September 30, 2009
Wednesday WTF: Dating tips from the U.S. Department of Health!
The rules for dating haven’t changed much in the last 60 years, according to the U.S. government. Dating, when done properly, leads to marriage and babies. The website Two Of Us promotes marriage as “a viable option to 18 to 30-year-olds” and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Healthy Marriage Resource Centre. The site’s design and polls... [More >>]
September 30, 2009
The corporate-free alternative to Nuit Blanche: Les Rues des Refuses
Toronto’s Nuit Blanche is an all-night arts festival with “a mandate to make contemporary art accessible to large audiences, while inspiring dialogue and engaging the public to examine its significance and impact on public space.” However, despite these admirable intentions, Nuit Blanche’s corporate presence is simply too great. After all, Nuit Blanche, as the countless promotional posters... [More >>]
September 29, 2009
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind demonstrates African ingeniousness
Further to Siena Anstis’s post last week about technology startups that are changing the landscape of African development, Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing has reviewed The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind today for Good Magazine. Above, I’ve embedded a short film from YouTube about the subject of that book, William Kamkwamba, the 20-year-old Malawian man who—with no formal training beyond... [More >>]
September 29, 2009
Toronto Palestine Film Festival aims to look beyond the headlines
Leila's Birthday — playing as part of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Friday Oct. 2nd Bloor Cinema at 7:00 PM While most Torontonians know about TIFF—the hugely publicized Toronto International Film Festival—very few have heard about TPFF, the Toronto Palestine Film Festival. Unlike TIFF, the TPFF isn’t attended by Hollywood stars, doesn’t receive much mainstream media coverage and... [More >>]
September 28, 2009
EcoChamber #17: Stephen Harper’s donut diplomacy
Make way, Homer Simpson—there’s a new Donut King in town: Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Choosing donuts over climate change deserves the title of King. King not only of donuts (as one critic called Harper) but the King of climate deniers. Last week, our Prime Minister skipped a day at the UN Climate Summit in New York for a photo-op at a donut shop in Oakville. Outraged by his obvious sense... [More >>]
September 27, 2009
Visit us at Word on the Street today!
Map to This Magazine's booth at Word On The Street. Click for larger version We’re setting up our booth right now for Word On The Street in Toronto, and looking forward to meeting lots of current and future readers of This Magazine. We’ll be offering special deals on back issues and subscriptions today, so please come and say hello! We’re at Booth #235, at the corner of Queen’s... [More >>]
September 25, 2009
Friday FTW: When it comes to HIV-AIDS, a “modest success” is still welcome
When the news came out yesterday that the largest-ever HIV-AIDS vaccine drug study had concluded with modestly positive results, there was certainly reason to be glad. There was not, of course, any reason to call the damn thing a “miracle vaccine,” as the Dallas Fort-Worth NBC affiliate did. The actual announcement from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which had conducted the study... [More >>]
September 25, 2009
Four tech startups that are transforming African development
Women in the Dadaab, Kenya refugee camp receiving training to work with Samasource, a web company that outsources computer jobs to women, youth, refugees, and internally displaced people living in poverty. Photo courtesy Samasource. This coming week I will be covering the 6th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris. In preparation for the event, youth delegates have been participating in an online forum and discussing... [More >>]
September 24, 2009
Local TV News Under Siege
As the large networks close small affiliate stations, is there hope for the future of local television news? The sky is falling on news, said Mike Katrycz, but this isn’t the first time. The veteran news director joined a panel discussion called “Local TV News Under Siege” at Ryerson Journalism School on Wednesday night. With him were CTV managing editor Adrian Bateman, CBC managing... [More >>]
September 24, 2009
Are the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Responsible for B.C.’s missing arts funds?
Kristi Malakoff, Skull The Ancient Olympic Games were held in Greece every four years and celebrated culture as much as sports. The founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, placed an emphasis on culture as well, making it the “second pillar” of the Olympics, equal to sports. In the early 20th Century, the second pillar was honoured by hosting arts competitions that involved... [More >>]
