Urban Vancouver

Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon have posted a wonderful video of author Ursula K. Le Guin reading from her fantastic new novel LAVINIA and answering questions from the audience about the book and her writing:

LAVINIA is Le Guin’s interpretation of the Virgil’s THE AENEID. It focuses on Lavinia, who appears in the poem, but never speaks.

Here’s what the reviewers are saying:

“Le Guin is famous for creating alternative worlds (as in Left Hand of Darkness), and she approaches Lavinia’s world, from which Western civilization took its course, as unique and strange as any fantasy. It’s a novel that deserves to be ranked with Robert Graves’s I, Claudius.”—Publishers’ Weekly (starred review)

“Le Guin has researched this ancient world assiduously, and her measured, understated prose captures with equal skill the permutations of established ritual and ceremony and the sensations of the battlefield ... Arguably her best novel, and an altogether worthy companion volume to one of the Western world’s greatest stories.“—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[A]pproaching a new book by Le Guin is like discovering a new Rembrandt. In some ways, the quality of the work is irrelevant, as it’s sure to be declared a new masterpiece—which it will be by most standards. The only thing to do is to judge the work against its creator’s own rigorous standards. Even in comparison to the rest of Le Guin’s body of work, Lavinia stands very high.“—The Winnipeg Free Press

“In one of the more impressive displays of feminist reconstruction since Margaret Atwood wrested Penelope out of the hands of Homer, National Book Award-winner Le Guin has rewritten the last six books of Vergil’s epic poem to create a rich life of the mind for the Latin princess. Unlike Atwood’s “Penelopiad,” the novel, as Le Guin writes in an afterword, is a “love offering,” and she writes with great affection for both the poet and his hero.“—The Christian Science Monitor

“This is a powerful and rewarding novel, a intricately layered narrative that weaves many themes into its rich tapestry, and touches on subjects that remain urgent in our own time.“—The Globe and Mail

“Le Guin does a fantastic job of bringing a tertiary character to life… Trojan horses, Vergil’s The Aeneid, ancient Italy, prophecies and quick witted maidens: Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin offers a lot to like. I give it a 4 out of 5. High entertainment value.“—So Misguided

“Well-researched with epic battles and many interwoven threads, Le Guin has captured the spirit of Virgil’s work and presented it faithfully in her own measured, lyric prose. Le Guin’s Lavinia is a strong, fascinating woman, with a tale to rival any hero of old.”—Eclectic Closet

An FYI to TSN and their heartfelt commitment to the source who tells them the Leafs have actually spoken to Dave Nonis, a note from Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun:

Nonis denied early Thursday in an interview that anyone from the Leafs had even contacted him.

“I haven’t talked to anyone from Toronto at this time,” Nonis told TEAM 1040 radio in the morning. “Right now, Toronto is not one of the teams I’ve spoken to and we’ll see if they do contact me. I don’t really have any intentions of rushing into something unless it looks like something I have to do. I’d prefer to sit and wait. It’s still very early.”

TSN—who almost certainly listened to that same interview—still managed to come up with this:

Continue reading "Toronto Sports Network"

Today I stumbled upon a terrific hotel blog from a luxury property in Tanzania called Onsea House Arusha. This is one of the best examples of a hotel blog I have seen in a long time, and the author from Onsea House Country Inn & Guest Cottage does a wonderful job offering interesting, supportive and engaging information about Tanzania as a destination.

In a recent post, Onsea House revealed some interesting information about expansion plans from German-born Kempinski Hotels, which will include such locations as Comores Islands, Egypt, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Madagascar, Sudan, Nigeria, Mauritius, Mauritania, Burundi and many more.

Just before Africa’s largest travel show Indaba in Durban, South Africa, Kempinski top management revealed ambitious plans for the group during the 2008 Arabian Travel Market (ATM) which took place at the Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre from May 6 to 9.

“Kempinski Hotels has announced its intention to become a clear market leader in Africa, leading global tourism’s foray into the rapidly evolving continent with an unrivalled portfolio of diverse luxury properties - from spectacular city hotels and beach resorts to exotic eco forest retreats and game park lodges.’

>> Check out the entire article on the Onsea House blog...

Whalley to be designated Metro Vancouver's second downtown core. Looks like they're well on their way... Whats their dog boutique and "dollar" pizza count? I know they got Starbucks. (Thx to miss604 for those second two links.)

People in Vancouver would choose more transit over more roads, and apparently they want that transit free. Re:place re-posts this well written, in depth article, which includes a list of 17 reasons why transit fees should be covered by taxation. The Tyee originally published this series in 2007, but I missed it the first time around; kudos to re:place for resurrecting an idea that deserves renewed attention. Any thoughts in the wake of climbing fees and taserings?

How about a footbridge underneath Burrard instead of that expensive expansion?

The press is all over Salvia Divinorum lately. An extremely intense and mysterious psychoactive herb that's evaded criminalization. This was some seriously hot stuff five years ago at UBC, when people were picking it up from the (now relocated) 'Urban Shaman' out on Commercial Drive. I did it once, and never again. Not recommended for anyone but the most schizophrenically-inclined. Although I'm against it, I'm a sucker for a good link: videos of people smoking the stuff. Oh how glad I am we didn't have YouTube in my dorm days.

So Wal-Mart is looking at some mega Canadian expansion. Well, you might want to consider the environmental cost of shipping all that shit around. Essential viewing: Where do Wal-Mart products come from?. A list of Wal-Mart resources, including an article on how the business 'caught the China bug.'

How concious are you of buying locally? It's something I only really hear about when it comes to food...

More...

The Livable Region Coalition and the David Suzuki Foundation have just released the results of a Metro Vancouver poll that shows 60% of residents support expanding transit before expanding Highway 1 and twinning the Port Mann Bridge. Conducted by Synovate in early April with a sample size of 500, the poll also shows that 69% of Metro residents support re-directing money from the provincial roads budget to transit. The 2008 provincial budget has $826 million allocated to road building and only $63 million allocated to transit. See the questions and the results HERE.

This is quite excellent news that clears the air around the perceived support for freeway expansion- goes to show you that talk radio call-in shows are not an accurate measure of public opinion. Pundits take note.

More to share on this topic later, for now though please celebrate the good news and spread the word!

David Suzuki Foundation & Livable Region Coalition

News release

New poll shows majority of Metro Vancouver residents want better public transit, not expanded highways

May 7, 2008

VANCOUVER -- A new poll shows 69 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents support redirecting money away from road expansion projects toward a better public transit system.

The Synovate poll, conducted for the David Suzuki Foundation and the Livable Region Coalition, also showed 60 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents would choose rapid transit to Coquitlam, expanded bus and rapid transit service in Surrey and rapid transit out to UBC instead of twinning the Port Mann Bridge and widening Highway 1.

"The poll clearly shows there is a real need and a desire for better public transit across the Lower Mainland," said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation. "Investing in public transit will help make our transit system faster, more convenient and more direct. Widening highways and bridges simply puts more cars on the road, and makes the current traffic congestion problems worse."

The poll comes at a time when drivers in the Lower Mainland are seeking relief from painful prices at the gas pumps. It also comes during a push by the provincial government to cut B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions 33 per cent by 2020.

But, in direct contrast with its new plan to go green, the province still wants to twin the Port Mann Bridge and widen Highway 1.Transportation is already the biggest source of B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions.

Experience from around the world has shown that building more highways can actually lead to longer commutes, more sprawl and more time spent in cars, and eventually worsens traffic congestion instead of relieving it. Conversely, cities that have given priority to transit have reduced congestion and fewer emissions as a result.

"Now is the time for the Premier to rethink the Gateway project," said David Fields, coordinator, Livable Region Coalition. "Metro Vancouver residents support a transit-first approach by two to one. It is time to build a transportation system that can meet the challenges of climate change and achieve healthy communities."

- 30 -

The telephone poll contacted a random sample of 500 Metro Vancouver
residents between between April 9 and April 15, 2008. A random sample of
this size has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 per cent 19 times
out of 20. The poll was conducted by Synovate.

Complete poll results can be found online at:
http://www.cleanairradio.ca/Reports/TransitFirstPoll.pdf

A New York Times article reports on a recent American Academy of Science study showing that short-term exposure to smog leads to premature deaths.

A valuable and probably persuasive argument to use in opposition to highway expansion in general and to the Highway 1 Port Mann bridge expansion in particular.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Short-term exposure to smog, or ozone, is clearly linked to premature deaths that should be taken into account when measuring the health benefits of reducing air pollution, a National Academy of Sciences report concluded Tuesday.
The findings contradict arguments made by some White House officials that the connection between smog and premature death has not been shown sufficiently, and that the number of saved lives should not be calculated in determining clean air benefits.
The report by a panel of the Academy's National Research Council says government agencies ''should give little or no weight'' to such arguments.
''The committee has concluded from its review of health-based evidence that short-term exposure to ambient ozone is likely to contribute to premature deaths,'' the 13-member panel said.
It added that ''studies have yielded strong evidence that short-term exposure to ozone can exacerbate lung conditions, causing illness and hospitalization and can potentially lead to death.''
The White House Office of Management and Budget, which in its review of air quality regulations has raised questions about the certainty of the pollution and mortality link, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
''The report is a rebuke of the Bush administration which has consistently tried to downplay the connection between smog and premature death,'' said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a Washington-based advocacy organization.
Vickie Patton, deputy general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the Academy's findings ''refutes the White House skepticism and denial'' of a proven link between acute ozone exposure and premature deaths. Such arguments have been used to diminish the health benefits of reducing air pollution, she said.
The Academy panel examined short-term exposure -- up to 24 hours -- to high levels of ozone, but said more studies also were needed on long-term chronic exposure where the risk of premature death ''may be larger than those observed in acute effects studies alone.''
Ground-level ozone is formed from nitrogen oxide and organic compounds created by burning fossil fuels and is demonstrated often by the yellow haze or smog that lingers in the air. Ozone exposure is a leading cause of respiratory illnesses and especially affects the elderly, those with respiratory problems and children.
While premature death from ozone exposure is greater among individuals with lung and heart disease, the report said such deaths are not restricted to people who are at a high risk of death within a few days.
The scientists said they could not determine, based on a review of health studies, whether there is a threshold below which no fatalities can be assured from ozone exposure. If there is such a point, it is below the ozone levels allowed for public health.
Environmentalists and health advocates have argued that a string of health studies and surveys show that exposure to smoggy air not only aggravates respiratory problems, but causes thousands of deaths a year.
But in a number of instances the EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget, which reviews regulations, have been at odds over the certainty of a link between smog levels and deaths.
Patton said the OMB in a number of air pollution regulations has sought to minimize the relationship of pollution and premature deaths, resulting in a lower calculation of health benefits from pollution reductions.
''This has been used by industry to try to attack health standards by minimizing the societal benefits,'' said Patton.
One such case involves the EPA's decision last month to toughen the ozone health standard, reducing the allowable concentration in the air.
When the cost-benefit analysis was being prepared in connection with the rulemaking, the OMB argued there is ''considerable uncertainty'' in the association between ozone levels and deaths.
As a result, the EPA issued a wide cost-benefit range from an annual net societal cost of $20 billion to a savings of $23 billion, depending largely on whether one takes into account lives saved from ozone-related premature deaths.
OMB officials also have objected to the EPA quantifying ozone-related mortality benefits in new emissions standards for lawn mowers and other small engines that release large amounts of ozone-forming pollution.
In response, the EPA removed ''all references to quantified ozone benefits'' in the proposed rule, according to an e-mail sent by EPA to the OMB. The small engine regulation is awaiting final action.

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/news/story.html?id=2ba3bb7e-9d1e-4ffe-980e-a4e8b8730ee0&k=48967

Forum pushes light rail revival
At a Saturday forum, passenger rail advocates argued the cost benefits of reusing the old Interurban line.
Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance
Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Passenger rail in Langley makes sense, a group of rail advocates told local politicians and members of the public on Saturday.

At the six-hour rail forum organized by the Valley Transportation Advisory Committee (VALTAC) in the Township council chambers, the potential costs and benefits of a revived Interurban line were laid out.

Peter Holt, a VALTAC director, told the crowd that a rail line from Scott Road SkyTrain station to Langley's City centre could cost about $700 million, or about $27 million per kilometre.

He compared that to other recent or pending rail lines in the Lower Mainland.

The Canada Line, the Evergreen Line and the UBC Line have been costed at between $105 million to $233 million per kilometre of track, Holt said.

A rebuilt Interurban would be cheaper because it would run at ground level, along or beside already existing track, on an existing right of way.

The Interurban ran for more than 40 years through the Lower Mainland until being scrapped in the 1950s.

It went from Vancouver to Chilliwack, and the tracks are now used largely by heavy freight rail.

Holt's estimates are based on using simple diesel-powered community rail cars.

Eric Doherty of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) gave a Transit Lab 101 presentation, talking about the many light rail and bus options in use around the world.

His talk about the Zurich, Switzerland railcar system drew several questions and comments from the crowed. Zurich citizens twice defeated efforts to scrap their downtown rail system in referenda.

He also said that oil, and gasoline for cars, is unlikely to get much cheaper.

"Whether or now we're at the peak of [oil] production or close to it, the cheap easy-to-get-to oil is gone," Doherty said.

He talked about a variety of transit solutions, including rail and buses.

However, he noted that the South of the Fraser area is poorly served even for its current density, much less its future density.

Parts of Langley City and Surrey are already denser than large swathes of east Vancouver, Doherty said.

Transportation economist Stephen Rees noted that governments often seem more eager to spend money on roads than on rail lines.

"If you spend money on roads, that's investment," Rees said. "If you spend money on rail, that's subsidy."

He said that transit planning can be reactive, working to catch up to existing populations, or it can be used to shape future growth in the communities it serves.

While the crowd was not large, it included several Township councillors for a portion of the day. Steve Ferguson and Charlie Fox both appeared to ask questions of the panelists.

Councillor Kim Richter, who has publicly pondered running for mayor, was also in attendance, along with current mayor Kurt Alberts and mayoral candidate Rick Green.

Green said he may not agree with every detail espoused by the panelists, but he agrees with the overall idea.

The right of way and much of the track exists now, he said.

"We have this staring us right in the face," Green said.

SkyTrain doesn't make sense for Langley in the short term, and Green said he doubted that the $14 billion provincial transit plan recently announced will be able to do enough.
Langley should be proactive rather than reactive on its transit needs, Green said.

Alberts focussed on the need for a fully integrated transit system, not just rail.

There is a high level of interest in the rail link, he said, and he noted that the Township is working to keep rail options open for the future.

The province has pledged to study the Interurban option.

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com

A Delta development threatens to unleash sprawl, claimed critics and planning staff at last Friday's Metro Vancouver Board meeting.

“The maintenance of an established urban footprint and the avoidance of urban expansion across a wider area of the Lower Mainland will be necessary if Metro Vancouver is to become a more sustainable region,” the staff report argued.

The development, to expand the Tswwassen Golf and Country Club into former farmland, will create a new urban sub-centre on the periphery of existing development. Delta city staff and a representative of the Delta Farmer’s Institute attempted to portray the development as a green and sustainable project that will use LEED standards.

Director David Hocking of Bowen Island argued that making the development more sustainable through improving efficiency “was a drop in the bucket compared to how our communities are structured.” Director Suzanne Anton questioned why Delta city staff seemed keener to develop density on the urban edge in the green zone rather than working to create a more mixed-use, complete community in the existing urbanized area, something Delta has done nothing so far to correct. Delta staff agreed the density was in the wrong place.

Board members and a presenter also raised the spectre of the broader impact of the decision on farming. In deciding to initiate the removal of the land from the green zone, the Board has signaled more parcels of such land are up for grabs. Presenter Kent Warmington argued that speculators already own much of the ALR in Delta. By approving the removal of land for this development, more farmland would be purchased region-wide and the price of farmland would go up. “Nobody examined the effect on farmland of higher land prices,” argued Warmington. Director Harold Steves pointed out the land that was lost, despite being called unsuitable for agriculture, could be used for greenhouses.

The arguments for the preservation of the green zone boiled down to the protection of an ephemeral, regional “good.” In the end, this objective took second seat to the more shortsighted, parochial interests of municipalities and the need to accommodate such interests to get agreement on a new regional plan to replace the 12-year old Livable Region Strategic Plan (LRSP). “I am not a believer that the rigidity of the plan should deny municipal autonomy,” stated Metro Vancouver Land Use and Transportation Committee chair Derek Corrigan. “We won’t get a renewal of the LRSP if we are inflexible.” The motion passed with only Directors David Hocking, Hal Weinberg and Harold Steves opposed.

The next step will be a public hearing before the whole board. The date will be within the next month. It is considered an unusual move that may yet result in the Board opposing Delta’s plans of urban expansion should the public strongly oppose it.

Delta development to be scrutinized at public hearing
Frank Luba, The Province
Published: Sunday, April 27, 2008

Metro Vancouver board members took the unusual step of voting Friday to hold a public hearing to help decide the fate of a controversial golf course expansion and housing development in Delta.

Metro was only given the authority to hold a public hearing in provincial legislation in October, although it has held such hearings at the committee level when dealing with electoral districts like in 2003 and 2005.

But the whole board will be convened sometime in the next month to deal with a complicated proposal from prominent B.C. businessman Ron Toigo.

The managing director of Shato Holdings and owner of the Vancouver Giants junior hockey team wants to extend his Tsawwassen Golf and Country layout from its current executive course status, as well as build 437 residential units on a 55.4-hectare site south of Highway 17 and west of 52nd Street.

While the new housing would provide much-needed condo and townhouse alternatives in Delta and be built to high environmental standards, 11.5 hectares of the site would have to be removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Toigo is proposing to give Delta title to 4.37 hectares of prime agricultural property that could be used for industry. That property, and another 57.1 hectares of his property, would be placed under a covenant that would guarantee it be actively used for farming.

Delta resident Kent Warmington spoke against the proposal because he contends other landowners are sitting on agricultural property itching for a chance to develop the land.

"They get harder and harder to turn down," said Warmington.

Some of the board members also feared setting a precedent of allowing agricultural land to be turned into housing.

fluba@png.canwest.comm

Forward far and wide, let the joyous news be spread!
(with apologies for inevitable cross-postings)

CAR-FREE VANCOUVER DAY BULLETIN

Callout to ALL citizens, artists, activists, performers, pranksters and funsters

Car-Free Vancouver Day is less than two months away !! Get ready, to change EVERYTHING.

Sunday June 15th (Fathers Day) will see Car-Free Festivals going off all over the city. We expect 100,000 people to flood��the streets to celebrate their neighbourhoods and re-imagine what a more sustainable, ecological, ethical and genuinely cultural city might look like.

Other cities around the world are already doing this, and car-free streets are the way of the future. Let�s start taking back our streets, NOW!

The City is listening, and they are on our side. This is a huge opportunity to show/tell them what we really want: car-free streets, no more highways, and support for authentic urban culture.

All four Festivals are all deep into their organizing and have great crews working hard, and we would welcome anyone who wants to get involved in any capacity: organizers, volunteers, performers, anything.�Right now we are specifically calling out to all activists, artists, performers, organizations and creative trouble-makers, hoping you will all be coming out and causing a stir.

We encourage you to set up soapboxes, banners, art installations large or tiny, info tables, events, performances, games, gifting stations, interactive displays, parades, theatre pieces, interventions� pretty much whatever fun you can dream up. It�s your party so please do what you like best � we only ask that your activity be respectful (noise and spacewise), and that it be�free: free of charge, free of boring corporate stuff, free of cars.

There is tons of space for you to express yourself at Car Free Vancouver Day, so please get in touch and let us know what you have in mind.�If you're envisioning anything that may require a good chunk of space or a sound system of any sort, please check in with the Fest in question. This is an important courtesy and will help everything run harmoniously.

Car Free Vancouver Day isn't it about frickin� time?!

Check out www.carfreevancouver.org for more.

***************************

Next planning meetings:

Car-Free Commercial Drive
Tuesday, April 29th, 7pm-9pm
1707 Charles Street (through the wooden door around the corner from the Drive)
drivefest@carfreevancouver.org or call Craig at 604.320.6560.�
===

Car-Free Kitsilano
Ongoing multiple-block-party planning -
kitsilano@carfreevancouver.org or call Mel at�(604) 731-0599
====

Car-Free Main Street
Sunday, May 4th at 2:00pm
We will meet at JJ bean (Main and 14th Ave) and then walk up to Heritage Hall together as a group. Any late comers can wait at the front doors of the Heritage Hall to get let in (the doors will be locked).
mainstreet@carfreevancouver.org or�(778) 888-2440
===

Car-Free West End
Monday May 5, 7pm-9pm
Gordon Neighbourhood House,�1019 Broughton St. (@ Nelson)
CarFreeWestEnd@yahoo.ca or call Dave at 604-646-4615�

===
General information about Car Free Vancouver Day:
info@carfreevancouver.org

The National Trust has released a biodegradable, compostable gardening guide. on how to "cook" compost. Here is the trust's "starter for 10" on composting during national compost awareness week

A friend of mine is looking for a new job in the technology/marketing space (product marketing for a startup, digital marketing for a client, account person for a digital agency) and asked me for my favourite resources.  I came up with the following list:

• OneDegree Job Listings (of course) - mainly marketing, communications and social media positions.
• RedCanary Job Listings - Lots of tech jobs, particularly in the golden triangle, but have recently gotten a few in the US.
• TechVibes Blog Job Listings - Primarily West Coast; great resource.
• Digital Media Jobs Blog - This blog pulls the listings from Betaville. It has been mainly developer stuff, but every once in a while, something marketing-oriented comes across here.
• StandOut Jobs - it’s a Canadian startup itself, but they do a lot of career sites for Cdn startups.
• David Crow maintains a great list of job postings - a lot of UX positions as well as some at startups.
• Finally, the TorCamp group is one to monitor.

So, what others am I missing?  Not sites like Monster, but niche sites for jobs in this area.  Anything you'd like to share?

NASA studying possible manned trip to asteroid

That's a pretty good middle step between going to the
Moon and going to Mars. I might actually live to see this one.

Bob HughesThe Leader-Post
Friday, May 09, 2008

The quiet of a Saskatchewan spring afternoon gave away to the sound of cars grinding across country gravel roads. The moment they all knew would eventually come had arrived. Cop cars and trucks moved into the Little Black Bear First Nation, bringing with them a mixed sense of sadness, relief, anger and, perhaps, some despair.

The remains of the missing Amber Tara-Lynn Redman had been found buried on the reserve. Three years of pain and frustration, even a tinge of hope for a miracle, for the family of the 19-year-old were over.

The world had been looking for Amber Tara-Lynn Redman since the night she vanished after leaving a bar in Fort Qu'Appelle. Now, three years later, a closure of sorts. She has been found. And police have laid charges against the people they believe murdered her. The first man charged has a history of violent attacks on women.

By all accounts, this 19-year-old was on the threshold of living a great life. She was a beautiful young woman and those who knew her praised her personality and her intelligence. Her family wrote a poignant letter about Amber that described her in the way so many 19-year-old girls are described as being. They said she was "very special to us. Young, beautiful, intelligent, compassionate and kind, she loved and was cherished by all those around her."

And her life has been snatched away from her, and those around her, by another senseless act that ends in tragedy. There is such a feeling of emptiness when something like this happens. And it happens far too much. The feeling of sorrow mixed with emotions of hopelessness have visited Saskatchewan's native population far too many excruciatingly painful times.

There were the deaths of the two young children this year on a northern reserve when their drunken father took them out into a bitter winter night. They froze to death, and charges have been laid.

There remains the unsolved mystery of tiny Tamra Keepness, who disappeared in a night of partying from a house on Ottawa Street. The people who were in the house all say they were too drunk to remember what happened. A mere child, it is now almost four years since Tamra went missing. She has not been found. Nobody has been charged. And the investigation continues.

The loss of human life is always tragic. But when it happens to those so young and so vulnerable, to those who have so much waiting for them, then it becomes numbing. The numbers of native women and children who go missing increase every year, and the eyes of the elders on the reserves and in the cities grow weary of the tragedies they see inflicted on their people.

The problems confronting First Nations people are well documented, and they leave such a feeling of hopelessness it is astounding. Our jails are filled with native offenders. The streets are home to far too many young girls. For too many, booze and drugs are their escape from the realities of their lives.

Nobody seems to have an answer to turn it all around. Money is thrown around. Programs are started up. Governments fail miserably in confronting head-on what is happening out there in the gutters of our country. We live in good economic times, but it makes no difference to those who try to survive in the underbelly of our society.

And, so, two young children die because they are abandoned in a freezing winter night. And Tamra Keepness, innocent and harming nobody, disappears into the night. And Amber Tara-Lynn Redman is the innocent victim of somebody's rage. There are so many other tragic stories like these, it is frightening.

There is only one solution -- only one. First Nations people themselves have to accept full responsibility for what is happening to far too many of them. And instead of blaming somebody else for their troubles, they have to do something themselves. Nobody else can do it for them. It's their problem. It has to be their solution. And it has to come soon, before it is too late.

n Contact Hughes at bobhuges@sasktel.net

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008 Enter your Email


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Hi... I'm on the road in southern Ukraine... And alive! There has been little access to the internet... And I can't call back to Canada. Hopefully this text to blog post works. Much more on Facebook... Cheers!

Hi... I'm on the road in southern Ukraine... And alive! There has been little access to the internet... And I can't call back to Canada. Hopefully this text to blog post works. Much more on Facebook... Cheers!

Hi... I'm on the road in southern Ukraine... And alive! There has been little access to the internet... And I can't call back to Canada. Hopefully this text to blog post works. Much more on Facebook... Cheers!

... but I'm here in Canada, so it WAS a sloow glance.

.

From first to worst

It doesn’t take long to go from being a leader to a laggard. That’s what has happened with Canada’s forays into high-speed broadband – the communications network that drives the Internet.

At the start of this decade, Canada was a leader in the Internet Age. Maintaining this momentum, in 2001 the National Broadband Task Force issued a challenging report, setting as a national goal the linking of all communities across Canada by 2004 through high-speed broadband of 1.5 million bits of information every second.

But too little was done to achieve this goal, and today Canada has the dubious distinction of having one of the slowest and most expensive broadband networks among advanced economies. Not only that, there is little political interest in raising Canada’s status as a high-speed information society and little understanding of why this is so damaging to Canada’s future prospects.

Canada’s broadband prices are higher than 20 other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In fact, Canadian prices are nearly 30 times as high as those in Japan, 12 times as high as in France, 11 times as high as in Sweden and just over 10 times as high as in Korea. Canada also has one of the slowest average advertised broadband speeds, ranking 15th in the OECD. Compared with Canada, Japan’s downloading speeds are nearly 12 times as fast, France’s and Korea’s nearly six times as fast and Sweden’s three times as fast.

Why does this matter?

As Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington points out, the universal provision of high-speed broadband will deliver a wide range of benefits that is, in many ways, similar to those delivered by the universal provision of electricity and the telephone in earlier generations.

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Our community supports it. Former opponents now support it. Insite is proving it works.

You have all read about international surveys ranking Vancouver as one of the best places in the world to live, work and visit.

But for every one of those, you will also read about the social challenges of homelessness, drug addiction and mental health facing our city.

Recently, these issues have been raised in the context of the debate around Vancouver's supervised injection site (Insite) - the only one in North America.

Some opponents have described Insite as a big party with free drugs. As Mayor, I see it more like a palliative care facility.

Despite apparent reservations about the future of Insite, Prime Minister Harper and his government deserve credit for significant federal investments in drug treatment, prevention and mental health. Over $30 million will be allocated to Vancouver priorities thanks to these recent announcements.

These initiatives - combined with the BC government's leadership on social housing - have led to a renewed sense of hope that collaboration between all levels of government is a reality and a critical part of the solution for Vancouver.

We are working hard to ensure new supportive housing investments meet local demand - recognizing that we have more than 3,000 units of social housing on the way for the 1,500 Canadians homeless on Vancouver streets.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada is recognizing the social challenges of the Downtown Eastside as a national issue and charting a new course to help people suffering with the concurrent disorders of mental illness & drug addiction.

Among other things we are promoting prevention, street outreach teams, innovative treatment options and community partnerships to help women get out of prostitution.

In the fall, long term treatment beds will start to reopen at the Riverview mental health facility in Metro Vancouver. Canada's first Community Court will open this summer in the Downtown Eastside.

And at the end of next month - Canada's operating permit for Insite expires.

The renewal of Insite is an opportunity for the federal government to demonstrate its commitment to compassion and listening to the "grassroots".

The longer Insite remains open, the more our community supports it. In fact, some who were opposed to the site are now for it.

Failure to seize this opportunity will lead to more overdose deaths and infectious disease. A negative decision also has the potential to erode much of the goodwill generated by the recent actions I have described.

As Mayor of Vancouver, I have made it clear that I fully support the continuation of Insite - as much as I endorse the recent federal commitment to address concurrent disorders in Vancouver.

The bottom line is that Insite is part of the solution in Vancouver - not part of the problem.

By working together and responding to local priorities we can deliver hope, collaboration and a civil city from the bottom up - not the top down.

We can show the world in 2010 how a civil society can care for some of its most vulnerable and marginalized peoples. It is a challenge I know Canada can live up to.

We won't have a second chance.

Sam Sullivan
MAYOR

If you’re new to Get Elastic, every Friday we round up some great finds from the blogosphere to keep your eyes busy until Monday. Enjoy this week’s picks!

• Justin Palmer captures 3 innovative approaches to site navigation: solution-based, filter-based and image-based.

• James Bunzol shows an example of how Amazon’s Lightning Deals create Jellyfish-like urgency. I’m surprised we don’t see other retailers experimenting with this type of entertainment shopping.

• Aaron Wall goes into painstaking detail on SEO with What is a #1 Google Ranking Worth? This article actually has 9 sections, here’s a preview of what he covered:

* An Example of Applying This Data to a Live Business Scenario
* Google Rankings Can Make or Break a Business
* Appreciating Google’s Market Domination
* Establish a Baseline Keyword Value
* Typical Click Distribution Profiles
* Factors Modifying Click Distribution
* Tapping the Keyword Tail
* Improving Monetization via Scale
* Improve Your SEO Strategy Today

Grab a coffee and a notepad for this one.

• For you legal-eagles or controversy buffs (or PR folks, reputation managers and marketers) Jeremiah Owyang has an interesting commentary on the current brouhaha over a socially-conscious t-shirt designer and Louis Vuitton handbags.

  

  26 year old Nadia Plesner faces legal action by Louis Vuitton for using their product’s likeness in an anti-genocide awareness campaign. The image reflects Plesner’s concern that Paris Hilton’s accessories are more newsworthy than the suffering of our fellow man in Darfur. Since Louis Vuitton doesn’t really have anything to do with the situation, it feels this “brand-jacking” must be countered.

  Owyang outlines four options LV has in dealing with this problem, and has solicited his Twitter followers to weigh in with their opinions. Interesting stuff.

• Are you puzzled on how to convince upper level management to pay attention to social media marketing? Not sure how to approach it? Jeremiah Owyang has a nice roundup of his own tips in How Do I Talk To My Executives About Social Media?

• Forgive my Jeremiah Owyang fangirl-ness this week, but this is also interesting: A roundup of brands that got “punked” by social media.

• All you design-types will appreciate this gallery of Mother’s Day home pages courtesy of Ed Henrich. Oh, and if you haven’t gotten a gift for Mom yet, you might check out these sites for some ideas.

The Key to PPC for Online Retailers
Free webinar: May 15th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Ryan Gibson, Director of Marketing, The Rimm-Kaufman Group
Register to Attend

How’s that for a title?

First, we will explain each element in isolation.

No, first we will tell you what we’re going to tell you. Then we will tell you. Then we will tell you we’ve told you. I’ve been told that’s what to do.

Then, we will invoice you.

No, wait, that’s how it works in the corporatesphere, and the great part is, you get to bill for ALL of the above, plus the time you spend making shit up to talk about in the first place. But this is the Blogosphere, as differentiated from the Twittosphere. So, nobody is getting paid here.

Is this the point at which to mention that my canned Introduction to Social Media talk includes the song “Starfuckers, Incorporated?” Sure it is.

By the way, if I may be allowed to digress (and, since it is my own blog and raincoaster.com to boot it may truly be said that I am not only allowed to digress, but actually encouraged, nay, mandated to do so) and to name-drop as well (ditto, double) I would simply like to take this opportunity to mention that there is every indication and some considerable circumstantial evidence (moreso even than for the existence of fairies, of which we have written elsewhere at length) that this very website was visited by Trent Fucking Reznor. For realz.

< / squealingfangirl >

Thank you. And now, back to our irregularly-scheduled blog post.

Drupal Camp Vancouver is nothing like Girl Guide Camp; for one thing the gender ratio is all wrong, and for another there are no s’mores. So, like, damn.

But once you get over that, it’s not so bad. First of all, it begins, as do all good things which don’t involve pubic lice, with a free drink ticket. In my case, because I am impecunious in the extreme and gifted with a sense of entitlement larger than the Grand Banks, it began with two, actually, because Dave is a self-declared old hippie and susceptible to the charms of a self-declared old goth such as myself, particularly if she’s heavy on the “just got through teaching blogging to the marginalized population of the Downtown Eastside” speil, which I am wont to do just about whenever I wont to, which is definitely when it will give me free drinks, which is something I always wont except possibly at breakfast and even then I might just wont to pour it into a handy Wellington boot and save it for later.

It IS the Downtown EastSide, yo.

Tomorrow it continues (remember Drupal Camp? It’s a blog post about Drupal Camp) with me volunteering. I have been assured/assurances have been made unto me that there is no reason to turn my world upside-down by presenting myself in, like, the morning. Thank god; I’d thought for a second they were going to be unreasonable or something. So for tomorrow the plan is that I will show up at some point and try to be more useful than annoying, although those of you who know me are aware that it tends to be a wash, whatever the amplitude or volume in question.

And after Drupal Camp packs up its Pug tents and its GPS-ess and stainless steel travel mugs for the day, I am to assist at Code Sprint, an event which I have neither witnessed nor participated in, but I am prepared to wear a festive hat and consume mint juleps and shoot the second-place finisher if that is what it takes.

Too soon?

Come and “jam” with fellow creatives, both technical and non-technical, from 6pm to 9pm. There’s activities for right and left brainers, er, themers and coders, alike! The plan is for coders to focus on methods for adding mobile content and themers to focus on the creation of a mobile-friendly black-on-white theme. Don’t worry about your skill level, everyone can participate.

The Fearless Media Project facilitates community participation in the creation of media and community dialogue on issues relevant to people in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver.

Which brings us to Fearless City Media. Which I told Scott I would link to once that bloody SEO-slaughtering splash page was ripped pixel by pixel out of the cyberverse and thrown into the deepest pit of Hell, but what the hell, I lied: sue me. Fearless City is what I do with my Thursday nights, manifesting the promise of equality and emancipation implicit in the Digital Revolution and bridging the Digital Divide by leading a blogging workshop for some of the most marginalized people in North America. I do this in the back room of an art gallery which works with artists suffering from mental illness or the aftereffects of abuse, in a neighborhood where, according to Statistics Canada, the average life expectancy is 33 years, lower than any nation on Earth.

What did you do Thursday night?

Yes, even I find me insufferable sometimes. Still. What did you?

The Mission

The purpose of the Fearless Media Project is to facilitate community participation in the creation of media and community dialogue on issues relevant to people in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver. This cultural initiative connects documented visions and practises with community priorities and goals. With oversight from the DTES Community Arts Network coordinating body (CANCore), Fearless functions as a portal to arts and culture in “the heart of the city.”

Fearless functions as a community arts initiative that prioritizes an inclusive process and involvement of people in media making. Context is central; this media is situated in more public, accessible and resonant places, geared to a specific audience and a specific time. Fearless is reflective of and responsive to the DTES community.

Fearless fosters engagement with the community by giving voice to the experiences of local people and amplifying their stories. The community-building dynamic happens in many ways: by providing access to resources and training people in media production; by bringing people together to address community issues and explore the rich culture of the Downtown Eastside; and by cultivating understanding through listening and dialogue.

And this video right here is what I tried (and failed…maybe Code Sprint will fix this?) to post on my Fearless City blog: The Adventures of Homeless James Bond, which I stole from The Homeless Guy, an American blogger who’s been blogging since before raincoaster was a twinkle in Cthulhu’s third eye, posting from libraries and public computers all over his hometown.

The revolution is coming. And it will be Fabulous.

Class War in Blood Alley? And what happens to the losers?