Not to Get Too Mystical About It - New York Times
A really good profile of Victoria, British Columbia's Steve Nash, who was the NBA's MVP two years in a row with the Phoenix Suns. This article follows Steve Nash on his tour of Beijing, China with Yao Ming, and a host of other NBA players.
Today's Link source: Kottke
William Gibson Hates Futurists : tyeebooks.ca
An interview with Vancouver's own writer William Gibson about Vancouver, futurists, terrorism and his new book, Spook Country from The Tyee.
Today's Link source: Boing Boing
Here's one of those Harlequin romances that happened in Vancouver: there
was a girl who was pretty shy, but one day she came upon a stranger
sweeping broken glass in front of his house. They talked, and each
discovered the other already had a partner. But their conversation was
so fantastic, they thought about each other afterwards. While talking
they had exchanged business cards. After a few friendly emails, they
stopped communicating due to busy schedules and relationships. After a
year of not speaking, the girl, now single, contacted him. Turns out, he
had become single as well. They have now been dating for almost two
years.
That girl is me. If this doesn't inspire you to start talking to
strangers, how about this: Vancouver now has a simple tool to instigate
speaking with your neighbour. The OK Button, created by Steve, is an
easy way to show people that you are friendly, and they are welcome to
talk to you. Simple, hey? Apparently, Vancouver needs this sort of
tool.
"There seems to be this underlying dynamic in Vancouver, that it's
really inappropriate to speak to someone you don't know or don't have
any reference to, " observed Steve. "I think it's learned behaviour,
it's cultural. For whatever reason, we have a legacy of being on-guard
all the time. In a public space, people stand around not talking to each
other or only talk with their friends. (The OK button) is getting beyond
that with an icon that says, 'Hey, I won't think you're nuts if you walk
up to me and talk to me.' "
While speaking to a fellow traveler about the shyness of Vancouverites,
Steve's lightbulb went off and he started making the buttons. A former
graphic designer, he quickly churns them out for anyone requesting them,
free of charge.
"The idea is to make this a friendlier place, not make money. I love
this city so much. I grew up here. Every time I travel I consider
Vancouver to be the best place. It's just this one thing that drives me
nuts, so I'm trying to do something about it."
Get one, they're free for pick up or we can mail them to you. @
Clutch by auto/ONE
Trunk Gallery
1755 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Buttons available after August 3rd, 2007
Today's Link source: Joe Nidua (Thanks Joe, and congratulations on your
engagement!!)
GlobalIncidentMap.com
Where are the terrorists?
GlobalIncidentMap.com is a mashup of news from the global war on terror with Google Maps. The news they aggregate and track includes: bombings and explosives; chemical and biological attacks; arson; suspicious events; hoaxes; assasinations, terrorism arrests; airport, railway and nautical security news; and serious events in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each news story contains a link to the original story, as well as the location of the news story on Google Maps.
While I'm not normally someone who tracks these security threats, it's shocking how many of these "terrorism events" occur every day, all over the world, by terrorists, insurgents, militants, saboteurs, vandals and the rest. Some of these stories are big news, such as the recent attack at the Glasgow airport, and some are minor that you would never otherwise hear about, such as a bomb found in a mailbox near the Canada-US border in Washington state. It's great to be able to dig deeper into a news story and have a greater understanding of the geography involved.
Today's Link source: BC Hydro PowerPioneers
Telus has movie listings and showtimes for BC, Alberta and Ontario,
along with great reviews, star ratings by the critics and the public.
They also have some of the Hollywood gossip news, and reviews of the art
house and foreign films showing around town.
2007 NHL Draft
It's one of the biggest days of the year for hockey!
Friday June 21 is the first day of the 2007 NHL Draft in Columbus, Ohio. Rounds Two through Seven will take place on Saturday. One of the projected first picks is Kyle Turris, who played for the Burnaby Express of the BCHL this year.
There are mock drafts and in-depth profiles of the prospects from the NHL, TSN, ESPN, as well as online sources like Hockey’s future magazine, The Fourth Period and the Vancouver Canucks. Many sites promise to have updates as the hockey draft unfolds, and there is a live video stream from the NHL site.
Today's Link source: Linkjockey
With a heavy snowfall in the mountains last winter and a warm spring, parts of British Columbia are starting to experience rivers that are flooding over their banks.
This is a good opportunity to give you a few resources to prepare yourself, your family and your home for emergencies. Today's links are different ways that you can be ready in advance of an emergency, such as: floods, earthquakes, power outages, storms, terrorist attacks, nuclear accidents or landslides.
Government of Canada - Emergency Preparedness Guide (pdf)
American Red Cross - Disaster Supplies Kit
US Homeland Security / Ready America - "Get a Kit"
72hours.org- Are you prepared?
Hopefully, you'll never need to use it, but it's better to keep safe.
I saw the first show of the new comeback tour by The Police in Vancouver last night (May 28, 2007) at GM Place, and thought it was great!
The Police have sooo many great hits!
I don't think there were any covers or new material, but they played all the hits and a few lesser known songs. There were some re-interpretations of a few songs, but it helped inject new energy into them and keep everything fresh.
There were ads shown pre-concert to join the official Police Fanclub.
The show was not too flashy, and kept the emphasis on the music. Wide-open stage, with good views even from behind the stage. There were video screens around the stage, which mostly featured the band. Some nice surprises in the staging, which I won't reveal here, other than a percussion set that rose up behind the drum set, including tympanies and a giant gong.
There were just the three band members on stage, and I noticed extra instrumentation on only one song. Lots of energy from Sting and Stewart Copeland, and everyone seemed happy to be there. The band's musicianship was great, and is really underappreciated, especially drummer Stewart Copeland. Their music has incredible pop sensibility, but the song composition is really unique for a rock, pop or reggae band.
There were two encores, and Sting thanked Vancouver and the Squamish Nation for hosting their concert practices. Great show!!!
CBC Radio 3
Happy Victoria Day!
Victoria Day is a Canadian holiday that honors the birthday of Queen Victoria, who died 106 years ago. In some parts of Canada, Victoria Day holiday is colloquially known as May Two-Four. This phrase is for two reasons: the holiday falls on the Monday on, or before, May 24th, and a two-four is slang for a case of 24 cans of beer.
Celebrating Victoria Day with free independent Canadian Music from CBC Radio 3 or listen on your ipod by subscribing to their podcasts.
Today's Link source: CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Expo 86 (tribute site)
May 2, 2007 marked the 21st anniversary of Expo 86 in Vancouver. If you're interested in this historic event in Vancouver's past (or wondering about that Death Cab for Cutie song), this is the best Expo 86 site.
The site is lovingly put together with an Expo map, descriptions of the pavillions, trivia (Expo ended up attracting over 50 million people, but losing CDN$311 million!) , and so much more. It's obvious that so much love and hard work has gone into creating this very deep site.
Of course, people are drawing comparisons between Expo 86 and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. If you have fond memories of Expo, or are even curious, it's well worth a visit. Something's happening here!
There are additional Expo 86 pictures on Flickr.
Today's Link source: Brian Walks and the Google
How to Shuck an Oyster - Esquire.com
After enjoying a few delicious fresh oysters in beautiful Tofino, BC , I decided to focus on oysters. I got them at Trilogy Fish, the only local place that buys and sells from local fishermen. Esquire has a surprisingly good how-to for shucking oysters, complete with pictures.
Bonus Link: Global Gourmet has some great oyster recipes and oyster trivia.
everystockphoto.com - your source for free photos
everystockphoto.com is based in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada, as was the fantastic photo-posting site Flickr, before it was bought by Yahoo!.
Camp Artaban
I'm a little late putting up today's post because I've spent the weekend on Gambier Island at Camp Artaban. I've spent the 4 best summers of my life working there, and a few of us were up there this weekend doing some maintenance work around the camp.
Camp Artaban is an Anglican camp, but is open to people of all religions and beliefs. The activities include: climbing, swimming, wharf-jumping, drama, sports, hiking, canoeing, rowing, sailing, crafts, windsurfing, archery and dancing. Artaban has an absolutely gorgeous, natural setting in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. During the summer, Camp provides a variety of high-energy, fun and meaningful camp sessions for children and families.
It's one of my favourite places in the entire world.
The Tyee
It's tough to get different opinions in the news in Vancouver, as the 2 local daily newspapers, one of the national papers, and the most popular TV newscast are all owned by the same company. As documented elsewhere, there are problems that come with the concentration of media ownership.
Thank goodness for The Tyee. The Tyee is an online-only newspaper that brings well-written, solid journalism to British Columbia. They do local, provincial, national and international news, as well as Editorials, Art and Culture, and the occasional sports column. Their most famous columnist is ex-politician and ex-talk show host, Rafe Mair (thank you Vancouver Radio Museum), who exhibits a surprising amount of non-partisan common sense despite his credentials.
They have RSS feeds and a weekly email newsletter to keep you up to date.
