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Posted at 07:52 PM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, Film, Life, Toronto, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Struggling Cities Tokyo-Toronto Talk Series
Complementing the exhibition "Struggling Cities" at The Japan Foundation, Toronto
Talk No. 1
November 9, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
André Sorensen, Associate Professor of Urban Geography, University of Toronto
Tokyo: City Under Pressure
In the context of widespread advocacy of policies for ‘compact cities’ and ‘urban renaissance’, Tokyo is a special and very interesting case. Over the last 10 years there has been a very significant recentralization of population in the central core of the Tokyo region with an increase of 48,150 households in the downtown 3 wards between 2000 and 2005, representing a 37% increase over 5 years. By any measure, this is a very dramatic increase. This talk uses census data and GIS mapping to show the extraordinary growth of population in central Tokyo, explains why this recentralization of population is occurring, and examines the major impacts of recentralization. From being a relatively low-rise city, Tokyo is being transformed into an increasingly high-rise city, in a dramatic transformation that has profound implications for quality of life and urban policy.
Talk No. 2
November 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
George Baird, architect, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto
Questions about Tokyo
In his talk at the Japan Foundation in Toronto on November 16, George Baird will pose a number of questions about Tokyo, based on his limited knowledge of, but keen interest in, the urban form of that city. In particular, he will attempt to encourage a discussion with the members of the audience for his talk, in regard to the particularities of that urban form. Some issues to be discussed are as follows:
Is Tokyo really a “hyper-dense” city?
How does Tokyo “work” for its inhabitants on a daily basis?
What is the current pattern of urban development and redevelopment in Tokyo?
To what extent can we see Tokyo as a precedent for the growth of other rapidly growing urban conurbations in the world?
Through a presentation of a series of images relating to present-day Tokyo, and a tour of the audience for his talk through part of the “Struggling Cities” exhibition, Baird will attempt to launch a discussion of the actual present and future of this still “largest city in the world”.
Talk No. 3
November 23, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
Christopher Hume, architecture critic, columnist The Toronto Star
Toronto: City Under Pressure
According to a recent survey, there are more highrise towers under construction in Toronto – 132 -- than in any other city in North America. Yet as Toronto expands and density increases, so does the backlash against growth. Residents’ obsession with height, played out over and over again, obscures the reality that either we build up, or out. Already suburban sprawl extends over vast swaths of valuable farm land in and around the Greater Toronto Area. The city’s failure to come to terms with its highrise future indicates a city out of touch with itself.
Though it is a long way from achieving the densities found in Tokyo, which has a population roughly equal to that of Canada, Toronto has morphed from a horizontal community into a vertical city. Official Toronto struggles to keep up with the pace of change in the city, but our political masters would rather play for time than prepare for change.
Talk No. 4
November 30, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
John Campey, Executive Director, Social Planning Toronto
Toronto: Diversity or Division?
In comparison to Toronto, Tokyo is a much less diverse, and a much more equal city. Toronto is arguably the most culturally and linguistically diverse city on the planet – the city’s motto is “Diversity our Strength.” Yet that diversity is increasingly reflected in a growing inequality – an inequality that is manifesting itself geographically, racially, and demographically. What are the impacts of that growing inequality on Toronto present, and what are the implications for Toronto future? What are key public policy strategies that can build on the “strength” of our diversity? How do we take advantage of our diversity, and avoid it becoming, increasingly, “division?”
Admission free. Reservation required
416.966.1600 x102 http://www.jftor.org/whatson/rsvp.php
Posted at 01:24 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Current Affairs, Design, Toronto, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
It now costs much less to visit the Royal Ontario Museum. Beginning October 27, we significantly reduced admission prices because we believe everyone belongs at the ROM. We’ll still be able to create remarkable exhibitions and events, and support our world renowned curators and research programs, because now more people will be able to visit. By visiting the ROM, you’re helping to sustain one of Ontario’s essential educational and cultural destinations.
We know it’s a difficult economic time, especially for families, and our new, lower admission costs respond to this. We’ve also expanded our student ticket category from 15 to 17 years old, to 15 to 25 years old, with student ID.
In order to offer significant price reductions to all of our visitors, every day of the week, the two-hour free period on Wednesdays has been discontinued. In keeping with the ROM’s commitment to access, we’re greatly expanding ROMCAN – the Museum’s access initiative to support disadvantaged communities throughout the Province – to deliver 75,000 free tickets annually.
Ticket Types | General Admission | Maya + General Admission |
---|---|---|
Adult | $15 (previously $24) | $25 (previously $31) |
Senior (65+ years) | $13.50 (previously $21) | $22.50 (previously $28) |
Student (15 - 25 years, with student ID) | $13.50 (previously $21) | $22.50 (previously $28) |
Child (4 - 14 years) | $12 (previously $16) | $17 previously $19.50) |
Infant (3 years & under) | Free | Free |
Members | Free | Free |
Ticket Types | General Admission | |
---|---|---|
Adult | $9 (previously $12) | Additional surcharge applies to see Maya: Secrets of their Ancient World |
Senior | $8 (previously $10.50) | |
Student | $8 (previously $10.50) | |
Child | $6 (previously $8) |
ROM Friday Nights are presented by SunLife Financial.
Posted at 08:47 PM in Architecture, art: effective 27/feb/2011, Current Affairs, Life, Toronto, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
Is your retirement wrecked? Knowledge is key to retirement plans
WHY LOOKING YOUNG IS BAD FOR YOUR NEST EGG.
Looking young for your age can be a bad thing, if it makes you postpone saving money for retirement.
"We are looking younger than in previous years, absolutely, but that does sometimes fool us into thinking we have many years for retirement planning," says Tina Di Vito, a financial planner, head of the BMO Retirement Institute and author of a new book, 52 Ways to Wreck your Retirement ... and How to Rescue It.
"Procrastination can creep up on us."
One-third of your life will be spent in retirement.
If you require specialized health care, do you want to spend your last years in a chronic care hospital or a five-star residence with in-house doctors and nurses?
The financial choices you make today will decide that for you.
Not saving enough is one of the main reasons people close to retirement decide to work a few extra years, says Di Vito.
Greg Pollock, certified financial planner and president and CEO of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, agrees. Clients in their 30s tell him they want to retire at 55, he says. Without a plan, they hit their 50s and realize they have to work until they're 67.
"We're all very optimistic," says Pollock.
But the truth is a health problem in your 80s can wipe out your life savings in one year.
If you do one thing, Pollock and Di Vito agree, do this: Start saving more, today, no matter how old you are. Make it automatic and it will become automatic. Other steps:
Make a plan. Pollock and Di Vito agree that the single most important step towards a successful retirement is planning for it.
Think about what you really want to do. Golf? Hit the beach? For 25 years? Really?
"Chances are, you will do a lot of the same things after retiring as you did before - we're somewhat hard-wired after a certain age and it's hard to change us," says Di Vito.
She suggests easing into retirement, if you can. Go down to four days a week first. Reduce your work days even more until you are fully retired.
Know your net worth. This is a summary of all your assets, minus your liabilities. Until you do this, you don't even know where you stand. You may feel rich because your home is worth $500,000, but if you stack your mortgage and consumer debts next to it, what are you really worth?
Pay attention to your everyday finances. Check your bank statements for errors and fraud, check your automatic bill payments to make sure you're not paying for services you no longer use, read your paycheque, even if it's electronic, to make sure pay increases are properly reflected.
Know your investments. The number of investment options has exploded in the past 20 years. You don't need to know everything. Learn the basics about GICs, bonds, equity investments, mutual funds and tax-free savings accounts. Learn how to keep tabs on your portfolio, even if you have a financial advisor.
Diversify. Really. Buying two different mutual funds is not necessarily diversifying if they are both investing in the same things. Which brings us back to know your investments.
Retirement is not a short period of time. Retiring doesn't mean you should stop investing. Di Vito recommends keeping a minimum of five years' worth of withdrawals invested in low-risk, easily accessible investments, but keep a long-term view for the balance of your retirement savings.
Pay off your mortgage. The faster you can pay off your house, the more time you have to save for retirement, says Di Vito. Increasing monthly mortgage payments a little bit every year is better than trying to save up and make extra lump-sum payments. It's too tempting to spend the money on marble kitchen countertops.
Monetize your hobby. Turning a hobby into a job could provide extra income in retirement. But if you decide to start a new business, do your research first. You won't have much time or opportunity to rebuild your finances if you fail.
Downsizing. Some people wait too long to downsize, says Di Vito. They continue to live in a large house they no longer need and cannot maintain. They can become fearful of moving.
Another mistake is not downsizing enough. If you sell your home for $525,000 and buy a smaller one for $450,000, you won't be much better off financially once all the taxes and fees are paid.
If you do one thing, Pollock and Di Vito agree, do this: Start saving more, today, no matter how old you are. Make it automatic and it will become automatic. Other steps:
Make a plan. Pollock and Di Vito agree that the single most important step towards a successful retirement is planning for it.
Think about what you really want to do. Golf? Hit the beach? For 25 years? Really?
"Chances are, you will do a lot of the same things after retiring as you did before - we're somewhat hard-wired after a certain age and it's hard to change us," says Di Vito.
She suggests easing into retirement, if you can. Go down to four days a week first. Reduce your work days even more until you are fully retired.
Know your net worth. This is a summary of all your assets, minus your liabilities. Until you do this, you don't even know where you stand. You may feel rich because your home is worth $500,000, but if you stack your mortgage and consumer debts next to it, what are you really worth?
Pay attention to your everyday finances. Check your bank statements for errors and fraud, check your automatic bill payments to make sure you're not paying for services you no longer use, read your paycheque, even if it's electronic, to make sure pay increases are properly reflected.
Know your investments. The number of investment options has exploded in the past 20 years. You don't need to know everything. Learn the basics about GICs, bonds, equity investments, mutual funds and tax-free savings accounts. Learn how to keep tabs on your portfolio, even if you have a financial advisor.
Diversify. Really. Buying two different mutual funds is not necessarily diversifying if they are both investing in the same things. Which brings us back to know your investments.
Retirement is not a short period of time. Retiring doesn't mean you should stop investing. Di Vito recommends keeping a minimum of five years' worth of withdrawals invested in low-risk, easily accessible investments, but keep a long-term view for the balance of your retirement savings.
Pay off your mortgage. The faster you can pay off your house, the more time you have to save for retirement, says Di Vito. Increasing monthly mortgage payments a little bit every year is better than trying to save up and make extra lump-sum payments. It's too tempting to spend the money on marble kitchen countertops.
Monetize your hobby. Turning a hobby into a job could provide extra income in retirement. But if you decide to start a new business, do your research first. You won't have much time or opportunity to rebuild your finances if you fail.
Downsizing. Some people wait too long to downsize, says Di Vito. They continue to live in a large house they no longer need and cannot maintain. They can become fearful of moving.
Another mistake is not downsizing enough. If you sell your home for $525,000 and buy a smaller one for $450,000, you won't be much better off financially once all the taxes and fees are paid.
Don't spend too much on your children. If you buy your child a house they will share with a spouse, you should consider registering a mortgage on that house. This will protect your loan from creditors and the division of the assets you invested if they divorce.
Source: Toronto Star, Business - Pg. B1, Oct 21, 2011
Posted at 02:50 AM in Life, Personal Finance:effective feb/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Data is not useful until it becomes information, and that's because data is hard for human beings to digest.
This is even more true if it's news that contradicts what we've already decided to believe. Can you imagine the incredible mindshift that Mercator's map of the world caused in the people who saw it? One day you believed something, and then a few minutes later, something else.
We repeatedly underestimate how important a story is to help us make sense of the world.
Jess Bachman wants to help you turn the data about the US budget (the largest measured expenditure in the history of mankind, I'm betting) into information that actually changes the way you think.
Hence Death and Taxes, which we're publishing today. The new version belongs on the wall of every classroom, every public official's office, and perhaps in the home of every person who pays taxes.
It is not possible to spend less than ten minutes looking at this, and more probably, you'll be engaged for much longer. And it's definitely not possible to walk away from it unchanged. That's a lot to ask for a single sheet of paper, but that's the power of visualizing data and turning it into information.
Text from Seth Godin's BLOG. Click here
Posted at 03:12 AM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, Current Affairs, Life, Seth Godin, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted at 10:34 PM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, Current Affairs, Design, Life, Technology, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
Once archives make the decision to acquire a collection of records, the next step in the management process is for the archival institution to accession the records. Accessioning is the procedure through which an archival repository takes administrative, legal, and physical custody of a group of records. The means by which archives acquire administrative and legal control of records is slightly different for institutional archival programs than it is for collection repositories. Within institutional archives, records are generally transferred by means of a transmittal form, in which the office that created the records grants custody to the archival program of the same institution. For collecting repositories, which acquire records not from a parent organization but from private donors or external institutions, a deed of gift is the primary instrument by which the archives gain legal and administrative control over the records.
During accessioning, the archivist collects basic information about the records on the basis of a preliminary examination. Generally, an accession form is created, which includes data such as the creator of the records, the quantity, condition, and current location of the records, any restrictions on the records, a list of contents and brief descriptions of the records. The information that is gathered during the accessioning process provides essential information about the newly acquired records and later serves as the basis for the arrangement and description functions.
Archival institutions select, preserve, and make their records accessible for a number of reasons, including legal, financial, and administrative purposes. Government archives (at the federal, state or local level) that administer public records, for example, maintain records as evidence of the government’s policies and operations. Thus, public archives help ensure that the government is held accountable to the public by preserving records that enable citizens to monitor the conduct of government agencies and public servants. In addition, the records that are held by public archives document the rights of citizens, such as entitlement to social security benefits or ownership of property. Private organizations, such as businesses, churches, universities, and museums, also establish institutional archives to care for their records. The archival records that are maintained by these repositories document the organizations’ origins, structures, policies, programs, functions, and vital information over time.
In addition to the legal, fiscal, and administrative purposes for which records are originally created and used, archival records are useful for historical or research purposes. Archives provide a key with which to examine past and present events. In addition to the administrative users of archives, a variety of researchers take advantage of archival sources. These researchers may include scholars, genealogists, students at all levels, local historians, biographers, independent writers, and documentary filmmakers. Since archival documents can be used for many purposes by diverse audiences, the records of organizations that do not have their own institutional archives, as well as the personal papers of individuals, are often actively sought by archival programs such as collecting repositories or historical societies. These types of institutions, rather than documenting the activities of a parent organization, focus on collecting records that document a particular topic (e.g., a person, subject, or geographical area).
Read more: Archives, Public Records, and Records Management - Importance of Archival Materials and Archival Institutions, Archival Management, Appraisal, Accessioning, Arrangement and Description, Preservation, Access - JRank Articles http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6422/Archives-Public-Records-and-Records-Management.html#ixzz1bro1OTLo
Posted at 11:25 PM in Books, Life | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mosaic Mural Celebrating Business at Brookfield Place launched by the Business Archives of Canada (Click here for full article)
The Mosaic Mural encompasses an entire wall in the south lobby of the Bay-Wellington Tower at Brookfield Place. It was designed by renowned graphic artist Louis Fishauf, and includes the use of 3D graphic panels called Lenticular.
Development of the National Business Archives has been generously supported by visionary member organizations including Brookfield Asset Management, CN, Deloitte and TD Bank Financial Group.
The Archives "have a very important role to play in documenting a history of what has gone on before, so that all people will have something to look at and realize what a great contribution business has made to the Canadian economy," said David McLean, Chairman, Canadian National Railway - Archives Founding Member and sponsor of the Mosaic Mural art installation.
The National Business Archives of Canada is a destination for the business community and public to experience the role of Canadian business in the development and prosperity of our country. With a footprint in Brookfield Place, the Archives will initially exist as a virtual centre and digital knowledgebase of artifacts and historical resources, with a business centre, library and exhibit gallery planned for the near future.
(the pictures below are from the existing virtual centre; that I visited this weekend - Sir Joseph Flavelle happens to be one of my favourite Torontonians/Son of Peterborough)
Posted at 01:10 AM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, Life, Personal development:effective feb/27/2011, Toronto, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
(took this book out of the library on Thursday & couldn't recognize this place!)
MISSION FOR TODAY: Find this place!!
Found it!!
Commerce Court North @ 25 King St. W :
The first building, now known as Commerce Court North, was built in 1930 as the headquarters of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, a precursor bank to the current main tenant. Designed by the Canadian firm Pearson and Darling with the American bank specialists York and Sawyer as consulting architects, the 34-storey limestone clad tower was the tallest building in the British Empire/Commonwealth for roughly three decades, until 1962. At the time of its construction, the building was one of the most opulent corporate headquarters in Canada, and featured a public observation deck (since closed to the public due to safety and liability concerns).
Commerce Court North held the title of tallest building in Toronto between 1931–1967
Posted at 06:12 PM in Architecture, Books, City Planning, Design, Life, Technology, Toronto, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Started reading today!
'When John Whitehead [chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which was established in the fall of 2011 by the governor of New York to oversee reconstruction of the trade-center site] began his remarks- scheduled to start at 10:00 A.M. and conclude by 10:30- he tried to set an August tone, opening the proceedings not as if he was introducing a bunch of architects presenting some models but more as if he were addressing the United Nations.
"The original World Trade Center was more than a set of buildings. It stood for global commerce over global conflict," he said. "These teams have produced world-class work that embraces and extends the ethos of the original World Trade Centre. Underlying these diverse plans is the common theme of rebirth. Beyond the powerful aesthetic statement that these designs make, they also convey powerful messages- they must speak to our children and our children's children about who we are and what we stand for."'
- Goldberger, UP FROM ZERO pg. 6
Posted at 10:43 PM in Architecture, Books, Life | Permalink | Comments (0)
The building that used to house Rochdale College, on Bloor Street in Toronto
FOUNDING: Rochdale began as a response to a growing need for student housing at the University of Toronto, and a nineteen-year-old entrepreneur and philosophy student, Howard Adelman, was hired by the Campus Co-operative to meet the housing demand in 1958.
Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also a free university where students and teachers would live together and share knowledge. The project ultimately failed when it could not cover its financing and neighbours complained that it had become a haven for drugs and crime. It was closed in 1975.
EDUCATION IDEALS
In the late sixties, universities were centres of political idealism and experimentation. Rochdale College was established as an alternative to what were considered traditional paternalistic and non-democratic governing bodies within university education. Conversely, Rochdale's government policy was decided at open meetings in which all members of the co-operative could attend, participate in debate, and engage in consensus decision making.
It was the largest of more than 300 tuition-free universities in North America, and offered no structured courses, curriculum, exams, degrees, or traditional teaching faculty. From humble beginnings in seminars on phenomenology and a Recorder Consort that performed with the London (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra, it became a hot bed of free thought and radical idealism.
Rochdale College never used traditional professors or structured classes. Posting notices on bulletin boards and in a student newsletter, groups of students coalesced around an interest, and "resource people" were found with various academic and non-academic backgrounds, who led informal discussion groups on a wide variety of subjects. Resource persons of note included an Anglican priest, Alderman and later Member of Parliament, Dan Heap, author Dennis Lee and Futurian Judith Merril, who founded Rochdale's library.
Rochdale participants were involved with various cultural institutions in Toronto such as Coach House Press, Theatre Passe Muraille, The Toronto Free Dance Theatre, This Magazine is About Schools (now This Magazine), the Spaced-out Library (now the Merril Collection of the Toronto Public Library) and House of Anansi Press.
Students had complete freedom to develop their own learning process, much of which emerged from the shared community experience. The college included theatres for drama and film, and a ceramics studio. Students decided school policy and made their own evaluations.
It was typical of the free universities not to award degrees and the University of Toronto did not offer degrees through Rochdale College. Indicative of the playful humour of the times, anyone could purchase a B.A. by donating $25 to the college and answering a simple skill-testing question. An M.A. cost $50, with the applicant choosing the question. A Ph.D. cost $100, no questions asked.
The Rochdale application also described its "non-degree": "We are also offering Non-Degrees at comparable rates. A Non-B.A. is $25.00. Course duration is your choice; requirements are simple, we ask that you say something. A Non-M.A. is $50.00 for which we require you to say something logical. A Non-Ph.D. is $100.00; you will be required to say something useful." Nobody at Rochdale ever took these degrees seriously, and the fees (if any were collected) were treated as voluntary donations.
Rochdale ran its own radio station called CRUD, with an unusual assortment of music, talk, and static. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission tried to shut the station down a number of times, but the dedication of its staff kept it on the air.
CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING EXPERIMENT
Rochdale was the largest co-op residence in North America. Rochdale occupied an 18-storey student residence at Bloor St. and Huron St. in downtown Toronto. It was situated on the edges of the University of Toronto campus, near to Yorkville, Toronto's hippie haven in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The college took its name from Rochdale, a town in north-west England, where the world's first cooperative society was established in 1844. The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers is usually considered the first successful co-operative enterprise, used as a model for modern co-ops, following the 'Rochdale Principles'. A group of 28 weavers and other artisans set up the society to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford. Within ten years there were over 1,000 co-operative societies in the United Kingdom.
The college's modern architecture was uniquely designed for communal living. Some areas were divided into independently operated communal units of about a dozen bedrooms (called ashrams), each with its own collective washroom, kitchen and dining room. Each unit was responsible for collecting rent and maintaining its own housekeeping. Other areas consisted of bachelor, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. On the first and second floor were common areas used for socialization, education, and commercial purposes. The roof was accessible from the 18th floor and was used for sunbathing. Clothing was optional.
TRANSITION
The originally intended tenants for Rochdale were screened. Screenings were handled by residents of the Rochdale Houses, a precursor “dry-run” to Rochdale conducted at Campus Co-op owned houses, and they chose people who were by and large going to be associated with the University of Toronto. However, a construction strike in 1967 that delayed the opening of Rochdale by half a year changed Rochdale's population from what was supposed to be a carefully selected one to a completely random one. The screened applicants, most of whom had commitments to the university, could not wait for Rochdale to be completed and many found new accommodations. When the college was slowly completed floor by floor, a practical decision was made to make the building available to “people who walked in right off the street.” As the small group of founders later realized: “[w]e were sealing the fate of the Rochdale that most of us had wanted to experiment with. And since there were very few rules about how the place would be run, we were in effect handing the building over to people very unlike ourselves.”
Posted at 10:18 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Life, Toronto | Permalink | Comments (0)
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped by 508 points to 1738.74 (22.61%).
Causes of 1987 Market Crash: Potential causes for the decline include program trading, overvaluation, illiquidity, and market psychology.
Quotes from the 1987 Stock Market Crash to get a feel for the mood in 1987.
"The market crash of 1987 caught most economists, scholars, and investment professionals by surprise. Nowhere in the classical, equilibrium-based view of the market so long considered inviolate was there anything that would predict or even describe the events of 1987. The failure of the existing theory left open the potential for competing theories."
-Robert Hagstrom in Investing, the Last Liberal Art
"The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis."
-Herbert Hoover, after the October 1929 crash
"The borrowing has to stop. The market slide was a shot right between the eyes that had better wake us all up to simple fact that we can't keep romping forever on borrowed money."
-Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Corp Chairman, October 20, 1987
"There is so much psychological togetherness that seems to have worked both on the up side and on the down side. Its a little like a theater where someone yells 'Fire!'"
-Andy Grove, Intel CEO, October 20, 1987
"As a practical matter, people are looking for whippings boys. Program trading looks mysterious. People don't understand it, so it acquires and image of black magic."
-Joseph Grundfest, SEC commissioner, October 22, 1987
"It makes everyone feel vulnerable, as thinking people. When you see a market get terrribly whacked out, it makes you think how faulty and useless most people's thinking is. It identifies clearly how small we all are, how powerless. It's very distressing."
-Edward Gordon, head of a real-estate company, October 24, 1987
Posted at 08:41 PM in Life, Personal Finance:effective feb/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments (0)
<STOCK>----------------- <SALES> <HIGH> <LOW> -<3.30pm> <Net Change>
Brascan Corporation can be traced back to the dawn of the 20th century and South America, where Canadians played a role in the early development of hydroelectric power generation, street car lines, and gas and telephone systems. The power business came first, beginning in 1899. The Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company Limited, formed in 1912, amalgamated infrastructure operations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company, meanwhile, sold off its telephone operations to the Brazilian government. The company was renamed Brascan. A decade later, in 1979, the power business, too, was sold to the government, and Edper acquired controlling interest in Brascan. North America became the central focus for investment in the power industry. In 1973, Brascan had acquired Great Lakes Power Company and its hydroelectric facilities. The independent company had been incorporated in the early 1920s to provide power in northern Ontario.
Bruce Flatt, president and CEO of Brookfield Properties Corp., took over the post of president and CEO of Brascan Corporation in 2002
Although losing the bid for control of London's Canary Wharf in 2004, Brascan gained 72 New York State hydroelectric generating plants. The two deals represented the wave of the future. "For Canada's Brascan Corp., it's goodbye, rocks and trees, and hello, buildings and dams," wrote Elena Cherney for the Wall Street Journal. By focusing on power generation and real estate, Brascan felt it would draw in more institutional investors growing portfolios for the wave of retirees on the horizon.
Read more:
http://www.answers.com/topic/brascan-corporation-3#ixzz1bUFkrrBG
Posted at 12:02 AM in You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Founded in 1914, the Peterborough Utilities Commission (PUC) operated in Peterborough for more than 85 years as a not-for-profit organization providing safe and reliable supplies of electricity and water to the city.
Restructured in 2000, the PUC became part of the Peterborough Utilities Group and continues to operate as a not-for-profit organization providing safe and reliable water to the city. At the same time, a number of new companies were established within Peterborough Utilities Group:
Peterborough was one of the first places in the country to begin generating hydroelectric power. Companies like Edison General Electric Company (later Canadian General Electric) and America Cereal Company (later to become Quaker Oats), developed hydroelectric generating stations to take advantage of this inexpensive, efficient and reliable energy resource to provide power to their manufacturing facilities in Peterborough.
Today, Peterborough Utilities Inc. (PUI) owns and operates three hydroelectric generation stations:
(1) London Street Generating Station
Originally built in 1884 and located on the Otonabee River within the City of Peterborough. This facility was acquired from Quaker Oats in 1975. The station produces 4 MW of power that is distributed within the City of Peterborough.
(2) Campbellford-Seymour Electricity Generating Station
Built in 1910, this 6 MW station is situated at Lock 14 on the Trent River a few kilometers north of Campbellford. The facility was acquired from the Campbellford-Seymour PUC in 2000.
(3)Robert G. Lake Generating Station
PUI is a partner in Trent Rapids Power Corporation and will operate the Robert G. Lake GS under contract with TRPC. The station has been named for “Bob” Lake who was General Manager/President of the Peterborough Utilities Group (and it’s predecessor the Peterborough Utilities Commission) for almost 20 years.
All three hydroelectric generating stations operate as run-of-the-river facilities in order to minimize their environmental footprint while producing a reliable source of "green" energy.
PUI sees electricity generation as a key area of growth in the future and is pursuing a number of additional project opportunities. PUI’s focus will be on the development of renewable and clean energy resources including solar hydropower and landfill gas.
PUI recently commenced construction of the 10 MW Lily Lake Solar PV project located northwest of the City of Peterborough adjacent to Hydro One's Dobbin Transformer Station.
In addition, PUI recently executed a Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) contract for a 2 MW landfill gas (LFG) generation project to be located at the County/City of Peterborough Waste Management Facility on Bensfort Road.
Posted at 09:39 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Life, Technology, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
...
During a period when the innovation was restricted to the wealthy, it was usually only opera houses and high-tone restaurants that boasted electric light. Indeed, when Thomas Edison, the quintessential American hero of the Gilded Age, inaugurated his first central-station electrical system is 1882, he placed his generator on Wall Street.
Peterborough was a pioneer of Canada's industrial revolution because its fast-flowing Otonabee River offered ample supplies of the novelty that was hydroelectric power at Niagara was just starting to spark a controversy over who would control the stories falls, the Peterborough Light and Power Company had already installed a generator on the Otonabee's Dickson "raceway." The company secured the municipal street lighting franchise and lit up George Street. Peterborough's surplus power meant that by 1907 it was generating more manufactured goods than any city in Ontario on a per worker basis. Cereal from Quaker Oats (founded 1900) and canoes from what would become Peterborough Canoe became national brands.
Peterborough was even further ahead of its time when it came to luring new businesses. At the end of the twentieth century cities and provinces were falling all over themselves with offers of low taxes and cheap land to lure this or that employer to set up shop. Well before the end of the nineteenth century, Peterborough had accomplished just that. In 1890 the city fathers told the Edison General Electric Company that the town was in a position to come across with land valued at $18,372, municipal services worth $12,138, and a ten-year tax holiday. The U.S. company had initially built its works in Sherbrooke, Quebec, but immediately decamped when it got an offer it couldn't refuse. The men of property who constituted Peterborough's ratepayers were similarly enthusiastic. They authorized the deal by a vote of 656 to 11.
Peterborough had more than cheap land. The city sat on the Otonabee River at the foot of a series of fast-moving channels. The millraces on the river had already made the town an ideal location for the water-powered sawmills that processed timber from the dense forests of the Kawartha Lakes district. When Edison arrived, the company received fresh tax incentives to build two new power houses on the river. The company that would become Canadian General Electric emerged as one of the country's leading manufacturers of electrical apparatus. Well over a hundred years later its huge Peterborough plant remains a large industrial employer, though it has downsized in recent decades. It once produced everything from locomotives to refrigerators, from insulated wire and cable to huge hydroelectric generators. It also emerged as a key supplier to the nuclear industry, making refuelling machines and the fuel bundles that form the guts of nuclear power plants. Today its products are more limited (though the nuclear section with its fuel bundles remains a mainstay), but in the spring 2004 the plant was completing the first of six generators - each the size of a railway car- to be use in portable stations in Iraq.
Also check tomorrow's post on Peterborough Utilities Inc.
Posted at 09:40 PM in City Planning, Life, Technology, Travel, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada, and the largest city in southern Alberta. It is Alberta's fourth-largest city by population after Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, and the third-largest by area after Calgary and Edmonton. The nearby Canadian Rockies contribute to the city's cool summers, mild winters, and windy climate. Lethbridge lies southeast of Calgary on the Oldman River.
Lethbridge is the commercial, financial, transportation and industrial centre of southern Alberta. The city's economy developed from drift mining for coal in the late 19th century and agriculture in the early 20th century. Half of the workforce is employed in the health, education, retail and hospitality sectors, and the top five employers are government-based. The only university in Alberta south of Calgary is in Lethbridge, and two of the three colleges in southern Alberta have campuses in the city. Cultural venues in the city include performing art theatres, museums and sports centres.
Author |
Galt Museum & Archives |
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Sir Alexander Galt (English-Canadian politician, and a father of Canadian Confederation) and his son Elliott Torrance Galt co-founded the Town of Lethbridge, Alberta in 1883, when he established a mine on the banks of the Oldman River in the southwest portion of the District of Alberta, Northwest Territories. The Canadian Post Office refused to accept the name Lethbridge for the community until 1885 because there was another town with the same name in the Dominion of Canada. Sir Alexander Galt laid out the street plan of Lethbridge's present location in 1885 after his settlement was moved to the prairie level from the river valley. Canada's Governor General, the Marquis of Landsdowne, demonstrated the Dominion government's support of the Galt enterprises, by opening the Galts' railway in September 1885 in Lethbridge.
Galt's company, the North Western Coal and Navigation Company went through a variety of name changes as it moved into railways, and irrigation enterprises. A public park and a museum (formerly a hospital) in Lethbridge are named after him.
Lethbridge is southern Alberta's commercial, distribution, financial and industrial centre (although Medicine Hat plays a similar role in southeastern Alberta). It has a trading area population of 275,000, including parts of British Columbia and Montana, and provides jobs for up to 80,000 people who commute to the city from a radius of 100 kilometres (62 mi).
Lethbridge's economy has traditionally been agriculture-based; however, it has diversified in recent years. Half of the workforce is employed in the health, education, retail and hospitality sectors, and the top five employers are government-based. Several national companies are based in Lethbridge. From its founding in 1935, Canadian Freightways based its head office there until moving operations to Calgary in 1948, though its call centre remains in Lethbridge.[27] Taco Time Canada was based in the city from 1978–1995 before moving to Calgary. Minute Muffler, which began in 1969, is based in Lethbridge. International shipping company H & R Transport has been based in the city since 1955. Braman Furniture, which has locations in Manitoba and Ontario, was headquartered in Lethbridge from 1991–2008.
Lethbridge serves as a hub for commercial activity in the region by providing services and amenities. Many transportation services, including Greyhound buses, four provincial highways, rail service and an airport, are concentrated in or near the city. In 2004, the police services of Lethbridge and Coaldale combined to form the Lethbridge Regional Police Service. Lethbridge provides municipal water to Coaldale, Coalhurst, Diamond City, Iron Springs, Monarch, Shaughnessy and Turin.
In 2002, the municipal government organized Economic Development Lethbridge, a body responsible for promoting and developing the city's commercial interests. Two years later, the city joined in a partnership with 24 other local communities to create an economic development alliance called SouthGrow, representing a population of over 140,000. In 2006, Economic Development Lethbridge partnered with SouthGrow Regional Initiative and Alberta SouthWest Regional Alliance to create the Southern Alberta Alternative Energy Partnership. This partnership promotes business related to alternative energy, including wind power, solar power and biofuel, in the region. Economic Development Lethbridge won first place at the Economic Developers Association of Canada 2007 Marketing Canada Awards for its "County of Lethbridge Business Investment Profile 2007–2008". In 2007, Site Selection magazine ranked Economic Development Lethbridge as fourth among Canadian economic development groups for volume of capital investment and job creation.
Posted at 10:29 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Fashion, Life, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Lethbridge Viaduct, commonly known as the High Level Bridge, is the longest and highest steel trestle bridge in North America. It was constructed between 1907–1909 at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada at a cost of $1,334,525.
Specifications
This massive steel trestle over the Oldman River was designed by the Canadian Pacific Railway's bridge department in Montreal. The field work was directed by CPR's Assistant Chief Engineer John Edward Schwitzer. The steel work was manufactured by the Canadian Bridge Company of Walkerville, Ontario. A 100 man gang worked on the erection of the steel. Although there were some initial problems with settlement, the bridge has proved to be an enduring engineering work and is still in use today.
It was built as part of a major diversion of the Crowsnest Pass route between Lethbridge and Fort Macleod. The river crossing was previously over a wooden trestle measuring 894 m (2,933 ft) long and 20 m (66 ft) high; an impressive structure in its own right.
Above is a picture of the High Level bridge I took the last time I was in Lethbridge! Sorry not the best picture but atleast I have one of my own.
Posted at 09:38 PM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, City Planning, Design, Technology, Travel, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
I love transmission poles! I had taken this pic and posted on my facebook page, as it seems, exactly this month, 4 years ago! (I remember this was at Richmond Hill Centre while waiting for the bus.) I was reading the book 'HYDRO', as mentioned in yesterday's post, and found the following Babcock & Wilcox magazine ad quote from the 1950s on pg. 35:
Across rivers and chasms, over mountains, through forests, out into deserts- the slim wires run - bringing lightm, power and life. Into every corner of the country, electricity has sent its probing, creative fingers- developing farms, mines, industry and cities.
Electricity has been ... and will continue to be ... man's indispensable aid in breaking through the physical frontiers of the world. But now, with the full advent of the science of electronics- electricity begins to open the frontiers of the mind
Posted at 09:37 PM in art: effective 27/feb/2011, Technology, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted at 09:37 PM in Books, City Planning, Life, Technology, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Information management – is it the new ‘thing’?
October 11, 2011
“Information is a strategic asset and must be managed like other assets, such as people or capital.” So says the Global research firm Gartner. What we records and information managers have been saying for years!
It is interesting to see that the Gartner Predicts 2011 Special Report talks of how business leaders are demanding greater visibility of the link between IT investments and better business results.
Technological solutions rarely will deliver better business outcomes on their own. To realise this, IT increasingly need to work with colleagues from other spheres. Obvious partners are those trained and experienced in information management, such as records managers, information managers/architects and digital archivists. These practitioners can help to ensure that the technologies are linked closely to the business and that organisations know what information is critical to capture and keep, how long it needs to be kept and how it can be used and reused for business benefit. As the Gartner group put it “generating, managing and protecting the right information at the right time is one of the critical elements of business success.”
Still, we find that collaboration is not easy. Our survey of ICT practitioners in NSW Government has identified a number of barriers, not least of which is the lack of senior management support for collaboration.
In the Commonwealth, the profile of information management is rising, with the new Australian Information Commissioner being responsible for 3 functions of which one is ‘information policy.’ There are plans for a national policy framework for information management. Will this place collaboration between ICT and information specialists more on the agenda?
Taken from: FUTURE PROOF - Protecting our digital future
Posted at 09:36 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)
John Denison was the head of a large family of Toronto landholders and military men, who had considerable influence for over a century, from 1797 until the death in 1925 of George Taylor Denison III, his great grandson. John Denison was born in Yorkshire, in 1755. He was a captain of the militia, a miller, and a brewer. In December 1782, he married Sophia Taylor, Sophia and Russell’s sister Elizabeth were childhood friends.
On the inducement of Peter Russell, the Denisons came to Canada, settling first in Kingston and finally in Toronto. For several years he was manger of Russell’s farm Petersfield, which prospered under his care. Over the years, Denison received several grants and began to accumulate property, including the park lot immediately west of Petersfield. He also purchased property overlooking the Humber River which the family named Black Creek Farm. In 1815, he bought park lot 25 and built Brookfield House, at the north-west corner of modern Queen and Ossington. Enormous willows cast shadows across the fine lawns and gardens. Although John Denison died in October 1824, his widow lived on at Brookfield for many years. Most of his property was inherited by their eldest son, George Taylor Denison, with the exception. of the house. In 1845, Sophia had transferred Brookfield House and four acres surrounding it to her son-in-law, John Fennings Taylor.
After the Lunatic Asylum was constructed on the south side of Queen in 1846, the area around Brookfield House deteriorated. The house was demolished, and smallish lots were sold. Ossington Avenue received its name from the family seat of Ossington House in Nottinghamshire.
For notes on LostRivers.ca about the other Denisons and their houses see: Bellevue, Dover Court House, Heydon Villa and Rusholme.
For more about Brookfield and John Denison, see "The Estates of Old Toronto" by Liz Lundell.
Posted at 09:35 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Toronto | Permalink | Comments (0)
Travel breeds curiosity. On the road, we find ourselves waking early, wandering unfamiliar streets, watching foreign cities creak to life as the sun rises. We poke around corners, eat exotic dishes and pour over maps. We are alive to the possibilities of the world around us.
Yet the more I travel, the more I chide myself for not maintaining such curiosity at home, a point made clear by a recent obsession: swimming the rivers and creeks right outside my back door.
-- Was reading this article, A wild chase for bull trout in my own backyard, in the Globe and Mail and it reminded me of something I had read in an earlier mentioned book "TORONTO, no mean city" under 'The Origin of Street Names in TOronto'. Below are the Streets/ intersections I have lived next to during my past 8 years in Toronto -
Augusta Avenue- A female member of the Denison family (see Denison) or Charlotte Augusta, only daughter of George IV (see Charlotte)
Bathurst Street - Henry, third earl Bathurst, secretary for War and the Colonies 1812- 27. The name applied to the present street south of Queen (then Lot) when given in 1837. The northern section was known as Crookshank's Lane, after the Hon George Crookshank, who owned a large estate there.
Bloor Street - Joseph Bloor, 1788- 1862, a brewer who lived at 100 Bloor Street. Bloor and Sheriff Jarvis laid out the village plots for the town of Yorkville, just north of Bloor. For many years Bloor was the northern limit of the city proper. It was formerly known as St Paul's Road, Sydenham Road, and Toll-Gate Road, the latter after the toll-gate that stood at the corner of Yonge Street.
Carr Street - Probably John Carr, city councillor, alderman, clerk and commissioner, 1847-73. Carr Street was originally Elizabeth Street, part of Belleuve Estate owned by Colonel George Denison. The name was changed in 1870. John Carr resided at 21 Denison Ave.
Denison Avenue - The street was one of the roads to the Denison house at Denison Square owned by George Taylor Denison and, after his decease, by his son Lt.-Col. Robert Brittain Denison (1821-1900). See Augusta, Bedford, Bellevue, Borden, Brookfield, Churchill, Dewson, Dovercourt, Esther, Fennings, Lippincott, Major, Ossington, Robert, Rolyat, Rusholme.
Dufferin Street - The marqis of Dufferin and Ava, governor general of Canada 1872-8.
Dundas Street - Sir Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, Home Secretary 1791-4. Like Yonge Street, Dundas Street was laid out by Gov Simcoe, who intended that it join the provincial capital at York with the Thames River on the west and the mouth of the River Trent on Lake Ontario on the east. Within Toronto's boundaries, Dundas Street today is formed from a series of earlier streets, including St Patrick, Anderson, and Agnes Streets west of Yonge; Crookshank Street, Wilton Avenue, Wilton Crescent, and Beech Street between Yonge Street and the Don River.
Dupont Avenue - George Dupont Wells (1814- 54), son of Col the Hon J. Wells of Davenport, County York.
Keele Street - William Keele, solicitor, who owned property in Toronto Junction.
Queen Street - Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901). So named about 1843. Queen Street was formerly Lot Street because of the 'park lots' abutting it and extending north to Bloor Street. Lot became the northern limit of the town in 1797, as it grew beyond the original boundary of Duchess.
Salem Avenue - Salem, Massachusetts
Spadina Avenue - Spadina, the country home if Dr W. W. Baldwin, to which it was the approach. The name is derived from Espadinong, an Indian word meaning a little hill.
Wolseley Avenue - Col Garnet Joseph Wolseley (1833-1913), later Viscount Wolseley, who came to Canada in 1861 as assistant quartermaster-general. In 1970 he commanded the force sent west to the Red River to quell the Riel insurrection. Wolseley Street was formerly Monck Street.
Posted at 09:33 PM in Books, City Planning, Toronto, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
A relic of a time before Netflix, or even Cineplex Odeon, Etobicoke’s Westwood Theatre—just south of where Kipling, Dundas and Bloor meet in the former muncipality’s notorious “six points” intersection—has stood vacant since its closure in 1998. The last two movies to screen there were Titanic and Wild Things.
But the cinema was ultra-modern when it was built in 1952, with a sleek design and a gimmicky “floating screen”, curved to allegedly provide a 3-D experience. The theatre catered to a neighbourhood that was, at the time, on the edge of town—a harbinger of sprawl to come. (Though two more screens were added in later decades, the Westwood was nonetheless dwarfed by the nearby Queensway and Sherwood multiplexes.)
In 2009, plans were made between the city and the province to tear down the theatre and build a courthouse on some of the 19 acres of city-owned land, but funding was pulled. There may now be plans to put a YMCA on the site, but no deals have been inked, yet. Reassuringly, the majority of the building is still intact—apart from the “D” in the iconic sign, which was damaged during the filming of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. (The roof was blown up by a zombie with a rocket launcher.)
Westwood Theatres, 1974
Posted at 07:44 PM in Architecture, City Planning, Current Affairs, Design, Toronto | Permalink | Comments (0)
Building Postwar Toronto:
When Planning and Politics Collide
Stephen Bocking (Trent University) presents the seventh lecture in Toronto Public Library's 2011 History Matters series. These lectures focus on labour and environmental history in the Toronto area and beyond. Part of TPL’s Thought Exchange programming, these lively talks give the public an opportunity to connect with working historians and to discover some of the many and surprising ways in which the past shapes the present.
The series has been curated by Dr. Lisa Rumiel, SSHRC Post Doctoral Fellow McMaster University, and we are especially grateful for a generous grant provided by The History Education Network (THEN/Hier), which has made the series possible.
Location:
Annette Branch, Toronto Public Library
145 Annette Street
Annette and Keele
Map to this event
Presented by:
Toronto Public Library ; Costs: Free
Date: November 7, 2011
Event Time(s): 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Website: www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/search.jsp?Ntt=HIstory+Matters&N=4292779801
Phone: 416-393-7692
Posted at 12:08 AM in Architecture, City Planning, Life | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 5, 2011, 7:15 amHow ZUCCOTTI Park Got Its Name
In the 40 years since John E. Zuccotti joined city government as a part-time, $15,000-a-year member of the City Planning Commission, he has been chairman of the commission, first deputy mayor, chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York and the United States chairman of the global real estate giant Brookfield Properties, which owns, among other buildings, the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.
But none of those titles or positions catapulted him into greater, if unwitting, prominence than the continuing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations staged from the tiny downtown park that Brookfield owns and that bears his name.
Zuccotti Park has become a much-spoken name among protesters camped there and among followers of the protest movement that has been gaining steam in other American cities. The block-long, half-acre park has arguably become one of the city’s better-known patches of greenery. Yet most of the park’s occupants, who are railing against what they deem the inequities of the financial system, probably have no idea who Mr. Zuccotti is.
Certainly, nobody recognized him during several casual sojourns he has made to the park from his office at the World Financial Center to survey the scene, including one on Wednesday. (He said he did not interact with any of the protesters.)
Mr. Zuccotti did remember getting a call from a relative in Italy: “My cousin called and said everyone in Genoa was saying, ‘Is that your relative?’ I’ve become famous.”
The park was created as a public space in return for allowing the original owners to build a larger office tower in 1968. A public plaza typically does not, however, allow overnight camping or serve as a regular staging ground for mass protests.
But Mr. Zuccotti, who cuts a judicious, even owlish, figure at 74, is no stranger to gracious hospitality. One of his first jobs was checking hats at the El Morocco night club where his father was the head waiter and later the incontrovertible guardian of the velvet rope as the maitre d’.
As for Brookfield’s continued welcome, Mr. Zuccotti said, “my guess is that we basically look to the police leadership and mayor to decide what to do.”
The protesters are not your typical El Morocco crowd. They are considerably more democratic and, arguably, more diverse in their political agenda.
“According to what I read, the nature of the protest has been a little vague,” said Mr. Zuccotti, who returned to New York on Tuesday after traveling in Europe.
“If you go there, you can’t tell the protesters from the tourists,” he added. “It has a kind of festive atmosphere.”
After his visit on Wednesday, though, he said the park has gotten “a little messy,” adding: “Sooner or later we’re going to have to get in to clean it. With gas generators and other things there, we don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
The park, which was originally known as 1 Liberty Plaza, was renamed Liberty Park after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2006, after an $8 million renovation to repair damage from the attack on the World Trade Center, the pink granite park was renamed for Mr. Zuccotti. The gesture marked his public service as a savior of the city while deputy mayor under Mayor Abraham D. Beame during the 1970s fiscal crisis, and as a vigorous cheerleader for downtown’s revival after the terrorist attacks. Mr. Zuccotti lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Susan Sessions Zuccotti, a historian and the author of several books about the Holocaust.
The park is adorned with several dozen honey locust trees and a large abstract sculpture called “Joie de Vivre’’ and another of a businessman with a briefcase.
Mr. Zuccotti said he had no idea that the park was to be named for him until he arrived for the rededication ceremony.
“I started to notice there were all these people from various stages in my life, and suddenly it dawned on me they were pulling a fast one,’’ Mr. Zuccotti said. “It was a complete surprise.”
During the ceremony, he recounted what President Lyndon B. Johnson said in dedicating a building in Washington when Mr. Zuccotti was a special assistant at the Department of Housing and Urban Development: “My pappy would have enjoyed it and my mammy would have believed it.”
What about his parents? What would they have thought about the park and the protest?
“They would have been proud of the name,” he replied, “and they probably would have said, ‘I hope they’re keeping the park clean.’”
Posted at 12:34 AM in City Planning, Current Affairs, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
Steve Jobs the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died. Please listen to/ read the commencement speech he gave at Stanford University.
A True Inspiration.
Transcript of Commencement Speech at Stanford given by Steve Jobs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts
SlashDot ^ | 6/14/2005 | Steve Jobs
Posted on June 14, 2005 7:18:09 PM by Swordmaker
Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle.
My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Thank you all, very much.
Posted at 11:38 PM in Life, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
The job-hunting client phoned Jim Beqaj expecting to be congratulated for having landed a lucrative new position. Instead, the veteran career adviser warned the man to reconsider.
“I told him flat out, ‘I don’t think that’s the right fit for you,’” said the president of Toronto-based career consulting firm Beqaj International Inc. and author of How to Hire the Perfect Employer
The client was an executive had worked for 15 years with a company that gave him carte blanche, provided great support, let him make decisions on his own and hire as many people as he needed. By contrast, the new organization was very bureaucratic and didn’t absorb outsiders well, and he would have to go through a chain of approvals even to hire a secretary.
“I warned him, ‘You’ll be made ineffective and you will fail because you are not able in this new job to use the tools that made you successful in your last job,’” Mr. Beqaj said
It proved a prescient statement: The executive decided to throw in the towel and leave the new post a few months later.
“It’s truly remarkable how many people ... interview for jobs that are 100 per cent wrong for them. If they are hired, they struggle to make themselves fit into organizations at jobs they are unlikely to be satisfied doing,” Mr. Beqaj said.
Even in the most competitive job market, even if it would feel better to get on any payroll, he advises job seekers to hire on only at a company that matches their work style and personality. “Otherwise they risk being back on the market soon.”
While it may seem counterintuitive, Mr. Beqaj said the best strategy is to limit your options right from the start. “Conventional wisdom says that when you are looking for a new job, you should network widely and get your CV seen by as many eyes as possible. But that shotgun approach is often a complete waste of time.”
The options become clearer if, rather than looking for any possible job, you target only employers who are likely to have an affinity for you, Mr. Beqaj advises. To do this, take it step by step:
Interview yourself
Be as specific as possible in answering these questions: What are you really good at? What do you most enjoy doing? What kinds of people do you like to work with?
Choose your targets
Make a list of companies, whether in your region or elsewhere in the country (or even the world), who might need someone like you. Narrow the list to about three or four top prospects by doing serious homework on the Internet and through networking contacts. Aim to find out how these companies tick and why they might need to add your specific skills to their teams.
Create an infomercial
From your results, write an elevator speech with statements that define the skills that make you unique and why they matter to the employer. For example: “If you need a good judge of character who has hired more than 900 people and has 20 years experience, I’m the person to do the job.” In a single sentence, people can see what value you provide. Mr. Beqaj said.
Look at people as much as product
The job may be right, but are the people and their work styles compatible with the way you like to work? “Many job candidates are often too focused on the potential job to notice that the place is micromanaged, or that the team has habits that irritate them. But look around; you can feel it in your stomach if something doesn’t seem right,” he said.
You shouldn’t only be interviewing for a job you should be looking for a personal fit. “No matter how good the job is, you are just not going to function well and grow in a poor environment.”
Don’t fool yourself
You may find yourself being tempted by a company that has a particular problem or challenge on its hands. You can fool yourself into thinking you can turn around a situation that is a mess, but keep in mind that it’s often just wishful thinking, Mr. Beqaj said. “There are times when an organization is looking for someone who is different enough to be a game changer. But you have to make sure that they will give you the support and resources you need to actually make the changes.”
Trust your gut
“Don’t be afraid to tell them exactly who you are,” Mr. Beqaj said. And if you have concerns, don’t let anyone else persuade you that a job is great. “It has to be your decision that it’s right, otherwise you’ll always be doing something that is not you,” he said.
“If you are trying to win a job by contorting yourself into something you’re not, to become what you think they are looking for, you are soon going to find yourself unhappy and not likely to be very successful.
KNOW THYSELF
The first step to finding the perfect employer is to be sure you understand your own work style and goals. Do a thorough interview with yourself:
What makes you unique? Write out not only what you think you are really good at, but evidence from experience that backs up your beliefs.
What’s your best day? Look back at what you were doing on days in your work life when you felt most enthusiastic and came home and said, “If I could just do this every day of my life I’d be happy.” What are the worst experiences you want to avoid at all costs?
Who works with you? Create a list of people in your life who have worked effectively with you. What were the common characteristics of these people in terms of mindset, background, habits and personality traits?
How do you resolve conflicts? Do you compromise, accommodate, compete with or hide from people? Organizations can have a variety of way of sorting out issues and if you have a different style, you’re unlikely to be seen as a team player.
What’s your work style? Do you like juggling multiple problems or the ability to complete one task before moving on to the next? Would you like to be on the road or in an office? Compromise in this area and every day could become a nightmare or a slog.
Who needs you? Build a list of employers that have the kinds of jobs and work that are most compatible with your work style. These should not only need your skills but also be likely to want you as a person. Make them your priority targets.
Posted at 12:17 AM in Books, Life, Management: effective feb/27/2011, Personal development:effective feb/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments (0)
>> from Elle Canada>> Oct 2011
Posted at 08:10 PM in Life, Personal development:effective feb/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Chewang Norphel, Director of the Leh Nutrition Project.
Rain is scarce in these snow-peaked Himalayas of northern India, and summers bring dust storms that whip across craggy brown slopes and sun-chapped faces. Glaciers are the sole source of fresh water for the Buddhist farmers who make up more than 70% of the population in this rugged range between Pakistan and China. But rising temperatures have seen the icy snow retreat by dozens of feet each year — to find evidence of global warming, the farmers simply have to glance up from their fields and see the rising patches of brown where, once, all was white. Knowing no alternative, they pray harder for rain and snow.
But Chewang Norphel has gone beyond prayer. The 73-year-old civil engineer has come up with a solution that won't exactly save the ancient glaciers, but it could stave off a looming irrigation crisis. Norphel has created artificial glaciers, frozen pools of glacier run-off perched above the farmers' fields, which thaw just in time for the start of growing season in April — two months before water from the distant natural glaciers is expected to arrive. The slanted pools melt into irrigation channels over the next six weeks, watering crops for villages of roughly 500 families and, as a bonus, recharging the valley's natural springs.
Norphel is known locally as "Ice Man," and cuts a rebellious figure with slick raven hair and a black leather jacket. His innovation has been hailed as an elegantly simple and cheap solution to a devastating problem. One artificial glacier costs just $7,000, compared to $34,000 for a cement water reservoir. Only local materials are needed, and the villagers themselves can build and maintain them. The seven glaciers he's built as head of a local non-profit managing the watershed program for the state of Jammu and Kashmir have won him widespread attention, as engineers from other mountainous regions in India and Afghanistan have visited to learn his methods.
But funding from the government and cooperation from villagers have proved fleeting, and his plan to put artificial glaciers in over 100 villages of his native highlands now faces Everest-sized obstacles.
One of the villages targeted by Norphel is the Buddhist hamlet of Sakti, tucked in the mountains of the Ladakh Range that stretch above the Indus River. Village head Tsering Kundan recalled the rush of optimism when Norphel's glacier was first built in 2001. People grabbed up more land to cultivate, planting groves of willow and poplar saplings between the fields. But now they're letting their man-made glacier fall into disrepair, says Kundan. Villagers accuse one another of secretly diverting its water, and the local watershed committee is neglecting to spend government funds on maintenance. "They're more interested in spending it on buying cows," said the 54-year-old farmer, his eyes glistening red from sun and wind.
Norphel found his state funds cut in 2006 as part of the fallout from an unrelated political dispute between government officials and Ladakh's notoriously crowded field of NGOs. Still, the quixotic Ice Man remains determined to prove the power of his invention. His biggest and most successful glacier is also the most remote, meaning that few officials are willing to make the seven-mile hike to see it. One nearer to town has been reduced to a series of dirt pits from neglect and a major flood. Unperturbed, Norphel sees this as a chance to rebuild the perfect showpiece.
Shimmying down the slopes toward the dry pools, he described the improvements he would make if he just had the money. The headworks at the natural glacier would direct water with more precision and efficiency. Stone channels would be widened so the water wouldn't freeze on its way down. Pipes leading to the pools would be deep underground, and made of concrete, to withstand floods. Water would cascade onto fields in April, and global warming would lose its grip, for a while.
Then people would see.
"I just need one village," said Norphel. "Then I can show everyone.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717149,00.html#ixzz1Zg7NzrPc
Posted at 09:38 PM in Current Affairs, Design, Life, Science, Technology, Travel, You Inspire Me | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 2011: Letter from the editor
“You’re a smart girl. You don’t need to work in fashion.”
The white-haired retiree uttering those words to a wide-eyed MBA grad who expressed interest in the clothing industry was oblivious to the fact that I was reeling from his remark.
Nor did anyone else around the breakfast table at a friend’s cottage twig to the fact that I had just been insulted. At one time, I would have piped up and suggested he ask billionaire Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, whether he thinks there is any upside to a brilliant business mind in fashion.
Instead, I took the Carine Roitfeld approach: quiet satisfaction. Fashion’s coolest living human tells features editor Rani Sheen, in an exclusive Canadian interview (“A Woman of Substance,” page 82), that she, too, felt a certain intellectual prejudice when embarking on her fashion career. The former editor of Paris Vogue feared people would think she was stupid for being interested in clothes. Does anyone doubt her savvy now?
Then there’s Russell James, the ex-cop who talks to Sven Schumann about life as a photographer for Victoria’s Secret (“Wing Man,” page 168). Imagine what his former colleagues thought when he told them he was trading the police force for fashion photography—and how envious they must be today.
People who love fashion and beauty so much they want to earn their living from it persevere, fuelled by one thing: love.
I know you can relate—that’s why you’re reading FASHION. You have the same yearning for fall’s wedge booties and long-haired vests that we do. Luckily, many of the pieces in this issue could be yours—just flip the page, check out our Big Giveaway calendar and visit fashionmagazine.com/biggiveaway to enter. And throughout this issue, you’ll find pink stars beside the products we’re giving away. It’s our annual way of saying thanks to our readers for continuing to make us the most-read fashion and beauty magazine in Canada. And if anyone tells you you’re foolish for spending time and thought on fashion and beauty, send them my way and I’ll give them an earful.
Let me know how it goes at [email protected].
Posted at 12:23 AM in Life | Permalink | Comments (0)
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