If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Surrey, B.C. has in the past experienced an inordinate number of crimes, particularly related to carjacking and violent gang-related offences. It truly beats me why crime is at all funny, but nonetheless people have felt the need to joke about the ever growing city, making it the butt of most jokes in the Lower Mainland. But seriously, enough is enough.
The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, or CIRS, building on the University of British Columbia campus is a building that nearly lives and breathes. Determining what the greenest building in Canada is a bit of a fool's errand. But if green is a journey to architecture that regenerates and repairs the environment around it then the CIRS building is something to aspire to.
I fail at being Canadian. I don't know the first thing about curling and I don't care for hockey. Last Friday night, at an incredible burlesque show, while there were a number of hugely talented people doing a fundraiser for the arts, attention was riveted to a bunch of ice-skating gorillas. I can't say I'm surprised, but I am a little bit disappointed in my Vancouver brethren.
Last week saw the gathering of over 300 ad agency folks at the annual B.C. chapter of the American Marketing Association. The topic for debate was all about trends for 2013. It became apparent that there was no one single thing for us as marketers to focus on, but more like a top 100 list. As a scientist, I had the need to simplify, to distil the vast array of new platforms and buzzwords into a crystal of something purer that centrally links such trends. Throughout this process, the one link that kept rearing its head was "relevance."
While TransLink's habitual tax increases, never-ending budget deficits and lack of direct accountability have been well documented over the past several years, Metro Vancouver has slid somewhat under the radar. This lack of accountability to taxpayers has been a problem at Metro Vancouver for a long time, fostered by staffers playing political games and local politicians distracted by their elected duties at their various city halls.
While volunteering and working with autistic children, Lisa Fraser noticed one of the key therapeutic devices of the day was, in her eyes, really ugly. The weighted vests was like slapping a label on kids and saying "Hey, look at me! I'm different." She believed that bringing a better design and even some style into these kids' lives, was an endeavour worth pursuing.
Canada's favourite filthy-rich women are back (well, three of them) and they're going to have three new "friends" for Season 2. In the second season premiere, The Real Housewives of Vancouver make nice before the storm. Sorta.
This sewage heat recovery system in Vancouver is the first in North America, with the other systems in Oslo, Norway and Tokyo, Japan. It goes deep underground and it feels a bit like an ultra-modern cave troll lair from the future. The process has a couple of steps.
There is absolutely no point in agreeing or disagreeing with the premier or the B.C. Teachers' Federation if we the parents don't speak up and have a voice in how our children are being taught in the 21st century. Our school has a large computer centre with its own teacher. I have NO clue what is taught there. The kids bring home printouts about "online safety," but I don't think these courses actually mention things like Facebook or Twitter.
I've listened to many, many complaints from out-of-town visitors and immigrants that although Vancouver is far from lacking in things to do and see, it is next to impossible to find someone to do them with. People stay very isolated to their own little groups, making it difficult for newcomers to find a place to fit in.
"Sing It Fwd is what we call it passion in practice. We had seen and experienced a growing gap in terms of the cultural and arts vision of the city and the province and one of the many issues that really concerned us was youth arts and opportunities for youth to engage in arts in music specifically. So we created our initiative vision — to create an example of the rippling benefits of the power of connecting drivers in the community to take action, mobilize instead of compartmentalize, and hopefully share the story forward to inspire other people to do the same."
One of the reason I just got "mom bangs": There is a deep wrinkle above one of my eyebrows that drives me crazy. To anyone else it's nothing, but to me it's a crease I would rather not see every day.
Three former game studio executives with 40+ years of experience could easily be basking in the console glory days of the past. Instead of opting for white sandy beaches and umbrella drinks, these former EA (Electronic Arts) colleagues have co-founded a company that adds rewards to mobile games as you play.
Ever since the 1950s the car has been the accidental architect of our cities. Billions of dollars have been dedicated to roads, overpasses, tunnels and other car infrastructure. Enter the bicycle. It is the most efficient form of transportation on the planet.
This day, this week, marks 200 years since readers first clapped eyes on what was to become one of the most memorable first lines in English literature: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
I've seen thousands of experiments conducted in my day. But nothing prepared me for the ultimate educational experiment — watching seven youth each run 180 kilometres across Botswana's Kalahari Desert to better understand the value of something we take for granted here in the Pacific Northwest: water.
