MetaFilter posts tagged with Canada

Open Toronto

GuyZero — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:37:45 -0800

Toronto's Open Civic Data. The city of Toronto has released its data to the world via the new Open Toronto initiative: geographic data for a variety of civic divisions, lists of licensed business, public transit stops, routes & schedules, a SOAP-based geocoding API and more.

This movie is rife with the stench of back bacon!

Horace Rumpole — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:11:32 -0800

From Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe to Zombie Nightmare, Canuxploitation is your guide to the world of Canadian B-movies. Via the always indispensable (and occasionally NSFW) Mondo Digital.

The Story Of The 1987 CN Nepisiguit Sub Runaway Train

srboisvert — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:46:19 -0800

Stick with 'er Wiener! On March 9, 1987, a well-known derailment occurred here when a runaway CN train journeyed from Brunswick Mines to just short of the wye. There was a mixup in communications and engineer Wesley MacDonald ended up with more cars on his train than he thought, and the brakes on the engine alone were unable to hold the consist on the grade in the Brunswick Mines yard. Great radio show about the accident that we previously discussed here.

A little help from his friends

salishsea — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:25:10 -0800

Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, sings "With A Little Help From My Friends" at a gala last night in Ottawa with Yo Yo Ma and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Harper survived a confidence vote this week with a little help from his former sworn enemies.

Ce soir sera une bonne soirée!

Rhaomi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:56:54 -0800

On September 10th, to celebrate their initiation week, 172 communications students at the University of Quebec at Montreal decided to put on a show. After weeks of preparation, the costumed and prop-wielding crowd enacted an exuberant, complex, and flawlessly-choreographed performance of the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" that sprawled through the campus's multi-story Judith Jasmin Pavilion... and they did it all in one continuous take (on their second try). The feat is just the most recent example of "lipdubbing" -- a video phenomenon where a single camera moves through a crowd of highly coordinated lip-syncers in a single seamless take, with the original recording dubbed over the finished product. Though the basic concept was pioneered by viral videos like the Numa Numa Dance and OK Go's "Here It Goes Again", the current model for lipdubbing was conceived by Vimeo founder Jakob Lodwick, who coined the term after dubbing a recording of himself singing "Endless Dream" by Apes & Androids. According to technical writer and blogger Tom Johnson's analysis of the video, the best lipdubs appear "spontaneous, authentic, participatory, and fun." Lodwick's video was followed up by a Vimeo business partner's staff doing their rendition of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" (previously). The technique soon exploded in popularity -- everything from web magazines to TV studios to hospitals got into the act. But perhaps no group took to lipdubbing better than universities. Following the lead of The University Lipdub Project (original video), colleges from multiple nations adopted lipdubbing as a way to showcase their campus life and school spirit:

School, Nation - Video info - Song Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Rouen, France - 140 people - "Thriller" by Michael Jackson HEC Paris, France - 120 people - "Lollipop" by Mika l'Université de Poitiers, France - 56 people - "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" by the Scissor Sisters Mines de Saint Etienne, France - "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" by the Scissor Sisters IUT Belfort/Montbéliard, France - 353 people (a world record) - "La Confession de Monsieur Connard" by Les Tock'art HEC Montréal, Canada - 150 people - "Mamma Mia" by Abba Institut Notre Dame de la Providence, France - "Toi + Moi" by Grégoire Ecole Polytechnique, France - "Love Is All" by Roger Glover Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany - "LMU" (original song) IHECS, Belgium - 100+ people - "Banana Split" HEC Montréal, Canada - 172 people - "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams European Business School, Germany - "Tell It to My Heart" by Dyane Taylor, "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys ESC Dijon, France - 95 people - "Working Together" by Gonzales Essec Business School, France - 200 people - "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas Emlyon Business School, France - 300 people - "Pop the Music" by Triim, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles ENSIC, France - 85 people - "Hot N Cold" by Kate Perry Campo Limpo Paulista College, Brazil - 56 people - "Ultramen" by Santo Forte

Bonus one-shot goodness:

Children of Men's climactic 6-minute one-shot scene (spoilers) Honda's "The Cog" (previ-ously) The Way Things Go (previously) Bike Hero (previously) Slydini's Newspaper (previously)

Explore the most beautiful, most repulsive city in the world through the photography of Brian Scott.

Orange Pamplemousse — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:21:47 -0800

Winnipeg: Love and Hate Marlborough and the Legislature are two particularly nice pictures. Satellite Map mash-up (the artist).

A new battle for the Plains of Abraham?

zadcat — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:54:23 -0800

Two hundred and fifty years ago the Battle of the Plains of Abraham* took place in Quebec City. In a fight that lasted less than an hour (following a three-month siege throughout the summer of 1759), both generals died and the British won Quebec, soon becoming masters of most of North America. This summer has seen plans for a re-enactment of the battle cancelled and now a controversy over an event to be staged next week, the Moulin à paroles (Mill of Words)**. Plans include a reading of the manifesto of the Front de libération du Québec, a group which carried out bombings and kidnappings throughout the 1960s, culminating in 1970's October Crisis, which is a hot potato that may provoke new trouble on the Plains next week. *Despite the resoundingly Biblical-sounding name, the Plains of Abraham were merely some fields belonging to a local man named Abraham Martin. They are now part of the Battlefields Park in Quebec City. **Presumably so named after the successful multimedia show Le Moulin à images mounted last summer for Quebec City's 400th anniversary.

Afro-centric public school opening in Toronto

modernnomad — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:10:01 -0800

Despite a reputation as an effective multi-cultural city, Toronto continues to have difficulties successfully integrating its communities of African heritage. In response to significantly higher than average high school drop-out rates in those communities, some academics suggested the creation of "black-focused public schools" [PDF] as means of re-engaging black youth with education. Needless to say, this caused debate, controversy, and even anger, but the first afro-centric public elementary school will open this month.

White Refugee

PenDevil — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:11:27 -0800

This past Thursday the Canadian government granted refugee status to Brandon Huntley, a South African who has been living illegally in Canada since 2005. Huntley claimed that if he were to be repatriated back to South Africa he would be persecuted due to the fact that he is white. The South African government is not amused.

Tribunal panel chair William Davis said the evidence of Huntley "showed a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness" of the SA government to protect "white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans".

Canada Reigns In Facebook

shoesfullofdust — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:08:13 -0800

Facebook agrees to privacy changes [Flash video | article]. After an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which found that Facebook gave "confusing or incomplete" privacy information to subscribers and gave developers "virtually unrestricted access to Facebook users’ personal information", Facebook has agreed to address the Privacy Commissioner’s concerns. “These changes mean that the privacy of 200 million Facebook users in Canada and around the world will be far better protected.” - Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. "The notion that some teenager, working in a basement halfway around the globe, that could have access to all of this personal information was unsettling, to say the least." - Elizabeth Denholm, Deputy Privacy Commissioner.

Fading towns of coastal British Columbia

Rumple — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:48:29 -0800

Land's End: Photographer and writer Christopher Grabowski documents the fading industrial towns of the British Columbia coast. Interview, and some of his other Photo Essays at Geist Magazine.

Even sage Mr. Owl can't proffer an estimate

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:50:16 -0800

Dog Assaults News Anchor...with love!

Everything's Better With Butter

ericb — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:43:39 -0800

'Artisanal butters' are favored and appreciated by cooks and gourmands -- especially those crafted by "garage entrepreneurs" from Maine [video]* and Vermont (churned by Diane St. Clair and favored by Thomas Keller at his noted restaurants, The French Laundry and Per Se). Butters from Canada, France, Ireland and elsewhere are also cherished. In related news:

"With enough butter, anything is good." Nora Ephron Talks About The Joy of Butter. No Michael Jackson Sculpture in Butter at the Iowa Fair.

Canada getting all up in your Facebook

stinkycheese — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:47:29 -0800

In response to a complaint by law students at the University of Ottawa in May of 2008, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has found that Facebook is operating contrary to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. In other words, Facebook is breaching Canadian privacy law. Facebook has pledged to work with the Canadian government on this issue, and has 30 days to comply; if the Commissioner remains unsatisfied with their progress, they may take the case to Federal Court to force compliance.

Remember: New Glasses Before New Passport

jacquilynne — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:31:42 -0800

Detained in Kenya for not looking enough like her passport photo, Canadian Citizen Suaad Haji Mohamud has been trapped in Kenya for 2 months while trying to return home to her adopted country. She's been declared a fraud by the Canadian government and may be deported back to war-torn Somalia, where she was born. She suggested she be fingerprinted, but after a couple of weeks, the government couldn't come up with anything to match the new prints to. So now, she's waiting on results of a DNA test that's expected to take more than another week.

canada copyright zombies

tamarack — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:44:37 -0800

Canada's Bill C-61 is being zombified as talks begin this week in Vancouver to attempt a dialogue on public opinion. But it's okay, cause they're using twitter this time. [Links]
Fair Copyright for Canada, courtesy of Michael Geist.
Search Engine on TVO (and older podcasts on cbc

Eat Canada

twoleftfeet — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:51:19 -0800

Animated infographics explain the importance of eating Canadian.

God damn trees!

fearfulsymmetry — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:33:39 -0800

From the guys that brought you Hobo With A Shogun comes award-winning short, Treevenge (NSFW)

Playing Hide and Seek with the Body of Christ, and with YouTube videos

ocherdraco — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:50:44 -0800

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has found himself in a bit of an imbroglio this week. Having attended the state funeral of former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc, the evangelical Harper has been accused of pocketing a communion wafer, an action considered "seriously offensive" by Catholics [scroll down for explanation]. But as professor of Internet and E-commerce law Michael Geist notes, the confusing thing about the controversy isn't whether the PM did or didn't eat the wafer (or even whether he should have been offered it in the first place), but rather why Societe Radio-Canada (the French name for the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has yanked a video of the incident from YouTube. Geist (who has explained copyright law for—and to!—the CBC before), says that "While other versions remain online, the [copyright infringement] takedown request by a news organization of a clip that should certainly qualify as fair dealing* is very problematic (and somewhat puzzling given that the video was a CPAC [Cable Public Affairs Channel] video, not Radio-Canada). News organizations depend upon fair dealing every day for their own coverage and should not be so quick to demand takedowns of newsworthy clips that should qualify for similar protection." *Fair dealing is the Canadian term for fair use.

"Events that are more political than touristic in nature"

Quiplash — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:07:36 -0800

Canada's Tourism Minister, Diane Ablonczy, was stripped of responsibility for a Marquee Tourism Events Program budget of $100 million, after she gave $397,500 to Toronto's Pride Week festival, which attracts a million tourists to Toronto every June. The story was broken by backbench Conservative MP Brad Trost in the blog LifeSiteNews.com, who stated that most of the Conservative cauacus was shocked at the award, and that Ms. Ablonczy was stripped of the budget as punishment. Pride Toronto's response. The Tories run damage control.

Tears Are Not Enough

Simon! — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:29:13 -0800

Watch Bruce McDonald's Twitch City, read Ty Templeton's Stig's Inferno, listen to Al Purdy's On Being Human, play Ian and Linda Currie's Jagged Alliance, be vaguely unsettled by Michael Snow's Wavelength and have a happy Canada Day Musical accompaniment: Mary Margaret O'Hara - Body's In Trouble Sloan - Underwhelmed The Demics - New York City Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach Rheostatics - Horses Eric's Trip - Smother The Viletones - Screaming Fist The Diodes - Tired Of Waking Up Tired Simply Saucer - Illegal Bodies Slow - Have Not Been The Same Young Canadians - Hawaii Rough Trade - High School Confidential Zumpano - The Party Rages On The Pursuit Of Happiness – I’m An Adult Now The Gandharvas - First Day Of Spring

How well do you know Canada?

GuyZero — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:26:09 -0800

The Toughest Canada Day Quiz Ever. In honour of Canada Day, one tough quiz from the magazine that told us how much the Internet sucks.

Canadian War Posters

flibbertigibbet — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:29:12 -0800

Canadian War Poster Collection at McGill University. And if that doesn't strike your fancy, the list of digital collections include such time-honoured favourites as Expo '67, and the award-winner for unexpected collection, Gynaecology in Traditional Chinese Medicine. (previously)

The devil is in the details.

modernnomad — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:44:11 -0800

First Nations (aboriginal) communities in Canada often have levels of squalor and health outcomes comparable to developing nations [PDF]. Abuse of alcohol and other drugs is rife. Generally low health care levels in these communities has led to outbreaks of H1N1 (swine flu). While the distribution of hand sanitizer might help control these outbreaks, the Canadian government is hesitant to do so out of fear that the alcohol-based sanitizer will be ingested. Some argue that this is nothing more than continued paternalism that has reduced the First peoples of Canada to their present state.

North America's Hidden Arctic

Avenger — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:28:04 -0800

"I filled my water bottles , fuel bottle and ate some snacks. I reset my altimeter to 1300ft and started shortly past 2pm. The first sign stated 'Eagle Plains 363, Inuvik 735'. The distances were measured in kilometers with green km posts every 2km along the road. A few kilometers down the road, I crossed an old fire burn area with dead trees still standing. The sun was shining and I was eager to get started on the road. The gravel was occasionally soft as the road slowly climbed along the valley." An enterprising man relates his journey up the Dempster Highway on bicycle. The Dempster Highway, a 417 mile road that stretches from Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories is one of only two roads in North America that crosses the Arctic Circle (the other being Alaska Route 11, in case you're wondering). Driving the Dempster in a 1994 Honda Accord: a photo journal. Some incredible vistas. Driving the Dempster in a 1958 VW Bus. [yt] The Dempster in a 1983 VW Bus/Camper. [yt+tears for fears] Explore North America's Hidden Arctic.