WestCoast101

RSS Feed Aggregator

I stopped using an XML feed aggregator for a little while, but now find I can’t live without it. I use SharpReader, but there are other good choices.

What is an RSS feed?

Some feeds I like:

/Nerd: Tod Maffin's CBC Radio Tech Column
description="Stay on top of the latest in consumer electronics, the Internet, and technology with Tod Maffin's weekly tech column, as heard across Canada on CBC Radio One."
xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/cbcnerd"
htmlUrl="http://www.cbc.ca/nerd/"

BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition
description="Updated every minute of every day"
xmlUrl="http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/front_page/rss.xml" htmlUrl="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/default.stm"

AP Top Headlines
xmlUrl="http://hosted.ap.org/lineups/TOPHEADS.rss?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=HOME"
htmlUrl="http://hosted.ap.org/"
   
Quirks and Quarks from CBC Radio
description="CBC Radio's Science Radio Program. Join host Bob McDonald each week to find out the latest in science, technology, medicine and the environment."
xmlUrl="http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/quirks.xml"
htmlUrl="http://www.cbc.ca/quirks"

Google Blog - Live
xmlUrl="http://www.google.com/googleblog/atom.xml"
htmlUrl="http://www.google.com/googleblog/"

ongoing
description="Ongoing fragmented essay by Tim Bray."
xmlUrl="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/ongoing.rss"
htmlUrl="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/"

Any other suggestions?

In line with "I am Rubber...

...you are Glue":

I was recently trying to express something similar regarding the inheritance of verbiage.

A friend was overwhelmed and saddened over a few comments that were made criticizing a point of view. The comments were instantly perceived as being offensive. Knowing the context, I asked if perhaps the comments might have had a defensive quality - if perhaps the perceived “shot” was not fired from a position of strength, but from one of weakness; fragility. A certain amount of empathy can be required to more completely and accurately understand a dialogue, its words, its “interpretation, intension, and actuality”. Empathetic interpretation is intrinsically challenging, even when interpreting the self.

Ramparts and bombs... could make a good board game.

The Star Spangled Banner

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say does that star spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

O Canada!

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

I am sure...

...that one of my favorite things about BC is this floral smell in air. I can smell it now. It's wafting in through my window. It starts in spring and can last till fall. Last year, it was interrupted by a summer smell of dust and fire.

I wonder...

...what it would be like to not see a computer for a year? What would change? Would I miss it, and if so, what about it would I miss? The music for sure; an iPod is not a computer.

Professionalisms and truths of being…

…seem to be conflicting in my life right now. Art of war? How do I speak my mind, feel whole, true, while playing games in business – buying and selling principle; self; soul? What do I do when I sense that I’ve breached a threshold, or am trying not to? When is it a “natural” process and when is it “forced”?  How organic could it, should it be?  Is that bitterness in my blood, what comes from "the game", a necessary evil, or a something that needs to be remedied? Is it simply my approach, my perspective, which is out of whack? It so often is. Is it the nature of the beast; parasitic? I remember being a better, fitter, happier, more productive business man - shrewd and focused on mandate and growth. I ran my show. I feel less inclined to succeed at that level – to play.

Radiohead [Fitter Happier]

Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries ,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),
will frequently check credit at
(moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish - at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic
like a cat
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig
in a cage
on antibiotics.

Little Qualicum Falls, Vancouver Island

wow.

Google Maps : Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada

You know that feeling…

…when you know you’re supposed to do something but you don’t. Sometimes it’s something you can do anytime, and over time, so it sits in your head like that French fry you dropped between the seats in your car that you never got around too - that you know it’s getting older, and possibly smellier.

I called ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) today about my accident, healthcare, license, etc… got me a 2PM appointment. Overall, I am a good 12 months late on this, so off I go. I am not looking forward to this and I don’t I know why. Something about “being BC” mixed with “being jay-crosser” mixed with “being broke” mixed with “being behind” mixed with “being a biker” - all mixed with a little “unknown being” to cherry my cake.

On vera…

"Better than the deed...

...better than the memory, is the moment of anticipation!"

                                          - Jacques (maitre des quilles)

STARS

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead... from Montreal.