I am very happy to announce the formal launch of Montreal Ouvert.net, a citizen’s action group to encourage the city of Montreal to embrace Open-Data. Open-Data is the practice of releasing information in a form that can be easily downloaded, used, merged and distributed. This means: centralized information, not in PDFs, and without copyright. This [...]
Municipal politics are messy. A number of scandals have rocked Montréal in the past year, overpriced water meters, lazy construction workers and sketchy land permits. All this amounts to corruption. So, in their bureaucratic wisdom, the Quebec government commissioned a study on how to fix the problem. Their solution: a code of ethics. Bravo. The [...]
The new bike path down deMaisoneuve is open for business (with the exception of the stupid taxi stand near Concordia). It is amazing, biking downtown is so much better with this. We just need people to look both ways before crossing the path by foot or car (I almost killed an old Chinese couple last [...]
Just saw the Bruce Nauman exhibit in Montreal. Very cool stuff. I repeatedly fail to understand modern art. It seems to be the sane observing the insane artist with little hope of truly understanding their madness that created the ‘art’. Can a doctor understand, or worse – cure – insanity? What do I understand of [...]
I am not easily impressed. In fact, I would say that it takes something truly remarkable to impress me. The new airline, Porter, that currently services Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa has brought back what flying used to be: civilized, courteous, beautiful flight attendants, great food (snacks really), beverages in glasses – not plastic. Essentially, it [...]