The Unknown Studio

Dave, an acquaintance of mine from the university, has been threatened by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach for registering “edstelmach.ca” and using it as a redirect to his blog. Before this threat letter, he had had no contact with the premier’s office. Snippet:

This letter was sent to me regarding my ownership of the domain name edstelmach.ca, which I purchased for approximately $14.00 on April 4, 2007 (four months after Mr. Stelmach became Premier of Alberta). The letter accuses me of interfering with and misappropriating Ed Stelmach’s personality (I’m really not sure where Ed Stelmach’s personality is, but I certainly didn’t take it).

It’s being covered quite heavily by local media, and there are lots of comments at Dave’s blog. Some expound on the legal virtues of Dave’s case—i.e., that there are none and ICANN rulings on the issue mean Stelmach might win this fight—but I think there’s something even more interesting here that Dave touches on: the ridiculous route the premier’s office decided to take with this.

Rather than try and get in touch with Dave to see if they could get him to somehow hand the domain over to Stelmach, they’ve gone ahead with all their muscle and are threatening to sue him. For someone who isn’t doing so hot in the polls, this is an absurdly shortsighted direction to take. Whatever your politics, you can certainly appreciate that the optics of suing a starving student over a $14 domain name aren’t terribly positive.

Good luck to you, Dave. And shame on you, Stelmach.

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I’ve always been enamoured of this symbol. When hiking was a weekend ritual for me a few years back, I would create one along the way, or at the terminal end of a hike to signify my having been there. Fitting, then, that the word inukshuk translates to “substitute for a person.”

Inuksuit differ from some cairns in significance. The Arctic Circle, dominated by permafrost, has few natural landmarks and thus the inuksuk was central to navigation across the barren tundra.

Inuksuit vary in shape and size, and perform a diverse array of tasks. It is a symbol with deep roots in the Inuit culture, a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship.

(from Wikipedia)

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I came across The Office Newb blog today, and have thoroughly enjoyed the posts I’ve read. An excerpt:

After all, who would you rather trust to get your important project done? The person with the great hair and coordinating accessories (shoes, necklace and purse) who was thoughtful enough to detail to make it all match or the person who shows up to work in sweatpants and their college sweatshirt who couldn’t get it together long enough to put on a decent pair of pants before leaving the house?

- From “To Dress or Not to Dress“

I have to admit to sharing some (most?) of her views on dress code. Incidentally, she’s now on the blogroll.

About six months ago, I worked for another subsidiary of the parent company I currently work for. Call it GasCo. I’m now at ElectricCo.

While at GasCo, I would frequently whinge about the dress code: the expectation was that you would always wear a tie (for the men, anyhow), and there was no such thing as casual Friday. When I started at ElectricCo, I lauded their relaxed dress code… until I saw some people wearing crew-cut sweatshirts with stains on them and dirty jeans. It occurred to me that this simply wasn’t right.

I had a conversation with my boss about this. She reminded me that people are judged by how they dress, and she suggested people should dress “how they want to be paid.” You want to be paid a six-figure income? Dress the part, buddy-boy (or buddy-lady).

I actually enjoy wearing nice business attire to work, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me. But for the first week, everyone kept asking me if I had a job interview, which speaks volumes of the corporate culture at ElectricCo. Still, one day when I’m running my own company full-time, I’ll dress relaxed: jeans and a sport coat, Hank Scorpio-style!

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[Ed - looks like the ad is no longer up, which leads me to believe that the item sold, or this was a hoax. Does anyone have any information on this one?]

So, this guy’s pissed at his roommate for ditching out on his share of the rent, and then dropping $300 on a copy of Rock Band. Some people’s children…

First of all, yes I know this falls in the really mean category and yes I know they’re supposed to really be hard to come by, but you’d be this pissed too. I can understand paying for plane ticket to see fam during Christmas, but dropping $300 on a video game while skipping out on his share of the rent during a really expensive time?!?!?! WTF?

Well payback’s a byatch. I will consider this as the December rent. Highest bidder gets a PS3 Rock Band Special Edition. Comes with drums, a guitar, and a mic apparently. I need this done by next week, for obvious reasons.

Yes it’s been opened and he played for two hours before having to leave for the airport. But Mr. Anal actually packed it away because he didn’t want anyone else playing it while he was gone. *Are you kidding me? At least it saves me the trouble.

Oh and if you’re reading this, consider this your last payment. To everyone else, have a happy holidays.

(Thanks Andy!)

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