Petra's Call is an innovative flash-based webcomic from Ninja Robot Dinosaur that you should definitely check out. There are 15 episodes currently, all available through the embedded flash app above.
I met the creator Shane Neville years ago in Vancouver. He since moved out to the Maritimes, but looks like he's back in Lotusland in 2010. Exciting!
Lantern Park - Beacon at Main and Terminal is an entry in the VPSN "Where's the Square?" design competition, created by myself and 2 friends. It's a re-design of the large park between Main St Skytrain station and Pacific Central station in Vancouver.
Critical Mass is a fun bike ride that lets everyone cycle parts of the city that are normally overrun with cars. Costumes are encouraged in our monthly bike parade!
Vancouver details: Meet at the North end of the Art Gallery. On the last Friday of every month. Announcements at 6 PM, we ride at 6:15.
Critical Mass uses ad hoc organization through the ride. Every cyclists looks out for each other. It's important for safety that all the bicyclists stay together in one large group. Safety in numbers.
Stop and "cork" open intersections to cars. This is a very rewarding experience and a good opportunity to see the beautiful parade go by. After corking you'll be at the back of the ride, and can play the peloton game of racing to the front.
People at the front need to choose the route in real-time and shouldn't get too far ahead. The group will stop after the top of bridges or big hills and let everyone catch up. If the mass is big it should stay on larger streets so we have more lanes and can ride together.
Interesting Vancouver 2008 was a delightful little conference covering a wide variety of topics. Here's a recap of some of the points that I liked the most.
James Sherrett: We put 2 things into our bodies to make us who we are: stories and food. Be aware of what you're making part of yourself.
Darren Barefoot: Living outside your comfort zone helps show you who you really are, and grows you as a person.
David Young: All the "great places" throughout history have been created by a core group of individuals in that place. Vancouver has more then enough potential to be a true great place.
Huge credit to Brett Macfarlane for organizing the event. I'm looking forward to more Interesting in the future.
Karen Fung is doing an amazing job captaining the SkyTrain Unconference Blog. There's an open in-person meeting on Saturday with Translink. I don't think I'll make it, so here are some thoughts on their targeted issue of Safety.
SkyTrain stops are are hubs that lots of people pass through. Usually when there are many people around safety is not a concern. Problems can arise when a hub has relative down-time (empty except for a few people) or in quiet areas close-by.
The worst case is when you get off a skytrain or bus in a totally deserted area, or with only a few sketchy people and nobody else.
One powerful path to improvement is to build more community and commercial services around our transit hubs. A coffee shop, restaurant or bar right beside a transit hub is a world above a deserted hub in terms of safety.
Vancouver doesn't do this very well. Many large transit hubs are completely devoid of any services. These hugely traveled areas could support a variety of businesses, or serve as excellent locations for community activities if allowed.
Location, location, location! Translink needs to build more sticky activity in its centers. Safety through active community is the real way to improve the situation in and around transit hubs.
Locking the system down with turnstiles or more cops is an easy sound-bite solution, but doesn't address the root of the problem.
Zipcar and the Co-operative Auto Network both have cars parked right outside my building. Members can use the cars when they need one. This would be great except for the fact that neither of them will let me join.
Zipcar and the Co-op both require customers to have 3 year driving records. I only recently got my BC driver's license, and I still have my N, labeled as a novice driver.
As a new driver, I think I'm the prime demographic for a car sharing service. Lock me into your program when I'm young and getting started driving and there's a good chance they'd have me as a customer for a long, long time.
It's been good to see the 2 services competing against each other by adding more locations around Vancouver. I'm hopeful that one will see the opportunity here and create a way for new drivers to join.
Vidfest is the Vancouver International Digital Festival, happening May 21-24, 2008. It's got a keynote from Chris Anderson of Wired, a day of "creative exchange" conference sessions, a day of "International Partnering Forum" one-on-one meetings, and the PopVox Digital Media Awards.
Lux Delux is in the running for the best casual game award. Please show your support and vote for the entry (you have to register an account for the Vote button to show up).
Launch Party 4 is also happening on the 21st, celebrating the local startup scene. And the Vancouver Game Summit runs concurrently on May 21-22, mostly focused on console business.
Techcouver is being used more as a nickname for Vancouver. Cool beans.
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