hal tweets ·9:49 AM
it’s a miracle: i’m actually cleaning my office.
2008,
14:55 GMT
Google Pilot Project to Store Health Records
Posted by: Hal
Here’s an interesting bit of news reported by AP – Google to Store Health Records. Many people already immediately go to Google after they get back from the doctor with a diagnosis of everything from depression to cancer to cataracts. So there’s a kind of weird logic to it. It also theoretically makes sense to have our health records online so that any doctor anywhere could access them, though the image of the doc in the ER surfing your records is a weird one, hmmm…okay…allergic to nuts, ah, and here’s his blog and his online dating profile…interesting stuff he’s into, better check him for STDs while I’m at it…anyway, okay, you get the picture. The big point here is that it’s now time for us to think of some better system of making this potentially life saving info available other than 3rd party for-profit corporations who make a profit off, at least in part, reselling information about us. In Canada, for instance, where medicine is provided by the provinces, some kind of standardized government system could be imagined that 1) provides this service to everyone regardless of their access to the internet and their ability to sign up for a Google account and 2) doesn’t link it to everyday activities like logging in to your gmail. I mean how many people leave their email account open throughout the day? Overall, though, there are so many problems with how to keep this kind of material private and strictly between doctor and patient I’m frankly amazed that Google is even going there.
2008,
17:58 GMT
Bad Boys, Bad Boys
Posted by: Hal
Interesting piece in the Washington Post – For 20 Years, a Pleasure So Guilty It’s Criminal – about the 20th anniversary of pioneer Reality TV show Cops. I remember watching that when I was younger thinking that it was as low as tv could get. How wrong I was. The article spends a bit too much time acting as publicity for the upcoming best of Cops anniversary DVD and too little time ruminating on the impact Cops has had on television in particular and society in general. Still worth checking out. Particularly notable is the fact that more than 90% of the people arrested on camera agree to sign the release that gives the makers of the show permission to use their footage. Wow.
2008,
17:45 GMT
The Game of Peep
Posted by: Hal
Spent quite a bit of time today in meeting with the peep movie producers and interactive producer. We talked about the idea of making the peep culture website function entirely as a game. Users would get points based on how much they peep themselves and me. I think it’s a great idea and could end up being pretty addictive. You’d get points, for instance, if you contributed to a section in which you’re invited to peep yourself in 100 words or less. Not only would contributing earn you points but you would then have access to everyone else’s posts and be able to vote on their peep-ness. And of course the more votes your post gets the more points you get. Anyway, I’m pretty excited about this as a concept. It’ll be a way to get people thinking in different ways about the whole phenomenon of peep and it’ll also just be a really cool, interesting site.
2008,
18:09 GMT
Veggies on film
Posted by: Hal
okay, i’m spending the day doing data entry. i’ve got hundreds of articles that relate in some way to peep culture. they all need to get sorted and entered so i can get on with the thinking and writing. in a way, this is a way of thinking and writing. anyway, here’s my favourite article so far. It’s about a fruit and vegetable processing plant that keeps its produce under surveillance. It suggests just how extensive monitoring is — they even provide their customers with video updates! Overkill or saving lives and time?
2008,
14:58 GMT
Family Day
Posted by: Hal
So yesterday was the first annual Family Day, a new rather lame “holiday” invented by the Ontario government. Daycares were closed so I was home with E. I guess that’s the point of family day but of course when you are freelance you don’t have anybody giving you paid days off. W went into the office for half the day. As I was busy keeping E entertained I started to think of how weird it is to have a holiday that utterly lacks any kind of tradition. So anyone got any ideas? I’m thinking deep fried raisins, a televised parade of crying toddlers, and a marathon of family friend video games that goes deep into the night and leaves all parental and kid units bleary-eyed and vaguely hostile for the rest of the week.
One more thing on family day: what about people with no family? won’t they feel bad sitting at home alone? Family Day, coming just a few days after Valentine’s Day, is a double whammy for those without any source of love in their lives. Will Ontario see a rise in suicides and help-line calls in the 3rd week of February? Help me, I’m at home eating my deep fried raisins and watching the toddlers on floats bawling their eyes out but I’ve got nobody to play Wii with and the only Valentine the mailman brought me was from McDonalds and I’m thinking of ending it all, damn you Dalton McGuinty! (premiere of Ontario, responsible for holiday…)
In order to celebrate family day after E went to bed we watched the first two episodes of the second season of Gene Simmons: Family Jewels. I was impressed with his star turn on celebrity Apprentice and wanted to see more of this aging pseudo-Lothario in action. Very disappointing. The whole thing just came off as Ozzy-lite. Everybody wanted to be wacky and histrionic but nobody seemed to have the chops to do it. Gene’s family lacks dysfunction in a big way. According to Gene’s website season 3 debuts in March. Maybe it gets better? Never mind. W is obsessed with that new HBO show In Treatment anyway. More on that later.
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
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