Category Archives: Etiquette

Coffee, anyone?

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Cthulhu coffee is tentacularly tasty!

Cthulhu coffee is tentacularly tasty!

After the night I’ve had, make mine a decaf.

https://twitter.com/#!/raincoaster/status/171892566931943424

https://twitter.com/#!/AssangeC/status/171921297952092160

https://twitter.com/#!/NOH8ER/status/171901788717449216

https://twitter.com/#!/raincoaster/status/171901969533911040

https://twitter.com/#!/wheeliesmom/status/171941972938997760

On the upside:

https://twitter.com/#!/Lego_KurtCobain/status/171944825854238720

So yeah, validated.

But I’m telling you, for the next little while I don’t need any god damn more surprises. CHEERS!

have a cup of Cthulhu!

have a cup of Cthulhu!

Occupy Vancouver Thursday October 20 General Assembly

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Julian Assange?

Who is that masked man at Occupy Vancouver?

Yes, they screened V for Vendetta at Occupy Vancouver tonight, threatening to rupture the delicate space/irony continuum.

V for Awesome, that's what.

V for Awesome, that's what.

Particularly in this shot:

Watching the Watchers

Watching the Watchers

in which the audience watches the video of the audience watching the video of the announcer showing the video of V. But who watches the watchers of the watchers? The cops, that’s who.

http://twitter.com/#!/lizzygregson/statuses/127267908010258432
http://twitter.com/#!/benjwest/statuses/127267505973637120

Twitter was abuzz with the news that the Chief is claiming the costs of policing (no arrests yet, not one) are threatening to put the VPD in the red. Conveniently NOT mentioned was this:

http://twitter.com/#!/grand_master_v/statuses/127185013698605057

and this:

http://twitter.com/#!/cloud_commuting/status/127187587218677760

and this:

http://twitter.com/#!/1LuckyBiker/status/127200153340874753

but don’t write off Twitter entirely, even if the troll/disinfo quotient is suffocating lately. It also contains things like this hilarious little item:

Occupy Tweet TheKRF

Occupy Tweet TheKRF

99% stupid

99% stupid

And this, which made me literally laugh out loud.

http://twitter.com/#!/filhix/statuses/127409157568610304

And now, your nightly Slideshow. Only sixteen pix here, rather than the say 130 from last time.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Second night of rain, and the crowd is bigger than it was earlier in the week, though of course not as big as the weekend. Even more tents: I think I saw a VPD estimate of 150, although I think that’s really high. There are certainly twice as many as Sunday, so a hundred or so scattered around the grounds, even creeping towards Robson along the East side of the Art Gallery. My friend and I were hoping to find the tent mobilizing mouse had donated, but it looked to be occupied, so she went home and I went to Blends to get some work done, and now it’s 6:22 am and I’m still working on posts, but at least I got my actual real paid done! That’s important for smacking down all the “get a job you filthy hippie!!1!!” trolls, and there are, did I mention, a LOT of them about.

I tried liveblogging the General Assembly (PDF link to the Occupy Guide from NYC!), to show you how your direct democracy sausage gets made, but it was ever so slightly disastrous. For one thing, not to be sexist, but there are a lot of women who seem to want to speak but contrive to avoid being heard. When not even the willing Human Mic participants can hear what you’re saying, either speak up or give up.

Here’s an unedited transcript. And yeah, it’s pretty ugly. Oh, at some point someone from one of the committees said that if anyone were taking notes, they’d like it if they were run by the committee. Well, I guess they must be very disappointed in me, that’s all I can say.

Oh, and I can’t spell Tsleil-Waututh when I’m trying to type quickly.

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Operation Global Media Domination: The Google+ Situation

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well in fact I AM a big deal on Google+

well in fact I AM a big deal on Google+

You know how we hate to toot our own horn around these parts, but this must be said: apparently I’m kind of a big deal on Google+

which is really rather amusing, considering I’ve been banned twice in two days and am still banned. Nonetheless, here’s what my stats look like today:

ReferrerView

sGoogle168

google.co.uk50

google.ca17

google.com.au8

StumbleUpon8

google.com.br8

gawker.com8

google.ro7

google.nl6

google.no4

Meaning that even though I can’t do my usual self-promotional link-dropping, and all my existing droppings have been mopped up from the Goog, other people are spreading my droppings all over the horizon. It’s kinda like Farmville, only I WIN!

And as to why I’ve been banned twice, that’s easy. I’m raincoaster, right? Over five million blog readers have encountered me as raincoaster, so when I started up in G+ I started as “rain coaster.” Now, I wasn’t stupid; the rules clearly say you MUST identify yourself by your real name, so I opened the account not from raincoaster at gmail dot com but from real.name at gmail dot com, and in the space provided for “other names” I put Real Name. I mean, why would you HAVE that space if you weren’t allowed to have more than one name, right? Or as this very wise person put it:

I actually got clipped by Google a week ago due to using the name CZ Unit. Which was interesting, since they asked me to use the name I am commonly known by.

I had to explain over the course of a week that my friends know me as CZ, family knows me as CZ, people in real life know me as CZ. I even asked my friends “What name pops into your mind when you think about me”? “What name do you call me when you see me across a room”

In both cases (and others) the results were unanimous: CZ. Even the person who turned me in used to call me CZ back in 1987 (yes, I have the NextMail with voice attachment

I had to point them to my LJ (cz-unit), something I have been keeping since 2002. 3,000 posts; probably not a sock puppet.

I had to have my friends send emails of support and they were even having notarized letters signed on my behalf saying that they knew me as CZ and only as CZ.

And I had to scan in a copy of my lunch bag as evidence that yes: My wife even writes “CZ’s Lunch” on my bag. What more positive, tangible ID would one need?

All of this brings up two points: First is who defines a person? Is it your parents? Your Job? The Government? Google? Your friends? You?

Second is just how wise is it to outsource your friend support network? I was on G+ for a week when I got clipped, and I still have my LJ as a backup. How about people who don’t have that? What are they going to do when their network vanishes due to upsetting the provider?

Very interesting stuff. I wrote about it on my LJ, it has been an interesting experience. But it does help me to answer the age old question:

“Who Am I?”

That’s a very, very wise post. My own experience was a little less profound, since I’m used to dealing with this question All the Damn Time.

The first time I was banned, there was no notification at all, and if someone hadn’t posted the direct link to the appeal process in the help forum, I wouldn’t have been able to ask for my account back. Google deleted that helpful forum post, by the way. Why, if they don’t want to be evil? It asked for links to places I was mentioned as “raincoaster,” and they had to be along the lines of registered accounts at Google-owned sites like YouTube or media mentions, that kinda thing. I gave them this list (stalkers, here’s your dream material!):

http://facebook.com/raincoaster
http://www.linkedin.com/in/raincoaster
https://twitter.com/#!/raincoaster
http://www.flickr.com/people/raincoaster/
http://www.facebook.com/raincoastermedia
http://empireavenue.com/RAINCOASTER
http://www.wordcampvictoria.ca/2010/04/featured-speaker-raincoaster/
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/profile/raincoaster
http://www.peerindex.net/raincoaster
http://ahamedia.ca/category/raincoaster-media/
http://gawker.com/people/raincoaster5/
http://1st.shortyawards.com/category/raincoaster
http://trueslant.com/people/raincoaster/
http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol4_3/v4-3-article70-raincoaster.html
http://www.surveymagnet.com/2011/01/lolebrity-interview/

raincoaster is a god

http://www.mainwriter.com/2010/02/09/questions-over-lunch-with-lorraine-murphy-raincoaster/
http://lanyrd.com/2011/northern-voice/speakers/

Vancouver Blogger Profile: Lorraine Murphy

http://emmerogers.com/tag/raincoaster/
http://carocat.co.uk/2009/08/14/twitlight-who-are-you-raincoaster/

 

Is that enough, Google??? IS IT??? For god’s sake, the LinkedIn and Facebook vanity links are “raincoaster.”

Google emailed me after I filled in the form to tell me that changing my name from “rain coaster” to what I had on my LinkedIn Profile would be acceptable. My LinkedIn profile says “Real (raincoaster) Name,” so that’s what I did (subbing in quotation marks for parenthesis). Last night, they suspended my account AGAIN.

I guess something like 20 links is still not enough?

When are they gonna suspend Xeni Jardin, who also isn’t using her birth name?

And, as women are disproportionate users of pseudonyms (for “what are you wearing, baby” issues), this has become a gender issue. Yeah, I know it’s old skool and boring to call out sexism, but even if that was not the intention, that has been the result.

Don’t be evil. Bitches.

When Worlds Collide!!!

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Emma Watson and Cameron Adams/Hermione Granger and Himmione Grainghim

Emma Watson and Cameron Adams/Hermione Granger and Himmione Grainghim

via Gawker

This right here? This is the streams crossing. This is the polarity reversing back on itself and swallowing its own tail. This, my friends and stalkers, is the moment for which the celebrity-internet culture was made. Even if it did mortify one of them into deleting his Twitter account (after tweeting a no-doubt-heartfelt “Awkward!“).

This is a picture of fresh-faced ingenue Emma Watson and her perky gay pornalike, Cameron Adams, who played Himmione Grainghim in the extremely NSFchirruns Whorry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls.

SFW no, but amusing, yes. Yes, yes, YES!

From commenter JamesFromCambridge comes this positively magical trailer.

And I’m spent! If you’re not, toddle over to that comments section on Gawker for the biggest damn roundup of filthy Potter puns this side of Repressed Housewife Fanficdom!

Or you could just click past the jump and read some more gossip, if you’ve got the endurance! Once more into the breeches!

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Welcome to Yellowknife!

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Yellowknife outdoor art actually better than most in Vangroover

Yellowknife outdoor art actually better than most in Vangroover

I’m learning so much about my soon-to-be-adopted home. Here are some wonderfully informative (original typo: “deformative”) videos about being a newcomer to the land of permafrost and muskeg.

“Hi. I’m new here.”

“I’ve decided to stay. Now what?”

NOTED!

Interestingly, the guy in these videos looks not unlike my new boss. Coincidence? Well, if I can hack it in Wiarton, I figure I can hack it in Yellowknife.

Oh, when I was up there I heard a lot of sirens. Being from the DTES I thought nothing of it, but was later informed there are only seven siren-bearing vehicles in the town. They must all have been busy that day.

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