Sitting in a park in Basel, Switzerland.
Sunny. Working on my laptop.
Backpacker comes over, speaks in german.
"What?"
- "Do you have any money for me?"
"No, thanks."
- "Fuck you, then."
I continue to work, ignoring him,
He takes out a boxcutter. Slices a new branch from a tree trunk.
I'm a bit threatened. Laptop, me vs. crazy guy and his display of his knifeskills and his willingness to use them on woody things. I begin to put my Mac into standby so I can leave, but he picks up his bag. I resume working.

10' from me, a guy is in summer slumber, face covered by his jacket. i look over, crazy guy kneels down and is picking up coins that must have fallen from the guy's trousers. I yell at him "Eh!" The sleeping guy pulls his shirt from his eyes and looks at me. I knod upwardly, sharply, directing his attention to his other side. He seems the guy standing over him. Crazy guy smiles and walks away, looking at the coins in his hand.

- "What was he doing?"
- Taking coins that had fallen from your pocket.

Slumber-guy looks at him as he walks away, smirking.

- "Thanks."
And he puts his shirt back over his head and goes back to sleep.

I think I should have said "Oy!", it would have been more local than "Eh!", which is really just a "Hey!" minus the aspiration.

I overheard one flight attendant say to a passenger that the airline was having difficulties in filling Cabin Crew positions. Apparently now that gays are allowed to work as lawyers and property managers, the number of potential hires in our 5% of the population is too few to sustain the needs of Something Special in the Sky. That, and number of new positions resulting from the retiring en-mass of Air Canada's 55 year-old battle-axe Stewardesses. ("We were called Stewardesses when we signed up in 1973, and that's the way it's going to stay.")

With this in mind, it would seem British Airways - the Cattle Crew of the Sky Cabins - have opened the once ivory gates of their pastures to a new method of recruiting, YouTube style:

http://www.britishairwaysandpamann.com/

Tags: air transit

Why can't everyone be as efficient as I am at getting through security in an airport?

I mean, really: Put all your metal shit in your carry-on. Get rid of those ridiculous industrial chain necklaces.
Is it that difficult to have your laptop out of your luggage before you get to the counter? Take it out while waiting. Put your belt in your carry-on while in the line. Or, better yet, put it in the carry-on when you are at home, then put it on after clearing security.

Greater than 20-minute wait lines (Orlando MCO, London LHR) are only the result of incompetent travelers who shouldn't be allowed to fly. There should be a special line that routes them back out to the parking lot.

Or better yet, a line for those who have a clue. For those who have their liquids & gels in a 1L ziplock bag, who have their belt in their carry-on (coins & cell too!), and who have that baggie in one hand with their laptop (out of it's case) in the other. For me, basically.

I want my own line at the airport security gate.

Tags: air transit

Roads, that is.

I've made a bit more effort to connect with The Fraternity. You'd think with me being on campus just about every day, I'd stop into the fraternity house. Not yet. The brothers there, they're 18, 19. I feel a connection yet a disconnect from them. They're two generations removed: I was there in 2000, 8 years is twice a full undergraduate generation. Another approach..

Splice moved. I emailed the pledge class trainer and then offered the pledge class some cash to move the stuff. The old and new offices are in neighbouring buildings, so it wasn't a huge move but there was still plenty of work. Two purposes were served: Splice got moved, and I met some of the brothers-to-be. Some fraternity brothers don't like calling pledges "brothers-to-be." I disagree. I think it's motivating and encouraging to instill within the pledges that the membership wants them to succeed, just so long as they don't think it's an automatic acceptance, an honour bestowed upon them without the work of pledgeship. I think it also reminds would-be bossy bros that these younger lads will one day be referred to as "brother" and that certain actions and words are unfit to be used towards such men.

Of the 10 or 11 pledges currently in the Dal/SMU chapter of the fraternity, one stands out exceptionally, and two sort of (don't know them well enough yet), while the remaining 8 or 9, i've yet to meet.

A friend of mine, sort of a younger brother by some kind of diffusion or association (I suppose) has also pledged Sig in Tampa. That, too, may have been catalystic in the resurgence of my interest. Or it may, more simply, be a way in which I'm endevouring to retain the spirit of youth - by keeping in touch with it.

Hello?

tap tap

...

tap

The sign above the thermostat in my Stephenville, NF hotel room reads as follows:

"Comfortable room temperature settings are recommended between 68 C and 72 C."

This google map shows me how to get from Halifax to Copenhagen.

I draw your attention to step #24 of the journey: "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean"



http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=Halifax,+NS,+Canada&daddr=Copenhagen,+Denmark&sll=46.316584,-17.050781&sspn=81.284936,135.703125&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=3&ll=49.037868,-29.355469&spn=78.342894,135.703125&layer=t

Halifax International Airport is now offering a new Wifi service that replaces the Aliant service previously offered. The new service is free.

I prefer the Aliant offering. Here's why:

When I use Google.com for normal (non-porn) use, I get this message from the free wifi service:

"Access To This Webpage Is Restricted

You are seeing this page because the webpage you are trying to access contains material that does not comply with this hotspot's Terms of Use. The reason given by the content filter is Banned combination phrase found..

If you think this is not correct, please go back and check the link or url you requested. You may have mistyped the URL of the website."


So what did I type into google to provoke such a response?
"stanfield"
"air canada"
"flights"
"halifax airport"

Pretty lame service. The aliant one wasn't so anal. Wasn't really free either.

Interesting wikifact (as opposed to a genuine 100% for sure fact):
"Chickpeas were grown in some areas of Germany for use as a coffee substitute in the First World War."

Last day on the job here in Denmark.. until June, that is. Halifax, Vegas and Stephenville NF all next week. Oy.

Splice has a wicked set of new courses in June for CS3: Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator are all new.

Now where can I get some chickpea lattes..

I've been using Google Adwords with Splice's website for the past few weeks. It's as close as I've come in a while to playing a game, at least that's how it feels.

I go in and make a couple ads and then unleash them on the net. Then I come back after a day or two and see which ones people clicked on. I find some ads are shown to, say, 2000 people yet not a single person clicked on them, while another ad has 4 or 5 clicks.

Then I tweak the ads that are performing poorly, the changes take effect immediately, and I return in another day or so to see if the changes were effective or not. I only started the tweeking game earlier this week. Clicks are up more than 400%.

I'm now using this method to test out ads for print purposes (we advertise in The Coast and some other industry papers). Previously I'd just submit an ad to The Coast (1" by 2") and hope it worked. I don't have the financial resources nor the time to do a focus group query. But, thanks to google, I can test out ads on a huge focus group and have the results within a day. Then the ad that gets the most clicks online will have its copy repurposed in print.

Current Location: Copenhagen