The Newfoundland weather we are accustomed to in January
January 13th, 2011
Okay, so yesterday I spoke too soon. Here is the weather today.
Archive
Archive for the ‘Local News’ Category
January Weather in Newfoundland
January 12th, 2011
I thought I saw a patch of snow on the road during my lunch break today but it was difficult to tell with the glare from the sun.
With a record-breaking warm December and a January that is shaping up to be as good or better I have only one thing to say:
“Global warming? Take a seat Al Gore.”
Aftermath of Hurricane Igor in St. John’s
September 22nd, 2010
These are some photos taken by Sandra Lee Photography which are both stunning and devastating of the aftermath of Hurricane Igor.
Maybe use the ATV to get out? Oh wait…
You need a bridge to get to this bridge!
I wonder why someone is trying to rent out this perfectly good space?
Double whammy.
Water garden.
City driving.
From Sandra-Lee Photography: Hurricane Igor – St. John’s, Newfoundland
For more photos of the aftermath of this hurricane, visit http://hashalbum.com/igornl
Vote Clint Webb for Senate
June 25th, 2010
Mount Pearl Nothing but Average
May 21st, 2010
Well despite all my defending Mount Pearl to my St. John’s counterparts as a man who grew up in this city, it seems I was wrong, in a sense.
I know a few people who ought to enjoy this post.
If you compare the indices below you can see that Mount Pearl is virtually only ever average or below (though it should be known St. John’s in much in the same boat). Part of this can be accredited to our education system, part of it can be accredited to our dependencies of St. John’s.
For instance, everyone assumes Mount Pearl has no arts scene because there are never any events held in the city. Well that can almost single-handedly be attributed to the fact that there is no infrastructure to handle it. Consequently Mount Pearl artists show off their wares and talents in St. John’s. The Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl is trying to combat that.
I am sure there are other factors that Mount Pearl’s averageness as well.
In the same census, St. John’s is ranked as the single highest improver in a 5 year span, skyrocketing from a total score of 65 to 80. Yes, better than Mount Pearl. I said it.
From Yahoo News: St. John’s impresses in Maclean’s magazine’s ranking of Canada’s smartest cities
The Muse seeks to raise levi in referendum
March 9th, 2010
Unfortunately The Muse has no control over their rates to their consumers when they need to cope with inflation.
In order to remain a free publication for the student body The Muse needs to collect fees from the students and from advertisers (and semi-new by-laws prevent their biggest advertisers, like Molson, from advertising).
The Muse has been collecting a small $2 levi fee from students dating well back beyond the time when I started working there (2002). A lot has changed since then.
I remember the revenue from levi fees during my time was barely enough to scrape by. I can only imagine the financial struggle they have now.
If you do not like The Muse, don’t read it. But don’t actively seek to financially dissolve the only student paper over $2 per semester.
If you want to kick a fuss over fees for a service you do not use (I am speaking generally here) then kick a fuss over the mandatory $40 Field House Rec Fee. Most students don’t use it.
But most students do read The Muse, at least occasionally.
I think it would do you good to see the conditions many of these volunteer writers are working in. Drop into The Muse office on the second floor of the UC and check out their outdated computer systems and decrepit furniture. I know I wouldn’t find it very motivating. A few dollars could go a long way.
I also find “an increased budget will improve the quality of the writing” troubling. The students that do actually get paid at The Muse have to live and breath that paper day in and day out to keep it flowing on the stands. They have no time for other jobs and I know first hand how the workload can affect academics.
Their small honorariums have to go to pay for a meager cost of living. This is especially hard since in the past couple of years the cost of living in St. John’s has essentially matched the cost of living in a big city like Toronto.
On the flip side, these have become troubling times for print newspapers because of the internet’s overwhelming efficiency and speed in spreading news.
Many other publications are changing their business models to cope with the changing information world. I would like to see what initiatives The Muse has taken on in an effort to adapt.
If they do get the additional levi, I hope they have plans to do something creative and new as well.
Today I noticed a friend had posted a link to “Vote No” on The Muse’s levi referendum. It had sparked quite a bit of discussion on the issue. This was my two cents:
Unfortunately The Muse has no control over their rates to their consumers when they need to cope with inflation.
In order to remain a free publication for the student body The Muse needs to collect fees from the students and from advertisers (and semi-new by-laws prevent their biggest advertisers, like Molson, from advertising).
The Muse has been collecting a small $2 levi fee from students dating well back beyond the time when I started working there (2002). A lot has changed since then.
I remember the revenue from levi fees during my time was barely enough to scrape by. I can only imagine the financial struggle they have now.
If you do not like The Muse, don’t read it. But don’t actively seek to financially dissolve the only student paper over $2 per semester.
If you want to kick a fuss over fees for a service you do not use (I am speaking generally here) then kick a fuss over the mandatory $40 Field House Rec Fee. Most students don’t use it.
But most students do read The Muse, at least occasionally.
I think it would do you good to see the conditions many of these volunteer writers are working in. Drop into The Muse office on the second floor of the UC and check out their outdated computer systems and decrepit furniture. I know I wouldn’t find it very motivating. A few dollars could go a long way.
I also find “an increased budget will improve the quality of the writing” troubling. The students that do actually get paid at The Muse have to live and breath that paper day in and day out to keep it flowing on the stands. They have no time for other jobs and I know first hand how the workload can affect academics.
Their small honorariums have to go to pay for a meager cost of living. This is especially hard since in the past couple of years the cost of living in St. John’s has essentially matched the cost of living in a big city like Toronto.
On the flip side, these have become troubling times for print newspapers because of the internet’s overwhelming efficiency and speed in spreading news.
Many other publications are changing their business models to cope with the changing information world. I would like to see what initiatives The Muse has taken on in an effort to adapt.
If they do get the additional levi, I hope they have plans to do something creative and new as well.
Stephen Harper versus this onion ring
February 5th, 2010
Everyone talks about how much they dislike Stephen Harper but few people take the initiative to do anything about it.
Someone created a Facebook Page for this onion ring and their social experiment is to determine if this onion ring can conjure up more supporters than Stephen Harper
I am proud to say that an onion ring has more fans on Facebook than Stephen Harper does. As I write this there are 30,136 people who are fans of Stephen Harper. There are 73,600 fans of this onion.
Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl seeking local filmmakers
January 18th, 2010
The Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl, AAMP, is currently accepting short films from local artists for their annual Frosty Film Festival. Here is the announcement:
On February 7th the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl will be hosting the 5th annual Frosty Film Festival and I’m hoping to make this the biggest and best year yet. I’m reaching out to a few of my favorite artistic people to look for some help.
AAMP is all about giving local artists opportunities and while we try to have a few bigger names in our line up, we like to put a focus on first time filmmakers.
So, primarily I’m looking for any local film makers who you may know that have a short film that they would like played. If you do, please pass my name on to them and we can work on getting their film shown.
For info on AAMP, you can go to AAMP.ca or you can reach me at info@aamp.ca.
Also, if any of you have any ideas or suggestions on what we could do to increase knowledge of the event and, of course, attendance I’d love to hear about it.
Thanks for helping and I hope to hear from you soon!
Angela
To learn more check out the Frosty Film Festival section on the AAMP website.
St. John’s issues snowclearing tickets on clear night, irks residents
January 6th, 2010
On January 4th St. John’s began issuing snowclearing tickets as promised. They advertised on the radio and on television. I rarely pay attention to either, but even I was aware of the snowclearing date.
All the same, 300 motorists found themselves with hefty $45 snowclearing tickets the next morning.
Needless to say, many were not happy.
You leave your vehicle on the road overnight when snowclearing is in effect and you deserve a ticket. I agree with this. Otherwise we have messy streets in the morning because plows were unable to maneuver properly through them.
But 300 tickets on a clear night? City Council is just going out looking for people to ticket needlessly. Random sweeps are fine. The odd ticket for a violator will prevent people from parking on the road overnight. Obviously if it snows, nail them with a ticket. Otherwise, frig off.
There is no need to ticket so many people on a night where there was no snowclearing and the weather forecast indicated no chance of snow.
But if the city must ticket absolutely everyone with a tire on the road, then why not put the money they make to snowclearing?
In one night of ticketing they raised $13,500.00. Take out the expenses for ticketing those violators and you have a significant profit from one night’s work. Surely this kind of cashflow could be put towards improving the city’s dismal snowclearing efforts.
If St. John’s put as much effort into actually cleaning the streets as they do ticketing parked vehicles we’d have wonderfully clean streets.
The Scope Covers City Hall Beat on Twitter
January 4th, 2010
I am not sure if this is a regular thing, but I logged into Twitter tonight to find a flood a updates from @thescopeNL regarding discussions during the St. John’s City Council Meeting. Real time updates of important issues as they are addressed.
Cool!