Post #24 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
We’ve had many visitors stop by today including Tyler Ingram. Tyler’s a blogger and photographer that we’ve come to know through the social media scene in Vancouver. Here’s a quick sampling of some of his top-notch work.
Post #24 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
Post #23 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
The following is a guest post, contributed by Keira-Anne of Keira-Anne.com.
There are few Canadian artists as iconic as Emily Carr. Known around the world for her eerily beautiful expressionist paintings that depict the Canadian West Coast, Emily Carr has become a pressing influence on today’s artists and how we view Canadian art today.
What few people may know about Ms. Carr is that she was actually born on Vancouver Island in 1871, the daughter of English parents and the youngest in her family with eight older siblings. You can still visit the home in which Emily Carr was born, located at 207 Government Street in Victoria (behind the Parliament building). Shunning tradition, Ms. Carr’s passion was her art and her writing, and it was those two mediums that she designed her whole life around.
Though partially self-taught and partially encouraged by her father, Emily Carr also devoted a great deal of time to her artistic education. Initially she attended art school in San Francisco, California, but a desire to further her creativity led her to study in Paris and London as well.
With the mention of Ms. Carr’s name, most people will associate her with her vast collection of paintings representing British Columbia landscapes as well as First Nations villages and the abundant forests that call BC home. An animal lover, Emily Carr was no stranger to Vancouver Island’s west coast, making frequent trips to Ucluelet – many of her earliest sketches and paintings are of this area. Though her homebase was always Victoria, Ms. Carr also spent a great deal of time in the Queen Charlotte Islands and on Moresby Island. Her last trip up north was in the summer of 1928.
Photo: Wholesale Oil Painting
Following a stroke in 1939, Emily Carr’s ability to paint was deeply affected, and it was then that her writing became her prominent creative outlet. Ms. Carr’s first book was published in 1941. Her writing was widely well received and she was to receive an honourary doctorate from the University of British Columbia. Sadly Emily Carr passed away in the spring of 1945 shortly prior to this award.
In her death, Emily Carr and her incredible work are celebrated and admired. In a time when convention was everything, Ms. Carr carved her own path in life and held on to her independence. She is seen by some as one of the very first pioneers of the women’s liberation movement. As such, Emily Carr has had several Canadian schools and libraries named in her honour, as well as Vancouver’s famous Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design on Granville Island. Today, her work is undoubtedly held in high esteem with most pieces selling for six figures. More recently, an unnamed buyer purchased one of her paintings for a record-shattering $2.16 million! To view more of Emily Carr’s stunning paintings online, please visit Emily Carr At Home and At Work. If you’d like to see Emily Carr’s work with your own eyes, consider a trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery which regularly houses a large number from her collection.
About Keira: Keira-Anne has been blogging about Vancouver Island on Keira-Anne.com since 2005.
Post #23 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
Post #22 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
The following is a guest post, contributed by Brian Wong of Followformation.
The boomerang effect of Twitter is the phenomena of new users signing up for Twitter, getting completely lost in the service, leaving it, only to come back a few short months later. But what’s causing these new Twitter users (we call them “chirpers”) to leave? Here are the top problems and solutions that we hope will help break the boomerang trend.
1) I don’t know who to follow.
A clever solution to this problem comes in the form of a couple “network” discovery tools. The first is Followformation. Followformation allows you to quickly follow the top people on Twitter by interest or category. You choose people from different categories, like news, sports and gossip, and you automatically follow everyone in just a few clicks.
Another more advanced tool is called Mr. Tweet. If you’re a more savvy tweeter, Mr. Tweet takes some time to analyze your following lists, what you tweet about, and makes recommendations personalized to you based on who you should follow. It’s a great way to build your network’s relevancy through discovery.
2) My friends aren’t on Twitter
They will be, and may be already. In Twitter, check through your email addresses to see who in your network is already tweeting.
3) Twitter is just too much of everything, and I can’t make sense of it all
That’s called ‘clutter’. Break through this by finding the most important or relevant topics being talked about in real-time, try Tweetmeme, which tracks the popularity of stories by retweeting (or reposting a link), or Twitscoop, which literally allows you to see “the buzz†in real-time.
4) I like Facebook better
A lot of people use them for different reasons, but there’s a Facebook app that allows you to post your tweets to your Facebook status, or vice versa. Also, integration tools like Tweetdeck.com and Ping.fm allow you to manage both accounts without losing your sanity.
5) I’m following too many people and I don’t want to miss all their tweets
If you’re a busy person, just pay attention to the important people! Tweetdeck.com allows you to create groups to track certain individuals (as well as the upcoming Hootsuite 2.0), but if you want a more simple solution, try Twitter for Busy People. This tool is literally named for you; it shows a one page summary of who’s been tweeting in past predetermined time periods, and allows you to skim through to find out what they’ve been up to.
6) People don’t follow me back
Friendorfollow allows you to figure out whether or not someone has “betrayed†you, by not following you back. You can’t force someone to follow you back, but you sure can stop following someone who is refusing to follow you back. Friendorfollow is a great way to prowl through your network to find these people.
7) Celebrities and important people don’t talk to me
Usually it’s because they’re busy, so don’t take it personally. Although celebs say that Twitter has allowed them to connect with their fans directly, so if you’re fixed on talking to Shaq or Ashton Kutcher, give them a reason to reply. Send something they’d be interested in. Stick out from the masses and a response may surprise you.
About Brian: Brian is the Co-Founder of Aer Marketing Inc., a fringe marketing agency.
Post #22 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
Post #21 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
The BC SPCA was kind enough to stop by Workspace today to give us all a bit of encouragement by way of snacks and promotional gifts. Ashley brought along two friends, one of which was a nine month old shelter dog named Bob.
The SPCA is currently ramping up for their Paws for a Cause fundraiser which will take place Sunday September 13, 2009.
Post #20 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
The following is a guest post, contributed by Chris of Left Coast by Design.
One of my favourite routes to take when traveling east and west through Richmond is along the south arm of the Fraser. You can drive from Steveston through to Woodwards Landing with little traffic along the serene and picturesque maritime highway. It’s quite beautiful and it’s also quite historic. Whether it be a visit to the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, the Britannia Heritage Shipyard or London Farm, you can catch a glimpse of the beginnings of the Richmond we now know.
But I’ll bet you’ve never taken a moments notice of historic Finn Slough.
Photo credit:
kimli on Flickr
In the 1890s, a number of families of Finnish descent came to Richmond in search of land to settle. They originally settled on land with the intention of building homes and farms, but quickly became drawn with to lure of the mighty Fraser River fishing industry and began to “develop” the land closer to the river itself. After another Richmond pioneer, Thomas Kidd, blocked off both ends of the Woodward Slough to help regulate the flood plain of his farmland nearby, the Finnish families needed to relocate to allow their desire to fish to continue. They negotiated the purchase of some nearby land and built a settlement next to the Tiffin Slough – what we know today as Finn Slough.
As the community grew (with many more families arriving from Finland after news of the settlement spread), the necessity to work around the tidal floodplain resulted in a number of floating homes to be built. New arrivals would sleep in whatever accommodation that was available, whether it be converted net sheds, or derelict fishing boats. However, the community peaked in size by the Second World War and once the 1950s and industrialization arrived, the population of Finn Slough began to shrink. Today, there are approximately 30 residents left in this eclectic shantytown.
With the efforts of many of the remaining residents, a partial rejuvenation of Finn Slough can been seen. The old Dinner Plate Island School has been refurbished and the boardwalk around the community is kept in good repair. Although you can drive by this quaint community, the limited parking and narrow roads do not provide an opportunity to readily pull over. Instead, I would highly recommend parking at the southern end of No. 3 Rd. and either walking or riding a bike along the dyke until you reach Finn Slough. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch one of the few fishing boats that still operate out of the Slough steaming out to test their luck, or back with a recent catch. Or you might see any number of artists capturing the natural beauty of the area through paint or photo.
So the next time you find your way to South Richmond and are enjoying a leisurely trip along the river, remember that quaint community and stop by to say hello!
About Chris: Chris blogs over at Left Coast by Design and you can follow his updates on Twitter @lyteforce.
Post #20 of #49 – Over the next 24 hours I will be raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission during Blogathon 2009 by writing a blog post every 30 minutes. Please consider donating to my cause to keep my going until 6am PT July 26th.
