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StoneMtn

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  2. Do Not Call registration list

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Velvet: I was just about to register for this, when it occurred to me that this could be another one of those scams, such as replying to SPAM email by clicking on the icon asking that they remove you from the list, when all that actually does is confirm that you are out there and reading your email. You then receive tonnes more SPAM, as a result.

    Are you sure that your link is legitimate? To my knowledge, there is only such a list in the US, not in Canada.

    Have you ever checked who the "Canadian Marketing Board" actually is?

    (Ya, ya ... I know...StoneMtn's just too anal...)

  3. Bachman and Cummings promoting new DVD

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Marge: I see your point and what you are trying to say. I don't entirely agree though. When I saw the Guess Who a couple of years ago, I really enjoyed seeing all their old tunes. I would have been quite disappointed if I had not seen "No Sugar Tonight", because that time was spent playing some new song.

    The best example I can give of such a situation is Santana. I have stopped seeing his shows, because he inevitably plays a number of lame '80s pop songs of his, in between "Soul Sacrifice" and "Black Magic Woman". I sometimes get so bored waiting for the next good song, that it's hard to stay "into" the show.

    It is possible that the Guess Who could write another kickass hit in 2004, but I wouldn't count on it and it's not what I pay to go see.

    But that's just one caveman's opinion...

  7. Ont. Gov't bans certain foods in schools.....

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    It appears that the Ontario initiative is making some waves across our country. It's certainly become an issue in BC now:

    http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=83083bfc-16b0-4e95-9118-dab50e937e5f

    Education minister vows to ban junk food sales in schools

    Healthier foods will improve students' health and fitness

    Jim Beatty, Janet Steffenhagen and Jenny Lee, with files from Pamela Fayerman

    Vancouver Sun

    Thursday, October 21, 2004

    CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun

    Tessa Rumpel, 14, and Lanzer Permalino, 13, display an assortment of junk food soon to be history in B.C. schools under a provincial ban intended as part of a broad health strategy. The ban follows one announced in Ontario.

    VICTORIA -- British Columbia will ban junk food in schools within months as part of a broad-based strategy to improve the health and physical fitness of children, says Education Minister Tom Christensen.

    Christensen, who has long vowed not to ban junk food, made the surprising policy reversal Wednesday afternoon after the Ontario government announced a ban on potato chips, pop and other fattening foods in Ontario elementary schools.

    "I would love it if, tomorrow, we didn't have any junk food in schools," Christensen said Wednesday. "Sometime over the next few months I'd like to get that finalized and get that out the door," he said of the junk food ban.

    Christensen said his ministry has been working on the proposed ban on fatty foods for a year, saying the removal of caffeinated pop and other sweets from schools will help children learn.

    "I'd like to do it in the context of a broader strategy around physical activity in schools and creating a healthy environment for our children in schools," he said.

    "We want schools to be places where children are focused on their education. There's more and more evidence that says junk food doesn't help with their education."

    Health Services Minister Colin Hansen welcomed the move. "As far as I'm concerned, the sooner we can get there the better. We need to encourage our kids to have a healthier diet."

    But Hansen said one of the difficulties is determining the definition of junk food. "Does it do any good to remove Coca-Cola from a vending machine in a school and replace it with something else that has a fancy label with a picture of fresh fruit on it when in reality it is no better than the can of Coke?"

    On Wednesday, Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy released guidelines to restrict the in-school sale of calorie-rich treats such as sports drinks and chocolate granola bars to students from kindergarten through Grade 8.

    "We firmly believe that this is one small way that Ontario's publicly funded education system can and must deliver excellence to all students," Kennedy told the Ontario legislature.

    B.C.'s previous education minister, Christy Clark, said the ministry didn't have the power to ban junk food because school boards - and not the education ministry - were entering into financial contracts with cola makers and junk food suppliers.

    B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said the government must be cautious in its approach, citing the financial contribution vending machines bring to school boards, money that pays for things such as sports equipment.

    "It's a direction that most communities are starting to go in but we had better look at all of the ramifications," he said.

    New Democratic Party MLA Jenny Kwan said the public has a right to be confused about the government's policy on junk food, accusing Christensen of "making up policy on the fly here. We heard earlier in the day that he didn't know what he was going to do and later on in the day he said he was going to proceed."

    Kwan urged the government to ensure school boards won't suffer financially from a ban. "The government must provide financial compensation to the school boards and address the issue of contract ramifications for the school boards."

    The issue of vending machine money was also on the minds of school trustees.

    While Vancouver school board chair Adrienne Montani welcomed the government's move, calling it a "sign of leadership," she said the government would have to compensate schools for lost revenues and that would be "a pretty big chunk of money."

    Trustees say they aren't sure how much revenue is generated through junk food sales because it generally stays within the schools, but Montani said a large secondary school can collect $20,000 to $30,000 a year from vending machines alone.

    Schools also raise money by selling chocolate bars and chips in school stores and burgers and fries in their cafeterias.

    "There's going to have to be money on the table," added Andrea Reimer, a Vancouver trustee who has lobbied to end junk food sales in schools. But she said the announcement was exciting.

    "There's been so much pressure to do this - from the chief medical officer . . . the cancer society, citizens groups, parents. All sorts of people want to see this changed."

    Jinny Sims, president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation, said she was pleased the minister listened to appeals from teachers.

    "It's a general concern that we share with parents and the public about the impact of junk food on [children's] health and their learning," she said.

    "We absolutely, 100-per-cent support the stopping of the sale of junk food in schools."

    But other trustees had reservations. Shawn Wilson, school board chair in Surrey, the largest B.C. district, and Melissa Hyndes, chair of Coquitlam, the third largest, said schools and school boards should make decisions about food sales.

    "I was under the impression that local school boards had autonomy," said Hyndes, referring to one of the Liberals key promises upon taking office.

    She said she believes in giving students choice while also educating them about healthy eating.

    Wilson took a similar position, saying: "Responsible people should have the freedom to make their own choices."

    Linda McPhail, Richmond board chair, said she worries secondary school students would simply buy junk food at nearby stores if sales in schools were halted.

    "On the surface, it sounds really good, but what are the unintended consequences? What will happen if they're taken out of schools? What will kids do - and is that really the right answer?"

    Penny Tees, president of the B.C. School Trustees' Association, said she is pleased the minister plans to consult broadly before implementing a ban because there are many issues to be discussed, including the lost revenue and sensitivities about choice.

    Dr. Bob Armstrong, head of pediatrics at B.C. Children's Hospital, said it would be entirely appropriate for B.C. to follow the Ontario lead. "There is no rationale for junk food in school vending machines. Public bodies like schools have a moral responsibility for showing kids the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods," he said.

    Dr. Jean-Pierre Chanoine, a pediatric endocrinologist who is an expert in childhood obesity at B.C. Children's Hospital, said since children spend 35 hours a week in school, "they should also be educated about what is good and bad to eat. "We now have hard evidence about how soft drinks cause obesity," he said, adding "it is no longer just a suspected association or epidemiological evidence."

    Dr. Susan Biali, a Vancouver family doctor who writes a monthly column on nutrition in The Medical Post, called the Ontario decision "wonderful news.

    "But I am disappointed that they are not extending it to high schools as well because we should be making it more difficult for kids of all ages to obtain junk foods. We have an obesity crisis now and we need drastic action so this is a good place to start."

    The tough Ontario guidelines mean there will be no pop, no candy, no sports drinks. Instead, vending machines will be filled with milk, water, 100-per-cent fruit juices and fruit snacks.

    Registered dietitian Lynn Roblin who helped draft the Ontario guidelines, said the vast majority of commercial cereal bars won't make it into schools because they are too high in fat and low in fibre. Cookies will squeak in if they provide such good things as fibre, D vitamins and iron, but candy is out. "We didn't really find any candy that met our criteria," Roblin said.

    Parent advisory council fundraising and lunches that children bring to school are not affected by the new guidelines, but are the "ideal next step," Roblin said.

    The new guidelines will be a shock to some Toronto schools, but others are already ahead of the game. Toronto-based Roblin's own children's school have already switched to fruit kebabs from doughnuts and to small oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from regular chocolate cookies.

    The restrictions don't have to have a negative impact on fundraising, Roblin said.

    "We have altered our lunch at my children's elementary school to more nutritious choices and we're making the same amount of money."

    jbeatty@direct.ca

    - - -

    Eastern example

    Some foods now approved and banned in Ontario elementary schools:

    OUT

    - Chocolate bars

    - Sports drinks

    - Soft drinks

    - Potato chips

    IN

    - Milk, yogurt and yogurt drinks, cheese

    - Fruit and vegetable juice

    - Popcorn, pretzels

    - Granola bars

    © The Vancouver Sun 2004

    Copyright © 2004 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp. All rights reserved.

    Optimized for browser versions 4.0 and higher.

  8. Lets make a rhyme thread...

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Baldonon (if that's really your new name),

    Don't fear as we are still in the game!

    This thread won't die

    As long as you and I

    Keep rhyming and refuse to be lame.

    I also suspect number_2

    Will show up with a rhyme for you.

    We are busy sometimes;

    Too busy for rhymes,

    But will always return - don't be blue!

    So, I mentioned before re nero,

    No west coast shows; I mean ZERO!

    I could not fight

    The urge to book flight

    To Toronto for Hallowe'en at the El Mo.

    Is there a chance I'll be seeing you there?

    Will I be getting a chance to stare,

    At the bald dread

    Also nero-head

    Dancing and partying without a care?

  9. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    For sure! They were a pretty big indy band in the early '80s and always very cool. I recall that they released an indy single (that's right VINYL on 45; god how old am I...) and the neat thing was that the cover was released in like 4 different colours. (As I recall, I resisted the urge to buy one of each colour.)

    No idea where that band is now, though.

  11. Internet Radio?

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Thanks for making this thread up, I have bookmarked it!

    Agreed. This is a very cool thread for my use at work. I like to have background tunes in my office, but I also like them to be sort of unfamiliar so I don't get distracted; and I end up listening to lame-ass radio half the time. This thread will solve that problem.

  20. Skanktuarians, lend me your ears!

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    You want to hear some great reggae?

    Alpha Blondy this Fri. at the Capital music hall.

    Excellent.

    For sure! Any idea if he's coming west?

    So... Canadian I don't know if all these guys still exist, but:

    Messenjah

    The Sattelites

    King Apparatus (ska)

    Hopping Penguins (ska)

    Mother Tongue (African/Reggae)

    People Playing Music (rootsy/jammy)

    Roots Roundup (reggae/punk)

    Also, non-Canadian, but worthy of mention while thinking about it:

    Linton Kwesi Johnson (dub reggae)

    ... and this one's hard to believe, but apart from their hardcore punk, the Bad Brains do some of the best roots-reggae around.

  21. GOD STREET WINE / PANCAKE BOYS

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    As I am sure most of you are aware, the amazing New York-state-based jamband, God Street Wine, broke up about five years ago. I think they became a band called the Pancake Boys (or at least most of them did). Being an eastern-sorta-thing, does anyone know if the Pancake Boys still exist? Are they any good? (I seemed to hear about them shortly after the breakup of GSW, and then they disappeared.)

  22. My Day In Court

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    That's funny you noticed that. It's actually a work-habit.

    For some reason, there are certain words we capitalize by way of convention (Court, Statement of Claim, Plaintiff...), even though it's not grammatically correct, and I can't avoid it when I write informally. When I describe a type of court that has limited jurisdiction bestowed by statute, rather than referring to "the Court", by which I usually mean a superior court with "inherent jurisdiction" and is sort of used as a proper noun, I don't capitalize; and vice versa. (I know it sounds nit-picky and nerdy as hell, but you asked...)

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