Distractions, reflections

Toronto, Ontario

Perfect Chinese Restaurant: Double set dinner of lobster, peking duck, chicken, steamed fish plus extra hotpots was too much food again. Occasion started as birthday celebration, but then moved date to include family visiting from Bay Area. Large family means that there’s always an excuse to get together. (Perfect Chinese Restaurant, Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170902

Consensas: Systems journals for @consensas @ftjco. @ryantaylor prefers hardcopy for handwritten annotations, I’ve moved to softcopy for font sizing on tablets. Five cartons of Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Systemic Action and Practice Research some ISSS conference books and General Systems Yearbooks from 1998; plus Organization Science since 1994. Metaphorically old wine for new bottles, inside packaging courtesy of the LCBO. (Consensas, Parliament Street, Cabbagetown, Toronto, Ontario) 20170903

Second City: Intermission in Sunday sketch comedy early show, free improv would be really late after second show. Family is seated house right. Second City Toronto has upstairs balcony, larger venue than Second City Chicago. (Second City Comedy Club, Mercer Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170903

Ashbridges Bay Park: Southwest view from peninsula sees moorings of yacht club, smokestack from Hearn Generating Station, and CN Tower in the distance. Portlands are landfill into the original Ashbridges Marsh, now deep enough for sailboats. (Ashbridges Bay Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20170905 Read more... (1035 words, 22 images, estimated 4:08 mins reading time)

daviding September 30th, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: coopscanada, editdx, platform coop

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Toronto, Ontario; Hämeenlinna, Finland; Helsinki, Finland

Booth Avenue: Lightning struck tree, three fire trucks for house south of us. Hose filled briefly to extinguish for in tall tree. Electrical power to the block is off, wondering if transformer is impacted. Heavy rain is subsiding. (Booth Avenue, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170804

Copenhagen Airport: Enjoying the wood floors at the Copenhagen Airport, en route to Helsinki. I prefer the Danish style on the short connections, I should come for a real visit sometime. (Copenhagen Airport, Denmark) 20170809

Tikkurila:. Suburban hub where airport rail ring connects to main northbound intercity line towards Tampere. Large station connects with buses, many shops inside. Half hour wait was made longer by train 30 minutes behind schedule. Might have hopped on commuter train instead, but tickets are specific to times. .(Tikkurila, Finland) 20170809

Visamaki: First workshop for Open Häme project since its official funding, discussing plans for open data activities in the region. Meeting conducted mostly in Finnish, my presentation a theoretical break in English. (HAMK UAS Visamäki C-Building, Hämeenlinna, Finland) 20170810

Verkatehdas: Elomessut weekend fair for Kanta-Häme region, at the civic centre. Live performances, and kiosk tents from local associations and businesses. Wide cross section of local residents in a small town by the river. (Verkatehdas, Hämeenlinna, Finland) 20170812 Read more... (790 words, 15 images, estimated 3:10 mins reading time)

daviding August 31st, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: hameenlinna, Helsinki, Toronto

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Toronto, Ontario (summer, all within bicycling distance of home)

Pho House: Casual Canada Day dinner out in neighbourhood resto, at leisure. Sons used to eat lunch at this location in high school days. The business across the street moved in, when the other Viet business moved out. (Pho House, Gerrard Street East, Toronto) 20170701

Wong’s Ice Cream: Took home vegan coconut mango sticky rice ice cream + vegan lemongrass lime sorbet, after we sampled a variety of flavours. Wanted to take a packed pint of the former, but small daily production lots meant two scoops of two flavours instead. New business only opened in neighbourhood in the past few months. (Wong’s Ice Cream, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170701

Nathan Phillips Square: Universal Breaking League on the Pond Stage for Battle for the North two-on-two competition, as part of Canada Days celebration. Big screen alternating with musical acts on the Main Stage. Large crowds out for Sunday evening, statutory observance will be on Monday. (Nathan Phillips Square, Bay Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170702 Read more... (1089 words, 19 images, estimated 4:21 mins reading time)

daviding July 31st, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: summer, Toronto

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Toronto, Ontario

Muzda Bakery: “What kind of bread is that?” “Just bread”. Shop touting Gujarati specialities and Indian biscuits offers fresh western style wheat loaves in a flat boule shape. Toronto east side scene of Chinese bicyclist in shorts asking for 3 loaves, a South Asian visitor dressed in white robes suggesting to buy 4, so I acquiesced to take home 4 loaves. (Muzda Bakery, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170607

Vicky Keith Point: Long route to Toronto Harbour Lighthouse, southmost tip of Tommy Thompson Park via the endikement road on the lakeward side of headland by bicycle, since the bridge on the more direct path is out. Loop road is ringed by rubble. some stacked in artistic ways by other visitors. CN Tower and bank towers of downtown Toronto across the water. (Toronto Harbour Lighthouse, Vicky Keith Point, Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20170608

Fabian’s Cafe: Tidy German pastry shop serving wiener schnitzel and crepes for lunch, an out-of-the-way meeting place with friends further out on the east end. European style in a strip plaza with many South Asian varieties nearby, on the major suburban street. (Fabian’s Cafe, Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170613 Read more... (1055 words, 22 images, estimated 4:13 mins reading time)

daviding June 30th, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: convocation, toronto jazz festival, york university

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Fairfield, Iowa; Iowa City; Iowa; Coralville, Iowa; East Moline, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois; Evanston, Illinois; Kerwood, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario

Fairfield, Iowa: Mock duck with spinach, mock abalone curry with coconut milk and avocado, successful experiments with canned Chinese vegetarian glutens. Rainy day with everyone falling into afternoon naps in the house by the farm, recovery from long travel yesterday. (Fairfield, Iowa) 20170501

Visual Arts Building, U. Iowa: Striking central atrium with ramps spiralling multiple levels upward. Arts installations still in progress, with end of term nearing. Walking tour of campus on a clear spring day. (Visual Arts Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa) 20170502

Coralville Center for the Performing Arts: Iowa City Girls Choir spring recital in an opulent venue. Our block of seven sent upstairs to the balcony, as ground floor space was packed. Experiencing the American lifestyle, as foreign visitors. (Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, Coralville, Iowa) 20170502

Maharishi University: Collection of instruments in the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, to observe and align with natural law. Walked around campus with a local resident who has friends who studied in the school, providing some explanations of the contrasting belief system. (Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa) 20170503

Deere & Co. World HQ : Combine has 14-foot wide wheelbase, so can be legally driven on the road, if the corn header is removed. Impressive front entrance display for a Fortune 100 company. (Deere & Company World Headquarters, East Moline, Illinois) 20170504

Deere & Co. World HQ : Henry Moore (1973) Hill Arches, on island beside water fountain, in landscape designed by Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche. Crossing on small bridge over koi pond, swan approached as threatening, mate on other side nesting. (Deere & Company World Headquarters, East Moline, Illinois) 20170504 Read more... (1594 words, 29 images, estimated 6:23 mins reading time)

daviding May 31st, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: chicago, coralville, east moline, evanston, fairfield, iowa city, kerwood, Toronto

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Toronto, Ontario; Shanghai, PR China; Kalamazoo, Michigan

Pearson Airport T1: Between Gates E77 and E78, colorful glass cylinders enclosing light bulbs, suspended from overhead arches. Design by Norr Architects for OTG, a company operating high-end restaurants at the airport, including Hemant Bhagwani’s Marathi Indian. (Terminal 1, Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario) 20170401

Shanghai Pudong Airport: Whimsical rooster themed installation on middle of airport, lightens the spirit on the long walk from the airplane, through immigration, to the Maglev train. Impressed on short ride hitting 430 km/h peak, before slowing down at western terminus. (Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, PR China) 20170402

Zhangwu Sichuan: Dinner for Qingming Tomb-Sweeping Day, since public holiday on a Monday still has most people off work. Chose Sichuan resto near Tongji University, left half of dishes filled with red peppers too spicy to eat. (Zhangwu Sichuan, Shanghai, PR China) 20170403

People’s Park Pond: Father with small net skimming somethings from top of pond, and placing into small bucket for son. Game players involved in own activities in the background. Tuesday is still an extended Qingming weekend holiday, the park was popular with families. (People’s Park, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404

Shanghai Gallery of Art: Yin Xiuzhen 2005 TVT-Rocket installation of three cloth towers, extends from third floor in light well up to 6th. Gallery is open to public, and closer to the Bund, but maybe the Whampoa Club upstairs enjoys less traffic. (Shanghai Gallery of Art, Three.on the Bund, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404

Rockbund Art Museum: Song Dong 2017 Back Image, screen plus 50 benches. Extensive show covering long career over 6 floors. Well curated contemporary art venue, building walls show a sense of humour with dimensions marked everywhere. (Rockbund Art Museum, Huangpu Qu, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404 Read more... (1304 words, 21 images, estimated 5:13 mins reading time)

daviding April 30th, 2017

Posted In: moments

Tags: Shanghai, Toronto

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on Coevolving

Christopher Alexander, Horst Rittel, C. West Churchman
Christopher Alexander (pattern languages), Horst Rittel (wicked problems) and C. West Churchman (the systems approach) were neighbours on campus at U.C. Berkeley in the 1960s and 1970s. What might we synthesize from their joint wisdom?
Open Innovation Learning and Open Data
Surfacing after months of dissertation-writing, an invitation to speak at an Open Data Häme freed up some ideas to potentially have more practical application.
Learning data science, hands-on
Collaborating for two days in the Quantitative Methodologies for Design Research (定量研究方法) course at Tongji University led to dealing with practical issues of technology and research design.
Innovation Learning and Open Sourcing: IoT + Cloud + Cognitive
A lecture involving contemporary technologies was presented for the theme of "New Developments of Systems Thinking: From IoT to AI" at the 10th International Symposium on Service Systems Science.
Acts of representation with systems thinking (OCADU 2017/03)
Web video and audio from lectures from the March 8 and 9 sessions of OCADU Strategic Foresight and Innovation sessions are available to complement the slides previously posted.
Service Systems Thinking, with Generative Pattern Language (Metropolia 2016/12)
A 3-hour class was an opportunity to have students appreciate generative pattern language more concretely, and to collaborate on initially writing some examples.

on Media Queue

2013/07/27 Beau Lebens “Taking WordPress to the Front End with O2” (web video)
The WordPress O2 plugin with P2-Breathe theme results in a Facebook-like or Twitter-like streaming interface. The idea was first presented in 2013, evolving from the P2 theme in 2009 (originally launched as Prologue in 2008) when hosted on wordpress.com. “Beau…Read more ›
2016/09/10 Tim Ingold, “The Sustainability of Everything” (web video)
Talk at the Centre for Human Ecology, Glasgow, announced at http://www.che.ac.uk/tim-ingold-talks-about-the-sustainability-of-everything-10th-sept-2016/ Video posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLv9Gk7XrI and https://vimeo.com/182572764 This digest was created by editing the text transcript generated by Youtube. View the video yourself for a more authentic reproduction. Lapses, grammatical…Read more ›
2016/09/07 “One World Anthropology | Tim Ingold | AIBR
Plenary presentation by Tim Ingold, at the 2nd @AIBR_ International Conference of Anthropology. The 2nd AIBR International Conference of Anthropology brings together anthropologists from different parts of the world under the theme “Identity: Bridges, Thresholds, and Barriers.” [….] [6:58] So…Read more ›
Service Platforms, Living Labs, The Future of Open Innovation | Henry Chesbrough | Sept. 2016 | Berkeley Exec Ed (web video)
Responses @HenryChesbrough on service platforms, living labs, and the future of open innovation. Since 2003, he has provided a precise definition, as the godfather of open innovation. InFocus Podcast with Dr. Henry Chesbrough. Dr. Chesbrough is the Program Director for…Read more ›
2016/05/11 “Apache Open Tech is fueling tomorrow’s game changing innovations” | Todd Moore | ApacheCon North American 2016 (web video)
History of open source at IBM from 1998 @tmmoore_1 @ApacheCon NA 2016, and current IBM Open Cloud Architecture. Todd Moore, VP of Open Technology at IBM will share a retrospective of IBMs deep roots ASF and then follow with some…Read more ›
2012/03/13 Tim O’Reilly interviewed by Andrew McAfee, “Creating More Value Than You Capture”, SXSW Interactive
Digest of an interview of @timoreilly by @amcafee below, abstract from schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP100142: One of the great failures of any company – for that matter of a capitalist economy – is ecosystem failure. Great companies build great ecosystems, one in which…Read more ›

on Ing Brief

Ubuntu L2TP VPN
Now with Ubuntu 17.04, since Ubuntu 16.04, I’ve had problems with connecting to a VPN that uses L2TP. I found a fix through a series of steps, beginning with “Enabling L2TP over IPSec on Ubuntu 16.04” | Zaid Daba’een | Aug. 22, 2016, updated Mar. 29, 2017 at http://blog.z-proj.com/enabling-l2tp-over-ipsec-on-ubuntu-16-04/ . sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get […]
2017/10/08 13:10 Alice Rawsthorn, “Good or Bad Design”, EditDX
Keynote @alicerawsthorn @EditDX Introduction by Nina Boccia @nboccia Director of Programs, Design Exchange Alice Rawsthorn is authoritative voice on design Last book was Hello World: Where Design Meets Life (2013) Next book, Design as an Attitude, to be published in spring 2018 Based in London OBE (Order of the British Empire) for service to design and […]
2017/10/02 13:05 Richard Florida, “Urban Futures Keynote”, EditDX
Plenary @richard_florida @EditDX intro by @alexbozikovic This digest was created in real-time during the meeting, based on the speaker’s presentation(s) and comments from the audience. The content should not be viewed as an official transcript of the meeting, but only as an interpretation by a single individual. Lapses, grammatical errors, and typing mistakes may not […]
2017/09/29 16:35 “Future of Design Thinking”, EditDX
Panel @EditDX @rsomerson @CodeZebra Luigi Ferrara, @jamescowan as moderator This digest was created in real-time during the meeting, based on the speaker’s presentation(s) and comments from the audience. The content should not be viewed as an official transcript of the meeting, but only as an interpretation by a single individual. Lapses, grammatical errors, and typing […]
Dissertation committees and privilege
Is a dissertation about the content, the student, or power dynamics? Dissertation writing is very stressful, what with the looming job market, the high cost of living in many cities, the balancing act of life and health — all while being expected to produce intellectual gold. To that, add the anxiety caused by those committee […]
2017/09/10 13:55 Paul Cabaj, “Financing a Coop”, Disrupting the Disruptors
Workshop @chickweedpatch @CoopsCanada #platformcoop, platformcoop.ca/, Beeton Room, Toronto Public Library This digest was created in real-time during the meeting,based on the speaker’s presentation(s) and comments from the audience. The content should not be viewed as an official transcript of the meeting, but only as an interpretation by a single individual. Lapses, grammatical errors, and typing […]

daviding.tumblr.com

Riverside:
Woke up to urban foresters trimming branches in front of our house. The linden tree is officially owned by the city. Pruning away from the tangle of electrical wires is a service funded by tax dollars. True fall temperatures this week, and dusk comes early. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20171012

10/13/17
Cineplex 4DX:
Enjoyed Matinee of Blade Runner 2049, 4DX experience a change from our preference for 2D. The 3D effect was subtle, may not repeat the bucking seat, blowing air and cool water sprays. In hindsight, would have preferred the larger screen of Imax. Epic movie! (Cineplex VIP, Yonge-Dundas, Toronto, Ontario) 20171010

10/10/17
Lalibela:
Had turkey a few weekends ago, so Thanksgiving of Ethiopian cuisine an unusual choice as dairy-free, and the teff in injera is gluten-free. Combined with AKY’s birthday falling on same day, another way to celebrate as a family. Front window still open with fall relatively warm. (Lalibela, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20171009
10/10/17