#used laptop halifax

[shizolaptops]

A Comprehensive Guide to Buying Used Laptops in Canada: Tips, Pros, and Cons

In today's fast-paced digital world, having a reliable laptop is essential for both personal and professional endeavors. However, buying a brand new laptop can often come with a hefty price tag. This is where considering used laptops becomes an attractive option, especially in a country like Canada where the demand for affordable tech solutions is high. In this guide, we'll delve into the world of used laptops in Canada, exploring the benefits, potential drawbacks, and essential tips for making a smart purchase decision.

Why Choose Used Laptops in Canada?

Canada, known for its tech-savvy population, witnesses a consistent demand for high-quality laptops. Opting for a used laptop in Canada presents several advantages:

Cost-Effectiveness: The primary allure of buying a used laptop is the significant cost savings compared to purchasing a brand new one. This is particularly advantageous for students, freelancers, and budget-conscious individuals.

Variety and Availability: The Canadian market for used laptops offers a wide array of options from various brands, specifications, and models. This diversity allows buyers to find a laptop that suits their specific needs.

Environmental Impact: Opting for a used laptop contributes to sustainable consumption by extending the lifecycle of electronics, reducing e-waste, and minimizing the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing new devices.

Factors to Consider When Buying Used Laptops

While purchasing a used laptop can be a smart choice, it's crucial to consider several factors to ensure a satisfactory investment:

Reliable Seller or Platform: Choose reputable sellers or platforms known for their quality assurance and customer service. Platforms like certified refurbished outlets or trusted online marketplaces can offer peace of mind through warranties and return policies.

Inspecting the Laptop: Thoroughly examine the laptop for physical damages, battery health, keyboard functionality, screen condition, and overall performance. Check for any signs of wear and tear.

Specifications and Compatibility: Ensure that the laptop's specifications meet your requirements, whether it's for gaming, professional tasks, multimedia, or general use. Verify compatibility with necessary software and peripherals.

Warranty and Return Policy: A warranty or return policy adds an extra layer of security to your purchase. It's advisable to opt for laptops with warranties, allowing for repairs or replacements if issues arise post-purchase.

Potential Drawbacks of Buying Used Laptops

While the advantages are evident, there are potential downsides to consider when purchasing a used laptop:

Limited Warranty: Unlike new laptops that come with manufacturer warranties, used laptops might have limited or no warranty coverage, leaving buyers susceptible to unexpected repairs.

Reduced Lifespan: Used laptops might have experienced wear and tear, potentially leading to a shorter lifespan compared to a brand new device.

Outdated Technology: Older models might lack the latest technology advancements, impacting performance and compatibility with newer software or applications.

Conclusion

Buying a used laptop in Canada can be a cost-effective and environmentally conscious decision. By considering reputable sellers, thoroughly inspecting the device, and ensuring compatibility with your needs, you can make a smart investment. While there are potential drawbacks, the advantages often outweigh them, providing an opportunity to own a quality laptop without breaking the bank. So, whether you're a student, a professional, or someone seeking a budget-friendly tech solution, exploring the world of used laptops in Canada could be the key to finding the perfect device for your needs.

[pers-books]

[ID Photo of the front cover of the Radio Times 13-19 August 2022 showing an image of Nicola Walker smiling up at a smiling Sean Bean with the words Happy ever after? emblazoned across the lower part of the image. Beneath that it reads Nicola Walker on romance, relationships and Marriage, her intimate new drama with Sean Bean. Below that the text reads Marriage, Sunday, Monday BBC1]

[ID

‘I’m not a great advocate of marriage’  Nicola Walker says playing Sean Bean’s wife in an intimate new drama from the makers of Mum was harder than it looks…  THE RT INTERVIEW BY MARK LAWSON

EIGHT YEARS AGO, something happened that changed Nicola Walker’s attitude to acting. She was rehearsing A View from the Bridge, a revival of Arthur Miller’s classic of betrayal in an Italian-American family, which would become one of her career highs, transferring from the Young Vic to the West End, then Broadway. 

During an early run-through of one scene, the play’s director, Ivo van Hove, stopped her and suggested, gently, that she was overacting. “I was sobbing, saying, ‘You don’t want me to act. You want me to do what I would do in my kitchen!’ And Ivo said, ‘Yeah, do what you do in your kitchen with your partner’. It was a great wake-up call for me: ‘Just shut up and say the words. Don’t get in the way with your stupid acting’. I’ve never forgotten that.” 

It's possibly no coincidence that, the following year, 2015, Walker made her debut as DCI Cassie Stuart in ITV’s Unforgotten, creating one of television’s most understated but overwhelming characters. Further evidence of her low-key but high-impact style can be seen in BBC1’s Last Tango in Halifax, River and The Split. 

But it’s in Marriage, a new four-part drama written and directed by Stefan Golaszewski, that van Hove’s note about naturalistic acting proves most useful. For, as Emma, wife of Sean Bean’s Ian, Walker has long scenes actually in a kitchen. “Stefan had to really calm me down early on, because he said he did a lot of takes and suspected I wasn’t used to that. In all the telly I’ve done, if you’re not hitting the scene within three takes, you know you’re doing it wrong and wasting time. With Stefan, 12, 13, 14, 16 takes is not unusual. So, I spent the first week getting used to that. I was caught in that thing of gotta get it right, whereas Stefan is into you’ve gotta get it real, which takes longer.” 

A consequence of so frequently repeating action was revealed to Walker in a scene where Emma chews a chocolate bar. To reduce nausea or weight gain, actors doing eating sequences are offered the chance to spit out the food when the camera cuts. “The crew, lots of whom have worked on Stefan’s stuff, asked if I wanted a spit bucket. And I said, ‘No, no, I’ll just eat it.’ But after 18 takes, you really need the bucket. Apparently, on [Golaszewski’s BBC3 sitcom] Him & Her, Russell Tovey once ate 24 chickens.” 

The illusion of naturalism is carefully orchestrated. So meticulous is Golaszewski that 52-year old Walker was provided with Emma’s laptop computer and mobile phone a few weeks before shooting started so that using them would become second nature for her. Walker and Bean were also given rehearsal time to become familiar with Emma and Ian’s house. “It had to look like we knew where the recycling bin was and so on.” 

Prior to Marriage, Walker says her most difficult task on screen had been driving a 1970s tractor on Last Tango in Halifax. Then Golaszewski asked her to load a dishwasher. “This sounds ridiculous, but making it look like it really is your dishwasher is very hard. Emma would know where everything went, so I had to, too. You suddenly realise how easy it is to tell a lie on camera and you have to eradicate that, whether it’s pushing for a big dramatic moment, or not quite remembering which shelf in the fridge the milk is on. But the number of takes helps you get there.” 

THE MOST AFFECTING aspect of Marriage is that, through the inevitable troughs of a long relationship, Emma and Ian are bonded by a terrible event that happened long ago, yet they almost never refer to it. “Their daughter keeps saying, ‘We need to talk’, and they just don’t. We don’t carry the past blazing around in the present because we couldn’t get up and make our breakfast if it was in the forefront of our mind all the time. Emma can’t talk about this thing that has happened because it’s too big. When she lets even a squeak of it out, it’s followed by a complete emotional breakdown. It’s embedded in their relationship, but they can’t talk about it. 

“I feel that about grief. When I lost my mum – a long time ago now – there was a month or six-week period when I felt that someone had pulled back the curtain in The Wizard of Oz]

[ID A photo of Nicola Walker looking incredibly glamorous in a red dress that buttons down to the waist and then has a split down the skirt of the dress. She’s sitting cross-legged with her left arm resting across her knee and her right arm propped on the left and her hand held at a right angle under her chin. She’s smiling at the camera. To the right of her are the words ‘After we had a child, me and my husband thought we ought to get married in case one of us dies.’]

[ID On the top left of the page are three photos of Nicola Walker in various TV shows. The first is labelled Unforgettable With Sanjeev Bhaskar in Unforgotten, the second is labelled Divorce Drama With Stephen Mangan in The Split, the third is labelled Spies Like Us With Peter Firth in Spooks. The rest of the page continues the interview with Walker]

and I really felt I saw the world for what it was: a very frightening place. Then, slowly, the curtain comes across again because you can’t live at the sharp end of grief. And that’s what Ian and Emma have had to achieve.” 

If further emotional research were needed, the co-stars have six marriages between them. Walker smiles. “I’ve only got one, so Sean brings up the average!” She considered it impolite to ask Bean what it was like to have been married five times. Walker and her partner, actor Barnaby Kay, have been together for 27 years, a similar span as Emma and Ian, but only married late on. “Me and my husband, because we both lost a parent young, we though, after we had a child, we ought to get married, in case one of us dies, so that the legalities are clear. Which is not the most romantic reason to get married but is probably the only thing that would have got me to sign a piece of paper. I’m not a great advocate of marriage in real life.” 

How does Walker decide which parts to play? After all, she must by now be offered so many. “I’m not, actually. I don’t know if you can do anything about that. I started when I was 21 and did a long time in theatre before TV came along, so I’m still convinced that I will never work again. It’s not faux humility; it’s how I’m programmed. I go into next year with nothing on the slate for maybe the first time in ten years. Part of me is excited and part of me is terrified.” 

But having played multiple detective – from Touching Evil and Scott & Bailey [not so – Walker worked in retail not as a cop in S&B, Pers] to Annika and Unforgotten – presumably she would be wary of more cops? “Never too many! I don’t feel like that. If the script was good, I’d play another detective. But I can’t believe I’d ever find one I loved as much as Cassie.” 

ON 29 MARCH 2021, when Cassie Stuart was unexpectedly written out of Unforgotten in a startling finale to the fourth series, there was speculation that Walker had become bored with the part or too busy on other shows. Neither, she says, was the case. “I’ve worked with [Unforgotten creator] Chris Lang more than any other writer and we are friends. From the very beginning, we talked about Cassie’s story being finite; Chris was always putting her through a story arc that would damage her emotionally. The buzzword was that she was an empath, and the problem with being an empath is that eventually you break. I felt that to have her keep coming back would make her seem like a superhero. So it was very much a joint and long-planned decision. 

“But on reflection – we all feel the same – if we’d known Covid was coming, we would have given people a less depressing storyline. I feel guilty because, when it came out, I thought, ‘Crikey, we could have given them something more cheerful. The last thing they need is to be made to feel really sad about this brilliant cop.’” 

Six years as Cassie increased public recognition that began with 57 episodes as Ruth Evershed in the BBC1 spy drama Spooks from 2003 to 2011. “In terms of the public, Spooks was the one, and still is, as it’s streamed a lot. But the Spooks audience is so witty. The first time I realised, I was in my local supermarket and someone sidled up and said, ‘The condor has landed. The geese fly tonight’, and wandered off down frozen foods. It was never just a run-of-the-mill, ‘I love the show’.” 

After Marriage, will people come up to her at the fresh fruit and tell her how awful their spouse is? “I hope they do.” She’s sure, though, there won’t be a sequel called Divorce. “Ian and Emma would never split up. That’s the point.”]

[ID The final page continues with an interview Stefan Golaszewski (which I’ve not transcribed), which is laid out around a photo of Sean Bean and Nicola Walker laughing together in Marriage. The photo is captioned in the top left corner: Wedded Bliss? Sean Bean and Nicola Walker as Ian and Emma in Marriage.]

[avardwoolaver]

Recent Black and White Photos - 2022_10_28

Recent Black and White Photos – 2022_10_28

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2022 – © Avard Woolaver What have I been up to lately? Well, spending a bit more time in urban settings, and using a new DSLR that provides a different perspective from my iphone. These recent black and white photos are a mix of street photography and new topographics which aim to let the tones tell part of the story. The photos, when viewed on a phone, or even a laptop, are…

[hobeymakar]

Something Better | N. MacKinnon

Words: 2,608

A/N: Since I’m sad about the Avs losing Game 7, I figured the only way to not fall into a depressive state is to write something cute to turn the failed breaking of the 2nd round curse (it’s been almost 20 years) to something positive :) In this, COVID-19 is still going on and yes, the playoffs did go on as it did this year

Warnings: swearing and alcohol use

-

You wake up and feel a wave of nausea run through you. You run straight to the bathroom and manage to make it to the toilet before emptying the contents of your stomach out. After the nausea goes down, you brush your teeth and wash your face before heading to the kitchen to take your prenatals and make some breakfast. Yesterday, officially started your 10th week of pregnancy and you can’t believe how quickly your pregnancy is flying by. It seems like just yesterday you found out you were pregnant alone, while Nate was playing his exhibition game with the Avs in Edmonton.

You didn’t want Nate to find out about your unexpected pregnancy while in the bubble, so you tried to keep it as secretive as possible. The only people beside your family that knew were Mel and Gabe Landeskog and Erik Johnson, because EJ apparently finds out everything like he’s some FBI detective or whatever. Luckily, EJ and the Landeskogs can keep their mouths shut and vowed to not tell Nate. You wanted to tell him in person, not over FaceTime.

You finish your breakfast and clean up the kitchen, before heading back to the room to get dressed for the airport. You shower and wash your hair before changing into one of Nate’s old Halifax Mooseheads shirts, leggings, and Adidas sneakers. You need to buy some maternity clothing soon since you’re almost done with your first trimester and your bump is starting to actually show. You blowdry your hair and put on minimal makeup before grabbing your things and leaving the house. You get into the car and drive off towards the airport. 

After a while, you arrive at the airport and make your way towards the arrivals terminal and greet all the Avs WAGs. The ones who are moms can tell right away that you’re pregnant but vow not to say anything to anyone, until you’re ready. After what feels like forever, but it’s only half an hour, you see the players starting to come out. The second you see Nate you run straight into his arms, throwing caution to the wind. It’s the longest you’ve been without your husband since you two started dating in 2014.

“Y/N!” he smiles, holding you in his arms tightly.

“I missed you so much, baby!” you cry out, a couple tears of joy starting to slip from your eyes.

“I missed you even more, baby!” he replies, kissing your forehead.

You stay in each other’s arms for a few more moments before he gently places you back on the ground again. He takes your hand in his and you guys leave the terminal together and head back to the car. You both get into the car and finally take off your masks.

“How was the flight?” you ask, as you start the car.

“Long and depressing, but I’m glad I get to come home to you again,” he smiles, kissing your hand.

You put the car into drive and leave the airport, while he puts on WHATS POPPIN (Remix) by Jack Harlow, Tory Lanez, DaBaby, and Lil Wayne. You know Nate is back when only rap music is being played in the car again. After a while, you make it back to the house and Nate goes straight to the room to unpack, while you take the time to go to your office and call Mel.

Mel answers on the third ring and you can hear Linnea crying in the background.

“Hey Mel is this a bad time?” you ask, not wanting to take her away from her motherly duties.

“No, not at all. Linnea’s just cranky because Gabe accidentally dropped his gear and woke her up from her nap,” she explains.

“God, he better get her back to sleep then,” you reply, shaking your head.

“Oh he is! He’s in the nursery right now, trying to get her to go back to sleep,” she explains.

“Good! Serves him right for ruining her nap schedule,” you tease. “Anyway, are we still on for Nate’s belated birthday party surprise?”

“Yes, we are! I’ve been in contact with the other girls and the guys and we should all be there for 6. So, you should tell him you’re taking him out for dinner and then when you come back from dinner, everything will be set up! He won’t suspect anything,” she explains.

“Alright, awesome. Thanks Mel,” you smile, glad your surprise party for Nate is gonna go off as planned.

What you don't know is that Nate is outside your door and heard you mention the birthday party surprise. He leaves the hallway quickly so that you don't know that he was listening to you talk with Mel. You get off the phone with Mel and exit the room, glad to see that Nate is nowhere near your office. You find him in the living room, getting his laptop set up.

"Hey babe, are you hungry?" you ask.

"No, I ate on the flight. I'm gonna zoom with my parents and sister if you wanna come join," he offers.

"Of course!" you smile.

You love talking with the MacKinnon family. They all love you and are so glad that you turned Nate into a man. Nate starts the zoom call and you're instantly greeted with the faces of Graham, Kathy, and Sarah. 

"Hi, Y/N! How are you?" Kathy greets, a giant smile on her face.

"I'm great, Mrs. MacKinnon, now that your son is back home. How are you?" you ask.

"Y/N darling, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Kathy? We're family now, sweetheart. I'm doing well. I'm so happy to see you again," she replies.

"It must really suck to have my brother back home, eh?" Sarah teases.

"I won't get peace and quiet anymore, that's for sure," you tease back, causing Nate to groan beside you.

"I don't appreciate this spousal abuse!" he whines.

"This is why you're my favorite sister-in-law, Y/N!" Sarah giggles, having way too much.

"She's your only sister-in-law, Sarah!" Graham informs her.

"I know that, Dad! She's still my favorite!" Sarah shushes him.

Yeah, you definitely love the MacKinnons. You all catch up on what's going on with the MacKinnons informing you and Nate on what's going on back in Cole Harbour. You also inform them what's going on in Denver without of course telling them about your pregnancy. Although with the looks Kathy is giving you, she must already suspect it. Moms tend to have a pregnancy radar like that. After a while, the MacKinnons have to go and the Zoom call ends.

You and Nate take advantage of a lil nap time, since the pregnancy makes you take naps more frequently.

"Babe, get ready. I'm taking you out to dinner," you inform him.

"Why can't we just have dinner here?" he pleads.

"Because we haven't had a date night since the pandemic happened and I want to go out," you explain.

"Whatever m'lady wants, m'lady gets," he teases in a stupid accent.

"You're insufferable," you groan, shaking your head in disbelief.

You two get ready to go to dinner and you had already set up a reservation at a nice steakhouse for 6pm. You arrive at the steakhouse downtown at 5:40pm and valet park it. You make your way inside and wait for your table to be ready, before being escorted by the hostess to your table. You both sit down at the table and look at the menus.

"Hi my name is Alex and I'll be your waiter tonight. Can I get you both started with some drinks?" the waiter asks.

"Can we get a bottle of your best red sauvignon, please?" Nate asks.

"And I'll just have this water," you add.

"No problem," Alex smiles.

He pours you a glass of water from the water pitcher as Nate gives you a look of confusion. Alex then leaves to get the bottle of wine.

"You're not gonna have any wine?" he asks.

"No, not tonight, babe. Not really in the mood for it," you lie.

"Okay," he replies, not totally buying the lie.

Alex comes back with the bottle of wine and you both place your orders. You check your phone and see that Mel texted you saying that everyone is at the house setting up for the surprise party. You two pass the time talking and Nate brings up heading back to the offseason house in Cole Harbour and you tell him you're unsure if you wanna go back since it's basically the end of summer anyway and the offseason is so short this year.

"So you wanna stay in Denver then?" he asks.

"I just don't know if it'll be worth it to only be there a month or two," you reply, when in reality you wanna stay here for your entire pregnancy.

Your food eventually arrives and the both of you dig in. You quickly realize how much you miss date nights with Nate and how much you just missed being with Nate in general. Dealing with the majority of your first trimester alone was definitely challenging and something you thought you would never have to deal with. 

After a while, you finish eating and the waiters bring a piece of cake for Nate and start singing happy birthday, while you record it on your phone.

"Happy belated birthday, baby!" you cheer, after the waiters finish singing.

Nate blows out the candle and everyone claps. The waiters all walk away and Nate throws you a look.

"Really?" he asks in annoyance, shaking his head.

"Stop being a baby! You really thought I wasn't gonna make up for missing your birthday?" you ask.

He starts eating his cake, anyway and you eat half of it. You finish eating the cake and you pay the check, much to Nate's dismay.

"Babe, I can pay for things too. I run my own million dollar business," you glare at him.

"Sorry," he replies, raising his hands up in defense.

You leave the restaurant and check your phone, seeing that Mel texted you that the house is all set up and everyone is there.

You decide to drive, much to Nate's dismay, but you sternly remind him that he had a whole bottle of wine. You arrive at the house and park in the driveway. You walk up to the front door and go in first, seeing the house completely dark. Nate follows in and turns on the lights.

Everyone shouts surprise and Nate acts like he didn't know about it ahead of time. Gabe cues the music and everyone goes up to him and wishes him a happy birthday.

"Thank you baby," he smiles, kissing you.

"You're welcome," you smile back.

All the kids are running around and the girls and guys are chatting about offseason plans. After a while, Mel brings out a cake and everyone starts singing happy birthday. After singing, they take pictures of Nate with the cake, before pictures of different groups with Nate and the cake. After all the pictures are taken, Mel cuts the cake and serves a piece to everyone, even some of the kids. After the entire cake is cut and everyone has finished eating their pieces, you go to your office and take out a bag with Nate’s gifts in it, nervous to see what his reaction will be. You bring it out of the office and bring out to the open area where everybody is. Mel notices this and cues for everyone to be quiet and shuts the music down.

“What’s going on?” Nate asks in confusion, not understanding what’s going on.

“I got some special birthday gifts for you, but you need to close your eyes when you pull them out!” you smile, handing him the gift bag.

Nate shoots you a look of hesitation before opening the bag and taking out the paper. He pulls out the first item and hands it to you, before taking out a 2nd and 3rd item and handing them both to you. You arrange them nicely, so that he can see them clearly when he opens his eyes.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now,” you inform him, biting your lip nervously.

He opens his eyes and is immediately hit with a baby Avs jersey with his number on it that says Daddy in the back, as well as little Avs booties and your first ultrasound photo. His brows furrow in confusion at first before he puts two and two together and his mouth drops at the sudden realization that you’re pregnant.

“You’re pregnant? I’m gonna be a dad?” he asks hopefully.

“Yes, babe! I’m 10 weeks pregnant and I’m due in early April!” you smile, placing a hand down on your little bump.

“I love you so much!” he cries out, before kissing you and lifting you into his arms.

Everyone cheers and yells out their congratulations, with the WAGs already talking about planning the gender reveal party and the baby shower. Nate doesn’t keep his hands off your bump for the rest of the night and doesn’t shut up about how he can’t wait to meet the baby. The team, because they’re all competitive gambling bastards, place a wager on whether or not it’s a boy or girl, and secretly you want a mini Nate running around, even though you know he would be an amazing girl dad.

After a while, it gets late and everyone cleans up before heading home. Once everyone is gone, you guys shower and get ready for bed.

“When’s the next appointment, babe?” he asks you, as you crawl into bed to cuddle him.

“In two weeks for the first trimester screen. You’re gonna be able to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the first time,” you inform him.

“I can’t believe you were going through this all alone,” he sighs, feeling guilty that he was playing in the Edmonton bubble.

“I had Mel here with me and she was pretty awesome helping me out after every freakout and breakdown I had since finding out I’m pregnant,” you assure him.

“How long have you known?” he asks, the “without telling me” implied.

“I found out 5 days after you left. I had missed my period and was feeling like shit, so I bought a few tests and they all came out positive. So I freaked out and figured I’d wait til I saw you again in person to tell you,” you explain.

“I hate that I wasn’t here for you these last 6 weeks, but I’ll be by your side for the rest of this pregnancy, baby,” he assures you, kissing your forehead. “When do we get to find out the gender?”

“In 10 weeks during the mid-pregnancy ultrasound. It’s a 3D ultrasound that will show us every detail of the baby,” you explain to him, in between yawns.

He crawls down under the sheets and brings his face up to your little bump.

“Hey little one, I know you don’t know me yet, but I’m your daddy! I can’t wait to meet you little guy or girl! Your mommy and I make me so happy. I know I haven’t been here because I was busy trying to win the Stanley Cup, but I’m glad I didn’t. You’re already a million times better than winning the Cup,” he explains, leaving kisses on your bump.

You quickly wipe the tears from your eyes so he doesn’t see how emotional that made you. He’s right however. Finally starting a family is way better than winning the Stanley Cup. 

[intothestacks]

Libraries In the Time of COVID

How have libraries been handling the lockdown?

The short answer is: it varies. A lot. 

A library’s services are meant to meet the needs of its community, so whether there’s a pandemic or things are business as usual, no two libraries are alike in what they offer, even within the same library system.

Because communities have been affected in very different ways by Coronavirus, library responses have been unique and varied.

Becoming a Food Bank

In the Toronto area, a third of food banks were forced to close due to a lack of volunteers. People needed the food they had to offer, but they didn’t have a way to distribute it anymore, so the Toronto Public Library stepped in to help. They put out a call to its staff asking for volunteers to help with packing food hampers and within an hour they had all the help they needed and then some.

Australian Libraries in Yarra and Monash have been doing something similar, delivering food to vulnerable families and to people facing homelessness. 

At the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis County libraries they’re offering drive-thru meals for children.

Providing Protective Equipment

In the US, where there is a shortage of protective gear for first responders, Suffolk Cooperative Library System has put its 3D printers to use to provide local hospitals with the equipment they so desperately need, as has Stratford Public Library in Ontario, Canada. Toronto Public Library has done something similar, lending three of its 3D printers to Toronto General Hospital so they can print protective equipment. 

In Klaipedia, Lithuania the National Library is helping 3D print protective equipment as well, while in Kaunas (also Lithuania), the library has been printing door handle extensions which can help diminish the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Valpattanam GP Library, India, the library has been collecting cloth face masks made by locals to hand them out to people who don’t have one.

Helping With Contact Tracing

In Ireland, libraries have been asked to help with contract tracing, which librarians in San Francisco also offered to do.

Helping Essential Workers With Childcare

San Francisco Public Library has turned its children’s areas into childcare facilities for essential workers

Having Patrons Make Cards for Seniors In Lockdown

In Czechia, the library for the town of Trinec had its patrons make Easter cards with good wishes to be delivered to local seniors to cheer them up through lockdown.

Loaning Entertainment Equipment to Homeless Shelters

Halifax Public Libraries in Nova Scotia has loaned tablets, gaming systems and board games to a local youth home to keep the teens entertained through lockdown. Similarly, Kansas libraries have lent their laptops and mobile wifi units to homeless shelters to keep people entertained through lockdown.

Loaning Equipment to University Students

Penn State University Library has been loaning out equipment such as laptops to students who would not be able to continue their education without them.

Checking In On People

Hamilton Public Library in Ontario has had a few of its drivers checking in on people. 

In libraries across the UK as well as in Auckland (New Zealand), and Newmarket (Canada) librarians have been doing the checking in.

In Middletown, US, the local library partnered with the town’s senior centre to help older adults by helping with grocery delivery and checking in on them via phone.

Doing Pickups/Deliveries for Emergency Workers

Hamilton Public Library courier drivers have been driving around doing whatever the Emergency Response team needs help with, such as driving to Toronto to pick up some protective equipment.

Offering Counselling By Phone

Regina Public Library has started offering its counselling service (that used to be in person) by telephone.

Helping People Without Internet Get Online-Only Government Forms Filled

South Shore Public Libraries in Nova Scotia has been helping people with scanning and sending government documents and forms if they are unable to do so themselves.

And this is barely scratching the surface! 

If you’re interested in hearing more about this topic, let me know and if there’s enough interest I might make a part 2.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#1yrago Nova Scotia abandons its attempt to destroy a teenager who stumbled on a wide-open directory of sensitive information

Last month, an unnamed 19-year-old Nova Scotian grew frustrated with the lack of a search interface for the province's public repository of responses to public records requests; he wanted to research the province's dispute with its public school teachers and didn't fancy manually clicking on thousands of links to documents to find the relevant ones, so he wrote a single line of code that downloaded all the public documents to his computer, from which he could search them with ease.

Then the Nova Scotia police raided his house, separated his young siblings from his parents (scooping one off the street as he was walking home from school), and seized all the computers and electronics, including the laptop his father used to earn his living.

It seems that the Nova Scotia government had mixed in at least 700 sensitive, confidential documents in the same open directory where they kept their public documents, and in downloading what seemed liked a collection of public records, the teenager had also grabbed these sensitive documents.

This was, obviously, not his fault -- instead, it was an act of gross negligence on the part of the province.

The teenager was facing 10 years in prison, but the Halifax Regional Police have now backed down, issuing an official statement that "there were no grounds to lay a charge of unauthorized use of a computer."

The police have not returned the family's electronics yet.

The police say that if they had it to do over again, the wouldn't change a thing.

Since the raid, Nova Scotia has admitted that at least 11 other computers accessed the sensitive documents. No one knows who those computers belong to.

https://boingboing.net/2018/05/08/squid-jiggin.html

[dcmidivine]

lofty | alec

alec enjoys some rain, rolls some joints, and has some conversations from home

Alec decided as they opened their eyes, with their first shred of consciousness, that today was going to be a lazy day. They had woken to a heavy sky, rain against the roof, and a bundle of branches scraping along their bedroom window with each rise in wind. Even the constant hum of the slot machines was muted, drowned out by the white noise of the brewing storm. Really, they mused as they pulled on a pair of slippers and padded through the always-open curtains around their room, just throw in a few foghorns and they could be right back in the Maritimes. 

Looking out from the kitchen, the sun was invisible behind the low-hanging clouds. They stretched, checked their phone, and put the kettle on the stove.  6:45am- just past sunrise, though Alec had doubts it was a showstopper this morning, what with the regular colours smothered by the dark sky. 

Tea in hand, grinder in pocket, rolling papers between their teeth, Alec faced the ladder to the loft, tapped their shirt collar for good luck and met skin–– what? Right, they were shirtless. That wouldn’t do. Patiently, they set everything down in a triangle at the base of the ladder to scoop a jacket off the floor and touch that collar. A drowsy sort of calm had draped over the cabin, but bad luck could hide anywhere, and it was worth spending a few extra seconds to perform their morning rituals if it meant preserving the peace. Tychokinesis from their mother and generations of sailors’ superstitions from their father meshed well, they assumed. At the very least, the two had not cancelled out yet. 

- 

Rolling joints was as relaxing as always, but seated by the open window in the loft, watching drops race down the glass, Alec’s thoughts drifted off their usual course. Something about the wind and rain, the endless grey sky, the chill that hung in the air despite the blanket around their shoulders– it all tugged at them with a swell of nostalgia. Not homesickness, no, they had no desire to return. Just an uncharacteristic degree of contemplation. Alec placed the joint down, unfinished. Turning onto their stomach, they rested their chin on their hands, stared over the edge of the loft, and thought of their house in Halifax. The steep staircase they had to climb to reach the top floor and how well it had prepared them for scaling Cabin 15’s ladder. Jane’s weekly insistence that no, Alec, you don’t need to carry all the groceries at once, you’re going to break your neck, can you even see where you’re going?. Jane’s long-suffering sigh when they started taking the steps two at a time to prove her wrong. How they had laughed it off, scampered to their room, left her to put everything away by herself. 

Alec groaned and pressed their hands into their face. This was so not the mood for today, not well before noon. They rolled onto their back, the edge of the loft aligned with their shoulders so they could hang their head and arms fully over and look down at the floor. Huh. Their hair was getting long– they would be able to tie it all the way up, soon enough, if that’s what they wanted. Alec tried to imagine what Bee would say if she saw them now, a few days unshaven and hair sticking up all over the place, which word she would choose. Ruffian? Vagabond? She had called them a vagrant when they sent her a picture of their newest tattoo, acting like she hadn’t paid for a quarter of the art on their body through various gifts, and the memory pulled a smile back to their face. They dragged their phone over to them with one foot, pulled up ‘honey bee’ in their contacts, and pressed call. 

- 

By afternoon the sky remained dark, but Alec’s mood had brightened considerably. The conversation with Bee had been short– they had caught her on her break– but they emerged from it with four funny stories about her regular customers, three fresh movie recommendations, two new vocabulary words (and a partridge in a pear tree, their mind helpfully filled in). They had finished rolling their joint, taken a few lazy drags out of boredom, and fallen headfirst into a rabbit hole of marble-racing Youtube videos on their projector. 

Had the video not ended when it did, Alec would have missed the phone call entirely, the quiet buzzing lost to their sighs of defeat as the lime green marble team they were rooting for came in second place again. As it were, they fumbled through the nest of blankets and pillows that had been building over the course of the day to find the source. They took a hit from their joint and pressed their phone to their ear without a spare glance as to who was calling. “Hm?” Exhaling, they watched the smoke curl towards the ceiling before returning the joint to their mouth so their hand was free to pause the autoplay. Enough marble videos for now– the same tracks over and over again were growing dull. 

“Alec?” It had been so long since their last conversation that Alec struggled to place the voice. The realization hit like a blow to the chest two seconds later and they inhaled sharply, joint forgotten– immediately, they doubled over coughing, the unexpected smoke burning their throat. They dropped it in the ash tray and gulped down some cold tea, eyes watering. 

If Alec hadn’t recognized her voice already, the resulting sigh on the other end of the line was unmistakable. They rubbed their face and put the phone on speaker. “Sorry. Breathed in some water.” 

“Bon,” came the response a few seconds later, flat and unconvinced. “I was worried you had changed your number.” 

The button to hang up was taunting them like a glowing red target, so Alec turned their phone face down before the temptation could overtake them. If it was worth breaking their three-year streak of radio silence over, this call must be important. They could try to hear her out. “Nope. Sorry to disappoint.” They chewed their lip, then added, because they couldn’t help it, “Again.” 

There was another sigh, but the expected admonishment never came. Maybe she wanted something from them– or, they corrected themself (be positive, Alec) maybe this was just as awkward for her. They didn’t need to make it worse. 

“Sorry,” Alec said again, with more meaning this time. They eyed up the still-smoking joint a couple feet away but left it alone, for now. “I just– I dunno, mom, it’s a right surprise hearing from you. Did something happen? Is dad alright? Why’d you call?” 

“Your father’s fine. Here, I’ll–” There was a pause, a muffled exchange in the background, and then their stepmother’s voice again. “He’s busy with work at the moment. Right, anyway, we’re going to be in Halifax next week. Are you at Jane’s apartment still or have you moved into something more manageable? Your father and I are downsizing ourselves you know, this old house is too big for the two of us now that you and your sister are gone.” 

Alec hadn’t known it was possible to be struck dumb and bursting with words at the same time. They swallowed a retort to wait for her to continue with her ‘chat’– she was speaking to them like they had said more than a sentence to each other in the past six years, like their last phone call had been pleasant, like Alec had made a single effort to reach out since they had dropped out of high school and fled New Waterford. Like they were the same kind of gone as Jane.

“Alors, Alec,” Aline continued after a sufficiently awkward silence, more sternly now. “You have some things in your room that you left behind. I’m assuming you won’t come back to get them and it seems a waste to throw them away, so we can drop the boxes off wherever you’ve ended up.” 

“Oh? You’d go through that much effort?” Alec hated the whine in their voice more than they could express. They rubbed their face. 

“Don’t be silly.” Finally, a familiar tone from Aline; the old you have no idea how much patience this conversation is costing me. Alec had never related to her more. “Why would we not? You’re our only child now, Alec, it’s time we–“ 

Beep. There was no sound that could be more satisfying than the silence that followed. Alec exhaled shakily, counted to three, took a steady breath, finally blocked her number. They relit the joint and wandered back to their laptop where the end credits of the marble-lympics video were still paused on screen. Scrolling through the recommended videos in the sidebar, their eyes widened– a marble surfing race? Score.

[jenroses]

So, I thought, I'll dye my hair. I'll be up long enough. That's fine.

But while it was processing, the remote for my adjustable bed disappeared. This gets very awkward to get out of, but I managed without tipping the bed over. Fine, I'll get the remote when I'm done with dye.

So shower... and that's always exhausting for Reasons, but I got most of the dye out (not a bleachy dye, so "most" is good enough for now... and am incredibly wiped, so I sit for a bit. Before I get up I try for a picture of the dye, and discover it's incredibly blotchy...

... but I'm too tired to do anything about it. Whatever. I'm too tired to climb the stairs. So I go back to the bed, to rest so I can get up the energy to climb the stairs. The bed is Not Flat. Right. Find the remote before I can lie down.

I can feel the energy bleeding out of me as I take the bedding apart, pull the bed out, shake out the pillows. No remote. I finally dare to bend over (this is an actual fall/neck risk for me) and sure enough, the remote is under the bed. In the middle.

I'm not going to be able to get it by bending. So I stand up, pull out the bed, get the remote, and take the opportunity to make the bed while it's out (the sheets had popped off the corner which is a tactile nightmare) and then pushed the bed back. Great, right? An Victory.

Keep in mind that I have a setup where the laptop is mounted on an arm over the adjustable bed. To make the bed, I'd tossed the earbuds out of my way.

So, now, way too exhausted to climb the stairs, I pressed the "flat" button for the bed.

But in moving the bed around, I'd pushed it a little closer to the fridge at the head of it. (This is not the bed I sleep in. The bed I sleep in is upstairs, and has my cpap. This is the bed I use for computing so my feet don't swell, next to the kitchen.) The flat button caused the earbuds to get caught between the bed and the fridge, and I watched in slowly dawning horror as the laptop was pulled out of its holder and tipped onto the bed, popping the support clips off and shutting the laptop.

BUT WAIT... I picked up the pieces and lay down, exhausted. Only to find that I only had 3 of the 4 pieces necessary. The other one?

WAS UNDER THE FUCKING BED.

I got up, pulled the bed out AGAIN, got the piece, installed everything, put the laptop back up...

... only to discover that fucking Microsoft wanted me to recover my account for god knows what reason?

Which involved them sending me an email with a code. While locking me out of my laptop access.

UGH FINE. I booted up webmail on my phone even though it's not phone optimized and therefore a pain in my goddamn ASS on a tiny screen to even find where to read the damn thing... dutifully entered the code, and then changed my password.

BUT WAIT... there wasn't an eyeball. And the password I'd entered was a string of dots, with no "make sure it matches!" And I'm tired. And I was careful, but not careful enough, because the next screen, I went to log in... and had the wrong password I thought I'd just typed.

And that, my friends, is when I burst into tears.

And through my tears, did it AGAIN (the whole process, including email), and for some reason this time it DID have the little eyeball for seeing what you actually typed, and I was able to log in.

Microsoft did what all the other nuisances couldn't. It broke me.

And now I'm sitting here 17 years later on Halifax pier, how I wish I was in bed right now.

Yeah, I mean technically I'm in bed but it's not the one I can sleep in because it doesn't have the machine that makes me breathe.

Today? Was not a good day to dye.

[tessetc]

5 Things I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up

Tagged by @the-dubstep-strawberry yo thanks

1. Writer. Partly because my teachers in school told me I would be good at it. But from grade 10 (1994) until Fallout 4, I never wrote a word. I guess I just need a particular post-apocolyptic pair of pretty hot paladins to get inspired. (I know he is the Elder. It’s alliteration. Roll with it.)

2. Sailor. I wanted to be a sailor, travel the world by sea. Ironically, my husband joined the navy, and I got to live by the sea, but the one time I happened to get to go on a day sail I ended up vomiting profusely the entire time. As it happens, I get violently seasick. I get seasick on the Halifax Harbour ferry. I get seasick on a fake boat in a museum. I got seasick in my car parked next to the ocean. The ocean and I do not agree. Which sucks because it’s my favourite ever.

3. Film director. I used to watch the Oscars faithfully every year, and I was really interested in film history and technology etc. But now I just watch movies like a normal person. Except for all the Bollywood. Everyone thinks I am weird for that, and I can’t get anyone to watch them with me.

4. Teacher. I actually went to one year of university with the goal of getting a Bachelor of Arts in Education. I wanted to teach junior high english and social studies. But then I married a sailor, and moved where the school cost twice as much. I regret not graduating but I don’t really regret not being a teacher because as it turns out, other people’s kids really annoy me. I settle for giving my kids really long lectures on whatever topic has just come up, while they try desperately to find some excuse to run away. 

5. Okay, so I didn’t want to be this as a kid, but as an adult, my dream job? It’s so dumb. But I want to work in a laundromat so bad, I can taste it. It’s the perfect job. 1. You just sit and make change and watch TV all day. 2. It smells nice 3. You get to talk to people, but you don’t HAVE to talk to people. 4. You can fold laundry. (If I owned the laundromat I would totally fold the laundry) 5. I would be able to write while I was at work. I would love a nice warm cozy laundromat, where regulars come in, and we chit chat and I type on my laptop. Maybe I sell treats under the counter. I clean the lint traps. There’s the tiny boxes of soap. Honestly, it’s the most perfect job in the history of jobs and I WANT IT

I don’t know who dubs already tagged so: @fancyladssnacks @sharonaw @m-is-for-mungo @charomiami @jeffersonismywintersoldier

[atlanticcanada]

Mountie who recorded Lucki meeting first told investigators tape lost on stolen phone

An affidavit by an RCMP security investigator details how the force obtained recordings of a tense meeting at the centre of allegations of political interference into the Mounties' investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting.

The affidavit sworn Friday by Supt. Jeffrey Beaulac, the RCMP's deputy chief security officer at national headquarters in Ottawa, was released Tuesday by the public inquiry into the April 18-19, 2020, shootings that claimed 22 lives.

The 24 minutes of conversation were recorded on April 28, 2020, during a call between RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and senior RCMP staff in Halifax.

Beaulac said that in June, senior management learned that the RCMP's director of media relations, Dan Brien, had recorded at least part of the call.

"I am informed that on June 24, 2022, Chief Supt. Michael O'Malley was told by Mr. Brien that the recording was done on a personal device and it was no longer available as it was on an old phone that had been stolen," said Beaulac.

He said Brien's direct manager Jolene Bradley also discussed the recording with him and another national communications services manager.

"She was told by Mr. Brien that the recording was done in error and it was not his common practice to record meetings. He stated the call had been recorded on a personal device that he no longer had use of."

Beaulac said he was informed that Brien went on sick leave on July 7 and has not returned to work. He said the RCMP subsequently undertook a security review and an administrative review.

On Sept. 7, Beaulac said the RCMP retrieved two RCMP-issued laptops and one RCMP-issued mobile device from Brien. The devices, RCMP networks, shared drives and work emails were searched beginning on Sept. 13.

"As of today's date, the recording of the April 28, 2020, call has not been located during these searches of the RCMPs technical infrastructure," he said.

Beaulac said a security investigator on Sept. 20 interviewed Brien, who confirmed that he was actually still in possession of the phone he used to record the call. He told the investigator that he had deleted the app used to record the call sometime between the April 28 meeting and this spring due to "space limitations on his phone."

Brien said the recording had not been made on a phone that was stolen from him, but the affidavit says "he may have thought so" in June because he did not remember when the theft occurred.

Brien subsequently agreed to have the phone forensically examined and gave his permission to do so on Oct. 12. The next day, Beaulac said he was advised that three audio files had been retrieved concerning the April 28 call. The commission of inquiry was advised on Oct. 14 and was given the recordings on Oct. 17.

Beaulac said the RCMPs security investigation into the matter is ongoing.

"While the files do not cover the entirety of the meeting, they are a complete capture of what the (Digital Forensic Services) extracted from Mr. Brien's phone," he said.

The recordings did not come to light until September, when RCMP Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan told the federal-provincial inquiry in Halifax that Brien had recorded portions of the meeting.

During the call, Lucki said she understood the police force couldn't release certain details about the investigation into how the gunman killed 22 people during the 13-hour rampage.

However, she said she felt frustrated when she learned the speaking notes used for an RCMP news conference earlier that day did not include basic information about the killer's weapons.

She can be heard saying her desire to publicly share these basic facts was in response to a request she received from a minister's office, though she did not specify which minister or the exact nature of the request.

Opposition parties seized on the comments to suggest the Liberal government was interfering in the police investigation to further its pending gun control legislation, something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2022.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/LlUMSbK

[shizolaptops]

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[barmcakemag]

Halifax Festival of Words talk

This is the talk I gave at the Halifax Festival of Words. It took place in the front room of the Grayston Unity bar (pictured below) last month, just before publication of Barmcake 9. Some of the posters from the talk are also pictured below. Thanks to the festival and bar for having me.

I love this front room.

It sort of reminds me of being a kid, at my grandparents, on Boxing Day.

Some of the family used to get up and do a turn ­– a song, a sketch, a tune.

Among the aunties and uncles was my Great Aunty Mary, who was great in all respects. She was very funny, wrote poetry  –  and was the spitting image of Hylda Baker, (poster below), who I’ll be coming to later.

 I didn’t have an uncle like Lou Reed ­– fortunately.

That would have made Christmas a bit tense.

‘Uncle Lou, you’ve spilt heroin on your roast potatoes again.’

Anyway, I’ll be coming on to the Velvet Underground later as well.

So, I’m Dave Griffiths and I make Barmcake.

The magazine started in April 2014 and the new edition – issue 9 – is out next week.

There are usually two editions a year. I only brought one out last year because I was busy with my other work – I’m a freelance writer, editor, proofreader and journalism tutor.

Barmcake is available free in about 45 venues in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Sheffield, and North Derbyshire. You can also obtain copies by post, if you send a donation.

I write all – or all but one or two – of the articles in each edition. I also design the magazine, edit it, find the advertising, sort the fundraising, promote it, and deliver it.

This afternoon I’m going to be telling you why I make a print magazine in the digital age.

And why I make this particular magazine, which I believe is different from anything else out there.

(I know it’s definitely the only one that offers northern entertainment for the middle-aged.)

I’ll also tell you how I make an issue from scratch.

There are high points about ­making Barmcake – interviewing people like John Cooper Clarke, Viv Albertine, and Ken Dodd.

But there are perils about making a magazine on your own – for example when my computer packed in a week or so before deadline for issue 8 and I had redo the pages from scratch

I’ll also tell you about the money side of things.

I’m happy to take any questions at the end. Although don’t ask me anything about maths. The square of the hypotenuse is worth two in the bush, or whatever.

I’ve been a journalist since 1989.

I’ve worked for all the ridiculously-named weekly newspapers – the Congleton Chronicle, the Biddulph Chronicle, the Ormskirk Advertiser, the Wigan Observer.

I’ve never been a Woodward and Bernstein-type journalist. I used to love doing  golden wedding anniversary interviews – finding out about people’s lives. (The secret for most couples is: ‘Never go to bed on an argument’).

I moved to London in the mid-90s and became a sub-editor. Then I came back up north to Leeds to work for PA New Media’s Ananova website as a sub and writer. It was a really exciting time to be part of a new national media organisation.

At that point the digital world seem to offer limitless possibilities – a chance to hear fresh voices and cover things that didn’t get much attention on a national platform

But as it went on – on Ananova and elsewhere – the choice of topics became narrower and the coverage shallower.

It felt like a missed opportunity and after a few years, I left to become a sub on the Manchester Evening News print edition.

That disillusionment with the digital world fed into the creation of Barmcake. I even stopped doing my own blog, which is a sort of forerunner of the magazine.

I feel websites lack the personal touch of magazines and newspapers. Each edition of Barmcake is yours to hold, to savour, to read how you want. It’s not borrowed on a screen in a clutter of links and dowdy, keyword-heavy headlines.

Print is more personal.

I was reminded of that a few years ago when I was flicking through a paper, turned the page and there was a two-page picture spread of the inside of a doll’s house – with fantastic detail of each room

Now, if that had been a website link – say ‘See the amazing doll’s house, click here’ – I probably wouldn’t have looked at it.

But the photo, text and design on the printed edition stopped me in my tracks.

And it was me who chose to stop and look at it, not a website trying to guide me

Of course, I can’t do Barmcake without digital media.

I can get instant access to performers and venues via their websites and email addresses.

And Twitter is a great promotional tool.

Even the front page of each Barmcake is partially designed that way so it looks good on Twitter.

Crucially, it’s how you use all that information available on the internet.

And I think many websites, magazines and newspapers aren’t making the most of it. They are picking from the same narrow pool of stories.

Meanwhile arts coverage in regional newspapers – with a few notable exceptions – is not as good as it used to be.

Some newspaper bosses are so pleased they can offer the same size newspapers as 10 years ago with half the staff, they forget about the quality of the editorial content.

When I look at some of the free lifestyle magazines in shops and pubs, the editorial content seems to be a shoddy afterthought.

And some website and magazine interviews are written by people who don’t appear to know anything about their interviewees, beyond what the PR company has told them

So that’s another reason why I started Barmcake – I want the articles to be the top priority.

I don’t stint on research ­and writing and rewriting.

For a two-page article in issue 8, for example, I read four books and endlessly wrote and rewrote the article.

They were four books about The Fall so it wasn’t the worst thing ever.

Hashtag firstworldindieproblems

Pete Wylie was another reason I started Barmcake.

I read he was crowdfunding to make a new LP which to me was huge news.

But I couldn’t find much about it in magazines, newspapers and websites.

Now I’ve got Northern entertainment for the middle-aged in my strapline.

But I hate some middle-aged people’s attitudes to new bands, the sort of people who say: ‘Well, of course,  they sound a bit like the Velvet Underground but they are not as good as them – and I speak as someone who has a 23-minute out-take of John Cale whittling a spoon.’

But having said that, there are artistes aged 40 and upwards  – like Pete Wylie  – whose work is either being ignored or under-appreciated, while some fairly dull, conservative, twentysomething bands are lauded to the hilt, merely because of their age.

I also felt audiences aged 40 and over were being ignored by many websites and magazines – the sort of people, for example, who might live in West Yorkshire but travel to gigs or comedy shows in Sheffield and Manchester (hence my circulation area).

People who like a nice real ale pub, a good book and trips to theatres and galleries.

Those were the subjects I wanted to write about.

Plus I wanted to provide a decent listings service.

I used to love looking at City Life and Time Out and picking out gigs I wanted to see.

Can you do that on the internet? Not really, unless you want to wade through lists of venues or dates of gigs.

Barmcake is also a reaction against magazine shops like Magma and websites like Stack and Magculture.

They only consider design-led, rather than text-led, magazines (spoof trendy mag, above).

Their view, unfortunately, seems to dominate the indie-mag culture.

The Magma magazines are beautiful, for sure, but slightly formulaic – lots of photos, lots of white space.

Some of the articles can be slightly sterile and desperately in need of an edit.

I was brought up on 80s NME and Sounds with writers like Steven ‘Seething’ Wells and his  hectic, hectoring, hilarious prose, which is completely at odds with something you’d read in, say, Monocle.

Word magazine and Forty-20, a rugby league magazine, are other influences as they put – or did put in the case of Word – witty text first, before the design.

So a year before I left the MEN, I was thinking about going freelance and starting a magazine.

I went on a Guardian course about how to make one.

I wanted to know if I could make a magazine on my laptop and how much it would cost.

But the course wasn’t particularly helpful about either the basics of making a magazine or the money side of it.

And I realised I had a lot to learn when I went to a printer in Manchester after I went freelance.

I wanted someone to guide me about the basics of the printing process.

At the MEN, you simply had to press a button to send it to the printers. The page sizes, colours, etc were all set up for you.

So I came bounding into the shop, all enthusiastic, to be met by this spectacularly miserable bloke.

I said: ‘I’m going to make my own magazine and I was just wondering what I need to do.’

He said: ‘How many pages?’

‘Er..I don’t know, about 35.’

Shakes head: ‘You can’t have that number. What type of paper do you want?’

‘Er…I don’t know, just standard magazine paper.’

‘What sort of paper do you want for the front?’

‘Er…I don’t know.’

‘Do you want colour or black or white?

‘A mix of colour and black and white.’

‘Which pages are colour?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

I left the shop with my tail between my legs; my hopes not exactly crushed but dented.

Fortunately, I discovered the Footprint Workers Co-operative in Leeds who were very helpful and answered all my daft questions with patience.

I can definitely recommend them if you are starting your own magazine or fanzine.

So I had an idea of what I was going to cover (music, comedy, pubs, theatre, books. film, art).

I had an idea of how I was going to write it (make the writing as good as it can be, keep the articles short)

I wanted to target an over 40s audience living in and around Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester, (although I don’t mind who reads it -– I’m not going to tell a youth with a fashionable beard to ‘put the Barmcake down sunshine’)

I wanted to keep the design simple and retro (the headlines are meant to look like 70s sitcom credits).

And I wanted to make it as cheaply as possible – so I would do all or most of the writing, as I couldn’t pay anyone else, and I would deliver it.

I found a free design program (called Scribus) and I only use publicity photos or photos that I take myself.

I don’t charge for Barmcake because I want to get the magazines in the sorts of pubs, cafes and independent shops where people like to read books, newspapers and magazines.

In these sorts of places, most of the other magazines and newspapers are free.

Keeping it free also means less hassle for the owners of the pubs and cafes – no separate pots of money to keep etc.

I wanted a funny northern word for the title and Barmcake fits the bill.

There’s also the ‘You starting a print magazine in the internet age? You Barmcake!’

‘Northern entertainment for the middle-aged’ gives some idea of what the magazine’s about, but it is not entirely serious.

I don’t want to go down the professional northerner route:

(Hovis voice):‘Eeeeeeeh, we’re all right friendly in t’ north.

‘London? They never speak to anyone.’

I’m always up for challenging northernness, because let’s face it – some of the world’s most miserable people are in Yorkshire!

I also didn’t want to get stuck in a straight, white, indie, male, middle-aged rut where The Smiths, The Fall or Half Man Half Biscuit can never be criticised.

And where it would  be blasphemous to suggest that Temptation by Heaven 17 is better than Temptation by New Order.

Barmcake is A5 because I wanted something that people can fit in their pocket or bag when they are out and about and it only costs a first class stamp to post a copy.

Apart from postage, my other costs are printing and petrol.

So I need to find about £850 for each issue.

Initially I used some of my voluntary redundancy money from the MEN and money from my other work to pay for the magazine.

I started seeking advertising from issue 2 onwards.

My advertising revenue has gone up from £60 in issue 2 to £630 in issue 8.

It will be more than that in the new edition.

I feel that if you give people something to read, then they don’t just flick through the magazine and so they are more likely to see the adverts.

I am pleased that plan appears to be paying off.

But, it’s tricky balancing the amount of time you spend on editorial and advertising.

On some issues, I’ve left the advertising a little too late because I wanted to get the editorial right.

But, if I spend too much time on the advertising, I may get more ads in the short term, but I won’t keep the advertisers in the long term as the quality of the magazine will drop.

I set up a Paypal account for donations, which you can access via my website, and that brings in between £150 and £200 per issue, so I was more or less able to cover my costs for the first time for issue 8.

I also sent some copies to Australia for the first last time.

However I’d like to bring in more money through donations.

So I’ll go through how the magazine has developed over the years.

Here are some bits from Issue 1 (above).

That issue had interviews with Cud, the Wedding Present, the director of a Frank Sidebottom doc, and the Revolutions Brewing Company owners, among others.

Features included Maxine Peake, a pub crawl on the Tour de France Yorkshire route, and Alan Bennett.

I did ask for interviews with Maxine and Alan.

With Alan, Faber and Faber gave a curious response – not no, but: (Alan Bennett voice): ‘Mr Bennett is aware of your interest.’

(I like to think everyone at Faber speaks with an Alan Bennett accent).

I was hoping perhaps that they were giving him potential material for his diary.

That would be the dream for me: (Alan Bennett voice): ‘I used to be contacted by the Guardian, but now it’s only bread-related magazines.’

In general I find about 75% of people I contact agree to interviews.

I was excited to get the first issue out.

There were 1,000 copies for that, it’s been 1,500 copies from issue 2 onwards

There was a good response to Barmcake 1 – the title, strapline and the front cover probably made the biggest impact.

But in hindsight I felt the interviews were too short and there were too many, fairly ordinary, one-page previews.

I addressed those issues for Barmcake 2 by making most of the interviews two or three pages long and sticking about 6-7 previews on two pages at the back – and that’s been the format ever since.

So issue 2 (above) had interviews with Viv Albertine, Pete Wylie, Age of Chance, Steve Huison, among others.

My friend Richard wrote about why Otley is better than Prague for beer.

He has also done Bluetones and Skids interviews in other issues.

My friend Roshi has written about David Bowie and Count Arthur Strong.

And Prue, my wife, has interviewed Bryony Lavery and done a piece on the theatre company she co-founded – Root and Branch Productions (more northern entertainment for the middle-aged).

I’ve only used one feature from a writer I didn’t know as I want to be in a position to pay people for their work.

 Viv Albertine was one of my most important interviews I’ve done for Barmcake.

It’s one of the most popular pieces with readers and it encouraged other artistes to get in touch.

I thought her book was one of the best memoirs/autobiographies I’d read, yet many of the reviews concentrated on the Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious anecdotes and didn’t focus enough on her fascinating life.

She answered my questions within a day (some people take nearly 2 months) and I was really chuffed she’d taken the trouble to give such interesting answers.

For example I asked her: Was punk the only time she’d come across so many strong and interesting characters?

She said: “God no.  Those people weren’t that strong and interesting.  Vivienne Westwood was.  

“We were all very flawed.  But at least we didn’t hide our flaws, we flaunted them.  

“I would say it was the only time in my life when you were allowed to be yourself, not smiling and saying thank you all the time.  

“Not greasing the wheels and aspiring and careerist.”

 The Ken Dodd interview, from issue 5, in 2016 was also a highlight.

Here’s an extract:

He was fizzing with jokes and anecdotes.

When I mentioned I was from Huddersfield, he immediately recited a limerick about the town involving udders.

He told me an interviewer once asked if Dodd was his real name and he told him it was an anagram.

While I took that in, he’s onto the next joke.

I was also fascinated with how works an audience.

He said: “You play an audience like a musician plays his instrument.

“You know where the hotspots are, you know where you’ve got to work hard on them when they’re a bit stubborn, you know where to flirt with them, where to encourage them, and where to take it easy.

“You put little ad libs in, little asides, go faster, slower, louder, quieter, take it easy.”

 So it was great to interview Ken and it was great to interview John Cooper Clarke for the same issue.

The interview was difficult to set up but turned out well.

I was meant to be interviewing him at a gig in Buxton but my car broke down and I couldn’t get to the gig in time on the train.

The angle I went on was his accent – whether it was the most important thing about his work and whether living in Essex for 25 odd years had affected it.

Here’s an extract:

“Accent? I don’t think it’s at all important. It’s what the work contains.

“I don’t think the accent’s got anything to do with it.

“I think vocal quality might have something to do with it, as in musicality.

“Listening to my old stuff it sounds like I’ve got a problem with my adenoids, and it can’t be that because I had my adenoids removed when I was about eight-years-old.

“To be honest, I think my voice is better than it’s ever been.

“But that’s not because of the accent, it’s because of the sonorous baritone quality.”

And of course, I can’t think of anyone else who says ‘sonorous baritone quality’ quite like John Cooper Clarke – stretching the vowels and punctuating the words so they got a real rhythm., He makes run-of the mill words sound magnificent.

Issue 3, (above), had interviews with, among others, John Shuttleworth, John Bramwell, O’Hooley and Tidow, the organiser of the Glossop Record Club, and Professor Paul Salveson, who talked about railways and northern regionalism.

The latter is an example how I’ve occasionally moved away from my core subjects as I think it would interest readers.

In issue 7 I interviewed the marvellous Beers Manchester blogger who wrote about dealing with grief after his son died.

And in issue 8 I talked to Rosie Wilby who has written a really interesting book about monogamy.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about Barmcake is finding out about wonderful artistes I didn’t know much about, like O’Hooley and Tidow, and looking into topics I’ve not really thought about much, such as non-monogamous relationships – and record clubs.

Glossop Record Club was the first of the groups or people I featured from Twitter.

I noticed the people who started following me were doing some interesting and unusual stuff.

In other issues I’ve done features on 8bitnorthxstitch, (pictured below) who makes fabulous cross-stitch creations of bands such as The Fall and TV shows such as Coronation Street

There’s Beer Mat Movies, who writes film reviews on beer mats

And Jennifer Reid, or as she calls herself, the pre-eminent broadside balladress of the Manchester region.

 In Issue 4, I decided to make a few tweaks to the structure with a picture-led centrespread and a bigger listings section.

I don’t want the magazine to date so my listings look up to four months ahead.

The listings are usually the first and last thing I do in the magazine.

I look at every gig venue, theatre, and gallery website in my circulation area, looking for potential star interviews, cover stars and centrespreads.

I listen to bands I’ve not heard of before who are playing at these venues.

Artistes are also contacting me now and I use three or four stories an issue from them

Once I get two or three big interviews, the rest of the magazine falls into place.

I feel it’s a bit like organising a festival – you need headliners plus strong supporting acts.

And once I get the headliners, I start looking for advertisers.

I have a mix of regular and new advertisers.

I then ask all my stockists, I ask local brewers and some businesses who follow me on Twitter.  

Most of my interviews are by email, the rest are phone interviews although I did one face-to-face chat with Martin Parr.

There is always a mad panic at the end of each issue , either because of a missing interview or ad, but all you can do is politely grovel with people to please, please, please in send the material.

As it’s just me making the magazine, there are no back-up features, no IT team to deal with technical problems, such as converting pdfs to jpgs.

Fortunately I’ve always managed to fill an issue in the end.

Once I’ve written and rewritten my pieces, I go back and check everything – the original source material, fact checks, spell checks.

The issue is then proofread by Prue and then by one of our friends.

I don’t want a daft literal or incorrect name to undermine the magazine, especially as Barmcake takes about two months to do, on and off, between my other work.

My printer then gives me a final proof before it goes to press and I get it back within a week.

The new Barmcake is due out midweek next week.

I like to do a big reveal on the day of publication but I can tell you it is the biggest Barmcake ever, with 9 exclusive interviews, more than any before, and 5 features – including Hylda Baker.

It takes me four  days to deliver the copies.

I cover an area bordered by Wigan, Ilkley and Sheffield.

The list of venues is on the website, although it will change slightly over the next few days. Venues ask to be stockists and readers also recommend places.

I keep about 300 copies back for people who want a copy in the post, and for friends and media people.

Then I do a Twitter promo campaign for about 2-3 weeks.

I only put one article per issue online and I only do that months after the issue comes out.

In February, I start on a new issue.

It will be the fifth anniversary issue and a chance to take stock.

Ideally I’d like to be making more money for it, getting regular sponsorship from a suitable partner, and in the long term looking to pay others to write.

But anyway, that’s the story of Barmcake.

I hope you have enjoyed it

[kayla1993-world]

Sabina Abilova and Andrii Koziura sit at their basement apartment's dinner table, laptops open, looking for work to help them pay their rent.

The Ukrainian newcomers arrived in Toronto just a few weeks ago, looking to escape the conflict in their country, and have been burning through their savings as they're faced with the high cost of living in the city.

Housing costs are becoming one of the most pressing issues for Ukrainian newcomers arriving under a national federal program announced in March that allows them to work or study in Canada for three years.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Abilova and Koziura were on vacation in Argentina. The couple decided to apply for a visa to Canada because Abilova's sister already lived there as a student eight years ago.

Being accepted into the program was relatively simple, but getting information and assistance with issues such as housing, public transportation, and employment has been difficult.

Abilova and Koziura now live in a two-bedroom basement apartment in west Toronto with Abilova's mother and 13-year-old brother, who already had visitor visas for Canada before the war began.

They pay $2,000 in rent per month and are currently relying on savings to pay for their expenses, Koziura says.

While looking for work, the couple has applied for a $600 monthly social support payment from the Ontario government and a one-time $3,000 expense from the federal government, he says.

Koziura, 27, says he used to work as a software product manager in Ukraine and is hoping to find a job in his field.

Ihor Michalchyshyn says housing is the number one challenge facing Ukrainian newcomers, especially in Ontario.

Federally funded settlement agencies are not technically permitted to assist Ukrainian newcomers with housing because those arriving under the unique program are not recognized as refugees.

His organization and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants wrote last month to Sean Fraser, calling on him to allow settlement agencies to use federal funds to support the housing costs.

Michalchyshyn says his organization has also been pushing for income support for Ukrainian newcomers.

A spokeswoman for Fraser says the federal government has a program that provides Ukrainian newcomers with the one-time financial assistance of $3,000 per adult and $1,500 per child.

The unique program for Ukrainians has the advantage of being open to an unlimited number of people, but it does not include the assistance that government-sponsored refugees typically receive.

Michalchyshyn says the housing situation for Ukrainian newcomers is more challenging in Ontario than in other provinces. The average monthly rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto was $2,133 in June, data from Rentals.ca showed, compared to $1,538 in Montreal and $1,669 in Halifax.

He claims that Ukrainian community groups, such as churches, community agencies and organizations, are looking for host families, vacant apartments, and emergency shelter spaces.

Monte McNaughton, the minister in charge of immigration, says his department collaborating with other government agencies and municipalities to assist those Ukrainians.

According to the federal government, 55,488 Ukrainians arrived in Canada between Jan. 1 and June 26.

The government says it received 343,283 applications under the new program for Ukrainians between March 17 and June 28, and 146,461 were approved.

[ccshalifaxcanada]

Computer Sales Online In Halifax- How to Find the Right Deal

Looking for computer sales in Halifax? You can find some reputed suppliers offering computer sales online. Find a reliable online shop carefully. 

In this digital era, owning a computer in everyone’s hand is a common thing. From business to personal use, computers have evolved as solutions for every imaginable human activity. Even people are so accustomed to the world of megabytes and gigabytes, RAM and CPUs, etc. Therefore, people are choosing the computers so carefully, be it Desktop or laptop, iOS vs. Windows.

When buying your required computers online, you just need to tell them your needs and they will customize the computers to meet your specifications and budget. Also, they will answer all your queries regarding their services.  

No matter what is the purpose of owning a computer, be it checking emails, surfing the web, gaming, video editing, graphic design, or running a business, you will get the exact specifications as per your needs easily. 

Tips to find computer sales online in Halifax-

When buying your computers online, there are certain factors you need to consider-

You should not go with online discount stores, swap meets or online auctions. They are not reliable and you won’t get the best quality for your money although they provide cheap deals. Therefore, hire an online shop carefully that ensures product quality.

Are you contemplating buying a laptop computer? You must check the battery power. Laptops are portable to carry everywhere either on the road on in the air. Therefore, make sure how long the battery will last. Ask the supplier about the standard battery usage life. A professional online supplier will give you all the details. 

The computer's display is yet another important consideration. Your laptop computer’s screen should be large enough to suit your needs. You can find also a smaller screen at an affordable price. Remember that your laptop should have at least a 12" or larger screen.

Do not forget to focus on the hard drive on the laptop. Usually, the basic work of hard drives is to hold all of your files and information. And you will need an additional drive when if your drive fills up soon. Therefore, choose a hard drive that comes with plenty of memory so that you will not run out of space. This will be a great solution for you. Especially, business or office workers need more space. 

Also, the modem and network card are important to consider. Make sure these things are included or not. 

Make sure you get proper documentation of your laptop computer. This is will give you a satisfying online shopping experience. It includes how to use the machine, what comes with the computer, how the computer can be upgraded in the future, and so on. You should check these things carefully when buying. Also, check whether the warranty will cover both hardware and software or not.

The aforementioned tips will help you in making an informed decision. Choose the best deal that fits your requirement. Finding computer sales Halifax? You can visit our website.

[imjustthemechanic]

The French Mistake

Part 1/? - A Visitor Part 2/? - The Kulturhistorisk Museum Heist Part 3/? - Cutscene Part 4/? - The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Now that our heroes have figured out what’s going on, the next question is what they’re going to do about it.

“Well done,” Steve said as they headed for the trailers, amused in spite of himself.

Nat smiled.  “I don’t get to do full-tilt diva very often,” she replied.

“You just enjoy watching people who hate you have to put up with you anyway,” Steve said.  He’d done some of that during the war, with the generals and politicians who hated that this musclebound fool in a costume was showing them up.  It did make him feel powerful.

“Everybody enjoys that,” Nat said.  “It’s the evil queen in all of us.”  She chose one of the RVs at apparent random, and grabbed the door handle.  “This one’s yours.”

“No, it’s not ,” said Steve.  The sign on the door had the same name as had been highlighted on the front of the script: Chris Evans.  It was a very nondescript name, Steve thought, like John Smith.  Or, for that matter, Steve Rogers.

“Considering that Mr. Evans is probably picking himself out of the remains of the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo right now, I think he’s got other things to worry about than who’s in his trailer,” said Nat. “You can tell him we borrowed it, if that makes you feel better.”

“I’ll do that,” Steve promised.

Nat opened the door.

The first thing Steve saw was the dog, which had stood up on its hind legs to rest its paws against the inner screen.  When Nat opened that second door to climb the steps and go inside, the dog bounced out past her to greet Steve.  It was a floppy-eared, brown and white animal of indeterminate breed, and like most of its kind it seemed to have recognized Steve immediately as a dog lover.  He knelt down to rub its head and neck, and the dog wagged its tail and lolled its tongue out happily.

“Hi, there, boy,” said Steve.  “Or girl.”  He held out a hand for the dog to sniff.  It licked his fingers, and with his other hand, Steve found its collar rand tag.  “Dodger,” he read.  “Nice to meet you, Dodger.  Did somebody leave you here all alone?”

“Steve!” Natasha called from inside.  “Come and take a look at this.”

“Coming,” said Steve.  He straightened up and gave Dodger’s head a few more pats.  If this were Chris Evans’ dog, he thought, somebody was going to have to take care of it until its owner returned.  Evans might be badly injured, or even under arrest – if he looked so much like Steve that nobody had noticed the two switching places, right now he was probably telling a SWAT team that he wasn’t Captain America. They probably didn’t believe him.

With Dodger right behind him hoping for more affection, Steve climbed the steps into the trailer.  The first room was a kitchen that was practically the size of Steve’s entire apartment in 1940s Brooklyn, and it was a mess, with dishes in the sink and half a bowl of cereal uneaten on the table.  Script pages were scattered around, and books and magazines on the American space program – but the first thing to draw Steve’s eye were the photographs taped to the cupboards.  Some of these were of strangers, but many appeared to have Steve himself in them. If that were Chris Evans, then yes, the resemblance was absolutely uncanny.

Some of the pictures were probably of Evans’ family and friends.  Others were perhaps from his movies.  There was a photo of Evans standing next to an astonishingly tall black man, both of them smiling.  A picture in which Evans was bundled up against winter cold and looked like he’d just been beaten black and blue, but beaming as he posed with a younger man and a very schoolmarm-ish looking woman.  There was, of all things, one of those ridiculous Doritos bags Stark had found so funny, framed on the wall as if it were a work of art.

Then Steve’s stomach seemed to drop out and hit the floor with a splat, as he moved further along the cupboards and started finding people he knew.

There was a picture of himself, Natasha, and Sam in street clothes, grinning and laughing.  Worse, there was one of Steve, Bucky, and Peggy in uniform, leaning on the counter of that café in northern Italy in 1944… where had some actor gotten that?  Another was of Peggy making a face and pointing at a smiling Steve, both of them with twenty-first century clothing and hair and looking directly into the camera.  Yet another was of Steve, Stark, and T’Challa with their arms around each other’s shoulders like they were all best buddies, standing against a background of advertising images.  Steve didn’t remember any of those pictures being taken. Some of them could not possibly have been taken, because the people in them were dead!

“Steve!” Natasha repeated.

“Nat, have you seen this?” Steve asked. Whatever she was calling him for, it couldn’t possibly be as distressing as what he’d just found.

“Steve,” she insisted, “have you seen this?”

When Steve tore his eyes away from the impossible photographs, he found that Nat was in the living room, at the front of the trailer.  This was built around a fake fireplace that was really just a television screen playing video of burning logs.  Steve had never understood the point of such a thing, since it didn’t keep anybody warm and couldn’t be cooked on in an emergency, but there it was – and hanging above it were three framed movie posters.

These were done in what Steve recognized as an old-fashioned style by the standards of the twenty-first century.  Modern posters tended to go in for teal and orange and a lot of photoshop filters.  These were in watercolours, and were for separate but related films: Captain America: the First Avengers, Captain America: the Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War.  Each bore a list of actors’ names, but the portraits were of people Steve knew.  There was himself, Peggy, Bucky, Natasha, Sam, Stark… even Pearce and the Red Skull.

There had been Captain America films, of course. There were the ones Steve himself had been in, and then there’d been a couple more made by Howard’s Stark Pictures in the late forties and early fifties, starring Burt Lancaster, Ronald Reagan, and Angie Martinelli.  There’d also been the two terrible made-for-TV movies from the early eighties, in which Steve had been played by a guy who looked like his name ought to be Bolt Vanderhuge or something, and who was, if possible, a worse actor than Steve himself.

The last few years had produced more recent Avengers-themed movies, too.  There’d been that one with Eric Bana as Dr. Banner, and the Battle of New York movie The Tower, which everybody seemed to have hated except for Dr. Foster’s friend Darcy.  The team had watched those, and had a good laugh at them.  These were different.  The faces were too perfect, and the titles suggested events uncomfortably close to the last several years of Steve’s life.  Anybody making movies about that was doing so without his permission.

“Those… aren’t real movies, are they?” asked Steve, taking in the lists of names on each.  He recognized none of them.  If these were actors they were none he’d ever heard of… or most of them weren’t.  He did see the one from the trailer door.  Chris Evans.  His own apparent doppelgänger.

“They’re not real movies in Kansas,” said Natasha thoughtfully.

Steve turned his head to look at her, and found her in her ‘thinking’ pose, head cocked and brow creased.  After a moment, she caught his eye, and took a deep breath.

“This is going to sound weird,” she warned him.

“Weird?”  He snorted. “What’s weird?  We were just in Oslo fighting an alien who thinks he’s a god, and now we’re making a movie.  I don’t know what weird is anymore.  Tell me.”

She didn’t, though.  Instead, she stood there thinking a moment longer, then looked around the room.  “Find me a computer or a cell phone,” she said.  “I want to try something.”

They searched the living room, which was neater than the kitchen but only slightly, with Dodger doing his best to help and mostly getting in the way.  Underneath a pile of magazines Steve found a laptop.  When he turned it on a password screen popped up, but Nat got them past that easily, and Steve sat down on the ottoman and brought up google.

“All right, what am I looking for?” he asked.

“Museum of cultural history explosion,” Nat said, leaning on his shoulder to watch.

Steve typed in the terms, slowly – SHIELD had gotten him lessons in touch-typing, but right now his fingers, like everything else, were clumsier than normal.  The search engine thought for a moment, then presented a list of results.

To Steve’s surprise, none of them were about what had just happened in Oslo.  Never mind that it had been less than an hour ago, in this age of instant communication and constant media presence, an event like that ought to be all over the news. Instead, the first page of links was mostly articles about an exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which was being taken to task for neglecting black history.

“Try Avengers in Oslo,” Nat suggested.

Steve tried it, and read off the first result that came up.  “Oslo – Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki,” he said, and clicked on the link.

The article that came up was in white text on a black background surrounded by ads, and it was very brief.  The first paragraph discussed the paganist riots, which were something Steve vaguely remembered hearing about, although he’d been busy elsewhere at the time.  The second part of the article was about Stark’s visit to the NEXUS, and it quoted a conversation Steve remembered having with Stark, Banner, and Fury about Ultron’s attempts to launch nuclear weapons.  The men’s names were all highlighted in blue – they were links to other pages.  Steve licked his lips, then clicked on his own.

Nat leaned a little further forward, and this time it was she who started reading aloud.  “Captain America is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics,” she said.

“What?” Steve asked.  “Fictional?”

“Scroll down,” said Nat, and when he didn’t, she put a finger on the touchpad and did so herself.  “Here we are!  In Other Media.  Actor Chris Evans portrays Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films Captain America: the First Avenger, The Avengers… yadda yadda yadda.”  She kept scrolling through a list rather longer than the three movies whose posters were on the wall.

“What?” Steve repeated.  When he’d first awakened, back in 2012, he’d learned that a lot of people did assume Captain America was a fictional character – somebody invented for comics and old films as an embodiment of the optimistic allied war effort.  Five years later, after Steve had been on the news, the Ellen Degeneres show, and that stupid Doritos bag, they ought to know better.

“I was right,” Nat said, sounding uncharacteristically surprised by it.  “Huh.”

“What were you right about?” Steve asked.  “What’s going on?  Whatever it is, it can’t possibly be any weirder than this already is, so just tell me.”

Nat reached over his shoulder and clicked on one of the movie titles, apparently just out of curiosity.  “Are you familiar with the idea of parallel universes?” she asked.

Steve had heard the phrase.  It was something Stark and Banner occasionally talked about, but he had only a very vague understanding of the concept garnered mostly from movies and television.  “That’s where there’s an alternate world where things happened differently, and it somehow exists at the same time and place as our world, but we can’t get there.”

“Right,” said Natasha.  “Supposedly there’s an infinite number of them, where all possibilities happen.  There’s a world where we lost in New York and Loki now rules the planet, there’s a world where Ultron destroyed the earth…”

“If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working,” Steve pointed out.  “We’re in another universe?”  Could the tesseract do that?  Well, if this were actually happening, then yes, evidently it could.

“Loki said he would find another planet to rule,” said Nat.  She found the cast section of the article on The Avengers, and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to write down the names.  “I figured he was talking about a different planet.”

“I didn’t stop to think about it,” said Steve. Though if he had, he would probably have come to the same conclusion.  “He went to a universe where we’re fictional, so we can’t stop him from taking over.”  That made a certain amount of sense, although in that case… wouldn’t Loki himself be fictional, too?  How did the people of this world know what to put in their movies, if those events had never happened here?

“Maybe – maybe we all ended up here by accident when Thor broke the rune stone,” said Nat.  “So if you and I are the actors who played Captain America and the Black Widow in these movies… although I don’t know why they’d name the movies after you when I’m the one who does all the hard stuff…” she added with a smirk.

“Thanks, Nat.  That means a lot,” said Steve.  He could guess where she’d been going with the first part of that statement, though. “If we’re here, we can assume that Thor and Loki must be, also, while the Steve and Natasha from this world… I mean…” he looked up at the central poster. “I mean Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson…”

“They must be in our world,” Nat agreed.

Steve had already assumed that, but now he started seriously contemplating what it meant. “Getting arrested for breaking into the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo,” he said.

“And then handed over to the World Security Council for taking on a supervillain without the permission of the Norwegian government, in non-compliance with the Sokovia Accords,” Nat agreed, with a grimace of concern.

“All while they insist that they’re not Captain America and the Black Widow, they just play them in movies!”  Steve groaned.  That was a very bad situation indeed.  “All right, how do we fix it?”

“That,” Natasha said, “is a very good question.”

[atlanticcanada]

'It's such a huge anxiety for them': Maritime students return to online learning after extended holiday break

Classrooms and playgrounds were empty at public schools throughout the Maritimes on Monday, as students returned to learning online after their extended holiday break.

Concern over the COVID-19 Omicron variant has meant the first day back-to-school has marked a return, not to classrooms, but to remote learning.

Parent Lorena Forrest says getting her eight-year-old daughter, a French immersion student, back online wasn’t easy.

She says because of staffing shortages at schools due to the virus, there was less support for families and their children on this first day back.

“It’s such a huge anxiety already for them,” she says. “Trying to get prepared to go onto this platform that they don’t really know how to navigate themselves.”

On top of that, the single mother is now trying her best to support her child, while at the same time self-isolating as best as she can, after testing positive for COVID-19 Sunday.

“We're both vaccinated, but still my concern is being so close to her when I know that I’m not well.”

For many caregivers, remote learning is a balancing act between work and home.

“We had to choose who was going to stay home based on who makes the most money,” says parent of three, Cassidy Bellefontaine.

That means Bellefontaine is at work at a Dartmouth pharmacy, while her partner is staying home with the kids. Two of her children are of school-age. Bellefontaine says she knows not being at school has had an emotional effect on her sons.

“It’s the socialization,” she says. “They’re so used to being at home, that they just, that's what their normal is now, and that's scary for being five and seven.”

Families in the Halifax area who don’t have options when it comes to staying at home are getting support from the YMCA of Halifax/Dartmouth.

The YMCA is running a free program for kids called the “Y School”, giving children the space to physically distance, wear masks, and yet still be with their peers, while online learning.

The program also provides laptops, Wi-Fi and educational support at the same time.

Chief Development Officer Lorrie Turnbull says the program, which is taking place at two YMCA locations, is accommodating about 100 students for the week.

“Parents needed something to help them out during this time, so this is what we did, we pulled this together inside of 24 hours,” says Turnbull.

College and university campuses on the east coast are also quiet. Most post-secondary students in Nova Scotia aren’t expected to resume in-person classes until later this month. Some, such as Dalhousie University in Halifax, are waiting until Jan. 31 to bring students back for on-campus lectures.

“I don't think anybody's surprised that we've landed here, given the state of COVD,” says Dalhousie Faculty Association President David Westwood. “But everybody I think was really hoping to be back face to face for so many reasons.”

Saint Mary’s University (SMU) in Halifax is currently scheduled for in-person learning to resume Jan. 24.

The president of the SMU Students’ Association says students are managing as best as they can.

“The transition from online to in-person to back online can be quite exhausting,” says Franklyn Southwell. “But we're just doing the best we can to provide all the resources that students need and encouraging students to continue to follow public health protocols.”

As for when public schools will shift back to in-person learning, students in New Brunswick are expected to learn online for the next two weeks, after which the province will review the situation.

In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward island, the current plan is to return next Monday, Jan. 17.

Some parents in Nova Scotia say they aren’t sure that will happen as planned.

“I don’t know how I feel about whether or not I want it to happen,” says Cassidy Bellefontaine. “I don’t think we will until we get the kids vaccines up or the boosters rolling out.”

“I hope we can find a new normal to make parents’ lives just roll a little bit easier,” she adds.

The idea of children going back into the classroom also makes Forrest anxious.

“To say that I’m ready for her to go back into the school next week just like that, too, would be a lie,” she says.

Forrest hopes solutions to staffing issues and COVID-19 safety in schools can be addressed.

“I would rather her be in school, she misses her friends and her teachers, but is it safe? Not 100 per cent. Do I worry? 100 per cent,” Forrest adds.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/3neurUG