Winnipeg’s Home Tour
It’s a self-guided tour of some of Winnipeg’s most interesting, modern homes made so by local designers and architects. And it’s taking place this Sunday, Sept. 14. The Home Tour, organized by the volunteer associates of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, will give participants the chance to trudge the houses in the city’s Crescentwood, River Heights, and Tuxedo neighbourhoods:
- 1 Palk Road – John Patkau and Denis Jesson
- 104 Harvard Avenue – George Cibinel, Cibinel Architects Ltd.
- 51 Renfrew Street – Peter Hargraves, Sputnik Architecture
- 59 Renfrew Street – Dovide E. Secter, Secter Associates Limited
- 315 Bower Boulevard – Clayton Salkeld, Design-Built
Tickets are $35, and can be purchased online, following this link, at McNally Robinson Booksellers, or at Blue Hills Design. Or by calling 204-786-6641 [Source: Winnipeg Art Gallery]
Sanctions imposed against Russia
Sanctions against Russia have come into effect, an attempt by the EU to limit the country’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Loans have been blocked, and so has business with the EU’s oil and military sectors. According to Nato, Russia still has about 1,000 troops stationed in east Ukraine. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign ministers, told reporters Russia “will react in a calm and appropriate way, first and foremost, proceeding from the need to defend our interests.” The EU and the US have aligned in mistrust over the Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. And US President Barack Obama said his country will be imposing sanctions, as well. Both the US and EU are accusing the Kremlin of supporting the pro-Russian separatists by sending troops across the border to Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The sanctions will be renegotiated or lifted entirely if a ceasefire can be sustained. [Source: BBC]
Social media performance art
Amsterdam-based artist Zilla van den Born faked a five-week trip across Southeast Asia, using her Photoshop acumen to seamlessly and convincingly drag and drop herself in places one would go when taking such a trip. She posted these pics to Facebook and other social sites, duping her friends and colleagues. It’s called social media performance art, apparently. “My goal was to prove how common and easy it is to distort reality,” van der Born said. “Everybody knows that pictures of models are manipulated. But we often overlook the fact that we manipulate reality also in our own lives.” [Source: Death and Taxes]
Wolves are eating Saskatchewan’s cattle
Wolves are stalking and killing cattle in east-central Saskatchewan, and at a rate high enough to get the province’s attention. The environment ministry has spearheaded this one-year-only pilot project, handing out 100 licenses allowing hunters to kill two wolves between Monday, Sept. 15 and March 31. Until this year, only licensed trappers were allowed to hunt wolves. “We’re not really looking at killing a lot of wolves,” said Mike Gollop, the ministry’s fur and problem wildlife specialist. “We want to see if there is any impact on the predation in this particular area. It’s the first crack at this, so we don’t know the numbers we’re working with.” Manitoba has tried this, as well. The province initiated a wolf cull near Hudson Bay to deal with a dwindling moose population. Many of those wolfs migrated to Saskatchewan as a result of the pressure. The Saskatchewan government is hoping to push the animals back into the forest and away from livestock-dense areas. [Source: Star Phoenix]
Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide
Judge Thokozile Masipa has found Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide in the gun-related death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The verdict has angered prosecutors hoping to see Pistorius put away under a murder conviction. But Masipa maintained there was not enough evidence for a murder conviction; not enough to prove Pistorius knew Steenkamp was the one behind the bathroom door he fired live rounds into. News sources say Pistorius showed no emotion as Masipa delivered his fate. The Olympian’s sentence is predicted to come next month, and experts predict he’ll get around four years, but on paper culpable homicide can result in anything between a fine and over a decade in prison. His bail hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon. [Source: National Post]
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Toban Dyck is on his way to Brando to speak to journalism students at Assiniboine College. He is looking forward to it.