I guess it seems like I’m going to town on Stephen Harper, but gotta love this blog post from Scott Feschuk of MacLeans.
Jan
07
A little bit late on this (getting back from a very busy holiday season), but WTH is going on? I can’t believe Harper is going to prorogue again. I know it’s a pretty cool word, but come on! Does he really think the public is just going to take this one? Nothing like more vacation for MPs, and avoiding tough questions on Afghanistan, all at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone.
Even people outside of Canada are noticing how ridiculous this situation is (see article here). Article pointed to me by No Agenda show notes here. (Haven’t listened to the podcast yet).
Dec
11
During my very chilly walk with my dog tonight, I was listening to the Invisible Hand podcast from Heron and Crane. This episode was a review of the book “Liquidated – An Ethnography of Wall Street” by Karen Ho. Quite an interesting interview. Many know about how the people running the big investment banks may have some say in the current economic collapse. This interview actually explores how lessons may not have been learned. And how, for short-term pain, it might be worth revamping the whole retirement system–especially the reliance on owning shares in the stock market. Some interesting ideas, but may be almost impossible to implement.
Overall it gives some insight into the world of investment banking on Wall Street. The podcast is definitely worth a listen.
Dec
10
I’ve barely been involved in the discussions about the HST, too much work and American news I’ve been digesting, but here it is. There has been some negative feeling towards this tax, mostly started by those who could lose the most (realtors, mutual funds, and certain retailers). But looking a little further into this harmonization means that, if nothing else, there will be one less administrative hoop for Ontario businesses to go through. And that improvement in efficiency must be a good thing.
As for all the rest, it is still part of the complex mess that most tax systems really are. It will be hard to say if one would be winning or losing in dollar figures unless we all knew what we will be spending our money on in the coming years.
For some information from all sides of the debate, check out this article from the Peterborough Examiner that came out in the summer (ahhh, the summer–I do miss it!) Hopefully it can give a better idea of what this is really all about.
Dec
09
And of course writing the last post, I remembered what I have been seeing on Facebook recently. “Become a fan of this politician, or sign this petition, or sign up for this group”. Politics have definitely found their way into social media, which is no surprise as politics have a good deal of marketing and communications work to do.
Dec
08
Again, a slight departure from pure politics, but still something that is affecting the way the world works, and will ultimately affect the way the world is governed. We looked at the way that the internet can be called the world’s brain, but there is also a more immediate affect on marketing. It’s been an interesting development, with internet search and social media leading the way.
I personally remember how intrigued I was by the concept of the “Classmates” website that was launched. I live pretty far from my home town and the place I went to high school (LDSS rulz!), and was quite intrigued by the technology that could bring me back in touch with friends from there. They put up a pay wall, and I decided it wasn’t worth it. Then along came Facebook, a job in media where I was encouraged to use it, and then shazam!, I was in touch with so many people! Discovering LinkedIn (great for keeping in touch with former co-workers), and being introduced to twitter for work reasons, I was suddenly immersed in the big three social networking sites.
Thinking about my transformation made me realize that others might also have had similar transformations. How is this really affecting the world of marketing. Well looking at my former manager (and a bit of a marketing guru) company’s website (M3C Group) I found this video created by equalman. Quite an interesting video and well worth a watch, even if some of the facts could be debatable. How will this phenomenon change marketing? And what will happen to TV advertising?
Dec
08
One thing I’ve noticed recently is that I’m getting hits from Google searches. When I do some searches myself I notice that this blog shows up relatively early on some of the search results. In my previous position with a media company, SEO was stressed as something important. Meta keywords were studied and all kinds of things were attempted. Some of these websites were many years old, but still the Google results were not great. So I was kind of surprised at how well this little blog was doing. I don’t input keywords, just tags–I guess WordPress does all the rest. Just wanted to say that whatever they’re doing, they’re doing a good job of it!
Nov
28
Just throwing a question out to the audience…I find I am getting alot of information from just a few American based podcasts from iTunes. I realize that without watching TV news, and reading a few articles and blogs online, I may not be getting much Canadian political news. I usually walk our dog for between 45 minutes to an hour everyday, and take that chance to listen to podcasts. Right now that is the longest uninterrupted time I have.
So my question is: Can anyone recommend any good political podcasts available on iTunes? And if possible, are any of them humourous?
Nov
26
This post is not really related to engineering, technology, or politics, just something of general interest. While flipping through the channels the other day, my sister-in-law happened to come upon the “The Littlest Hobo”. CTV is bringing it back on the weekend, and actually have season 1 and 2 online (here’s the first episode)!
A great Canadian show from my childhood, but what I remember the most was the great theme song. So for all you nostalgic people out there, here’s the full version of the Terry Bush song, Maybe Tomorrow.
Nov
26
Interestingly enough, it looks like South Korea is going to be spending more government money in R&D and innovation. (see article here)In more than a decade in the electronics industry, and with some interaction with Korean companies, you can get the impression that at least some Korean companies are on the rise. They seem to be more aggressive than their Japanese counterparts, and have a motivated government behind them.
I remember watching a documentary about the South Korea’s “Industrial Revolution” in the early 60s. Quite an interesting time for South Korea, but with aid from the US and Japan, and a military leader’s firm belief in industrialization, South Korea leapt into the modern century starting with a steel mill. It was actually quite an impressive transformation–South Korea hasn’t looked back since. (Here’s a few wiki-facts on the Park Chung Hee, the leader at the start of this transformation) We’ll see if this current wave of government support will spawn innovation in new areas.
