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By: Lu Xu in Halifax
"I don't have anything else to do," says Keith Bi. He is cleaning pig intestines—a tedious job. In the sink of his café in downtown Halifax sit two bowls filled with cold water and floating chunks of pig intestine that he bought from Toronto. Bi's back is arched forward. He selects one of the intestines and turns it inside out so that he can see where the fat is, and carefully cuts out the white fat with a pair of scissors. It's delicate work. He has to make sure he takes out the fat without poking holes. His right hand skillfully guides the blades of the scissors close against the inside wall. In one quick movement, the fat slips away into to the sink.
Bi is making a traditional Chinese dish: pot-stewed pig intestines. The café business has been quiet today, as it is on most days. He had to let go his only employee because he couldn't afford the salary; he's often the only one inside. A few days before, he added a catering service hoping it would increase revenue. And this traditional stew is something he wants to serve as part of his catering service.
He could've just thrown the intestines into a pot and boiled them all together—the fat would've just melted into the water, which he could've simply thrown away. But, as Bi says, he doesn't have anything else to do.
In 2011, Bi immigrated from the city of Xi'an, China, on a working visa after being told by one of his relatives who lives in Halifax that Canada is a good place to live. He wouldn't have to deal with the complicated social relationships that occur in China; relationships are more straight forward in Canada, he was told. And he could even open his own business. He decided to come to Canada first, and then hopefully bring his wife and son in the future.
Bi is not happy with the status quo in modern China. People often go around the law and rules, which has turned non-elites in the country resentful. You are a fool if you just obey the rules, people think. Networks and knowing the right people matter more. For someone like Bi who wants to play by the rules and is not part of the 1 percent, building a life in Canada seemed to be a good choice.
Since Bi came to Canada, he has worked as a chef, a cleaner, and other low-paying jobs. He had one goal: permanent residency. And he worked hard for it like most immigrants do. In 2014, three years after he arrived, he received his PR. It was a long time coming. His wife was supportive and helped with his application by sending all the required documents from China. Two weeks later, he bought himself a round-trip ticket to China and two one-way tickets to Canada for his wife and son. But one week before they were about to leave China, his wife told Bi that she was not coming to Canada with him. Instead, she wanted a divorce. The next day, she packed up her belongings and left.
Bi was shocked. He hadn't seen it coming. Everything was going as planned and then all of sudden his life was falling to pieces. He went from a happy new immigrant with a PR in hand, to a lonely, divorced man explaining to a customs officer why his wife was not with him.
It takes Bi an hour to finish the cleaning the pig intestines. After washing his hands, he takes off his hat. His hair is longer than he'd like and it gets slippery with sweat when he works. But he hates the black baseball hat. Still, he wears it. "No matter where the kitchen is you have to put it on if you work in one," he says. Bi is firm when it comes to obeying rules.
Bi is a forty-seven-year-old Chinese immigrant and the owner of Coffee Corner, a café located in the windowless basement below the office of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The café is only thirty-five metres squared and is a convenience store with a help-yourself take-out lunch service. He does all the work himself and schedules his tasks to get things done on time. He learned how to be efficient when he worked in China as a chief inspector in a five-star restaurant. He was a good manager and knows how to train people. Once, he had two hundred people working under him.
In the late '90s, Bi was honoured to work in a restaurant of its kind. Not only because it was well-paid, but also because of the associated privileges that came with the job. Most restaurants were only open to foreign guests, which is why he was taught how to cook Western food and learn basic English. They had products that you couldn't get even if you had the money. It was almost like they got to see a different world.
But Bi never settles. He went all the way alone from Macau, in southern China, to Halifax, in Eastern Canada.
Usually, the stories we hear about immigration are inspiring—about how a refugee family endured trauma and rebuilt their life after coming to Canada. These stories are true, but there are also others—stories of immigrants, especially people with an Asian background, who experience high levels of emotional stress. A 2012 report by Citizenship and Immigration Canada suggests that immigrants from Asia and Pacific are more likely to have emotional problems, including depression or loneliness, than those who come from the rest of North America, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe.
Opening a new chapter in life is never easy. The first time Bi tried to launch a restaurant it fell flat, he says due to a poor choice of partners. And although his second attempt is also struggling, he will never give up. He gets up at 5:30 a.m. before the sun rises and leaves after 6 p.m. on most nights. He doesn't sit down until noon. Since the café is in a basement, the only time he gets to see the sun on a winter weekday is when he goes outside to have a smoke. He throws on his ten-year-old leather jacket and strolls down the hallway, joking that smoking for him is like an injection, to motivate himself.
He tries his best to strike up a conversation with his customers when they walk through the café door. He smiles—he's always cheerful around his customers—and asks how they are. He often tells them to leave their money at the counter or pay him later if he is away in the bathroom or smoking. He trusts them. He thinks everyone who works in the building has a decent heart. To his customers, he is an attentive Chinese immigrant who runs a convenient café but they don't see that when he's on his own, he gets lonely now and then. When the café is empty, Bi is quiet.
Loneliness is a terrifying thing. It's like a black hole that sucks you in. Bi's thoughts go wild when he slows down. He thinks about how rough it has been starting a business, how rebellious his son is, and, above all, how he doesn't have the family he wanted at his age.
In Chinese culture, a family is one of the most important parts of a man's life. The pressure from parents to get married and have children is relentless. Divorce and being childless are still new concepts for the community, and like many other divorced men in China, they think it's somehow a failure or a mistake that they are responsible for.
The combination of living overseas, divorced, with a struggling business has made this restless man depressed—but Bi says he will always keep trying to make a better future. In April 2016, he boarded a plane to China to meet a woman he had been talking to online for six months. He didn't know how things would turn out, but he hoped that they would like each other—that she would eventually join him in Canada. Nevertheless, he hopped on the plane.
When he arrived in China, he took a bus to meet her but missed the stop while helping blind person dial a number on their cell phone. Bi apologized to the woman when he met her and explained what happened, but she lashed out. "Why did you help a blind person?" she said. "It's none of your business."
In that moment, Bi knew she wasn't the one.
Three months later, he flew back to Halifax, alone.
On a wednesday in January, at around 1:40 p.m., Bi is sitting at a small table outside his café eating lunch. It is his first break in five hours of work. His bowl is filled with a few spoons of some dishes from his buffet, all mixed together. Like many other Chinese people, he doesn't separate his food. Although he's a chef, he doesn't seem to have a high standard for his own meals. He eats whatever is left over.
Bi adjusts his hat, places his cell phone on the round table in front of him, and starts eating. He is focused on his food with his face close to the bowl. There are no customers around, so he plays his cell phone out loud. It's a video clip from a Chinese media outlet called Today's Headline—how he keeps track of what's happening back home. Most influential media outlets in China are controlled by the government, but Bi believes that Today's Headline is trustworthy enough. Throughout the day, he has a surprising guest: his brother He and the man's wife. He calls him "brother He" not because they are related but in the traditional Chinese way of addressing a man older than him with respect.
"What brought you here?" Bi asks, just happy that his friends have come. Bi pours two cups of coffee for them and mentions his new plan for a small change in the store: he stretches his arms wide and gestures to demonstrate what the changes are going to be as if he is sharing exciting news he has kept for a long time. His smile is broad and his eyes alight. At one point, he even squats on the floor trying to outline where his new counter will go.
When friends visit, he always cheers up. It just doesn't happen very often.
One morning, a Thursday, I tell Bi that tomorrow is the Chinese Lunar New Year. He acts surprised—as if he forgot. For Chinese, it is a day of family reunion, when people who work far from home brave the traffic to see their parents.
"Tomorrow is New Year's Eve?" Bi says. "Well then, I need to call my parents first thing in the morning." He says he stopped celebrating festivals or his birthday a long time ago. Later that day, a lady walks into the store. She is one of the regular customers who works in the building. The card machine isn't working very well, and she doesn't have cash.
"You can pay me next year," Bi says.
"Next year?"
"January 28 is the Chinese New Year."
Oh yes, Bi remembers. He remembers clearly.
He doesn't have anything planned for the holiday, and still hasn't talked with his son. They haven't spoken in nearly two months.
Friday is usually the least busy day for him, and today, quiet is not what he needs. He seems distant and tries to keep busy. Brother He calls and invites him to dinner, which seems to lift his spirits. Bi takes out a pizza and adds it to the daily menu—the first time in weeks he has added something new.
The following day, Bi arrives at the store at the normal time, 6 a.m., pours cold water into the coffee pot, carefully places the pot in the coffee machine, and turns it on. He takes out his iPhone, dials a number, and puts it on speaker phone. The iPhone screen is broken. His parents are both over eighty and don't have a computer at their home. Phoning is the only way he can reach them.
Bi seems peaceful when he talks to them; he has a flicker of a smile on his face. As he talks, he takes out bread and puts it into the toaster, cooks bacon, and fries eggs for the morning sandwiches. He moves around his small kitchen placing his cellphone here and there. During the phone call, he doesn't stop working for a second.
After about thirty minutes, Bi tells his parents that he needs to get back to work, and hangs up. He didn't want to call in the first place. Why would he? He knew what his parents would ask about: work and family. And he knew he had to lie. Like many Chinese immigrants, he never tells his parents back in China any bad news. He would rather lie than tell them the real story—the story about how difficult it is to build a life in a foreign land.
"It's called white lies," Bi says with a grin. But when he talked to them he felt pained.
Their questions only reminded him of his reality: the rebellious son that he hasn't talked to for almost two months, his cafe that is barely getting by, and, above all, his loneliness.
But he couldn't tell them the truth. He had to lie. He had to lie well so that his aged parents so far away wouldn't worry.
Lu Xu, who hails from China, is studying journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax. This article was republished under arrangement with the Walrus Foundation.
Commentary by: William Gee Wong in Oakland, CA
My father came to America from China in 1912, the 30th year of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and somehow he was able to get in legally even though he, uh, didn't tell the whole truth.
The three generations of Gees and Wongs that are his legacy are so grateful he was able to skirt the dreaded, racist Exclusion Act, and that he didn't try to come here under the Trump Administration's immigration proposal.
In his mid-teens, Pop, as I called him, was not well educated. He was not well off. He did not speak English. Those are the principal requirements of what the Trump administration wants our future immigration policy to have.
Another is having a job. Pop would have qualified, maybe. He had work waiting for him as a lowly paid herbalist apprentice in Oakland, California's Chinatown.
Pop's immigration story was hardly unique. He and thousands of other Chinese immigrants were able to get into America despite the exclusion law that spanned from 1882 to 1943.
Many used the infamous "paper son" scheme. This was making false birthright claims made possible, in part, by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire that destroyed official records. Without records, the government could not legally counter the birthright claims of immigrants like Pop, who said he was a "son of a native," a category exempt from the exclusion law.
Pop and other Chinese immigrants wanted desperately to come here, largely to escape the utter political, economic, and social turmoil of China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the republican revolution, civil wars, and in the 1930s, the Japanese invasion.
Here in America, because of yellow Jim Crow laws, they were forced to create parallel universes in the many Chinatowns in cities and towns, first in California and the west and eventually throughout America.
Ironically, those enclaves – ostracized, ignored, and targeted for violence as they sometimes were – nurtured self-reliance and survival skills that enabled Pop and his cohort to begin stable and useful lives for their descendants.
Their numbers were teeny. In 1880, just before Congress passed the exclusion law, Chinese were 0.0021 percent of the U.S. population. In 1940, just before its repeal, they were a barely measurable 0.0005 percent.
Supporters of the Trump immigration proposal deny its intent is racist against non-white people, but its effects, if ever enacted, could very well be. Why do the president and the Republican senators pushing this bill want to go backwards to a time when America was much whiter than it is today and going to be in the foreseeable future?
The Congressional debates over Chinese exclusion were blatantly and unapologetically racist. Example: Colorado Republican Senator Henry Teller in 1882 said, "The Caucasian race has the right, considering its superiority of intellectual force and mental vigor; to look down on every other branch of the human family…we are the superior race today. We are superior to the Chinese…."
Some of us descendants of so-called inferior races are worried that if President Trump gets his way on a new immigration policy as offered by Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, America will look to the world as returning to the bad old days when white supremacy was thought to be the norm.
Pop probably didn't bother to think much about what American politicians believed. All he wanted was a better life for his growing family. He had three daughters born in China, and three more plus me born in Oakland.
One goal of the immigration bill is to decrease family reunification. A positive feature of the 1965 immigration reform was its family preference provisions that allowed immigrants to bring in members of his or her families. That feature has propelled the growth of immigrant families, especially from Latin America and Asia. Perhaps that is what repels Trump and his backward-looking supporters.
Pop worked hard to provide for his family in Oakland. He learned to speak, read, and write English at Lincoln School, where he graduated from the eighth grade as a 20-something. Besides his herbalist job, he peddled produce in a truck, ran grocery stores and restaurants, and worked as a welder at a Bay Area shipyard during World War II.
Oh, yeah: he ran an illegal business as well, in the 1930s. He sold lottery tickets in Chinatown when such a business was against the law. Many other Chinatown families did the same. After all, this was during the Great Depression, and local police and politicians took bribes to allow the trade to thrive into the 1950s.
To his last days in the summer of 1961, Pop felt he belonged in Chinatown but not in the wider white-dominated society. I, on the other hand, along with my sisters and our extended families feel we are as American as anyone else, regardless of racial or ethnic background.
Let's hope that what the Trump-backed Cotton-Perdue proposal wants to do never happens, and that wiser and more humane lawmakers create immigration policies that make all of us feel as though we belong here in America.
William Gee Wong is the author of Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America (Temple University Press, 2001) and is currently writing a book about his father. This article was republished under arrangement with New America Media.
by Shan Qiao in Toronto
Hiring multi-language speaking staff, creating real-time interpretation apps, even launching an ethnic bank to serve primarily immigrants, Canadian banking business operators are getting fiercely competitive to woo business from immigrants.
Aiming to "become a preferred bank for the Chinese community in Canada", Wealth One Bank of Canada (WOBC) has begun operations in Vancouver and Toronto. It is the very first Chinese-founded and -invested bank in Canada, a federally chartered Schedule I Bank under the Bank Act and regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
The man behind it, the founder and also the Vice Chair of the WOBC Board, Shenglin Xian, says from his Vancouver office that there are only 28 such foreign banks in Canada. "It is a historic moment for the Chinese community."
Shenglin Xian, who is a well-known Chinese community financial advisor, has his own company Shenglin Financial Group Inc. located in North York, Toronto. He got into financial consultancy after he immigrated to Canada in 1990.
Same language, better understanding
"Currently, we will focus on serving the Chinese Canadians from the Great Vancouver Area and the Great Toronto Area. We will hire Mandarin and Cantonese speaking employees. Our service slogan is 'same language, better understanding (translation)'," he continues, explaining what he envisions as a respect for Chinese values and culture.
"Although all five major banks in Canada provide Chinese language service, the banking system is still operated under mainstream preference. We want to favour our Chinese clients with a tailored and Asian-styled service," he continues.
Ming Gu, a senior news producer from Toronto, also a Chinese immigrant who came to Canada in early 90's like Shenglin, has worked on a couple of translation projects for one of the five major banks for their Chinese language website.
He completely agrees with the fact that providing ethnic language service is not quite the same as bridging two different banking systems: Canada's and the immigrant source country's.
"China's (banking system) is even more different. The policy and products are very much in the different zones as well. Service literally translated into Chinese language might not be helpful for immigrants to understand the meaning behind. For example, credit rating in Canada is very critical for banks to determine whether or not applicants can apply for line of credit and how much they can get. One SIN number check will bring up a very detailed credit history of the applicant. However, it doesn't really exist in China's banking system, letting along for Chinese newcomers to understand the importance of credit rating," Ming explains.
Maggie Yuan works at a public relations firm which provides multi-language translation services for corporate Canada's ethnic marketing needs in the Chinese and South Asian markets.
"For economic reasons, mainstream comapnies can't afford to overlook the needs of immigrant communities. For big corporate accounts, I have been dealing with, especially in bank, insurance, public service, entertainment industry, the needs to have Chinese language translation have always been increasing. Companies strategically promote their investment in diversity to gain positive image in immigrant community. It's quite political, but it's also about business," she says.
Overcoming language, culture barriers
The major Canadian banks are also stepping up, developing faster and more convenient tools to woo immigrant clients who face a language barrier. Just last month, Royal Bank of Canada, which already has a Chinese version of its website besides the official English and French language, introduced a new app – the first of its kind in North America – that provides clients with real-time video access to qualified interpreters.
Christine Shisler, RBC's Senior Director of Cultural Markets, explains why such a language app makes business sense.
"Regardless of which RBC branch a client visits, we'll be able to offer service in the language of choice. This is critical in helping our client – especially newcomers – understand how banking works in Canada."
Shisler stresses out that RBC wants to be the bank that newcomers turn to for all of the important firsts – from first bank account to first home purchase. That means a lot of tailored service in language and cultural senses.
Going further, the bank's Beijing staff, for example, will help students and family initiate their financial transition even before they arrive in Canada, a more aggressive business approach similar to what Wealth One Bank of Canada is doing in the reverse direction.
Regulation for BC real estate market was required to reign in escalating home values throughout Lower Mainland
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Asian Pacific Post
Guest Commentary by Stewart Beck
Moving day in West Vancouver – after two years of leasing and realizing the market wasn't going to plateau, we bought a home in North Vancouver. Our soon to be old "hood" is busy: Down the street, a home is being demolished, the third in the two years we've lived here.
The dump trucks and the construction are an aggravation but you can rationalize this with the employment generated by the new builds.
However, the two houses already built have been empty since their construction was finished. Not the best for the neighbourhood.
Vancouver's real estate market has captured the attention of the world. Thanks to the media, everyone knows that the value of the city's real estate has grown at an unrealistic and unaffordable rate. Local residents are being crowded out, both geographically and financially.
And, no matter who you are and how you describe it, the out-of-proportion escalation in the cost of real estate is being blamed on the movement of Chinese money, legal and/or illegal (those who are politically correct use the term "foreign investors") into the Vancouver and Toronto markets.
The staggering growth in China's middle class, the current Chinese political environment, the Chinese investor's penchant to speculate, and Vancouver's reputation as among the most liveable cities in the world have contributed to these rising prices.
Something needed to be done and Premier Christy Clark's announcement of a 15-per-cent tax on non-Canadians buying residential real estate was one way to deal with this politically volatile issue.
The new tax will likely achieve what it sets out to do.
It should cool the market and reduce the discriminatory effects of foreign investment. Foreign speculators will be given a framework in which to operate, and will pay their fair share to the province's treasury. Meanwhile, legitimate investors will build the new costs into their decision models.
The tax is likely to help keep home ownership within the realm of possibility for middle-class families living in Metro Vancouver. This will level the playing field for citizens, creating a more balanced environment between citizen and foreign buyers.
This announcement has been a long time coming.
The reality of a self-regulated market is that foreign speculators are going to use the regulatory framework to their advantage. It is not up to foreign governments to control how their citizens invest; rather, it is the responsibility of Canadian leaders.
The new tax is unlikely to come as a surprise to the Chinese government or Chinese investors. Indeed, China's consul-general in Vancouver addressed the matter last year, saying that B.C. regulators, not Chinese investors, should be blamed for rising prices.
She suggested a number of policy options, including improved oversight of the real estate development community and a luxury tax on overseas investors. Essentially, she was saying that if we provide the environment for speculators from Mainland China or other countries to operate, they will do so.
No one likes tax increases, though, and an argument can be made that a 15-per-cent tax will create a disincentive to investment.
However, with an election looming next year, a policy that has the potential to improve the domestic political environment will be welcomed.
That said, the new tax will only be effective if it's properly enforced. The province will need to ensure that foreign investors are not using resident family and friends to bypass the tax, and will need to verify that buyers are truthfully disclosing their citizenship.
If the government can address these concerns, and work out the wrinkles along the way, then this new policy will succeed in its mission.
By addressing the issue directly and creating a fair playing field, the province will also cool the rhetoric around Chinese investment and economic relations, paving the way for closer economic ties in the future, backed by public opinion unaffected by a real estate dilemma.
Stewart Beck is president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
By arrangement with the Asian Pacific Post
Beijing (IANS): If expelling of three Chinese journalists by India is a revenge for China's opposition to its Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership, there will be "serious consequences", said a state-run daily urging Beijing to respond in a similar manner.
In a hard-hitting editorial, the Global Times said China "should take actions to display our reaction".
"We at least should make a few Indians feel Chinese visas are also not easy to get," the editorial said.
Indo-Canadian Voice
The vast majority of the world's biggest emerging market companies have failed when it comes to transparency, creating an environment for corruption to thrive in their businesses and in the places they operate.
Asian Pacific Post
Commentary by Justin Kong in Toronto
On June 22, members of the Chinese-Canadian community and allies gathered at Toronto City Hall to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Canadian government's redress of the Chinese Head Tax and the 1923 Exclusion Act, legislations which had been used to prohibit Chinese immigration to Canada.
The mobilization for redress against these racist laws represented an important moment in Canadian history where a combination of Chinese community organization and political advocacy was able to secure a redress and apology from the federal government.
In other ways however, the redress remains incomplete. Most immediately, families of many Head Tax survivors have noted that their calls for an inclusive redress along the lines of "one certificate one claim" have gone unheeded.
As a consequence, only 1% of the 82,000 families directly affected by the Head Tax have been able to actually receive claims.
Redress is also incomplete in the sense the injustices faced by early Chinese and Asian migrants continue to prevail in today's Canada.
Continued practice of economic exploitation of migrants
To recognize this failure is to understand that Chinese exclusion is not an isolated incident in Canadian history. It is a much longer and enduring practice in Canada where migrant labour is coveted, but the humanity and rights of those who provide that labour, denied.
The Chinese railroad worker, who has become etched into the national imaginary, exemplifies this practice. Conducting the most dangerous tasks that no white man was willing to do for the most meagre of wages, Chinese migrants built the railroad that brought the Canadian nation from conception to reality.
While the bodies of these migrant workers (estimates ranging from 600–1200) lined the railroad, Chinese migrants would continue to be denied citizenship.
Today, the exploitative relationship that constituted the experience of the Chinese railroad worker continues under new forms. Migrant workers now come to Canada from all over the world: Central America, the Caribbean and Asia.
These migrant workers are often bound to their employers, work in dangerous conditions, and denied protections and health care and — like the Chinese and Asian migrants of the past — denied status.
A commemoration of the legacy of the Head Tax and Exclusion Act must also be a commitment to standing with those that have followed in their footsteps: today's migrant workers. This means supporting their call for protections, and pivotally, their demand for status on arrival.
Head Tax history in immigrant communities
Asian exclusion and Head Tax were the legislative manifestation of a prevailing climate of racism, violence and economic exploitation, conditions which first confined Chinese migrants into Canada's very first Chinatowns.
Segregation created a disconnect between early migrant communities and the mainstream, with profound effects and enduring consequences for immigrant workers that persist to this day.
Nowhere is this more visible today than in the issue of labour law enforcement.
The findings of a recent report by the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, which surveyed Chinese restaurant workers in Toronto, provides us with a glimpse of just how irrelevant labour laws (such as minimum wage and overtime) can often be for immigrant workers.
Such abject conditions are part and parcel, the legacy of Head Tax and Asian Exclusion.
Addressing the plight of immigrant workers means getting behind mobilizations such as The Fight for $15 and Fairness, which call for proactive enforcement, laws that protect workers, and a system that allows already marginalized immigrant workers to make employment violation claims.
Mobilizing upon the legacy of Head Tax and Asian exclusion
To commemorate the legacy of Head Tax, we must address the unmet demands of the families of Head Tax survivors, but also the struggles of the migrant farmworker, the Chinese restaurant worker, the Filipina careworker and the Tamil grocery store worker of today's Canada.
This also means making a commitment to fight against the injustice faced by today's immigrant and migrant workers.
Organized labour in Canada, which was actually a key advocate of Asian exclusion, must not repeat the mistakes of the past; it must stand with migrant workers. Among other things this means making cross racial solidarity and anti-racism a core component of the labour movement. Such a direction represents the only path forward for a powerful labour movement in the 21st century.
When we connect the struggles of migrants past with the continued struggles of migrants and immigrants today, we break free of the isolation and insularity produced by a class-unconscious multiculturalism. In turn, we move towards a future of economic and racial justice for all.
Until this is achieved however we must tell Mr. Harper and all Canadians who believe these laws are part of the past, that there can be no 'turning of the page' on this chapter of Canada's history.
This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to firstname.lastname@example.com
This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to firstname.lastname@example.com
by Beatrice Paez in Toronto
July 1, 2016 marks 93 years since the Chinese Immigration Act came into force, which marked the culmination of a decades-long initiative to limit Chinese immigration to Canada.
The Chinese head tax already existed to discourage immigration. By 1903, migrants were required to pay a $500 head tax, equivalent to two years' worth of wages, to gain entry into Canada.
In the second half of the 19th century, many young Chinese men were sent to Canada with the hopes of earning enough money to support families back home and, eventually, to send for them. Though the head tax stemmed the flow of immigration, almost 100,000 still arrived from 1885 to 1923.
"The 19th century was highly mobile, perhaps as mobile as now. Chinese migrants would work overseas and regularly go back to visit," says Henry Yu, a history professor at the University of British Columbia.
In order to stop the influx, the government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, which limited entrance to only merchants, scholars, diplomats and Canadian-born Chinese returning after educational pursuits abroad.
It would take 24 years for the Act to be lifted, a period during which only 15 Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada.
Initial Chinese immigration to Canada
Famine and economic deprivation propelled many in China to leave in search of opportunity, or head to Gold Mountain, as British Columbia's gold rush came to be known, says John Atkin, co-chair of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society in B.C.
They eked out a meagre living — relative to their white counterparts — working on the railroad, in fishing, forestry, among other industries.
Still, the prospect of steady employment far outweighed concerns about racial discrimination and hostile attitudes toward them. Villages cobbled their resources together to cover the head tax so that one of their own could emigrate, says Atkin.
"A lot of these workers would try to bring their families over," says Jan Ransk, a researcher at Pier 21.
Growing hostility and the Chinese Immigration Act
With the head tax deemed an ineffective deterrent, Canadians demanded that the federal government end Chinese immigration. The "nativist response" originated in B.C., the front lines of immigration, where many felt their economic livelihood was under threat as they sought employment in the same trades as immigrants, says Ransk.
Their perceptions were largely coloured by "notions of immigrant desirability," with Asians being deemed inferior, he adds.
"It's from a period of time that, from our perspective, is so hard to comprehend how normal it was just to discriminate automatically against a whole class of people," says Atkin.
The Chinese Immigration Act was enforced on July 1, 1923, coinciding with Dominion Day, which commemorated the formation of Canada as a Dominion in 1867. But for Chinese-Canadians, what was marked with parades and fireworks was a stinging reminder of their second-class status, and they called it Humiliation Day.
They abstained from participating or holding celebrations that day, until the act's repeal in 1947.
Effects on the Chinese-Canadian community
Yu's maternal grandfather settled in Vancouver in 1923, just before the implementation of the Act.
It was only in 1965 that Yu's family could be reunited in Vancouver, but even then his mother, as an adult, needed to apply for special consideration.
This sort of exclusion perpetuated what had become a "bachelor society" in the Chinese-Canadian community. Census data from 1911 reveals that there were 2,800 Chinese men for every 100 Chinese women, as reported in Arlene Chen's book "The Chinese in Toronto from 1878."
"Exclusion had a devastating effect because for those already here, those generations after generations were cut off," says Yu. "If you weren't married already before 1923 and you had no family, it was harder both to create one and to bring family members over."
The community was also forced to wrestle with the prospect they would be deported. "The immediate effect was that the folks that were here didn't want to leave — they might not be allowed back in," says Atkin.
What emerged in response were Chinese schools to educate children on their heritage and to prepare them for life in China should they be forced to return.
The repeal of the Immigration Act and the necessity of remembering
Apart from the efforts of community leaders, what ultimately paved the way for the lifting of the Exclusion Act were Chinese immigrants' wartime contributions. They were one of the largest purchasers of war bonds during the Second World War, notes Atkin. Despite not qualifying as citizens, about 600 Chinese enlisted in the war.
"[Their military service] brought their efforts to the fore," says Ransk. "The fact that they're seeing women donate time, selling baked goods, made [Canadians] realize that pre-war notions of exclusion and thinking this community was unpatriotic, was complete nonsense."
On June 22, 2006, the Harper government issued a formal apology to Chinese-Canadians who had paid the head tax; their survivors or spouses were given $20,000 in compensation.
For Yu, the apology was bittersweet and long overdue. "By 2006, it didn't do those who actually paid the head tax any good," he says. "Most of those people had long passed away."
Suk Yin Ng, a librarian at the Toronto Public Library, immigrated from Hong Kong as a student in the 1970s. She is now leading an effort within the library to collect and establish a physical Chinese-Canadian archive, from 1878 up to today.
Ng will be collecting a range of ephemera, from diaries and old photographs to head tax certificates and grocery bills.
"It's difficult for them to part with their [family documents]," says Ng. "But they realize that this is the right thing to do before they disappear. I think they're happy to find a good home, to let people know the contributions of their grandparents."
This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to email@example.com
This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to email@example.com
Ottawa's plan to improve the Canadian public's negative perception of the Chinese regime as the two countries look to increase bilateral relations and implement free trade deals took a step backwards with the Chinese foreign minister's angry berating of a Canadian reporter last week.
Epoch Times
-- Canada's economic development minister Navdeep Bains at a Public Policy Forum economic summit


text:
Thousands more Tasers issued to police in London
Police in London are being armed with an increasing number of "less lethal" weapons. Taser guns - electroshock weapons that deliver up to 1,200 volts into the body through metal probes that pierce the skin - are being made available to hundreds more police officers, leading to growing unease amongst politicians and the public. Concerns are being raised over the necessity and likely effectiveness of an increase in the use of the electroshock weapons, and an attempt is underway to have the legality of the decision-making process behind Taser use assessed by the courts.
Powering up
In early 2012 Metropolitan police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe announced that he wanted two Taser-equipped cars on patrol in each of London's 32 boroughs at any one time, and subsequently a two-stage process began.
First, Tasers - electroshock weapons that deliver up to 1,200 volts into the body through metal probes that pierce the skin - became available to a wider number of officers in the Metropolitan police's Territorial Support Group.
The second step - "equipping and training officers in each of the 32 boroughs to support two response vehicles carrying Taser on a 24/7 basis" - is currently under way, and the "rollout" will, according to The Guardian, "cost the Metropolitan Police Service over £800,000 initially, and increase the number of Taser guns available to officers from 800 to 6,500." [1]
Amnesty International has repeatedly criticised the use of Tasers by police, in particular in the USA. In February 2012, the NGO called "for tighter rules to limit the use of the potentially lethal weapon" in America when the number of people who died after being shocked by Tasers reached 500 in a decade. [2]
In the UK, the human rights organisation has insisted that Tasers are used "only in the strictest set of circumstances, which involves a threat to life or very serious injury." Last year a blind man was tasered after police believed that his walking stick was a samurai sword, [3] and in August 2011 two people died after the weapons were used on them. Three people have died in total in the UK following Taser use. [4] The high-profile manhunt for Raoul Moat saw police use a type of Taser that failed central government assessments; the Home Office found it to be "highly unreliable and inaccurate." [5]
Last month the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) agreed to take on the complaint of a fireman who says he was "abused, beaten and tasered by police officers in 2011." Edric Kennedy-Macfoy "claimed he was trying to assist police after he witnessed a young male throw a brick at a police van," but instead was arrested for obstruction and resisting arrest. [6] And just a few days ago, the IPCC launched an investigation after a man carrying a can of flammable liquid was tasered and subsequently suffered "serious burns", described as "life-changing". [7]
Official guidance on Taser usage issued in 2008 says, amongst other things, that the weapon "is one of a number of tactical options available to an officer who is faced with violence or the threat of violence... It must not be used to inflict severe pain or suffering on another... The duration of the initial discharge and any subsequent discharge must be proportionate, lawful, appropriate, necessary and non-discriminate, in all the circumstances." [8]
The "rollout"
Last year officers in 20 boroughs received increased numbers of Tasers and training in their use. This year, increased training and weaponry have already been given to forces in boroughs including Croydon, Haringey, Havering, Kensington and Chelsea, Lewisham, and Tower Hamlets. [9] In what appears to be a sign of the urgent desire to provide the police with more weaponry, "training for all boroughs is expected to end by May, far ahead of the set deadline of August." [10]
In Hackney, where 40 officers have now been trained to carry the weapons, local people gathered on Monday night to voice their opinions at a meeting called by Stop Criminalising Hackney Youth, an organisation set up in late 2011 to offer support to young people and their families involved in or affected by the August riots.
Emeka Egbuonu, a youth worker and author, noted that "animosity between some young people and police is already at an all-time high," and a number of young people with whom he had spoken were concerned that equipping police with Tasers may simply lead to more conflict as people sought to arm themselves in response.
Other speakers echoed this fear, and there was a clear concern that at a time of harsh austerity measures and cuts to local services and facilities, "Tasers are being introduced as a method of social control," as Dean Ryan, a youth worker, put it.
"We're seeing the rich get richer and the poor getting poorer, and the government's really clamping down on people," he said, adding: "If we don't stop this we will see deaths on the street, and as we've seen before, they'll get away with murder." Ryan referred to the fact since 1990, nearly 1,500 people have died in custody or following contact with the police, yet no state official has ever been found guilty for any of these deaths. [11]
Angus Mulready-Jones, a Labour councillor for the Dalston ward in Hackney, was more cautious in his statements, but was clearly concerned about the increased number of Tasers being put into use by the police: "the police aren't asking for more Tasers because they want to use them less," he said.
A solution looking for a problem?
Mulready-Jones went on to say that "there hasn't been a stated reason for [the increase in Tasers], and that's part of the problem I'm still struggling to understand what problem this is supposed to be solving."
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe has said that his initial decision to expand the use of Tasers came "following a series of incidents in which officers sustained serious injury while attempting to subdue suspects," [12] including a situation in which four officers "were seriously injured by a knifeman." [13]
The police have yet to provide any statistics or evidence that indicates a clear need for the weapons, and one recent study show a significant drop in almost all types of violent crime, which "has halved from its peak in 1995, when the survey estimated over 4.2 million incidents." Official statistics also show a decrease in recorded violent crime. [14]
Earlier this year, police in Haringey - where the August 2011 riots began, following the deadly shooting by police of Mark Duggan - decided to use Twitter to relay "information given in a number of presentations to Haringey community members by the Met's lead Taser instructor," Sergeant Andy Harding. [15]
In an attempt to justify the need for more Tasers to deal with violent incidents, Haringey police included a link to a video that shows police officers in a stand-off with a man wielding a machete. The Telegraph notes that "as he lunges forward towards the police, one officer uses the wheelie bin as a makeshift shield, protecting himself from the knife."
In fact, the video seems to show the opposite: a police officer pushing a wheelie bin into the man, which appears to provoke him into lunging towards the other officers, swinging the machete back and forth. He is eventually subdued by officers using riot shields, which would seem to suggest that rather than more weaponry, better tactical training may be more useful to the police.
Legal challenge, political inquiry
Concerns over providing the police with more weaponry sit alongside suspicions that the decision to increase Taser numbers - currently subject to a legal challenge - was taken in a secretive, undemocratic manner.
Sophie Khan, a solicitor-advocate and director of the Police Action Centre, told Monday's meeting in Hackney that the wider introduction of Tasers across London took place with no public consultation and with no information being provided to the public or elected officials aside from the number of Tasers to be introduced, and the number of officers who would be trained to use them.
There are strong suspicions that when oversight for the police in London passed from the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) in January 2012, the institutional gap was used by Commissioner Hogan-Howe to ensure the rollout of vastly increased numbers of weapons. Khan said that the decision-making process leading to the vast increase in Taser numbers "is not, in my view, lawful."
The solicitor is bringing a claim before the High Court that the Met Commissioner acted "unlawfully by approving the mass deployment of the weapon without public consultation," on behalf of an unnamed 26-year-old man "who claims to have suffered breathing difficulties after he was Tasered by officers in November 2011." [16]
Members of the Police and Crime Committee of the London Assembly - a body made up of elected representatives - recently began their own inquiry into the expansion of Taser use, with a Taser Working Group currently investigating "how decisions to authorise or expand the use of less lethal weaponry are made, including the decision to expand Taser in Spring 2012," and the approach of the London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) "to monitoring the deployment of less lethal weaponry and how it holds the Metropolitan Police Service to account for its use." [17]
MOPAC's predecessor, the MPA, was responsible for overseeing the work of the Metropolitan Police until January 2012. In 2007 its members agreed to limited use of Tasers in London by certain members of the Territorial Support Group, but were sceptical about a proposal from the Home Office in 2008 that recommended the expansion of Tasers to non-firearms officers.
- A London Assembly briefing on its forthcoming inquiry into Taser use notes some of the concerns held by the MPA, originally published in 2009:
Figures from the expanded Taser pilot continued a historical trend of a disproportionate use against people from ethnic minorities and those with a mental health issue;
- There were significant concerns about broader health issues, particularly as more people with complex medical needs become exposed to risk of being Tasered, and how this issue would be monitored and evaluated in the future;
- Concerns about the effect of wider Taser use on the relationship between the public and the police, particularly if it was perceived that officers were using it in cases where it was deemed unfair or unnecessary.
The MPA said that any future expansion "should be based on a clear business case that demonstrates irrefutable need, that cannot be met by current provision and must be balanced against the potential risks i.e. confidence within the wider community as well as London's BME [black and minority ethnic] communities." [18]
What's next?
Minutes from meetings of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) indicate that there have been discussions over extending the use of Tasers even further, to allow their use by volunteer officers - special constables - described as "trained volunteers who work with and support their local police," and who, after completing their training "have the same powers as regular officers and wear a similar uniform."
In April 2004, at two separate ACPO meetings, the issue of "ACPO armed policing: Taser and the special constabulary" was on the agenda. [19] Neither set of minutes, however, reveal any information to the public. A subheading on both documents states "see separate restricted and non-FOI [Freedom of Information Act] disclosable minutes attached."
There have been some calls - for example, from the Gloucestershire wing of the Police Federation and Hampshire's Police and Crime Commissioner - for every police officer to be armed with a Taser. [20] It was announced in late March that 200 more police officers in Hampshire are to be trained in Taser use, and Sussex police have also given 160 officers training to use the electroshock weapons. [21] West Yorkshire police used Tasers nearly 1,000 times over between January 2011 and January 2013, "an average of more than once a day." [22]
The Police Federation's national body has called for 36,000 officers to be armed with Tasers and training in how to use them, approximately one quarter of all officers in England and Wales. [23]
[1] Sandra Laville, Metropolitan police to roll out Tasers in response cars across London, The Guardian 17 January 2013; London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Governance of Taser and other less-lethal weaponry
[2] USA: Stricter limits urged as deaths following police Taser use reach 500, Amnesty, 16 February 2012
[3] Amnesty response to Police Tasering a blind man mistakenly believed to be carrying a sword, Amnesty, 18 October 2012
[4] Helen Carter and Sandra Laville, Taser deaths investigated by police watchdog, The Guardian, 24 August 2011
[5] UK: Use of Taser XREP in Raoul Moat case was 'deplorable', Amnesty, 27 September 2011
[6] Bart Chan, IPCC takes on fireman's police brutality complaint, The Voice, 28 March 2013
[7] Cliff Caswell, Taser incident: Man suffers serious burns, Police Oracle, 22 April 2013
[8] Association of Chief Police Officers, Operational Use of Taser by Authorised Firearms Officers, December 2008
[9] Tasers ready to be used by bobbies on the beat in Croydon, Croydon Guardian, 18 January 2013; Police officers in Haringey equipped with Tasers as part of London-wide roll-out, Tottenham & Wood Green Journal, 25 March 2013; Ian Weinfass, Havering Police officers given access to tasers, Romford Recorder, 15 January 2013; Camilla Horrox, Taser equipped police vehicles coming to Kensington and Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea Chronicle; Mark Chandler, Lewisham police start carrying Tasers, This is Local London, 26 March 2013; Ruchi Srivastava, Non-specialist police to use tasers in Tower Hamlets, East London Lines, 15 January 2013
[10] Keeping Promises, The Job, April/May 2013, p.15
[11] INQUEST, Deaths in police custody
[12] London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Governance of Taser and other less-lethal weaponry
[13] Justin Davenport, Police across London to be equipped with Tasers after the Olympics, Evening Standard, 3 July 2012
[14] Crime statistics for England & Wales: violent crime and sexual offences, The Guardian, 7 February 2013; Crime statistics for England & Wales: what's happening to each offence?, The Guardian, 24 April 2013
[15] Haringey MPS, Borough Taser Presentation, March 2013
[16] Justin Davenport, Met faces landmark ruling for 'unlawful' mass roll-out of Tasers in police cars, Evening Standard, 28 January 2013
[17] London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Governance of Taser and other less-lethal weaponry
[18] Ibid.
[19] ACPO Cabinet, minutes of meetings held on 4 April 2012 and 20 April 2012
[20] Gloucestershire Police Federation calls for Taser training, BBC News, 25 March 2013; Hampshire police commissioner wants Taser guns for all frontline officers, Southern Daily Echo, 25 March 2013
[21] 200 more police officers to get Tasers in Hampshire, Daily Echo, 28 March 2013; Sussex Police to increase Taser-trained officers, BBC News, 26 February 2013
[22] Stuart Robinson, Criminals get a shock as West Yorkshire police use Tasers almost 1,000 times, Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 February 2013
[23] Helen Carter, Campaigners raise concerns over increased police Taser use, The Guardian, 21 October 2012
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ad hoc releases
UBS to report Second Quarter 2005 Results on August 9th
UBS is pleased to invite you to the presentation of its Second Quarter 2005 results at the UBS Conference Center Grünenhof. The results will be presented on Tuesday, 9 August by Peter Wuffli, Chief Executive Officer, Clive Standish, Chief Financial Officer and Mark Branson, Chief Communication Officer.
Tuesday, 9 August 2005
Conference Call:
UK participants: +44 20 7107 0611
Audio Playback:
will be available from Tuesday, 9 August
Technical Test
To view the webcast, please select one of the following choices. Please note that the live webcast will be in English.
- Video Broadcast for normal speed internet connections (56k modem, single/dual ISDN)
- Broadband Video broadcast for high speed internet connections (xDSL, cable modem, LAN)
- Audio only connection (28.8 / 33.6k modem). This will provide the best sound quality for viewers with slow connections to the internet.
Technical Information
If you experience technical problems with this test webcast, please contact our broadcast provider Virtue Broadcasting by email or call +41 1 306 5166 (between 9 AM and 5 PM CET) and ask for the broadcast support team.
Media Q&A Session
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session for analysts. Media participants will have the opportunity to ask questions immediately after the analysts' Q&A session.
Media representatives participating via conference call are kindly asked to hold the line in listen-only mode. Participants will be informed by the conference call operator on how to register for a question.
The Second Quarter 2005 report, shareholders' letter, media release and slide presentation will be available on Tuesday, 9 August at 0700 CET on the UBS Media Relations homepage at www.ubs.com/media.
Zurich / Basel, 2 August 2005


text:
- Court Holidays 2019
- Does the Sheriff's Office allow citizens to pick up dead deer that have been hit and killed by a car?
- Do you do fingerprint cards?
- How do I get a background/records check on myself?
- Do you accept stuffed animals?
- How do I take hunter safety classes?
- When I go on vacation, will the Douglas County Sheriff's Office check my home?
- How can I get a copy of an incident report?
- How can I get a copy of an accident report?
- Where do I go for a municipal traffic ticket?
- What are redemption rights?
- How do I know if I live in an area served by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office?
- My license tag was stolen. Now what?
- What's unusual about calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone?
- What's the difference between jail and prison?
- How do I obtain a copy of an arrest record or a background check?
- What is the difference between a sexual offender and a predator?
- What is the difference between a criminal case and a civil case?
- What are the Kansas child passenger safety requirements?
- How do I file a complaint against a Douglas County Sheriff's Office employee?
- How can I commend a Sheriff's Office employee for outstanding service?
How do I take hunter safety classes?
Hunter Education Program
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office supports the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Hunter Education Program which is sponsored by the Lawrence Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #2. All persons born after July 1, 1957 are required to pass a Hunter Education Program to hunt. Additionally, parents and siblings who may not be interested in hunting, but who live in a home where firearms are stored, are encouraged to attend. Kansas Hunter Education Certification is reciprocal with all 50 states in the United States. There is no fee for the class.
Effective January 1, 2005, a minimum age requirement for the Hunter Education Program was established at 11 years of age. However, other changes in the law make it possible for children under 11 to hunt under certain conditions. Persons with questions should consult the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism website for guidance on hunting regulations.
The Douglas County Area Coordinator for the Hunter Education Program is Sergeant Max Miller of the Lawrence Police Department. The classes are funded by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #2 and The National Wild Turkey Federation. There are usually three classes offered each year: two in the fall and one in the spring. Exact dates will be posted each year approximately one month before classes begin. Once the dates are posted, you may enroll in a class online at safehunters.com.
Pre-registration is required due to limited class size. When class dates are established, they will be posted in the Lawrence Journal World, announced on 1320 KLWN.
Individuals requiring more information may go to the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism website.


text:
The zombies:
Zombies shouldnt have any special abilities.. they are dead, be happy they even walk.
The only ability maybe would be they invade in big groups.
The Avarians:
Are perfect, although i picture them with an "advance technology space armada"
I wouldnt like for them to be underestimated.
Jump Ship Troopers, this ants float from their spaceships and land on yours to puncture holes outside the hull. They also swarm in teleporting mode with regular ant troopers.
They should have a special team dedicated to sabotage your ship weapons and shields.
I also think we should have the following space creatures (to fight with)
The kraken:
Mythical Space Squid, that attacks ships, chances of confronting him are low.
Some legends say the creature destroyed a full Antorian Fleet. (The animations would be ; the squid slapping your ship (making everyone inside tremble and fall down).
A gigantic worm that lives in space and feeds off radiation. Chances of encountering him woild be medium. (The animation would be the worm stretching to take chungs of your hull walls).
This are encountered in far away galaxies from Sol.
Some sort of fish like form with many sharp teeth that travels in space along its pack of fellow species. (The animation of attack would be they eating your hull walls, and moving in your halls to eat your crew)
A slimy liquid like creature that spits acid at your armada. The acid is powerful enough to meld your hull walls.
A bug that travels in the sol system floating flapping its wings. It shoots a larva that penetrates your hull then releasing a earth worm like bug that swallows your crew alive.
Dormidian Araneae :
Hard to spot them, but are very powerful space spider that jumps in your hull and finds a way in your space ship. If you kill it; it will release fast moving spiders that its bits will knock your crew to sleep, the eat them.
IMPROVE IT: Alien Tactics
If only we could hear you scream in space.


text:
If you have questions or would like to schedule a tour of the New Family Center, please complete the form below or call (847) 360-4333 extension 5218.
If you have a specific medical question or are seeking medical advice, please contact your doctor. We are unable to answer medical questions submitted via this form.
Vista Medical Center East
1324 N. Sheridan Road
Waukegan, IL 60085


text:
Jarrod Fairclough - Yes, you read right. The title of this article is The Mippet Show. That is not a typo. Nor is it a glitch in your computer. Although if you want to rip your laptop open and check, go for it by all means.
You're done? Are you sure? Why is there an extra screw on the table? Make sure you put it somewhere safe just in case you need it later on. Okay, so, on with the article.
My friends, you may be wondering as to why I called this article "The Mippet Show". The answer is very simple. It is because it is a blatant rip off of the title "The Muppet Show". And that is what I'm here to discuss. Something so horrible, something so awful, that the initial sight of it made me actually open my mouth in shock.
Let me set the scene for you, my Muppet fan friends. I was sitting in a movie cinema with two friends of mine, waiting to see Alice in Wonderland (good movie, by the way). I'm not sure whether or not it's the same for America or in other countries (I'm Australian) but before the previews of future films, local businesses can advertise on the big screen. So I'm sitting here, eating my popcorn, chatting away to my friends, watching ads for pancake houses and massage parlours. And then an ad for a business I've never heard of appears. I don't want to put anyone in hot water here, so for the sake of this article we'll call the business "The Lawn Doktor" – and no, once again, that isn't a typo. The name of this business is "The (such and such) Doktor". That should give you a clue as to how bad this is going to get. Finally, after a crappy little 30 second ad, the logo for "The Lawn Doktor" appears.
Now, before we continue with our tale of horribleness, I'm assuming everyone is familiar with the stock standard image of Bunsen and Beaker, used for most things. If not, here it is:
Pretty good, right? Not bad Photo Muppets, definitely not as bad as some we've seen. All in all, thats Bunsen and Beaker in a funny little pose, and that's definitely a trademarked product of The Jim Henson Company and Disney etc.
So, on with our story:
The logo for "The Lawn Doktor" appears and I am immediately stopped in my tracks. I stopped talking, I stopped listening. I just stared at the screen in front of me. My two friends turned and looked at me with horror. They aren't big Muppet fans, but they knew I am. So there we are, just staring at this horrible image, my gut churning. And the horrible image that did this to me? Well, be prepared, Muppet fans, because what you're about to see may shock and surprise you. You may throw up, in which case find a bucket. This is the horrific image:
Are you okay? Do you need a moment to clean up? I'll wait here.
What the heck did they do to Bunsen and Beaker! This is no co-incidence, my friends. This is blatant Muppet murder! So many questions ran through my head when I saw this. Like for instance; why does Beaker have a beak? Why does Beaker look like he just said something sleazy? Why is he an albino red head with a crazy sleeve? Why does Bunsen have crazy claws? Is that a comb-over? Is he wearing socks and sandals? Clearly someone knew they were ripping off The Muppets when they made this, so how did it get this far? "Shall we use this image of those Muppet scientists and just change it a little, Doktor Lawn?" "Certainly, Nurse Grass. Make the green guy pink and the pink guy white. Give him a beak too. His name is "Beak-er", after all". And then they'd chortle and drink cheap imitation wine and draw Miss Piggy with wings.
I had to fight every urge in my body not to send these guys an e-mail with my thoughts on their logo. I had to refrain from giving my contacts at Henson the website so they could kick these guys Copyright infringing butts!
Steve Whitmire once told a story about buying Jim Henson a ripped-off Ernie product, to which Jim looked sincerely upset about. I wonder what he'd think if he saw this now?
But that's enough from me; I have to send an e-mail to Henson pitching a new character. Here's my mock-up of what he'll look like. I call him Mermit the Rabbit:
Enjoy your day, Muppet fans. I'll try my best. Now to delete that terrible image off my laptop!
Jarrod, your Aussie in the know...
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier


text:
Eliot Ness vs. assorted mobsters ("The Untouchables," 1959-63, ABC): During the Prohibition era, federal agent Ness led his team of sleuths into showdowns with many of the most notorious — and dangerous — felons Chicago had.
U.N.C.L.E. vs. THRUSH ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," NBC, 1964-68): Week in and week out, secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (Robert Vaughn, David McCallum) battled clever enemies working for an organization bent on world domination.
Batman and Robin vs. the Riddler, the Joker, the Penguin, et al. ("Batman," ABC, 1966-68): Gotham City's Caped Crusaders (Adam West, Burt Ward) often were left in some trap they'd have to get out of the next night on the show.
J.R. Ewing vs. Cliff Barnes ("Dallas," CBS, 1978-91): Continuing the feud that engulfed their fathers, and that resumes in this summer's TNT update, Cliff (Ken Kercheval) was determined to destroy — and was continually foiled by — master schemer J.R. (Larry Hagman).
Bo and Luke Duke vs. Boss Hogg ("The Dukes of Hazzard," CBS, 1979-85): As long as the Duke cousins (Tom Wopat, John Schneider) drove the General Lee, corrupt county boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) sought ways to foil them before they could bring him down.
Alexis vs. Blake ("Dynasty," ABC, 1981-89): Ever vengeful toward oil tycoon and ex-husband Blake Carrington (John Forsythe), Alexis (Joan Collins) relished using her wealth and connections against him professionally and personally.
Jack Bauer vs. assorted terrorists ("24," FOX, 2001-10): Whenever there was a plot against America, the resourceful Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was called in to wade through murky alliances.
Clark Kent vs. Lex Luthor ("Smallville," WB/CW, 2001-11): Initially friends, the young Clark (Tom Welling) came to distrust privileged Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) as Luthor's quest for power became increasingly evident.
Alicia Florrick vs. Louis Canning ("The Good Wife," CBS, 2009-present): Alicia (Julianna Margulies) always has to stay on her toes against cunning courtroom rival Canning (Michael J. Fox), who never is above using his neurological condition as a sympathy ploy.


text:
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Ikat pillow (ikat / ikat) - Cerulean twinkle
- Price
- Size
- 40x40
- Reference
- i40-4
Front / Back : SILK IKAT
The silk and cotton threads are individually dyed by hand. The dyed threads are then woven by hand to create our patterned fabric.
<Specifics of Ikat production>
*The threads are woven into very large originally patterned fabric segments. The length of each individual Ikat segment measures a narrow 45 centimetres (max) wide while at the same time up to 30 to 45 meters in length. From this very large segment of patterned fabric, individual pillow cases are then cut. The pattern on individual pillow cases can vary slightly due the location of the cut.
*The white lines sometimes found in the Ikat patterns are a natural result of the hand weaving process.
*The yellowish shades that may be found in the Ikat fabrics are created during the tea wash process and are sign that fabric was made respecting traditional artisanal techniques.
The pillow cases are sold without insert.


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Sanchez Energy (SN) was among the biggest gainers on the Russell 2000 for Tuesday January 26 as the stock popped 8.23% to $3.23, representing a gain of $0.2454 per share. Some 1.33 million shares traded hands on 5,222 trades, compared with an average daily volume of 2.35 million shares out of a total float of 61.91 million. The stock opened at $3.07 and traded with an intraday range of $3.30 to $2.99.
After today's gains, Sanchez Energy reached a market cap of $199.7 million. Sanchez Energy has had a trading range between $16.14 and $2.06 over the last year, and it had a 50-day SMA of $4.17 and a 200-day SMA of $7.59.
Sanchez Energy Corp is an independent exploration and production company. It is engaged in exploration, acquisition and development of unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast and others.
Sanchez Energy is based out of Houston, TX and has some 0 employees. Its CEO is Antonio R. Sanchez.
For a complete fundamental analysis analysis of Sanchez Energy, check out Equities.com's Stock Valuation Analysis report for SN. To see the latest independent stock recommendations from Equities.com's analysts, visit our Research section.
The Russell 2000 is one of the leading indices tracking small-cap companies in the United States. It's maintained by Russell Investments, an industry leader in creating and maintaining indices, and consists of the smallest 2000 stocks from the broader Russell 3000 index.
Russell's indices differ from traditional indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or S&P 500, whose members are selected by committee, because they base membership entirely on an objective, rules based methodology. The 3,000 largest companies by market cap make up the Russell 3000, with the 2,000 smaller companies making up the Russell 2000. It's a simple approach that gives a broad, unbiased look at the small-cap market as a whole.
For more news on the financial markets, go to Equities.com. Also, learn more about our independent proprietary equity research reports and our robust do-it-yourself Stock Valuation Analysis reports in our Research section.
All data provided by QuoteMedia and was accurate as of 4:30PM ET.
DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of equities.com. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer
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But Anadarko Basin faces declining production as drilling slows By Richard Rostad, analyst, Oil & Gas 360 Oil & Gas 360 has released its latest Effective Rig Count, evaluating the state of drilling activity and reported production from the major shale basins. The Effective Rig Count continued to slide in February, dropping by 33 to 2,782. This indicates that it would[Read More…]


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About Us
Title Sponsors
About Autism
Contact Us
Restaurants throughout Mecklenburg County will be donating a portion of their sales on Autism Aware Fare Day to the Mecklenburg County Chapter - Autism Society NC. Step up to the plate to help your neighbors who live with autism. Just dine in or order to go at one of the restaurants below, and please thank your server for the restaurant's participation in Autism Aware Fare!
Orman's Cheese Shop
Uptown, 7th Street Station
224 E 7th Street, Charlotte, NC 28202
View Site
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Call Us at
704-894-9678 ex. 1615
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Colorado business owners looking to relocate or expand could get a reprieve from paying taxes on business personal property — if local governments allow it — the result of a bill passed Wednesday by legislators and headed for the governor's desk.
The bill, HB-1029, was passed by the state Senate and expands the right of local and county governments to exempt from the tax those businesses that want to grow or move into their jurisdictions.
Until now, governments could only give a business an exemption of up to 50 percent of the tax owed, a barrier to offering competitive incentives to companies wanting to move or expand, proponents said.
Businesses pay taxes on property they own if the total value is more than a minimum set by local government. In Larimer County, for example, the threshold is $5,500. Personal property includes machinery, equipment such as computers and furnishings.
"It encourages investments that will lead to near- and long-term economic recovery while respecting the authority of local governments," said bill sponsor Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker.
The amount of tax collected varies by county. The current 50 percent exemption from the tax over 10 years amounts to about $250,000 for a business with $1 million in equipment.
Raising the limit to 100 percent significantly increases the power to attract new businesses or bolster others to expand, proponents said.
"Now I can sit at the table when we're negotiating to get an incentive package for a business and make a stronger offer," Douglas County Commissioner Jill Repella said. "And 100 percent is a lot better message we send to a business that we really want them in our community."
Douglas County collects about $26 million a year in business personal property taxes, said Repella, who germinated the idea for the bill.
Though counties each would have to make up any tax shortfalls by raising collections elsewhere, the benefit is multi-tiered, Repella said.
By example, vacant land generates some of the lowest property taxes, an amount that increases exponentially when a business develops the property. Though that business might receive exemption from the business personal property tax in order to build there, those funds could be reinvested back into the operation.
"We'd still be collecting on the commercial property value rather than the vacant land," Repella said. "Plus there is the income tax on salaries, and the employment and the sales tax generated from whatever product might be produced."
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or firstname.lastname@example.com


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SIGGRAPH Asia 2013 invites you to submit your latest achievements and ground-breaking ideas, solutions as well as technical and creative skills. Meet with industry studio executives, students, researchers, artists and more this November when Asia's leading computer graphics and interactive techniques conference returns to Hong Kong once again.
Seize the opportunity to present your best work to the most creative people from the industry and academia at SIGGRAPH Asia 2013. Click here for complete details on how to submit your work.
Submission Deadlines:
14 May 2013 - Technical Papers
06 June 2013 - Courses, Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications
13 June 2013 - Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies
02 July 2013 - Computer Animation Festival
09 July 2013 - Posters, Technical Briefs


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Items where Author / Artist / Editor is "Walker, Gordon"
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Kuhlicke, Christian and Steinführer, Annett and Begg, Chloe and Bianchizza, Chiara and Bründl, Michael and Buchecker, Matthias and De Marchi, Bruna and Di Masso Tarditti, Marina and Höppner, Corina and Komac, Blaž and Lemkow, Louis and Luther, Jochen and McCarthy, Simon and Pellizzoni, Luigi and Renn, Ortwin and Scolobig, Anna and Supramaniam, Meera and Tapsell, Sue M. and Wachinger, Gisela and Walker, Gordon and Whittle, Rebecca and Zorn, Matija and Faulkner, Hazel P. (2011) Perspectives on social capacity building for natural hazards: outlining an emerging field of research and practice in Europe. Environmental Science & Policy, 14 (7). pp. 804-814. ISSN 1462-9011
Tapsell, Sue M. and McCarthy, Simon and Faulkner, Hazel P. and Alexander, Meghan and Steinführer, Annet and Kuhlicke, Christian and Brown, S. and Walker, Gordon and Pellizzoni, Luigi and Scolobig, Anna and De Marchi, Bruna and Bianchizza, Chiara and Supramaniam, Meera and Kallis, Giorgios (2010) Social vulnerability to natural hazards. Project Report. European Commission.


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As she became a young woman she was drawn to ballet and the world of dance. She moved to New York City at an early age in pursuit of a dream.
Somewhere along the way her dream of dancing led to a dancing job, albeit not the one she probably dreamt of as a girl. And as she progressed in that realm, she found herself in front of a camera. Again, nothing would have prepared her or her family for the career she would have.
The reality that the camera loves beauty but loves youth even more must have dawned upon her. And being smart, and by this time, world wise, she took another leap – this time to a vineyard in Tuscany.
Having a good financial base and a stream of passive income, Natalie retired from her first career. She bought into a vineyard in Montalcino and business partnered with Roberto Cipresso to start her second career.
Look, there are plenty of articles about Natalie and her 1st career. I leave it to others to tell that story. I spent the better part of three days on the road with Italian winemakers, and Natalie was part of that crew. She showed up on time, opened her own bottles, stood there, standing for hours, pouring her wine, taking pictures with her admirers and talked about Sangiovese. There was no hint of diva, or entitlement. She worked her table. And she impressed me as a serious wine person.
Now all that said, she still has a way to go regarding wine knowledge. She can learn that. What cannot be learned as easily are street smarts and selling. Natalie can sell. No problem there.
Her sister said it best, "People are just drawn to Natalie, all kinds of people." I saw that. She has a magnetism about her. I don't see it as a cheesy, sleazy kind of attraction either. She looks you in the eye, shakes your hand and genuinely seems to be glad to be here. She asks you about your interests outside of wine, invites you to stay at the winery in Montalcino, does all the things someone does who wants their business to succeed. As I have said before, the wine world is made up of all sorts of characters; Natalie is one of them.
She has tried other grapes, but Sangiovese seems to be where she has arrived. In Montalcino, that better be. Oh yeah, there is Merlot and Cabernet (and Syrah) in those hills, but isn't Sangiovese the grape everyone is making such a big deal about up there? So let's say Natalie is finding her 2nd career, if not her salvation, in those hills of Sangiovese. Not quite the trail the little girl thought she'd take when she dreamt of being a nun or a ballerina. But not the first person to have traveled this road, either.
Our last night over dinner, she asked me where I was going to sit. "Can I sit next to you?" I'm sure it was slightly because I am a good buffer from the lurkers. I won't hit on Natalie. I'm more interested in what's going on in her head, why she arrived to this place. Sitting next to someone at a group dinner won't necessarily get you a front row seat into their head, but I am a good listener. As a disciple of the decisive moment, I observe, not stare. It's amazing what one can see in 1/100th of a second.
Over dinner, someone asked me to say a few words to the group. I went into my channeling-the-wine-gods trance and made reference to the culture of wine in the last 8,000 years. But one thing for certain, this is a global family, this wine world, and I tell folks in it, Natalie included, "welcome to your family in wine."
Oh, you thought I was going to talk about her wines? What I think about them? For now, that is between Natalie and me. It's a work in progress. But the prima materia is good. Very, very good.
So, we will see. Later this year, at the family reunion, in Tuscany.
words and vintage photos by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy
wine blog + Italian wine blog + Italy W


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Eric Jenkins needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 68 designs submitted by 16 freelance designers.
Expert Tile & Grout Care
website url is http://www.cleangroutsc.com The logo on there is something I made in 10 mins. Don't go by that. I can also change my website in my admin area to match my logo, colors etc... I am a very professional business man looking to portray a very clean upscale image attracting high income customers and commercial accounts. I tend to like the colors: blue, black, red, gray. My vehicles which will get this logo on it are white. I am not looking for a logo that is really busy. I need it to be clean, simple and easy to read. I will be having my vehicles wrapped with this logo and before and after photos, which will be busy enough, so the logo needs to be clean. I want you to be creative and wow me! I am open to 3-D type graphics but not too crazy. Or go off on a tangent and create something unique. You guys are good at what you do just like I am good at what I do so I don't want to tell you what to do. Just make it sharp, clean and simple with some effects or custom work.
My target audience is the homeowners in the $500,000+ home and high profit commercial accounts. Hotels, car dealers, restaurants, banks, resorts. Homeowners are more picky when it comes to results and commercial accounts are more picky when it comes to price. On my website I am trying to attract big jobs. I need to come across as clean, professional and the company that can get the job done.
clean, classic, simple but Modern look. I will entertain some 3-D type looks but only if not too crazy busy. It must be easy to read. My business name is Expert Tile & Grout Care. Not just Expert, with the Tile & Grout Care as what I do. But I will consider Expert being bigger etc. if it looks right. I my opinion, Tile & Grout Care is what I want my customers to see so they know what I do. I am giving you plenty of room to be creative so go for it.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Posted on March 26, 2010
I don't understand sometimes. I really don't. I have people who cut their names off the covers of magazines, and ink out their names on the flyleaves of books. And then they leave me those charge slips from the Marshall Field's lingerie department that they used as bookmarks, which not only have their name and address but what they bought and in what size and color.
I don't want to make anybody paranoid, so let me address those of you who are paranoid already. That means virtually anyone who watches the evening news, the ones who don't feel everyone is out to get us personally, just that people are out there waiting to get us impersonally. (Our motto: Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.)
I know what you bought at the grocery store last week. You used those bags to pack books in and left in the cash register slip. I applaud your decision to buy organically-grown almonds, but what the heck are you going to do with 48 boxes of frozen eclairs? And where's my invitation?
I know the nickname your grandchildren call you. And I know you never got around to reading that book they sent you for your birthday, because if you had, those sixteen birthday cards you filed in back would have fallen out. (On the other hand, congratulations on having that many grandkids who send you cards.)
I know how much money you won at the Kentucky Derby last year. (And also that you didn't finish the book you were reading on the trip, or your stub AND THE CASH wouldn't still be sitting at page 179.)
I know that you are a sucker for a good cause AND Snickers Salad. (Else you wouldn't have that recipe marked in all seven Junior League and Jaycee cookbooks you have bought over the last ten years.)
I know what some of your New Year's Resolutions were for 2007. Thanks for that Weight Loss Journal, the Book Group Journal, and the Sketchpad, each with one and a half pages filled in.
I know about your teen angst, and who stole your sweetheart. And thanks for the three journals that were completely filled in.
But don't fret. I observe a gentlemanly reserve in these matters. I shall tell no one but the Chicago Reader, and it shall be a secret among us three.


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Published at October 13th, 2016 03:47:53 AM by louisea
Might you like to fashion your apartment to be luxurious as well as sophisticated appearance? high priced also design of the kitchen will be the most widespread part of house being look fascinating also so tremendous. Right here, I will exhibit some varieties of awesome layout thoughts for a small kitchen with charming glass doors along […]
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