July 31, 2009
Friday FTW: “Bottled water blinds puppies”
[On Wednesday, we introduced the first in our new WTF/FTW series of blog posts. Today we bring you the flipside of Wednesday WTF (bad/crazy/stupid news): Friday FTW (good/awesome/fun news).] U.S. website Tappening, a project and blog advocating that you ditch bottled water and drink from the tap like a normal person, launched a separate microsite this week, StartALie.com. Operating on the notion that... [More >>]
July 31, 2009
Is there a saviour for journalism?
Journalism’s most fearless reporters take on its toughest question If you’re a journalist and still brave enough to announce that fact on social occasions, you can be more or less assured what the next question will be. “Don’t you worry,” someone will always begin with a sheen of sympathy, “that journalism is dying?” There are a range of responses from which to choose: pull out some... [More >>]
July 30, 2009
DIY dams light up rural Kenya with community-owned electricity
The volunteer-built dam in Kianyaga, Kenya. Electricity-generating turbines will be installed soon. Photo by Siena Anstis. The idea of supplying hydro power to poor communities came to Nyaga Ndiga after hours spent by the river grinding millet. He was inspired to try the same concept—friction—to produce energy. In a country where only 4 per cent of the population can afford electricity, Ndiga was... [More >>]
July 29, 2009
Wednesday WTF: Wafergate drags on
[This is the first blog post in our "WTF/FTW" series. In the magazine we've been including tiny articles that come under the heading "WTF?" and "FTW!" for bad/crazy/weird news, and good news, respectively. We'll now be doing these weekly, as well: Look for Wednesday WTF and Friday FTW. You can probably work out which days they appear.] Did he or didn’t he? Apparently the question of whether... [More >>]
July 28, 2009
Science fiction and the strange racial dynamics of District 9
When I first saw the original two-minute teaser trailer, above, for District 9, the new science-fiction movie coming out in August, it was a few months ago and the huge, out-of-control advertising campaign promoting it hadn’t yet blanketed every bus-stop and billboard in the country. Though the subsequent advertising has dulled my interest a bit, I was intrigued at the time—and not just because... [More >>]
July 24, 2009
Queerly Canadian #16: There’s no place like home—thankfully
Scottish Flag and Rainbow Flag, together at last I’m back in Scotland this month, for my first trip home since Christmas. Coming home is always incredible — a constant onslaught of the long-lost familiar — but being back also reminds me of some of the reasons I left in the first place. I could give you a few of those, but lurking behind them all was a general sense of being at odds with my own... [More >>]
July 23, 2009
Farming how-tos help Kenyan farmers adapt to climate change
Using her newly learned farming techniques, Mama Agnes' garden needs watering just once a week, instead of twice a day. Photo by Siena Anstis. Year-round, Mama Agnes feeds a family of six with a comparatively 100 square-metre plot of land. She stands in her backyard garden, an oasis of green in a landscape left yellow and cracked by the hot sun. She points to tomato plants heavy with still-green... [More >>]
July 23, 2009
ThisAbility # 32: Accommodation vs. Unfair Advantage (Part Two in a Two-Part Series)
Little Person M.D.: Dr. Jennifer Arnold is currently the most well-known doctor with a disability. Last week, I talked about preparing two pitches for the 2010 editorial calendar of New Mobility Magazine and I addressed one of them here. It was the one about Kyle Maynard, the limbless mixed martial arts fighter, and whether it was appropriate for him to fight at all. I argued he could do more for the... [More >>]
July 22, 2009
The Dawson Creek Bombings: Are the blasts succeeding?
[Editor's note: this series of blog posts on the bombings of natural gas wells in Northern B.C. is running over three days; part one was posted on Monday. Part two ran yesterday. This is the final part of the series.] A natural gas site near Dawson Creek, B.C., damaged by a blast on December 3, 2008. Photo credit: RCMP. The RCMP’s recent decision to raise the temperature in this region by officially... [More >>]
July 21, 2009
Listen: our permaculture cover story — on the radio!
Jenn Hardy, who wrote the current This Magazine cover story on permaculture for the July-August 2009 issue, was interviewed yesterday by CFAX 1070 in Victoria, B.C., about her feature article, her world travels researching this story, and how people can live more sustainably today. She talked for almost 15 minutes with Murray Langdon, the host of CFAX’s drive-time show, Newsline PM. Click on... [More >>]
