If you, like me, are still using XP Pro, and you've been repeatedly nagged by Microsoft to download and install their SP3 cummulative update for Windows XP, there may be problems.

One of those problems is that any changes you've made to the appearance of your user interface (GUI) will be wiped out by the installation of that SP3. Many of us have been using third party themes, such as the Vista Transformation Pack, to give our reliable old XP Pro the newer appearance of an interface like Vista uses. There are free themes available for that. But if you've done that, and you install the SP3 update, none of those will work, because their enabling executive files have been removed by the update. To get those back, you must use 'System Restore' to revert to your previous setup. The good news is, now that you've installed that SP3, you shouldn't be nagged about it. So just leave it in a dark corner, and carry on as before. If you've been keeping up to date with your updates, then you probably don't need it anyway.

Here's what the opening screen looks like...

and you can find it here.

http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Richard Florida is comin' to town
On May31- June8 UBC in Vancouver will be hosting Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences conference. Most presenters will be of the academic variety and will no doubt be spewing jargon left and right (stuff I personally love), but it is worth a look.

One of the saddest aspects of our society is our level of civic engagement. Time and time again it is the same crazies that come out to the type of lectures that inform our policy. It is so important that citizens are there to represent the peoples' voice. Policy doesn't come from nowhere- there are academics and experts whose research informs political actors. A lot of research is good and a lot of research is bad. But most importantly, a lot of good research is misinterpreted and used as justification for neoliberal policy. Subsequently, bad research and misinterpretation of good research is used to justify policy documents such as Project Civil City that takes a clear 'broken windows theory' approach (a theory that makes lay-sense, but is all correlational with no real proof or statistical evidence that physical maintenance and image of a city afffects crime rates etc).

One of the "stars" on the program is Richard Florida, one of my favourite "scholars" I enjoy critquing. No doubt he will go on his spiel again about how social capital and place is more important than ever for the young, bohemian and/or gay. His research is hotly debated. Many critical theorists are in hate with Florida for his cheap sell of correlational research. Some cautiously agree with his thesis, but most agree it is just dirty research. This is stuff you just have to see for yourself people- and expect his speech to be charismatic, one of the important ingredients for good rhetoric (but not necessarily truth).

What UBC is calling "community passes" are made available on the day of for day sessions. So if you aren't a "delegate" or "academic" or invited guest you can take advantage of the $15 community pass to see these talks. These conferences are highly enjoyable, pretentious, and full of food. So go and schmooze with people you don't care about and be a critical citizen so you can be an advocate for yourself and your community.

http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/

Dear friends,
as you noticed it has been a bit slow and uninteresting.
TheVancouverManifesto will be on temporary hiatus.

Please take a look at TheTorontoManifesto. We are working on a review of the Marxism 2008 Conference: The fire this time.

http://thetorontomanifesto.blogspot.com/

YOUNG CONDO SELLER INSPIRED TO GIVE 10% OF HIS REAL ESTATE PROFITS TO THE ENVIRONMENT!

Nathaniel Brown, a young 25-year old condo owner in Kitsilano has decided that he wants to make a difference and help the environment. But he doesn’t want to just make a small difference; He is donating a full 10% of the profits he will be receiving on the sale of his condo (which should amount to $15,000) to local environmental groups.

This action was inspired when Nathaniel came across Vancouver's "Green" Realtor Sayo Nickerson of ReMax Real Estate Services who currently donates 10% of her net revenues from real estate sales to three local environmental groups. "I care about the environment and want to make a difference too" says Brown. "Seeing how Sayo does it showed me I could do the same!"

Brown’s property is a penthouse 2 bedroom 2-bathroom suite currently listed at $524,900. The first Open Houses will be this weekend on Saturday from 1-3 pm and Sunday from 2:30 - 4:30 pm. Come have a look and enjoy complimentary snacks at 401-1990 Dunbar St. (at the corner of West 4th Ave.)

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the David Suzuki Foundation, the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee, and Ecojustice.

Contact: Sayo Nickerson
Tel: 604-263-2823
snickerson@telus.net
www.mygreenrealtor.ca

Enjoy your weekend, Everyone!

This is a new and unusual variety of tulip.

If you'd like to test your computer's download and upload speeds, there's a free test you can use at this site to find out. Just select a test site from the list (for example, 'Seattle') click that button to start the test, and wait for the speedometer to finish working and show your results. Works for me.

....can I send Telus a bill for answering the phone when it's a nuisance call?
Here's the picture:-
It's my phone. I don't just lease it from the phone company, I own it. It's mine. I answer it, saying 'Hello'. The response I get from some automated personless voice says: 'I'm sorry, that's an invalid response'.

'Invalid response' my ass! It's my phone, and I'll answer it any way I like, or not at all if I so choose. I'm sick & tired of these nuisance calls from scammers trying to get your personal information from your credit card, or from advertisers like Macy's or Bloomingdale's which don't even have stores anywhere near here. Telus is very good at five-dollaring us to death for add-ons to the service, but they can't or won't do anything about these pests who annoy the hell out of us. And they wonder why some of us are looking elsewhere for some of our communication services.

This won't take long - did it?

Enjoy it, Everyone!

And here's what's making noise around here today - a house coming down...

And it doesn't take long...

And there it goes!

Enjoy your evening, Everyone.

Come on out and get active on sustainability! Take part in any of 30 Days events (http://www.30days.ca) for your chance to win a pair of side stage wristbands to see Jack Johnson Live in Vancouver with a copy of his latest album “Sleep Through the Static” available online and in stores now.

Jack Johnson's 2008 Global Tour greening initiative (http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/greening), joins hands with 30 Days of Sustainability in Vancouver in order to inspire music fans to create change.

How green is Jack? Really green. Jack Johnson's 2008 Global Tour will include powering buses, coaches and generators with bio diesel. The tour will offset its impact on climate change by contributing 65% of offset dollars toward renewable energy projects that use wind and solar power. 35% of offset dollars will go to programs that prevent deforestation. Sleep Through the Static released by Brushfire Records, is recorded using 100% solar energy.

Win a chance to see Jack Johnson’s Live in Vancouver at upcoming 30 Days Events:
30 Days Café: Green Economy - Responsible Investments that Turn a Profit
May 6 | 6:30 – 8:00 PM | Free | BCIT Downtown – conference room, Vancouver
With key-note speaker, renown investing expert and author Storm Cunningham (http://www.restorationeconomy.com).

30 Days Café: Carbon Tax Explained
May 12 | BCIT Downtown – conference room, Vancouver | 6:30 – 8:00 PM | Free
With Graham Whitmarsh, Head of the BC Climate Action Secretariat, James Tansey, CEO and Co-founder of Offsetters and Jotham Peters of SFU. Moderated by Kevin Washbrook of Voters Taking Action on Climate Change.

30 Days Café: Green Home - How to Make Your Home Green
May 15 | BCIT Burnaby, Town Hall D, Burnaby | 6:30 – 8:00 PM | Free
With speakers from Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre and GreenWorks.

SWELL - Western Canada's "Future Friendly" Eco-Design Exhibit
April 22 – May 10 | HSBC Pendulum Gallery, 885 West Georgia St, Vancouver

Sustainability In Schools: Climate Change – More than light bulbs and a Prius
May 13 | Presented by Check Your Head | Vancouver | 6:00 - 8:00 PM | Free - Register or for more information: 604-685-6631 or contact@checkyourhead.org

30 Days' Sustainability in Action:
Urban Vegetable Gardening – As Local As It Gets
May 4 | Strathcona Community Garden - Strathcona Park, Corner of Prior and Hawks, Vancouver | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Free

The Long Life Of Clothes – Vintage, Thrift, Consignment and Mending
May 9 | Workspace Café, 400 – 21 Water Street, Vancouver | 1:00 – 4:00 PM | Free

Leaving The Car At Home – Consider Safe Bike Commuting
May 10 | On site with the Burnaby Velodrome Riders - check back on www.30days.ca | 10:00 – 3:00 PM | Free

Tire Inflation Station – Reduce Emissions, Save Money
May 17 | Vancouver - check back on www.30days.ca | 11:00 – 3:00 PM | Free

Enjoy!

Join us for this first amazing event!
This is so exciting-three years of my vision now coming true!
Let me know if you have reserved a table. They are going fast.
All the best,
Ariadne

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World Poetry New Westminster & Goby Catt Jazz!

For the first time ever!

World Poetry New Westminster presents Poetry and Jazz by Goby Catt!

May 22 at 8:00 pm, at the famous Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia St,

New Westminster. (Near the Columbia Skytrain Station)

With your hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea.

Featured poets:

Jamie Reid

Addena Sumter-Freitag

Sandra Lucke from Bellingham, Washington

Kyle Christianson

Welcoming poem by Ariadne Sawyer.

Be present at this groundbreaking first event!

Reserve a table for your party: The Heritage Grill: 604-759-0819

For more information: Ariadne: 604-526-4729

Sponsored by The Backroom Theatre Club.

http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/05/vote-for-me-as-if-voti...

TheVancouverManifesto is on VoterMedia.org: Media for voters, funded by voters. This is a pretty recent invention aimed at democratizing media in a few ways (put the emphasis on the right syllAbles and you'll get it). By viewing a wider range of media (i.e. instead of reading the same newspapers that are all owned by CanWest, or the shit from the "free daily" that depressed middle-aged women hand off to you at the skytrain and UBC) the voter can make a more informed decision thereby electing better leaders and better public policy.

That's all well and good, but let us bring back the discussion of electoral politics. We've got a first-pass-the-post single winner voting system that skews any sort of "voice of the people". Let's get this straight, swaths of voters "don't count" in electoral politics. Electoral politics is also why the Green party can have a ton of votes but, because they are spread out amongst different electoral boundaries, they never win a seat. Electoral politics is unfair because it ignores millions of voters and forces political parties and voters alike to play strategically. I used to generally vote Liberal just for fear of a conservative win. The only reason I now vote NDP is because the money they give to the party with each vote. Still, when there is a chance the conservatives might take it, my only option is to sitll vote Lib.

Let's think about homelessness as an electorate issue. Right now we have a shrinking middle class and income polarization. TheVancouverManifesto feels strongly that this trend will not change. Neoliberalism is violently taking over and it is no coincidence that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. As per Wallerstein's World Systems Theory, development and underdevelopment are two sides of the same coin. So as poverty grows (and the homeless count is confirming that poverty is growing), we have more people at the bottom rung. It is a well-known fact taht poor people are less likely to vote due to various combinations of disempowerment and situations that force them to be transient (not to mention the lack of a permanent address which is sooo important for easy access to the vote). And really, the poor have fewer networking skills and less ability to network thus not being able to be strategic, in any way, politically. So as TheVancouverManifesto sees it, we are coming towards a point in society where we will pretty much have a dictatorship as masses will have no voice in public policy. The people have ONE advantage: power of numbers. When you take away the power of numbers and make it meaningless within electoral politics, you take away the power of the people.

So if you really want to have a fair democracy, check out Fair Vote Canada, fighting for proportional representation, amongst other things.

All the same you should vote for TheVancouverManifesto and a number of the other very capable blogs at Vancouver Voter Media: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=CHTRQUj5BYcaLG8tHWZHvQ_3d_3d

Following up on my call for social media makers a few weeks back [Rallying Social Media Makers for EPIC Sustainable Living Expo & Join the Greenest Geek Squad Ever! Social Media frogsquad at EPIC}, I am happy to report that the campaign experienced great success and much fun at Canada Place over the three day event. Additionally, the "Frog Squad" helped many emerging businesses and earnest non-profit groups spread their message using social media techniques. The crew was noticeable in their stylin' new bamboo and organic cotton T's as they roamed the floor looking for interesting characters. Sound interesting and enjoyable? Join happyfrog.ca to rally with the Frog Squad on future missions.

To keep you in the loop, here's the story:

Vancouver Mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson speaks at EPIC

Kicking off Earth Day 2008, a group of eco-minded social media makers produced over 50 pieces of social media at the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo in Vancouver, BC April 18-20. The multi-media coverage including audio podcasts, video clips, blog articles, and a vast collection of photos. In all, the crowd-sourced campaign featured over 70 eco-conscious businesses and sustainability-minded organizations, plus numerous noteworthy presenters and even a "green" episode of CBC's the Dragon's Den.

The media dispatches were published using many "web 2.0" technologies including posting on the happyfrog.ca "Frog blog" and at the new EPIC Expo blog, as well as the writer's personal blogs and various eco-community sites. The rich-media content was distributed via multiple channels including photos at the happyfrog Flickr pool, "Pondcasts" in iTunes, Frogwalking videos on Blip.tv and You Tube, and even micro-blogging on Twitter.

A comprehensive guide to the happyfrog.ca coverage of EPIC is included in "Get Social with EPIC 08 Coverage" or subscribe to the EPIC Expo 2008 RSS Feed.

Frog Squadders at EPIC - Photo by Miss604

Brought together by BC green web community site, happyfrog.ca,the social media makers comprised a diverse assortment of personalities, interests, and demographics which resulted in a varietyof topics and points of view.

Rewarded with a bamboo/organic cotton t-shirt and an "honorarium", the "Frog Squad" showed their commitment to spreading practical ecological information to effectuate positive change with this multi-day blog marathon. The citizen journalists explored every facet
of the show from sampling organic beer, vodka and coffee, to checking out presenters like Mike Holmes, Adria Vasil and Simon Jackson.

Frog bloggers Miss604 and hummingbird post with Adria Vasil at EP

Working from a "blogger's lounge" (a coffee table, a few chairs, and a borrowed Salt Spring coffee airpot) next to the happyfrog booth in the concourse, the volunteer team of experts provided almost real-time coverage by publishing continually throughout the day. The stream of content allowed interested people from out of town to experience the expo - as well as building excitement during the run of the 3-day event.

Mike Holmes tells his story at EPIC - photo by John Bollwitt

The resultant grassroots footage is dubbed "social media" since it is meant to be shared. Site visitors are encouraged to add favorite posts to their social networks and shared bookmark services, send to a friend or post a comment on the blog. Further, with Creative Commons licensing, the interviewees may re-use the content on their blogs to help magnify their message.

Highlights:

• Simon Jackson, fervent protector of the Spirit Bear, garnered a report from the floor by Raul (AKA hummingbird 604), background info by Jonathon Narvey (jnarvey), plus a podcast of his stirring presentation.
• Super-contractor Mike Holmes' candid presentation was live blogged by Rebecca Bollwitt (AKA Miss 604) and Raul interviewed Adira Vasil, author of Ecoholic.
• More audio "Pondcasts" (produced by johnbollwitt of Radio Zoom) included happyfrog Community Manager Dave O's (daveo) conversations with the Reddot Campaign against junk mail, local news source The Tyee, a tech-activist offering solar power web hosting, Simple hemp shoes, and stylish and efficient Vespas.
• Videos interviews with LevelGround Trading, Industrial Artifacts, Hank&Cheef, and many more vignettes from the floor with hosts Christy and Cliff.
• Reports from the journey by two Salt Spring coffee roasters who biked their way to EPIC to tell about the company's carbon cool initiatives and green tax on disposable cups.
• Handmade body care crafter Naked was featured in a podcast interview and a post by eco-enthusiast Alexa Booth (xabooth).
• Vancouver fashion designer coverage with a Devil May Wear podcast, blog post about Dahlia Drive, and an eco t-shirt comparison including RioRain, HTNaturals and Me to We.
• Sustainable travel tips with a podcast and blog post about Parks Canada and a post on Adventure Travel by Colleen Coplick (colleenc) who also points about the problem with plastics and the benefits of the EPIC Sigg bottles.
• Greg Andrews (GregEh) also noticed the Sigg bottles along with Frogfile sustainable office products - ditto by Karen Fung (countablyinfinite) who also reported on the fancy solar lounge table and the design panel hosted by Shared Vision.

See all EPIC coverage at: happyfrog.ca EPIC Expo 2008 coverage.

More:

If you are interested to learn more about this campaign, please contact Dave Olson, Community Manager, dave (at) happyfrog (dot) ca

Tags: EPIC08, EPIC08, epicexpo, epic 08, epic 08, sustainable living expo, vancouver, canada place, sustainability, happyfrog.ca, happyfrog, citizen journalism

Does anybody know how to vote in the municipal nov. election when you are OUT of the city? I will be travelling durign that time but still want to vote.

...to see gas prices where they are today. I filled up my little Neon this afternoon, with
the usual 92-octane I've always used in it, and it cost $51.34 for just over 8 gallons.
That's $6.35 a gallon, and I'm still in shock.

We need some inventive soul to figure out how to make these things run on cheap booze,
because any day now, rotgut whiskey will be cheaper than gasoline.

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Enjoy your day, Everyone.

The latest version of Google Earth was released on April 24th. Got yours yet?

READ FULL HERE: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/collaboration-for-chan...

Remember Project Civil City- the best homeless hating document created? It's been a long time since it has poked it's ugly little head out. Sam Sullivan is bringing it back. with a vengeance. and if you ask me, it's just to take your eye off of the failure that is EcoDensity (*ahem* Brent Toderian saying that a completely new draft is needed and ALL the actions require change).

Sullivan has introduced "Collaboration for Change: On Mental Health, Addiction and Homelessness," a "collaborative" program to improve the provision of holistic programming targeting the overwhelming amount of crazies and druggies on Vancouver streets. Yes, there WILL be a consequence when you close down mental institutions and rehabilitation centres. Not to mention an overwhelming amount of ignorance towards the term "harm reduction" when we talk about haters of Insite and other programming that NIMBY's like to squak about. Funny enough, most of the public heard about the new project in the news, probably from here. Or you mayhave heard earlier this month from City of Vancouver press releases. TheVancouverManifesto, however, learned of this little scheme brewing up a few months ago. How, you ask? Sam Sullivan likes to "hang around rich people because ruch people get things done" (care of the creepily honest performance in Citizen Sam). And while in the works Sullivan did some scmhoozing in the medical community to get support from doctors and professional-folk. How do I know this? I know many a doctor. And I WISH I had been listening more carefully when they talked about it because I remember there was actually some scandal amongst the medical community about soliciting support for Sullivan. Anyhow, I'm almost positive something dirty went on there.

but beyond that, read David Eby's post on how Pivot was shut out of the roundtable discussions. Because... Pivot, who works with the homeless and working poor daily, know absolutely nothing about homeless people with mental illness or addictions and have nothing to contribute to this collaborative initiative, right?

Damn..it worked- thinking about the stupidity of Sullivan to shut Pivot out has made me forget about EcoDensity.

Labels: addictions, collaboration, collaboration for change, ecodensity, homelessness, housing, mental illness, nimby, NPA, pivot legal society, project civil city, sam sullivan

READMORE: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/

I took this first one to show the new leaves coming out, at last...

And then the clouds lifted a little, and I took this one of the fresh snow...

Can anyone tell me what's happening?

Enjoy your day, Everyone.

Enjoy your day, Everyone.

And you may be asking, "What's Paint.NET?" And the answer is that it's a remake of the old original Windows program 'Paint', done over fresh by some graduate students with sponsorship by Microsoft. This new program is vastly improved from that old original, and does many more things, and much better. This latest update of it is just out, and is version 3.30.
Paint.NET requires Microsoft's .NET 2.0 to function properly, but that's easily obtained.
There are a lot of plug-ins for the program, and it has many features that its old original didn't, like the ability to work with alpha transparency, and layers, and etc. There are also some neat special effects built right into it. It's worth a look, for sure. You can find it on this web page. It's freeware, I should add.

SEE FULL POST HERE WITH VIDEOS
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/daily-photo-project.ht...

It's been one of those days where you begin with one link and before you know it you've followed a link-trail that brings you into a fascinating world that is completely different from where you started and entirely foreign to anything you began thinking about. You tube is amazing, by the way.

It started off with this link:

GO TO ORIGINAL POST TO SEE:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/daily-photo-project.ht...

And then I found out it was a parody of Noah Kalina:

GO TO ORIGINAL POST TO SEE:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/daily-photo-project.ht...

The video is kind of creepy and oddly.. attractive. You can't really stop looking.
So I went to his website and it has some pretty witty commentary

I THEN found out that, although it was a completely independent idea, there were a bunch of people doing this, namely JK Keller who has been doing this since he was 22 years old and, up to date, has taken a picture of himself everyday for about 10 years. You can watch his video on his website. Keller's video is different, and he lines up his eyes as a focal point. It's easier to watch than the Simpson's parody and Kalina's because you are always focussing on his eyes, but it's less poetic, perhaps due to the music.

He is an artist and his other work can be found here.

GO TO ORIGINAL POST TO SEE:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/daily-photo-project.ht...

I was so fascinated by this project that I read every single one of his FAQs and spent nearly an hour reading up on the project. I highly suggest you take a moment to read them. He's quite charming and funny. (Keller's website is kind of painfully designed and difficult to navigate. You're eyes will hurt after awhile of looking at it.)

The Daily Photo Project is basically a project where they take a photo of themselves everyday. Both artists use a standard digital camera with a viewing screen so they can get the approximate same position. Both are interested in the aging process and those minute everyday differences. It's almost like one of those flip books.

Both mention that they will do this until the day they die. Keller states that the project will not be complete until he dies- until his everyday is no more. The irony is not lost on him- he will never get to see his project complete, or even be able to complete the project himself.

I'm fascinated by this project. When I saw the first picture I was thinking, "huh.. just a normal guy." But as the video progressed I really focussed in and it was almost intoxicating. And then, interestingly enough, I found myself really attracted to him (both Keller and Kalina). At the end I thought to myself, "huh..this is a really good looking guy." I've dissected what I experienced.

You know when you first meet somebody and they aren't all that attractive and you're just indifferent? And then you get to know them, spend a lot of time with them and you begin to think that they are nice lookin' people? Even my friends- I can't admit any of my friends are unnattractive because I know them and they are just awesome people. Over time, when you know somebody, looks become less at the forefront of how you see them. If that makes any sense. I think the same thing happened here. Even though I don't know these guys, I felt like I knew them because I was watching them, photos of them over years.. and it felt kind of like I was taken on that journey with them and I have known them for that long. It's a strange sensation. Watch the videos and tell me what you think.

It is an incredible project nonetheless.

read more: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/

If you'd like to remove the noise from older images, then there's a program called Neat Image designed to do that, and here's where to find it.
The latest version was released on March 28th. I've used this, and it does remove a lot of the noise from older images. You may have to experiment with its settings to get the best results, but it works better than anything else I've tried, and it can clean up an image with just a few clicks.

I'm told there aren't very many programs designed for use on a Mac, as compared to those for Windows. However, this latest version of IcoFX will make icons for both Macs and PCs, and it's freeware. It works like a charm, because I've been using it
and I've made lots of icons with it. If you'd like to be able to use your own images for icons then check this one out.

If you go on Google, and click on their special header today, you can read all about it.
Please do, and enjoy your day, Everyone.

And if you're wondering, Google already knows about this...

The lifts are all closed, but the spring skiing is excellent, if you don't mind climbing
up on your own. Too bad the ski season was ended before the winter was...
Enjoy your day, Everyone.

Bundle up, Kiddies - it's C-C-C-Cold out there!