Picture My World

The City of Vancouver recently introduced new garbage cans and automated pickup. The new garbage trucks have a robotic arm that grabs the can and dumps the contents into the truck. The trucks now have just a driver and no one needs to break their back lifting heavy containers. Residents also get a single trash can that’s on wheels that’s also easier to move than most people’s old containers.

It sounds and looks great. So, why hasn’t our garbage been picked up for the last two weeks? (more…)

OK, OK, I voted, but look at the results for my riding:

That’s a margin of over 30%.

(And, no, I didn’t vote for Bryce.)

Another minority government for Canada. I suspect this goverment will not last as long as the previous one. The Tories haven’t been in power since 1993 and I’m not sure how many Conservative MPs have governing experience. If it’s a small number, the party will probably stumble early on and we will soon have another election.

At least the crook Svend Robinson didn’t get elected.

Oh yeah — I did vote in the end and it was as useless as I had thought.

I finally had some time to kick back and relax, so I thought I’d catch the Vancouver Canucks playing the Montreal Canadiens. I tuned in during the first intermission to find the score was 6-1 for Vancouver.  This is the first hockey game I’ve had time to watch in a long time, and the thing was over before I got to it.  Thanks, Canucks, for the real nail-biter.

I can’t tell you how many hits I get on this blog from people searching for “picture of world” (I see I come up #5 on Yahoo! Search but Google’s a little smarter and doesn’t list me in at least the first 6 pages).
What are all you seekers looking for? Will you pay money for it?

I live in the Vancouver-East riding which has voted NDP for 19/21 federal elections since 1930. The incumbent, Libby Davis, won the last election by a margin of 30%. In this working-class riding, there’s really no reason to think anyone else has a chance to beat her (especially with the Liberal backlash and a no-name Conservative candidate).

I am debating whether to even vote this Monday. I don’t even need to give away my political leanings to make my case. If I was an NDP supporter, I’m confident my candidate will win. If I’m not… well, what’s the point?

Sure, there are reasons to vote (if everyone felt that way… the previous generations gave their blood… etc), but are any of them pragmatic in this case? Is it worth even 30 minutes of my time to exercise my democratic right?

Now, if someone could make something like STV understandable for the masses, the voter turnout would undoubtedly increase.

Kodak Vancouver is hiring a Usability Engineer (update: the link now points to the job posting).  That means my team is finally growing — doubling in size, even!

Hiring is tricky business and, because this is an important position, we want to make the right choice the first time.  At the same time, I know that a candidate’s life is not easy, either.

So, what are your best and worst interview experiences (either has the hiring manager or as the candidate)?

I hate it when taxi drivers ask you which route you prefer. “Do you want to take Main Street or Oak Street?” I want to reply, “Ummm… you know the city inside and out, you’re driving around all day, and you have a fancy computer on your dashboard. Shouldn’t you know which route to take?” Instead, I think about the time of day, possible traffic and construction and pick one. Then I feel like an idiot for doing what should be his job.

In the end, it feels like a big scam and a lousy customer experience. The driver must be taking a 50% chance of me picking the wrong route and getting a bigger fare. If he were smart, he’d just take the slower route without asking and I’d be happier. Ignorance is bliss.

Here’s a piece of chilling future history from the Telegraph: The Origins of the Great War of 2007.  I pray it doesn’t happen but it doesn’t seem that far fetched to me, either.

My friend Morey has started blogging, so I thought I’d give him some link love.  Go check out his very cool header graphic and see what he has to say at http://moreyaltman.blogspot.com/.

I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.0, so the custom picture and some other tidbits have gone back to the default settings until I have time to finish the upgrade.

Hell has frozen over! A Google product leaves beta! Amazing.

Ball

Originally uploaded by JZip.

I’m not going to get out to shoot tomorrow. So, for your viewing pleasure, here’s an old photo from the summer I had kicking around.