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?