Provocations

Top 10 posts of 2006

First of all, I wish you a meaningful 2007. This blog has been around for 2½ years and has provided me with an opportunity to express my thoughts, along with the challenge of being coherent about it.  Sometimes there is enough response to a post to indicate that it has hit home with others. Traffic reports indicate that these responses are representative of a good few more.  In selecting my Top 10 for 2006, I've taken into consideration:

1. extent of public interest in the post
2. originality of material
3. that certain je ne sais qua  (i.e. I like it and, contradicting the French phrase, sometimes do know why)

in approximate reverse order of date published:

1. Eat and then pay what you can afford
2. Rites of passage for boys into manhood
3. Botha acknowledged for preparing the way for peace
4. Gifts for the person who has everything - 2006
5. Are our destructive ways driving elephants crazy?
6. Digital manipulation of news photographs
7. Front yard vegetable garden
8. Harper and Conservatives take Canada deeper into Afghanistan
9. Deliberate erosion of public health care in Canada and beyond
10. Cafe Femenino: Fair Trade coffee grown by women in Peru

If you're interested in news, pictures and perspectives on the British Columbia interior, check out my blog, Inside British Columbia.

Hear the voice of Canada's homeless - at Homeless Nation

A voice for the homeless? Often talked about but rarely done.  Since April, Toronto-based web site Homeless Nation, "created by and for homeless Canadians", has dedicated itself to "providing the tools for homeless Canadians [over 1,500 signed-up users] to share their stories, unique philosophies and points of view with other Canadians. [and] . . .  an opportunity for the general public to interact and learn more about Canada’s homeless population."

The site has videos, podcasts and blogs but, if you're a first-time visitor they recommend you start at Featured Content .

Background on this project: 'Curbside Internet' for Homeless

Bloggers unite in exposing Transparency International

The opportunities for greater freedom of expression through blogging have, in my opinion brought a lot more good than harm.  From time to time a blog threatens "the big boys" with deep pockets - and to this, the lone blogger is pretty vulnerable. It seems though that there is safety in numbers and that the so-called "blogosphere" has its own form of self-defense.

A recent example involves a young woman fired by Transparency International Germany. Transparency International, active around the world, describes itself as an "International coalition against corruption in international business transactions and seeking increased government accountability." They seem like an unlikely target, but read this. Feel free to come back here and comment on this story.

Plagiarism: Mainstream media steals stories from blogs

Press Plagiarist of the Year Award

The Guido Fawkes weblog is sponsoring this award.

Nomination criteria: a story has to be pinched from an original blog source, either verbatim or in essence, and no credit/payment given to the original source.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Bogus blogs snare fresh victims

Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Bogus blogs snare fresh victims.

Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.

The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.

My own 10 top posts for 2004

1. July 26   The Homestead is Gone
2. August 27   Foreign Earthworms Threaten Forest Health
3. August 30  Farwell Canyon Landslide/Mudslide
4. September 10  Justice for composer of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"?
5. October 03   Gifts for the person who has everything
6. October 24   Soul of Africa - Fair Trade Shoes
7. November 1   Spirit Bear - The Movie
8. November 07   Remembrance Day - A Pittance of Time
9. December 18   Cuba-US Billboard War
10. December 24   Bogotá Mayor Antanas Mockus

2004 The Year of the Blog

The term "blog" has been chosen as the top word of 2004 by a US dictionary publisher.

BLOG noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.   - Merriam-Webster definition

Why 2004 was the year of the blog - BBC

BC Grasslands Weblog

I'd like to introduce you to this blog, not so much because I designed it, but because of the content.  It is about the making of a book on the grasslands region of Briitish Columbia and features the photography of Chris Harris.

"For me, the creative process of photographing and publishing a book on British Columbia’s grasslands is a dream come true. Previously, this was always done in isolation. With this weblog, however, I look forward to sharing it with you and the rest of the world. I’ll be working in conjunction with grassland biologists and conservationists, and together we welcome you to join us in this great new and exciting project."  -  Chris Harris

Chris' most recent post is a tribute to the Edwards family and the loss of their homestead.