Heard in C: Excerpt 1 (29 seconds)
3. Angels We Have Heard in C: Excerpt 2 (29 seconds)
4. Angels We Have Heard in C: Excerpt 3 (49 seconds), all part of a birthday gift for one of the angels in my life.

Young bucks invade my neighborhood

Saw a male deer sauntering down the sidewalk outside the house this afternoon. Tried to get a photo, but it had disappeared behind some shrubbery and probably jumped a fence into a backyard.

Uploaded "The Jig Is Up" excerpt to the Internet Archive

At 3 minutes, 24 seconds, this is a long excerpt from a piece I call "The Jig Is Up" that has strings, drums and a fiddle with a distinctive Celtic flavor. You'll find it on The Internet Archive.

Search Amazon.com Music for celtic music such as The Best of Celtic Music

Uploaded two excerpts from "Dreams of the Islands" to the Internet Archives

I consider this my first magnum opus, a musical soundscape of epic proportions, 8 minutes or so, that I call "Dreams of the Islands." Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here. Let me know what you think.

Uploaded excerpt from The Paint Machine Mix to the Internet Archive

While at a local Home Hardware store, I recorded with permission the sound of their paint mixing machine and incorporated it in a highly altered state into this 22 second excerpt from my Paint Machine Mix now available for your listening pleasure at the Internet Archive.

Uploaded my The Sprinkler Mix sample to the Internet Archive

I worked on a new piece of music I call The Sprinkler Mix. It features two field recordings of lawn sprinklers accompanied by some melancholy strings (violins and the like). You'll find a 1 minute, 40 second sample of The Sprinkler Mix on the Internet Archive. I hope you enjoy it.

Final Vancouver Police Museum t-shirt contest entry (third of three submitted)

I completed and entered my final Vancouver Police Museum t-shirt contest entry. There's only a day or two left to vote.

Designed by David Mattison

Warm strings drone on a hot summer night sample uploaded to Internet Archive Community Audio

I uploaded to the Internet Archive Community Audio a 28-second MP3 sample of an audio loop I created which I called "Warm strings drone on a hot summer night." It reminds me of trance music.

Another Vancouver Police Museum t-shirt contest design entry (second of three to be submitted)

Here is my second Vancouver Police Museum t-shirt contest design entry, the second of three I'll be submitting.

Designed by David Mattison

Vote for my Vancouver Police Museum t-shirt contest design (one of three to be submitted)

Hey, don't you just love a good t-shirt contest? Having failed to enter the one for the Victoria Symphony Splash, I heard about one the Vancouver Police Museum is running until July 30. I submitted one entry so far, "Don't Get Caught Speeding [stop sign] To the Vancouver Police Museum." You can see all the entries on the contest Web site at http://contest.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/. Don't forget to vote for my entries!

Designed by David Mattison

Uploaded opening segment of "Dawn at the Dyke, Richmond, BC" to Internet Archive

I uploaded the opening segment of "Dawn at the Dyke, Richmond, BC" (45 seconds) to the Internet Archive Community Audio section.

Testing, testing Twitter and Facebook tweet and status updates

Just set up access to my @10kyearblog Twitter and my Facebook accounts from my David Mattison blog, so let's see if this works good.

"Dawn at the Dyke, Richmond, BC" excerpt music on Internet Archive Community Audio

I completed a three-minute piece of music with some sound effects I created (birds and what's supposed to be the rumbling noise produced by aircraft at the Vancouver International Airport). I uploaded a 28-second MP3 excerpt of the piece to the Community Audio section of the Internet Archive. I called it "Dawn at the Dyke, Richmond, BC".

Direct link to MP3 file (it should play in any browser -- remember to turn your audio on): Dawn at the Dyke, Richmond, BC, excerpt of ending by David Mattison, c2010

And now for something completely different, music for the soul

This is about an 18 second sample clip (MP3 format) of a music piece I'm working on that I uploaded to the Internet Archive. My new hobby. If you'd like some unique, custom-made ringtones, I can do that (I think).

This is a first cut with no additional mixing or mastering to enhance the sound. I hope you enjoy it!

David Mattison Live and Loops Sample page at the Internet Archive's Audio Community Archive

Summer at last

Victoria is finally getting the heat wave that's affecting the northeastern North America. On the news last night a weather broadcaster in the United States was complaining about the lack of cold air (Arctic air inflow) from Canada. In winter of course they also complain about the Arctic air inflow from Canada and we get blamed for those blizzard conditions that blanket the U.S. Northeast.

Here's a random photo taken on June 12, 2010 of red poppies that I digitally altered for a colored foil look.

Facing the Facebook beta testing competition

Facebook is bringing out a new product, sounds very similar to Google Knol. The best of their beta testers will get a free trip to California to tour their headquarters. Details at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/product_application/ Since I love to write and win contests, you can bet I'll be entering.

The 747 jet that became a waterpark attraction in McMinnville, Oregon

Update for June 25, 2010:

My image of the 747 jet used for a waterpark at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum on Flickr was selected as an illustration for the Schmap Portland [Oregon] Guide.

You can also see what the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch version of the Schmap Portland Guide looks like with my photo displayed.

Update for June 15, 2010:

One of my images of the 747 jet on Flickr was shortlisted as a potential illustration for the Schmap Portland [Oregon] Guide.

I recently visited the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. I was last there in July 2007. At that time the Space Museum building had yet to be completed and there was no firearms or armored vehicle collection. Nor was this bizzare and unique use of a 747 jet yet built. Here is an Evergreen Aviation branded 747 being used as the launching point for a waterpark attraction on the grounds of the museum. The day I arrived it had just been set on top of the structure that houses the rest of the waterpark. According to the model inside the Aviation Museum building, you will launch yourself from simulated emergency exit slides inside the aircraft!

You too can get Behind the Scenes at the Royal BC Museum

You too can enjoy the privileges and pleasures of going Behind the Scenes at the Royal BC Museum. Part 1, on the Natural History collections, opened this morning, a great ceremony capped off by young Master Jack Campbell who looks to be destined for childhood stardom on screen or stage perhaps. The exhibit is an impressive testament to the natural history sciences within BC and all the people who have managed those treasures since 1886. Congratulations RBCM!

Warriors in the City public art fundraising campaign for 2011-2012, how about it BC Lions Society?

Update of June 24, 2010:

A highly reliable source in the Royal BC Museum confirmed for me today that the BC Lions Society has taken up this suggestion, which was also made by a RBCM staffer, and that the Warriors in the City will be standing guard in Victoria probably some time in 2011 to coincide with the exhibit.

Original post of January 29, 2010:

The Royal BC Museum is one of the four Canadian venues in the exhibit The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army that begins at the Royal Ontario Museum on June 26, 2010. Visitors to the Victoria Bay Centre, a downtown shopping center, may recall the shopping mall version of these clay pieces. This touring exhibit, however, is the real deal courtesy of the Chinese government. The RBCM will host the army of clay in late 2011-early 2012.

As part of that exhibition I'd like to encourage the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities, who are currently sponsoring the Eagles in the City fundraising campaign, to consider the possibility of replicating either a warrior or perhaps a horse for a Warriors in the City fundraiser. Previous public art exhibits of this nature by the BC Lions Society included Orcas In The City and Spirit Bears in the City (the URL http://www.spiritbearsinthecity.com/ gave a MySQL database error when I tried it on January 28, 2010). The RBCM had sponsored the Eternal Egypt Orca which was decorated by staff member and artist Adrienne Aikens.

Outdoor Photography Canada photo caption winner

Looks like a caption I submitted for a humorous photo won the day at Outdoor Photography Canada.

RIP Martin Gardner, 1914-2010

The Skeptics Society's eSkeptic email newsletter brought me the sad news this morning that Martin Gardner, founder of modern sketpicism, passed away on May 22, 2010. Here's a Google News search that will bring up all news items about this extraordinary polymath. And here is the Amazon.com author page on Martin Gardner. If you've not had the pleasure of his essays, The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995 (1997) is one place to start.

Lost, the Movie

How long before we see a Lost movie based on the TV series that ended its six year run on May 23, 2010?

[polldaddy poll=3250135]

CHEK TV interview, fleeting 5 seconds of fame about VIH heli lift of RBCM new HVAC equipment

I was down around the Royal BC Museum early this morning to watch and photograph the VIH helicopter lifting the museum's new HVAC equipment on to the roof of the exhibits building. A CHEK TV cameraman approached me for an interview. I'd talked to him earlier and he asked who I was, so I guess he thought I'd make an interesting talking head. It was all of 5 seconds or so that aired, but I was misidentified as another fellow he interviewed who appeared before I did.

The story appeared on the CHEK TV News at 5 pm on May 16, 2010. The story is currently online under the title "Museum Lift". Due to the way WordPress.com handles security, I'm unable to embed the video into this post.

Royal BC Museum gets bitten by the blogging bug at last

The Royal BC Museum Blog, hosted by Google's Blogger service, in case you had not yet heard, is out there on the blogosphere. The first post by Tim Willis was on March 10, 2010 and the most recent by archivist Ann ten Cate, all about a bathroom fetish, was on May 12, 2010. The RBCM is also on Facebook and YouTube.

Time, Space and Google, Searcher magazine, May 2010

My first post-retirement article for Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals was published on May 1, 2010. It's titled "Time, Space and Google: Toward a Real-Time, Synchronous, Personalized, Collaborative Web." I survey many aspects of Google's service offerings that to me signal Google is beginning to own the Web insofar as it's attempting to define your experience of Web time and space through its services. The article is not online for free but will be available through ProQuest and other full-text commercial databases licensed by Information Today.

Lost repeats itself, see the beach where it was filmed

I'll bet some of you are as annoyed as I am that the Lost episode airing tonight, April 27, 2010, is a repeat. Hey, weren't we promised all new episodes until the two-part series finale? I want my money back.

Just to get you in the mood for next week's hopefully new episode, here's a photo I took on the Mokueia beach looking towards Kaena Point. This is one of the Oahu North Shore beaches where Lost was filmed.



And this is the end of the public road at Kaena Point as seen through Google Maps Street View. This is from a parking lot looking towards the start of the northeastern foothills of the Waianae Range that separates central Oahu from the Wainae coast.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=21.578951,-158.237355&spn=0,0.00408&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=21.578951,-158.237355&panoid=lCYqJ5ftH2NiD9nnb0ljsg&cbp=12,184.47,,0,-8.37&source=embed&output=svembed&w=425&h=350]

A weekend on the Lower Mainland

I recently spent a weekend on the Lower Mainland. I was most impressed with the new Canada Line portion of Metro Vancouver's light-rail transit system called SkyTrain. The Canada Line runs between Richmond and the Vancouver Waterfront station with a spur line to the Vancouver International Airport. The Canada Line was busy so it is evidently a hit with commuters. The only dissatisfaction I had with it is that the ticket system only allows you 1.5 hours to reach the last leg of your destination. I was traveling from Richmond to North Vancouver and back again and it took one hour in the morning just to get from Richmond to the Waterfront Station. Then I caught the SeaBus passenger-only ferry that runs from there to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver and from there a bus to my final destination. I think I ultimately had about 15 minutes to spare by the time I reached the North Vancouver bus. I was lucky because there was a SeaBus already docked and almost ready to load when I arrived in the morning. The return trip in the afternoon was a little less stressful except that it was standing room only in the Canada Line car because it was the start of rush hour for commuters.

I wandered around Steveston a couple of times, a popular destination with local families and visitors from elsewhere in the Lower Mainland and beyond, and took some photos, a few of which I've posted on Flickr.

Here's one of them of a concrete and steel fishboat sculpture near the start of a waterfront walkway that leads to the Britannia Shipyard. The original is color but I enhanced it to look like black and white infrared film.

Flaying the Freedom of Information sinners

On April 10, 2010 Stephen Hume published in the Vancouver Sun a powerful and provocative denunciation of the British Columbia governments' evisceration of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) that was introduced in 1992 as the new law governing information dissemination and personal protection privacy. Among his targets were my former employer the Royal British Columbia Museum and the division I worked for at the time, the BC Archives. The BC government in its wisdom placed the Archives under the Museum, which itself was turned into a Crown corporation through a new Museum Act on April 1, 2003. One of the facts Hume got wrong in his story, which was easy enough to check, was the number of hours the BC Archives reference room is fully staffed. He stated it was four hours Monday to Friday when in fact it is currently six hours (10 am to 4 pm). Hume draws this chilling analogy between the current state of the FOIPPA administration and the BC Archives:

The emaciated travesty that the archive has become under successive governments might be said to symbolize what has been going on for decades with freedom of information legislation.

What a wonderful universe view from the Hubble

Went to see the Hubble IMAX film and was pleasantly surprised to hear the late Israel (Iz') Kamakawiwo'ole's signature song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World." Though not a Hawaiian language song, it expresses the love and optimism one feels at being alive in a universe of endless possibilities. The song appears on his first solo CD from 1993, Facing Future.

The Bigger Picture, Visual Archives and the Smithsonian blog

Thanks to Peter Kurilecz on the Yahoo! PhotoHistory group, here's the Smithsonian's photography and artwork blog, The Bigger Picture, Visual Archives and the Smithsonian.

TimeTravelBC.com, it is all about heritage

The Heritage Tourism Alliance of BC, "a collaboration of some of British Columbia’s key heritage and tourism stakeholders, who work together to promote and celebrate the very best of BC’s heritage sites and experiences," have an interesting Web site called TimeTravelBC.com that makes it easy to find heritage travel experiences.

Yes, TV news anchor Tony Parsons shops like a man for his own groceries

While out grocery shopping today I ran into Tony Parsons (Wikipedia entry), former Globa lBC TV Newshour anchor who retired from there and now lives in Victoria and performs the 10 pm news for CHEK TV. Said hello and asked how he was enjoying life on the Island. He said it was great, but groused about the weather which he hoped would perk up soon. Couldn't agree more. He is much shorter in person than he appears on TV, but I think he knows that. I've also run into Global BC Legislative reporter Keith Baldrey at the same location.

Happy 124th anniversary City of Vancouver, BC, Canada

Today is the 124th anniversary of the incorporation by provincial legislation of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Chuck Davis' The History of Metropolitan Vancouver is a great place to discover more about the history of this amazing place.

Official word, and the new BC Archival Network Service Coordinator is ... me

The Archives Association of British Columbia bid farewell on its ARCHIVES-BC mailing to the current BC Archival Network Service Coordinator, Janet McMaster, and then welcomed the new Coordinator ... me. I am eagerly looking forward to doing the best that I can for the AABC members who are part of MemoryBC: the BC Archival Information Network.

You can contact me at aabc.bcans@gmail.com about your MemoryBC needs.

Worldwide disappearance of pixels, global emergency declared

The worldwide disappearance of pixels from computer screens everywhere, that is, on a global scale, has led to the implementation of worldwide emergency measures. If you are able to read this, then your pixels are all right for the time being. If you are unable to read this, then it's time to clean your computer monitor, because today is April 1 and it's time for a bit of spring cleaning before your pixels really do disappear.

Hated Sales Tax (HST) Poll

Here's your chance to count yourself in or out on the issue of British Columbia's proposed Hated Sales Tax (HST).

[polldaddy poll=2986128]

World's ugliest casino building to ruin Vancouver skyline?

Listening to a CBC Radio discussion about the proposed new casino building to be constructed next to BC Place in Vancouver reminded me that I wanted to comment on exactly how ugly and poorly designed the structure is. Is this the best that we can come up with? Come on, let's at least have a structure that will be as much of an iconic visual landmark as BC Place and Canada Place themselves.

You can judge for yourself by looking at the conceptual artwork through this CBC News story.

Woke Up Dead Web series on Showcase.ca

Was checking something on a Web site and spotted an ad for a 22-part Web series called Woke Up Dead on Showcase.ca starring Jon (Napoleon Dynamite and Blades of Glory) Heder. He's dead but still alive, sort of, as a zombie.

A digital archive for Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017

Canada will be celebrating its sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary as a nation in 2017. Canada150 "is Canada’s largest history gathering project ever. It is a collaborative effort of organizations and individuals committed to recording Canadian family and community histories as our gift to our country on its 150th birthday--July 1, 2017." The project is aimed at the boomer generation and their children who "have rarely kept diaries, journals, letters or other documents. We may have thousands of photos stored on our computers but we have few documents that tell our stories. ... You and your parents and children need to record your stories and ensure that they are safely stored forever. Canada 150 is a national project to encourage them to do exactly that in time for our 150th birthday as a nation. By depositing our stories in our national Library and Archives Canada, we will give our families, community and entire country a gift that is invaluable. ..."

Duel of the Kraken Gods

When I first saw the trailer for the upcoming movie Clash of the Titans, I was struck by how much Liam Neeson's Zeus' character command of "Release the Kraken!" echoed Bill Nighy's Davey Jones' character declaiming almost the same or the same words in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Perhaps this is what you call a homage from one film to another. "Release the Kraken!" indeed.

Letter to editor published in Canada's History (formerly The Beaver), April/May 2010 issue

The first issue (April/May 2010) under its new title of Canada's History, formerly The Beaver, contains a letter to the editor by me on the subject of Stephen R. Bown's article on the British spies H.J. Warre and Mervin Vavasour. If you follow this Google Search for Henry J. Warre you'll find some nice writeups with illustrations from sources such as libraries.

How to make a pivot table and chart in Microsoft Excel, might come in handy one day

This a great little tutorial on SEOgadget Blog titled How to Make Pivot Table and Chart in Excel. It may just save your career one day.

Google Maps UK Street View, bloody good

Google Maps UK now offers almost comprehensive coverage through Street View of public thoroughfares and scenic areas such as Stonehenge.

Niépce in England international conference, October 2010, England

British photographic historian Michael Pritchard posted an announcement on his site about an international conference in October 2010 in England on Niépce in England in October 2010. Details are also available through the first announcement brochure (PDF) he posted.

Lost TV episode filmed at King Intermediate School, Oahu?

In the episode broadcast on March 9, 2010, I thought the exterior of the school where Lost TV character Dr. Ben Linus, a history teacher, worked looked a lot like King Intermediate School in Kaneohe on the Windward side of Oahu. Can anyone confirm that?

MakerBot, 3D printing on the cheap

This looks pretty cool, 3D printing using ABS plastic with a robot design from MakerBot. Not that I'll be rushing out to get the plans, but there's a cool video on YouTube I saw through Robert L. Balliot's Ocean State Librarian blog's Research Link of the Week. Request for you Robert, please provide a permalink for the current research link, not just the past ones. While he suggests public libraries invest in this technology, many libraries such as my own can't even afford to buy books and other resources due to cutbacks. So I don't think something like this will be at the top of their list. This seems to be something that would currently be of more interest to an artist coop.

It was a dark and glowing day

Here's a photo I added a little artistic effect to. It was taken on a bike ride on March 3, 2010 at the corner of Lansdowne and Henderson looking south towards the Olympic Mountains.

S'abadeb exhibition reception at the Royal BC Museum, March 4, 2010

I attended a reception for supporters of the Royal BC Museum that gave us a special look into S'abadeb: The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists exhibition. I particularly enjoyed Director of Exhibitions and Visitor Experience Tim Willis' atlatl story about how he came close to spearing a poodle out for a walk on his first attempt at using this ancient spear-throwing tool.

AABC Newsletter article about my retirement

You can read a nice little summation of my career at the BC Archives written by my former colleague Ann ten Cate in the AABC Newsletter (Winter 2010; PDF file). The Newsletter also includes a post reprinted by permission from my Ten Thousand Year Blog, "Martin Knelman claims Canadian audio-visual heritage at risk, but is it true?"

And the games are done, long may they run to the final frontier

Loved Neil Young performance of "Long May You Run" as one of the closing songs of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And Captain (William Shatner) James T. Kirk giving his I Am Canadian (We Dream Big) monologue. And Catharine O'Hara on "I'm Sorry" and Michael J. Fox letting everyone know that "We Claim You."

One more song with Michael Buble dressed as a singing Mountie and a purposeful costume malfunction where he turns into a lounge singer complete with big band backup.

Giant Mounties and hockey players, dancing maple leafs and voyageurs complete with canoes, and huge balloon beavers and moose capped off a great closing ceremony!

Post-closing ceremonies saw musical performances by some great Canadian bands and singers.

CTV commercial breaks during 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies

Wasn't that less than classy of CTV to interrupt the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies with commercial breaks? They were running filler prior to the start of the closing ceremonies, why couldn't they have put all their commercials into that half hour?

Tsunami reflections from a Hawaii boy

Having grown up in Hawaii I remember well the monthly civil defense warning drills. I remember gathering in the school yard of my elementary school and being dismissed to return home as the result of a tsunami warning and I'm pretty sure it was in May 1960 following the earthquake that had hit Chile and generated a tsunami which caused extensive damage and loss of life in Hilo. I don't think our family, which lived literally right next door to the school, left the area as we were on relatively high ground to begin with.

On a round-island trip to the Big Island of Hawaii in the 1970s I remember hearing about the 1964 tsunami generated by an Alaska earthquake that also damaged Hilo and visiting areas on the Big Island that had been devastated by another Alaskan earthquake-driven tsunami in 1946.

Most of today I've spent glued to the TV and the Internet monitoring what's going on in Hawaii.

My heart goes out to Chile and those affected by the 8.8 earthquake

My heart goes out to Chile and all those affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake early Saturday morning in Chile. I'm particularly concerned about Hawaii and the possibility of tsunami damage there.

A modest proposal: ban any and everything worldwide, including words, that violates the International Olympic Committee brand value

As a result of yet another news story about the Canadian Olympic Committee's (COC) pressure tactics against a small business owner in Vancouver that I blogged about in What, no flames allowed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics?, I've come up with a modest proposal.

I propose that any and everything that violates the International Olympic Committee's brand value be henceforth and irrevocably banned worldwide. This would include not just existing registered trade marks such as Toasterz and Eaterz, the very trademarks that the COC objected to, but also more famous ones such as the Calgary Flames name and logo, Ronson’s Lighter Fuel logo and any pizza joint worldwide that uses the word Olympic in its names, as well as words such as torch for flashlight in Great Britain and the Olympic Mountains in Washington State.

Since an Olympic event is held every two years, with the next one after the Vancouver Winter Olympics being the London Summer Olympics in 2012, and the IOC has demonstrated over the years that it is like the UN of the sports world, why don't we just avoid all the legal hassle of doing battle with them, bite the Olympic, er, sporting bullet, and take the opportunity to stretch our creative muscles.

Lunch at Spinnakers brew pub

Had a most enjoyable and overly long, not that I'm complaining, lunch at Spinnakers brew pub in Victoria West on the waterfront. My dining companion was one of Canada's leading railway historians.

Royal BC Museum joins the sociable world of Facebook

The Royal BC Museum has launched itself into the sociable world of Facebook. A YouTube channel was started in September 2008. Could a blog be next?

How about a new nickname for Vancouver?

[polldaddy poll=2748944]

Google Buzz for Information Today Newsbreaks published

Update for February 22, 2010

My short article on Google Buzz was published today as one of the Information Today Newsbreaks titled "Google Gets Stung by Its Own Buzz."

Original post: February 21, 2010

Google Buzz was launched by Google on February 9, 2010 and immediately generated a hornet's nest of buzzing, angered Gmail customers backed by a dark cloud of consumer privacy protection organizations. Who can resist these metaphors and puns? I was asked to write up the controversy surrounding Google Buzz for an Information Today Newsbreak that should appear on Monday, February 22, 2010. I completed and submitted it on time. This is my second Newsbreak in seven years almost to the day that I've written on Google, the first back in 2003 was on its purchase of Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger and Blogspot.com. The title of that piece also had the word buzz in it: "Blooglelicious—the Buzz about Google Buying Pyra Labs."

Lost and not claimed, lots of mobility aids at the 2010 Winter Olympics

A bizarre report in the Times-Colonist (online, February 20, 2010; hardcopy, February 21, 2010) that lots of mobility aids, including artificial limbs, have been left behind by 2010 Winter Olympics visitors using Greater Vancouver's public transit system operated by Translink.

As Todd Coyne wrote,

TransLink’s lost property storage centre has a whole area devoted to the dozens of crutches, canes, walkers and artificial limbs left by those who apparently boarded transit needing mobility aids and then somehow waltzed off without them.

If you've recently been part of the Olympic crowds in the Lower Mainland and can't find something you might have left behind on the Translink system, here's their Lost and Found contact information.

Vancouver 2010 medal winnings widget (not really)

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table.

WordPress.com doesn't allow HTML widgets, so when I tried to insert this widget it got converted into a straight link.

Royal BC Museum unveils rezoning plan

Late this afternoon (February 17, 2010) I attended a reception at the Royal BC Museum at which the chair of the board, Donald Hayes, and CEO Pauline Rafferty unveiled plans to begin the long process of site redevelopment, the first step of which is to have the land use rezoned to a more appropriate context. Museum representatives will initiate this process almost immediately. The Museum will seek a Comprehensive zoning designation, a big step up from the current R-2 Two Family Dwelling zoning (duplex housing), the same non-conforming zoning, ironically, that applies to the block on which the British Columbia Parliament Buildings are situated. I also noticed in a model showing the kind of massing that could eventually be built that the Netherlands Centennial Carillon had been moved several meters west of its current position. When I asked the CEO about this, she confirmed that because the Carillon is seismically unstable, it would have to be moved, but she did not know if it was physically possible. Some of the artwork that was presented also shows two different treatments for the northwest corner of Belleville and Government streets. In one drawing there's something described as a "Public Plaza" and in another street-level view that public plaza space is gone. In both cases the much beloved, at least by staff, Native Plant Garden will be moved to a new location in Thunderbird Park.

The plan is ambitious and bold and the Museum leaders hope the public will back its vision.

Update for February 18, 2010: The Times-Colonist published an article about the plan on February 18, 2010. According to the article, "Open houses are set for March 6 and 7, noon to 3 p.m. at the Royal B.C. Museum." Information about the Museum's plans are available on its site. The Museum wants to hear from you about its plans!

Since the BC Archives building, where I spent most of my working life, will be demolished, don't look for this kind of view in the future: BC Archives snowed in, January 2005.

Digging for answers: take the RBCM hole poll

[polldaddy poll=2716432]

Any information you might have on Victoria photographer Gus A. Maves (1882-1942)?

I am researching Victoria photographer Gus A. Maves (1882-1942). Maves was originally from Toronto, Ontario. He was most active in Victoria between the 1920s and 1930s. He specialized in scenic landscapes for postcards and industrial photography such as homes (exteriors and interiors), gardens and agricultural activities. His wife Margaret did the coloring of his photographs and also "transformations" to turn a photograph into a piece of art. His BC work is preserved by the BC Archives, Royal BC Museum.

If you know of any examples of his work outside the BC Archives or have any information about him you can share, please contact me via the e-mail address on my contact page.

Red rock tapes could stay here (more info)

Update for February 13, 2010:

Red Robinson provided his reasons in a lengthy letter to the Times-Colonist editor on February 13 to my question about whether he had contacted the BC Archives or the Library and Archives Canada about acquiring the interviews he gave to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said that organization will put them online, yet in the original Times-Colonist article it was stated that "A couple of years ago, he had them digitized." Since the interviews are already in a digital format and he was willing to relinquish them for full public consumption, he could have had the digitized interviews uploaded to probably the world's largest online repository of free, historic audio material, the Internet Archive's Audio Archive.

Mr. Robinson mentioned the Jack Cullen and Dal Richards collections. If he had checked the BC Archives Web site he would have discovered that they have some of their work already, along with many other examples from BC radio broadcasters (producers and stations) and musicians.

Original post of February 11, 2010:

My letter to the editor of the Times-Colonist newspaper appeared in the February 10, 2010 issue and online. It's my reaction to its story from February 6 about Vancouver rock and roll DJ Red Robinson donating his interviews with music industry personalities to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Take the medal-counting poll for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

[polldaddy poll=2688159]

My Newsbreak article on SAP AG's 12sprints (now known as StreamWork) is online at InformationToday.com

Update for April 26, 2010: SAP has branded its beta 12sprints product as StreamWork. If you had an account on the beta version, it is still accessible through the basic, free version of StreamWork at https://streamwork.com/.

My Newsbreak article on SAP AG's 12sprints collaborative decision-making Web application is now online at InformationToday.com.

Attending OCLC WebJunction online conference

I'm attending a two-day OCLC WebJunction online conference on technology essentials for libraries. The conference is being broadcast through Cisco's WebEx platform. The conference sessions will be archived at http://webjunction.org/conferences. The Twitter hashtag is #wjconf. I'll post this as well on my Ten Thousand Year Blog and you'll see tweets from that source.

Business cards are coming

I worked up a double-sided business card design on the Staples Web site and submitted an order. This is what the front and back look like:





The Hawaiian on the back was inspired by the Hawaii State motto and I used it in the print edition of my self-published Camera Workers (1985). It means The life of the land is preserved by the photographers. The actual motto means The life of the land is preserved in righteousness.

DJ Red Robinson interviews heading south to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Ohio, USA

I was very surprised to read in the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper on February 6, 2010 this remark by Vancouver rock and roll dj Red Robinson:

"There is no repository for my stuff, or Bruce Allen's, or Bryan Adams', or anybody," Robinson said. "It's a disgrace." So he decided to give [his stuff] to the Rock Hall.

First of all, though I obviously can't speak for those institutions, I would love to know if he had approached the Library and Archives Canada or even the Royal BC Museum which houses the BC Archives. Mr. Robinson might be surprised to know that legendary rocker Randy Bachman's archival records (described under the title "Randy Bachman fonds") are preserved by the Library and Archives Canada and constitute a relatively large body of multiple media material. That institution also preserves the Gino Empry fonds, an individual with performing arts credentials somewhat comparable to Bruce Allen's.

Secondly, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has a Canadian Music Hall of Fame program, so if folks in the music industry are intent on keeping their archival records in Canada, perhaps they should start working with CARAS towards a physical solution rather than see Canadian recording industry cultural property head south or, worse, destroyed through neglect or willful intent.

Although Canadian cultural property generally excludes material less than 50 years old and created by living persons, there are always exceptions. And the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board even has grants available to help designated public institutions acquire material they might otherwise not be able to afford.

Scotiabank Show Your Colours photo contest entries

I've uploaded six photos so far, all closeups of various flower blossoms, to Scotiabank's Show Your Colours photo contest that's running until April 30, 2010. I also uploaded and created a Flickr set of these same photos, some of which you can also see in the sidebar of my blog here.

Winamp goes remote, share your music with your friends through MyCasting

Winamp, the free/premium audio/video player from AOL, introduced a new, beta feature with version 5.572 called Winamp Remote. Basically, you can use this feature in two ways:

1. Listen to your local PC's Winamp content from any Web browser on any other PC


2. Share your music with your friends through Winamp's MyCasting service

You can also stream your music to your mobile device (a data plan is a basic requirement for this option), or to a TV through a gaming console (Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360) or from within Winamp itself.

Testing 12sprints beta collaborative Web platform from SAP

Update for April 26, 2010: SAP has branded its beta 12sprints product as StreamWork. If you had an account on the beta version, it is still accessible through the basic, free version of StreamWork at https://streamwork.com/.

I am beta testing the collaborative Web platform from SAP with the codename of 12sprints. If you would like an invite to participate in an activity, I can set one up and you can contact me through the e-mail address on my personal blog. Do let me know what kind of activity you'd like to be involved in such as decision-making, online research, project planning, a discussion on a topic or an online meeting.

Travels in America through Live@Lunch program, Royal BC Museum, on February 3, 2010

I went to my first Live@Lunch talk as a retired RBCM employee, usually by a Royal BC Museum staff member, on February 3, 2010. The presentation was by Shelley Reid, the Museum's registrar (the Live@Lunch description mistakenly calls her a Collections Manager), who made a trip last year to Washington, D.C., and several other historic points of interest to her. She gave a great talk well illustrated with photographs she took or gathered off the Web in cases where she couldn't photograph or wished to add some historic context to her own photograph. I almost mentioned that I might have been the only person in the room who had climbed up and down the Washington Memorial when I was eight years old. I particularly remember the climb down and being so glad to get out into the fresh air. The only other places I remember visiting on that trip were the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

It was great seeing some of my colleagues again and they got to see more of me as I went next door to the Archives to do some research, only an item I'd requested by phone in the morning had gone walkabout, but they did thankfully find it later in the day, holding true to their motto, "It's Around Here Somewhere."

Copy Wars: China P88 vs Apple iPad, Dark Void computer game vs Avatar movie

You may have heard about the Chinese company, Shenzhen Great Loong Brother, that's threatened to sue Apple over some kind of claim that Apple's iPad is a clone of their product, the P88, which apparently has been on sale in China for the past six months. This Wired magazine article points out some of the silliness around the Chinese claim.

James Cameron's movie Avatar has also had its share of accusations of third-party influences, one the most interesting coming from those familiar with ayahuasca, a drug from South America that supposedly gives its users the illusion of being connected with the natural world. In Avatar, the Na'vi people of the planet Pandora achieve this feat through a direct physical connection by plugging the end of their hair braid into not only their Tree of Souls, but also into some animals. This Globe and Mail op-ed piece by Canadian filmmaker Richard Meech compares Avatar's symbiotic connection to the drug-induced, imaginary one of the Amazon "vine of the soul."

Now comes the computer game from Capcom called Dark Void. In Episode 1, Chapter 4, after falling through a long hole in a mountain, the hero (you) end up at the bottom and in a landscape that looks suspiciously like the floating Hallelujah Mountains of Avatar. In the movie the Na'vi use flying beasts to fly around and in Dark Void the heroes use rocket packs.

Calling all Abba fans: get thee to ABBAWORLD in London, England

The ABBAWORLD exhibit at Earls Court in London, England, sounds impressive. It opened to the public on January 29, 2010 and will close at the end of March. The highlight of the exhibit is being able to perform with a holographic representation of the group. The photograph makes them look like cartoon characters. Perhaps if this exhibit is really successful we might see a permanent ABBA Theme Park in England and elsewhere. Lego, another Scandinavian phenom, did it with Legoland, why not ABBA? There's gotta be enough of the foursome to go around.

Probiotic yogurt bacteria invasion, take the 10 billion and counting poll

[polldaddy poll=2620167]

Apple iPad meets Star Trek

I swear I saw the new Apple iPad lurking in the background of the most recent Star Trek film. Apple's own advertising even displays the film being viewed on the iPad. Certainly the concept and design of a thin, large-screen computer tablet has been a prop in some science fiction films and TV shows (not that I can name one off the top of my head), so I hope the iPad does well. The pricing is certainly interesting.

I'd be happy to have one sent to me for review.

How Intelligent Design spoiled a good novel

Just when I was beginning to get into Philip Kerr's 1999 science fiction novel The Second Angel, set near the end of the 21st century, I felt he spoiled it on page 19 of the hardcover edition by lecturing on an aspect of biology and attributing his omniscient narrator's explanation to Intelligent Design. Anyone unfamiliar with this discredited ID argument would not even have suspected its author of being less than truthful. The author's blurb on the dustjacket claims he has an "encyclopedic intelligence," but this does not mean that he's 100% right all the time. So what does he say:

"It is certain that the mathematics of blood, the numbers inherent in its complex structure, provide perhaps the best evidence for the existence of some kind of Creator.

Take something like the process of coagulation, which requires the participation of several hemostatic proteins. ... It is hard not to understate the irreducibly complex nature of this system. The ratio of the probability that such a system might come into being by pure chance to the probability that it might not come into being is so enormous that it is almost impossible to find a number large enough to express these odds."

The code words in this explanation that link it to ID are "complex structure", "irreducibly complex", "pure chance" and the linking of this biochemical process to "evidence for the existence of some kind of Creator."

Kerr based his information, though, oddly he did not cite his source despite numerous footnotes throughout the novel, on the work of ID proponents Michael Behe, a biochemist, and William Dembski, a mathematician.

If you want to read more about how scientists and others have thoroughly discredited Intelligent Design and its predecessors Creationism and Creation Science, go to the National Center for Science Education's Web site, a United States organization that promotes the teaching of science in public schools. Use the NCSE site search and look up "blood clotting" to find several examples that debunk the ID claims that blood clotting is evidence of a designer of biological life, that is, a God.

Why spoil good fiction with pseudoscience when there's all kinds of perfectly good science out there?

Royal Ontario Museum headhunting a new CEO

The Globe and Mail ran a story on January 23, 2010 that the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is looking for a new CEO. I wonder if a certain prominent CEO of a world-class museum in BC's capital will get one of those discreet phone calls from Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive headhunting firm.

Beyond Eden rock musical, setting the record straight

None of the reviews I've read of the Vancouver Playhouse's rock musical Beyond Eden (January 16-February 6, 2010), and that includes those of the Globe and Mail (January 22, 2010) and CBC News, mentioned that the 1957 totem-pole-collecting expedition on which Bruce Ruddell's musical is based, was jointly sponsored by the British Columbia Provincial Museum (now the Royal BC Museum) and the University of British Columbia. Ironically, anthropologist Wilson Duff, on whom the character Lewis Wilson (played by John Mann) is based, worked for the Provincial Museum until 1965 when he became a professor at UBC. The BC Government filmed the expedition, the production is called The Silent Ones, with CBC also filming it and calling their work Totem. You can see a shortened, retitled version of Totem on the CBC Digital Archives ("Bill Reid's rescue mission for Haida art"), originally broadcast on May 21, 1959 in the series Pacific Eight.

British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner temporarily closes

The Victoria Times-Colonist lead story for January 23, 2010, based on a leaked document, was about the closure, on the advice of legal counsel, of British Columbia's Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC). This followed the appointment of Commissioner David Loukidelis by the BC Government as the new Deputy Attorney General. The OIPC Web site contains a copy of his letter of resignation dated January 19, 2010 to the Office of the Speaker. A committee of the Legislative Assembly is supposed to appoint a new Commissioner, but in the meantime, another special committee is in the process of reviewing the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the legal authority under which the OIPC operates. Is it unreasonable to think that this all has something to do with the Vancouver Winter Olympics and discouraging FOI requests for information about the Games?

Caprica TV series a keeper

I watched the premiere of Caprica, the TV series that debuted on January 22, 2010 on the Syfy and Space channels in the USA and Canada. It's a keeper. The show, filmed on location in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is the prequel to Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009 and 1978-1979) and is set 50 or so years before the near-total destruction of humanity by the Cylons. The series looks at two families, the Graystones and the Adamas, both living on the planet Caprica. Adama is from the planet Tauron which seems to have reputation for generating a host of nasty people. At the end of the first episode I could see how the backstory and some of the many questions that remained unanswered in the more recent Battlestar Galactica will be dealt with. Daniel Graystone's dead daughter Zoe, whom he resurrects as a Cylon, might just be the progenitor of the Cylon faction that believed in the One True God, whereas the Cylon he produced under a Caprica defense contract will likely become the source of the Cylon horde that almost destroyed humanity.

It was fun seeing the Vancouver landscape transformed through CGI into the urban center of Caprica. A couple of places I recognized were Library Square outside of which Daniel Graystone and Joseph Adama (William Adama's father) first meet and the Georgia Street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery, which used to be the Vancouver Courthouse.

The show will probably not sit well with those who believe in the One True God since it reverses what North American and other audiences hold most dear.

Created OCLC WebJunction group Google Wave for Libraries

Update for August 5, 2010:

In the wake of Google's announcement that Google Wave has broken over the boulders of public apathy, I'll be investigating future support options for my OCLC WebJunction group.

I set up an OCLC WebJunction group called Google Wave for Libraries on January 21, 02010. Come join me and help your colleagues discover what all the Waving's about.

What, no flames allowed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics?

Global BC TV News Hour ran a great story on January 21, 2010 in its "Beyond the Podium" series as part of its coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. According to the story, Will Tamasky, owner of the BC business Toasterz that sells products that feature a flame as part of each product's name was sent a cease and desist or pay us $5,000 compensation by the Canadian Olympic Committee's (COC) legal counsel.

I find this really funny because there are all kinds of other products and organizations that feature a flame as part of the brand, to name just two that spring to mind:

• Ronson's Lighter Fuel and similar products from that company



• Calgary Flames hockey team logo -- and the Olympic Torch Relay just passed through Calgary in the last day or two

I wonder if it will be illegal during the Vancouver Winter Olympics to advertise a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show by illustrating the ad with a Bic lighter's flame?

In fact, given the prominence of the Olympic Torch and the flame, I think all flames, representations of flames and sources of flames should be banned. This would include clothing depicting the Human Torch character from the Marvel Comics series the Fantastic Four.

Welcome to Victoria Tony Parsons!

Tony Parsons, the famous news anchor of BCTV's, later GlobalBC's News Hour, will be settling in Victoria and going behind the desk for CHEK TV. The Times-Colonist story today (January 21, 2010) said he's looking for a prospective rental property in Oak Bay. Who knows, maybe we'll bump into each other on Willows Beach walking our dogs.

The Law of Unintended Consequences gobsmacks Google thanks to Android

This report from SearchEngineWatch.com strikes me as a prime example of the Law of Unintended Consequences: Apple and Microsoft are in talks about using Microsoft's search engine Bing as the default search provider for the Apple iPhone. Apple it seems doesn't want its phone competitor with its own Nexus One and Android operating system to have access to iPhone customer data. But hasn't there been talk of Microsoft bringing out its own smartphone codenamed Pink? So what then for poor Apple? Why can't it with all its creative talent develop its own search engine for its own products? And there's always Yahoo!

Psst, wanna buy Whistler Resort during the Vancouver Winter Olympics February 2010?

Whistler Resort is in a credit crunch and may be up for auction during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February 2010. Have we got a deal for you!

Movie note: The Book of Eli (2010)

I went to see The Book of Eli movie today (January 19, 2010). For my notes, see my Doomsday Blog entry.

British Columbia 1885 photo mystery: O.C. Hastings & G.M. Dawson photos

Posted the following on the Yahoo! Groups PhotoHistory this morning (January 19, 2010):

I was sent two scans from a UK individual that are most intriguing and currently pose a photo mystery. Here's what I know so far based on the photos themselves, archival descriptions and digitized, published content freely accessible to me.

In 1885 the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) geologist Dr. George Mercer Dawson visited northern Vancouver Island and environs, including Alert Bay on Cormorant Island. He took a few photos at Alert Bay in early August 1885 that are described on the Library and Archives Canada Web site as part of the GSC records it preserves. The Royal BC Museum has copy prints of at least three of the Dawson photos, including the two images I was sent.

The mystery is that the scans I was sent show both the Dawson photos on a cabinet card mount with the markings, front and back, of Victoria commercial photographer O.C. Hastings. My supposition is that Hastings processed Dawson's negatives as Dawson, according to his GSC report, once he returned to Victoria remained there for about three weeks working on preparations for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition that was held in London, England, in 1886.

I've uploaded one of the Dawson / Hastings photos to Camera Workers at http://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com/showmedia.php?mediaID=234&mediali\nkID=368

What I'm hoping to find is evidence in a diary or correspondence of Dawson that he purposefully allowed Hastings to market his photos. Some of Dawson's personal records are at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and his GSC field notebooks and correspondence are at the Library and Archives Canada.

If anyone on this group can research this on my behalf  I'd be happy to reciprocate with research in archival records here in Victoria, BC.

As a followup, I wrote that I'd discovered that Dawson's fieldbooks are available on microfilm at the Library and Archives and that I'd arrange to borrow the reel (C-4845) that covered his 1885 work.

Here is the photo in question:

Somewhat sunny Saturday after rainy days

Saturday January 16, 2010 turned out to be a pleasantly sunny day, especially the afternoon. I went for a bike ride along Dallas Road that runs through Beacon Hill Park. I stopped just east of the Beacon Hill on the water side and took several photos. I chose four for my Flickr photostream.

On the way back home after stopping for refreshments at the Ogden Point Cafe, I decided to bike through Beacon Hill Park. Somehow I was attracted to a grave monument that just happened to be that of Stephen Allen Spencer (1829-1911) and family. S.A. Spencer was one of Victoria's first commercial photographers in the late 1850s. I added six photographs of the grave site to his page on my Camera Workers Web site. I also submitted one of the photos of the north face of the monument commemorating his son John Norman Spencer (1892-1917) who was killed in France during World War One to Veteran Affairs Canada. J.N. Spencer is buried in the Gwalia Cemetery, Belgium, which is managed by the Commonwealth Graves Commission.



Later in the day I gathered up clothing and shoes no longer of use to our family and took them to a Compassionate Resource Warehouse of Victoria dropoff for the people of Haiti devastated by a catastrophic earthquake on January 12.

If you would like a list of reputable, legitimate aid organizations through which you can donate, I have several on my Doomsday Blog page Help Support Disaster Relief.

What is up with these electric power explosions?

Two electric power explosions with almost the same set of circumstances and outcome less than a month apart in two widely varying locations are really freaky. The first happened in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 23, 2009 ("WorkSafeBC investigates Vancouver hydro explosion", CBC News, http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/24/bc-hydro-explosion-worksafe-investigation.html). This one sent three BC Hydro workers who were working in the underground power vault to hospital. Photographs of the aftermath of the explosion are found on this NowPublic page. The second explosion happened in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 14, 2010 and sent the two Hawaiian Electric Company employees who were working in the underground power vault to hospital. The Honolulu explosion also knocked out power to over a thousand customers according to this KITV.com report ("Power Restored After Downtown Explosion", January 14, 2010, http://www.kitv.com/news/22238764/detail.html).

Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor on Nova, January 5, 2010

I watched with great interest the PBS Nova series broadcast on January 5, 2010 titled "Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor". I sent these comments in via the feedback link on the PBS Web site:

Near the end of the broadcast the narrator comments that the 1944 West Loch disaster in Pearl Harbor had been shrouded in secrecy until recently. This is incorrect as a 1989 (2nd ed., 1990) publication from the U.S. National Park Service titled Submerged Cultural Resources Study: USS Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark describe this event (p. 70-73).

I also found it odd that no one commented on the fact that it the odds of striking the Arizona with a torpedo from a midget submarine firing broadside were next to impossible since there was another vessel moored in front of her.

I also wondered what year the fifth midget submarine had been located since that fact was never stated during the program.

I discovered the answer to my last comment myself. According to this Los Angeles Times story, "Pearl Harbor mini-submarine mystery solved?",

The three pieces of the sub were found during routine test dives between 1994 and 2001 by Terry Kerby, chief pilot of the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory's submersibles Pisces IV and Pisces V. ... Stephenson got involved in 2007 because he was looking for the fifth Japanese mini-sub.

While the Nova program laid out a convincing case that a midget submarine fired its torpedoes and may have sunk one or two battleships, this is far from the overly dramatic claim that the midget submarines played a major role in the attack. Four of them were either sunk or captured and the fifth was scuttled in the West Loch of Pearl Harbor, which was subsequently dredged after the 1944 landing craft explosion disaster, and the sub's remains redeposited along with the wrecks of what was being transported on the destroyed landing crafts outside Pearl Harbor.