An interesting new trend is on the rise—colouring in a Bible.
What was once frowned upon, is now encouraged. This new trend is called Bible journaling. Bible journaling is the act of doodling in one’s Bible, as a way to creatively express one’s faith. However, some people choose to illustrate outside their Bible; as for some, doodling on the Bible itself is still prohibited.
Over the past few years, the movement has grown significantly with many online groups, forums, Facebook communities, blogs, and church groups creating groups where people share their Bible journal artwork, offer techniques, and provide a supportive boost.
People even discuss where to get Bibles with the largest margins so that there is room for their designs, creating an interesting demand on publishers and retailers.
Complete Guide to Bible Journaling: Creative Techniques to Express Your Faith (Fox Chapel Publishing), by designer, inspirational speaker, and author of the best-selling Zenspirations® book series Joanne Fink, was created in response to this amazing trend.
The book features the works of top Bible journalers, offers drawing tips, the best tools to use, and even offers traceable vellum sheets to use on your own Bible. For the Silo, Elizabeth Martins.
California’s San Francisco Bay area is the United States’ most expensive real estate market, with a median home-sale price of USD$1.3 million (CAD$1.7 million). Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is Canada’s most expensive real estate market, with a median home-sale price of CAD$1.3 million (USD just under $1 million).
Unlike its southern neighbor Los Angeles, the pricey San Francisco mansions belong not to movie and TV stars but to the movers and shakers of the technology industry. The Bay Area boasts the country’s highest concentration of tech companies and tech jobs, earning the region the nickname “Silicon Valley” after the material used to make computer chips.
A home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood sold for USD$43.5 million (CAD$55.8 million) in 2021, which is the current record for the area’s biggest sticker price, but a new listing in the ultra-exclusive town of Woodside aims to shatter that record. Styled like an Italian villa, the spectacular compound has been listed for USD$110 million (CAD$141 million).
65 foot pool.
Sitting on over three acres of some of the most sought-after real estate in the world, the grounds feature a 65-foot pool with spa, an entertainment zone with an outdoor kitchen and fire pit, landscaped gardens that include fountains, a vineyard with more than forty olive trees and a rose garden with over one hundred roses as well as a private hiking trail. Nestled behind high-tech gates, the compound offers a 14,000-square-foot main home as well as a separate executive office and conference center, a fitness center/massage/hair salon building, and a two-bedroom guesthouse.
Golf simulator? Check.
Retractable glass walls, French oak floors, and hand plastering on every surface complement rare Italian marbles inside the luxurious mansion. Crystal chandeliers and marble fireplaces feature throughout. The enormous main kitchen features two waterfall-wrapped islands, marble counters, top-of-the-line Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, and custom-built-steel-and-glass cabinetry, while a separate chef’s kitchen offers extensive storage space plus a BlueStar range with two ovens.
Master suite.
The primary suite is a work of art featuring a barrel-vaulted foyer with leather-front and glass-display cabinets that conceal a refrigerator and Miele laundry and a cathedral-beamed ceiling with chandelier. The sectionalized wardrobe room is couture-worthy. A two-sided Davinci fireplace is shared with the bathroom, which also has heated limestone floors and a marble bath for two. Each additional bedroom includes a customized walk-in closet, outside entrance, and en-suite marble bath.
Designed for the high-tech lifestyle, the home is controlled by state-of-the-art automated systems that take care of every need for comfort, convenience, and security from behind the scenes. The home’s fantastic amenities include an Atmos Dolby screening room, a golf simulator, indoor-and-outdoor lounges, and an epic wine salon for 6,000 bottles.
Woodside is a small town with only 5,000 residents and a median home price above USD$5 million (CAD$6.4 million). Most residents are tech investors and innovators. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Corporation and the world’s tenth-richest man, lives down the street from the villa in a 23-acre, Japanese-themed estate.
Known as an equestrian community, Woodside retains a rural residential character despite being only a short commute to Silicon Valley and Stanford University.
The town is ringed with nature preserves, including the Purisima Open Space and Skaggs Point. Options for entertainment include the Michelin-starred Village Pub and Bucks of Woodside, a famed hotspot for Silicon Valley’s most powerful, where many important venture capital deals have been signed. The real estate listing is held by Scott Danser of Compass. For the Silo, Genelle Brown/Top Ten Real Estate Deals dot com.
As a technology writer for the Silo, I am always focusing and thinking about the evolution of technology. I write about how computers and video games have changed over the years, but of course, many other things change around us and the one I have been thinking about a lot lately is shopping. ( Consumers Distributing may be back, the relaunch namesake follows us on Twitter )
CD had some serious PPMP’s (Portable Personal Music Players)- notice how the colour and graphic schemes are totally late 80’s/early 90’s?
When I was a kid, I remember getting the Consumers Distributing catalog and taking it into my room to read thoroughly. Of course, I tended to go directly to the toys section and more specifically I looked at the video games and computers. I dreamed about the day I would own some of these items, and I patiently saved my pennies from my job as a paper route carrier. Life can be tough when you are 12.
Started in 1957, Consumers Distributing tried to save costs for consumers by creating a warehouse like environment that allowed them to operate in smaller locations.
Customers would typically shop through a catalog (which they could take home or use in-store) and fill out a request form. This form was taken to the counter where a customer service representative would go fetch your item(s) and ring up the sale.
At its peak the chain would grow to 243 outlets in Canada and 217 in the United States. By 1996, however, the customers were fading as frustration grew with items being out of stock (or, more accurately, the customer perception was that items were always out of stock). In 2006, the company appeared to emerge from bankruptcy protection but little has been done to revive the stores to the way they once were.
Nothing says vintage or captures the ‘aura’ of shopping in a Consumers Distributing store quite like a polaroid.
Even though the end of the chain could be considered a failure, the evolution of the concept continues to this day. Stores like Home Depot and Costco operate in a warehouse-like environment, there are just no catalogs.
Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay Company also thought it was a pretty good idea since they purchased and ran a competitive chain of stores called “Shop-Rite” that were open from 1972 to 1982.
.At its peak, Shop-Rite had 65 stores in Ontario before conceding defeat to Consumers. It wasn’t the competition that was really the problem, it was the concept.
With the recent closing of the retail operations of Blockbuster and Rogers Video, we are seeing another step in the evolutionary process. Decades from now, people will probably think it was quite strange to obtain our movies from a retail store because everything will be digitally beamed into our homes and the physical disks and tapes we use now will be completely gone.
My friend Dave Thielking is a lot like me and he remembers the days when we were kids flipping through those catalogs.
So when he obtained some old catalogs I knew we could work together to put them online and share with our other friends who remember the old days of shopping and the great toys and items we wanted to save our pennies for. The result is a new website called the Consumers Distributing Archive and you can find it at http://www.cdarchive.ca.
We are never going to be able to stop evolution – of any kind – but it doesn’t mean we have to like it, or that we can’t go back to the way things were even just for an afternoon or two. For the Silo, Syd Bolton.
Eiko Otake performing at Bartram’s Garden on the Schuylkill River.
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
Art is an imperative. Without it we can never truly examine our own circumstances or those of the people with whom we inhabit our small planet. Left unviewed, art languishes. Left without art to view, so does humankind. There are many who recognize the gift to the world that every artist has to offer. There are many who endeavor to do whatever they can to ensure those gifts are received by a grateful public. To stifle the artist’s voice is to silently say I care little about the fate of the minds of the masses. Art is essential. It is what fills the space between the rest of the din, making sense of a chaotic universe.
Bill Arnold splits his time between New York and Western Massachusetts. Since 1974 he has had a studio in Western MA and an apartment in NY. Arnold prefers to keep a foot in both worlds. Florence, MA is a small town near Northampton where there is plenty of space and the space is affordable. New York on the other hand is extremely restrictive in that a very small amount of space is prohibitively expensive. Artists require space not only to work, Arnold says, but space for their imaginations, “space to conjure.”
And so he maintains his Western MA studio.
The work he has done in that studio over the years has been varied and prolific. Arnold has endeavored, and often succeeded in getting his work into public venues including museums. He finds it thrilling to see his work in commercial venues. The first time he experienced this was in the 1970’s when he put roughly 1,000 photographs in 25 Boston city buses. There was no indication on the outside of each bus whether there were photographs on board so passengers didn’t know which buses were galleries inside. Because of the nature of the venue, more people saw that project than visited the Met, according to Arnold. In order to fund the project, he approached multiple museums getting them to agree to fund the cost of materials for the show provided he put on exhibitions in each city where the museums were located.
Arnold was both an exhibiting artist and a curator for this project. The project was well received, with weary commuters sometimes voicing their appreciation. From there, Arnold went on to do other bus shows. The format went viral long before viral was a thing. For another show, Arnold gave images to members of the audience who then organically began sharing the images with each other. Throughout his career, Arnold has turned traditional notions of exhibition on their heads. With the advent of digital advertising, the cost of printing has plummeted. Arnold uses this to his advantage. In 2018 he printed 10,000 newspaper inserts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. As a student photographer, Arnold was encouraged to have a camera with him at all times. To this day he follows this practice. Arnold has photographed the same spot on his travels from NYC to MA for many years.
He intends to exhibit many photographs of the same place at the Bergen Street Station. Photography is accessible to everyone, Arnold says. Because anyone can make a photograph, anyone can also view a photograph and take something away. A series of photographs depicting old cars elicited stories from viewers of all kinds about cars they remembered and loved. To hear more about Bill Arnold’s thoughts on work and life, listen to the whole interview here.
Harry Philbrick left his position as director of the museum at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts about two years ago. He then launched his own project called Philadelphia Contemporary. The nonprofit does pop-up exhibitions and performances throughout the city. The goal is to ultimately build a permanent space where the nonprofit can become a non-collecting, collaborative space. Prior to his position at Pennslyvania Academy of the fine Arts, Philbrick was director of the Aldrich. It was there that the idea for Philadelphia Contemporary began to percolate. He began exploring the notion of partnerships. Specifically long-term, sustainable partnerships that would allow the museum a broader reach. Upon relocating to Philadelphia, Philbrick realized there was a gap in the cultural ecosystem in that there was no large scale independent contemporary art museum. Philadelphia also seemed primed for Philbrick’s model in that the cultural environment is “unusually collegial.”
The first project was a partnership with Headlong Dance.
The project was titled The Quiet Circus in which the dancers took part in a year long residency on a pier. Each week dance pieces encouraged members of the public to join in. From there Philbrick and his small team created River Charrettes, a series of four pieces also set among the changing landscape of river banks. River Charrettes was an appropriate opening for Philadelphia Contemporary. The project embodied the idea of many people from different places coming together. Since then there have been readings and other events. At the moment there are many large scale projects in the works. An expanded staff has allowed for grander visions. The process of growth has been very deliberate, carefully adhering to the founding vision of the project.
Funding for Philadelphia Contemporary comes from many places. In order to run the organization, pay staff, and plan for the future, Philbrick has had to map out a plan from all he has learned over his years in the art world. Seed capital came from individual funders who believed strongly in the mission. More recently, Philadelphia-based foundations have come on board. For Philbrick, the key to his project is pushing forward the model for a nonprofit contemporary art space. Moving forward the same model applies, starting with individual funders and moving from there to foundational support. To hear more about Philadelphia Contemporary and arts organization funding, listen to the whole interview here.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket: Speak your art loudly. Do not settle for its slow demise. Bring it into the light, find allies, give your gifts to the world. For the Silo, Brainard Carey. Featured image- Francis Bacon’s London studio- in its relocated home in Dublin, Ireland.
Once projected to list for $500 million USD, this LA home is for sale at a still staggering $295 million USD.
“America’s Most Expensive Home – Twice As Big as the White House”
One of the world’s most expensive homes, appropriately named “The One,” has just hit the market. Construction ran several years late causing financial issues for the developer. If The One sells anywhere near the $295 million USD ask, it would be the most expensive home ever sold in California, well over the $177 million USD that venture-capitalist Marc Andreessen paid for his Malibu mansion in 2021 and the $165 million USD that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos paid in 2020 for his Beverly Hills estate.
Perched on a promontory with 360-degree panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains, the Bel Air mansion is surrounded on three sides by a moat and measures in at a mind-boggling 105,000 square feet – almost twice as big as the White House. Located on 3.8 acres, the house, which was actually raised during construction to further optimize the views, includes 21 bedrooms and 49 baths.
Highlights of The One include five outdoor and indoor swimming pools with the moat encircling three quarters of the exterior, a massive nightclub, full-service beauty salon, wellness spa, 10,000-square-foot sky deck, 400-foot private outdoor running track with a glass-walled view of the city, and a private theater with seating for over 40.
In addition to ownership of one of the world’s most spectacular homes, the property also includes butterfly artwork by Stephen Wilson, an Oto Murano chandelier by Vistosi, a rotating statue by Mike Fields, and a glass sculpture by Italian artist Simone Cenedese. There is also a two-story library/office with a balcony and water features touching three windowed walls, and parquet flooring. Add in a custom bar with a smoked-mirror backsplash and marble countertops, a cigar lounge, four-lane bowling alley, putting green, wellness center, gym, a 64-foot (19.5 Meter) indoor pool with juice bar, tennis court, 10,000-bottle wine cellar, and a 30-plus car garage with two car-display turntables.
Entertaining in such unique luxury might draw some interesting Bel Air neighbors such as Jennifer Lawrence, who moved there last year, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Liam Hemsworth, Miley Cyrus and Kylie Jenner to name just a few.
The property is listed by Aaron Kirman of Compass, Beverly Hills and Branden and Rayni Williams of The Beverly Hills Estates, Beverly Hills, and will go to Concierge Auctions, which if not sold prior, will be held online on February 28th. For The Silo, Terry Walsh/Top Ten Real Estate Deals.com.
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took to Capitol Hill to explain user data retention almost four years ago, he essentially sat in the hot seat on behalf of every entity that has ever collected and used personal information to craft better products. If that sounds like a massive catch-all, that’s because it is. However, Systems America, Inc. President Adesh Tyagi says it’s not as nefarious as it may sound. As the head of a global information technology services company, Tyagi knows that “Big Data” can be collected, applied and benefit the general public all at the same time.
Big data is exactly what it sounds like, says Tyagi, who has more than two decades of experience in this sector and whose company was previously awarded for being one of the fastest-growing in America.
It’s a compilation of information broken out by software that makes sense of the traits and behavior of service users. With a background that includes cloud computing and analytics plus Mobil Oil and McDonald-Douglas (now Boeing) among former clients, Tyagi says that any company can request an in-depth study of customer information to better design upcoming offerings.
This is sheer advertising at its core and it’s exactly what companies that work with Facebook do when they buy ad space on the social media platform. Do not confuse this with the fact that a third party was able to get its hands on 87 million Facebook accounts and use it as part of presidential election subterfuge. This occurrence is prolific on a global level, recently the Indian government expressed a sincere concern that third parties may have influenced the country’s elections. Similar concerns have been expressed by the Kenyan & Nigerian governments.
Tyagi says that this is inexcusable and a result of either over-confidence and laid-back oversight and provides an illustration of how technology can be used against the greater good of mankind.
Why big businesses buy into big data. They believe insight gleaned from big data analysis offers:
Happier users and larger returns due to consistently in-tune goods and services.
Learning more about which goods and services are going to use while others are ignored and why.
Real numbers to pair with real-world efforts to show investors regarding current efforts.
Adesh Tyagi.
“You basically employ different analytical tools to come up with the best services or tools for that particular customer,” says Tyagi. An example he points to as it pertains to data-driven solutions are financial products being deployed by a bank such as insurance programs or a new credit card. By retaining Systems America before launch, an enormous amount of information about members can be broken down by geography, income history, account balances and more. In his view, this is no different from a grocery store looking at what people are buying and deciding which products to purchase when restocking the shelves. For the Silo, Greg Adomaitis.
Claustrophobia. Few feelings create anxiety more than being trapped in a small confined space. Many films take advantage of this discomfort, often being filmed in one location or room for the entire movie.
We look here at some of the best, ranked in order of their claustrophobic factor.
Did we miss one? Do you disagree with our ranking? Leave us a video comment by clicking the record button- we’d love to hear what you think.
The Morgan Motor Company announces the launch of the Plus Four LM62, a model which celebrates the company’s legendary class win in the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans. Based on the standard Morgan Plus Four and limited to just 62 examples, it pays tribute to the Morgan Plus 4 SuperSports – known by its registration TOK 258 – which took victory in the 2.0-litre class of the gruelling endurance race six decades ago.
The renowned TOK 258 was finished in dark green, while a particular shade of red was popular on motorsport Morgan vehicles of the time, and these two colours have inspired the hues available on the Plus Four LM62. A Heritage White hardtop – just like the one fitted to the famous race car – comes as standard, marking the first time this item has been available for the model. Further paying homage to the victorious Morgan is an LM62 graphics pack, which includes roundels with the number ’29’ – as per TOK 258 – as well as an LM62 rear badge, silver-painted wire wheels, a Le Mans-style fuel filler cap and a domed rear panel. These touches are complemented by driving spot lights, body-coloured A-pillars, a black splitter and cowl mesh, polished stoneguard, black mohair sidescreens, a sidescreen bag embroidered with the LM62 logo, and an active sports exhaust with black tailpipes.
Inside, the model is adorned with an LM62 metal plaque, displaying the car’s unique build number from its run of 62 examples, along with LM62 laser-engraved black saddle-leather door pulls and headrests embroidered with the specially designed LM62 graphic. Bespoke satin lacquer rubber mats with black vinyl edges, painted steering-wheel centre, and a Tawny wood centre-tunnel top and dashboard come fitted to the LM62 as standard, while heated black leather Comfort Plus seats with horizontal pleating, perforated seat centres and matching stitch colour, complete with leather wrapped seat backs complete the interior aesthetic.
To further personalise your Plus Four LM62, options include a soft-top hood, LM62-specific photographic build record, and an LM62 accessory pack which includes two-eared wheel spinners, a Moto-Lita steering wheel, headlight tape, and a chrome interior rear-view mirror.
Steve Morris, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Motor Company, said: “The 1962 Le Mans class-winning Morgan Plus 4 holds a special place in the hearts of Morgan enthusiasts, employees and owners around the world. It marked one of Morgan’s greatest motorsport achievements, the car covering more than 2,200 miles at an average running speed of almost 94mph, and triumphing – like David vs Goliath – over our bigger, and better funded, rivals of the time.
“With the Morgan Plus Four LM62, we pay homage to this famous vehicle and incredible moment in time, 60 years on. Limited to just 62 individually numbered examples, the bespoke touches and enhanced level of standard specification make these cars an enticing proposition for customers wanting a piece of Morgan history.”
The Plus Four LM62 is available from Morgan Dealers globally, in left- or right-hand drive, and with the choice of manual or automatic transmission, the Plus Four LM62 is on sale now. In the UK, it’s priced from £78,995 ($134,224.81 cad). For pricing in other regions please consult your local Dealer.
About Morgan Motor Company:
Morgan Motor Company is a British manufacturer of handcrafted sports cars. Located in Malvern Link, UK. The world-famous Morgan vehicles offer a unique blend of charisma, quality materials, craftsmanship and performance. Morgan has been handcrafting coach built traditional British sports cars that are thrilling to drive and unique within the marketplace since 1909. In March 2019, Investindustrial purchased a majority share of the company, and by doing so invested in the long-term future of the Morgan Motor Company building cars in Britain. The Morgan family, along with the senior management team and the wider workforce, retain a shareholding of the company and work alongside Investindustrial. Morgan produces around 850 models, of which over 70% is exported. Its model range – comprising of the 3 Wheeler, Plus Four and Plus Six – is sold through 50 official dealerships in 32 countries.
Whether you wish to improve your living space or you are going to sell your home, a home renovation will add instant value to your property.
Many home buyers are looking for homes that are ‘move in ready’ and don’t require much or any work prior to moving in. Because of this desirability, many homeowners are deciding to make upgrades to their home to increase the resale value. If you have a number of projects in mind that are on your ‘wish list’, but aren’t sure which one to start with, you might find these suggestions helpful.
Kitchen Remodel – This is probably the biggest project that you will undergo, but the one that has the most impact. The kitchen is the most used room in a house and the central hub for most activities. Thus, it makes sense to have a kitchen that is both functional and attractive. If the cabinets are old looking and the countertops are in poor condition, it is hard to overlook. For some, a major renovation might be out of reach, but there are smaller scale options that will also work to spruce up the appearance. You can add a fresh coat of paint or even just reface the cabinetry with new wood panels and hardware. Overall, you can likely recoup 60% to 80% of the cost of the kitchen remodel.
Garage Door Replacement – A garage door makes a great design element to your home as it is one of the first things people see when they come to your home. Although it doesn’t always top the list of most popular projects, it should not be overlooked in terms of overall home value and curb appeal. Over 80% of Realtors believe a new garage door can impact home value – all the more reason to take on this project.
Fiberglass Entry Door Replacement – Nothing makes a moreimpactful statement than the attractiveness of your front door. Replacing the standard fiberglass entry door to something more stylized to your home will add to the ‘first impression’ element of your home. There are many attractive alternatives for a front door and finding a suitable design that goes with the home will add value straight away without having to undergo a major renovation. According to a recent study, replacing your front door has an average ROI of 75%.
Window Replacement – Having old windows with cracked or chipped frames greatly affects the look of your home. Potential buyers will notice them and so do appraisers. If you’ve got questions about buying new windows, get the answer from a reputable company before you buy. Replacing the windows in your home can add thousands of dollars to its market value, and with an average ROI of up to 85%, so it makes sense to consider it as a priority upgrade option, especially if you are planning on selling in the near future.
Deck Addition – A wood deck addition falls on the inexpensive side of remodeling projects, but it’s one of the more valuable. In fact, some experts claim that installing a deck can increase the value of your home significantly more than if you were to add another bathroom or living room at a fraction of the cost. The overall cost of installing a deck will largely depend on the size of the deck and material you use. However, most homeowners will recoup nearly 70% of the build cost after they have sold their home.
If you want to take on any of these home improvement projects, but don’t have the immediate cash on hand to make them a reality, then a home improvement loan might be something to consider.
What is a home improvement loan?
A home improvement loan can be a home equity loan, a HELOC loan, or any loan using home equity used for home improvement purposes. Borrowers will typically use these types of loans to access the capital they need to build on their investment.
According to a recent study, the value of residential mortgage loans from alternative lenders is steadily growing. Canadians are choosing to opt-out of traditional lenders’ extended waiting periods and paperwork and are finding that working with a mortgage broker is an easier, more streamlined process that saves time, effort and money. If you are a homeowner considering a renovation to your home, a reputable broker such as Burke Financial can help you with every stage of the process.
Rome, December 2021 – At a time when rural people in low-income countries face steep increases in food prices and the devastating impacts of climate change are contributing to a rise in hunger and poverty, Canada has announced today its commitment to support the resilience of small-scale farmers and the prosperity of rural communities by increasing its funding to the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The Canadian Minister of International Development, Harjit S. Sajjan, announced at a side event of the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit today that Canada will commit an extra CA$37.5 million (about US$27.7 million) in support of IFAD’s Twelfth Replenishment – a process whereby Member States commit funds to the organization for its work over three years beginning in 2022.
This represents a 50 percent increase to the government’s initial pledge of CA$75 million (approximately US$55.5 million) bringing the total contribution of Canada to CA$112.5 million (about US$83.2 million).
In addition, Canada contributed a loan on very favorable terms amounting to CA$340 million (around US$255 million) to support climate smart and gender-sensitive agriculture approaches. Actions like this will help IFAD meet its commitment to double its impact by 2030 while making much-needed progress on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG#1 (no poverty) and SDG#2 (zero hunger).
“Canada and IFAD have a long-standing partnership to end poverty and hunger in rural areas. We would like to sincerely thank Canada for stepping up its commitment to help the world’s most vulnerable people build their resilience and ability to adapt to the devastation created by climate change and other recent shocks,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD.
“With this support, more small-scale producers, particularly women, will be able to increase food production, bring more nutritious and affordable food to markets and improve rural income opportunities.”
“Canada is promoting innovative, gender-responsive financing, including through our efforts to advance women’s rights, leadership and decision-making in agriculture and food systems. We look forward to continuing our work with IFAD to achieve a low-carbon, food secure, and climate-resilient future for us all—especially for those working on the forefront: rural women,” said Minister Harjit S. Sajjan.
The Canadian contribution will be used by IFAD to help finance its programme of loans and grants which is expected to total up to US$3.5 billion over the next three years. This will help approximately 110 million rural people increase their production and raise their incomes through better market access and rural financial services. It will also increase climate resilience and contribute to creating employment, particularly for women and youth, while improving food security and nutrition for the world’s most vulnerable people.
Canada is a founding member of IFAD.
Over the years, it has committed more than US$551 million to the Fund’s core resources, with a particular focus on initiatives for women’s empowerment and gender equality, improved rural livelihoods, better nutrition and climate adaptation. With Canada’s strong support, IFAD has become a leader in rural women’s empowerment, with women now accounting for a full 50 percent of participants in IFAD-funded programs and projects.
IFAD is an international financial institution and specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. It is focused on transforming agriculture, rural economies and food systems by making them more inclusive, productive, resilient to climate shocks and sustainable.
Eight out of 10 of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
A new first-of-its-kind degree course from the University of Portsmouth is set to train the next generation of coaches and performance experts for esports.
Esports is competitive gaming and represents one of the fastest growing sectors globally.
Tournaments can attract millions of spectators and large stadium crowds, to watch high-profile players compete for cash prizes and global recognition – such as the global Fortnite World Cup, which has a prize pool of upwards of $17million USD.
Esports comprises games from several different genres and players can play one-on-one or in teams. Much like in traditional sports, there are large sponsorship deals and, increasingly, transfer fees for players. Esports sponsorship revenue reached $641 million usd in 2021, thanks in part to sponsorship from global companies like Coca-Cola, Gillette and Nike.
This new BSc (Hons) in Esports Coaching and Performance degree at the University of Portsmouth merges an understanding of gaming and technological skills with the psychology of sport and coaching in high performance environments – not dissimilar to the skillset of coaches in traditional sports.
Designed and delivered in partnership with IFoEC, the training partner of the International Federation of Esports Coaches, the new degree is a great next step for those who want to gain entry into a rapidly developing industry, develop a career as a coach in the field or acquire a range of transferable skills in leadership, communication and research, amongst others.
The course includes theory, research and practical experience to understand how to coach players to peak performance, and creating connections to the sector through expert lecturers and industry work experience placement to get hands-on experience.
The University of Portsmouth plans on expanding the size of the eSports bench.
David Price, course leader for BSc (Hons) in Esports Coaching and Performance, said: “The introduction of this course reflects the huge global interest in esports, and puts the University of Portsmouth firmly at the forefront of a fast-developing field. We look forward to welcoming our first cohort of students in September 2022, to help them become the next generation of coaches and performance experts in this exciting industry.”
Plastic Surgery and more on the rise due to social media Narcissism?
Thanks to the myriad of photos now being posted online, more people than ever are undergoing cosmetic procedures, according to a survey of plastic surgeons from only a few years ago. Almost a decade ago, requests for surgery as a result of social media photo sharing rose 31 percent in 2012, reported the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and continue to rise up to the present day.
“People especially want to look their best when hundreds, or even thousands, of viewers are looking at their photos – we hear it, too,” say Drs. Rick and Arlene Noodleman, the husband-and-wife physician team at Silicon Valley’s Age Defy Dermatology and Wellness.
“The good news is that there are now effective, minimally-invasive, low downtime approaches that reduce or even eliminate the appearance of sun-damaged, aging skin,” dermatologist Dr. Rick Noodleman says.
Both physicians emphasize that the key to youthful skin is both correction and prevention – and no, it’s never too late to start addressing the latter.
“Achieving beautiful, healthy skin is a process, not an event. It’s accomplished by working from the outside-in and the inside-out,” says preventive medicine specialist Dr. Arlene Noodleman. “The link between nutrition and the quality of your skin is also ‘written all over your face’.”
The Noodlemans use Madonna as an example of the triumphs of skin moisturizing.
To ensure Facebook, Instagram and Google+ users look their best online, the Noodlemans offer this advice, based on more than 25 years of research and clinical experience: Work from the outside-in: “There are a number of corrective and preventive steps you can take to achieve a more youthful look,” says Dr. Rick Noodleman.
• For all skin types:
Protect your face from the sun. Use a sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB light, and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
• For older skin:
Exfoliant creams remove dead skin cells that don’t slough off as readily as when we were young. Prescription creams such as Avita, Avage, Renova and Retin-A have been shown to reduce wrinkles and “liver spots” due to sun exposure.
• For forehead wrinkles:
Injected Botox, a brand of botulinum toxin, partially immobilizes the muscles that form expression lines so the skin smoothes out, although some deep expression lines may not go away.
• For sun damage and acne scars:
Lasers can resurface facial skin by stripping away the outermost layers. Some “non-ablative”lasers also stimulate collagen formation, which helps smooth wrinkles.
And from the inside-out: “No matter what your skin type, healthy eating is an essential component of a good skin care regimen,” Dr. Arlene Noodleman says. “And, for some people, eating the wrong foods can actually cause problems.”
• A natural defense system:
Foods rich in antioxidants seem to have a protective effect on the skin. For instance, a study from back in 2007 by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition found that women ages 40 to 75 who consumed more vitamin C, an antioxidant, had fewer wrinkles. Antioxidant-rich foods include carrots and other yellow and orange fruits and vegetables; spinach and other green leafy vegetables; tomatoes; blueberries; peas and beans; fatty fish, and nuts. The study also found that women who consumed more linoleic acid—found in nuts and seeds—had a lower incidence of dry skin. Consider switching to a more Mediterranean-style diet
• Curbing acne flare-ups:
Acne-prone individuals should avoid dairy products, especially cow’s milk; processed foods high in white flour, such as white bread; and white rice and sugary foods and beverages such as candy bars and soda. Foods that cause ‘spikes’ in blood sugar levels can also trigger hormone production, which in turn can boost oil production.
• Psoriasis, rashes and other skin conditions:
Certain foods can cause hives and other reactions. Individual sensitivities vary, but common culprits are gluten, dairy, eggs and additives. People with psoriasis may see improvement by eating a low-glycemic load.
“Take a holistic approach to your skin’s health,” the Noodlemans say. “Your skin responds not only to what you put in and on your body, it also reflects your overall mental and physical health. Taking corrective and preventive measures that reduce sun-damage,increase exercise, promote healthy eating and decrease stress will help you look your best on social media.”
About Dr. Rick and Arlene Noodleman
Dr. Rick Noodleman, a board-certified, Stanford-trained dermatologist, is an expert in the medical and surgical management of skin disease, aging skin, and advanced cosmetic techniques. Dr. Arlene Noodleman, board-certified in preventive medicine and fellowship-trained in integrative medicine, is a healthy aging expert who focuses on the whole person and strategies that facilitate the body’s innate healing. Together, Drs. Noodleman created the Revercelcosmeceutical and neutraceutical product line. For the Silo, Ginny Grimsley
Renowned Canadian photographer and digital artist T.M. Glass is no stranger to the spotlight: her unique method of mixing floral photography with digital painting to produce mesmerizing physical prints has succeeded in capturing plenty of attention from the media and wider artistic community.
In collaboration with The Campaign for Wool in Canada – our country’s foremost voice on the benefits of wool as a renewable, biodegradable, and eminently versatile fibre – Glass has created this digital painting in conjunction with The Campaign for Wool to celebrate the incredible properties of wool with a packed slate of special events and collaborations with fashion designers, artists, producers, and retailers.
“Wool on Wool” by T.M. Glass
This digital painting is a divergence from Glass’s usual subject matter with a distinctly meta twist: the work is a photograph of Canadian sheep, digitally painted in Glass’s trademark style, and printed on paper produced from wholly wool.
Intent
“In approaching this piece, my intent was to communicate the beauty of the sheep and its wool both visually and tactiley” said Glass, when asked about her work. “The choice to print on wool paper was not made out of novelty; rather, I think it establishes the physical presence of the subject of the photograph, creating a sense that the sheep is within arm’s reach of the viewer.” The print is now available for purchase- contact us for further details. For the Silo, Nicolo Blazier. Featured image: close up of wool and paper yarn via paperphine.com.
A global online marketplace founded by a British car dealer has just broken the online-only world record for a car auction, selling a McLaren P1 for an incredible $1,600,888 usd or $2,010,851 cad .
No other online-only platform for collectible cars has ever achieved a higher sales price.
Unlike traditional auctions, where cars are transported to a central location and bidders attend in person, Collecting Cars has disrupted the industry with an online-only format that has already notched up multiple world records. Cars stay with their owners, and more than 90% of sales happen without a physical viewing. This is made possible by the technology and knowledge behind the platform, which gives bidders a ‘virtual viewing’ of the car in question; supported by more than 150 photos and comprehensive detail on its features and maintenance history.
Bids entered during the online-only auction are legally binding, and Collecting Cars levies a low buyer’s premium of just 5% (+ VAT for UK buyers), which is substantially lower than traditional auction houses that typically charge 12% or more. Furthermore, the buyer’s premium is capped at £5,000 / $5,000 (+ VAT if applicable). On hammer prices above £1m, this means that the buyer’s premium is 0.6% or less.
The world-record car in question was a McLaren P1, one of just 375 examples built, and with only 433 miles from new. Motortrend.com: “The twin-turbocharged hybrid V-8 engine develops 903 horsepower and will launch to 62 mph in under 3 seconds. It’s made of exotic materials like carbon fiber and titanium.”
An original US-market vehicle; it was collected from the McLaren factory in the UK by its first and only owner. The car had also covered less than 100 miles since its most recent maintenance, which also included full checks of all electrical and battery equipment, at a total cost of more than $7,000 usd.
The Founder and CEO of Collecting Cars, Edward Lovett, said: “For around 60 years, car auctions have traditionally charged substantial commissions and premiums, often taking more than 15% out of the total value of the deal. We knew there was a better approach, and we have developed a world-class online marketplace for sellers and buyers without the unnecessary overheads, which is breaking records.
“This result shows the game-changing power Collecting Cars now wields in the global market, with online-only auctions that are cost-free and hassle-free for the seller, and which represent outstanding value for the buyer. In this case, the buyer’s premium for the winning bidder was just 0.3%.”
The company, which has sold over 4,700 lots since launch, was founded by British car dealer Edward Lovett in 2019.
Lovett was born into the family car business, and in more recent years has provided a private brokerage service, finding homes for some of the most sought-after collector cars in the world. Drawing on his significant experience, he saw the opportunity to develop a dedicated online-only platform for iconic, collectible and sporting cars.
This P1 is a daily driver for renowned Tokyo Lawyer Hiramatsu.
As well as its very low premium for buyers, Collecting Cars offers significantly better value for sellers. The detailed photographic presentation and professional descriptions mean their car is showcased in the best possible way, and it is marketed to a huge captive audience of passionate enthusiasts. Furthermore, there is no listing fee, and they receive 100% of the hammer price.For the Silo, Jules Tipler.
About Collecting Cars:
Collecting Cars is an online auction platform that curates consignments from around the world and markets them to a global audience. The streamlined and transparent process makes buying and selling cars, motorbikes, and automobilia via its online auctions one of the most effective and hassle-free ways of transacting.
To date, the Collecting Cars platform has sold more than 4,700 lots, and total sales value generated for sellers exceeds £170 million or $2,864,53718 cad . It also has more than 50,000 registered users around the world. The multi-national auction company has headquarters in London, and offices in Munich, Sydney, and Los Angeles.
More than 90% of sales since launch have happened without a physical viewing, underscoring the significant trust that Collecting Cars has earned among its customers.
If you thought that ageing was boring, you were wrong. Gone are the days of the bingo-playing Senior (although, there’s nothing wrong with a little bingo). Nowadays, you can find Seniors engaging in activities of all sorts.
Well-rounded activities aren’t limited to nursing homes or assisted living centres. Because more and more people are choosing to age at home, you can find Seniors participating in community and neighborhood events. Find the right home health care agency for your loved one so he or she can reap the benefits of a Personal Support Worker (PSW) and an in-home caregiving team!
With home health care, your family member or friend can engage in activities right in the comfort of their own home and community. Professional caregiving teams can help find clubs and activities for Seniors that are accessible and in the neighborhood.
Consider these fun activities that older adults can enjoy.
Walking Clubs
Walking around the community is an excellent way for Seniors to fit exercise into their daily routine. When done with others, it’s also a way to make friends and to keep social. Many communities organize special transportation so that club members can walk in nearby parks or walking paths.
Group Exercise Classes
Group exercise classes such as chair yoga, tai chi, or ballroom dancing are engaging ways to keep Seniors physically active. It’s also another opportunity to meet other people and to make friends who have similar interests.
Regular physical activity will also keep Seniors in shape and is a good preventative measure against falling because it increases stability through muscle strengthening and stretching.
Book Clubs
It’s also important for Seniors to exercise their minds, and to incorporate reading into their routines.
Senior book clubs exist in many community centres and churches, and becoming a member is always a good idea. It encourages people to read so that they can participate in book club discussions with fellow members.
Seniors will maintain sharp mental awareness and make a few friends in the process!
Gardening Clubs
Seniors have more time to devote to hobbies than when they were working full-time or had a family to raise. When people choose to stay at home and have access to a yard or even a balcony, they can cultivate a garden and exercise that green thumb.
Gardening is an excellent way to relax, and the feeling of harvesting flowers, vegetables, and fruits and watching them grow is a truly unique experience.
Participate in Charitable Works
Giving back to the community is a great way to stay engaged and participate in worthwhile and meaningful activities. Donating one’s time to a charitable endeavor gives Seniors a sense of purpose.
Contact local charities, churches and spiritual centers, museums and other cultural institutions, health organizations — the list goes on and on — to see if your loved one can contribute to particular projects and events.
It’s also a great way to meet people and to stay connected to the community.
Although playing bingo is entertaining on occasion, there are so many other fulfilling activities out there for Seniors. Explore what your loved one’s community has to offer! For the Silo, Mila Urosevic.
If you’re a fan of body shaking bass frequencies and missed our article from waaaay back in 2016 about SubPac, read on because you’re in for a treat.
SubPac is a pioneering technology from Los Angeles, California that is defining the physical-sound category where music, VR, games and film can be experienced in a whole new way. Through its patent-pending immersive physical-sound technology, SubPac transcends the traditional audio experience by allowing users to actually feel sound throughout their body.
Wear a subwoofer? Sounds like fun!
SubPac M2
SubPac is creating its own physical-sound category through two unique products; the SubPac M2, a wearable vest, and the SubPac S2, a seatback device. Both create a new form of expression for musicians and sound designers to connect with their fans on a deeper level by using innovative technology that allows consumers to physically feel sound. This tangible connectivity captivated GRAMMY-winning producer Timbaland to come on board as a partner and introduce the brand to the music industry.
“SubPac is a game changing experience for both artists and fans,” said Timbaland. “It lets you feel the music like never before. It’s the feeling that’s been missing, until now.”
The SubPac vest is getting a lot of attention and its clear that listeners on the go are ready for an immersive experience, especially one that works while being active- jogging, playing basketball, cycling etc. It’s a logical step to add a wearable to our listening routines and the idea now is to connect your smartphone to the SubPac control unit via the headphone connection. This allows for an audiophile hookup of headphones for the mid and high frequencies and vest for the bass frequencies.
Now you can feel deep bass wherever you go and wherever you choose to enjoy your music.
About half-way from East Coast to West Coast, you’ll find Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The biggest city and capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg is also one of Canada’s top retirement destinations. Whether you’re looking for great culture, sports, food, recreation, an affordable cost of living, or great senior housing options, Winnipeg is worth checking out. Here are the top reasons you should consider the city on the Red River when you’re thinking about your retirement options.
1 Great Senior Housing Options
As a city with over 800,000 residents, many of them seniors, there are plenty of senior housing options ranging from independent senior living communities to assisted living. As a family, if you’re looking for assisted living options for your loved ones, there are a few things you want to look for:
Availability of memory care, including care staff who are trained to work with adults suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Transportation assistance to medical appointments and services.
Private suites and a family-friendly environment.
Therapeutic group exercises offered at the residence.
A safe, warm, and comfortable environment.
Don’t be afraid to take your time and do research. The move into assisted living for seniors is a big one and should be made as a family,
2 Outdoor Activities in All Seasons
If you live here, you already know: Winnipeg is a winter city. That doesn’t just mean winters are long, cold, and snowy. A lot of seniors worry about the severity of the season if they haven’t lived here before. But Winnipeg also happens to be one of the sunniest places in Canada, cold or not. There is plenty to do on a bright winter day, including skating trails complete with warming huts and winter festivals that can rival the best of the city’s summer entertainment.
There are plenty of ways to get involved with sports and recreation in the city, including golf, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and more.
On top of all that, the city is home to huge amounts of green space that are great for walking, tai chi, and fitness clubs for seniors that can help you stay active and limber. While Vancouver may get all the credit as a hub for outdoor lovers, with the banks of the Red River and a wealth of natural assets, Winnipeg offers plenty of all-season activities – and a much lower cost of living.
3 A Rich Cultural Life
Winnipeg offers a rich cultural scene with a wealth of museums, concert halls, and theatre. Some of Winnipeg’s top cultural destinations include the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Centennial Concert Hall, Seven Oaks Museum, the Museum of Human Civilization, the Royal Manitoba Museum, and many, many more. There’s always something to do in Winnipeg.
In addition to the arts, there’s also plenty to eat. The culinary scene punches above its weight, according to food critic Dan Clapson, and experiments with both regional ingredients (like Birch syrup) and lesser-known international ingredients. Markets like The Forks are one-of-a-kind in the country.
Get to know Winnipeg. Learn more about your retirement options in one of Canada’s top retirement destinations.
TORONTO — The Ontario government is supporting jobs in the province’s hospitality and agriculture sectors by allowing eligible local brewers to sell their beer at farmers’ markets. Expanding the farmers’ market program to include beer, announced in the 2021 Ontario Budget, is part of the government’s commitment to support brewers, winemakers and distillers working in the province’s alcohol manufacturing industries and to help them respond to the impacts of COVID-19.
This is a great combination for my constituency in Haldimand-Norfolk – and others whom have multiple farmers markets and many craft brewers.
“Our government is committed to supporting job growth in communities across Ontario by standing up for our vibrant hospitality, alcohol and agriculture sectors,” said Attorney General Doug Downey. “Providing local brewers with the opportunity to join wineries, cideries and distillers in selling their products at farmers’ markets is another breakthrough for the many jobs and families that are supported by Ontario’s diverse alcohol manufacturing industry.”
Allowing the sale of locally-made craft beer at farmers’ markets builds on other measures to help businesses respond to COVID-19, including:
permanently allowing restaurants and bars to sell alcohol with food takeout and delivery orders, including mixed cocktails and growlers
reducing the minimum price of spirits consumed at licensed establishments to align with the reduced pricing introduced for takeout and delivery orders
allowing the length of time for temporary patio extensions to be set out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
permitting alcohol service on docked boats with a liquor sales licence
giving licensed establishments and retailers more flexibility in using liquor delivery services
“Supporting local business has never been more important and our government is making it convenient for consumers to pair up eligible Ontario craft beer, wine, cider and spirits with all the fresh and delicious food found at farmers’ markets,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “Supporting local producers shows our commitment to the province’s agri-food sector while creating more jobs for Ontarians.”
“Ontario’s local brewers play a key role in Ontario’s agri-food sector, supporting jobs and contributing to local economies across the province,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance. “With this expansion of the farmers’ market program, our government is continuing to support businesses as they respond to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while offering more choice and convenience for consumers.”
The government continues to support Ontario manufacturers and remains committed to supporting meaningful changes to the sale, service and delivery of alcohol to increase choice and convenience for consumers and create more opportunities for businesses to expand and grow while maintaining Ontario’s high standards for social responsibility.
Quick Facts
Licensed eligible brewers across the province can apply to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to occasionally extend their on-site stores to sell Ontario beer at farmers’ markets.
Brewers whose full brewing process takes place in Ontario at their own brewery are permitted to sell their products at farmers markets.
There are more than 180 farmers’ markets in Ontario.
The government is committed to upholding the highest standards for social responsibility, including the strong regulatory framework that is in place for alcohol sales, which includes a minimum age to purchase alcohol, mandatory staff training and minimum retail prices.
The year that was has been a real challenge for most of us, and although there is now light at the end of the tunnel, many people are still finding it difficult to relax.
We have all been stressed, and rightly so, and being stuck at home with nothing much to do but work, eat, and clean can be a pretty boring affair. But if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed within those four walls, there are still things you can do that will benefit you mentally – and it doesn’t have to be too complex or problematic, either. So what can you do to better yourself mentally while spending more time at home? Here’s your best list.
Read
It may be obvious, but ask yourself this: when was the last time you actually sat down and read something good? We’re not talking about a magazine or newspaper or scrolling through your social media accounts – we’re referring to an actual book with a great story that allows you to escape to another world. The merits of reading a book are known universally, yet so many of us have neglected these merits – so why not start now? If you’re thinking of what you can read, try searching online for recommended book lists; we’d start with a list of classic novels which people have enjoyed for years, even centuries.
Start a journal
Starting a journal is related to reading, in a way, but if you’ve never had a diary or your last one was way back in high school, now’s the perfect time to start (or re-start). The mere act of writing in a diary or journal is relaxing and reduces stress, and it’s a brilliant way to get a better perspective on an issue or problem. In addition, by writing in a journal, you can effectively release your concerns, ideas, feelings, and emotions so they don’t have to stay repressed inside you.
Play an easy game or two
It may also be the ideal time to unleash your love for gaming – and if you’ve spent many hours playing games as a child, then you know exactly what we mean. For example, you can play a board game with your loved ones, or if you are flying solo, you can play a nice and easy online game like those casino games that are so popular nowadays (you may even win a prize or two!). Look for the best online casino in Canada, and you can’t go wrong if you choose a popular and trustworthy site. Moreover, playing a game helps you de-stress since you’re concentrating on another thing that’s entirely different from your work or home concerns, and it can definitely put you in an excellent mood if you win.
Listen to your favorite tunes
If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate, you may need to rejuvenate yourself and recharge – and what better way to do it than by listening to your favorite tunes? So bring out your playlist and spend an hour or two getting lost in the music you love – and if you want something more relaxing, try looking for relaxation or meditation songs online. Listening to music can lower your heart and pulse rate and reduce your stress hormone levels. For the Silo, Diane Hutton.
Lots of people will tell you they’re fed up with work due to the pandemic. Why do something that makes you miserable for the rest of your life? It is possible to change careers right now but you’ll need a little money.
Unless you invest in your new career, you might end up in the same kind of job you already have. It’s why everyone should seriously consider taking out a loan. Here are some jobs you’ll be able to start after training.
Drive A Truck Long Distance
Even if you’re in a tough financial position at the moment, you can get a truck driver’s license. Just find a company that deals with the responsible lending of bad credit loans and you’ll have a much better chance of being approved.
Once you get your truck driver’s license it’s easy to find a job because North America is desperate for drivers. Would you enjoy making deliveries all over the country? It’s perfect if you love driving and lots of freedom.
Operate A Forklift In A Yard
If you don’t want to drive long distances, it’s still possible to use your loan to get a license. How would you feel about operating a forklift in a yard? You’ll spend all day picking things up and carrying them around.
When you check the loan calculator of money lending websites, it’s clear to see you’ll make enough money to pay everything back within a few months. There are even opportunities to work with bigger machinery in the future.
Becoming A Personal Trainer
Even though it’s easy to become a personal trainer you will need a certification. It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent the last decade in the gym. If you don’t have a certification you won’t get insurance and a client could sue you.
It’s great if you like working out because you’ll be able to train people in their homes. A great way to spend winter when it’s cold. If you find it easy to get clients you’ll be able to pay back a loan fast.
Learn How To Code At A Camp
I’m sure you’ve heard it’s possible to get a great job once you know how to code. If you don’t want to study at college, you’ll be able to attend a code camp. It’s somewhere you’ll learn everything you need to get a job.
Code camps are also good because you get to network with other people with similar interests. It makes it easier to find a job. If you want to pay back the loan quicker, start freelancing at night while you’re at the camp.
Teach People To Speak English
Even if you live in English-speaking countries it’s possible to get a job teaching people English. If you want to teach English you will need a TEFL certificate to get started, but you might not need a college degree.
One of the reasons why it’s a great career is because you’ll be able to teach all over the world when you feel like traveling. Would you enjoy teaching in South Korea, China, or Brazil somewhere down the line?
It’s Worth Getting A Loan
If you can find a career where it’s easy to find a job, the loan isn’t going to be a problem. You’ll be able to start working in a new industry within weeks or months.
Canada just moved from having enough doses to vaccinate every Canadian, into a surplus position.
This also means that Canada reached a new very problematic milestone. Doses are going bad in Canada, while desperate people, including frontline health workers in Africa, are still struggling to get access to vaccines.
None of us are safe until all of us are safe. We know this pandemic isn’t truly over until it is over everywhere. Canada MUST share more of our excess doses now. Canada MUST resist the urge to offer 3rd dose “boosters” to healthy Canadians (some of whom are getting them in order to vacation in the Caribbean) while nurses in Senegal are still unprotected.
We have more than enough vaccines, others don’t.
Africa is facing a COVID-19 crisis, cases are surging and the continent is heading towards a global catastrophe. Over the last month deaths from COVID in Africa have increased 80%. Only roughly 3% of Africans have received the first shot, and the continent is not on track to vaccinate 10% of its population by the end of the year. The WHO’s Bruce Aylward said this should be “a scar on all of our consciences.”
Canada is the country that has ordered the most vaccines per person: counting optional purchases, enough to vaccinate each Canadian 5 times. Unless the excess doses are shared right now, we could end-up throwing away millions of doses while most of the rest of the world remains unvaccinated. This is a scandal that we cannot let happen.
Vaccines being discarded is not a theoretical concern. In addition to the 300,000 doses from Johnson and Johnson that were discarded due to a manufacturing issue, thousands of Astra Zeneca doses have already been wasted in Canada because they could not be used before their expiry dates. With this vaccine barely been used in anymore, there may be thousands more sitting in freezers or the garbage, and provinces are coy about how many they may be throwing away. The same is starting to happen with Moderna, with pharmacists unable to put some of the doses they have in arms.
Figure 1: A tale of two pandemics While Canada is in a very good position, some African countries are seeing an increase in cases with a very small share of their population vaccinated.
Canada has so far committed to share 30.7 million doses with COVAX, the global vaccine distribution mechanism, including a recent pledge to donate the remainder of our Astra Zeneca orders. But there has been no confirmation of when these donated vaccines might reach countries in need.
In addition, new analysis by the ONE Campaign based on data from analytics firm AirFinity shows that at the current rate, Canada will end-up with between 16 and 42 million more vaccines piling up in freezers or thrown away by Christmas, while the pandemic continues raging on in Africa and the developing world.
We not only have a moral obligation to share doses, it is in our own best interest to stop the global spread and emergence of new variants. Until then, more preventable deaths will occur and Canada’s own recovery will be threatened by a shaky global economy. According to the IMF, failing to help the developing world defeat Covid-19 could cost the global economy US$4.5 trillion.
The time to donate more doses is now. Lives depend on it.
Africa is experiencing an increasingly urgent COVID crisis and needs at least 200 million vaccine doses by the end of September to slow the spread and prevent more needless deaths. Canada should immediately transfer all incoming vaccine orders to COVAX, beyond ensuring that there are enough for every Canadians to be fully vaccinated. This should mean at least 12 million more doses shared before the end of September, and in total 16-42 million vaccines donated before the end of the year if we want to end the pandemic and avoid unimaginable waste.
It may be tempting for the Government to keep vaccines stockpiled just in case boosters may be needed. But the evidence so far on the need for boosters is far from conclusive, and many experts have warned that it would be counterproductive to start giving third doses to healthy people in rich countries while at-risk populations have not yet had their first shot in developing countries. Stockpiling a product with a short shelf life will inevitably lead to a lot of waste. In any case, Canada has already ordered up to 60 million more doses of Pfizer a year for the next 3 years in case boosters are needed.
The excess doses we have coming in the next 5 months must urgently be shared with countries in need to stem the pandemic globally. Variants spreading around the world pose a threat to Canadians. The longer we wait to vaccinate the world, the more variants we will see and the longer this vicious cycle will continue. The time to donating more doses is now. Lives depend on it.
Up to 42 million doses could go unused in Canada by Christmas
By December 2021, Canada will have received at least 92 million doses of the four vaccines currently approved by Health Canada (Moderna, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson). If Medicago and Novavax post positive Phase 3 results and are also approved, total supply could increase to 117 million doses. [1]
To fully vaccinate every Canadian, including children under 12 should vaccines be approved for them, 76 million doses will be required in total. These are highly optimistic projections of actual demand, since it is unlikely that 100% of the population will want to be vaccinated.
This means that between 16 and 42 million excess vaccines risk being stockpiled or wasted in Canada by the end of the year. The higher scenario means our excess vaccines would be enough to fully vaccinate everyone in a country like Burkina Faso this year. Right now, 0.01% of people are fully vaccinated in Burkina Faso. For the Silo, Justin McAuley.
Figure 2: A growing stockpile Even accounting for the already-announced donations, Canada will have millions of excess vaccines
[1] This excludes the 30 million doses already donated to Covax.
Contemplate the ways in which you approach and communicate with the world. Our interactions are shaped by context at all times, one moment calls for gentleness while the next requires a firmer approach. It becomes second nature navigating these nuances, we stop giving thought to the many personas involved in our experiences moment to moment.
From time to time, turn the mirror and allow the reflection to sink in. Do not approach with judgment, merely curiosity. Make contact with yourself and get to know once again what has been lost to habit. Investigate the uncharted waters of you, revealing a self you may not have encountered for many years.
The Zagreb, Croatia-based artist believes all that is needed is for each of us to wake up the creative part of ourselves. In her participation-driven work, she explores this idea extensively. In one piece titled Art and Box, audience members are invited to take a box containing dismantled pieces for an art exhibition back to their communities.
With the box comes a dancer who the participants can invite to collaborate on a performance piece at their local school, library, or any other place they see fit. In this way, and through much of her work, Kuluncic seeks unique angles from which to view how we communicate socially. Her work Collective Stranger traces lines within the Croatian community combining the experiences of women from many backgrounds all of whom fit into the category of oppressed and even ostracized populations.
Alison Jackson is no stranger to alternative facts. Her career is built on the voyeuristic relationship we have with celebrities. Jackson creates images using lookalikes that challenge our concept of what is real. Most recently she has created photographs featuring a Donald Trump lookalike for the series Mental Images. Jackson says, “my pictures ask where does the truth end and the lies begin…where the subjective triumphs over the objective.” He work spans many media including publishing, photography, television, and is exhibited in museums and galleries.
Rekindle a relationship with your true self. Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese mystic and philosopher wrote, “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightented.” For the Silo, Brainard Carey.
*featured image: “CREATIVE STRATEGIES” multidisciplinary research project 2010-ongoing Andreja Kuluncic.
Just because you have the days off, it doesn’t mean you need to leave town. There’s no mob of townsfolk chasing you out of town with pitchforks just because you’re “technically on vacation”. Sometimes, you just don’t have the money, energy and/or desire to go anywhere. Sometimes, when you get a week or two off work, all you really want to do is relax.
Go for it: have yourself a staycation. But if you are going to commit to the staycation, to really sink your teeth into relaxing, you need to follow a few simple steps. In this article, let’s look at a few tips you should follow if you want to squeeze the most relaxation out of your time off work.
Set Up an “Out of Office” Reply
If relaxation is like a balloon lazily floating in the air, work emails are the needle that’s going to pop it. Over and over and over again. They are constant, daily reminders of a stress you are supposed to leave behind, where it belongs – at work. Do yourself a favor and, after you finish your last day before vacation, quickly set up an out of office auto-reply. That lets co-workers and clients know that you are on vacation, and you don’t want to be reached save for the most urgent matter.
Log off Social Media
Social media is a fun sinkhole to fall into, but once you climb back out you might notice that you don’t feel all that good. That’s because people on social media tend to put their best face on, posting themselves doing fun activities, joyously traveling, eating magnificent meals… and nobody ever posts the bad stuff. Over time, this can cause you to unfairly compare yourself to those idealized accounts. And, as the saying goes, “comparison is the thief of joy”. It’s best to stay away, especially while relaxing!
Try a Little Legal Cannabis
Cannabis is legal in a lot of states, as well as in Canada, so why not partake? Even if you’re not much of a smoker, there are delicious cannabis infused treats you can try, or CBD-infused cannabis tea you can sip on. The chemical compounds in cannabis (CBD especially) have been shown to reduce stress and relieve pain.
No one’s advocating for you to spend your entire staycation smoking on the couch, but a bit of edibles or tea can help you fully, psychologically disconnect from the stresses of work.
Pick Up a Hobby
If you find that idle hands don’t really look good on you, pick up a hobby you’ve always wanted to try. Try painting an abstract portrait, or cooking an elaborate Thai meal. Try taking a drop-in pottery class or fixing up a car engine. Everyone has at least one hobby they want to try but haven’t.
Binge Watch a Show
Finally, take advantage of the current stream-site ubiquity and get involved in a good show. Everyone at the office has been talking your ear off about finally watching Deadwood or The Wire? Put the matter to rest and just watch the darn shows.
Who needs to get on an expensive plane, pay for an expensive room and sit on a crowded beach in order to relax? Not you. Follow these easy tips and you’ll be relaxing right away. For the Silo, Mila Urosevic.
Unbeknownst to many, some of the world’s best pornography doesn’t exist on Pornhub. Rather, it exists in famous museums around the world: The Louvre (France), The MET (New York City), The Prado (Spain), The Uffizi Gallery (Italy), The National Gallery (UK) and Musee d’Orsay (France), to name a few.
And with museums finally reopening around the world as pandemic restrictions are being lifted, Pornhub wanted to do its part to encourage people to enjoy every stroke of erotic art.
Pornhub is launching “Classic Nudes” to provide museum-goers with an interactive oral history of some of the most renowned erotic art in some of the world’s most famous museums. Pornhub is encouraging people to ditch those boring self-tour recordings and enjoy every single brushstroke of these erotic masterpieces with Pornhub Brand Ambassador Asa Akira.
New York – July, 2021 – Pornhub, the premier online destination for adult entertainment, today announced the launch of “Classic Nudes,” an interactive guide to discover and learn more about erotic art in some of the world’s most famous fine art museums – The Louvre (France), The MET (New York City), The Prado (Spain), The Uffizi Gallery (Italy), The National Gallery (UK) and the Musee d’Orsay (France). With museums finally reopening around the world as pandemic restrictions are being lifted, Pornhub wanted to do its part in stimulating the public to visit, explore and fall back in love (or lust) with these cultural institutions.
The public can tour each of the 6 museums – either in person or at home – via the Classic Nudes mobile website. The online portal guides visitors past the SFW masterpieces and gets right to the good stuff: representations of the naked body in all its artistic glory. Simply visit the Classic Nudes website on your device, select your museum, follow the map, locate the artwork, and listen, read, or watch along to its curated content.
Hungarian-Italian artist and porn legend Cicciolina stars in the promotional video for Classic Nudes. Pornhub Brand Ambassador Asa Akira serves as orator for the campaign providing an oral history of 30 erotic art pieces in this curated collection, while Pornhub amateur couple, “MySweetApple” brings 6 iconic artwork to life.
“There’s a treasure trove of erotic art around the world – depicting nudes, orgies, and more – that’s not available on Pornhub. These pre-Internet art pieces are currently sitting in museums, which we are now finally able to start visiting again as covid restrictions are starting to lift ,” said Asa Akira, Pornhub Brand Ambassador. “So as people start to head back to The Louvre or The MET, they can simply open Classic Nudes, and I’ll be their guide. Time to ditch those boring self-tour recordings and enjoy every single brushstroke of these erotic masterpieces with me.”
Classic Nudes follows previous artistic endeavors from Pornhub including the recently launched “Remastured,” an initiative that used modern A.I technology and machine learning to restore century-old erotic films into titillating technicolor.
Previously, the company commissioned contemporary art gallery Maccarone Los Angeles to present a feminist art show entitled ‘The Pleasure Principle,’ a pan-generational, sexually-charged exhibition of female artists whose work centers the erotic and disrupts the processes of content-cleansing that code certain images as profane, abject, or pornographic. Pornhub also hosted the online premier of SHAKEDOWN, the critically-acclaimed documentary art film centered around the Black lesbian stripper scene in early oughts Los Angeles by filmmaker and vanguard artist Leilah Weinraub.
Pornhub’s “Classic Nudes” campaign is a collaborative initiative with creative agency Officer & Gentleman.
Founded in 2007, Pornhub is the leading free, ad-supported adult video streaming website, offering viewers the opportunity to upload and share their own videos. With over 3 million videos and over 130 million visitors a day, Pornhub truly is the best adult site in the world. Pornhub has built the largest dedicated membership base in the adult community, averaging over 76 million monthly active members, offering viewers a fun and sophisticated social experience directly insite, complete with messaging, photos, achievement badges, and much more.
This monograph provides for the first time a combined overview of all classes of metal body armour from the European Bronze Age in a holistic perspective, combining discussion of both traditional typo-chronologies and aspects of manufacture and use.
The earliest metal body armour recovered comes from Dendra, Greece, and dates to the first half of the 15th century BC.
However, the majority of metal body armour, including helmets, cuirasses and greaves, derives from the European Late Bronze Age, c. 1200–950 BC. This armour has been found from Iberia in the west to Cyprus in the east, and from Sicily in the south to Denmark in the north, as well as in the Near East. It thus derives from a wide geographical study area. Nevertheless, only around 30 cuirasses, 75 greaves and 120 helmets have so far been recovered.
The development, manufacture and use of this metal body armour across Europe remains unclear, even after more than a century of research. Earlier studies were largely concerned with typo-chronological aspects of this armour, whilst topics such as manufacturing techniques, efficacy and technological observations were rarely addressed.
Page 29 from the full volume available below. Click on the hypertext at the end of this post for the PDF.
This volume therefore brings together both traditional artefact and metallurgical studies, as well as reconstructions of manufacturing techniques, technological developments and innovations and use-wear analysis. The monograph also provides much-needed detail concerning material characterisation, in the form of alloy composition and microstructure analysis of a significant sample of the original finds.
Combining the results of this with the study of the manufacturing techniques and use-wear traces, a better understanding of how this armour was both produced and used is achieved. I have documented, studied and analysed all accessible helmets, greaves and cuirasses in eastern Europe as well as a number of examples from western Europe, significantly increasing the quantity of body armour studied and analysed in detail. The publication contains the whole spectrum of known body armour currently recovered, as well as including ‘new’ finds from auctions or private collections, which have previously been overlooked.
The present volume offers a holistic artefact study of European Bronze Age body armour, its manufacture and usage. It serves as a basis for further experimental studies into the production and utility of bronze helmets, cuirasses and greaves, which will deliver further important insights in … View full abstractFor the Silo, Marianne Modlinger.
The Museum of Wild and Newfangled Art (mowna) Announces the Debut of an AI Experiment in Art Curation: “This Show is Curated by a Machine ?”
The free call for international submissions is now open for all to take part in an experiment that defines how we move forward with AI curation in an ethical way
NEW YORK (July, 2021) – The Museum of Wild and Newfangled Art (mowna) is currently designing an artificial intelligence curator for their final show of the year “This Show is Curated by a Machine 🤖” which directly answers the Whitney Museum of American Art’s curatorial question,“The Next Biennial Should Be Curated by a Machine.”
The curator, an AI bot machine, will learn to curate by looking at the data set from the 2021 mowna Biennial, an exhibit of an international pool of artists selected from 44 countries gathered through a free call for submissions process that ran from January through March of 2021.
The Biennial includes all forms of art made from 2019 to 2021. The machine will also learn from other data sets of recently made art. The AI machine will curate the show by looking at the text data of the submissions as well as the artwork files. There will also be human curators, so that a comparison can be made.
The show will be viewable at mowna.org, and a detailed writeup of the process, results, and thoughts about the future of artificial intelligence related to art curation will be made available. Early questions are available here in the mowna blog.
“We are interested in creating a machine that can curate in a diverse and ethical way, that is not founded in white supremacy or structures of inherent racism. Much of the art world is affected and effected by both of these issues. So mowna asks, is it possible to create an AI that looks at the art and curates with diversity, equity and inclusion? It is important to build this machine now, before other big tech companies design algorithms that erase the artist and define AI curation.” ~cari ann shim sham*, Co-founder and Curator of mowna.
“This Show is Curated by a Machine 🤖” marks the third online art experience by mowna, the first being its Opening Show now available to members in the mowna collection, and the second being the current exhibit, the 2021 mowna Biennial. The Biennial is mowna’s direct response to the gap in the art world seen after the coronavirus pandemic, and showcased art of all mediums that otherwise would’ve gone unseen. Tickets to the Biennial will be available until the show closes on September 22nd, and are sliding scale pay what you wish, after which “This Show is Curated by a Machine 🤖” will be installed and available for online viewing.
Artists may submit up to 10 works of art per submission and artists will be paid 70% of ticket and membership sales from the show, with the other 30% paying for the creation of the platform. There is no submission fee to apply, and all mediums of art are welcome. The works must have been completed after January 1, 2020. The deadline for submissions is August 20, 2021 at 12 PM ET. Contact The Silo for more information.
As the global community continually moves further into a multi-faceted technological way of life, the way art, across all mediums, is consumed, has been changing in ways to make art more accessible while remaining true to the integrity of all genres. mowna recognized this growing, transformational need pre-pandemic which catalyzed the formation and birth of the Museum of Wild and Newfangled Art to meet the ever-growing needs of an ever-changing art world.
mowna is at the center of the exponentially changing art world and makes it their priority to showcase art from all walks of life. With a mix of what is familiar and unfamiliar, patrons will see artists who’ve been curated by the Whitney or the MoMA along with artists available only on mowna.
“This Show is Curated by a Machine 🤖” will run from September 23, 2021 through January 31, 2022 at mowna.org. mowna exists to provide an international online platform for the most timely, diverse, and preeminent artists.
4 Reasons Why Women Will Lead The Business World In The 21st Century
When you let women be women in the business world, they do better. That’s according to a recent report from the Harvard Business Review, which makes the case that traditional thinking – that women should be treated no differently than men in corporate settings – is simply flawed and regressive.
A major point the post makes is that only about 20 percent of businesswomen make partner. By expecting from women what you would expect from men, the corporate world is consciously and unconsciously excluding female leadership. That’s a very bad thing, according to many. For example, Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame says that of his 27 companies, only the ones with female CEOS make him money.
“Women are good for business, so it follows that what’s good for your best women will be good for your bottom line,” says Debora McLaughlin, CEO of The Renegade Leader Coaching and Consulting Group (www.TheRenegadeLeader.com), and author of “Running in High Heels: How to Lead with Influence, Impact & Ingenuity.”
“I’ve long advocated this position, and that symbols of female business identity, like high heels, are signs of a businesswoman’s ability to elevate business results, consistently providing a better return for stakeholders.”
McLaughlin discusses why women will be essential for leading businesses into a new paradigm this century.
• The old way doesn’t work. Since 1955, more than 90 percent of the companies on the Fortune 500 list have gone bankrupt, shrunk in size, become inconsequential, been mopped up by their rivals or closed their doors. Sixty percent of CEOs think their current business model is only sustainable for another three years. Sticking too closely to your old guns, including discouraging a woman’s nature in the corporate world, will likely involve your company in that 90-plus percent failure rate.
• The business world has already changed. While technology continues to revolutionize how we do business, it has also changed the workforce. Today’s employees are smarter, more innovative, more creative and full of potential – and it’s not only due to technology. As Generations X and Y emerge as tomorrow’s leaders, Millennials are proving to be very resourceful workers. Old models like “command-and-control” don’t fit with a company’s most precious resource, its people.
• Women are more social and excel in collaboration. We shouldn’t generalize to strictly regarding gender norms. However, it’s probably fair to say that women are more nurturing for in-group members. Much of the traditional management method centralized authority; a woman’s leadership is more prone to sharing influence and, perhaps, fostering a creative culture of collaboration.
“Of course, this is not a strict gender rule,” McLaughlin says. “But I think it’s the experience of many that women are, in the aggregate, more nurturing.
• Momentum will continue to build for women leadership. Momentum tends to build upon itself, and that includes social change. While that change has been slower in the corporate world, we’re already seeing signs and opinions of change, as exemplified by Kevin O’Leary.
“More importantly, if the Harvard Business Review’s post is an indicator, women in business will feel more comfortable being themselves in a professional environment,” she says. “Unlocking those invisible shackles from a woman’s high heels will be a game-changer.”
About Debora McLaughlin
Debora McLaughlin is the best-selling author of “The Renegade Leader: 9 Success Strategies Driven Leaders Use to Ignite People, Performance and Profits.” Her new book, “Running in High Heels: How to Lead with Influence, Impact & Ingenuity,” is a how-to leadership companion for women in business. She is CEO of The Renegade Leader Coaching and Consulting Group (www.TheRenegadeLeader.com). As a certified executive coach, McLaughlin helps business owners, executives and managers nationwide ignite their inner renegade leader to unleash their full potential, drive their visions and yield positive results, both in business and in life.
Over the past few years social media stars have made a fortune online, using YouTube to create their own brand. Take a look at how they’ve made their careers and the money that they’re making. From top YouTubers to the celebs you’d forgotten started their careers online, here we take a look at the secrets to online fame and fortune.
Take a look at some of the biggest YouTube stars making millions online and find out if you could do the same! Did we miss anyone? Leave us a comment at the bottom of the post and let us know who is your favorite.
Alison Jackson
