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Category: Blog
Future Tech Chat #26: Automation
This episode of Future Chat was all about Automation, how robots and algorithms will continue to take human work and do it more efficiently and more quickly. I had some help in the introduction from Alex from the UK, just another great example of automation.
Future Tech Chat #26: Automation
Attrell Update – Congrats to Crash Course!
This week on +Attrell Update, I share some news about something I love, +CrashCourse! My favourites +vlogbrothers will be working with +PBS Digital Studios to bring you new science videos in the near future! I can’t wait!If you want to keep up with these videos, click on the “i” in the top right of the video and subscribe!
Ottawhat #25: Lisa Marie Smith
Check out this week’s episode of the Ottawhat? podcast. New every Thursday!
Fake It Show #5: Fake it 'til you Mike it
+Mike Attrell joined me this week on Fake It to talk about parenting, adapting from student life to adult life, and the complexities of young people’s job hunts in our time.
5: Fake It ’til you Mike it
Who has Two Thumbs and Loves Things Online?
I’m going to start this post in an unexpected way: Taylor Swift isn’t the person posting things on her Twitter account, in at least 95% of cases. I know this because for the better part of a year, I have been patrolling the better part of 5 different Twitter accounts, 4 Facebook pages, 3 Google+ pages and 4 YouTube channels. I know she isn’t the one doing this because if you actually want to promote your stuff online, you lose a significant amount of time that you would otherwise dedicate to actually MAKING the things you want to make.
Now, obviously Taylor Swift is many orders of magnitude more popular than anything I will ever do. She has millions of fans tweeting, Facebooking and Instagramming her photos of themselves with her album or the paraphernalia she included in the purchase of her physical CD. Anytime she (or her social media team) posts a photo of a fan (or 4 photos, since Twitter now lets you attach 4 photos to a tweet), it makes that fan’s month, and basically ensures they will be a life-long fan. The second effect of her “choosing” fans to highlight on her Twitter account is that it prompts people to continue to send her even more photos. This will likely go on for months after the album’s release, and I KNOW there’s no way one person could keep up with this unless that was their only job, and even then you wouldn’t be able to sleep, so there are probably multiple social media team members doing this in shifts.When I release something into the online world (something I do a few times a week), I do it for a couple of reasons:- I like making things and paying forward knowledge I’ve gained and insights I’ve had.
- I want to learn how to make things better and to better myself.
The hardest part of making things so far for me has been exposing my work to a larger audience than my immediate circles. I do hope that if you see something that you like, that you tell people about it. One of the biggest things I’m working on is the idea that I don’t want to force people to see what I’m doing if they don’t want to, but if they DO want to, I want to make it easy.On that note, there are a couple of ways you can keep abreast of what I’m working on, both for more technically savvy people who are control freaks, as well as for people who want something easy to use.- I made a Facebook group where I will post my project updates (so that my personal timeline won’t be constantly spammed by what I have going on). Follow the link above to join the group, where you can receive passive or active notifications when I post something new (you don’t HAVE to get notifications if you don’t want them). We can also discuss my projects together there, which could be pretty cool.
- You can subscribe to the RSS feed from my website, blog.robattrell.com, at this link: (RSS).
- It’s also possible to just head to blog.robattrell.com in your web browser, I have been linking to all the projects I have going on there, so it’s a good way to see what I have going on.
So I hope you will feel excited to have a real way to follow everything I’m doing. You can also follow me on Twitter @RobAttrell and on Google+ obviously (+Rob Attrell) to see the stuff I’ve got going on.If you have suggestions or questions for me, feel free to email me or fill out my #AskRob form right here.
Future Sci Chat #11: The Paranormal
+Future Chat did a Hallowe’en episode this week, and that means that Rob dressed up for the show! We talked about all manner of supernatural and paranormal phenomena, like ghosts, psychics, and many other supposedly unexplained spooky events. We had a ton of fun this week!
Future Sci Chat #11: The Paranormal
Attrell Update – Me on Media
This week on +Attrell Update, I talk a little bit about how entertainment has changed for me, how we can all watch and enjoy different things, and how there is an audience and a niche for everybody in media.
Is there something you love that most people don’t know about? Leave a comment and let me know!
If you want to keep up with these videos, click on the “i” in the top right of the video and subscribe!
Why Gay Matters
It’s tiresome to hear again and again in the news about so and so coming out as gay or lesbian. There are three main ways to react to this news (spoiler alert: only one of these reactions is worth talking about):
- You don’t care if people are gay, straight, or anywhere in between. You’re happy to see Tim Cook is happy today, and you stand by him and respect his privacy (all of my Twitter feed is this, which makes me happy).
- You are very angry about gay people, for any number of antiquated reasons (you’re the worst, but luckily, you’ll probably change when somebody you know comes out to you, and you’ll eventually die. Hopefully you aren’t successful in spreading your vitriol before you go.)
- You are gay, but haven’t told anybody or are afraid to come out publicly yourself. You worry you might lose your job, or be kicked out of your apartment, or bullied, or ostracized, or attacked. If you are this, maybe, just maybe, you get a chance to be hopeful of the future. If you can’t already where you live, you might one day be able to get married, have pretty basic human rights, and be able to openly love the person/people you care about. This is the important one, and that’s why a CEO in the Fortune 500 coming out is a big deal in 2014.
If you don’t care about this news, good. You’re not the problem. You can move on with your day, a little happier one more person doesn’t have to hide a part of themselves anymore. We’re all human.
This same logic applies to #gamergate, sexism, and many other kinds of discrimination. We need to keep talking about these issues. If sexist discrimination doesn’t happen to you, be happy for it and move on with your day, but be aware that it does happen. Speak up when you see it. Be part of the solution. It’s hard for men to see or be aware of sexism and harassment, because it doesn’t happen to us nearly as regularly as it does to women. And it doesn’t happen in Canada as much as it does in the States (please correct me if I am wrong on this, I know it happens here too). But it does happen everywhere there are misguided people. People who don’t realize what they’re doing or don’t care.
It’s not ok. But let’s work together to make sure there is a future where it will be a thing of the past.
Ottawhat #24: Aleks Paleega
Check out this week’s episode of the Ottawhat? podcast. New every Thursday!
