Robert Paterson's Weblog

As air travel sucks - will liners return?

Jeff leaves hint in recent post with a picture of QM2

As air travel becomes hell, why not ships?  On board with Internet access I am still in touch. A weekend schedule leaving Thursday arriving Monday might be attractive

Think of all those surplus cruise ships and the opportuinty to create a new transatlantic experience

Hard to blog with only an iTouch

I can Tweet, read my mail - but not dogs or see attached videos, but posting is hard as I like to use pictures and links

So forgive me for being so absent here. I will get back in early June

In the meantime - where is Rob?

I am in the UK catching up with friends. Who knows in the years to come whether I will be able to afford to see them as often as I do now. All the news in the UK is about prices going up and social decay

But it is also spring. The countryside is a brilliant green, the birds and bees are doing their thing and it is great to be here and to be with people I love

Seniors Moment - Thank God for the web & iTouch

I arrived safe but tired in the UK this morning. But did not bring my Mac recharged!

But I have my iTouch & I have all my recent work on the web

With a bit of borrowing and my iTouch I should be ok

Phew!

New beginnings

I am working on a very special new contract that has caused me to ask a number of people for help. I cannot pay them except maybe later in honor. As a thank you - you know who you are - here is a short clip form the very end of Casablanca:

Hope and Charlie Wedding Pics

The big moment - Married!

My bit - the "aisle" is the ramp in the Scott family barn

Lorne rests forever just up the hill from the barn - he was very much with us

Here we all are - Betty has the ribbon - Mildred is very jealous

We rode in a wagon - in the freezing cold - around Iron Hill

Robin trying not to cry

James at the dinner - what a fine brother he is

There are more pics here on Flickr and there will be many more in a week or so

Our never ending Bad Weather - A sacrifice needed?

I am not alone - many us who live on PEI are going nuts with the constant cold and rain.

There may be a way out. In ancient times, a "King" was sacrificed in the spring to bring good fortune to the crop.

The "King" would have have every wish fulfilled and would have to be acknowledged as being important - other wise the Gods would take no notice.

All we need is a willing "King" - Boomer?

The Honda Cub - 60 million sold - Please bring it back to Canada and US

200 miles to the gallon and indestructible - Please bring it back here Honda. The best bike in the world:

Keith Olbermann on HRC and the Assassination Ploy

The great wound of the America polity is surely the frequency that people attempt and succeed in killing politicians. No other nation comes close.

So HRC's comment this week implying that she should hang in the race because her rival could be killed goes beyond poor taste and enters the realm of incitement.

Here - thanks to Dave Winer - is Keith Olbermann speaking to this new low in epic terms

The new News Cycle - Zappos and Rob

Last week I joined Friend Feed and noticed an article on Zappos.  I posted an extract and a comment on how Zappos used Twitter on Fast Forward. I noted that the CEO of Zappos was the big Twitter user. Within 2 hours I was followed by Tony. I Tweeted the story and maybe coincidentally, Bryant Park Project interviewed the author of the article, Bill Taylor later that day. Today I streamed the interview. All in 4 days!

So now who is inside or outside of this story? Are we not all inside it? isn't this amazing?

Boyd 2008 Conference/Colloquium in December on Prince Edward Island - Details

The 2008 Boyd Conference is now scheduled for December 6 & 7 At the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown. Festivities will start with happy hour on the evening of December 5th.

The reason for the slip in time was not to ensure that attendees get a real taste of late fall Canadian weather — because the idea is that you’ll be so busy you won’t notice the weather — but had to to with multiple scheduling conflicts.

As we have learned over the years, a successful Boyd Conference requires two things: an institution enthusiastic about hosting it and an individual who will do all the leg work. Last year, we had the Marine Corps Association and Bob Howard, respectively, and many thanks again to them both!! By adjusting our schedule, UPEI and Rob Paterson will fill the bill this year.

To get everyone motivated, here’s the Final Report from the 2007 Conference.

Concept

The concept is as described in my previous post. In particular, we want to use Boyd’s framework to explore armed conflict in the post-Iraq period and to discuss how communities and organizations can exploit the concept of resilience to deal with evolved non-state threats. I have posted some thoughts on this subject on my blog (please feel free to comment) and you may also want to check out John Robb’s site, Global Guerrillas.

Costs

Because the cost for travel to PEI is higher than to many places in the US, we are trying to hold fees down. The cost for attending the conference will be $250 US, which includes meals during the days of the conference and dinner on the night of the 6th. Such a deal.

Information on travel to PEI is contained in the "follow on" of this post

Information on how to register, along with a Call for Papers, will be available shortly.  See you all in  Charlottetown!