People are funny like that.....

Subject: DR Oz advice H1N1

2009-10-30T08:41:00.001-03:00

Subject: DR Oz advice H1N1

The following advice, given by Dr. Oz, makes a lot of sense and is important
for all to know:

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global
epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact
with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a
problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection,
in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development
of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe.)
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on
an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water, or hydrogen peroxide. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose softly once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know who might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.

RED SKELTON'S RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

2009-09-10T00:14:00.001-03:00

1. Two times a week, we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food and companionship. She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.

2. We also sleep in separate beds. Hers is in California and mine is in Texas.

3. I take my wife everywhere..... but she keeps finding her way back.

4. I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. "Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said. So I suggested the kitchen.

5. We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker. She said "There are too many gadgets and no place to sit down!" So I bought her an electric chair.

7. My wife told me the car wasn't running well because there was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was; she told me "In the lake."

8. She got a mud pack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.

9. She ran after the garbage truck, yelling "Am I too late for the garbage?" .... The driver said "No, jump in!"

10. Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.

11. I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her irst name was Always.

12. I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.

13. The last fight was my fault though. ! My wife asked "What's on the TV?"
I said "Dust!"

Can't you just hear him say all of these? I love it.........this is the good old days when humor didn't have to start with a four letter word........ just clean and simple fun

This may be the best Living Will I've Seen

2009-05-27T10:52:00.001-03:00

I,__________________, being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be
kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.

Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead
politicians who couldn't pass ninth grade biology if their lives
depended on it, or lawyers/doctors interested in simply running up the
bills.

If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to ask for at least one
of the following:
Glass of wine
Chocolate
Margarita
Sex
Martini
Cold Beer Chocolate
Chicken fried steak
Cream gravy
Sex
Mexican food
Chocolate
French fries
Chocolate
Pizza
Sex
Ice cream
Cup of tea
Chocolate
Chocolate
Sex
Chocolate

It should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a
determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and
attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes, let the 'fat
lady sing,' and call it a day!

Have a Drink IT'S 5 O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE

Technorati Tags: Humor,Living will,Les Muise

NEW MARKETING HUB LAUNCHED FOR CANADIAN CONFERENCES

2009-05-07T20:59:00.001-03:00

PRESS RELEASE

- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

NEW MARKETING HUB LAUNCHED FOR CANADIAN CONFERENCES - ConferenceZone.net aims to boost visibility of conferences, visitors to Canadian cities, and competitive positioning of small business and non-profit sectors.

Ottawa, ON – May 6, 2009 – Canadian cities, small businesses, and non-profit organizations are now able to enhance their visibility on a website designed to promote conferences and the vendors that serve them. ConferenceZone, billed as Canada’s Find a Conference – Plan a Conference – Serve a Conference Destination, provides free membership and access for meeting planners in 24 cities to promote their upcoming events; receive information, news, and trends on the conference planning industry; and to identify reputable vendors and professional service providers. As the ailing economy is poised to further impact the declining tourism industry in 2009, ConferenceZone, to be promoted online and in print across Canada and around the world, will be a useful tool to promote meeting facilities, attractions and events, and local hospitality.

“ConferenceZone is a bright-spot in these tough economic times for conference planners and for the local vendors that cater to them,” says Melissa Peneycad, Principal at Nova Vista Strategy Group Inc. “Building communities is our passion and we are delighted to work with so many talented small businesses and non-profit organizations across Canada to increase their visibility and positioning in the marketplace.”

In June, a comprehensive directory of reputable meeting vendors and other professionals that serve the conference industry will be launched to provide additional resources for meeting planners. To qualify for a profiled listing each vendor must meet a pre-determined criterion that affirms them as small business and non-profit-friendly. This summer, students from universities across Canada are being hired to meet with businesses to promote ConferenceZone and to evaluate their qualifications for vendor membership.

Advanced online tools, currently in development, will soon be made available for planners to enable conference delegates to register, receive their schedules and programs, access live webinars, and evaluate their events online. Vendors will receive email alerts whenever a conference is newly listed in their city and a planner has indicated a need for their product or service.

“This year has been presented significant economic challenges for small businesses and non-profit organizations, and ConferenceZone is a positive solution”, says Dr. Wayne Adams, former Nova Scotia provincial cabinet minister and Sr. Principal of Nova Vista Strategy Group Inc. “We feel confident that by increasing the visibility of thousands, we can help curb the economic losses that our sectors have sustained.”

- 30 -

For more information about ConferenceZone, please visit www.ConferenceZone.net, call M. Daniel Roukema, President & Sr. Consultant, Nova Vista Strategy Group Inc. at (613) 683-5979, or email droukema@novavista.ca.

About Nova Vista Strategy Group Inc.

Nova Vista Strategy Group Inc. is an Ottawa-based company with associates in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan that provides small businesses and non-profit organizations with the strategies and tools required to enhance their visibility, positioning, and overall competitive advantage in the marketplace. The firm specializes in web solutions, public engagement and facilitation, and non-profit management consulting. For more information visit www.novavista.ca or email droukema@novavista.ca.

Technorati Tags: ConferenceZone,Novavista,Daniel Roukema,Dr. Wayne Adams

GM and Segway create new vehicle

2009-04-07T09:18:00.004-03:00

GM and Segway create new vehicle

The electric-powered PUMA has a top speed of 35mph
US carmaker General Motors is joining with scooter maker Segway to make a new type of two-seat electric vehicle. The prototype, which will be debuted in New York, is aimed at urban driving. GM aims to start making them by 2012.

The vehicle, named Puma, can go as far as 35 miles on a single charge. It will use lithium-ion batteries. GM, having been bailed out by the US government as car sales have dropped, is looking to smaller vehicles to secure its future.

Puma stands for personal urban mobility and accessibility.

'Dramatically different' GM has already received at least $13bn in aid from the US government and seems likely to enter bankruptcy. It is looking to more environmentally-friendly models as consumers have abandoned their expensive trucks and cars.

"We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility," said Jim Norrod, chief of Segway.

Segway introduced its personal transporter in 2002 and has sold more than 2,000 in the UK.
They are capable of speeds up to 12mph and cost £4,795.

The personal scooters came to international prominence when US President George W Bush fell off one while on holiday in 2003.

2009-01-12T08:19:00.006-04:00

Detroit 2009: Lincoln MKT debuts with a big, toothy smile

by Chris Paukert on Jan 12th 2009 at 12:01AM

Click above for high-res image gallery of the 2010 Lincoln MKTFord has a major-league hit on its hands with the 2009 Flex crossover – with the media. Sadly, despite its varied and considerable charms, sales haven't met the Blue Oval's admittedly lofty expectations. Blame the recession, blame the marketing department, blame the Flex's divisive styling, blame what you will, but Dearborn is plainly going to have to find more volume for its D4 platform. Enter the 2010 Lincoln MKT.It doesn't take more than a brief glance to realize that Ford's stylists have exacted much more than a quick nip/tuck on the rectilinear Flex en-route to minting this new Lincoln. But beyond the crossover's assertive looks, there is a host of new technology on offer inside and out that should help put the MKT on luxury crossover shopping lists. Follow the jump to learn more about the MKT and read Lincoln's official press release.
Gallery: 2010 Lincoln MKT
Starting with the MKT's most obvious discussion point, its sheetmetal, it is clear that Ford has gone in a different direction – literally. Whereas the Flex comes about its styling primarily through the use of horizontal lines, the MKT's design has a decidedly vertical orientation. From its two-piece wing grille, to the character ridge running down the hood, to its surprisingly crisp corners, the MKT is very much its own crossover. It's also very much a Lincoln, with its end-to-end taillamps and fast-becoming trademark two-piece wing grille. Few are likely to call the MKT "pretty," but in the metal, there's no doubting its originality or its presence.

Read the rest of this blog......

Halifax’s Finest Aggressive Panhandlers

2008-10-28T01:07:00.001-03:00

Les Muise Consulting

Monday, October 27, 2008

Posted to MyHalifaxCa Panhandlers

The following is the Introduction to an opinion piece developed by request for MacKay Fashions of Halifax to be used to begin a discussion within the business and civic concerns with the objective of finding a better way to deal with the panhandlers of Downtown Halifax.

It’s time to deal with the issue….

Panhandling is a challenging issue faced by cities of all sizes, and one that affects Halifax as well. The experience of numerous professionals and service agencies finds that money given to panhandlers often only enables self-destructive behaviors like alcoholism and drug addiction.

One former panhandler and addict has even stated, "Giving money to a panhandler is like giving a gun to someone who is suicidal.

I think it was mid November of 1997 and I was sitting in the Great Taste Coffee Shop on Spring Garden Road enjoying a brew and writing in my journal. I was not aware of where he came from or when he arrived but suddenly, there was a little man sitting at my table. He was in rough shape having fallen and broke an arm, he had not shaved in a couple of days, he had no teeth, his fingers were deeply stained by nicotine, and he was cold, hungry and the smell… God the smell, it just about turned my stomach.

The conversation began with his statement that it had been a hard day and he was considering walking out to the middle of the Angus L Mc Donald Bridge and jumping.

My instant response was ‘I don’t know you from a hole in the ground but I figure if you’ve made it this far in life…. You’re too stubborn to do that.”

That was the day that I met ‘Terry M’ a paranoid schizophrenic who had lived with his parents on Cunard St till they died and had a room of his own [these days at Turning Point] in a know flop house. Terry had never traveled past the Halifax Commons, had memorized every word in three dictionaries and would give you the correct spelling, pronunciation, and use it in conversation…. several times in one sitting. He had a memory for detail as good as anyone I know but could never keep a job.

Tommy Boutilier, left, an on-street support worker, chats with a panhandler named Liam, while walking along Spring Garden Road in Halifax. – Halifax Herald

At the time Terry was one of a handful of regular panhandlers that you would see around town. Over the years I’ve watched, tried to help and got frustrated seeing my little friend loose ground in his life. He survives on $385.00 per month from Community Services and every check day his property owner drives him to Sobey’s on Queen and waits while Tarry cashes his check, takes $350.00 for rent and leaves Terry with $35.00 for a months worth of food.

No wonder he panhandles.

Anyone who spends time on Spring Garden Road, Argyle Street, Barrington Street or on the Waterfront [as I do] and is slightly aware of his/her surroundings should see the whole picture. You cannot help but have a certain amount of compassion for the street people like Terry M who for one reason or another have fallen through our so-called social safety net. As a community, we are failing to provide a safe, healthy and caring life for these individuals and that has to change.

Every situation has two sides and though I have a soft spot for the position in which people like Terry M find themselves I have also had to deal with the constant harassment, insults, threats and potential violence of navigating the downtown core of Halifax. As you read this document, you will read several personal accounts of both the good & bad side of our streets. In addition, remember … Big changes come as a result of many small steps.

Read More…….

11 Ways to Calm Down an Angry Woman

2008-09-10T19:58:00.001-03:00

Yes, 1.5 million women are physically assaulted by their partners every year, but so are 835,000 men, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Next time your little honeybee turns mad as a hornet, here's how to stop the buzzing before her fire turns to fight. You've already tried pretending to be invisible, right? How'd that work?
1. Lower Your Thermostat
Whatever you do, don't get angry. Surprisingly enough, she won't consider it righteous; she'll just get more pissed off, and a little self-righteous besides. If you feel yourself heating up, just remember that "she can't make you angry," says Paul Hauck, Ph.D., an Illinois psychologist and author of How to Cope with People Who Drive You Crazy and Overcoming Frustration and Anger. "And you didn't make her feel angry. She did. You may be responsible for her problem, but not her emotional reaction.

2. Don't Feed Her Data
"A man generally tries to win an argument by coming up with facts that are totally meaningless to her," says Michael Staver, the author of 21 Ways to Defuse Anger and Calm People Down. "She filters that as being disrespectful and not listening, which ticks her off all the more."

3. Own Up . . . Maturely
"If you're wrong, just admit it," says Staver. "But don't do it in a condescending way."

4. Tune In
"If she has a big problem," says Hauck, "you'd better listen." And don't wait till swords are drawn. Like an orgasm, anger follows a bell curve—at the top you're completely out of your mind. So if you're seeing signs of frustration (a sigh or roll of the eyes), you'd better start listening quick, for the apex is near and things are about to go downhill fast.

5. Take a Step Back
"You don't have to agree," says Staver. "But acknowledge her perceptions as real. It shows that you respect her." Often, her anger is triggered because she believes something's 1) unfair, 2) out of her control, or 3) a personal attack. Address these concerns.

6. Assert Your Eyes
If you can't make eye contact, it means you're becoming angry. But if you can, it shows you're listening. Psychologists have seen a classic pattern in marital fights: The wife gets mad, the husband shuts down, the wife goes nuts. You shut down because you want to avoid a battle, but she thinks you're avoiding (here comes that dreaded word) intimacy.

7. Get Engaged
Ask questions. "It shows you're listening, and it implies you want to listen to her more," says Staver.

8. Hit the Road—Together

Taking a walk may sound dumb, but it's actually a neat trick. Physically, you just got her to move with you, rather than against you. "Taking a walk is calming," says Susan Heitler, a Denver clinical psychologist and author of The Power of Two. If the argument reaches crisis mode, however, remove yourself from the situation until it's clear the ranting is over.

9. Use Magic Phrases

Heitler suggests three: Yes, I agree. You're right. I'm sorry. Nothing disarms an attacker faster than taking her side. So find something, anything, to agree on. We're not suggesting you cave in, but find some small plot of common ground.

10. Use Anger as a Meter

Heitler compares anger to a Geiger counter—it can alert you to a problem. "What it's not good for," she quickly adds, "is solving a problem."
11. Set Limits

"You get the behavior you tolerate," says Hauck. If her rage is a little too melodramatic, a little too frequent, a little too abusive, you want to give her exactly two chances to change, he says.

Broswer War??? Here we go.....

2008-09-07T16:25:00.001-03:00

clipped from www.readwriteweb.com

Rocket Scateboard????

2008-09-07T12:28:00.001-03:00

Some people are not just funny ..... they are crazy!!!!

clipped from www.reuters.com

Police hunt high-speed skateboard outlaw

By Josie Cox

BERLIN (Reuters) - Police are trying to track down a man filmed riding a skateboard down a steep stretch of south German motorway at 100 km an hour (62 mph), far above the speed limit.

They believe the man who raced down the Ulm-Stuttgart motorway for three km (two miles) before he stopped and fled was a professional stuntman, Goeppingen police spokesman Uli Stoeckle said.

A video of the skateboarder, broadcast on German television networks on Wednesday, showed a helmeted figure wearing a red and white protective suit building up speed by holding onto the back of a motorcycle before letting go and freewheeling.

"We put out an all-points bulletin and have received information that gives us useful clues to who the man may be," Stoeckle said. "We are particularly concerned about copycats who may imitate the stunt, putting their lives at risk."

Every once in a while.... the get cought!!!

2008-09-04T19:21:00.001-03:00

clipped from www.cbc.ca

4 arrested in $1.8M defrauding of Calgary company

Last Updated:
Thursday, September 4, 2008 | 2:09 PM MT

Calgary police say they have arrested members of an organized crime group from Montreal accused of defrauding a Calgary business of $1.8 million.

Officers with the commercial crime unit said Thursday that the four men — charged with fraud — hacked into a database and falsely inflated the value of debit cards.

Police said the accused made cash withdrawals on the cards at several ATMs throughout Canada and in a number of other unnamed countries. Most of the Canadian withdrawals happened in Montreal.

All four were arrested in Montreal and transported to Calgary on Tuesday.

The seven-month investigation was a joint effort of police from Montreal, Vancouver and the United States Secret Service.

Calgary police are expected to release more details later Thursday.

Too much information required...

2008-09-03T21:40:00.001-03:00

Finally there is a limit to the amount of personal information that can be required by retailers when completing a transaction..... need to know only....

clipped from www.cbc.ca

Furniture chain ordered to stop collecting driver info

Last Updated:
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 | 1:04 PM MT
Comments15 Recommend27

CBC News

A national furniture chain is no longer allowed to collect numbers from driver's licences and licence plates when customers pick up merchandise at its stores in Alberta, according to a ruling released Wednesday by the province's information and privacy commissioner.

Leon's Furniture has also been ordered to destroy driver's licence and plate information it has collected from other customers for the same reason.

The ruling stems from a complaint by a woman who went to a Leon's Furniture store in Calgary to pick up furniture for her daughter in January 2007.

The daughter had ordered the furniture, and paid deposit the previous month. At the time of purchase, the younger woman indicated her mother would be picking up the item when it arrived.

When the woman asked why she had to provide the information, she was told it was store policy.

The times they are a changing...

2008-08-30T17:05:00.001-03:00

From this weeks Time web site...

clipped from www.time.com

GPS Helps Prosecute Criminals

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008
By AP/MITCH STACY

Garmin GPS units, similar to this one can be used in court cases to pinpoint for jurors the places defendants have bee

Chris O'Meara / AP

Like millions of motorists, Eric Hanson used a GPS unit in his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to find his way around. He probably didn't expect that prosecutors would eventually use it too — to help convict him of killing four family members.

Prosecutors in suburban Chicago analyzed data from the Garmin GPS device to pinpoint where Hanson had been on the morning after his parents were fatally shot and his sister and brother-in-law bludgeoned to death in 2005. He was convicted of the killings earlier this year and sentenced to death.

Hanson's trial was among recent criminal cases around the country in which authorities used GPS navigation devices to help establish a defendant's whereabouts.

Ferrari to build a Hybrid????

2008-07-08T17:28:00.002-03:00

Always at the leading edge of automobile design & development the king of the world has seen the light and accepted that the future for auto enthusiasts may well be a hybrid ... at least if they can successfully package a 'new' hybrid ... you know it will be powerful and FAST!!!

clipped from devicedaily.com

Posted on 08 July 2008

Ferrari Planning To Build A Hybrid Sportscar

I think that there is no need in reminding you that greenhouse gases are affecting the air which is more and more polluted. Due to this problem, car manufacturers are forced to design greener cars that will not have negative impacts on the environment.

We all know what Toyota managed to do as the Prius is the most renowned hybrid-car in the world. A while ago, the European Council came up with a new rule which will lead the automakers to manufacture cars with an 130g/km limit of the CO2 levels by 2012. This ruling would ruin the business of supercar manufacturers like Ferrari or Lamborghini.

In a recent interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said that they are planning to reduce CO2 levels by 40% before 2012. They will make it possible thanks to a new hybrid technology and Ferrari might build cars powered by turbocharged V6 engines which are smaller and more fuel-efficient.

Plug-In Hybrid Leads Toyota's Drive Beyond Oil

2008-06-16T18:50:00.001-03:00

By Chuck Squatriglia June 11, 2008 | 5:59:37 PMCategories: Hybrids

Toyota, rightly or wrongly, is widely considered the greenest automaker, and the company hopes to solidify its hold on the title and move beyond oil through a sweeping plan to produce cleaner, more efficient cars -- beginning with a plug-in hybrid it will produce by 2010.

It's no secret Toyota's been working on a plug-in hybrid to compete against the forthcoming Chevrolet Volt, but Wednesday's announcement sets a firm deadline and makes it clear Toyota has no plans of ceding the green mantle to General Motors. It also underscores how quickly the race to build a viable mass-market electric car is heating up.

The company's ambitious "low-carbon" agenda includes cranking out 1 million hybrids a year and eventually offering hybrid versions of every model it sells. In the short-term, Toyota says it will produce more fuel efficient gasoline and diesel engines and push alternative fuels like cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. It's also pumping big money into lithium-ion batteries. With fuel prices going through the roof and auto sales going through the floor because of it, Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe says the auto industry has no choice but to move beyond petroleum.

"Without focusing on measures to address global warming and energy issues, there can be no future for our auto business," he told reporters in Tokyo, adding, "Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power train(s) for alternative energy sources."

Watanabe's reference to peak oil echoes that of GM CEO Rick Wagoner, who in explaining the company's decision to shut down four truck factories said rising fuel prices and mounting demand for efficient cars are "structural, not cyclical." In other words, the two biggest automakers in the world realize petroleum's days are numbered.

That's not to say the wells will run dry anytime soon or the bulk of Toyota's cars won't rely upon internal combustion for many years to come. "People often ask us whether the vehicles of the future will be hybrid vehicles or clean diesel cars or electric vehicles," Watanabe said. "Our answer is that it will not be one technology because energy situations vary from one market to another."

Still, Toyota is betting heavily on batteries to increasingly augment gasoline. The world's leading producer of hybrids -- worldwide sales of the Prius recently topped 1 million, 10 years after its introduction -- wants to stay there by producing that many hybrids each year "as early in the 2010s as possible." Looking further into the future, Watanabe says Toyota will introduce hybrid versions of every car in its line-up sometime between 2020 and 2029.

Reaching those goals will require bringing down the cost of lithium-ion batteries, which currently cost $1,000 per kilowatt hour, according to Tom Turrentine of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC-Davis.

Toyota is joining longtime battery partner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in launching a program to develop batteries it says will outperform lithium-ion batteries. It's assigning 50 engineers to the project, according to Reuters, and plans to begin producing batteries next year. Full production is slated for 2010, although Toyota isn't saying how many it might build. It also plans to continue building the nickel-metal hydride batteries it currently uses in hybrids.

The third-generation Prius, due next year, will use NiMH batteries. The plug-in hybrid coming in 2010 will use lithium-ion batteries and will "be geared toward fleet customers in Japan, (the) United States and Europe," the company said. There's no word on when it might be offered to the rest of us, but Toyota promises to "accelerate development of small electric vehicles for mass production."

Toyota isn't giving up on internal combustion, though. It's already revamping its engines to make them more efficient, developing 1.3- and 2.5-liter engines that will propel much of its line-up by 2010. The smaller of the two is fitted with a start-stop system to maximize fuel economy. Toyota also plans to roll out a six-speed manual transmission this fall. It's also working with outside partners to develop cellulosic ethanol from yeast and diesel fuel from biomass. And, like everyone else in the industry, Toyota pushing hydrogen and its FCHV-adv fuel-cell vehicle.

Photo: Flickr user unumediastudio.

Yahoo! Buzz

Stumble

ShareThis

What lies beneath Crimp’s scripts?

2008-06-01T16:59:00.001-03:00

Three actors from Angels and Heroes present three takes on dark comedies at Bus Stop Theatre
By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter sun. Jun 1 - 4:31 AM

Garry Williams, left, Ann Doyle and Stewart Legere perform in Fewer Emergencies, a series of three plays written by Martin Crimp. Richie Wilcox, Tara Patriquin and Tyler Foley each direct one of the dark comedies in the production, running Tuesday to June 8, at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St., Halifax. (Eric Wynne / Staff)

How much information is too much?

In Fewer Emergencies, being staged by Angels and Heroes at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St., Halifax, Tuesday to Sunday, June 8, both oversharing and not sharing enough come in for scrutiny.

Written by Martin Crimp, the series of three plays — Whole Blue Sky, Face to the Wall and Fewer Emergencies — were designed to be performed together, says Richie Wilcox, A&H co-founder.

""They are 20 minutes each, but Martin Crimp packs a lot into a small script. You get more out of it than a three-hour play.""

Wilcox, who has just finished up his master’s degree in theatre directing at Texas State University, directed Face to the Wall in Texas and loved it so much he sent the scripts back to Halifax.

""(A&H) co-founder Tara Patriquin suggested we divvy them up as we have three talented directors in our company and we thought it would be interesting to see three different styles in one night.""

The first piece, Whole Blue Sky directed by Wilcox, focuses on a failed marriage. The second, Face to the Wall directed by Tyler Foley, explores the questions surrounding a school-shooting massacre and the third, Fewer Emergencies directed by Patriquin, refers back to the family in Whole Blue Sky and focuses on their injured child.

The plays feature performances by Ann Doyle, Stewart Legere and Garry Williams, founder of DaPoPo theatre.

Legere, who starred in Antigone and Oh Dad, Poor Dad with A&H and Penny Dreadful with Zuppa Circus, for which he won a Merritt Award as Nova Scotia’s best supporting actor earlier this year, thinks working with the three directors is an awesome idea.

He’s worked with both Wilcox and Foley as directors before and with Patriquin as an actor.

""There was no way to say no,"" he says, over a late breakfast at Smith’s Bakery. ""With the limited time to put it together (two-and-a-half weeks) it’s a challenge. The commitment is huge, but exciting.""

""The plays are very open, just text. At the first reading it seemed very absurd, and hard to place a throughline or plot. But as you go along, you can really see what each is about.

""The plays are very character driven. Whole Blue Sky is about a woman and the difference between how her life looks and what really lies underneath the surface.

""The second one deals with a school shooting in a very frank but not gratituous way. It’s graphic, but discusses the events from a distance.

""Fewer Emergencies is the hardest, it’s a discussion about the state of the world and desensitization.""

Legere says because of the pace, the production is constantly engaging.

""It’s like how every song in a musical constantly advances the plot and character. Things are born and die within a little movement.""

It is interesting to see the same three actors play different characters, says Wilcox, who suspects the audience will make connections.

And he believes the writing is more important than the setting.

""It will translate to anywhere, it could be done in thousands of ways. . . in the Oval Office, in a diner, on Parliament Hill.

""At the centre of the scripts is the judgment of what society truly values presented in biting satire.

""It is pretty much all dark humour. One of the clearest manifestations of what I consider the mandate of Angels and Heroes to be. It’s absolutely silly and absolutely sublime,"" agrees Legere.

Wilcox, who will head to York University in Toronto this fall to take a PhD in theatre with a view to teaching and directing, says what sets Crimp’s scripts apart is that they are so theatrical.

""So many scripts that you read today can be translated easily to film, but these, on every level are theatrical.""

""They demand intensity. You need a clear idea from the actor and director or it falls apart,"" concurs Legere, who was also nominated for a Merritt for best supporting actor for Antigone (directed by Foley for Angels and Heroes).

While each of the actors in Fewer Emergencies plays more than one character, each of the three plays has one featured actor.

""I really have gotten to delve into my character in Face To the Wall,"" says Legere. ""He goes to some very dark places. We’ve all gone too far with something, or said something we might regret. This is a blown-up version of that and I can relate to it.

""We have to consider what is private and how responsible we should be for sharing our minds."

And while in Whole Blue Sky the audience finds out way too much information about the state of the woman’s marriage, in Fewer Emergencies the characters don’t say enough.

""It’s the opposite of oversharing. They allow themselves to be silence and do do violence to themselves in the same way oversharing does violence to other people.""

Tuesday is pay-what-you-can night. Wednesday to June 8 shows are 8 p.m. and June 8 there is a 2 p.m. matinee. There is no show Friday.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or reserved in advance by calling 223-5371.

( anemetz@herald.ca)

Facebook To Open Source Facebook Platform

2008-05-27T10:11:00.001-03:00

Michael Arrington

71 comments »

Sometime soon, perhaps this week, Facebook will turn the year-old Facebook Platform into an open source project, multiple sources have told us. The immediate effect will be to allow any social network to become Facebook Platform compatible - meaning application developers can easily take their Facebook applications and have them run on those social networks, too.

Bebo already licenses the Facebook Platform, which allows third parties to make their Facebook applications work on Bebo, too. With the new announcement, social networks won’t need to go through the hassle of doing a deal with Facebook. They’ll simply map their existing APIs to Facebook Platform (which isn’t trivial) and go. Expect to see the four major technical pieces of Facebook Platform - FMBL (markup language), FQL (query language), FJS (Javascript library) and the Facebook API to be open sourced and made available to anyone.

If they mirror the Open Social approach, third parties will be free to change the Facebook Platform components for their own use and deploy them on their own sites. To have those changes be incorporated into the official versions of Facebook Platform, however, would require Facebook’s approval.

This is a nearly inevitable response to Open Social, which is backed by Google, MySpace and Yahoo. Open Social is also an open source platform, run the the Open Social Foundation. Facebook has been looking more and more like a walled garden of late, and they are being regularly out maneuvered by competitors. Time to fight back.

minimize

CrunchBase Information

Facebook

Website:
facebook.com

Location:
Palo Alto, California, United States

Founded:
February 1, 2004

Funding:
$493M

On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, a social network that was at the time exclusively for Harvard students. It was a huge hit, in 2 weeks, half of the student body… Learn More

Information provided by CrunchBase

Technorati Tags: TechCrunch,Facebook,Open Source

Eight Forbidden Delicacies

2008-05-18T13:41:00.001-03:00

By Alicia Coffman | Newsweek Web Exclusive -May 17, 2008 | Updated: 9:20 a.m. ET May 17, 2008

Foie gras is back on Chicago menus after a two-year ban, but it's not the only traditional delicacy that's been restricted or deemed socially unpalatable. Maggot cheese, anyone?

James Marshall / Corbis

Deadly Delicious: The potentially toxic puffer fish, or fugu, is a gourmet treat in Japan, where chefs must prepare it carefully to avoid poisoning diners

Chicago's gourmands got some good news this week when the city's two-year-old ban on foie gras was officially lifted. The repeal was a defeat for animal rights groups who pushed to ban the French delicacy because it is made from the fatty livers of geese and ducks that have been force fed. But the pricey dish is not the only traditional food that's restricted (or shunned) around the country because of health or political concerns. Here are some other controversial gourmet favorites, from maggot cheese to haggis, that you may or may not be able to find on a menu near you.

1. Casu Marzu Maggot Cheese Yes, you read that right: maggot cheese. This is one delicacy that's both an acquired and a forbidden taste. Casu marzu is a runny white cheese made by injecting Pecorino Sardo cheese with cheese-eating larvae. The cheese can pose various health hazards, such as an intestinal larval infection or even the risk of larvae jumping into your eye. Because of these threats, casu marzu can't legally be sold in Italy, though farmers on Sardinia and in northern Italy's Piedmont and Bergamo areas still produce it for their own clandestine consumption. United States regulations don't even address this particular type of cheese—perhaps because no one has been brave enough to put it on an American menu.

2. Puffer Fish The eyes and internal organs of this fish are highly toxic, but the meat is a delicacy in Japan and Korea. Japanese chefs are specially trained to prepare fugu, as the dish is known, so as not to kill their customers, but it's a tricky business. Your life is in the chef's hands. The animal contains tetrodotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin that damages nerve tissue and for which there is no antidote. Puffer poisoning can result from touching incorrectly prepared puffer soup, chiri, or from raw puffer meat. Saxitoxin, the cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning, can also be found in puffers. Adventurous diners can find the dish at top Japanese restaurants in some American cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and L.A., though harvesting puffers is forbidden in Florida.

3. Raw Milk Cheese Don't get caught driving cross-country with a ripe hunk of unpasteurized French brie; it's against FDA regulations. The FDA says you can't transport raw milk across state lines, and you can sell unpasteurized cheeses only if they have been aged at least 60 days and stored at a frigid 35 degrees Fahrenheit—treatment that would likely be considered by the French to be cruel and unusual punishment of an innocent fromage.

4. Absinthe This green liqueur, which was reputed to produce hallucinations and act as an aphrodisiac, became popular in France in the 1850s. In July 1912 the Department of Agriculture banned absinthe in America for its "harmful neurological effects." Federal authorities now permit the sale of absinthe only if manufacturers can prove that thujone (the ingredient that produces the neurological effects) levels are almost undetectable and if they added a qualifier to the word absinthe. But recently a team of scientists analyzed samples of the original preban 19th-century French absinthe and found that it didn't have enough thujone to be mind-altering, but that at 70 percent alcohol the drink was about 140 proof, which may account for some of those hallucinations.

5. Sassafras The dried root bark of the sassafras tree native to North America has been used for centuries for making tea, as a painkiller and as a seasoning for Creole soups and stews. The bark contains an oil called safrole, which the FDA banned for use as an additive in 1960 because studies linked the consumption of safrole to liver cancer in rats. Since then the United States has banned the sale of any ingestible product that contains more than a small amount of safrole. The root bark extract and leaves are now treated commercially to produce a safrole-free product that provides sassafras flavor without the health risks.

6. Haggis In 1989 imports of this traditional Scottish dish made from the internal organs of sheep were banned from the United States due to concerns that it could carry bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a.k.a. mad cow disease. British authorities dispute these concerns, and haggis is widely sold in Scottish supermarkets. Recipes vary, but the pungent delicacy usually contains sheep lung, liver and heart minced with onion and then boiled in the animal's stomach, though modern versions sometimes use artificial casings.

7. Lobsters The organic supermarket chain Whole Foods stopped selling live lobsters in 2006 in response to PETA and other animal protection groups that said the store could not guarantee that the crustaceans were handled humanely in transport. Other supermarkets have followed suit, but there hasn't yet been a widespread removal of the creatures from seafood counters. According to the Lobster Liberation Web site, created by PETA, lobsters can feel pain, and they suffer when they are cut, broiled, or boiled alive. (In fact, boiling lobsters alive is illegal in Reggio, Italy.)

8. Foie Gras Chicago foie gras fans may have gotten a reprieve this week, but now Californian fans may have to look for the rich treat far from home. The sunshine state has passed a law banning the French delicacy as of 2012 because of animal cruelty concerns. (Ducks and geese are force fed up to four pounds of food a day though metal pipes down their throats. The dish is then created from the enlarged liver.)

Facebook Can Be Fun, But It's Also Useful

2008-05-07T19:43:00.000-03:00

Techdirt Daily Email for Wednesday, 07 May 2008

(Click here to visit the site)

Facebook Can Be Fun, But It's Also Useful ((Mis)Uses of Technology)

by Timothy Lee from the social-density dept on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 @ 11:13PM

Mathew Ingram argues that Facebook is about fun, and that it's not that hard to turn a profit on a platform that's oriented around fun and games. He's certainly right that fun and business aren't incompatible, but I think it's a mistake to discount how useful it can be. In my experience the most useful features are not the add-on applications but the basic features built into Facebook itself. These features aren't as glamorous, but I think they're enough to ensure Facebook won't prove to be a fad like Friendster did

First there's Facebook's groups feature. Twenty years ago, people who wanted to organize to achieve a common goal—whether it was supporting a political candidate, protesting a company's bad customer service, or finding other fans of a favorite TV show—frequently didn't have a cost-effective way to do it. The phone and email were just too cumbersome and expensive. Even ten years ago, group formation required setting up a website or creating a mailing list, something that still required a non-trivial amount of work and often had limited functionality. In contrast, groups on Facebook are incredibly easy to create and maintain and they have a ton of useful features. The modest improvements in ease of use aren't amazing from a technical perspective, but they've made a big difference in peoples' ability to quickly form groups and find people with shared interests or goals.

Second, the photos feature on Facebook is incredibly useful. Of course, sites like Flickr have done photo sharing for years. But having its photo application embedded in a broader social network gives Facebook key advantages that its competitors can't match. If my friends have Flickr accounts, I don't know about it, but I can easily see which of my friends have Facebook pictures. The pre-existing social network also allows Facebook users to mark themselves or their friends in photos, which causes them to show up in their friends' photo albums.

Finally, I've been noticing that Facebook is beginning to displace Evite as the preferred vehicle for party invitations among my friends. This is another case where having a pre-existing social network is a huge advantage. With Facebook, I can create my guest list simply by running through the list of friends and checking the ones I want to invite. With Evite, in contrast, I have to dig up the email addresses of all the people I want to invite. And many people are already visiting Facebook regularly, so it's less annoying to RSVP there than on a site that only does party invitations. Adding an invitation feature to a site people already use creates a lot less friction than asking them to sign up for a totally separate invitations site.

All of which illustrates a point Clay Shirky has made: really interesting social changes are the result not of new technology, per se, but of social density: a networking site that 90 percent of your friends use is vastly more useful than a site that 10 percent of your friends use. Very little of Facebook's functionality is new from a technical perspective, but Facebook (and MySpace) are the first sites to reach a point where almost everyone in certain social groups use them. And that fact dramatically increases their value. I don't know if Facebook is worth $15 billion, but it's certainly not a flash in the pan, and its appeal isn't limited to Scrabulous.

Beer, Blogs And Bias

2008-04-26T10:30:00.001-03:00

Beer, Blogs And Bias (Say That Again)

by Michael Masnick from the i'll-drink-to-that dept on Friday, April 25th, 2008 @ 7:40PM

The Wall Street Journal has an article focusing on a blog set up by Miller Brewing Company called Brew Blog. There are a few different, interesting points worth discussing here. First, the blog isn't used as a blog about what's going on at Miller Brewing. Instead, Miller hired an experienced reporter, and told him to just cover the beer industry as if he were a beat reporter. In other words, it's reporting news -- and even breaking stories on the competition. In fact, it revealed that main rival Anheuser-Busch was planning a new beer before A-B was able to make the announcement itself. This is certainly a recognition of how content is advertising. The blog clearly isn't "advertorial." It's full-on reporting about the industry, in a way that's interesting and relevant to those in the industry.
What may be even more interesting, though, is what the article says about journalism. In an age in which journalists are whining that their jobs are disappearing, here's yet another example of where suddenly there are new types of jobs for journalists appearing every day. But, even more interesting, is a quote at the end of the article highlighted by David Card. It's from Harry Schuhmacher, the editor and publisher of a fee-based trade publication on the beer industry:

"I tell Miller you're subsidizing a free publication, and it hurts the trade press," he says. "But they don't care."...Mr. Schuhmacher adds that he writes fewer positive pieces about Miller than he once did because he knows Brew Blog will always publish the same stories.

Think about this for a bit. People complain that when you have a company-sponsored publication it will inevitably be biased -- but the sponsorship of that site is totally open and in the clear. The site's content stands for itself. Yet, at the same time, a supposedly "objective" traditional journalist is admitting that he writes fewer stories about Miller because he's upset that it's competing with his own publication. From that, it would certainly seem like the Brew Blog is a lot more credible (it's biases are out in the open), while this fee-based trade pub admits that story choices are sometimes based on personal vendettas.

3 Comments

Technorati Tags: TechDirt,Michael Masnick,Miller Brewing,Beer

Maybe Starbucks Shouldn't Be in the Music Business

2008-04-26T10:25:00.001-03:00

And On Second Thought, Maybe Starbucks Shouldn't Be In The Music Business (Culture)

by Michael Masnick from the core-competencies dept on Friday, April 25th, 2008 @ 1:03PM

We've chronicled Starbucks' successes and failures as it tiptoed into the music industry over the past few years. The ubiquitous coffee shop was trying to position itself as a "lifestyle" brand. After successes in selling the albums it regularly played in stores, the company went so far as to set up its own record label. While we noted that this was an interesting play, it seemed like it would really only work if the the company didn't try to become a normal record label. Unfortunately, it seems like that's exactly what it did. It focused on selling albums, rather than the wider musical experience, and pretty much relied on the Starbucks connection to boost sales. That just wasn't going to cut it -- so it should come as little surprise that the suddenly struggling company is handing over the record label to someone else to deal with. Starbucks will continue to look for music to sell in its stores -- it just won't be producing albums anymore. This makes plenty of sense since Starbucks never really seemed to have much of a plan to do anything really innovative in the music business, and right now it probably has a lot more important things to concentrate on.

12 Comments

Technorati Tags: TechDirt,Michael Masnick,Starbucks Music

Keep Your Pussy Off The Keyboard

2008-04-17T01:10:00.001-03:00

Keep Your Pussy Off The Keyboard April 13, 2008

Who's the bad guy here????

2008-04-12T08:25:00.002-03:00

by Michael Masnick from the this-again? dept
Friday, April 11th, 2008 @ 5:46AM

Cities Caught Illegally Tampering With Traffic Lights To Increase Revenue Of Red Light Cameras (Scams)

Just last month there was the latest in a rather long line of reports noting that red light cameras tend to increase the number of accidents because people slam on their brakes to stop in time, leading to rear-ending accidents. Time and time again studies have shown that if cities really wanted to make traffic crossings safer there's a very simple way to do so: increase the length of the yellow light and make sure there's a pause before the cross traffic light turns green (this is done in some places, but not in many others). Tragically, it looks like some cities are doing the opposite! Jeff Nolan points out that six US cities have been caught decreasing the length of the yellow light below the legal limits in an effort to catch more drivers running red lights and increasing revenue. This is especially disgusting. These cities are actively putting more people in danger of serious injury or death solely for the sake of raising revenue -- while claiming all along that it's for safety purposes. Is it any surprise that one of the six cities is Dallas? Remember, just last month Dallas decided it wasn't going to install any more red light cameras because fewer tickets had hurt city revenue.

117 Comments

2008-04-08T21:11:00.000-03:00

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

I May Be Wrong, But I'm Not Confused

2008-03-28T00:42:00.004-03:00

One of my fellow Nametags Authors is Ben Casnocha who writes on entrepreneurship, books, writing, current affairs, and intellectual life. His Blog today crossed my screen and I've reposted it for your pleasure .... I agree with the sentiment of the blog I know that feeling......

http://ben.casnocha.com/

Recently, a newly-hired VP of Marketing briefed the board of directors on his marketing plan for the year. He demonstrated a strong grasp of the the company's goals, market openings, competitive landscape, etc.

Everyone was impressed.

Since this was a technology start-up, everyone also knew that anything could happen. The world could change overnight. The company had a high chance of failure no matter how good the strategy -- this was a start-up, after all.

The VP of Marketing concluded his presentation with a line that acknowledged this uncertainty: I may be wrong, but I'm not confused. In other words, I'm placing bets, they might not pan out, but it's not because I don't understand what's going on or aren't aware of the various options.

Great line.

(as told to me by someone on the board)

People are funny like that.....

Subject: DR Oz advice H1N1

RED SKELTON'S RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

This may be the best Living Will I've Seen

NEW MARKETING HUB LAUNCHED FOR CANADIAN CONFERENCES

GM and Segway create new vehicle

Halifax’s Finest Aggressive Panhandlers

Les Muise Consulting

It’s time to deal with the issue….

11 Ways to Calm Down an Angry Woman

Broswer War??? Here we go.....

Rocket Scateboard????

Police hunt high-speed skateboard outlaw

Every once in a while.... the get cought!!!

4 arrested in $1.8M defrauding of Calgary company

Too much information required...

Furniture chain ordered to stop collecting driver info

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 3, 2008 | 1:04 PM MTComments15Recommend27

CBC News

The times they are a changing...

GPS Helps Prosecute Criminals

Ferrari to build a Hybrid????

Ferrari Planning To Build A Hybrid Sportscar

Plug-In Hybrid Leads Toyota's Drive Beyond Oil

By Chuck Squatriglia June 11, 2008 | 5:59:37 PMCategories: Hybrids

What lies beneath Crimp’s scripts?

Facebook To Open Source Facebook Platform

Michael Arrington

71 comments »

Eight Forbidden Delicacies

Foie gras is back on Chicago menus after a two-year ban, but it's not the only traditional delicacy that's been restricted or deemed socially unpalatable. Maggot cheese, anyone?

Facebook Can Be Fun, But It's Also Useful

Techdirt Daily Email for Wednesday, 07 May 2008

Beer, Blogs And Bias

Maybe Starbucks Shouldn't Be in the Music Business

Keep Your Pussy Off The Keyboard

Keep Your Pussy Off The Keyboard April 13, 2008

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , PC , Peripherals

Trackbacks

Comments

Who's the bad guy here????

I May Be Wrong, But I'm Not Confused

Last Updated:
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 | 1:04 PM MT
Comments15 Recommend27