My Starships Start Here Contributions

January 19, 2012January 26, 2012Digital Citizen Leave a comment

In 2011, Nova Scotia had a campaign called Ships Start Here to rally the province around trying to get a $25 billion navy shipbuilding contract… which we did!

During this time, Andrew Burke came up with a cool parody campaign called Starships Start Here, where starships, space ships, science-fiction characters and the like, would be featured in Nova Scotian scenery. I found out a bit late, to be honest, but when I did, I made a bunch of contributions to it. The pics below are my contributions which have been released so far. Click on the thumbnail to see the larger version. Continue reading →

Some Thoughts and Statistics on the New Seaport Farmers’ Market in Halifax

November 13, 2010April 6, 2011Digital Citizen Leave a comment

The new Seaport Farmers’ Market in Halifax is almost in full swing now. It is now open 3 days a week, Fri-Sun, and much longer each day than the half day before at the old market that was open just once per week Sat morning. The future intent is for the new market to be open 6 days a week, though the farmers will only be there for 3. The other 3 days will only have craft sellers. It’s a nice big space and I love it, although I hear the busking musicians are disgruntled due to the open space leaving all of them to be heard so they have to compete to get above each other (The Coast, Sep 9 2010). Hey, I like the music and appreciate its contribution to the ambiance of a farmers’ market, but it’s a new farmers’ market building, not a concert hall.

I love the additional selection and larger stands, though I have to curb myself on the cooked food. It smells and tastes great, but just see how much raw food you can get for the same amount of money on a cooked plate, and you’ll not only see the value of labour to your food costs, but also where many of those cents to your food dollar that’s not going to the farmers end up going. Going there with someone who might expect you to buy something, which includes yourself, is also going to be costly with all the potential little craft trinkets you can buy for significant others, kids, etc. It’s great to see all the stuff, but is hard to resist. So far, I have bought nothing other than raw food from the farmers.

I’ll leave with some statistics about the farmers’ market scene in Nova Scotia and the Seaport Farmers’ Market, from various sources like The Coast paper and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

40 Nova Scotia Farmers’ Markets Sep 2010, few opened all week
New farmers’ market is in an R-2000 building (NRCan designation) that uses 85% less energy and 50% less water than old market
R2000-standard PDF
New farmers’ market is twice the size of old market (which is still open) at 4,000 sq feet
10,000+ visitors per Saturday (August figures, but is still as crowded as far as I can tell)
Total vendors increased by at least 50% between new and old markets opening, though not all are food vendors
NS Community Supported Agriculture farms (CSAs) and farmers’ market bring in about $90M a year (and growing) to farmers (includes prepared foods, possibly crafts, so can’t just take it against farm gate)

Random Acts of Kindness Challenge: A Facebook 2.0 Picture Tagging Meme

March 25, 2009March 19, 2011Digital Citizen 1 Comment

Here’s a Facebook picture tagging meme that will allow you to make a difference in the world while having fun! It’s for the real people who live life in the real world, not Facebook addicts stuck in the virtual world.

The potential of social media like Facebook and the Web 2.0 is its ability to organize people. However, there’s a lot of doubt about it because of how people use it a lot for games like traditional themed Facebook tagging memes. Nobody gets up to do anything to make difference in the world with them, and might even annoy some people.

I had tried to evolve these Facebook picture tagging memes previously with versions like Should Try and Dare to Wear, where you have to do something to fulfill them rather than just tag someone to a picture. However, this Random Acts of Kindness challenge is even better because there is a true benefit with each action taken by someone. They are also practical, costing either just a little bit of money or time. Best of all, they’ll make you feel good about yourself, and someone else feel good about life and the world!

So are you up for the challenge to tag it on and recruit your friends to make the world a better place?

Here’s how to get this graphic for your Facebook contribution to a better world:

Click on the picture below to get it at full size.
Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
Upload it to your Facebook profile.
Tag your friends!
Click the Back button on your browser to return to this post.

Please click here for a complete list of over 100 Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.

: Please click to enlarge before downloading for use

You may wish to hand out or leave a card with your random act of kindness (click to enlage, save and print out), although it is not customary to do so.

Cover another rider’s fare. The next time you’re on the bus, find someone who doesn’t have a pass and offer to pay so they can save their ticket or change.
Run an errand for someone. You’ll probably need to know the person/s because there is some trust required here, but your time is more valuable than your money.
Leave quarters at a pay phone. You can leave it on top of the phone or tape it to a RAK card.
Make goodie basket for seniors home. Unless you know someone at the home, it’s probably best to just buy some things because for safety’s sake, they will be cautious to take gifts out of the blue from strangers. Such is the world in which we live.
Make or buy lunch for a homeless person. If you don’t want to create expectations, you might want to do this where you don’t walk frequently.
Plug a parking meter. If you can afford more than a few dollars, you can plug the whole block! It’s even funner if you pick a busy block and make a scene. 🙂
Refuse to pay for a task. We all do things that people give us money for from time to time. Refuse it the next time. Or volunteer one of your professional skills.
Leave an extra large tip. Remember, 15% is the standard tipping rate. Make it at least 25%, eh?
Show up to volunteer at a building project. This may not be easy to find, especially if you live in cold weather during winter, but often, there are a lot of simple labour jobs anyone showing up can do. Just ask and they’ll probably let you. They may keep you safe away from the action, but if it’s menial, do you think those paid to do it enjoy it any more than you would?
Buy someone lottery tickets. This is risky cause if they win, you could feel bad. But RAKs aren’t about that. Besides, how often do you get to look someone in the eye and say “Do you feel lucky today?”
Pick up litter on your block. You can do this all year round, not just when tagged on Facebook, and it has real value to everyone who goes through. Better yet, organize a small group to do this regularly.
Make baked goods for a shelter. Shelters don’t often get home made stuff, just things out of cans and so on. Baked goods would be a nice surprise treat for people if you deliver it directly, bringing ID if they don’t know you. I’ve heard baked goods are not liked by shelters because they don’t know their origins, freshness state and so on, and that’s true if they get it in a box. But if you come with a smile on your face, and ID if they want to check, I’m sure they’ll love you for it.

You can search “random acts of kindness” for other ideas, but what I found was that a lot of them were either impractical (visit a nursing home where they won’t likely let strangers in), may not satisfy someone (giving candies to kids whose Parents are trying to teach them discipline or prevent cavities), or are just expected out of good citizens (donate seat on bus to elderly).