Stanley Cup 2011: The Game, The Riots, and The Future

Posted on June 16, 2011 by James

My Reaction to Last Night's Events

After 17 years, I let myself believe again. We had the best offensive line in the league, and stepped over teams that would have crushed us in seasons past. The ghosts of ’94 were finally about to be erased. But alas, it was not to be. And to add insult to injury, the streets of Vancouver were once again plagued by rioters.

Losing the game was one thing, but I couldn’t handle watching the city being used as a commercial for tear gas and nightsticks. Reports were coming in about gangs of teens and twenty-somethings from as far away as Surrey “gleefully” rushing to the riot areas. I decided to declare a personal media blackout for the day. I wouldn’t read any news reports or facebook statuses related to last night. Just as those police officers wanted the crowds to disperse and move on, I wanted life in general to do the same.

A clean living room and an organized office can do a lot for a broken heart. I decided to poke my head out and survey the aftermath. Vancouver was now a joke on the world stage. Even my wife’s grade 6 students were disgusted and that crowd will argue over a missing pencil. Fortunately there were many citizens as well as police trying to stop the destruction. There were many volunteers the next day to clean up the mess. The boarded up windows were covered in messages of support and regret.

I hope they arrest and publicly shame every last person who was making trouble downtown that night. It’s funny how people freak out over the privacy issues mobile phones and facebook. Right now it’s almost being used as a form of street justice. This technology is the only way we’ll catch these thugs. I know public flogging’s out of the question, but I wonder if banishment is considered a cruel and unusual punishment. Please go to www.identifyrioters.com and see if you can pick out any faces.

Now, as for the game itself. I’m in no position to figure out the deciding factor because I am by no means a regular hockey fan. There were a lot of conspiracy theories flying around that night. There was the Rome suspension, Raymond’s injury, and the fact that the son of the head NHL disciplinarian played for the Bruins.

As Gary Bettman, the NHL Commisioner stammered and sputtered in front of a booing Vancouver crowd, I wouldn’t have minded if a quick bout of US hyperinflation had him changing his home address to the back of a ford station wagon.

But let’s think about that for a second.

If Bettman suddenly wasn’t NHL commissioner, perhaps by getting hit by a schoolbus full of bantam league hockey players, who would take his place? It wouldn’t matter. The US has more population and more economic power to keep the league going.

Where’s our population and economic power going to come from? Where is that Canadian NHL commissioner and owners who would bring the game back to its home country and make billions while doing it? Is it some internet tycoon thinking of selling his business to a bunch of Silicon Valley VC’s? It could be one of those postal workers on the picket line, sitting on some product he built in his garage but can’t take to market because the post office is the only way his family can get benefits. He could be in the same room as you. Anybody with a plan and the will to carry it out.

At the end of the day, conspiracy theories are nothing but excuses. If it’s going to take more Canadian owners in the league, then let’s make more Canadian owners. Let’s build this country up so we can have our game back. Instead of complaining, rioting, or otherwise about our Cup-less team, let’s make a Stanley Cup in Vancouver happen, just like our Canucks built the best offensive line in the league. GO CANUCKS!

Last Cause for Introspection

Posted on May 4, 2011 by James

Last Cause made my heart soar just before it broke. If I could see a few movies a year like this, I would be one happy panda. A conspiracy movie about Gundam-style mechs and cloning set in a dystopian future? Sweetheart, you had me at Gundam-style. It’s crowdsource-funded movie project put together by some FX professionals in Los Angeles. Right now they just have a documentary video, a few photoshopped stills, and a quick synopsis. It doesn’t seem like the most original thing on the planet, but then again, what is? The production art looks amazing. You can tell these guys want to stretch the limits of their abilities on this project. As much as I’m impressed by this, and as much as I want this project to happen, it just reminds me how much of a hypocrite I’ve been.

I once considered myself to be a creative person. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer. I had even written my own Mecha series pilot in grade 12. I still managed to do it every now and again. There’s a webcomic out there with my inkstain on it. I wrote a monologue in University that was performed twice. I’ve tried scratch my writer’s itch through this blog, but I realize I wrote my last piece of complete fiction (not counting the financial projections for my business plan) 5 years ago during a writer’s workshop with Harlan Ellison.

There are few reasons why I stopped writing. First there are the insane statistics of the publishing industry. Something like 3 percent of manuscripts make it to print. Then there’s the respect for writing. When every mouth-breather on fanfiction.net gets to call themselves a writer, it’s a little discouraging. I thought I should develop some other trade so I would have something to fall back on. I was spending most of my time trying to get “real” a job in computers, and even then it’s been a struggle.

Now, here are these guys, with almost no money, getting funding to make their dream project. I’ve been shamed. I’ve been waiting for a sure thing too long. I’ve forgotten what age I’m living in. I don’t need to beg some publisher, director, or artist for permission to create anything. The next post on this blog is not going to be some blow-hardy crap about marketing. It’s going to be a story. Maybe the start of a novel, I’m not sure yet. If it’s 10,000 hours until world-class success, it’s time to start on hour one.

Think Like a Stakeholder

Posted on May 3, 2011 by James

The Bloc may have been Orange Crushed, the Green Party may finally have a seat, and the Liberals may be sitting in a corner thinking about what they did, but I get the sense that most of my friends are angry about last night’s election of a Conservative Majority.

It might have been the low voter turnout, it might have been the Liberal Party Platform of “Hey, what are you going to do, vote conservative?”, but Conservative Majority is a reality, and no amount of calling Harper a robot or “Bush Jr.” is going to change that. Calls for electoral reform only dissuade us from the real problem, which is that my generation does not understand the Conservative mindset.

I really think that we have this image of the CPC that’s made of more ideology than reality. We talk about Conservatives like they are an irrational race of hairy barbarians who enjoy beating anything smaller than themselves with hockey sticks. They want to divide up the country among the rich and powerful, destroy the environment, and execute mentally handicapped criminals. Any intellectuals, poor people and minorities who have a problem with that can suck it.

We take this view at face value and yet we ignore anything that conflicts with it. Why would they be popular with low-income voters if they only serve the rich? Could it be because they keep trying to lower taxes and make home ownership more affordable?

The Liberals and the NDP have been praised for offering us “Freedom from” policies. Like freedom from poverty, health care, or child care costs. While the Conservatives are determined to take away those policies, they want to instead offer ownership stakes. The idea is that if you own your own piece of Canada, you’ll work harder to make it a better place. Is this a better offer? Can the other parties match it?

Until we can fully appreciate what goes through the heads of the politicians and voters that have made up this government, we will be cut out of the national decision making process. Public health care, education and the environment will be subject to the whims of the Conservatives. While they have shown themselves to be capable, by no means do they have a complete picture of how to run this country.

May 2nd is Election Day

Posted on May 2, 2011 by James

I thought Monday was going to be surreal, I had no idea to what degree. There was Harper showing up in Abbotsford of all places for an election rally. The Pollyanna in me wants to believe that he was keeping a former stronghold riding from turning into a battleground, but I know this is where he could count on the most supporters to show up. Then there was this business about Jack Layton getting a massage from an establishment that was under investigation for giving out happy endings. The Harper fans that trotted this out must either be stupid, desperate, or both. This can only mean that they think the NDP, of all the other parties, is actually a threat to their government status.

And then they catch Osama freakin’ Bin-Laden.

It sounds like something you’d slip in to conversation if you think the other person’s not listening. My wife does it sometimes. On the one hand, I’m glad they got him, I’m glad he’s dead so we don’t have to deal with a long and embarrassing trial, but DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

I don’t care if they all seem like the same party, I don’t care if one vote doesn’t matter, and I don’t care if you’re in a stronghold riding like mine. Get out there and show them that you are present. Non-voting is the result of a martyr complex of the worst sort. So your situation, or the country’s, is so bad that no political party could possibly help. By not voting, you are protesting the whole idea of governments and political parties! Your snowflake political opinions are too complex, too nuanced to be summed up in a mere ballot! You might think you’re Che Guevara right there, but no one actually cares if you disengage from the political process. Low voter turnouts only embolden the worst of us to run for office. You can blame the government for not caring about you, but it’s not like you’ve been caring about the government. Your MP probably didn’t even get a stern phone call from you. History is not just written by the winners. It’s written by those who choose to participate in it. Be present this May 2nd and Vote.

Christy & Steve’s Wedding

Posted on April 26, 2011 by James

Last Saturday Christy, my sister, got married to her long-time boyfriend Steve. The ceremony and reception was held at the Sweet Dreams Luxury Inn in Abbotsford. The weather, the ceremony, and location were gorgeous! I was in charge of the A/V component of the day, so I invited a surprise guest for the happy couple.

I also put together a little retrospective slide show:

Now all three kids in my family are married! Thank you, Christy and Steve, for putting on a first-rate party and congratulations on your new life together!

Remember What You Are Building

Posted on April 19, 2011 by James

Do you know what you are doing with your life? How about your kids? Are they going to have your job? Or will they be replaced by a small script in some soulless automaton? Where is the economy going? Where are we going? If you feel those questions echoing in your head and forming a cold sweat down your back, I have one thing to say to you, one idea that will keep you sane: Remember What You Are Building.

Everyone is building something. From the minimum wage slave at Wal-mart building a low-cost commodity empire to Richard Branson building his submarines or space-ships. Even demolition workers are building space for something new. In our concrete jungles of edifice, we often forget that everything we see had to be built first. They have to be maintained. Our cities would not last the first 50 years without us.

Try to see what your world will be like in 5 to 10 years and make that vision a reality. Some companies already do this. They want to see a world where more people than ever use their products. That’s why we have things like free e-mail and cell phone operating systems. Those companies know if they build a future where they can survive as a company, that future will belong to them. The same goes for all of us. If you are trying to find your place in the world, if you can’t see your next paycheck, always, always, always, Remember what you are building.

Wordcamp Seattle 2011: The Beautiful, Ugly World of Open Source

Posted on April 18, 2011 by James

Seeing actual Automattic employees at Wordcamp Seattle gave the event a different vibe than the ones I had been to before. When you watch Scott Berkun or Andrew Nacin talk about the software and the open source community that created it, you get the feeling that they’re not just making money from this neat little serve-side toy. They are making a TON of money and changing the face of publishing on the web while they are at it.

Whether I was learning about plug-in development best practices or the trials of the theme marketplace, every presentation I went to stressed the importance of the open source community in moving the industry forward. However, I found the most interesting talks of the day were at the lunch tables. It turns out all is not well in the worker’s paradise of open source.

Automattic is the company that runs the WordPress project. It decides which features are included by default in the next release of WordPress. This could be a bad thing for the community. As Trevor Green from Azure Creative pointed out, while the software is open source, the WordPress brand is not.

For instance, their plug-in called jetpack installs a slew of features that some say could be handled more competently by other plugins. Because Automattic has such a strong hold over the WordPress.com brand, a plugin like jetpack could discourage further development.

I have no delusions that Automattic is secretly planning to turn WordPress into a closed-source gulag. That would be spaying their golden goose. However, their momentum as a corporation and within the community makes it impossible for them to make a move without affecting the software ecosystem. Could the same thing happen to other open source projects, like Ruby on Rails? Rails 3.0 already includes its own test suite by default. Could edge out “competitors” like cucumber or rspec?

It’s fascinating that even in the game of open source, there are still winners and losers. For smaller developers, it’s just another chapter in the constant battle against commoditization and obsolescence. If we want to eat, we’ll just have to move on to some other more open framework.

Much thanks goes to Trevor Green and Torey Azure from Azure Creative, Curtis Mchale from SFN Design, Srinivas Penumaka of ReadyPulse , Christine Rondeau of Bluelime Media, Jacie Landeros, and all the other attendees at WCSEA for providing such scintillating conversation.

Craigslist Vancouver: Deadbeat Police Scanner?!

Posted on April 14, 2011 by James

Try this if you want to see something interesting. Go to the Vancouver Craigslist page, and go to the search page. Enter “Re:” in the search bar, select “search in post only” and select the “jobs” option. What you’ll find, among a few Remax ads, are vitriolic, profanity laden replies to some of the Help Wanted ads. I’ve subscribed to the search via RSS, and it’s like I’m getting the Weekly World news of the BC business world. There are stories of employers paying sub-standard wages or not paying at all, treating employees poorly, or bilking customers out of their money. All the dirt that’s fit to print.

I thought that this was just the usual grousing that came out of any big city. This is not so. I tried the same search in New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles, and they did not have nearly the volume of complaints that Vancouver did. Toronto and Montreal were more like Vancouver, but Calgary and Edmonton were curiously silent. It wasn’t an exhaustive survey by any means, but this raises some fascinating questions about Canada and its economy. Does this mean there are more poor and disgruntled people in Canada? Are employers cheaper on average here? Do we just have a better grip on how to use a computer? Is this a cultural thing?

Whatever the answer is, this trend is a mystery too big to ignore. Does anyone out there know what this means?

Debate Hashtag Fail

Posted on April 13, 2011 by James

Last night’s leader’s debate made for some mildly entertaining background noise. Sources say Jack Layton was the winner, though I think that was just because he was able to modulate his voice to sound vaguely human. Gilles Duceppe is once again permanently surprised by everything. It’s the same old set of issues they should have been settling in parliament instead of having to get us out of bed to say anything about it. Harper’s a criminal. Ignatieff’s an immigrant. Jack wants all your money. Gilles wants all your money for Quebec. Where are we going exactly, as a country? What purpose does parliament have beyond maintaining the status quo? You can’t make healthcare more free than it is this second. Cold War’s over. Sub-prime mortgage has all but taken care of the US. We’ve already had the Winter Olympics and won Gold for Hockey. Why not do something crazy, like go to Mars, or make Canada carbon neutral? We have a country that can make all of our dreams come true, and we’re entrusting it to an aristocracy of middle managers.

There’s not much point to an election in my riding anyways. Abbotsford isn’t conservative stronghold so much as we elect our officials based on two factors: One, their advanced age. Two, their ability to fend off large predators. I’m serious, the other candidates in the riding are trying to get votes based on “issues” and “reason”. It’s kind of pathetic to watch. Abbotsford respects strength! No amount of kissing babies is going to change that. If Madeleine Hardin decides to drop a dead coyote over her podium or something, then we might have an interesting election.

What is a Fraser Valley Company?

Posted on April 12, 2011 by James

This video caught my eye over at Hacker News. It’s a clip from an interview with Steve Blank, one of Silicon Valley’s premier entrepreneurs.

According to the clip, the reason Silicon Valley produces such a high volume of innovative companies is not the people, nor the universities, nor the weather. It is the attitude to failure. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs view failure as experience. It is not the financial death sentence that it is in other parts of the world. A little while ago, Bob Ell sent me another one of Steve Blank’s article about taking a tour of Silicon Valley, so that I could gain inspiration for my next big idea. Not a bad idea for a road trip, but I do have a little problem with the last line of the post which is “NEVER LEAVE”.

I look at these love letters to California, and I think to myself, what is a Fraser Valley company? What do we do in the Lower Mainland of BC that defines our business culture? Do we have that attitude to failure? Or do we have beliefs here that hold us back, like the way we pay our workers, or the way we look at the responsibility of the government? Silicon Valley is a great place to do business, but I hardly believe that there’s some sort of magic totem there spewing forth Venture Capitalists and Computer Science PhDs. There must be some way to import that culture here. We could improve it, leave out aspects that don’t work, maybe add some of our own ideas and export them. Basically, I want to know what we are capable of right here in British Columbia. I want to know what this place is going to look like when we’re done with it.