Birth, Death

Welcome back to Jesus. Merry Christmas to all.

Remembering Oscar Peterson, Canadian, piano player...not louie Armstrong

Sublime is the word that comes to mind



They killed Benazir Bhutto. What a mess!

Pakistan's Bhutto assassinated

Who is this technorati person

Technorati Profile

World Economic Forum - Who? What?

This image summarizes the essence of the WEF: Famous rocker, President, UN Secretary General and some guy from Africa. Their hearts are in the right place, right:

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

But a forum of unelected leaders...getting together to shape agendas...no. Don't go all conspiracy theory Tim. Noooo!

Perhaps, the recent WEF call for video submissions by world citizens will lead to more transparency and more open dialog on contentious social, political and environmental issues.

Members

Members and Partners

Our members represent the world’s 1,000 leading companies. Partners are select member companies who are actively involved in the organization's activities and contribute their expertise and resources.


Membership
strategic partners includes: Coca Cola, Microsoft, Nestle and Unilever.

There are loads of women leaders too...

What would happen if an organization like the WEF actually embraced the Kyoto Protocol or Human Rights obligations and took action?

Davos, Secret Elites and Videos

Have your say on the Davos Question:

"What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?"

By submitting a video at http://www.youtube.com/thedavosquestion

Brilliant cross marketing, promotion and green washing - or - way to promote global democracy through online activism?

You decide? Stay tuned for my answer to this question. I have a feeling it will combine fair trade and a call for recognition of collective universal human obligations.

Ripples on the pond...

Drop some pebbles on the internet and see if fair trade sweeps beyond activist ponds.

Critical report about the challenges and risks of fair trade as a production and trade approach:

Fair to the Last Drop:
The Corporate Challenges to Fair Trade Coffee

-By Eric Holt-Giménez, Ian Bailey, and Devon Sampson of Food First - Institute of Food and Development Policy

download PDF

...At this year's United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) convergence in Boston, Massachusetts, students asked, "How will the involvement of large corporations change fair trade standards?" and "How do you get the scale and keep the values?" The activists who have been pushing Fairtrade products into their campus dining halls and cafés are now asking: how fair is Fairtrade?

Many ethical consumers and Fairtrade activists are also uncomfortable selling Fairtrade products through multinational corporations with unfair labor practices and monopolistic market power. Is Fairtrade providing a public relations cover for globalization's race to the bottom?

Well I hope fair trade is helping in Argentina, Sri Lanka, and in Dominican Republic, Peru, Paraguay and Costa Rica.

An example of a green site pushing for hope, delicious fair trade change and a greener world.

Refugees seek a different port if you've visited the USA - Canada's Closed

If a refugee claimant passes through the US on the way to Canada they may be denied a right to apply for refugee status in Canada. This is because the USA is considered a "Safe third country", a country with high human rights standards that affords approximately equal protection for those fleeing persecution. But what happens if the third country is not as safe as it used to be? What if it becomes a sender of refugees?

This is a concern raised in today's Globe and Mail:

The safe-country dilemma: why offering asylum is an obligation

JANET DENCH and KAREN HAMILTON AND ALEX NEVE

Special to Globe and Mail Update

December 6, 2007 at 12:33 AM EST

Last week, Mr. Justice Michael Phelan of the Federal Court of Canada ruled that, when all of the evidence is considered, it is not reasonably possible to conclude that the United States is a safe country for refugees. As a result, he found that Canada is wrong to force refugee claimants back to the U.S. without giving them a hearing in this country. It was bound to be an unpopular decision, for all the reasons that make refugees among the most vulnerable and abused people in the world.

The Globe and Mail editorial Moving To Reject The Refugee Pact (Dec. 1) illustrates what refugee claimants are up against — in Canada and in other countries. Refugees are seen as an inconvenience: a challenge to border control and immigration management. They are also faceless non-citizens, making it easy to minimize the harsh realities of persecution they face if we disregard their right to asylum. They are frequently presented as nothing more than numbers: the numbers of claimants at the border, the numbers of claimants in the backlog.

But refugees are not just numbers: They are human beings.

Judge Phelan's decision is also doomed to be unpopular because it faces the reality that the U.S. violates human rights. Refugees often find themselves victims of the unwillingness of governments to imply criticism of other countries by acknowledging the shortcomings in their human-rights records or their refugee protection systems. This is particularly the case when the other country is large, powerful and very close by. As noted in the decision, the federal cabinet has failed to review the status of the U.S. as a safe third country, as required by law, despite significant developments, including important changes to the U.S. asylum law that cried out for review. Perhaps the cabinet held off because it knew that only one conclusion could be reached following such a review, and it didn't have the courage to declare the U.S. in violation of its human-rights obligations.

Janet Dench is executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. Karen Hamilton is general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches. Alex Neve is secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada. The three organizations, along with John Doe, launched the legal action that resulted in Judge Phelan's decision.

Multi-Lingual Canada

Having lived for almost three years in Ottawa, I was getting used to signs and websites being in French and English. On return to Toronto, the city seems bigger and better than ever with more and more languages and communities represented.
Education that can adapt to these multi-lingual capabilities of Canadians could make us an economic power house. The question is whether we can come up with a more palatable way to teach Hindi and Mandarin than the way I was taught French in elementary school.


Canada's tenuous French connection

BRODIE FENLON

Globe and Mail Update

December 4, 2007 at 11:04 AM EST
...
• One in five Canadians – 19.8 per cent of the total population – was born outside the country, a rate not matched since 1931, when the percentage of foreign-born citizens peaked at 22.2 per cent. Only Australia has more foreign-born residents.

• More than 60 per cent of immigrants live in the large urban centres of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver; only about 5 per cent live in rural parts of Canada.

• Most of the recent newcomers to Canada are from Asia – 58 per cent when those from the Middle East are included. Europeans, the dominant immigrant group for most of the 20th century, represented only 16 per cent of those who moved to Canada between 2001 and 2006.

• Canada's foreign-born population increased by 13.6 per cent, four times greater than the growth rate of 3.3 per cent for the Canadian-born population.

...
For the first time, allophones – those who speak neither English nor French as their first language – represent fully one-fifth of the population. The numbers jumped to 20.1 per cent from 18 per cent in the last census, driven primarily by immigration. Conversely, the proportion of francophones and anglophones decreased slightly after population growth is taken into account.

S.A. Miners on strike ... dance...

Costs of safety? What a surprise...but what about the benefits of safety?

Rockin out as a dancer. Yes I often find myself saying, "I think I can Dance"

Buy Nothing Day

Ironically, now that I am selling food, I find myself on the wrong side of this fantastic movement. I want to sell you stuff. I want people to eat fair trade, organic food. But, perhaps, buy nothing day can mean more than just hesitating to shop one day a year. Perhaps, on a day when the specials are so exciting, we can try to think about the gift of giving not just to our immediate friends but to our collective futures, and the futures of our great grand childen, whose voices are keeping Drew Dellinger awake at night...

But hey...buy some fair trade books?

Death Penalty for Canadians

Great article by a MARLYS EDWARDH AND LORNE WALDMAN.

Canadians have a right to expect that their government will intervene on their behalf in a forceful manner whenever they are at risk of cruel and inhumane treatment. But the conduct of this government suggests that it is more concerned about politics. Devaluing the citizenship of unpopular Canadians in difficulty abroad cheapens it for everyone.

Fair Trade Toronto?

Canada the wise, liberal, nation of public healthcare and pride in Lester B. Pearson's role in creating UN Peacekeeping forces...but what have we done lately? Have we fallen behind the US in areas as easy to keep up with as Fair Trade? In an era of municipal councilors struggling to pass a budget that will only slightly cut services, it may seem unrealistic to talk about Toronto becoming a fair trade city. But if Toronto could take a long term view, embracing fair trade, we could blaze a trail for the city and for the rest of the world. Toronto the "good" could add "fair" to its claims to fame.

How would a Fair Trade Toronto look?

Fair Trade is all about improving conditions of exchange so that producers get paid a just wage. Standard setting, certifying and monitoring organizations work hard to ensure that the money paid by consumers gets back to producers. Fair trade substitutes are not available for every product so don't throw out all of your possessions. However, there will be some changes...

More fair trade options at lower prices

If Toronto banned or taxed non-fair trade products, such as coffee and chocolate, then the volumes of fair trade products sold would go up and the prices for these products would likely fall and would reflect realistic-humane-just wages. New products could also enter the market knowing that there was shelf space available for fair trade [Full disclosure, this author works with Interrupcion Fair Trade, a fair trade food company]. Expect to see fair trade olive oil, olive spreads, pasta and chimichurri vegetable and steak sauce at a store near you soon...end of plug.

Less Guilt

Parents, families, companies, churches, mosques, NGOs, unions, friends, and you will be able to buy products knowing that they are made in healthy work environments by free labour (not child or slave labour). Let's face it, you were going to have that snack or give a gift, why not make the fair trade choice?

Better Labour and Socio-Economic Conditions "Over there" and "Here"

The companies that make our food and other consumer goods will follow the money. Whether responding to consumer pressure or government incentives through taxes, if fair trade products are demanded, existing and new companies will provide fair trade.

For a more in depth analysis and some inspiration on "Fair Trade Towns" see this article by Alicia Erickson:

Fair Trade Towns USA is "a campaign organized by local and national Fair Trade advocates whose aim is to encourage and support the Fair Trade Movement

in the U.S. Following the example of the Fair Trade movement in Europe, the campaign strives to support local, grassroots groups by offering tools and resources to become a Fair Trade town or city through successful local campaigns."

This campaign makes it even easier for your town to become a Fair Trade town, following in the footsteps of Media, PA and Brattleboro, VT. This campaign has developed guidelines on how to achieve the five goals required to become one:

1. The formation of a steering committee that meets regularly.
2. Availability in local stores, cafes, and other venues of a range of Fair Trade products that are either certified by TransFair USA or sold by retailers that are members of Fair Trade Federation.
3. The use of Fair Trade products by a number of local organizations, such as places of worship, schools, hospitals and offices.
4. Attraction of media attention and visible public support of the local campaign.
5. Passage of a resolution supporting Fair Trade by the town or city council/governing body and a commitment to serve Fair
Trade products at meetings.

And just for web etiquette here is the trackback link

Better acting late than never...Green living

Blog Action Day is all about reaching the big wide world out there and raising consciousness about the environment. Being the green hipster that I am I thought I would catch the tail end of the green wave.
I hope that the wave continues and sweeps beyond the blog world.
1. Turn off computer ...

Dead blogs...query

Does anyone read the early writings or blogs of Internet 1.1?

Does anyone read all of the words on the internet?
Did anyone read this?
Vote MMP!

Mimes in Ottawa Mime and Marcel Marceau

There is a man statue-like holding a badminton racket and bent over as if about to step. You have seen him in la marche by in Ottawa, but perhaps skirted around the stubbly face.
His racket spins if you give him a tip. His white gloves will wave thanks as well.
Yesterday, he spoke. To paraphrase, the master is dead Marcel Marceau is dead.

A connection, a soul, an unexpected utterance, yes.


Marcel Marceau bows out

ANGELA DOLAND

Associated Press

September 23, 2007 at 8:44 AM EDT

PARIS — Marcel Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has died, his former assistant said Sunday. He was 84.

Marceau died Saturday in Paris, French media reported. Former assistant Emmanuel Vacca announced the death on France-Info radio, but gave no details about the cause.

Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau, notably through his famed persona Bip, played the entire range of human emotions onstage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, however, he was famously chatty. “Never get a mime talking. He won't stop,” he once said.

A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust and also worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children...

Summer's Over, Fair Trade, Games

Check out what's going on in the world of too much time reading "news of fresh disasters":

Tim hears David Suzuki - Suzuki rocks and Tim realizes we are made of air and that all of that Aboriginal studies paid off!

New fair trade certifications...should Transfair Canada be scared? Excited?

Summer is over. Is there a politically correct term for Indian summer?

The Colbert Report is back and better than ever...especially for online activists.

Darfur - Nigerian NGOs call for action

Tune into the radio tomorrow at 6am-7am. Never say I don't give notice for these things!
Tune into the Dan Shield's show on ckcu 93.1 FM in Ottawa - online:http://www.ckcufm.com/programs/schedule.html

Take action on September 17th
See the poster below
Full article



Highlights:
As President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua marks his first 100 days in office, two leading Nigerian non governmental organisations, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) and Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) have called on the president to publicly declare his support for efforts aimed at bringing lasting solution to the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Darfur Sudan.

Adds SERAP's Adetokunbo Mumuni: ‘The government of Sudan has a track record of shifting under pressure only to break its promises when the international community looks elsewhere. Until the attacks on civilian's cease and the full peacekeeping force is deployed the international community must not look away.'

The two organisations reminded the federal government that this September's meeting of 192 world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York is another opportunity to address the Darfur issue. Specifically, IAP and SERAP are asking President Yar'Adua and other world leaders to:

* Demand that the Sudanese government, armed groups and Janjawid militia in Darfur and eastern Chad halt attacks against civilians and humanitarian agencies;
* Ensure and commit to the expeditious and full deployment to Darfur of the joint African Union (AU) and United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force, and ensure that the government of Sudan facilitates the swift and unimpeded deployment.

We are also asking President Yar' Adua to use Nigeria's leadership role in Africa to encourage the African Union to:

* Work expeditiously with the UN to reinforce AMIS so as to ensure that the civilian population in Darfur is effectively protected; and
* Take all steps necessary to speedily implement UN Security Council Resolution 1769

Vermin - Solution - Eat the wild cats

I am a vegetarian (kinda) so cat stew is probably off the menu.

Australians cook up wild cat stew
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

My summary: Apparently they may contain toxins. On the other hand, so may factor farmed cows.

Darfur - Action Now

Yes now, and September 17th outside Parliament, Ottawa, Canada with STAND Canada. I will be there with Bells and enthusiasm!
If you are having trouble convincing your friends to attend show them this Darfur Game review and game.

UN Secretary-General Ban-Kim is having some trouble in Sudan!

Fun Green and Fair

So looking forward to finding more ethical/green/educational online games to justify my addiction to computer gaming. Enjoy ethical games.

CERES - Investor coalitions challenging securities law

Ceres is a coalition of over 80 investor, environmental and public interest organizations united to advance corporate responsibility.

I had never heard of them but I find it pretty cool that there is a coalition this big of responsible investors that is focused on changing securities laws and pushing corporations towards being responsible:

The institutional/financial professional sign-on statement at www.SaveShareholderRights.org spells out specific concerns: "The SEC has issued three specific proposals which we believe would eliminate or cripple the resolution process. We cannot support the following proposals: (1) the 'opt-out' option that would allow the most unresponsive companies -- those with the worst records when it comes to good corporate conduct and governance -- to drop out of the shareholder resolution process and isolate themselves further from their shareholders; (2) the unilateral substitution of the electronic petition model or 'chat room' for the vibrant and public 14a-8 shareholder resolution process; and (3) the raising of shareholder resolution resubmission levels from the current 3%, 6% and 10% vote levels to 10%, 15% and 20% levels, thus effectively killing many important shareholder resolutions."
-----
The Social Investment Forum (http://www.socialinvest.org) is the national membership association for the social investment industry. It is dedicated to the concept, practice, and growth of socially responsible investing. The Forum's 500-plus members include financial planners, banks, mutual fund companies, research companies, foundations, and community investing institutions.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (http://www.iccr.org) is a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors, representing over $100 billion in invested capital. ICCR members bridge the divide between morality and markets by envisioning a civic economy that integrates ethical, environmental and social values. Inspired by faith, committed to action, ICCR members work to build a just and sustainable global community.

Ceres is a leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 60 institutional investors managing $4 trillion in assets focused on the business impacts of climate change. For more information, visit http://www.ceres.org

Publicity

Let's get some readers!

I like the free aspect of this directory:

Dog Poop

Vancouver is onto something...
Instead of picking up each chunk with a plastic bag, why not compost it

Birth

Despite ongoing rumours of my pregnancy, I am not in fact pregant, rather just bloated. Thanks for well wishers on facebook and real life. Superbad this Friday at

Rideau Centre
Superbad
1hr 53min - Comedy - English - IMDb
6:50

This should position us well for half price food at the Marche / Richtree in Rideau center after the movie. Patty Boland's afterwards until a reasonable hour...

If you really love me check this out: Universities selling out? Literally/Structurally?

Maher Arar - Even more vindication

Torture, Maher Arar, inefficiency of the Canadian government - American Government...Do you feel safe?

Trust them they have access to secret information. And they will censor the information from the public to protect us:

This is just embarrassing. Why censor this? From the perspective of Canada there is no motivation. The only people that could benefit from such censorship are those who fucked up and let Maher Arar be tortured.

Globe and Mail Interactive

In September 2002, the RCMP filed an application for a Telephone Warrant. In the application, the RCMP referred to Mr. El Maati’s confession to the Syrians that he undertook pilot training at the request of his brother and that he accepted a mission to be a suicide bomber by exploding a truck bomb on Parliament Hill. After learning of his confession, the RCMP was advised that Mr. El Maati stated that any previous statements he made to the Syrians were made under extreme coercion. Regardless of this, the RCMP stated that its investigation had corroborated much of the information in the El Maati confession.
In the application, the RCMP stated that the information concerning the El Maati confession “is still accurate and continues to be true.” In regard to Mr. El Maati’s public statement to DFAIT that his confession to the Syrians was the product of torture, the RCMP affiant stated in the application that he doesn’t know about the justice system in Middle Eastern countries but he advised that much of the information in the confession was corroborated. He also would not comment on whether Mr. El Maati was tortured into giving his confession but he noted that DFAIT observed that when he was interviewed he appeared to be in good physical condition. There were no DFAIT notations made about marks, scars, bruises, etc. He stated that at this time he could only surmise that Mr. El Maati told the truth and his recantation was an attempt to now “damage control”.
The RCMP did not give the following information to the presiding judge:
(i) the human rights record of Syria;
(ii) the public record that the Syrian Military Intelligence (SMI) was known to torture detainees in order to get information while the detainees are held in communicado at the Palestine Branch. At the material time, Mr. El Maati was held in communicado at the Palestine Branch by the SMI;
(iii) when reference was made that Mr. El Maati appeared to be in good physical condition by DFAIT, DFAIT observed Mr. El Maati in August 2002 while the “confession” given to the SMI was in November 2001, nine months earlier.

----
This must have been helpful to Justice O'Connor:
Note the blacked out portionsssssssss

----
Thanks again to Lorne Waldman one of Maher Arar's lawyers. Here is a paper I wrote for his class with three friends on Redress for Torture

Should I switch to word press?

I don't know let's try a trackback to another site

A rant about wilderness and its meanings

Chocolate sculpture

Oh my goodness, this is so fantastic!

http://pingmag.jp/2007/07/27/sweat-designs-with-cocoa-in-mind/
Visit this site. Beautiful sculptures made of chocolate.

Distributor - Organic & Fair Trade

I am having an ongoing adventure learning about fair trade and importing, distribution and sales. Loads of fun.

I look forward to sharing dulce de leche con mis amigos!

Interrupcion

Scientists solve Checkers...I still have a ways to go

U of A Professors have proved that they can beat any human being in Checkers

Chinook Proof

You can even play Chinook
Alberta researchers solve checkers

SHANNON MONTGOMERY

Canadian Press

July 19, 2007 at 2:54 PM EDT

EDMONTON — It's taken dozens of computers humming away for almost 18 years, but a University of Alberta team has finally solved every possible game of checkers and concluded that as long as no mistakes are made, the game will end in a draw.

The popular game may be simple to play, but it holds a potential 500 billion billion positions. That's one million times more complicated than any other game solved before, says Jonathan Schaeffer, the computer science professor who began the project in 1989.

“In hindsight, it was ludicrous. Why tackle something a million times bigger?” said the wiry-haired academic. “Maybe there's a little bit of craziness there.”

A conversation on the street - Buerger's Disease

I never would have asked him if he wasn't on the street: "what happened to you?"
He told me his story tonight and a bit about his family. I gave him some money and returned home.
It was one of the better conversations I have had recently. What a life he has led!
He has lost some appendages and doesn't play the guitar anymore.

I wasn't sure what to believe but he said he had burger's something...well that is what I thought I heard. But he was actually saying BuErger's disease, which cuts off the blood flow to parts of the body which hurts like hell and can lead to gangrene and eventually amputation (23 times in his case).

Here is some information about Buerger's Disease and a website of a guy who got it really early. I hope that I am not exploiting a man that I met on the street. I hope that he can at least appreciate that he had an impact on another human being.

Wikipedia: Buerger's disease
Brandon Carmichael has Buerger's disease

And a lesson...
You know how in the movies they slam beer bottles and guitars onto people, well my buddy one time snuck up on his friend and slammed a guitar (acoustic) onto her head. It broke and twanged like nobody's business. She recovered and joked, "you always wanted to do that."
I hope that everyone can find someone who will understand the importance of slamming guitars onto other people, just to hear the sound. Not that I would ever do it...

Paul Potts an opera singer for today and tomorrow

Yes Paul Potts rocks. Enjoy the opera. Tim enjoys a good portion of Paul Potts!

Paul's Official site
Awkward interview with a performance on NBC Morning Show...Meredith Viera we love you but chill out...
Moreover, Paul wins

Zambian workers, Chinese bosses

What if Canada got everything right in CSR, but our companies couldn't compete with other country's companies? Is this just a way of hiding behind the old excuse of "Johny doesn't have to make his bed, why do I?"

I may come up with an actual answer to this but I thought I would just point out two examples that raise the issue:
from the BBC: BBC - Zambia miners 'see little reward' By Orla Guerin BBC News, Zambia

from the Talisman Sudanese controversy:

• The sale
• China's purchase
  
• Talisman's home

Sudan divestment / Student action: Standnow in the US and Stand Canada
More info on CSR, Genocide and activism at Corpobligation.com

Bluesfest - Manu Chao, Spearhead, White Stripes

The greatest music I have ever heard. Can't say enough about these bands. Jack White is a genius on the guitars and rocked the blues this Sunday in Ottawa at Bluesfest. I also got down to the celtic music of Leahy.
The political messages of peace, love and understanding were clear and received well by the crowd. It was fun to feel a sense of hope and community as we cheered on activists and artists: Manu Chao, Spearhead and Sarah Harmer. Keep on rocking in the free world!

Sustainability standards

I look forward to delving deeper into this website:
Sustainable Measures. Take a look if you like.

Another use for a Burka!

Head of Pakistan's Red Mosque captured

ZEESHAN HAIDER

Reuters

July 4, 2007 at 4:30 PM EDT

ISLAMABAD — The head of a radical Pakistani mosque at the centre of a bloody stand-off with security forces was arrested on Wednesday while trying to escape clad in a woman's burka, officials said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070704.wmosk0704/BNStory/International/home

Happy independence day USA - It's hard to be a Muslim on the 4th of July!

Humour, music, religion, understanding...

It's Hard to be a Muslim on the 4th of July
Uploaded by snovision

You can support Tommy Wallach
Buy his CD at Buy CD

Rickshaw injury / hiatus

I regret to inform the fans that a rib bruise/break has sidelined men for the next few days. This will allow me to go further into debt and to spend more time on activism. Keeping my eye on the bright side. wink and groan...boo
Stay tuned for pictures of the rickshaw!

onwards and upwards

On the go, up to Olympus. I am working away diligently on corpobligation.com, transferring news from TCBCO to corpobligation, getting ready to launch a fair trade importing business, starting rickshawing, and generally staying cool when the heat rises!
Where are you going to be on Canada Day? Taking a rickshaw ride with Tim!
Drop me an email or call me if you know my number. You can also call Ottawa rickshaws: (613) 853-0012 and ask for me.

Ideas for a better world

Buying less giving more
Composting - not as bad of smell as expected...Compost now
Chocolate being good for you
Love making across barriers

And minibuses...stay tuned

Paul Potts is in the semis and is a youtube phenomenon

It turns out I was not the only person to enjoy Paul Potts' take on opera. A video of his is at the top of youtube at this moment and he seems poised to go ahead to the finals!



Yes He WON!

Frisbee

Hey folks,

So more frisbee is underway tonight at 6:00 (friday)

At Strathcona park - walk on Somerset East towards the rideau river until you hit water, then take a few steps back and you will be in frisbbee land. Hope to see lots of folks there.Bring friends. Drinks after at the house ("Le maison" pub).

Bienvenue a tous,

T
PS I don't care where you are living now, please make an effort to make it out!

Highschool redux

Remember when you had to ask for permission to go to the washroom? Remember when you had to go to school and sit still no matter what they were talking about?

Well, 9 years later, and seven years spent earning 6 letters after my name, I find myself back in highschool redux. A term I use to describe the re turn combined with reflux, that lovely stuff that they show in pepto bismol commercials.

Have to remember to wake up for those 1:00 classes, where we review common sense / the lessons we knew in kindergarten but have had drilled out of our heads.
Namely,

don't hit your friend, don't steal from your friend, be nice and the whole world will smile

See the neighbor rant and carl sagan movie below

Paul Potts - Salesman to Opera Star

I don't like opera, except Paul Potts. The only times I have gone to it I have been bored despite the directors best efforts (Salome - Atom Egoyan) or just bored (efforts (Die Valkarie - Toronto, Ring Cycle 2005).

But the way Paul Potts sings in this brief clip was inspirational. The way he expresses a feeling through singing opera absolutely blew me away! I will try to follow along with his development, and career, but he is appearing on "Britain has talent" at the moment and I do not have a TV.



The song is "Nessum dorum":

Verses (from the original libretto)[1]

Il principe ignoto

Nessun dorma!... Tu pure, o Principessa,
Nella tua fredda stanza
Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d'amore e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun saprà!
Solo quando la luce splenderà,
Sulla tua bocca lo dirò fremente!...
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
Che ti fa mia!...

Voci di donne

Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovremo, ahimè, morir!...

Il principe ignoto
Dilegua, o notte!... Tramontate, stelle!...
All'alba vincerò!...



Score text[2]

Il principe ignoto

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle
che tremano d'amore e di speranza...
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
che ti fa mia.

Voci di donne
Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!

Il principe ignoto

Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!
Vincerò! Vincerò!

Translated from the score.

The Prince Let no one sleep!... Let no one sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know... No!...No!... On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...

The Chorus of women No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.

The Prince Vanish, o night! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!


Apparently Pavarotti sang it with the three tenors...a bit over the top in my opinion

Carl Sagan says "everyone I know is from Earth"

A lovely message to all. We are all born here. On a planet. We worry about how to get over racism, religious strife, sexism, class, good vs bad hair...but we are all from here...

Contrary to popular belief, I am not an organizational genius

This is a picture of a corner of the dining room...the rest of the apartment was cleaner than this...at least after Iain's help

banana hands

This is the best video on youtube:

This dark German techno tells the tale of a young man und his appealing attributes. Completely produced in Helena Montana!
Milky Pirate Shirts, Steins and Boxers!!! - www.cafepress.com/nandrews
My MySpace Page :)
www.myspace.com/nandrewsproductions

Gotta love CBC and Hockey

A single tear for Ottawa...the fans and the kids were so excited.

Return to routine

Back at Bridgehead, drinking fair trade tea, I am having a good time working on my CSR paper and talking about the Tunisia paper. It is pretty wild to return to the land of milk and honey. My superwealth relative to the Tunisians I recently shared louages (minibus) with is strikingly clear, while I drink the higher-priced-guilt-reducing-fair-trade beverages.

The Ottawa Senators are playing tonight in Anaheim and the city is prepped with a guy selling T-shirts on the street and cops clustering in preparation for the anticipated celebration / riot. I predict celebration rather than riot but we shall see. If I can find the battery charger I will try to take some picks.

Tim's back in Ottawa

I have arrived in O-town. Looking forward to ultimate on Friday. Good luck on Thursday with the last of the Law Society of Upper Canada licencing exams. I look forward to writing these in November.

Hope all are doing well.

If anyone wants to save me from watching youtube, give me a call.
T

Futbol balls in Tunis and Toronto

So I am back from Tunisia and delighted to be in a cleaner and greener environment...the wealth of Toronto is actually a bit surprising as is the loneliness/isolation of the neighborhood.

There is a father, son and grandfather playing or practicing soccer in the giant lush park near my house. The 7 or 8 balls they are using to practice seems especially bizarre relative to the soccer games of Tunisian vacant lots and busy streets. Kids in both countries were having a decent time, but I think the kids of Tunis had a slightly wilder lust for the game. Anyways, here is a link to fairtrade soccer balls.

Sefyu "Senegalo Ruskov"
Uploaded by BECAUSE_MUSIC

Tuna and Tunisia

I have just enough time on my hands, between traveling around on mini-buses, Steve the camel, and hanging out at the beach, to write you a quick hi. The hi-lights: reading on the beach, assistance from Chanda on actually working on my last paper of law school, Matmata (starwars) a hamam (see below), camel ride into the Sahara (where I thought only crazy tourists go, but I was wrong: apparently our guide enjoys the peace of extreme heat, wind, sand, and creative insects)

Hope everyone is doing well I will be back in Ottawa by next Monday.

replies appreciated,
Tim
P.S. I can't stop these tiny ants from coming out of my computer...gaaaah
PPS Are people still going to use their UOttawa accounts? I don't know if they expire or not, but I am full time on mitbrown@gmail.com or tim@tcbco.ca

Matmata:

I write this email from an underground hotel in Matmata, Tunisia. Starwars was filmed here and Luke Skywalker had his last meal with his Aunt and Uncle on a planet named after the town just down the road (Tatooine).

I love the story and myth behind Starwars and it is surreal to come to the desert that Luke and Annakin grew up in and wanted to escape. So far I don’t want to escape but we shall see. There are lots of pictures stuck in Chanda's camera and I look forward to posting them at www.timcampionbrown.com what a convenient web address!

Chanda and I are quite the traveling team: negotiating with taxis, louages (minibuses), and salespeople (almost exclusively men). I return to Canada on May 31 and Chanda follows after on June 13^th or 14^th.

So I am almost finished law school at the U of O just one last paper. It is about corporate social responsibility and the roles that corporations play in the human rights standard setting and regulation process. If that sounds vague, it is because I am still working on the focus. Hopefully, by the time I send this email the focus will be clear in my head.

Tunisia has been a surprising blast. I had heard a lot of things about how much Chanda was harassed by the men on the street. Last night, we realized that perhaps they are just in an arrested adolescence: constantly hanging out with their buddies, avoiding the kids, while the girls (their wives) are doing their own things. With me around the harassment has slowed to a drip and the only times we are yelled at are when we walk through touristy markets.

We had a good time by the coast and drank lots more “café directs” (espresso with milky foam). I have had enough of beaches at least until I can find an English book.

_____

Hamam:

And of course the question on everyone’s mind is “how was the Hamam?” Hamam, you ask? A hamam is apparently like a Turkish bath although I didn’t find that description helpful either. Basically, it is heated steam room, where you scrape skin off of your self as you sweat and then you throw water buckets on top of your head. It is a little frightening seeing how much skin comes off. Chanda says that the amount of skin coming off shows how dirty we are. I personally think that the skin belongs on my body.

But the piece de resistance is the massage. I love massages and I indulged in them in Thailand, where I found the traditional Thai massage quite harsh, with the massager using feet and their whole body to stretch and manipulate. But, the Hamam massage was way more intense. The massager appeared to be ex-navy (complete with fading anchor tattoo) and had about three teeth. Our communication was a bit rough, so he relied on leading me by the hand and in kicking my hands into the correct locations. I lay directly on the wet tiles and the first thing he did was massage my back…with his feet…I was lying on tile and there was a bathing suited man standing on me. The back massage part was intense but then he stood on my legs and feet which moved into the excruciating zone. After this he proceeded to alternate between crushing different parts of my body using his hands or slapping me like he hadn’t seen me for ages. Anyways, after the relaxing massage, he proceeded to peel the crap out of my back and front, leaving me with a good size hickey on my neck. The hickey would have been hard to explain except that Chanda has received several from her hamam visits. Good times all around. (Matt, did you get hamamed (not hammed) when you were here?)

________

Camel: Name - Steve, Occupation, eating bushes and following "le premier"

On the way to Douze, we met two of the friendlist Tunisians I have encountered, who were really funny and had clips of some very serious looking Mujahadeen doing kung fu and then kicking one guy off of the screen. They were great fun and insisted on paying for our louage trip and for the coffee, to which we had invited them. They turned out to be sergeants in the Tunisian army and had little advice for me in my endeavours to become a $py. This was apparently uncouth.

Upon our eventual arrival in Douze, Chanda convinced me not only to get on a camel but to ride it into the Sahara. Fortunately, Steve was friendly and we did not stray too far from Douze, Southern City, the "gateway to the Sahara." Good couscous, friendly conversation and Arabic lesson. So tired I couldna see a thing by 10:30. Sahara means desert in Arabic, so apparently I have been calling the Sahara the desert desert. Oh well. Ok done now. Going back to the pool to rest and write.

PPPS: Yes Tuna is on everything in Tuna. But of course in French the fish is called Thon (tone) so I don't think too many people here have noticed. Although our army friends did point out that we were eating a lot of "Tunisie" or Tunisia.

Religion, Belief, and Your Neighbour's Nose

So you believe in God.

So you don't.

So you want to know what I believe in, you want to know it all.

Well, I believe in love, golf gods (lower case but vengeful characters), chocolate helps deal with dementors, and that my neighbour is important.

If you want to talk about religion, then go, walking please, talk to a Priest or a person who you feel has a closer connection to God than you do. Just don't go to your neighbour and start shouting, biting, kicking or shooting. Because your freedom, to borrow John Stuart Mill's phrase, ends at your neighbour's nose.

And lest you feel you have an obligation to save others, please remember the Golden rule or the saying of the Prophet PBH, or the words of the Torah or the words of Confuscious...

Don't bother others unless you are willing to listen to them talk back to you. Be good to your neighbour.

With thanks to Ernie Tannis

Man and Woman in a Chinese restaurant in Tunis

- This is not a personal story, but I was there -

Who knows who arrived first? Was it the man who took a bench seat and ordered a meal and then a beer? Did the woman come in after, and seek out a seat - with a view of, but a distance from, the front door? Did she notice him on the way to the table or was she just relieved to get off of the street into a relaxed setting?

Or did the woman take up her strategic position in the back corner of the restaurant first? Maybe the man came in and brazenly took up a seat with only a table - a chair - a small divider -another bench seat - and her table - to divide them?

Maybe it will help if I describe them. He: 40ish, Asian, eyes that could smile easily and the lines to prove it, perched on a chair, full of action but relaxed in repose. She: late 30s, blonde-brown hair, smiley but fatigued from the calls of the street and the stress of work, travelling to meet with the local affiliate, now in a space of respite from the street.

They each drank from green bottles of beer. Maybe he had already eaten or else he would eat later. She ordered a plate of some sort: rice, maybe with some meat.

But of course this is all background to the topic at hand: relationship?

His eyes as already described looked quick to laugh as he peered around the restaurant. His glance brushing against a poster (of the Asahi Beer woman, strangely incongruous in this Tunisian Chinese restaurant) must have met her gaze once. At least once. Did it linger? Who can know? Perhaps, she was the one who caught him in her vision and transformed him from stranger to potential comforter.

There is something about this transformation, when one of the other millions of people sharing the earth with us, steps out of the line and smiles or frowns or shares an emotion. An emotion that comforts or challenges. Tells us of an inner depth, a possibility.

I should say the restaurant was completely empty except for me and two other expats, and the servers and presumably some sort of cook in the back. I know little more, but I imagine that in an effort to connect they would have shared a smile and perhaps commented on the food or the weather, perhaps asked about the day.

I imagine that he joins her at her table. She clears a space for him to place down his beer. He interjects with a claim that her kindness is unnecessary. They smile again and pause. What next? The pause lingers.

Then both speak at once. Another moment of pause and then she begins to talk. She talks of her day or life or perhaps the challenge of travelling alone in a strange country. He listens intently without hearing a word but with hearing a tone. Her voice soothes. He feels the hairs at the back of his head perk and goose bumps running down his spine. She pauses at his silence and he smiles to encourage her to go on.

She continues with more confidence and faster speech to tell her stories - to connect to another human being - in a way that has been impossible since her trip began. He is nodding but she realizes he is not following. She slows again and asks a question. He smiles broadly and gestures her to continue.

She asks if he speaks English.

He responds with "English"

She tries, "francais, espanol, arabic?"

"Francais, oui, je parle francais..." he says clearly and rapidly, far to rapidly for her school french.

She remember just a few phrases and a bit of Spanish, "un petit peu lentement".

He nods and continues at a slower pace to introduce himself and to tell her of his day. Now his voice speaks of a rythm that connects to her in an unexpected way. She attempts to catch as many words as she can. The story of his day relates to his work and travel that is certain but he is speaking of something familiar to her.

He slows down and stops. She realizes that there is another awkward pause and she fills it with
"oui, oui."

Silence continues. He drinks. She picks at her food. They smile again.

---

I imagine that they had a night of passionate love. I imagine that they had a night of sharing and stayed up late talking. I hope at least that they were able to connect. That is why we live and that is why I noticed that man and that woman in a Chinese restaurant in Tunis, Tunisia.

Government holding back virtuous CEOs

I sincerely hope that the statements made by corporate executives from Johnson & Johnson, PG&E and Dupont were sincere and honest. This video produced by the Sea Studios and linked to by Business for Social Responsibility.

CHECK IT OUT - Ahead of the Curve: Business Responds to Climate Change.

Goodbyes and nostalgia

Law school is over for most of my friends. I just have a few last assignments...boo

This weekend, we had quite a bash. It was like we were new and we were old friends. Talking to everyone and sharing hugs, laughter, secrets.

What a day.

P.S. Still obsessed with CSR.

sLEEP & torture

Sleep the stuff of dreams and resilience
Thing I lack
Weather for stormy mood or twisted dream
I stare on and on waiting
I can't get that sleep groove back

And on a different note Canada is now actually by word of the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence defending its practice and complicity in torture. Professor Attaran, of Ottawa U was way ahead of the curve on Canada's policy on prison of war transfers in Afghanistan.

Tuberculosis, Indigenous Canadians and Genocide

I almost threw up this morning reading this article in the Globe and Mail. But I guess I don't even deserve to talk about my feelings because my pain must be so trivial compared to the suffering of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples. Canada, Ontario, Ottawa, the World are already awake. We know this terrible shit happened to other human beings. Let it never happen again. Reinstate the Kelowna Accord. Change the Indian Act to something like the Aboriginal Canadian Act. Get your shit together Canadian Government or else the protesters blocking the roads and railroaders will be reinforced by all of the uptight "wasps", yuppies, and starbuck's socialists.

Natives died in droves as Ottawa ignored warnings

Tuberculosis took the lives of students at residential schools for at least 40 years

BILL CURRY AND KAREN HOWLETT

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

April 24, 2007 at 1:30 AM EST

OTTAWA — As many as half of the aboriginal children who attended the early years of residential schools died of tuberculosis, despite repeated warnings to the federal government that overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care were creating a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease, documents show.

A Globe and Mail examination of documents in the National Archives reveals that children continued to die from tuberculosis at alarming rates for at least four decades after a senior official at the Department of Indian Affairs initially warned in 1907 that schools were making no effort to separate healthy children from those sick with the highly contagious disease.

Peter Bryce, the department's chief medical officer, visited 15 Western Canadian residential schools and found at least 24 per cent of students had died from tuberculosis over a 14-year period. The report suggested the numbers could be higher, noting that in one school alone, the death toll reached 69 per cent.

With less than four months to go before Ottawa officially settles out of court with most former students, a group calling itself the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared Residential School Children is urging the government to acknowledge this period in the tragic residential-schools saga – and not just the better-known cases of physical and sexual abuse.

Last week, Liberal MP Gary Merasty wrote to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice asking the government to look into the concerns. Mr. Prentice's spokesman, Bill Rogers, told The Globe that departmental officials have been asked to meet with native groups.

Some of their stories, including tales of children buried in unmarked graves beside the schools, are told in a new documentary by Kevin Annett, a former United Church minister, titled Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide.

Mr. Annett, as well as some academics, argue that the government's handling, combined with Canada's official policy of removing children from their homes for 10 months each year to attend distant schools, does indeed fit the United Nations definition of genocide.

The UN definition, adopted after the Second World War, lists five possible acts that qualify as genocide, of which killing is only one. The fifth act is described as “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

...

RAISING CONCERN

January, 1919

Duncan Campbell Scott, a senior Indian Affairs official, talks about the inadequacy of the school buildings in a memorandum to Arthur Meighen, then Superintendent General of Indian Affairs. “They were unsanitary and they were undoubtedly chargeable with a very high death rate among the pupils.”

December, 1920

A report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs says 33 students at the Sarcee school near Calgary are afflicted with tuberculosis.

February, 1925

W.M. Graham, Indian Commissioner for Saskatchewan, says in a letter to Mr. Scott: “We will have to do something to stop this indiscriminate admission of children without first passing a medical exam. ... I quite often hear from the Indians that they do not want to send their children to school as it is a place where they are sent to die.”

February, 1925

Russell T. Ferrier, Superintendent of Indian Education, writes to Indian commissioners and agents, saying each child should be pronounced fit by a medical officer before being admitted to a school. “When a pupil's health becomes a matter of concern soon after admission, the consequent parental alarm and distrust militates against successful recruiting.”

March, 1932

The Department of Indian Affairs announces that as a result of spending cutbacks, it cannot authorize admitting children with tuberculosis to a sanatorium or hospital unless the patient requires “care for relief of actual suffering.” Karen Howlett

Web sites of Tim

So I have since forgotten about blogging for a while and then become addicted to website design. This will be my last post at this site.

Please visit an excellent CSR consulting site that I am working on.

If you are interested in the recent Canadian CSR Roundtable Report and Recommendations, see a report prepared, by your's truly Tim Brown. Comments and feedback are appreciated.

By the time you read this a more activist site on Corporate Obligation will be in action