Recently in Words Category

11 members of a workforce (the 'security force') of 10,000 sent home (see story at the foot of the page) was an "extremely minimal number."

But if one window gets broken and a little paint spilled it triggers (!) a massive security response.......

It's all about security

For a full size image of this poster.....

If nothing happens to threaten 'security' security forces will say 'see, we did a good job.'

If something happens they will say 'see, we were needed'.It's a 'post 9-11' version of nuclear deterrence.

In the flush of bidding for and winning the right to host the Olympics, nobody talked about how staging them might mean limiting civil liberties.

It's only now, with seven months until the 2010 Winter Games begin, that organizers and compliant politicians are revealing plans to make it more difficult to exercise our fundamental constitutional rights to free speech, peaceful assembly and free expression.

For months now, police have been knocking on the doors of known activists and tracking them down in their neighbourhoods to "chat" about their Olympic protest plans. But that's only part of it.

An omnibus bylaw that staff insists is "critical to the success of the Games" goes to Vancouver city council today.

The bylaw relaxes rules for Games-related events, limits free expression and speech in public and private spaces, and grants sweeping discretionary powers to Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem to do whatever is "warranted," "necessary or desirable" to ensure the Olympics' "safety and security" and "protection of commercial rights."

It also claims none of this is intended to impact political expression or the right to lawful protest.

That might not be the intent, but it may be the result. And rather chillingly, we may never know whether any of this is legal because there's little time left for anyone to initiate a court case against these rights-challenging changes before the Olympics begin in February.

Career Development Conference 2009 - Working Local ~ Shaping Global, March 3rd and 4th, 2009

Greetings if you have arrived here fresh from the CDC conference presentation this morning.

Thanks for all the input, encouragement and support.

Comments, links and ideas can be posted below using the (duh!) "Comments" section

Should this post be removed from the front page on future visits, use the search function to click on 'Employment Counselling' and you'll find it.

We could use this post a resource for ideas on changing the language of our business - several people asked afterwards how they could help with this - I think its one word and one form, brochure, manual at a time

And also use this post to assemble artists resources.

I provide images and notes with this proviso. Seeing and reading is not the same as attending and experiencing. A little like reading the menu, not eating the meal. So with a requisite pinch of salt.........

For an PDF file of the presentation 'That Shiny Red Bicycle - longing, desire and reward in work' click Shiny and Red.pdf

For an rtf file of notes to accompany the images click shinyrednotes.rtf

The url for the 'I like boxes' awfulness on You Tube is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMi-8KKSpI

Julie Fowlis and her Gaelic version of Blackbird and much more is available here:

http://www.myspace.com/juliefowlis

There might also be an htm version of the presentation coming to open in any browser with notes but bl**dy Microsoft is failing to let you save it in anything but a version so called optimized for so called Internet so called Explorer.....

Check back at the weekend for a document with brief notes on each topic, should the htm version not materialize..........

Thanks again

Stephen

PS Excellent new social activism site is http://www.idealist.org/

scjh

From the wonderfully current people at Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish, comes Bailout Bitter.



'A bitter ale for bitter times.' The full spirit of this wondrously timed ironic creation is amplified in this press release from the company.

As long as we have our sense of humour intact we have a chance.


'...with recession-fighting properties...'

RUSSELL SMITH

Working in the Chinatown area of Downtown Vancouver I am surrounded by reminders of faith and belief in chance, luck, fate, fortune and destiny; it seems a very Chinese, and more broadly Asian, philosophy.

The western world and the English language have their own version though, so the idea of being in touch with, in pace with, in tune with, what we should be doing and feeling is not exclusively Asian.

The English word is 'hap'.