The other day the Vancouver Sun – via Simon Fraser University’s Public Square program – asked me to pen a piece answering the questions: Is the Internet bringing us together or is it tearing us apart? Yesterday, they published the piece. My short answer? Trying to unravel whether the Internet
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Art Threat: Vancouver Fringe brims with political plays
The Troubles (Resounding Scream Theatre) The Vancouver International Fringe Festival is underway in Canada’s westernmost metropolis, with 97 shows on offer during a program that lasts over two weeks. This year there are several plays that tackle political issues, touching on themes like human trafficking, homelessness, teen suicide, bilateral relations,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: U.S. grain and seed ports will kill a few more Canadian jobs – with a little help from Stephen Harper
Bunge’s $200-million US grain port at Longview, Wash. Below, U.S. police and strikers scuffle at the port. Back in 2009, when the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board was still just a twinkle in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s eye, work started on a $200-million US grain-handling terminal in the port
Continue readingLeft Over: Dis-honouring Our Homemade Monsters
Here’s a headline from CBC online today, talking about a sticker campaign to point out the hypocrisy of naming things after history’s deviates. In this case, the target is former Lieutenant Governor of BC Joseph Trutch..someone who purposefully practiced his evil on our First Nations people, for a start…. Sticker
Continue readingTerahertz: Radio Freethinker on Tuesday
Just a quick post tonight. On Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be on CITR’s Radio Freethinker show talking about all the latest news from the BC Humanists. The show runs for a full hour, so if you have ideas for what I should talk about, drop them below (obviously soon so that
Continue readingeaves.ca: How Government should interact with Developers, Data Geeks and Analysts
Below is a screen shot from the Opendatabc google group from about two months ago. I meant to blog about this earlier but life has been in the way. For me, this is a prefect example of how many people in the data/developer/policy world probably would like to interact with
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Sounds from the Diaspora: Asia Indie Music in Canada
Youtube has propelled Asian talents like Kina Grannis, Andrew Garcia, and Clara C to the forefront of DIY music fame. These Californian artists have garnered an overwhelming share of social media attention and it begs the question: do Canada’s indie industries compare? Are we capable of producing our own indie, Asian music
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Activist Communique: The Slackers Guide to Activism—Superhero Style
Submitted by JEN MESZAROS My name is Jen, and I’m creating an activist group in vancouver to increase the community’s participation in world issues–such as exposing Monsanto, Arctic drilling by Shell, the impact of Stephen Harper on Canada and the proposed pipelines. Our group plans to bring attention to issues
Continue readingeaves.ca: Living in the Future: My Car isn’t Flying, but it is Cheap and Gamified
I remember in the early 80’s when I was about 8 years old I walked up to my dad and said “you know the year 2000 really isn’t that far away, and unless something changes we aren’t going to get jetpacks and flying cars.” Even then I could see the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Google Street View Circa 1907
It seems Google didn’t invent Street View The idea was 100 years old when it first started to become popular on the Internet! Behold Vancouver, street view from 1907 Barcelona, Spain 1908 Look at all the bicycles! Vancouver in 1971, albeit a little shaky camera work. Moose Jaw, circa 2006,
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Guest Post – East Hastings: A Love Story
This guest post comes to us from Natalie Reed, who blogs at Freethought Blogs’ Sincerely, Natalie Reed. A Vancouverite and ex-pat from Nova Scotia, she writes on several subjects, including but not limited to trans, queer and feminist issues… with deep insights, like this article on urban gentrification, and support
Continue readingArt Threat: Pioneer Ladies [of the Evening] – Photos of incarcerated women are transformed
An exhibition at PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts in Winnipeg is testing the sexualized and gendered boundaries of our Canadian history. Curator Dr. Laurie K. Bertram has taken archival mugshots of Western Canadian female sex trade workers, taken from the Winnipeg Police Museum Archive, and reworked them into
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Hurting Animals Hurts You
PETA should use a new argument against animal cruelty, Luka Magnotta. Luka Magnotta, the accused killer who dismembered a man and sent body parts in the mail across Canada, shares something in common with most psychopaths, animal cruelty. In 1963 forensic psychiatrist J.M. Macdonald wrote a paper published in the
Continue readingArt Threat: City of Vancouver launches Arts & Culture Policy Council
The City of Vancouver is now home to an Arts and Culture Policy Council which will advise City Council on civic programs relating to arts and culture. The creation of the council was announced back in February, but last week members of the council were finally announced. The 15-member council
Continue readingTerahertz: Vancouver’s Freethought Movement Grows
Today was a very good day. This morning the trend of increasingly successful BCHA meetings continued, with just over thirty humanists gathering at the Oakridge Seniors’ Centre for a discussion on Neuroscience and Memory. Four-year-old Addysen was perhaps one of the youngest attendees to one of our meetings yet –
Continue readingTerahertz: Vancouver Secular Parenting Meetup
While I don’t have kids of my own (yet), I see the need for a larger secular parenting support within the freethought/humanist movement. This is why I’m excited to be working with some great parents to start a secular parenting meetup group in Vancouver through the BC Humanists. The group
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Jean Charest fails to silence the Quebec student movement,
As the talks to end the Quebec student strike broke down Thursday (thanks in large part to the Jean Charest Liberal government’s inability to think in a non-partisan manner, thus ending further bargaining for the time being), I am nonetheless encouraged by the increasingly epic support that the student movement here
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Jean Charest fails to silence the Quebec student movement,
As the talks to end the Quebec student strike broke down Thursday (thanks in large part to the Jean Charest Liberal government’s inability to think in a non-partisan manner, thus ending further bargaining for the time being), I am nonetheless encouraged by the increasingly epic support that the student movement here
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Jean Charest fails to silence the Quebec student movement,
As the talks to end the Quebec student strike broke down Thursday (thanks in large part to the Jean Charest Liberal government’s inability to think in a non-partisan manner, thus ending further bargaining for the time being), I am nonetheless enco…
Continue readingTerahertz: New Abortion Caravan Counter-Protest in photos
On May 29, 2012, anti-choicers led by the Calgary-based Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform launched their “New Abortion Caravan” in Vancouver. Their goal is to drive their graphic anti-abortion trucks across the country, descending on Ottawa for Canada Day. After word of this was picked up by the pro-choice community,
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