w o r d s p a c e

Presenting wordbit.com

Antoine — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:29:59 +0000

I am proud to unveil my new website, wordbit.com - my latest blog effort using everything I’ve learned here to improve the user experience. I haven’t launched a full-scale marketing campaign yet, so I’m inviting whatever phantom readers I have here to check it out and comment on it. Now, it’s not entirely done yet, but feedback would be great.

Here are some great reasons to switch to wordbit.com:

The URL is so much shorter and easier to remember.
wordbit.com has a clean look, with lots of white space and larger fonts.
Randomly generated banner images…cool!
There are a minimum of cumbersome graphics - should be fast loading.
There is a resource section for technical writers that you can help build.
Focused content and well-written edited posts with substance and a minimum of fluff.
If you like what you read here, switch to wordbit.com and stay in touch!

Check it out!

Pictures galore

Antoine — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:28:57 +0000

I’ve just uploaded hundreds and hundreds of old pics to my webshots page. You can check out a slide-show on my new Pictures page. Unfortunately, the slide show only shows the first fifty shots from each album, but click-through on the link below the slide-show if for some reason you want to see them all. And why wouldn’t you? They’re really really good.

The godfather

Antoine — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:43:43 +0000

A bit of a mixed bag today.

Firstly, I am proud to announce that I am the new godfather for a young lad in England who was recently born to some wonderful parents, one of whom is my best friend from high school. Perhaps when he is old enough I can communicate with him via webcam and impart my wisdom to another little being who will probably know more about computers than I ever will.

A couple of cool vids to check out today - the first is an interesting web 2.0 montage put together by a group of faculty and students calling themselves “digital ethnographers”. It’s not too long, check it out if you have a couple of minutes to spare.

If you have more time, check out this documentary on Google, which touches on the dangers of a search engine monopoly in which one company controls the flow of information.

Personally, I don’t think Google is the next big brother, although it is kind of alarming that you can see your own car parked in your driveway on Google Earth. Still, it’s not like the images are running in real-time or anything.

My posts have been sporadic because I have been working on another online project, which I will unveil soon, hopefully within the next few days…

Frigid training tactics

Antoine — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 03:02:54 +0000

I found these crazy pictures of extreme army training in North Korea on Thrilling Wonder. Go there to check out some insane anti-US propaganda posters too.

Nothing like rubbing snow all over your half-naked body to get you ready to kill some Americans.

If these guys ever invaded the Yukon, we’d be screwed.

BTW, I should be online again soon.

Wordspace in limbo

Antoine — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 04:55:24 +0000

Dear reader,

Perhaps you are wondering why updates have been frustratingly infrequent of late at Wordspace. I share your frustration. I have been without internet at home now for about a month due to…well, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Anyway, let me assure you that I am working on getting it back and when I do, I can once again parlay my procrastination into fruitful blogging.

Regards,
Antoine

I know it’s evil…

Antoine — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:17:33 +0000

I have a thing for TV game shows. If you do too then enjoy.

This one is Deal or No Deal

And here’s the best one: Who wants to be a millionaire?

I’ll try to keep these fluff posts to a minimum

I never thought it would happen to me

Antoine — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 01:04:36 +0000

I was looking around for the perfect domain name last night and I found it. I’m not going to say what it was because it was just too good. So, I rubbed my hands in glee, took out my credit card and bought it at godaddy. Then I get an email telling me that somebody else owns the name. According to the WHOis database, somebody purchased the name about a minute before I did, but I still got charged for it.

I refuse to believe this was a coincidence. While I was testing the name in Google and on several other sites testing for trademark violations, somebody got a whiff of it and literally stole the name away from right under my nose. Now when you type in the name, an amateur domain auction site comes up. Owned by the same guy who ripped my name off.

My advice: If you have a winner, don’t put it out there too much. Just buy it. I will always mourn the loss of what was probably the greatest domain name ever. Well, if I ever get a refund from godaddy, I’ll have to go back to the drawing board I guess.

A sour Lululemon

Antoine — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:17:25 +0000

My girlfriend was telling me about her Bikram yoga class today and how you pay $20 a class to just sit there like a pretzel and sweat and feel nauseous and have acid bile rise up your throat at each contortion. Wow, what fun. Anyway, apparently all the other ladies at yoga sport Lululemon outfits. This was the first time I’d been introduced to this apparently wildly popular brand.

Needless to say, inspired by the “yes men” video, I looked into the company and was pleased to see they were based in Vancouver and produced all their clothes here. Basically, the company seemed an ethical, homegrown success that supported the local economy and made Vancouverites justifiably proud of their stylish yoga apparel.

I dug a little deeper and was dismayed to discover that Lululemon has become so popular that they have sprung up all across North America and started outsourcing all their production in China. Not only that, but according to this Tyee article, the owner, Mr. Chip Wilson thinks child labour is a great idea and that we should even implement it in Canada to give the street kids something to do.

Mr. Wilson is hardly politically correct. Here’s another example - The name Lululemon was supposedly chosen by Wilson because “he thinks the trouble Japanese people face pronouncing L’s works as an extra marketing tool for his product in that country.” “It’s funny to watch them try and say it,” he adds.

Mmmmmm… All this leaves a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Here’s a little tongue twister for you Mr. Wilson: Lululemon is for losers.

Rhetoric of threat letters

Antoine — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 07:29:35 +0000

I while back I got fined for parking at work. Yes, at work. The injustice of the situation hardened my resolve to never pay this fine. After a few softcore letters I received this hardcore final notice, which I kept because it is a fine example of Aristotelian logos, pathos and ethos being used to full effect.

After reading it, I was almost persuaded to pay the fine because I thought I was being sued - at first. I then noticed all the cunningly placed “mays” and decided they were just trying to scare me.

A few months later, the case was handed over to some debt collectors, and they sent me this letter.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. After the previous rhetorical tour de force, this skimpy letter was positively anti-climatic. Not only that, but the grammar is astoundingly poor. Note the quintuplet ellipses. What did they do that for? Why did they have to be so grammatically offensive? After recieving this letter, I was certain I would never be tempted to pay this fine…ever.

The other night, after a bout of insomnia, I decided to pay this fine because God had a gentle word with me. He told me that paying was the right thing to do, and that I needn’t worry about my finances because I would be well taken care of in the future. He also said that I needed to write a letter to Mr. Bird and persuade him to cease profiting from the misery of others. I am to inform Mr. Bird that his job could hardly be spiritually fulfilling and that he should rethink his station in life. So, that’s what I’ll do. When I’m done writing that letter, I’ll share it with you.

Procrastination is good

Antoine — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:14:08 +0000

I’m feeling pretty burnt out after over a week of solid textbook writing. My limbs have atrophied. I have callouses on my wrists and fingers. I need to stop typing, but I can’t. Tomorrow’s the last day, then I am free for a while.

A related quote I like: “Sometimes the best time to relax is when you don’t have the time”