Life for Sale

Ian Usher admits his life didn't quite come to as much as he expected. The eccentric Australian isn't dying or coming to the end of the road. Just the end of his old life.

We've been keeping an eye on his quest for that new existence for months, after he decided to put his entire life up for sale on eBay. And this was one of those 'everything must go' sales.

The 44-year-old offered up his house near Perth and all his possessions, including his car, his extensive sports equipment, his spa - even his job and his friends, who he somehow got to agree to go along with the outlandish idea.

The deadline was Sunday, and despite a number of false bids in the millions that were completely unrealistic and discounted, the man who wanted to start over after his marriage failed was finally forced to accept a bid that was about $100,000 lower than what he was looking for.

But it was still pretty good if you're trying to begin a new life.

The verified winner was a person somewhere in Australia, who put up nearly Cdn$373,000 for the whole lot. Usher admits he could probably have gotten that amount just for his house, but a deal's a deal and he took the offer. He had been hoping for at least Cdn$466,000 or more.

"I guess I'm a little bit disappointed at the final price, I'd hoped it to be a little higher than that," Usher told a local TV network. "But I am committed to selling and moving on and making a fresh start."

He refused to reveal the bidder's name, identified only by the screen moniker "mslmcc," or say exactly what he's going to do now that he no longer 'owns' his own life.

But Usher had promised that once the auction was over, he would take his wallet, his passport and his name, head to the airport and leave the country for parts unknown, an adventure made possible by the money he got from the offer.

You might want to remember his example the next time someone observes that life is cheap. It sometimes may be - but not, apparently, on the Internet.

Source: citynews.ca

Bye Bye Bill

Though I'm not a fan...this was kinda cute....

Pop!

A TV producer who came into the hotel yesterday told me to look this up after a conversation we had.....
I tell you...makes you wonder what's going on, on your insides, when you are carrying that cell phone around, clipped to your pants....

Note to a friend

Today during a conversation, my friend stated, "I'm never content. With anything". I little while later, I thought about this more deeply. This is my two cents worth. If your discontentment is a way to help drive you towards doing more, doing better and getting to where you want to go, then that is great. It is a positive motivator. However, a word of caution. If this discontentment makes you a less happy person, if it makes you dissatisfied and non-appreciative of what you do have and what you have accomplished so far, then this is negative. It can lead to feeling like you will never be what you want to be, to depression, to anxiety. You can miss out on your life really if you are always discontent about it. Life is too short for that. The key is balance. Be happy in the present and always look to a brighter future. Be dissatisfied enough to let that feeling help you reach your goals and do more, but at the same time, live in the moment, have fun and be happy with where you are and what you've got.

Footloose

VANCOUVER -- Yet another human foot has washed ashore in British Columbia waters - the fifth such gruesome find in the past year.

Delta police said yesterday a couple out for a morning walk found a left foot partly submerged in the water on Westham Island in Ladner, south of Vancouver.

"[They] observed a shoe floating in the water, thought it suspicious and called police, and we've determined it to be human remains," said Constable Sharlene Brooks of the Delta Police Department.

Constable Brooks said the foot was in a shoe, but that police will not be releasing details of the type of footwear at this time.

Asked about the other cases, Constable Brooks said, "As far as confirming a link, we're not there. It is very speculative."

The most recent similar discovery was on May 22. A right foot still clothed in a sock and running shoe washed ashore on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River. It was found by a man walking his dog.

The other feet - all of which were also in sneakers - were found in the Gulf Islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

There has been no evidence that the feet were purposely severed, leading to speculation that the feet broke off human remains that were in the water for a long time.

Delta police are looking for answers. Investigators with the force's criminal investigation section are working with the B.C. Coroners Service and other police agencies to establish the identity of the foot and to see whether it is linked to the other cases.

"We're treating this as a criminal investigation," said Constable Brooks.

She said the police will not release further information until forensic work is completed.

By Ian Bailey
The Globe and Mail

Lakes across Canada face being turned into mine dump sites

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

Under the Fisheries Act, it's illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But, under a little-known subsection known as Schedule Two of the mining effluent regulations, federal bureaucrats can redefine lakes as "tailings impoundment areas."

That means mining companies don't need to build containment ponds for toxic mine tailings.

CBC News visited two examples of Schedule Two lakes. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Vale Inco company wants to use a prime destination for fishermen known as Sandy Pond to hold tailings from a nickel processing plant.

In northern B.C., Imperial Metals plans to enclose a remote watershed valley to hold tailings from a gold and copper mine. The valley lies in what the native Tahltan people call the "Sacred Headwaters" of three major salmon rivers. It also serves as spawning grounds for the rainbow trout of Kluela Lake, which is downstream from the dump site.

Lakes 'safest option': mining association

Vale Inco's proposal was the subject of a public meeting on June 10 in Long Harbour, N.L. Billed as a "public consultation" on the proposal, the meeting was attended by government officials, mining executives, environmentalists and fishermen.

Lakes are often the best way for mine tailings to be contained, said Elizabeth Gardiner, vice-president for technical affairs for the Mining Association of Canada.

“In some cases, particularly in Canada, with this kind of topography and this number of natural lakes and depressions and ponds … in the end it's really the safest option for human health and for the environment," she said.

But Catherine Coumans, spokeswoman for the environmental group Mining Watch, said the federal government is making it too easy. She said federal officials are increasingly using the obscure Schedule Two regulations to quietly reclassify lakes and other waters as tailings dumps.

“Something that used to be a lake — or a river, in fact, they can use rivers — by being put on this section two of this regulation is no longer a river or a lake," she said. "It's a tailings impoundment area. It's a waste disposal site. It's an industrial waste dump."

Coumans said the procedure amounts to a subsidy to the industry and enables mines to get around the Fisheries Act.

"What Canadians need to know is that this year, from March 2008 to March of 2009, eight lakes are going to be subject to being put on Schedule Two, which is just about every mine that is going ahead this year is looking around, looking for the nearest lake to dump its waste into.”

A local environmentalist who attended the Long Harbour meeting, Chad Griffiths, said of Sandy Pond: “It's easy enough to consider just one lake as just one lake, as a needed sacrifice, right? But it's not one lake … It's a trend. It's an open season on Canadian water.”

'Open season on Canadian water': environmentalist

A test case: the Red Chris Mine in northwestern B.C.

Last fall, a Federal Court judge ruled that federal bureaucrats acted illegally in trying to fast-track the Red Chris copper and gold mine without a full and public environmental review.

The decision put the project on hold, but late last week, the Federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, paving the way for federal officials to declare lakes to be dumps without public consultation.

Imperial Metals said in a release Monday that federal authorities "are now authorized to issue regulatory approvals for the Red Chris project to proceed," although the matter could still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the earlier decision, Justice Luc Martineau overturned the decision by federal officials to skip a public review, saying it "has all the characteristics of a capricious and arbitrary decision which was taken for an improper purpose."

He also found those officials "committed a reviewable error by deciding to forgo the public consultation process which the project was statutorily mandated to undergo."

The dump site includes two small lakes in a Y-shaped valley. Imperial Metals plans to build three dams to contain mine tailings within the valley. But environmentalists say there is no way to stop effluent leaking downstream in groundwater.

Jim Bourquin of the Cassiar Watch Society, a conservation group, said Kluela Lake, immediately downstream from the site, is “one of the best trout fishing lakes in northern B.C.”

“This is a precedent-setting decision by the federal government to start using fish-bearing habitat as a waste management area," Bourquin said. "It's totally bizarre for the federal government to come here and say that this Y-shaped valley up here is no longer a fish habitat, it's no longer sacred headwaters, it's just a waste dump site.”

But Steve Robertson, exploration manager for Imperial Metals, told CBC News the dump site will be sealed and that the economic benefits of the planned Red Chris mine will be enormous.

“This is a project that can bring a lot of good jobs, long-term jobs, well-paying jobs to a community that desperately needs it,” Robertson said.

He added that the total investment over the 25-year life of the mine would be about half a billion dollars and that the risk to the environment will be carefully managed.

“Tailings are part of the mining process,” Robertson said, “and, if treated properly, if they're built into a proper structure and kept submerged, they should be able to withstand the test of time and actually not pose a detriment to the environment.”

But James Dennis, a 76-year-old elder of the local Tahltan people, told CBC News he doesn’t buy that.

“We want it stopped,” said Dennis, who lives in the native village of Iskut, 18 kilometres northwest of the mine site. “We want to stop the mine … The animals will be drinking that water and they'll all be polluted too.

"Once they do the mine, they’re going to leave, and we're the people who are going to live with that. Not me, but my grandchildren, the small little kids like this. That's who's going to live with the pollution.”

Check out the video link : http://www.cbc.ca/clips/mov/milewski-toxicmines080616.mov

By Terry Milewski, CBC News

A positive message

Peace.

Amazing Light Show

Driving back from Niagara last night, the weather got serious. Thankfully, most of the drivers were playing it safe and slowing down accordingly. At times the rain came down so hard, it made it very difficult to see through the windshield. Weather, bad weather especially, has always interested me. When I was little and there would be a storm, though, it scared me, I was always curiously peeking through the curtains to make sure I didn't miss anything. I still love watching Stormchasers and the like on TV. So, last night there was an awesome lightening show too. Fork lightening not only striking vertically, but horizontally too. And there were several storms going on at one time too. South over the lake, north over Hamilton and East Toronto. And we may get a repeat today. I'll have my camera at the ready.

Chutneys on the Kingsway

I haven't had Indian food in a long time. So, on Saturday evening, a friend and I ventured down to the Kingsway and a little restaurant there called Chutneys. First time there. The restaurant has been around for four years. The Kingsway is a bit of a refined area. If a restaurant isn't good, it won't take long to close down in this area. So I thought, let's give Chutneys a try. The restaurant was really charming. Very clean, decor was understated, yet gave a colonial Indian feel. White and gold colours exuded coolness, yet, the darker wood brought in warmth. The staff were all friendly and informative. The menu has many choices (too many!). We tried the assorted appetizer platter. That would have been a meal unto itself. Samosas, pakoras and more - along with dips! Though, I felt these were all not freshly fried as they were not as crispy as I had hoped. For mains, I had Chicken Murgh Kalimirch (onion and black pepper sauce). Medium heat was suggested by our server for my first try. Next time, I may kick it up a notch. My friend had Lamb Zafrani Goscht (saffron and cashew nut sauce). This dish surely prompted a whole conversation revolving around saffron and spices in general! Along with a main dishes, we had some garlic naan (excellent for dipping in the rich sauces) and perfectly cooked basmati rice. Take home bag was a must! Complimentary mango lassi was given to us after our meal. It was sweetened with a rose syrup. I'm not a huge fan of mango...but this liquid dessert was really yummy! Our experience was most enjoyable. I'm sure we will be back! By the way.....they do have take out and delivery too. Check them out: www.chutneysrestaurant.com

Upcoming New Artist

Check out Katy Perry... http://www.katyperry.com
Haven't heard of her? Well, it's only a matter of time. Right now she has the #1 song on iTunes here in Canada. A little risque, but definately a la mode, "I kissed a girl" has a great beat. There is some uniqueness in the sound and in Katy's vocals.
I loved the song the first time I heard it. The video? Sexy. Even if Katy is only 23. Recently, Madonna mentioned Katy's song, "Ur so gay", on the Ryan Seacrest radio show. This Santa Barbara gal's got a lot of potential, and I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more from her in the near future! Best of luck Katy!

No Tomatoes for You!

...well unless you do the smartest thing....buy Canadian!!

What's Good for Apple Is Better for Everyone Else

As Apple prepares to launch the iPhone 2 on Monday, competitors like Palm and RIM are not worried. On the contrary, they are licking their chops, preparing for a surge in sales, even though Apple expects to sell millions of new iPhones worldwide.

"The way I look at it is there are 1.2 billion cellphones out there, and we're just scratching the surface," said Mike Laziridis, CEO of Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, the iPhone's closest rival.

Steve Jobs is expected to announce the second version of the iPhone on Monday morning during a keynote speech kicking off Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference.

The iPhone 2 has already been dubbed the "BlackBerry killer." It promises to be faster, slicker and cheaper, boasting features like fast 3-G networking, Exchange support and even carrier subsidies. If the rumors prove true, it will be the iPhone many buyers have been holding out for.

It's a standard line for companies to say they "welcome competition," but it's usually a throwaway meant to deflect attention from strategic vulnerabilities.

In the case of the iPhone, however, competitors earnestly have reason to welcome Apple to the market. Sales show that what's been good for Apple has been verrrry good for smartphone makers. Retail sales of the BlackBerry, for example, are up 38 percent in the year since the iPhone's introduction.

It didn't initially look that way. When the iPhone 2 rumors first surfaced, nervous investors sold off shares of RIM under the assumption that the company would get creamed by Apple. Instead, RIM's market share of smartphones in the United States has actually swelled from 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 45 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

"The fact of the matter is this," said Pablo Perez-Fernandez, an analyst with Global Crown Capital. "There were a lot of BlackBerrys in those stores where iPhones were selling, and there were people who may not have thought about a smartphone before, wanted the iPhone, thought it was too expensive, and bought a BlackBerry instead."

And for smartphone makers like Palm, Nokia and RIM, Apple helped whet the market's appetite while they went in for the kill, helped by discounted prices and a choice in carriers.

Palm says the sell-through rate on smartphones over the last two quarters has climbed 21 percent to 833,000 units in the third (and most recent) quarter, from 686,000 in the previous quarter (although the sell-through rate was 689,000 in the first quarter).

"The Centro has played a critical role in moving our transformational efforts along at a fast pace," said Ed Colligan, CEO and president of Palm, in a March conference call. He added that more than 70 percent of Centro buyers are traditional cellphone users who are purchasing a smartphone for the first time.

"What the iPhone did was make it cool to use smartphones," said Ramon Llamas, an analyst with research firm IDC. "Before, you had the BlackBerry, which mostly just resonated with enterprise users or business people. Now, there's a whole new market of smartphone consumers . Before the phone came out, I actually asked guys from companies like Nokia and RIM how they were going to respond, and the answer was unanimous -- it was, 'Welcome to the party, hop in the pool, the water's fine'"

It's an odd phenomenon because it's not as though Apple invented the smartphone or any of its features – touch screen devices have been around for years and lots of mobile phones already had music capabilities on phones. What Apple did was package it -- and market it -- in a way that made it attractive to mainstream consumers.

"The fact that it looks cool and sexy has helped Apple, and has called attention to a portion of the market that had been under the radar for a lot of people," Llamas said.

In many ways, the iPhone's effect on the market can be compared to what the iPod did for MP3 players.

Before Apple rolled out the iPod, the portable audio market wasn't doing much. In 1999, there were really only a handful of MP3-player makers and unit sales were marginal. Just a couple years after Apple rolled out the iPod in 2001, an industry was born.

Total sales of MP3 players in the United States jumped from a paltry couple million (depending on whose data you use) up to tens of millions over the last few years, as less-expensive models have become readily available.

"The combination of Apple's iPod device and its iTunes Store for music downloads has energized the music industry," gushed a JupiterResearch report in 2003.

Now we'll have to see whether the iPhone will have the same effect on the smartphone market.

source: wired.com
contributers: Betsy Schiffman, Dylan Tweney

Five years today

I wish we had answered the phone sooner.
If only I could have driven faster.
I wanted to get there in time,
for you to say your goodbye.
It still pulls at my heart.

He was a good natured man.
His eyes smiled and twinkled,
always ready with a joke.
His love for you ran deep.
He will always be missed.

Never heard of divorce?

..ummmm, maybe attempted murder was easier than seeing a divorce lawyer? I dunno.

An Oshawa man stands accused in a disturbing case of domestic abuse involving an alleged attempted electrocution.

The suspect's wife called police just after midnight on Monday claiming her husband had choked her, nearly to the point of unconsciousness, after she allegedly discovered her shower had been rigged to electrocute her.

The victim received a number of electrical shocks while she adjusted the taps in the tub, according to police, and noticed a panel of drywall was missing and that wires were attached to the plumbing. When she confronted her husband - an electrician - he allegedly attacked her and then took off.

Officers tracked down the suspect's vehicle on Highway 401, but he refused to pull over and took off at speeds over 170 kilometres per hour, according to authorities.

Cops later nabbed him in Port Hope.

The 60-year-old man is charged with aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, mischief endangering life and failing to stop for police.

His name hasn't been released.

source: citynews.ca
June 4, 2008

The Underground is dry

May 30th was the last day that Londoners could enjoy a brew on the tube. Bravo to the mayor of London....there is no need to drink alcohol on the subway...none. Now, hopefully, the London transit system will be cleaner and more pleasant to travel on.