Two things that have come through my life recently have me thinking about problems and solutions. The first is an incredibly well-presented online video and website called The Story of Stuff. In it, activist Annie Leonard describes her years-long investigation of the lifetime of consumer goods: where they come from, how they get in our […] More »
Some of you might have heard that yesterday in Montebello, the president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union helped diffuse a situation where a rock-throwing protester attempted to breech the “green zone,” by pushing through a line of riot cops. Dave Coles from CEP did in fact break-up a potential incident, but we’re pretty […] More »
What do you get if you cross the CBC with Facebook? A colossal waste of energy. Keen to tap into the youthful energy of online social networking, the CBC set up an experiment—The Great Canadian Wish List. (Note: A Facebook account is required in order to view links on the Facebook website. If you haven’t […] More »
I’ve been spending some time in Seattle lately visiting an ailing grandfather which means I’ve been stuck, bumper to bumper, on the I-5 for literally hours a day. I’m talking about the commute between my grandfather’s house in north Seattle, the hospital and downtown, three places quite close to each other. Just the sheer number […] More »
I don’t know much about this stuff — is tomorrow the last day to get RRSPs and apply the tax breaks to your 2006 return or something? I tend to tune out the RRSP hard sell that goes on this time of year, simply because I don’t trust banks. That said, it appears Citizens Bank […] More »
So last night, the Arcade Fire played Saturday Night Live for the first time, performing two songs from their upcoming Neon Bible album. In the above clip the band plays their first song, “Intervention,” after which frontman Win Butler smashes his acoustic guitar. Speculation as to why has been met online with a predictable array […] More »
CBC.ca is reporting that Scotiabank will not be following the lead of the apparently powerless Royal Bank in denying US dollar bank accounts to dual citizens of Canada and a bunch of nations the US does not like. Canadian citizens who also hold passports for Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and Cuba may not […] More »
Judging by my own and my friends’ reaction to every new album, I am Sarah Harmer’s core audience demographic. I pay to download her music. I buy her CDs as gifts for friends. I have attempted to fit one of her rare live TO performances into my very busy life. I quote her lyrics in […] More »
If you’ve spent much time in Vancouver, especially East Vancouver, you’ve probably been captivated by the migration of crows from downtown to parts east that occurs around dusk each day. From the window of my old, top-floor apartment on East 10th, it was a comforting ritual to watch. Now, a group of musicians are ready […] More »
It’s about time we saw a campaign like this: Greenpeace has launched an effort to organize Apple customers and demand that the company employ non-toxic materials in its hardware. For those of us who consider themselves environmentalists and buy a lot of junk from Apple (myself included), it’s time to stop turning a blind eye […] More »