Edward Bilodeau: Weblog: Plain Output (7 previous days)
# Monday, January 5 @ 09:17 AM
This morning LaPresse is reporting that since January 1, South Shore bus drivers are no longer giving out transfers. Only people who have purchased tickets and put them on their OPUS card get transfers. If you pay cash, you are out of luck, and have to pay a second full fair if you transfer to another bus. At that point, you might want to consider taking a cab.
This weekend we encounter a few other problems with the system. First, from the nearby pharmacy where I buy my zone 3 (Montreal/South Shore) pass, I can't buy STM (Montreal) bus/metro 'tickets' on my OPUS card. This made sense when we were dealing with physical tickets, since it would have been a problem to distribute them to retail locations outside of Montreal. However, now we're just dealing with bits on the same system. There is no technical reason they can't add a Montreal ticket to my OPUS card.
Similarly, I wanted to buy 10 tickets, but they would still only sell them to me in batches of six! Again, this was acceptable when tickets came as a physical booklet of six tickets, but with digital tickets there is no reason for this limitation.
My guess is that these oddities are due to a phased implementation strategy. Phase 1 is to move the existing ticketing framework to the new system as-is. Phase 2 will be to innovate the service in ways made possible by the move to electronic tickets and smart cards. In some ways this makes sense to the organizations involved, since they are reducing implementation risk by only changing one thing at a time. However, the benefits in this approach are for the organizations. The new system provides little or no benefit to the user. A bit of innovation as part of phase 1 might have helped to ease some of the pain of the transition.
# Monday, January 5 @ 08:56 AM
Urban Tool in Recruiting by the Army - An Arcade:
The [US] Army Experience Center is a fitting counterpart to the retail experience: 14,500 square feet of mostly shoot-’em-up video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles. For those who want to take the experience deeper, the center has 22 recruiters. Or for more immediate full-contact mayhem, there are the outlet stores.
The US Army has been using video games as part of their recruitment efforts for years now. However, these immersive simulations make the fantasy of army life the recruiters are pushing seem even more real.
It is worth noting that some of the simulations are non-combative, focusing on the delivery of humanitarian aid, for example. The article doesn't provide enough detail on the exact sell used by recruiters, but I doubt there is a checkbox on the recruitment form:
[ ] No, I do not want to be put into a combat situation.
Since the simulations are being used to entice people to join, they of course only simulate the positive aspects of the experience. While it could be argued that there is plenty of media coverage of the risks and potential costs of military service and that anyone walking into the recruitment center is aware of what they are getting themselves into, it still seems like somewhat of a shell game. Use the video games to motivate the kids, then swipe out the fantasy for the grim reality of army life.
# Sunday, January 4 @ 09:24 PM
This is the first of Simenon's Maigret series that I had already seen as a TV adaptation (the early 90's version with Michael Gambon as Maigret. Recommended). Maigret tend un piège is on par with most of Simenon's books that I've read so far. I prefer it when the stories have more 'colour' in them, but having the TV adaptation in the back of my mind helped compensate for that.
Another interesting note on the book is that the edition that I read had ligatures for the every occurrence of 'ct' and 'st' in the text (examples available on this page). First time I had ever seen that. I thought it was a printing error!
# Friday, January 2 @ 05:29 PM
As I mentioned, oh, months ago, I've been meaning to start up podcasting again. I had intended on getting starting in November or even December, but wasn't able to make the time. I have been working on my ideas and process, but am quickly approaching the oh-just-do-it point.
I haven't settled on a format for the podcasts yet, but I have made some headway on the equipment front. For my birthday, Nathalie got me an H4 Handy Recorder. This is roughly equivalent to someone wanting to start playing guitar and buying themselves a Taylor. The H4 is a portable 4-track recording studio with two high-quality condenser, two XLR input jacks, a pre-amp (with both amp cabinet and mic emulation) and effects (including compression, etc). I can use it to record single voice (including my lectures), conversations, performances (spoken and music), etc. Also, should I ever *ahem* get back into playing bass, I can just plug into this and I'm good to go.
Another bonus is that is comes bundled with Steinberg's Cubase LE 4. While no where near as feature rich as their professional studio project, it does everything I expect to need to do in the foreseeable future. I had intended on using Audacity, but the UI on Cubase seems to be much easier to work with, which is important as I want to be able to minimize production time on my podcasts.
All this, and the H4 costs less then a 16GB iPod Touch.
Once I figure out how it all works, I think we can say I've got the gear taken care of!
I'm still not ready to commit to a specific launch date, but I just wanted to let everyone know that things are moving forward, and that this is going to happen. Soon!
# Friday, January 2 @ 04:52 PM
Glad to see David decided to continue blogging. Update your links and feeds, folks!
# Friday, January 2 @ 11:33 AM
Apple files for patent on winter-friendly iPhone gloves:
The US Patent Office application notes that capacitive touchscreens like those on the iPhone and iPod touch are problematic in colder weather. As they depend on the electrical response from a user's fingertips, which is often blocked off when wearing insulated gloves, the screens either force users to take off their gloves or else sit tight until they return indoors.
I've noticed this same problem with my non-touch iPod as well, and can vouch that it is a pain to have to take off one's gloves to change the volume or skip a song. If I was going to try to solve the problem, I'd probably get one of those headsets with controls built in before buying a special pair of gloves. Mind you, if it is your phone you are talking about, I imagine being able to access the UI would be more important, and a special pair of gloves may be desirable.
Kudos to Apple, though, for taking what is essentially a shortcoming in their product design and turning it into a marketing opportunity.
# Wednesday, December 31 @ 03:47 PM
No More Goodies for Doctors From Drug Makers:
Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies — Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs — that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs.
I wonder if drug samples will be similarly affected. (Note: Click through if only to see Dr. Caren's pen collection!)
# Wednesday, December 31 @ 02:47 PM
In what is becoming a bit of a tradition here (2006, 2007), here is the list of books I've read in 2008:
Looking at this list, I'd like to read more in 2009, more non-fiction, and more varied. Would reading 50 books be an unrealistic target? Recommendations are always welcome!
# Wednesday, December 31 @ 10:22 AM
This morning I finished reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion, in which Middle-Earth's creation story and early history are described. It was a better read then I had expected, having heard that it was fairly dense and long on describing genealogies of elves and men. Keeping the names and characters straight is a challenge, and I expect that subsequent readings will be clearer. But overall it is quite good, and provides a lot of insight into why things are the way that they are in LOTR.
If you enjoy the Silmarillion, you may also want to read The Children of Húrin before going on to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I was considered doing that now, but I've read a fair bit of Tolkien over the past two years, and I think I need to take a break before revisiting Middle-Earth.
For earlier posts, please visit the archives.
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