This is a screenshot I took this morning:
It is forecasted a 12 C. deg cloudy day for tomorrow, a perfect day to (re)discover Montreal and walk around parks.
Also, saturday, here are some events and shows in Montreal:
- Attraction fatale is an exposition about seduction rites at Montreal Biodome
- Ju Ming have been exposing since October 2006 in various parts of Montreal
- a Maurice Denis retrospective is shown at Musée des Beaux Arts
So why are Montreal events and weather important saturday?
Because tomorrow is shut down day.
Two Montrealers, Denis Bystrov, 29, and Michael Taylor, 27, have declared March 24th as the World Shut Down Day. They want to make us think about the impact of technology on our daily lives, and stop using our laptops and desktops. That means no Skype, no Internet, no iTunes, email, video games, or whatever else you are using your computer for.
I don’t know if this is a media coup, like Jim Kukral who made up a boycott and got instant media coverage.
Be your own judge and have a look at one of their Youtube videos.
The funniest in this whole story is that their website, www.shutdownday.org is unreachable right now. I don’t know if they have been slashdotted, or if they have begun 1 day earlier. Yesterday, I got there to gather additional information, and about 50.000 people said they would not use their laptops, and 8500 said they can’t
UPDATE: The website was dugg, but is now back online
Now, I might be willing to participate to the movement to see how if it works. ok, no blogging, no twitter, no RSS feeds, no IM, no email tomorrow. One thing I know though is that we monitor critical websites and I will still have my ssh/terminal window open.
And you? Are you participating? Will you get some fresh air or get your daily dose of the Internet?
Comments
Josh March 23, 2007
It’s sounds like fasting to appreciate how good it is to be able to nourish oneself. A technology fast?
Is that really one of their goals? Or are they implying that technology is not doing any good?
When you said their website was offline, I thought they had pushed the concept to its logical conclusion and stopped using the internet altogether.
Heri March 26, 2007
hi josh
by the way they filmed their video, i think they started it as a cool thing to do.
about the motivation, i think it was simpler than fasting or ‘evilness’ of technology. they said we were maybe too dependant over technology and we were not conscious about it.
But if you went to their website, their was no ‘deep philosophy’ behind the event. in their blog, they were just thrilled to get some media coverage from all over the world.
they might start something serious though. time will tell.
iWeb Bla Bla Blog » Blog Archive » iWeb, proud sponsor of Shutdown Day April 24, 2008
[...] and Montreal Tech Watch, among others, have already talked about Shutdown [...]
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