City of Nelson Unveils Latest Sculptures

A Musing from Michael

 "Number please?" from cheery voice of telephone operator soon as obsolete as land line phones

 By Michael J Morris

 When I was a kid growing up in a relatively isolated community in Northern Ontario in the 1940s, we didn't even have a telephone in the house. 

 Then the local telephone company added more lines and we got a party line with another home, and by picking up the phone i heard the cheery voice of the telephone operator ask, "Number please?"

 Soon thereafter, we got our own number which I still recall was 188, and during the 1960s when i was away from home at university and working as a newspaper reporter, operator assisted local calls were still in effect. In fact, 

 I recall phoning the Chapleau operator late at night from wherever I was, and catching up on the local news. The operators knew everything and everybody.

For example, if I was calling Butch at home, the operator may say, "He is not there, He's at the Boston. He just called Roger from there."

 Rotary dial phones and the beginning of the end for operator assisted calls, came to my small community about the end of the 1960s 

 In 2015, the "land line phone" as they came to be called in recent years may soon be obsolete.

 According to an article by Tamara Gignac in the Calgary Herald long time ago on December 27, 2013, "Land line phones — once deemed essential — are increasingly becoming irrelevant as younger users rely on cellphones or technologies such as Skype to communicate." 

 Just try and find a landline phone in the Calgary International Airport for example, and for years I had trouble calling my buddy to tell him where I was in Orlando International Airport. But, progressive city that it is, they now have converted former pay phones into  complimentary one for local calls.

 I use Skype, Facebook, Twitter and email to communicate and still have a land line phone, but I also have a new cell phone.  I primarily text on it, and when I'm having coffee in a restaurant, place it on the table just to show I am "with it" like everyone else in the place.

 Gignac quoted Tom Keenan, a professor in the University of Calgary's faculty of environmental design that In some ways, the 'classic land line' is already following in the footsteps of the rotary dial.

 Professor Keenan predicts: “In the future, as phones merge with wristbands and smart watches, the land line will become a curiosity and houses will be built without them..."

In 2015 I am celebrating 21 years since I taught my first Writing for New Media course at College of the Rockies.My first fearless prediction was that the only constant in society was change -- and trust me on this one, I had a tough audience. Most of my students in that first class were college instructors, elementary and secondary school teachers and a smattering of college students.

 The majority would not even agree that email would come into common use. And that's fact. I had business cards printed with my email on it. Only problem was, I had nobody to email.

 Gignac also quoted Jim Carroll,  a trends and innovation expert: “We live in a world where technology enters our life, becomes a part of our life and then, boom, it’s gone."

 These days I have been reflecting on "Living in Michael's World", the title of a presentation that a colleague made to COTR New Media Communications students circa 1997 about my fearless predictions for the future. Stay tuned, and please feel free to share your thoughts with me. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

 I may even share my new phone number with you so we can text each other.

Turtle Time

Thank you Stewart

How Long Might You Live?

Simple Sitting Test Predicts How Long You'll Live
Flexibility, balance and muscle strength are key indicators of longevity.
By Becky Lang|Monday, September 08, 2014

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/nov/05-sit-down

Sit. Stand. Repeat. This little trick — a deceptively simple measure of flexibility and strength — can predict who will live longer and whose lives will be cut short, according to a study by Brazilian physician Claudio Gil Araujo. He uses the test with athletes, but he also uses it to lay out the stakes with patients: To live longer, they must get moving and maintain muscle and balance.

Araujo noticed long ago that many of his patients, particularly older people, had trouble with ordinary motions such as bending down to pick up something off the floor — difficulty indicative of a loss of flexibility. As people age, he knew, reduced muscle power and loss of balance can greatly increase the risk of dangerous falls.

Eat What You Please

Forget Forbidden Food, Eat What You Please

http://thetyee.ca/Culture/2015/04/17/Forbidden-Food/

That's Dr. John Sloan's prescription in his new book examining 'bad diet science' and the wellness craze.

By John Sloan, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca

Today, nearly everybody believes the benefits of healthy eating are as sure a thing as tomorrow morning. This idea has had a devastating impact in the world since it first appeared almost 100 years ago. But in the past 30, and particularly the past 10 years, it's as if a shock wave of health-related food preference and consumption has hit the $3.2-trillion worldwide food industry. The dollar and human cost of the changes in choice and value of primary products, processing and production, product development and marketing, and retail presentation are almost incalculable.
.......
This book describes why we believe in what is presented as "scientific," how we got to misunderstand the terrible significance of eating, and how ideas (once they get rolling) reinforce themselves. It examines where we've gone wrong in thinking about diet, and suggests a way back to being reasonable about it. If you accept my idea that the benefits of healthy eating don't amount to what most people believe today, I think your life may change wonderfully. But you won't find in this book new or reinterpreted rules about what to eat and not to eat.

What's Happening....

'til Friday April 24th
Junior Art Exhibit
Cranbrook and District Arts Council Gallery
135, Tenth Avenue South
Reception Saturday April 18th
12 noon

Saturday April 18th

Stop Bill 51
Day of Action

SPCA Fundraiser
Fur Ball
Royal Alex
Tickets
The Paw Shop
Tenth Avenue South

The Purple Pirate
Key City Theatre
11;00am and 1:00pm

Sun Valley Song
For the Beauty of the Earth
Two performances 7:30pm Saturday
Sunday April 19th 2;30pm
Knox Presbyterian Church
Tickets $10 Lotus Books

Catholic Womens' League
Tea and Bake Sale
1100 14th Ave. S.
11;00am - 2;00pm
$5

Thursday April 23rd
Mount Baker
Trashion Fashion
Tamarack mall
7:30pm

Small Glories Concert
Cara Luft and J.D. Edwards
Lotus Books
7:30pm

Art In Our Lives

The shirt on your back, the shoes on your feet, the car you drive...art is everywhere and we need to nurture our artists.

In response to Ms Dodgson's letter to The Townsman regarding CDAC and the Fire Hall

Dear Editor,

In Response to Ms. Dodgson’s letter to the Townsman April 14:

It is unfortunate, Ms. Dodgson, that you did not contact a member of the Arts Council prior to writing your letter.  I thank you for writing it however.  The information contained within your letter is very typical of what many people in Cranbrook choose to believe and so much of it is just plain wrong.

Cranbrook and District Arts Council is a society and not a business.  As such it cannot make ‘profit’ as a regular business can.  Any funds considered to be profit must be put back into the service that we provide. 

CDAC has not asked to be given the Fire Hall as a gift.  We wish to provide a service, tourist attraction and economic stimulator in this heritage building much as the Studio Stage Door does.  The City was donated the Masonic Lodge and the Cranbrook Community Theatre Society have restored it, maintained it at their expense and provide a service and economic generator to the City in return

 

The new council has removed the funds once promised for the restoration of this heritage building and Cranbrook and District Arts Council has offered to take the restoration on, at no cost to the City.  We have, in fact, been exploring every avenue available for funding and have so far been successful without any help from the City.

The Cranbrook and District Arts Council is much more than a place where art is sold. Visit sometime.

Cranbrook and District Arts Council Society has been in existence for forty years, not ten and prior to that under the guidance of Ms. Muriel Baxter it was the Kootenay Fine Arts and Craft Society, giving it a history of 70 plus years in Cranbrook.

We do raise money. People who have attended one of our functions such as a music recital, bought a calendar, attended an art sale, belonged to one of our groups or participated in one of our events know that.

Grants are paid to many organizations including the City of Cranbrook.  The Spray Irrigation upgrades would not have been possible without two thirds grant funding from the Federal and Provincial Governments and to date that would mean the City has received approximately 20 million dollars in grants for that project.  That is a pretty big hand out. The funding we receive from grants set aside for Arts and Culture are miniscule by comparison and if we don’t get them in Cranbrook, they go to Fernie, Kimberley and elsewhere. You can see the positive result of that in those communities.

Using your argument that we should buy the building, maybe minor hockey should buy the Memorial Arena and library users should buy the library.

You may have voted for this Mayor and Council but do you sincerely believe that they are all comfortable revoking an agreement, that was years in the making, included two previous Councils and one on which many volunteers have put hours of volunteer time into? CDAC for its part has acted in good faith in order to preserve a heritage building that would remain in city hands and become a needed amenity accessible for all taxpayers?  They will not give up now.

Sincerely

Jenny Humphrey.

CDAC Volunteer

Restoration begins on the Little Brick Building

Karl Schmideder skilled mason
 begins the work of reconstructing the corner
of the unique old electrical building
 behind City Hall.

The work of restoration has begun and we are lucky to have in Cranbrook, a skilled mason able to carry out the work.

This unique building became a lightning rod  a few years ago for those concerned about the dwindling number of remaining  heritage buildings in Cranbrook.  Thanks to a group of volunteers, this building will live to see another day and provide added character and use to Cranbrook's small heritage corner of downtown. The final use has not been determined and will be at the will of Council but maybe those valued antique fire trucks might be displayed there or maybe the popular Cranbrook Summer Sounds and Farmer's Market might be able to store chairs and necessities there.

There is still, luckily, a store of old Cranbrook bricks available for the restoration process and many will watch with interest as this old electrical building, one that is linked to both City Hall and The Fire Hall beside it, becomes worthy again.

We thank all those dedicated volunteers who have put much time and energy into preserving this piece of Cranbrook's history.  The story of how it came to be built, the service it provided, the people who worked within it and its importance to both City Hall and the Fire Hall will be valued by many.

Council Meeting of April 13th 2015

This meeting van be watched at:

http://cranbrook.ca/our-city/mayor-and-council/city-council-meeting