Jul 10
16
Friday FAIL: Swingset
Get ready for the one-two punch. Down, and out.
Posted in Humour by .
Jul 10
15
Awards Matter, Trust Matters
 |
| Source: woodleywonderworks |
Later today I’ll be attending the Government of Canada’s Wiki Community of Practice group to network with peers, learn from them, and try to recognize a few of them in my own way. Specifically, I’ll be handing out the first “Gnomies”—GCPEDIA 1K Club Award statuettes recognizing 1,000 edits to the wiki.
Despite my best intentions, this garnered some suspicion and criticism almost immediately after rollout: suggestions that it recognized quantity instead of quality; that people might ‘game’ the process by making pointless minor edits, and that the number itself was arbitrary and meaningless—one person might need 1,000 edits to accomplish something that others could do in 100.
I agree… to a degree. Believe me when I say I already considered these variables. In any endeavour there is some level of risk of unintended consequences and failure. I accepted them when I decided to create this award. When it comes to evaluating myself and the things I do, I’m my own most-feared playground bully. I’m relentless, but if I can still stand up again after kicking my own ass, I proceed.
From what I initially surmised and from what I’ve subsequently observed, these worries didn’t matter much.
Where is the value in paranoia? Audit each potential reward recipient, and you’ve expended a lot of personal time and effort. Suspect everyone that you originally intended to honour, and you’ve undermined the good of your intentions, insulted the recipients, and embarrassed yourself. Why did you even bother?
Colleagues: I trust you. I respect you. I want to do something to recognize your contributions. By the time you’ve made it to the list I’ve already seen your work, experienced how it’s made GCPEDIA better, and felt “I want to meet this person, and thank them.”
A thousand is an arbitrary level: a tier where I can celebrate you for creating, fixing, and engaging. The number is meaningless, but your involvement, my sentiment, the importance of formal recognition, these mean a lot.
Some days, like today, my tweets all run along a similar theme. Today: tunes.
- Nice to hear that Mr. Gwen Stefani has a new single out. I guess life can be boring when you’re arm candy for a major pop star.
- I still miss Ronnie James Dio, the 20th/21st century’s foremost lyrical humourist. Also a musician, apparently.
- The New Pornographers’ website isn’t nearly as engaging as their name suggests.
- I love The Cure, but Robert Smith & Jenny Craig need to become fast friends.
- @jentraplin Thanks again. My heart nearly stopped when I heard you introduce them [Bootsauce]. Cheers. =) in reply to jentraplin
- @jentraplin A lost Montreal gem. Surprised they aren’t still on the radio. Brown Album is ripe with singles+deep cuts. Still good at age 20. in reply to jentraplin
Jul 10
3
Idiot of the Week – Ghost Rider
It’s so satisfying when show-offs get what’s coming to them. Ain’t it? Check out this wannabe:
Posted in Humour by .
Jul 10
1
Happy Canada Day
I hope yours was happier than mine, anyway. The morning was good, certainly. Government Museums in Ottawa had free admission today, so my family and I visited the Canada Science and Technology Museum and the Canada Agriculture Museum. Good stuff, particularly the family-friendly activities at the Experimental Farm.
My afternoon was considerably less enjoyable. I had some yard work to do, which was fine, but in the course of raking out some rough brush from the back of my yard I disturbed a hidden wasps’ nest. In seconds I had 6-8 wasps on each leg and they bit and bit repeatedly until I could brush them away and flee the area.
So, the latter part of my day involved ice packs, ointments, and antihistamine.
Tomorrow will be better.
-
This work by Todd Richard Lyons is licensed for use, distribution and remixing under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License (en français).