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Ted Talks
Jay Silver: Hack a banana, make a keyboard!
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Why can't two slices of pizza be used as a slide clicker? Why shouldn't you make music with ketchup? In this charming talk, inventor Jay Silver talks about the urge to play with the world around you. He shares some of his messiest inventions, and demos MaKey MaKey, a kit for hacking everyday objects. |
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Innovation
ideaBOOST Announces Six Digital Media and Entertainment Start-ups in Second Business Accelerator Cohort
Strong shortlist of ventures inspires launch of affiliate program
TORONTO - The Canadian Film Centre, together with Corus Entertainment, Google and Shaw Media, today announced the selection of six companies to participate in ideaBOOST, an intensive business accelerator for early stage companies focused on creating content and enabling technologies for the media and entertainment industry. These early stage companies will form ideaBOOST's second cohort, which begins May 21. An additional nine companies will participate in a newly launched affiliate program.
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Leadership Change
Appointments for Economical’s Ontario and Western Regions
Changes aligned with vision to be the leading P&C insurance provider in Canada
WATERLOO — Karen Gavan, president and CEO of Economical Insurance, has announced changes in the company’s regional leadership team.
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Consumer Thinking
Canadian Consumer Confidence Rebounds in May - but variability means there is still considerable uncertainty
TORONTO - After a downward slide over the last three months, Canadian Consumer Confidence rebounded significantly in May, as Canadians appear to have shaken off bad economic news on jobs and the slumping housing market.
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Energy
Ontario Power Generation reports 2013 first quarter financial results
TORONTO - Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) reported its financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Net income for the first quarter of 2013 was $28 million compared to $154 million for the same quarter in 2012.
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Infrastructure
300 community leaders' advice to politicians: "Time to deliver on region's future. Fund transportation expansion on our terms."
TORONTO - "Get on with it. Make the most of it. And take better care of our money while you're at it." That's the advice of 300 community leaders that CivicAction delivered to Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) elected officials and Metrolinx.
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Cost of Living
Consumer Price Index, April 2013
Statscan - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in the 12 months to April, following a 1.0% increase in March. Declining gasoline prices were largely responsible for the 0.6 percentage point difference in the 12-month change in the CPI. Price decreases for the purchase of passenger vehicles were also a factor.
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Tentative
Liquor board employees welcome tentative contract deal with LCBO
TORONTO - The union representing more than 7,000 unionized LCBO employees says it welcomes the tentative contract it has negotiated with the Crown-owned retail giant.
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Ontario Wines
New Travel Guide Launches with Most Winery Listings Ever
NIAGARA - Award-winning vintages from Ontario wineries have won praise from experts the world over, so now it's time to venture deeper into our own backyard and discover the sources of all that acclaim. Ontario wine country attracts close to two million visitors each year and the newly release 2013 Wine Country Ontario travel guide makes trip planning to Ontario's wine regions especially easy. The 2013 edition boasts 101 wineries, the most ever!
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Visitors
Travel between Canada and other countries, March 2013
Statscan - Overall travel to Canada rose 2.6% in March, primarily as a result of a 3.2% increase in travel from the United States. US residents took 1.7 million trips to Canada in March. This included over 1.0 million overnight trips, the highest figure since February 2010. Overnight travel by car rose 3.5% while the number of overnight visitors arriving by plane increased 2.0%.
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Infrastructure
Canada Doubles Its Investment in Top Infrastructure Projects Year over Year
The Top 100: Canada’s Biggest Infrastructure Projects report is dominated by hydroelectric mega-projects this year, and a newly updated interactive website allows users to dig deeper than ever before.
Toronto - ReNew Canada has released its annual Top 100: Canada’s Biggest Infrastructure Projects report, which shows a doubling of Canada’s year-over-year investment in the construction industry. This year, there were 49 new projects valued at $60 billion added to the list; this is compared to 29 projects valued at $30 billion added in 2012. The total value of the Top100 list is $146 billion.
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Whole Sales Trade
Wholesale trade, March 2013
Wholesale sales advanced by 0.3% in March to $49.1 billion. The increase was mainly due to higher sales in the motor vehicle industry. Since May 2012, wholesale sales have been relatively flat.
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Music Festival
Sun Life Financial UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival GALA!
Waterloo - For one evening, be transported back to an era when Frank Sinatra was King and Jazz Clubs were the place to be seen! Moving from club to club was fashionable; so we are starting our evening early and after the Gala, everyone with a Gala ticket is welcome to stroll on up to the Jazz Room!
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Mental Health
BrainLinks Canada Symposium Attracts National Participants
WATERLOO - Lutherwood hosted 35 children’s mental health leaders from across Canada yesterday at its Children’s Mental Health Centre held in Waterloo. The group engaged in the organization’s first national conference - BrainLinks Canada. The symposium-style gathering explored recent advances in adolescent brain development and mental health research. A key theme was to look for ways to translate advances such as those discussed into mental health practice across Canada.
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Transportation
Hate traffic and congestion? Now the public can help improve commute times!
Waterloo Region – The Region of Waterloo is committed to improving daily commute times on our Regional road network. For the next several months the Region will be collecting traffic congestion data on Regional roads.
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MEDIA
Kitchener filmmaker takes Gold at WorldFest 2013 for his film House of the Gathering
House of the Gathering, a film by Kitchener filmmaker James Anthony Usas, was awarded a Gold Remi for Experimental Drama at the 2013 WorldFest Houston International Film Festival in Houston,Texas.
Houston - WorldFest Houston International Film Festival is one of the North America's three oldest film festivals, and the only festival to have remained truly dedicated showcasing the projects of independent filmmakers.
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Complacency
The high cost of corporate welfare
Crony capitalism the enemy of free enterprise
CALGARY - If business leaders ever wonder why a chunk of the public disdain business and call for higher corporate taxes or sector-specific increases (higher royalty rates for energy and mining, higher stumpage fees in forestry) or just increased business taxation in general, here’s a clue: too many companies are addicted to corporate welfare.
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Book
Mastering Life Balance: Achieving Greatness at Home and at Work
5 Tips from Former Businessman of the Year
People are overwhelmed with the complexities of their own lives and are desperately seeking a way to maximize happiness in their home and work lives, says Gary Kunath, an entrepreneur, speaker and former CEO who works with some of the world’s top corporations and business schools.
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Education
WCDSB Announces Winners of "Experience 1812" Contest
Waterloo Region – The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, in partnership with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, St Jerome’s University, and The Milton F. Gregg Centre for the study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick, are pleased to announce the winners of the Experience 1812 contest.
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Gender Health
Women Deliver
New York - The Lancet published a special theme issue ahead of the 2013 Women Deliver conference, to be held May 28 – 30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Women Deliver brings together voices from around the world to call for action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women, and the latest issue of The Lancet highlights some of the latest research and views on maternal health.
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Outside
Enjoy Summer Serenity and Outdoor Adventure in Waterloo Region
WATERLOO REGION – If you haven’t yet, now is the time to start thinking about summer vacations. For families looking to experience the great Canadian outdoors, the Waterloo Region has a bunch of reasons to get outside this year.
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Arts & Culture
Creativity and the Art of Breathing Mindfully
Kitchener - Homer Watson House & Gallery is proud to host an Artist Talk from award-winning quilt artist Marg Notar with a special introduction by Kathy Bissett, Chair of The Grand National Committee.
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Infrastructure
Recommendations about the future of Rockway Centre now available
KITCHENER – After a careful and thorough review of all the information collected through the Rockway Feasibility Study (RFS) and business case and numerous resulting reports and studies, staff has developed a number of recommendations for council’s consideration about the future of the Rockway Centre, the site and possible redevelopment opportunities.
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Celebrating Women
Langs Recognizes the Importance of Women!
Cambridge – Langs is hosting the 1st annual ‘Celebrating Women’ event at their beautiful new facility at 1145 Concession Road on Saturday June 1st 2013 from 11:00am – 1:00pm. The Celebrating Women event features one of Canada’s top female speakers, ‘Motivation Sensation’, Rosita Hall, and also includes brunch, a silent auction and a wellness presentation from ‘Vibrant Living’.
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