Archive for June 2010
Born
My mom and I standing in from of the hospital in Sudbury where I was born. It used to be called the General Hospital. I understand it is slated to be torn down.
Waiting
One of the street car drivers decided to get out and wait out the protest on Saturday morning at Queens Park. Everything was still peaceful up to this point. The hoodlums revealed themselves later.
Seen and Heard
After the 1997 APEC summit in Vancover, a Canadian judge concluded that in the future “A generous opportunity will be afforded for peaceful protesters to see and be seen in their protest activities by guests to the event…”.
Peaceful protesters have the right to be seen and heard. It is a shame that the destructive acts of a few hundred destructive hoodlums have drowned out thousands of constructive peaceful voices at the G8/G20. Don’t let anarchist mayhem overshadow messages of peaceful demonstrators.
I’ve heard many imply that demonstrators don’t know what they’re protesting, or even if they do, there’s not much point in protesting because it won’t change things. I disagree with both these statements:
What are you even protesting against?
I can’t speak for others, but here are 3 messages I wanted world leaders to know about when I joined the protest on Saturday:
1. Foreign control of Canadian resources is dangerous because foreign companies can’t be expected to treat our workers with respect.
Nickel workers have been on strike in my hometown of Sudbury for nearly a year. Inco was bought by a Brazilian company Vale in 2006. Since then Vale closed mines and have cut 900 jobs. The contract dispute is the result of Vale wanting to cut pensions and benefits because “…Sudbury is among the company’s highest-cost operations…”
In the past, contract disputes were resolved by compromise. Vale shows no willingness to compromise and will likely wait out striking workers until operations can be brought back online using replacement workers or until the union eventually gives into their demands. There is nothing to stop Vale from imposing further benefit/pay cuts either.
2. The G8/G20 countries must stop breaking promises to support people with HIV/AIDS in Africa
In 2005, the G8 promised universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010. They will fall US$7 billion short of this target. Not only will they not make good on their past promises, now the G8 will be further cutting back its funding over the next 3 years.
3. Water must be declared as a fundamental human right
The World Bank required the Bolivian government to privatize it’s water supply in Cochabamba in order to receive funding. The government complied and the cost of water shot up as a result and it became illegal to even collect rain water. Some were spending more than a 1/4 of their wages to buy water. It is unethical to limit anyone’s access to water in this way.
Protests can work
The case of water privatization also shows how protests can work. It was only after citizens of Cochabamba took to the streets that the Bolivian government backed down.
G20 Street Furniture
Garbage bins have been removed near the security zone for the G20 along with newspaper boxes, benches, bus shelters and even small trees.
G20
I’ve never seen so many police in one place – all decked out with riot helmets and gas masks. There’s a quiet eerie mood in the security zone near Union station as the G20 gets underway. The police officers seem to be having a good time though.
Wi-Fi Bunnies
Dancing, singing Wi-Fi bunnies performing as part of Luminato in the distillery district.
You can get your own Wi-Fi bunny for only $114.
Nao
We got a demo of a robot today. His name is Nao (pronounced ‘now’).
He can pick himself up off the floor…
…and even dance. He is made by a French company called Aldebaran.
Square Dancing
I learned how to square dance at a wedding a couple of weeks ago. Great fun. This car was in the parking lot outside and we assumed it was the square dance caller’s license plate. You gotta do what you love.
World Cup
Terrible news today that Nelson Mandela’s great grand daughter Zenani was killed in a car accident last night on the way home from the opening concert. This event had the ability to again bring together the host country just as the World Rugby Cup did in 1995 shortly after Mandela became president.
(The South African rugby team was seen as the underdog there too, but ended up becoming champions. What a story. Nelson Mandela enlisted the rugby team to keep the country from tearing itself apart. If anyone hasn’t seen Invictus – go see it now. I can’t believe it didn’t get an Oscar.)
I wonder how many more people will be able to watch the World Cup this time around now that it’s available streaming online.
British Library
What will the library of the future will look like? Or will there even be libraries in the future? Some have predicted libraries will become extinct in 2019. Others believe the goal should be to make the library more of an “urban hangout, meeting place and arbiter of information” as most expect books to become increasingly digitized.
Warnings
How many is too many? At what point does adding another warning actually make it less likely that someone will read anything? I can’t stand it when someone says ” … can’t you read the sign?!” This is one of my favorite songs.
Video of the chainsaw bike
Here’s a video of Matthew demonstrating how his bike works.
Don’t try this at home…
Chainsaw Bike
Tonya’s cousin Matthew showed us his new bike.
He and a friend modified it to include a chainsaw as a drive motor.
The problem is that they retained the original sharp chainsaw chain.
There’s a good chance of doing damage to your leg in the case of an accident.
They even added a throttle control.
Stalactite
When I heard there was a cave in Buxton, I expected the kind of thing we find in Ontario where you have to crawl on your belly to move around. Turns out it was a real cave. It’s called Poole’s Cavern. Apparently Poole was an outlaw that hid out in this cave with his posse.
Bridge
I found this bridge near my hotel at Canary Wharf in London. I like asymmetric bridges.
24 Hour Advice
I saw this in Manchester. Good idea. I wonder how many people make use of it and how useful the information is. Perhaps I should have tried it out.
Layman's Lens 