It’s been quite a year, both personally and politically. The best of times, the worst of times, to paraphrase Dickens. Looking back on 2103, it was a busy, eventful, successful, and yet often challenging year. I accomplished many things on different levels – personal and professional – and, I believe, overcame
Continue readingTag: Blog
Mind of Dan: Blade Runner – The Aquarelle Edition
Some people have too much time on their hands… this is a good thing.
Continue readingMind of Dan: Bah Humbug!
Physicists who want to protect traditional Christmas realize that the only way to keep from changing Christmas is not to observe it. (via xkcd) That is all.
Continue readingMind of Dan: Gavin Schmidt on Advocacy
From AGU originally posted, by Michael Tobis on Planet3.0. Posted here mostly for my own records
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Spysplaining
The CSEC commish, entrusted to the task of ensuring CSEC doesn’t break the law during its spying on, err, for this country, is not coming out smelling like a rose. It was a puppet head trifecta today – the new CSEC *watchdog* defending NSA puppet CSEC to the PMO puppet
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: How to play tennis in Mexico
Public courts are rare in Mexico. Mexico has a lot of private clubs, where guests are usually welcome. These clubs don’t do much in the way of publicizing their existence, so you’ll have to do some asking around. “Deportivos” (sports clubs) are more accessible. Usally, you pay a day fee
Continue readingMind of Dan: Why Vancouver’s door knob ban is a really bad idea
Vancouver has banned the classic round door knob for new buildings because it has accessibility issues. Door leavers are easier to open especially if your hands are full or if you have mobility issues. The debate surrounding this idea has been fierce, but off the mark. The real issue issue
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: #Duffy Senate Expense Scandal Explained
Take 15 minutes, and listen to the last 5 years of Canadian politics be summed up off the top of my head. What’s the PM’s next lie? Pretend he was on Crack, or in a Drunken Stupor when he gave Nigel Wright the go ahead to bribe Duffy? The perfect
Continue readingMind of Dan: The theory of revolution
Brilliant! Source: SMBC
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: We have heading up for your net
I have to admit that I frequently read the spam comments WordPress traps for my moderation, and I often do so with a smile. The clumsy, crazy constructs, the awkward English, butchered punctuation and the twisted word use just make me laugh. Yes, like everyone else, I detest spam, and
Continue readingArt Threat: Children 404: help fund a film exposing Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ youth
In the Fall of 2013 a Russian documentary filmmaker contacted numerous LGBTQ activists and filmmakers in Canada and the United States with whom they had worked with in previous years to screen their films. The message they sent was a request to help fund a film that they believe desperately
Continue readingArt Threat: Can I Touch It?
North Carolina based artist Endia Deal explores the relationships of minority women within the corporate space. Her most recent project, “Can I touch it?”, is a photo series depicting white women in their 40s or older with traditionally black hairstyles. The final results show women with cornrows, flat twists, fingerwaves
Continue readingArt Threat: Tanishq ad for second wedding strikes a chord
Across the pond and over the hills to India, a new ad by jeweller Tanishq is the talk of the town for pushing boundaries. Created by one of India’s largest communication groups, LOWE Lintas, Tanishq’s latest ad features a gorgeous dusky bride on her wedding day. After having her
Continue readingArt Threat: Video: Max Haiven on The Debt of Creativity
Activist and art professor Max Haiven recently delivered a TED talk at TEDxNovaScotia titled “>The Debt of Creativity, in which he elaborates on the ideas he discussed in his essay Privatizing Creativity. It’s worth 15 minutes of your time to tune in. Image: A Debtors’ Prison — William Hogarth.
Continue readingArt Threat: The Zombie Index explores the space between individuals and the collective
Artist George Pfau believes zombies are an irresistible cultural force. But while most of us limit our interest to binging on Walking Dead episodes, or perhaps taking part in a Zombie Walk, for Pfau the study of zombies makes up a huge part of his art practice. His most recent
Continue readingArt Threat: P.INK takes heathcare to an unexpected place: the tattoo parlour
As a man with no tattoos, Noel Franus is an unlikely candidate as the founder of P.INK: an organization that connects breast cancer survivors with tattoo ideas and artists. But as anyone with a family member who is also a breast cancer survivor can attest, the urge to do something
Continue readingArt Threat: 169 credit cards + $12.50 in change = Indebted States of America
Indebted States of America by Maine artist Eric Leppanen is created with 169 of his own credit cards, collected over the past 23 years, adorned with the 50 U.S. state quarters and framed in gold leaf. “It speaks to the marketing of ‘Big Banks’ to indebt Americans with bait and
Continue readingArt Threat: Joe Sacco depicts one dreadful day of The Great War
The latest book by comic artist Joe Sacco isn’t really a book at all. The Great War is a single 24-foot-long panoramic image that illustrates the first day of the battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916. And while the style is certainly Sacco, The Great War differs from
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