Monthly Archives: April 2004

Corinne & Raymond: On The Road Again
Boy and His Volvo Limp Home From U.S.

Travel

VOLVO

While you are reading this, I am probably at the Canadian—U.S. border (if it’s around 4 p.m.), on my way to Portland (between 4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.), or have arrived safe and sound in the destination Oregon city …
Yes, constant reader, yours truly has returned much too early from what was to have been a joyous sojourn to Oregon and Washington states.
C’est la vie.
Oh, what a beautiful day was this April 8, 2004. A brilliant sun limned the azure blue sky, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Once through the border crossing — no mean feat in these post 9-11 days — the journey along the I-5 — through Blaine, Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Arlington and Everett, and beyond Seattle — was everything that I might have wished.
Update, Sat., April 10, at the end of the item. Click on the link below.

Continue reading Corinne & Raymond: On The Road Again
Boy and His Volvo Limp Home From U.S. →

More Than Ever, We’re Surfing the Net and Using Hi-Tech Gadgetry

Web & Tech

TURNOFFNOVEL



Information relating to online use of the Internet by youth across the globe was made available in a series of reports released this week. One American report found that 72% of all 18 to 34 year olds in the U.S. are now online, and that 30% regularly view entertainment websites — just short of the 32% that read similar pages in newspapers, but much higher than the only 19% that read entertainment magazines.
In a report by Statistics Norway, on behalf of the Norwegian Telegram Bureau and Telenor, published on the (just-added) Smart Mobs blog …

“In Norway, all teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age have a cell phone. When teens say that ‘everyone has a cell phone’ it’s no joke. According to a new study, 100% of all 16 to 19 year olds who were surveyed, replied that they have their own cell telephone. This compares to the rest of the population where 86% have a mobile telephone. Norwegians send an average of 2.8 private text messages per day, but young women between 16 and 24 are the most active: They send over 8 text messages per day on average … Basically the report says that they could not find a 16 to 19 year old in Norway who didn’t own a mobile phone.”

Meanwhile, in an article on the New York Times wire service, Circuits contributing editor Katie Hafner reminds readers of the recently released Pew Internet and American Life Project report, which found that use of computers, and access to the Internet, by seniors — “a group once largely written off as a lost cause” — has jumped by 47 percent since 2000.

“People who are in their 50s now, once they begin on a computer there’s no going back,” says Tobey Dichter, president and chief executive of Generations on Line. “Once they get adept, especially at the Internet, they don’t give it up.”

According to this CNN story the typical Internet user — far from being a geek — shuns television and actively socializes with friends. The finding are published in the first UCLA Centre for Communication Policy report on global Internet use, titled the World Internet Project.
The times, they are a-changin’. The hi-tech revolution is well underway.

Rugged Racing With Hi-Tech Equipment

Vancouver

NAVIGATE

VanRamblings this afternoon provides information (corrected, as of 5 p.m.) on Navigate The Streets, a sort of urban scavenger hunt where participants compete in teams of two. At the beginning of the race, each team receives a list of clues that, when solved, reveal checkpoints around nine cities (in this case, Vancouver) across Canada. There is no set course. Contestants compete on foot or use public transit. The team that visits all the checkpoints, in their respective city, and returns to race headquarters in the least amount of time wins. So far, so good. Sounds like fun!
The information above is provided in response to an e-mail, sent to me some while ago, from organizer Tim Shore …

“Navigate The Streets was created by me last October. I organized a race in Toronto. 76 teams (152 people) participated. Since everyone had a good time and the response was so positive, I decided to get a group of
us together to organize it in cities across Canada. Officially, the race was created and is organized by a company that I founded called Level 28”.

Contestants may bring whatever tools they feel might help them in their quest to navigate the streets of the city, and may employ such smart mob orientation devices as a cell phone, a wi-fi enabled handheld, map and guidebook, or a notebook computer. A digital, or polaroid, camera is required to take a photo of each checkpoint, as offer of proof that the checkpoint was reached. Winners of each race across Canada — and races take place not only in Vancouver, but in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Québéc City, Toronto and Winnipeg, as well — will receive free airfare, two nights double occupancy accommodation, and free entry to the final, winner take all ($10,000) race in Montreal.
Navigate The Streets is sponsored by the Monster Beverage Company, FatPort, TakingITGlobal, Om Records, Axis Gear, and the Georgia Straight. The charity parnter is Right To Play.

Shoddy Nation: A Newbie Bemoans the State of Computers

Web & Tech

GEEKS

There is no greater hell than the hell that comes from working with a computer.
Do computers work consistently well? No. Do computers consistently perform the tasks well that you wish them to (say, surf the ‘Net, word process, plug figures into a spreadsheet)? No. Does your computer “crash”, does it give you “virtual memory” errors, or annoying error messages of any other description? Be honest, now. The answer is probably, yes.
Newsweek’s Gersh Kuntzman knows your pain. And, he’s written a column on the technological failures that have visited him during the past couple of weeks. Good thing his is a humorous column, what with some of the dour comments that have appeared on this site in the last few hours.
So, read and weep along with Kuntzman. And keep an eye on the web/tech section of VanRamblings. In time, VanRamblings will publish a remedy for each and every computer woe which might beset your computing experience. Honest. And you’ll come to love your computer. Well, maybe.