Ddanson's Blog

Twitter

ddanson — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:46:20 +0000

Lately there has been a lot of talk about Twitter. You may be wondering what a Twitter is; I know I was until a few weeks ago. Well, according to its website, Twitter is a a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question. If you are familiar with the status updates on Facebook, it is essentially the same thing. In 140 words or less, you can update your friends and let them know what you’re doing, or let them know about something you are currently interested in. The Toronto Star has recently noticed the rising popularity of Twitter, and has recently published articles in their paper, such as Forget Facebook Everyone’s A Tweeter, Twitpics, Retworts, Hash Tags and Twicks, and Why Tweeters Like Twitter. Not sure if Twitter is for you? Maybe it will reassure you to know that dozens of famous people have caught onto the Twitter craze, such as author Malcolm Gladwell, Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh and L.A. Laker Shaquille O’Neal.

Twitter user Malcolm Gladwell

Twitter is a really great web2.0 tool as it really lets you connect with people all around the world. You may be asking yourself, why do I need this? I was asking myself the same question. Twitter is great if for nothing else but networking, and getting yourself known. If you are in a profession such as mine (publishing) that is based on a lot of networking, twitter is your friend. It allows people to follow you, see what you are up to, and most importantly, lets people know that you have something important to say-which you definitely do! Go sign up for twitter now-you’ll be addicted before you know it. So, what do you think of twitter? do you use it? do you like it? hate it? let me know!

Stll feeling a bit overwhelmed? Watch this Twitter tutorial to get yourself started!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: web2.0

A blog post on blogging

ddanson — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:13:00 +0000

I recently finished reading The Gum Thief By Douglas Coupland, and have recently started reading JPod, also by Coupland. I decided to do some research on him, and came across his official website. After browsing his site a little bit, i found a link to his New York Times Blog. On his Blog Coupland discusses topics such as “Why Write Modern Fiction,” “On Being Photographed” and “Should You Tour?”

A blog is a great way to gather a following, and Coupland has realized this. With a blog, Coupland gives his readers and fans a chance to interact with him, and respond to his thoughts and questions. Readers are given the chance to comment on his work, or share it with other people. So, having a blog is a fantastic web2.0 tool and is a great publicity and promotion tool as well!

Douglas Coupland

Posted in Uncategorized

Sharing Content Easily on the Web

ddanson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:14:55 +0000

I recently received an e-mail from a friend who had been reading The Walrus today and wanted me to check out an article she had read. She copied and pasted the link into the message window (we were on msn) in order that I could take a look at it. Once I clicked on the link, I was not taken to the article but was instead taken to The Walrus’s homepage, and it had opened in the same window (don’t you hate that?!). I decided to do some investigating; there had to be an easier way for me to view the article without all this copying and pasting. I searched around, and lo and behold, a share this link!

The concept of share this really couldn’t be simpler or more easy to use. You come across an article that you’d like to share. You simply click on the “share this” link and you will be given the option of sharing the article dozens and dozens of ways. You can share it the old-fashioned way (e-mail), through social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, or through other (perhaps less heard of mediums?) such as Reddit or Newsvine.

The share option makes sending content across the web to a friend or family member as easy as possible. No more copy and pasting links or searching through google. The share option makes content literally available at your fingertips!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: The Walrus, web2.0, Widgets

Healthy Eating and Natural Healing on the Danforth

ddanson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:38:33 +0000

Living Healthily, Naturally, and Happily on the Danforth

The Big Carrot and Healing on the Danforth are two keys to healthy living

By: Dayna Danson

Forty-nine-year-old Mia Murphy has lived on the Danforth since 1980, and could list thousands of reasons why she loves living there with her nine-year-old daughter. Her favourite thing about the Danforth, however, “would have to be the surplus of fantastic stores such as The Big Carrot,” she says. The natural food market (seen below), is located at 348 Danforth Avenue, and specializes in organically grown, GMO-free and environmentally safe products. It also offers a range of services including cooking classes, free nutritional store tours and free weekly lectures on health and the environment, and dozens of other events.

The Big Carrot

The Big Carrot

Mia Murphy stresses that her favourite thing about the big carrot is the members and staff, who are “extremely helpful and well-informed.” The greatest strength of The Big Carrot is the accumulated knowledge and experience of its members and staff, whose broad based, co-operative approach to research has evolved through twenty five years of searching for nature’s finest. A vital element to their continued success is their commitment to education; they believe in sharing knowledge and experience with their customers and providing them with the tools they need to make informed, healthy choices.

The Big Carrot Juice Bar

The Danforth is also home to The Big Carrot Juice Bar, Toronto’s first organic juice bar located across from the Big Carrot natural food market. They offer fresh, organic juices, nutritious boosts, refreshing smoothies, as well as a wide variety of organic, and fair trade coffees and teas. The juice bar is also helping the Danforth community as well as the environment by installing a solar water heater. The system reduces water heating energy consumption by 50% annually (by even more during the summer peak demand season), which off-sets approximately 1.79 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

Natural Healing

To complement The Big Carrot, the Danforth is littered with dozens of natural health clinics. Healing on the Danforth, for example, is a holistic centre offering a number of complementary alternative therapies including but not limited to Massage Therapy, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Trigenics, and more. Healing on the Danforth encourages spiritual, emotional and physical healing by guiding individuals towards greater awareness of their own body in a peaceful, nurturing, compassionate and safe environment. The clinic is located on 1397 Danforth Ave., and has been open since 2000.

Reflexology

Danforth resident David Markus frequently attends Healing on the Danforth for Reflexology sessions, which he says are “the most relaxing and enjoyable thing on earth.” The ancient healing art of Reflexology believes that the feet are a microcosm of the whole body. By stimulating the nerve endings in the feet a neurochemical impulse is sent to every organ, gland, and system in the body. David markus relies on Reflexology to release deep stress and body tensions, regulate sleep patterns and manage his arthritis. Susan Dekker and Katherine Downey are in charge of Reflexology at Healing on the Danforth

Shiatsu Massage

Jessica Steene, a resident of the Danforth’s Riverdale neighbourhood attends Healing on the Danforth for Shiatsu Therapy. Shiatsu Therapy is a Japanese physical therapy, which literally translates as “finger pressure”. The technique primarily involves the application of gentle pressure using the thumbs, palms and elbows along energy channels in the body. Shiatsu Therapy has evolved from Chinese healing practices which promote the body’s own healing ability, and is an excellent way to maintain or improve health. Regular treatments can help keep someone in peak physical condition (such as Steene), or can help relieve many symptoms of discomfort for those with physical ailments. Timothy Phillips, Healing on the Danforth’s founder, provides Shiatsu Therapy treatments at Healing on the Danforth.

The Danforth residents and businesses are doing their part to help the environment while living an organic, healthy lifestyle. What are you doing to help your body live the best life it can? What are some natural health centres in your area; where do you shop for your organic groceries? If you haven’t already caught onto the ‘green/healthy living’ movement, and are interested in joining in, here are some links and sources to get you started:

And, just for fun, here is a Star Wars parody called “Store Wars:” it was made to alert people about the serious problems of producing and eating fods that were made using dangerous synthetic chemicals. This video should reinforce your need to shop organically!

Posted in Uncategorized

StumbleUpon

ddanson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:58:37 +0000

I was recently browsing The Walrus and came across a widget called StumbleUpon. I clicked on the icon and then did some research and learned that it is an internet community that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos.

Web pages are presented when the user clicks the “Stumble!” button on the bowser’s toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which Web page to display based on the user’s ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests. Users can rate or choose not to rate any Web page with a thumbs up or thumbs down. StumbleUpon also allows their users to indicate their interests from a list of nearly 500 topics to produce relevant content for the user.

Here is a fantastic video that explains what StumbleUpon is in more detail, and how you can effectively use it in your blog:

StumbleUpon is particularly effective in that it not only allows users to get vocal about their likes and dislikes on the web, but allows them to locate relevant web pages based on their already existing interests.

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Widgets