Kirk Thoughts

Wow, it’s been a millennium in blogging terms since I last posted here. That’s not to say I haven’t been blogging. I’ve just found my interests have been elsewhere.

I’ve been working on a few initiatives, now that family life is a little less demanding. Now that the twins have passed the one year mark, we’ve managed to catch our breath a little more often.

Blogging on parish life after losing pastor

In April, a few days before Palm Sunday, my pastor was granted leave by the bishop. My response to this shocker was to set up a blog to try and keep people informed as to what is going on and also to spark conversation. I see blogging as a voice for the people in the pews, who sadly often don’t have much say or influence over the affairs of their own parish. So far, the responses have been mostly positive, it’s affecting what happens in the parish in a good way (I think) but most people are afraid to post comments. I’m hopeful that fear will fade over time.

Building local sustainable living network

One of my passions is the environment and sustainable living. My inner fabric pushes me to make healthy, positive choices in all that I say and do, choices that benefit me, those around me and creation. Here in the Sault, the envrionmental movement is small and not welll connected, especially for individuals. I want to help build a network that can support and encourage people, business and local government to make sustainable choices. I’ve started a local mailing list called Rocks and Trees (lots of that around here) to connect people, and we get together on a monthly basis for good eats and conversation. Each month more people are signing up, which is encouraging. On Earth Day I launched a blog at greenmeans.ca. It’s a pitiful start to a bigger project I’ve wanted to do for a while, but hey, it’s a start.

Organizing the home-based remote worker scene

Working from home is great, but I do miss the personal interactions from an office environment. In January I started yet another mailing list for people working from home, in particular people working remotely for an employer. We also do the monthly lunch thing as we’re all happy to escape from our tower or dungeon every once in a while. There has even been some talk of sharing some office space for a social working experience every now and again. I think it will happen eventually.

So there you have it. I do need to get back to this blog, and there are plenty of blog posts waiting to emerge. I’ll have to set aside some work time I guess.

I noticed that a few Plone bloggers registered their blog at Technorati, having read Mr. Topf’s recommendation to do so. I agree wholeheartedly. Technorati is the largest directory of blogs, and offers increased exposure to your blog through its directory, tag and search features. And hey, it’s free, so why not take 10 minutes to claim your blog?

In addition, here are 5 free things worth doing to promote your blog that I’ve done:

1. Provide a site feed on your blog. Ok, so you’ve done that, but do you know how many subscribers you have, and whether that is going up or down? Register your feed at Feedburner and take advantage of the free feed stats and ways to publicize your feed. We really need a way to integrate Feedburner feeds into Plone easily, and something I commented on this PLIP. Add your voice if you think this is a good (or not) idea.
2. Offer email subscription to your blog for people who aren’t comfortable with site feeds (yet). Feedburner has such a feature that takes minutes to set up. Just copy / paste the html form code, or use a subscription link instead.
3. Gather statistics using Google Analytics. If you aren’t monitoring and measuring traffic, how will you know what interests people the most? Discover most popular posts and what external links people are clicking on.
4. Promote your online presence by adding a link to your LinkedIn and / or Facebook profile (you do have one, don’t you?). Give people a chance to find and learn more about you via other social networks. Conversely, you can promote your blog through your profiles. Add your site address to your profiles. In Facebook, auto-import your blog feed via the Notes application.
5. Point to your blog by building a Squidoo lens. A lens is an organized directory that makes it easy for people to find your good stuff. It’s free and you should have one… it will bring you credibility and traffic. You could list your top postings, as well as a bio of yourself and your blog feed. I don’t have one on my blog (yet), but you can learn from me about all about ultimate frisbee!

There are lots more ways to promote your blog, but those are 5 you can do easily and costs you only your time.

Feedburner, LinkedIn, Technorati, blog promotion, facebook, google analytics, marketing, plone, squidoo

My family moved into its first home just over a year ago. The previous owners weren’t concerned at all about energy conservation, judging by the excessive use of track lighting. We also discovered a lot of extra “air conditioning” around windows, doors and the attic. Sadly, I didn’t have much time to deal with the air leaks before winter arrived as we were pre-occupied with moving in before our twin boys arrived in November. Needless to say, there was no time after their arrival for anything but survival.

A lot has changed in the past year to cut down on our energy costs. These steps were easy to do, and didn’t cost much:

1. All bulbs inside and outside the house replaced with compact fluorescent lights (CFL). Replacing five standard incandescent light bulbs with CFLs will typically save around $30 every year here in Ontario.
2. Hot and cold water pipes are wrapped with insulation.
3. All doors and windows are sealed with caulking and weather stripping. There were some gaping holes behind window and door frames and underneath one door I could fit a screwdriver through the worn out rubber that was supposed to be sealing the gap. All baseboards on main and top floor have been caulked also.
4. Electrical outlets on the inside and outside of exterior walls have insulation gaskets sealed with caulking to restrict air flow. Basically, any where there is a hole in the wall, air can get through!
5. Installed programmable thermostats for the electric baseboard heaters. I don’t have time to run around to every room and change the settings for when we’re there and when we’re not. Now the heat comes on a little before we get up and goes down around bedtime.

Save $$$ on doing the work

I am taking advantage of rebate programs to save hundreds of dollars making these upgrades. In our area, there are rebates to buy CFLs, water pipe insulation, programmable thermostats and many other energy saving products. The everykilowattcounts.com site has more information on rebates for purchasing these items.

Another program every home owner in Canada should take advantage of is the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant. An approved inspector comes and does an energy evaluation of your home. In return you get a report telling you what you can do to reduce energy use, and what money you’ll get if you do it. There’s some good money to be had, considering the provincial government is matching the federal grants. For instance, I’ll get $300 back for improving air leakage, and another $150 if I exceed the standard by 20%. Nice! There are grants for improving insulation ratings of the attic, basement, even getting a more water efficient toilet, plus several others. I like knowing exactly what I need to do, how to do it, and then getting paid for doing work that will cut my energy costs. Even part of the evaluation cost is covered. Highly recommended.

This post was written as part of a global effort called Blog Action Day to raise awareness and get action on climate change.

Climate change is front and centre in the news again today, with the announcement of the Nobel Peace prize being awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

This Monday, October 16, 13,734 bloggers at latest count including myself reaching an audience of nearly 12 million will unite together to put the issue of climate change on everyone’s mind. It’s all part of Blog Action Day.

If you write a blog, it’s easy to take part, and I encourage you to do so. Climate change affects all of us. The fact that the Nobel Peace committee considers climate change a real threat to world peace underlines that we all need to commit to changing how we live - right now.

I’ll be writing about ways I’m improving the energy efficiency of my home, which helps both the environment and my pocket-book, especially during those cold Canadian winters. I’d like to keep enjoying those cold winters, too, but climate change is already diminishing the snow levels here in Northern Ontario. Our last Christmas was a green Christmas. Snowmobile tourism is dying out.

On Monday, be part of the solution.

I’m not getting much blogging done here lately because I am focused on getting people to vote for change in the upcoming electoral referendum in Ontario, Canada. Elections Ontario is trying so hard to be neutral, in my opinion that it is not doing its job to educate voters, so it’s up to ordinary citizens to make this happen. This is an historic opportunity for Ontarians to finally say farewell to its antiquated First Past the Post voting system and join most of the world’s democracies who dropped it 50 to 100 years ago. It’s also the first referendum since Ontario joined the Confederation in 1792. That’s heavy, important stuff, and why I’m using whatever free time I have to organize a local campaign.

Here are my latest articles:

• The new voting system - more or less representation for the North?
• The most important vote you’ll ever make
• Back to school: a crash course on MMP, the new voting system proposed
• 5 easy things you can do to promote ‘yes’ to election reform on Oct 10.
• This week: Marie and David are on EZ Rock

Technorati Tags: Citizens Assembly, electoral reform, MMP, Ontario, referendum

Data centres consume vast amounts of energy, and the situation is only getting worse. Luiz Andre Barraso of Google stated in a published paper last year that every gain in performance has been accompanied by a proportional increase in overall platform power consumption. ZDNet UK reports that the average energy costs of running a data centre in the UK will double over the next five years. The European Commission is now considering a voluntary code of conduct on energy efficiency for data centre operators to help address this issue.

No wonder consumers are looking for greener hosting choices. A potential client of mine is interested in hosting his site with a provider that uses green energy. This interests me as well, in my pursuit of leaving a smaller footprint on our planet.

The one he found uses 100% renewable energy (wind and solar), plants a new tree for each client, and believes in social responsibility through how they work, including telecommuting and a mostly paperless office. Unfortunately, their offerings aren’t suitable for Plone, and that is the same story with every other hosting provider I found, including ones listed at TreeHugger.com. If there is a “green” option out there for Plone, I haven’t found it.

So, is there an option for environmentally conscious organizations / individuals who want their Plone site consuming less of our natural resources? Let me know by posting your comments.

Technorati Tags: environment

The following editorial is my first entry as a temporary columnist on SooToday, a local online newspaper here in Sault Ste. Marie.

People of Ontario, this might be the most important vote you’ll ever make.

On October 10, we the people of Ontario will be given a historic opportunity to change democracy for the better, for our province and ultimately for our country. On that day, in addition to voting for your elected representatives and for a new government, you will choose the voting system for future elections.

Why should I care?

Why does it matter, you say? What’s the big deal?

I believe our voting system is the root cause of much of what is wrong with democracy and governance here in Canada. Really.

But don’t take my word for it, listen to why the members of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly voted for change, and why they chose MMP.

October 10 is Decision Day

So what will you do?

Will you stick with the current 200 year old model, known as First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)?

Or will you choose the voting system chosen by the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, known as Mixed Member Proportional, or MMP?

Can’t Sit Still

I’m no different than you. I’ve got a busy life, especially with a 3 yr old girl and 9 month old twin boys. Spare time is more rare than spare change. Despite that, I’ve decide to coordinate the local Vote for MMP campaign, because I believe a proportional system will finally make democracy work for the people who mark the X’s, and darned if I’m going to sit back and let this opportunity pass me by!

For the next 5 weeks or so, you can expect to read:

• In-depth analysis of the two voting systems.
• An article from David Viitala, our local representative on the Ontario Citizen’s Assembly.
• What’s going on locally
• Ways you can get involved in the campaign. The government and media aren’t doing enough to spread the word, so it’s up to us to make it happen.
• Opinions from prominent individuals on both sides of the debate.
• Your thoughts! Let’s have a healthy debate on this topic, using the Response option at the bottom of each column. The more insightful comments will be mentioned in future postings.
• Obligatory bad jokes about democracy and voting (I’ll try to be gentle)

–

Vote for MMP web site - www.voteformmp.ca

MMP supporters Facebook group

Technorati Tags: democracy, electoral reform, MMP, referendum

I don’t get out of the house much these days, but for those of you who travel to sprints, conferences (like the upcoming Plone conference in Italy - wish I was going!) or fun exotic locations, Web Worker Samuel Dean has some tips for using Kayak.com and Farecast.com to get the best deal on your travel options.

In a nutshell: use Kayak’s slider tool to quickly adjust departure and arrival times to find additional options and check Farecast’s price trend on your chosen fare to make sure today is a good day to buy.

Click-and-Drag to Save Travel Dollars and Avoid Hassle [Web Worker Daily]

Technorati Tags: money, productivity, shopping, travel

#plone is the online chat room where people hang out to learn, help and talk about their favourite CMS Plone. There are always lots of people online and it’s a great resource for anyone new to Plone who needs some immediate help. And if your brain is slowly turning to cheese on a Friday afternoon, hop into #plone for some low powered entertainment. Here are some samples for you:

andym : lol UndoError: Undo error None: non-undoable transaction

[3:20pm] PloneUser684958: sdfjdlskfljk

[3:20pm] PloneUser684958: slkfjsdlkfjlskfjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjsd

[3:20pm] PloneUser684958: jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

[3:20pm] PloneUser684958 left the chat room. (”Bye bye”)

[3:21pm] gkirk: a keyboard streaker!

[3:21pm] darci|lunch: LOL

[3:21pm] ErikRose: Good, I was almost out of j’s!

[3:21pm] limi: ErikRose: that’s Perl

[3:21pm] ErikRose: Oh.

[3:21pm] limi: or, hang on

[3:21pm] limi: ^T$@(*#)^* is perl

[3:21pm] andym: limi: no its readable

[3:21pm] limi: my bad

MatthewWilkes: andym: Did you remember to uninstall plone.app.randomlyfuckupmysite? It removes the requirement to specify yes_really_i_didnt_call_this_api_for_amusement

[3:41pm] runyaga_: do we need a reality check?

[3:41pm] runyaga_: is it a CMS ?

[3:42pm] runyaga_: is your adapted result a CMS?

[3:42pm] runyaga_: or a nuclear powered semantic web engine?

[3:42pm] runyaga_: Plone is a CMS

[3:42pm] runyaga_: if you try to make it a semantic web engine or a ERP system you are going to hate your life

Do you have a favourite quote / conversation from #plone? Add yours to the comments.

Technorati Tags: community, funny, irc, plone

Now that I have a number of people in my Twitter circle, the social utility is improving. It’s interesting to find out what other people are working on and learning about. Here are some tips and entertaining bits that have been shared in the past couple of weeks via Twitter (what is Twitter and why should I care?):

• Install multiple versions of Internet Explorer easily on Windows
• Encyclopedia of business cliches
• Install tinyurl service on your Mac to preshrink urls
• Jazkarta makes front page of Boston Globe
• Why plastic and food should never meet
• Generating human readable ids in Python

And most important of all, Rob Porter got engaged! How it all happened is an entertaining story in itself.

Want to join the circle? Sign up at twitter and then choose to follow some of the Plone people using Twitter.

Technorati Tags: community, plone, twitter