If you spend any time on YouTube, you’ve probably noticed the overlay ads that now appear at the bottom of the video. Annoying, sure. But great if you’re an advertiser. Thankfully, the video-sharing site is now empowering regular users with similar functionality. Instead of a banner ad, users can now direct viewers to a website of their choice.

It’s amazing we’re only now getting this feature. But now that we have it, there are all kinds if fun implications for social marketers, politicians, and third-sectorites. You can post up a high-impact video and ad a link to a campaign or fundraising website. And if your video happens to get posted on a variety of sites, or even goes viral, that’s some traffic payola right there.

It took them long enough, but this small change will make a big difference to YouTube’s efficacy as an advocacy and marketing tool.

If you’re in Toronto tonigh and looking for a cheap-yet-highly-entertaining evening, may I suggest the Bad Dog Theatre‘s neweset all-improvised parody show WEIRDOS? It’s a spoof of Heroes, and features some on Toronto’s finest improvisers. I’m also in it, but don’t worry- I mostly stand at the back.

Best of all, it’s only $10. That’s cheaper than a movie! And the theatre is air-conditioned! Failure to attend can only be construed as a form of mental illness.

See you there! Well, I mean, it’s hard to see people when you’ve got stage lights in your face. But I will sense your presence. I can do that. I have powers.

WEIRDOS!

So, the city just announced 19 temporary dumping sites across the city. I’m pleased to note one will be located in my neighbourhood, right in the middle of Sunnyside Park.

After at least seven minutes of feverish brainstorming, I have come up wit the perfect name for what I can only assume will be a majestic pile of garbage:

MOUNT ST. SMELLINS

I think the comparison between a festering pile of trash and a smouldering volcano is entirely appropriate. Plus, the catastrophic 1980 eruption of MSH is nice little metaphor for the state of labour relations in Toronto.

If you think you’ve got a more clever name than mine, leave it in the comments. And we’ll get people to vote on the best one, because Web 2.0 rules! Spread the word!

First: for the love of God, don’t panic. It has been three and a half days and people have gone bonkers. When the streets run thick with garbage and we bow before the gilded throne of a new Rat King, by all means go bat-shazbot insane. But in the meantime, perhaps we should just suck it up. After all, it could be worse. You could’ve had this guy‘s week.

There are lots of other things you can do to mitigate the effects of what promises to be a long and highly irritating strike. Reduce the amount of garbage you produce. Organize neighbourhood trash trips to the nearest transfer station, complete with themed snacks (Mmm. Barbecue flavoured detritus mix!) and obnoxious road games. Pay an exhorbitant fee to grey market profiteers to haul your stinkables away. Or, dedicate a week’s worth of writing on your slightly popular blog to the vagaries of trash removal in this fine city.

But, as a wise man once said, “leave no crisis unused.” Perhaps the best way to survive this crisis is to clear a small patch of open ground of banana peels and coffee grounds and used tissues, and consider what has led us to this unfortunate juncture. In a rare insightful and clear-headed column, Christie Blatchford provides some helpful advice: “you have to know who to be mad at.”

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Garbage strikes are annoying. Striking city workers raise hackles. But there’s one sure-fire way to make all of this worse: by illegally dumping garbage all over the city.

What, is the veneer of civilization so thin that the moment our precious amenities are removed, we begin to fling our trash gleefully into the street? It’s probably worth remembering that for the vast majority of human history, people have done without curbside garbage removal, enclosed sewers or even a proper understanding of the germ theory of disease. These folks managed to come up with a bunch of keen things like, you know, the Renaissance, science, and industy. So I think we can probably deal with a garbage strike without devolving into shrieking, trash-covered chimps.

There are probably a few folks out there that think illegal dumping is some sort of political statement, a way to say “screw you for screwing up my municipal services.” Trouble is, the only people you screw over by dumping your trash are your fellow citizens. They’re in the same boat you are, so why are you making their Garbage Strike even more inconvenient and disgusting?

Grow up. Hang on to your trash as long as you can, then drive it to a transfer station. It ain’t convenient, but it’s a nice way to demonstrate that supposed evolutionary superiority we’re always on about.

Well, it went and happened. CUPE Local 416 and 79 are on strike, stopping sanitation, city day care and a host of other services for our long-suffering metropolis. People are very angry, and perhaps justifiably so. But before everybody swarms into the streets out ofr union blood, it may be wise to put things into context.

As always, I’m thinking out loud here. I’m sure you’ll disagree, and I hope you’ll tell me why in the comments.

Now, I don’t really agree with 416 and 79′s position. With a recession in full swing and Toronto in the midst of a seemingly interminable  budget crisis, some concessions probably need to be made. But that’s an outside view. I can understand the frustration of the city workers who are being asked to give up pieces of their collective agreement. That’s just human nature. It’s also important to remember that unions are only accountable to their members, not the public. We shouldn’t be surprised when a union goes on strike, even when we can’t rationalize their bargaining demands. They are simply obeying their own internal logic, and while we don’t agree with it, it’s hard to justify calling it a capricious or malicious plot against the citizens of Toronto.

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I’m breaking my self-imposed blogcation for this, because it made my morning.

If you don’t already love Pixar for their groundbreaking animation and beautifully sweet-hearted films, then you should probably read this:

Pixar Grants Girl’s Dying Wish to See ‘Up’

And if you did love Pixar prior to reading that article, then you’re probably now ready to marry Pixar and have it’s children, which I can only assume will be made of pure light and goodness.