Musa Betsu Kyu Judo club website launch

Just a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately in my spare time (well one of the many projects), working on the site for the local (Greater Moncton area) Judo club called “Musa Betsu Kyu”. It is run by Sensei Earl O’Blenis who is an excellent Judo instructor that we’re fortunate to have in the area. If you have a moment please signup for the site and/or Facebook Group and support the club.
The highlights of the site so far are the ability to pay for your monthly club dues online with a single click (for the forgetful you can either set it up as a monthly subscription or one-time payment), as well as two interactive charts; the first being the “Gokyo Tachi Waza” (Judo’s 5 levels of standing techniques) and “Ne Waza” (Judo’s ground grappling/wrestling).
Check out the new website/blog at:
monctonjudo.com
Top 12 Canadians for Canada Day 2012

Here’s something not totally tech-related for Canada Day 2012.
I decided to make a short but sweet tribute to my favourite Canadians who are making a difference in people’s lives all over the world, every day. My choices ended up in the list either because of something exceptional or newsworthy that they did in this past year (or because of an accumulation of work in recent years). These won’t be the same Canadians found on your typical “MuchMusic Top 10” or “CTV eTalk Daily Award Winners”, as most of them are alternative media journalists, alternative medicine practitioners or other activists.
My listing of my Top 12 cool Canadians for 2012:
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Running in the Olympic Torch Relay

Today something strange happened…
The full list of runners for the Moncton-to-Saint John leg of the maritime Olympic Torch Relay was listed and – for better or worse – my name was on it. Turns out I was chosen to run in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay by RBC’s Carry the Torch competition.
It’s not like it was for anything particularly miraculous, simply one of those contests I’ve often heard about, occasionally bothered to enter, and never won. In the online application form (which I was urged to go home and fill out by the business account manager who I had seen earlier that day at an RBC branch), I was asked what I had done for my country in the past, and what my plans were for the coming year.
I can’t remember exactly what I put, but the BS factory must have been firing on all cylinders… something about previous charitable organizations I’ve contributed to, or, organized events for, along with a penchant for supporting open source software development and open web projects in general must have struck a chord with someone (that, or a more likely explanation, that I won a draw/lottery of some kind).
In addition, I do remember saying that in 2009-2010 I’d do everything I could to ensure more University students get placements in the Federal government project I’m currently working on. Well, at least two did; mostly because of the requirements and immense scope-creep (like hitting a moving target) coupled with pleas from the only two full-time developers, but only one stayed on full-time. It’s better than nothing I suppose…
In any event, I’ll be running up the entrance into Fundy Park in the Alma/Hillsborough area. While it’s not a long run (5km), I’d better go for a few runs to get in shape first nonetheless.
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Nearly $8k raised!!!

Not bad for a bunch of “University kids” on just another “Pub Crawl”.
Well we had many doubters but we managed to prove them wrong with an excellent turnout and even better numbers in the final tally of funds raised. I still remember the first year we put this thing together in 2003, only 42 people showed up and we barely broke $800, which seemed like a big accomplishment at the time.
This year we had about 160 turn out. So, drum roll… here’s the final amount:
$7856
An extra special thanks to Sebastien, Chris and everyone at StatsCanada – Census’06 office in Moncton, the team there raised almost $1000 alone!
Other big money raises, contributors and organizers were Danielle Bourque, Nataelle Levesque, Nadine Boudreau, Mandy Alward, Ruairi Meagher, Jason Tse, Laura Murphy (my nana), my parents Laura and Richard Copeland, and many others.
So a BIG thanks goes out to everyone! And if you requested tax receipts you should receive them from CBCF within the next 4 weeks. If you don’t get one but requested it, please let me know at: crawl4cure@hotmail.com

BC$ = Behavior, Content, Money

The goal of the BC$ project is to raise awareness and make changes with respect to the three pillars of information freedom - Behavior (pursuit of interests and passions), Content (sharing/exchanging ideas in various formats), Money (fairness and accessibility) - bringing to light the fact that:
1. We regularly hand over our browser histories, search histories and daily online activities to companies that want our money, or, to benefit from our use of their services with lucrative ad deals or sales of personal information.
2. We create and/or consume interesting content on their services, but we aren't adequately rewarded for our creative efforts or loyalty.
3. We pay money to be connected online (and possibly also over mobile), yet we lose both time and money by allowing companies to market to us with unsolicited advertisements, irrelevant product offers and unfairly structured service pricing plans.