Kickstart your Idea.

This post is a little late, the greater portion of a day, but it covers a very interesting website I've found, and that everyone should check out.

The website is called Kickstarter and its a website where you can market your entrepreneurial idea, and ask for start-up money from the denizens of the internet. It presents an awesome alternative to raising capital via loans, as the capital raised can be paid back in favours, and comes from several local backers, who are actually interested in your project, rather than a blank and faceless bank.

How does it work? Well, I encourage you to check it out, but what it seems like to me, is one of those advertisements for Public Broadcasting, which ask for your donations, and offer rewards at each pledge level: it's a wonderful idea, which I hope to see blossom into a thriving community of idea making, and backing, individuals.

So take a gander, and back a project. In most cases, a dollar will get you a nifty mention, and bigger pledges often get you bonuses like prototype versions of the game, or early-release privileges. This is the meritocracy Confucius was talking about. I love the internet.

Kibin, expanding its services, and going live with proffesional editing. Check it out!

https://www.kibin.com/blog/2011/09/20/get-your-papers-edited-by-kibin-professionals/

Check out the Newest Blog for Kibin, and check out me, here: https://kibin.com/proediting.php

I'm fourth highest ranked! Daniel Moore, for those of you who don't know my name.

RaD Characters

Rumour has it that Kibin will be accepting paid commissions in the very near future, which is really cool! Check it out at: https://kibin.com/index.php

Additionally, school is back in, so I'm busy. First essay is due tomorrow, and covers The Taming of the Shrew, which is the most blatantly sexist piece of literature that I've read in a very long time, though that's not what my essay says at all.

So in keeping with a Shakespearean theme, I'd like to talk about Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern characters.

For those of you who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about, or who haven't read Hamlet, which is where the characters I am referencing are from, I will make it very simple: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two characters that are so inseparable, and so similar that they are for all intents and purposes, a single character in your narrative. The same can be said of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, and the fat pirate, and the pirate with the wooden eye in Pirates of the Caribbean.

There are a few reasons to use a Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern (RaD) character. The first, and one I just discovered, is that it makes for an interesting acronym. The second, and on a more serious note, is that characters like this generate dialogue. Characters, and there are exceptions such as Alice in Lewis Carroll's works, do not normally speak to themselves as if they are two people, and thus if suspension of belief is to be maintained, then a character can be split into two physical components, without actually creating a new character.

RaD characters generate dialogue through the sheer expedient of having more voices to add to the melee. In the same way they open up possibilities for wordplay, and fill space in a scene with a lot of movement. Ever wish your character could be in two places at once, just for a scene? Well, a RaD character can, as long as you are careful to realign the characters at the end of the scene, and make them persistently similar.

Fred and George are another perfect example of RaD characters, taken from Harry Potter. These characters are twinned (pun intended) in a reader's mind, and so their connection is heightened. When one is killed, the other feels it more acutely, and readers implicitly understand the interaction between the two. It is a great way to remove a character with all the sympathies that such an action generates from the reader, while still having the character live on. I would call it a road between the Song of Ice and Fire's killing off willy-nilly of characters, and some author's inability to kill their characters. In essence, you can kill a character, without removing him/her from the plot, or from your reader's hearts!

That's all for me for today, but I'll post as frequently as I can.

Charity Work

What the fuck internet? What is the world coming to?

So here's the deal. I've been volunteering for the past week, and have obviously fell behind on posting for you lovely individuals, and because I know none of you would ever be this ass-nine, I feel its safe to call some of the individuals out on their idiotic red-tape.

Last week I was asked to collect for a charity called Shinerama, a great cause raising money for Research into Cystic Fibrosis. Hundreds of students participated in this charitable event, and we were organized into teams at McMaster University in the morning, and bussed out to spend some of our time raising money for a good cause throughout the day. We were given Shinerama shirts, we dressed in clear and recognizable uniforms; we were in no way easy to mistake for hoodlums. When hoodlums start dressing in bright matching mechanic's smocks, let me know.

For starters, and I heard this from a Science Representative: a large group of fundraisers were booted out of the Limeridge Mall in Hamilton. They weren't accosting anyone, or pressuring for donations: they were in no way out of order and I know they would have gone out of there way to make people feel comfortable whether they offered a donation of not. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Humanities group was given a small plaza with an LCBO, a Beer store and a Wal-Mart. We asked very politely in each case whether we could collect outside of these establishments. Only Wal-Mart would allow us to collect (which I should count as a point in its favour: who would have thought the face-less corporation had a sort-of hear?), which was a shame in the first place. I understand the need to limit solicitation by businesses, but honestly, I can't think of any reason Wal-Mart could make an exception where the other two could not.

Anyways: halfway through our time collecting donations, we were informed that two individuals had complained about our presence, and we were let know by management that if we got another complaint we would no longer be able to collect. And this was the exact time at which I asked myself what the world was coming to.

I and my fellow humanities reps went out of the way to accommodate every individual. I thanked everyone for their donation, and I was very understanding and positive towards those who did not offer a donation. I never asked an individual for a donation twice, and we handed out stickers to ensure that those who donated wouldn't be asked again. We smiled. We sang cheers for those who donated (S-U-P-E-R, super super that's what you are!) and generally we were a positive influence on our surroundings, and were met with warm receptions.

Now, I don't know if you are out there today, thinking 'I'm one of those who complained,' but rather than berate you if you are, I'd like to ask why you complained? Could there honestly be any more wholesome, constructive and positive use of highly motivated youths than charity work? And what right do a few individuals, and the bureaucratic power of business, have to limit charitable work? Now, I know we can be annoying, standing at the door when you don't want to donate: but suck it up! Bite the bullet, don't offer a donation, and go on with your day. Your discomfort for a few seconds means research for a cure, jobs for our graduating scientists, cheering and smiling customers!

In short: what charities do is the greatest good for the greatest number, and I for one couldn't give a damn whether two people had a problem with it.

*I am not in any way associated with Shinerama on a professional basis.

Drinking, in moderation.

So this week has been brutal! I'm loving it, but volunteering for full days since saturday has been both challenging and rewarding, and balancing groups of friends, all of who want to party after a full day of unpaid work is also interesting. So this post will be short, as I've just come back from a party, it's 12:30, I'm under the influence and struggling to keep this post coherent. My life is full, and its stressing me, but I'm handling it well, and for a while, over-working myself should pay off. Word later on if I push it too far.

Bias and Jolly Ranchers

So, internet, this week begins my volunteer work for the University, as a Humanities Rep. and McMaster Ambasador. What does this mean? Well, I'm welcoming first years to the university, getting them settled, moving their stuff, and living on cheap hot dogs. I'm doing all of this for free, or rather, at a cost to myself: 60$ for a rep suit, 10$ for blue hair dye, 10$ for fabric paints to decorate my rep suit. (Welcoming first years to the rest of their life? Priceless.)This all starts Saturday. Today, I have training, which I'm not terribly worried about, I'm more concerned with looking forward, to the impression first years will have of me.

I'm a guy, 20, and I have the longest hair of all my friends (not as long as it once was, mind you, but still respectably past shoulder length). Now, I have gone shorter more recently, but I still make a 'sketchy' first impression when meeting people, and I'm working very hard to fight against this bias when welcoming students to a new environment. No, I don't smoke pot, but I'm for its legalization. No, I don't listen to metal, but I have a solid appreciation for the instrumentals. No, I am not a hippy, a hobo or crazily extroverted.

In short, I'm 'mostly harmless' and I want to be approachable for first years, so they can ask questions, find food, and be comfortable entering a new era of their lives. I don't like the bias attached to me, but I understand it, and I'm working against it so that I can help all the first years who I know will be as nervous as I was starting university.

For starters, I'm wearing a giant name-tag, with a smiling goofy, poorly drawn frog on it. If people are scared by this frog-smiley, then I don't know what to do. Secondly, I'm dying my hair blue, and making it as crazy as possible so that others understand that I understand that they understand that we understand that everyone understands that people understand that I know my hair is sketchy.

Beyond that, I have to hope and pray that my first impression isn't a sour one, and that I can offer a little guidance and experience to these kids. And, speaking of biases, that's another one I need to avoid: its fair for me to say I have some experience on the first years, but I need to stop thinking of them as kids! Most of them are only a year or two younger than me, in rare cases, three years younger. So, just as I am judged by my appearance, I have to make sure I don't judge others by their age, or by their years in University.

In short, all this lack of communication could be lessened by a clear lack of bias, and, because it relates so nicely, I'll mention that the Swedes are helping to create just that situation in pre-schools: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/banning-him-and-her-in-preschool-is-good-for-kids-2537090

So, next time you meet someone, and I know this is cliche: don't judge a book by its cover, might be you'll miss out making new connections, gaining experience, and leveling up. That guy in the van? If you're an adult, you better damn well check to see if there is candy before assuming he's a serial killer! Maybe you just missed out on a bucket of jolly ranchers. (Kids, ask your parents if its safe to consume a stranger's joly rancher.)