My 3 year old daughter, Addison, is continually telling us what she desires for Christmas this year, having no idea that Santa won’t be coming for quite some time. I pulled down a wall calendar, thinking to show her the number of sleeps from now until then, only to realize how unintuitive the nasty multi-page grid would be for a child.

To solve this problem I built the following wall calendar with a more intuitive display of all things ‘Time,’ things I suspect I’ll be teaching her over the coming years. If you want to explain to someone how something works, time/calendar/seasons related, this baby should at least help start the conversation.

Some points of note:

• The days of the week are not on the main circle calendar. This allows the calendar to be used for any year.
• The clock in the center does not have hands. The idea is to get a laminated poster and small, sticky, cutout clock hands can be fashioned to use as part of teaching.
• Earth seasons are caused by the Earth’s 23.44° axial tilt. When the upper hemisphere is pointing at the sun, we get longer days, more hours of light (heat), and thus summer. The poster accounts for this via the 4 Earth images, and their tilt with respect to the sun in the center.

The rest is fairly straight foward. The main calendar has a few popular holidays marked, with lots of blank space to add birthdays and other holidays. To our household copy I’ve added family birthdays as follows:

To get one:

• A professional print regular sized wall poster can be purchased from zazzle.ca. I used a .png for this upload, so the image quality is very high. (disclaimer: I get a small royalty on that image if you buy a poster. woot!).
• On min.us I posted a full sized copy of the image large enough for poster printing (5400 x 3600) but note that it’s a jpg, and there was some quality loss in the conversion. You can also use this as a desktop background, though you won’t see the planets if you shrink it.
• Anyone wishing to grab the original .psd file, let me know.

Terry (zievo)

p.s. Thx to Nick Murray and Michael J(ackson) Bricout for advice and ideas.

Just under a year ago, I started a steampunk group for Newfoundland. I started it mostly on a whim, as I joined a group while I was living in Ontario and it was a great way to meet others who were interested in steampunk.

So… what exactly is steampunk?

Put most simply, it’s Victorian futurism, or science fiction/cosplay based loosely on Victorian ideas of what the future may look like (Jules Verne and HG Wells perhaps being the two best examples of the concept). Steampunk stories might be known for difference engines, giant clanking automatons, and fops, pirates, explorers, and nobles exploring the world in airships or crazy submersibles.

The name “steampunk” mostly came from a joke where an author parodied the trendy cyberpunk genre with the term steampunk. The link was made because both were counter-cultural, but cyberpunk was dystopic while steampunk was a little more based on the idea of utopia (though that has changed a lot today, with lots more dystopic steampunk works being produced today). As such, it seemed apt to make the satirical link about utopias romancing the Victorian period with dystopias warning about the futurism.

It’s not just a literary or media genre, it’s grown into a huge subculture, one that is known for its DIY and recycling/reusing tendencies. Steampunks who are really crafty like to use old clothing or “junk” and then craft it into wearable and usable art. Indeed, the cosplay aspect of steampunk has no doubt overshadowed the literacy aspects by now, though the popularity of one has only helped the other in the process.

There are also several similar genres which grew out of steampunk: clockpunk features clockwork and has more a renaissance aesthetic, teslapunk is based on the ideas and technology of Nikola Tesla, dieselpunk is based upon the early diesel age, and goes for an art deco aesthetic while atomic punk is based on a post-World War II era where either the nuclear arms race kept going or nuclear war actually broke out. Although most of these concepts are based in alternate realities, I wouldn’t want to suggest they all are.

With that blurb taken care of, I’ll get back to the point. I started Steampunk Newfoundland at Sci-Fi on the Rock V and since then we’ve gotten just shy of 100 members, have spawned a number of subgroups and have had a ton of meetings, ranging from picnics to teas, and from movie nights to RPG sessions. Our next meet is coming up on March 18th, and you’re welcome to join us. We’re also planning a some activities and festivities at Sci-Fi on the Rock VI, to celebrate our anniversary.

Hope to see you in the group and at some of our meets or events!

I’m doing that job-hunting thing again – trying to communicate myself with a piece of paper and hoping to get employed on the basis that others have employed me. Otherwise I’m keeping busy helping dad with the cabin and I’m still technically in grad school waiting for a response on what I hope was the final submission.

I’m not hearing much back from perspective employers but it isn’t bothering me too much – I’ve been in the job-void before. All that’s different this time is my education and my age. The thought of earning no more after 10 years of university is a little disturbing. I keep reminding myself that I didn’t follow social theory for its career prospects and I’m clinging to the dream that all of this matters somehow. It’s the best I’ve got to offer you.

And I’m putting my geek skills to use. I have RSS feeds from Craigslist and Monster particularized for my hunt. They are in different Greader folders based on provinces. If I can’t stay in Newfoundland I’d prefer to move back to Calgary or Toronto, a lot great #goodtimers there. I have a tab on my iGoogle page that’s all made-up for my job resources and my Greader folders appear there with other work-related gadgets. I apply for a job, it gets tagged for Greader and ifttt sends it off to a Posterous page to be listed. I’m organized like that.

I have two primary resumes going: one is geared for labor jobs and the other for research jobs. I’m unsure as to which I’d prefer. No postings found yet for top-notch social theorists, I keep looking. I’ll be a social theorist no matter what title life ends up assigning me. I’m #goodtimes social theorist. Social theory underlines social science and it’s the bedrock of HR and PR. I think I’d do well at either of those but its competition with degree holders in those disciplines. I’m hoping my social networking and savvy interpersonal skills come to my aid. I’m new to Linkedin but if we connect there you can write a bleep about my work related awesomeness – it could even help a bit somewhat-kinda-maybe!

I want a job that challenges my theories or allows me time to continue researching. I don’t want to end up plugging away at something that takes me away from the theories. They are my real, albeit unpaid, work. If it came down to it I’d likely live in a cave to keep them going. I just wish this work I imagine I’m doing for #goodtimes and the rock was of some immediate financial benefit to everyone involved, especially to me! I’d happily work theories for #goodtimes all the livelong day until I croaked. I probably will anyway, so it’d be nice to get paid.

Lately I’ve been applying to mines. I figure mining would let me fund this madness and still have some time for my work. It can’t be that long before this makes us all rich? #gt 2012? If I die in the underground please write ‘/nick Jaf’ on my tombstone. If that doesn’t happen I’ll keep dreaming away at Jo’s-inspired futures.

Ok? yeah? might never happen, but I’m way too Ian to stop now. Besides, what else would I be at?

They are secretly removing the hat man from the ‘slippery when wet’ signs on our highways. Did they ask you if this was ok? They didn’t ask me. I’m rotted.

The hat man may have gone unnoticed, but he is pure comedy. Just look at his old-school car! Why would they do this to us? My only thought is that he is clearly male and modern drivers should be androgynous. But come on, is having a hat man going to cause a decrease in female drivers? I think it’s a bigger social risk for us to pretend gendered assumptions like this don’t or didn’t exist.

Keep the hat, man. Just keep the bloody hat.

It is a fair question and not an easy one to answer. It’s certainly a Newfoundland based phenomena, I have been traveling across the country and found Newfoundlanders identifying as #goodtimers living in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta. Some know each other, others know each other online and others are unacquainted. Saying what #goodtimes is – that’s not simple.

We usually trace our history to GFW as many long-standing #goodtimers grew up there. However, many more #goodtimers have arrived over the last decade and a half. It’s all over the rock now. It is a product of music, parties, art and computers. It grew from a geek pride housed by local coffee shops and owes much to Joanne Boone’s “Café Jo’s” and Damion Hutchinson’s “Jave Jive.” It also represents an intersection of local musicians, freaks and skateboarders. As a St. John’s community it’s been known for parties, software and blogging.

Read more

The first Newfie soundboard & translator is now available for download for iPhone and Android. Check it out today and have a Newfie in your pocket all the time, who doesn’t want that?

www.whaddayaapp.com

The Goodtimes gang is at it again with a new mobile app. Few details are available yet, but it’s a hilarious little app based around Newfoundland humor.

We’ll be releasing this app in September for iPhone and the Android platform. To follow updates on our app, check out our official website and join our Facebook group where we’ll be posting news as the release date approaches.