All posts by The Silo

Porsche Factory Customization Is Limitless

September 6, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Porsche is well known for a love of details and colours. And if the normal option list just isn’t enough, the experts from Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, Porsche Classic and our Sonderwunsch programme are happy to help.

In this article we will cast the light on some of the recent special editions and look at the illustrious career of Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche, who celebrated his 20th anniversary with the brand.

As if that wasn’t enough, two extraordinary events took place recently.

While the Formula Student Germany brought together top students and motorsport enthusiasts, Porsche once again attended the Gamescom in Cologne, the world’s biggest trade fair for computer games.

Something extraordinary does not just happen somehow, somewhere. It happens at a very particular place. Hand-crafted. With experience. With passion. And through the inspiration of customers. Experts in their profession pass on these ideas and the personality of the buyers to the vehicle – and thus make a Porsche your Porsche.

What starts with special paint colours and a stylish leather interior can be topped with one-off cars from the Sonderwunsch department. Here, the highest level of customisation has been offered for more than 70 years. There are technically no boundaries other than the specific budget and the existing rules and regulations to get road approval for the vehicle in the country of the respective buyer.

The Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur is also responsible for special edition models that are either offered worldwide like the new 911 Turbo 50 Years** or only for a specific market like the Taycan Turbo K-Edition***.

Let’s have a look at some of the recent special editions.

911 Turbo 50 Years** (with Heritage Design package)

During the recent Monterey Car Week in California, Porsche celebrated the debut of the new 911 Turbo 50 Years** edition to mark the 50th anniversary of our top-of-the-line sports car.

911 Turbo 50 Years** (with Heritage Design package)

Paying tribute and reinterpreting the Turbo heritage

The 911 Turbo 50 Years** anniversary model is based on the 911 Turbo S**** introduced in 2019. It pays a special tribute to and reinterprets this heritage:

Limited 911 Turbo 50 Years** edition to just 1,974 units worldwide in honour of the year in which the first 911 Turbo made its debut.
When it was introduced in 1974, the Type 930 Porsche 911 Turbo shifted the boundaries of what was possible. It brought the benchmark turbo technology from the 917/10 and 917/30 racing cars into a production sports car with superior performance and combined it with a unique design and unprecedented day-to-day usability.
Combining outstanding performance and the finest materials with exclusive design elements, the 911 Turbo 50 Years edition is available with an optional Heritage Design package. Those who prefer a minimalistic look can dispense with some or all of the graphic elements on the outside.
The standard side vinyl graphics are a nod to the historic livery of the Porsche 911 RSR Turbo presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1973, itself a forerunner of the 911 Turbo*****.
It features the current Porsche Turbo-exclusive colour Turbonite, which makes its first appearance on a 911. Turbonite is also used on inlays in the rear engine cover, the fuel tank cap and in the Porsche crest. It is also being used as a contrasting colour in the Turbo 50 model logo.

One of the further highlights of this year’s Monterey Car Week was the premiere of a one-off car based entirely on the personal vision of designer and Speedster collector Luca Trazzi.

He made his dream of a 911 Speedster come true via the Sonderwunsch programme.

“In this form, and with this vast range of modifications, the 911 Speedster is our first Factory One-Off for an end customer. This one-off car shows what’s possible with our Sonderwunsch programme – based on a classic Porsche 911 from 1994.” Alexander Fabig, Vice President Individualisation & Classic at Porsche

It took more than three years to create this one-off car based on a 911 Carrera Cabriolet (Type 993) from 1994.
The two-seater with the characteristic rear lid underwent comprehensive technical modifications.
Out of passion, Trazzi designed what this model might look like. He wanted the project to unify the stylistic elements of all previous Speedster models.

Taycan Turbo K-Edition***

Next to special editions, the Sonderwunsch department and Porsche Exclusive are also working together with teams of specific Porsche markets to create unique editions only offered to customers there.

One example is the new Taycan Turbo K-Edition***, which is heavily inspired by Korean culture. It marks the 10th anniversary of 포르쉐코리아 / Porsche Korea and is available in five different exterior paints from the ‘Paint to Sample’ programme.

Designed exclusively for the K-Edition, a unique logo is based on the shape of a historical royal stamp. Within this symbol, the name ‘Taycan’ is written in traditional Korean characters.
The Style Porsche designers have also integrated a racetrack into the abstract representation of the logo and the specialists in the Sonderwunsch team hand-paint this logo in a high-gloss black onto the charging port door on the driver’s side.
Another unique selling point of the K-Edition is a special skyline graphic, created in close collaboration with Porsche Korea. The silhouette combines the characteristics of Korean cities, buildings and landscapes. It is also hand-painted in high-gloss black on the rear spoiler and the key housing.
Elsewhere on the car, the graphic is also milled into the front door entry guards (which are made of brushed black aluminium) and is revealed when the door sills are illuminated.
Inside, the skyline logo is embossed in the lower part of the leather dashboard on the passenger side.

Taycan Turbo K-Edition***

911 S/T****** in Dani Blue

Some customers contact their Porsche dealers with special requests. Often, they would like to order a new car in a colour not offered in the current sample. If it is a paint from an earlier Porsche model, many of those can be found via the ‘Paint to Sample’ programme.

But sometimes an owner would like to have his or her personal colour of choice – maybe inspired from jewelry, a model car or just from imagination. This is where the Sonderwunsch team comes in with its ‘Paint to Sample Plus’ programme, as in the case of Porsche enthusiast Jorge Carnicero

As part of the Porsche Sonderwunsch programme, a comprehensively customised 911 S/T in Dani Blue****** has been created.
During the configuration of his 911 S/T, Carnicero asked the colour experts at Porsche to create a special blue that would suit the sporty, puristic character of the limited anniversary model.
The colour concept of the exterior is carried on in the interior, where it strikes a balance between the sporty, puristic S/T look and high-quality individualisation. The most striking feature is the tricoloured pepita pattern on the seat centres.
The sports car collector from the US state of Kentucky named the colour exclusively developed for him after Colour & Trim designer Daniela Milošević.

“Giving the paint my nickname is an overwhelming sign of gratitude for me and my work,” Daniela Milošević, Colour & Trim designer

911 S/T****** in Dani Blue

The hybrid design process at Porsche

With all these special models, did you ever wonder how the vision of a new Porsche actually becomes reality?

Innovative software – from the gaming sector, for instance – supports Style Porsche during the design process. But even in the age of digitalisation, our design department still values the design quality of classic sketches and labour-intensive clay models very highly. Along the path from vision to reality, the designers combine the best of both worlds.

Figure of the month:

20 years: That’s how long Michael Mauer has shaped our design as Vice President Style Porsche.

Continuity is an important aspect of the company philosophy at Porsche. As a luxury brand, Porsche is not about constantly inventing new things, but rather continuously refining things that are already good.

Last month, from 12 to 18 August, the international construction and design competition Formula Student Germany (FSG) took place at the Hockenheimring.

Racing teams from 20 different nations competed against each other. After intense months of preparation, the teams competed in the electric vehicle (EV) class and the so-called Driverless Cup (DC). The best overall package of design and performance as well as financial and sales planning is what counts.

911 GT3 RS*******

Porsche was also on site this year to exchange ideas with the young talents. Employees from some of our specialist departments and recruiting not only cheered on the students, but also advised them on career opportunities at the Porsche Careers stand.

“As Porsche, we have been involved in Formula Student for many years and have access to many talented engineers of tomorrow. The students put a lot of heart and soul into preparing for this competition. We experience an impressive team spirit.” Lena Siegle, Employer Branding

Porsche is therefore cooperating with racing teams from the following universities: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), RWTH Aachen University, Technical University of Munich, Hochschule Esslingen – University of Applied Sciences, DHBW Ravensburg, DHBW Stuttgart, University of Stuttgart (Porsche Engineering).

As a special highlight of the cooperation, Porsche invited its sponsored racing teams to the Porsche Experience Centre (PEC) at the Hockenheimring during the competition. A barbecue in a relaxed atmosphere provided the opportunity to talk to the experts from our departments and our recruiters.

“The dialogue with the students was extremely valuable for us. Getting to know their wishes and needs and meeting them at eye level at such events is essential for our work.” Sandra Knittel, Recruiting Young Talents

JOIN THE PORSCHE FAMILY: Interested in joining Porsche for an internship, thesis or dual studies? Find all our current vacancies here: https://porsche.click/NLStudents

Macan Turbo Electric********

With more than 300,000 visitors, Gamescom once again was the biggest get-together for the worldwide gaming community. For the second time, we were present at the trade fair with our own stand. At our exhibition space in Hall 9.1, visitors could dive into the world of the popular game Overwatch 2®.

“At Gamescom, we have created a special multi-sensory experience of the game with a special Porsche touch for the community to enjoy.” Deniz Keskin, Head of Brand Management & Partnerships

In the spring of 2024, we cooperated with game developer Blizzard Entertainment® for the first time on the successful Overwatch 2®. For the duration of Gamescom, the digital Porsche package was once again available in the game, with players being able to use it to equip the characters D.Va and Pharah with skins inspired by Porsche.

Further, our recruiting colleagues were also present with an additional careers stand on site to advise you about our dual study program, our apprenticeships, as well as other career opportunities.

Consumption data

* 911 GT3 (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 13.0 – 12.9 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 294 – 293 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

** 911 Turbo 50 Years (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 12.5 – 12.3 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 283 – 278 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

*** Taycan Turbo (WLTP): Electrical consumption combined: 20.5 – 18.0 kWh/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 0 g/km; CO₂ class: A; Status 09/2024

**** 911 Turbo S (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 12.3 – 12.0 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 278 – 271 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

***** 911 Turbo (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 12.3 – 12.0 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 279 – 271 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

****** 911 S/T (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 13.8 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 313 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

******* 911 GT3 RS (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 13.2 l/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 299 g/km; CO₂ class: G; Status 09/2024

******** Macan Turbo Electric (WLTP): Electrical consumption combined: 20.7 – 18.9 kWh/100 km; CO₂ emissions combined: 0 g/km; CO₂ class: A; Status 09/2024

Art

Mandalas- Buddhist Art Of Tibet Coming To The Met

September 5, 2024 The Silo 1 Comment

A mandala is a diagram of the universe—a map of true reality that in Tibet is used to conceptualize a rapid path to enlightenment.

September 19, 2024–January 12, 2025

Upcoming at The Met Fifth Avenue in Galleries 963–965

This exhibition explores the imagery of the Himalayan Buddhist devotional art through over 100 paintings, sculptures, textiles, instruments, and an array of ritual objects, mostly dating between the 12th and 15th centuries.

“Tibetan Dharma drum, one of the eight dharma instruments of Tibetan Buddhism, is one of the dharma instruments in Tibetan Buddhism. There are many kinds of dharma instruments, such as big drum, bronze drum, waist drum, crank drum, jie drum and gapala drum. Mainly used in buddhist celebrations, religious festivals, living Buddha sitting on the bed, kaiguang ceremony and other major festive activities. The drum hammer of a crank drum is bent, like a bow.

The drum is about one meter in diameter. When chanting, the lama holds the drum handle in his left hand and hits the accompaniment with a crank drum hammer in his right hand. Kala drum, also known as “zama ru” in Tibetan, is made of wood, ivory and human skulls. The falbala is played with the diamond bell.” rugrabbit.com

This dazzling visual experience provides a roadmap for understanding Himalayan Buddhist worship through early masterworks, juxtaposed with a newly commissioned contemporary installation by Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol.

From emmanuelgallery.org- “Tenzing Rigdol’s imposing buddha silhouettes greet the viewer in their recognizable cross-legged seated positions—a posture often associated with meditation and peace—and with a stunning visual effect enhanced by the use of silks and fire imagery. The work brings vivid colors and interesting patterns to the eye, but the fires seemingly emerging from the bodies of the buddhas are also direct acknowledgements of the 155 Tibetans who have self-immolated since February 27, 2009.

In an ultimate act of sacrifice, these Tibetans set themselves on fire with the hope of bringing attention to the oppression currently faced by their society under the laws of the Chinese government. And yet, the buddhas seem peaceful, even welcoming in their balanced postures, their calming presences perfectly harmonized by an artist well-versed in representing both destruction and construction.

The contradictions on display are meant to challenge the viewer. They are simultaneously safe and subversive: beautiful to look at, devastating to comprehend. They are emblematic of this ambitious imagery created by Tenzing Rigdol, a Tibetan artist who has never set foot in Tibet.”

The Met exhibition is made possible by the Placido Arango Fund and Lilly Endowment Inc.

Additional support is provided by the Florence and Herbert Irving Fund for Asian Art Exhibitions and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Reviews

Ultimate Integrated Amplifier Has It All

September 4, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Boulder, Colorado, September, 2024 – PS Audio now offers its Stellar Strata MK2 integrated amplifier, with updated features including a moving-magnet/moving coil phono stage, a built-in improved high-resolution DAC, a Class A analog preamp stage, a headphone output, 150 watts of output power, and more.

Paul McGowan, PS Audio CEO noted, “The Stellar Strata MK2 significantly improves upon the original Strata concept of providing a superb-sounding, versatile high-end integrated amplifier. Designing the Strata MK2 gave us the opportunity to implement our latest technical advancements in an all-in-one audio component that offers exceptional sound, has an attractive, compact design, and is easy to use.”

Analog enthusiasts can now enjoy the benefits of superior vinyl playback, thanks to the PS Audio’s Stellar Strata MK2’s new moving magnet/moving coil phono stage. Two stereo pairs of MM and MC RCA phono inputs are provided, plus two RCA and XLR line-level inputs. The Strata MK2 features fully balanced analog preamplifier circuitry.

It’s equally flexible in accommodating digital sources.

The Strata MK2’s built-in DAC can deliver up to 384kHz digital audio (depending on the source), with native DSD capability up to DSD256. The Strata MK2 includes one optical and two coaxial digital inputs, plus asynchronous USB and two I2S inputs. For headphone listeners, the Strata MK2 offers a top-quality Class A headphone amplifier.

The DAC utilizes PS Audio’s exclusive Digital Lens technology to deliver extraordinary sound quality from any digital source. All digital signals are fed in native mode into the DAC’s proprietary Digital Lens, which recognizes the sample rate, re-clocks the data, reduces jitter, and applies other processing.

The Stellar Strata MK2 is fully balanced from input to output, for extremely transparent, detailed sound quality and ultra-quiet operation. Its Class A preamplifier stage features PS Audio’s exclusive analog Gain Cell variable-gain volume circuitry, which eliminates the sonic degradation that can be caused by conventional volume controls.

A high-current, Class D hybrid output stage with exceptional linearity delivers 150 watts of power (into 4 ohms), to ensure that the most delicate musical details are faithfully conveyed, as well as the most complex orchestral crescendos.

Also available in black.

The PS Audio Stellar Strata MK2 offers a number of additional performance and convenience features. It’s digital filter for PCM sources allows the listener to choose between three settings, to tailor the response to personal preferences and program sources. The Strata MK2 also provides balance and phase controls (the latter for digital sources), input trim for each source, a headphone volume trim control, a USB port for potential future firmware upgrades, and a trigger output.

The PS Audio Stellar Strata MK2 integrated amplifier is currently available in a choice of silver or black finish at a US manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $3,499 usd/ $4,727 cad. Only available via official dealers near you. For the Silo, Frank Doris.

Stellar Strata MK2 Features at a Glance:

Class A balanced analog Gain Cell preamplifier
Moving magnet/moving coil phono stage
Full-function DAC to accommodate up to 384kHz digital audio and native DSD up to DSD256
Three single-ended and balanced analog inputs; moving magnet and moving coil phono inputs; digital inputs including two coaxial, two I2S, optical, and USB (asynchronous to 384kHz)
Digital Lens technology Digital Lens re-clocks incoming data to reduce jitter and provide additional sonic advantages
150 watts per channel into 4 ohms, 100 watts into 8 ohms; high-current Class A hybrid output stage
Built-in Class A headphone amplifier
5- 15-volt trigger output for connection to other A/V system components
21 lbs., 17″ wide by 2.8″ high by 13.5″ deep

Art

Clement Greenberg’s The Avant-garde And Kitsch

September 2, 2024 The Silo 2 Comments

Art is, or it should be, about more than simply making marks on a surface or manipulating materials into pleasing–or indeed displeasing–shapes…. perhaps the avant-garde or kitsch. A true artist benefits immeasurably by knowing about the history that has created the universe they traverse.

Ever wonder what all that academic talk is that curators like to use so much? Do you find it pretentious or worse?

Art Theory informs in so many ways, tracing the paths that have led to a particular moment or movement. A foundational understanding of the schools of thought, the histories, the thinkers who have wrought the ground you stand on as an artist today enriches not only your own mind but your work as well.

One such thinker who made a significant impact on the art world in the 1940s was Clement Greenberg. In 1939, Greenberg published one of his seminal works Avant-Garde and Kitsch. The essay not only launched Greenberg to nearly overnight notoriety, it also sparked a major development in the art world as a whole.

The essay begins with the following statement:

“One and the same civilization produces simultaneously two such different things as a poem by T.S. Eliot, and a Tin Pan Alley song, or a painting by Braque and a Saturday Evening Post cover. “

Click on the following scan to open the full essay in PDF form-

PDF Greenburg Essay Avante-Garde and Kitsch — Click me to read full essay.

Greenberg goes on to classify Avant-Garde as those things that are untouched by the decline of taste and meaning in a society (a poem by T.S. Eliot or a painting by Braque) while Kitsch is the title bestowed on the rest of the clutter that appeals to the masses and asks nothing in return other than their money (a Tin Pan Alley song or a Saturday Evening Post cover).

The Portuguese-Georges Braque-1911.

For Greenberg, Avant-Garde situated itself outside the influences of both capitalist and communist influences that were gradually dampening society’s ability to appreciate any depth of meaning.

Greenberg wrote several other important essays over the course of his life and career. He was a strong proponent of Modernism being the last best hope for the preservation of integrity in art. Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning were among those he deemed the saviors of art in their time.

Understanding who Clement Greenberg was and why his influence matters is just one piece of the complex puzzle of being a well-rounded artist. There are libraries worth of books out there that will break down every bit of art theory and history you ever need to know.

Of course, who has time to read all that? How can you know where to begin? Who and what are some of the most important influences that have shaped the art world as it stands today and how are you meant to sort them out from the crowd? For the Silo, Brainard Carey.

Fashion

Canadian Numi Transformative Bamboo Undergarments

August 31, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

It may only be the start of September but we Canadians know that the days are indeed growing shorter.

As we approach Fall and Winter (sorry!) and the weather starts becoming cooler, one of the best ways to layer is using Numi’s bamboo undergarments and basics under your clothing.

“Originally on the market as Nudy Patooti, this brand launched in 2013 and quickly changed its name to better reflect their customer base. Focusing on sustainability, peace, and kindness, Numi works with women for women. Each detail of design is done to make life easier for the working gal.

Founded by Michelle Shemilt, this company was born out of necessity. As a former equity trader, Shemilt was tired of losing her work clothes to sweat and deodorant stains that affected every top. Rather than shell out the money for constant dry cleaning, Shemilt went to work on a solution to benefit not only her but other working women who suffered the same issue.

Alongside a pro-woman mission, this brand also works for the world. Sustainability is a core goal for the company that works solely in eco-friendly fabrics and practices, Numi wants to leave a mark on their customers, but not the planet.” honestbrandreviews.com

The secret to layering, even in Fall and Winter, is to look stylish, not bulky.

Because their innovative collection consists of ultra-soft bamboo, you can seamlessly layer your fall fashions and holiday outfits in a multitude of ways. If that isn’t enough their transformative undergarments wick away sweat before it becomes an embarrassing stain or damages your clothes.

Each piece is made with high tech fabric that absorbs perspiration and protects your outfit to keep you feeling fresh as you go between any kind of event such as from the office to holiday parties. A Numi undergarment will get your favorite clothes back into regular wardrobe rotation while offering perks such as extending the life of your clothes, creating less laundry, lowering drying cleaning costs, and helping to regulate your body temperature.

Undergarments feature patented Sweat-Secret Technology, a high performance fabric in the underarm area to absorb moisture to help you stay dry and comfortable and your clothes clean.

Numi’s basic tees and tanks are also super comfortable essentials for layering, loungewear and sleepwear, and are perfect pieces to have in your wardrobe as the weather gets colder.

Both lightweight and stylish, their garments and undergarments will keep your body feeling fresh and fabulous underneath everything from your weekend sweaters to work silk blouses to holiday party dresses.

Transformative Highlights

Keep clothes clean and like new longer
Prevent embarrassing sweat stains from ruining an outfit (and your day)
Comfortably smooth the figure without being constrictive
Patented fabric technology absorbs and whisks away moisture from the body
Organic bamboo regulates body temperature, keeping you cooler when warm and warmer when cool (perfect for fall layering!)
Save money by not having to dry clean as often and save time by reducing laundry
Eco-friendly: made of organic bamboo and sustainably manufactured in Canada

Great for all shapes and sizes.

Fitted and ultra-soft, you can choose from a variety of classic feminine styles to keep you comfortable and worry-free during the weekends, in the office, or anytime! For the Silo, Katie Guest.

Culture

UK Style Convictions For Online Posts Possible In Canada

August 30, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Several individuals in the UK have been sentenced to prison for posts they made online as authorities crack down on recent protests that led to race-motivated crimes.
The laws that were used for the arrests in the UK compare as strikingly similar to Canadian laws dealing with online speech, including both existing legislation and the proposed Bill C-63.
Why It Matters: Bill C-63, which has received second reading, significantly changes the laws governing online content in Canada.

“It’s alarming that the bill [C-63] enables individuals to anonymously file complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against those they deem to be posting hate speech. If found guilty, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal can impose fines of up to $70,000 cad and issue takedown orders for the content in question.

“If the courts believe you are likely to commit a ‘hate crime’ or disseminate ‘hate propaganda’ (not defined), you can be placed under house arrest and your ability to communicate with others restricted.” revolver.news

Via eurocanadians.ca/ The People’s Choice by Sean Adl-Tabatabai: The Trudeau government has introduced a potentially Orwellian new law called the Online Harms Bill C-63, which will give police the power to retroactively search the Internet for ‘hate speech’ violations and arrest offenders, even if the offence occurred before the law existed. This new bill is aimed at safeguarding the masses from so-called “hate speech”.

Revolver.news reports: The real shocker in this bill is the alarming retroactive aspect.

Essentially, whatever you’ve said in the past can now be weaponized against you by today’s draconian standards. Historian Dr. Muriel Blaive has weighed in on this draconian law, labeling it outright “mad.” She points out how it literally spits in the face of all Western legal traditions, especially the one about only being punished if you infringed on a law that was valid at the time of committing a crime.

Dr. Mureil Blaive-Historian & Researcher Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

The Canadian law proposal is outright mad. It is retroactive, which goes against all our Western legal tradition, according to which you can be punished only if you infringed a law that was valid at the time when you committed a crime: “And it isn’t just stuff you’ve posted after the new law comes into force you can get into trouble for – oh, no – but anything you’ve posted, ever, dating back to the dawn of the internet. In other words, it’s a gold-embossed invitation to offence archaeologists to do their worst, with the prospect of a $20,000 cad reward if they hit paydirt. The only way to protect yourself is to go through all your social media accounts and painstakingly delete anything remotely controversial you’ve ever said.”

“Although, that won’t protect you from another clause in the bill – and this is where it trips over into as yet unimagined dystopian territory. If the courts believe you are likely to commit a ‘hate crime’ or disseminate ‘hate propaganda’ (not defined), you can be placed under house arrest and your ability to communicate with others restricted. That is, a court can force you to wear an ankle bracelet, prevent you using any of your communication devices and then instruct you not to leave the house. If the court believes there’s a risk you may get drunk or high and start tweeting under the influence – although how is unclear, given you can’t use your phone or a PC – it can order you to submit regular urine samples to the authorities. Anyone who refuses to comply with these diktats can be sent to prison.”

By externalizing the defense of free speech to the right and extreme right and by endorsing repression, the liberal left is playing a very dangerous game here. For those of us who are NOT on the right and extreme right, this is rather disheartening… The left is actually shooting itself in the foot and will come back whining, ‘amazed’ that ordinary people are so ‘ungrateful.’ Indeed it seems to have forgotten that the rule of law implies to solve disagreements in the voting booth rather than by silencing those who disagree with us. How can it hope to get the support of the public for this insanity?

An online X user recently shared that his wife wrote a letter to every Canadian MP concerning this chilling bill, and only one MP responded. He posted MP Rachel Thomas’s reply, which many are now calling one of the most insightful and well-crafted summaries on this alarming issue.

theMitchio:

My wife wrote to all Canadian MP’s about our opposition to the Online Harms Bill C-63. MP Rachael Thomas of Lethbridge is the only one who wrote back … It is the best written summary of issues I have seen yet. Long, but here it is…

“Thank you for writing to me regarding Bill C-63, the Liberal’s latest rendition of their online harms legislation.

While the federal government has touted this bill as an initiative to protect children, it does little to accomplish this noble cause, and a great deal to inhibit freedom of speech. Permit me to outline the bill in more detail.

There are four key parts to the bill: Part 1 creates the Online Harms Act; Part 2 amends the Criminal Code; Part 3 amends the Canadian Human Rights Act, and Part 4 amends An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service. I will focus on the first three parts of the bill in the rest of the letter.

Part 1: The bureaucratic arm will consist of three entities: the Digital Safety Commission, Digital Safety Ombudsperson, and Digital Safety Office. These new offices are made up almost entirely of Cabinet appointees and are given powers to receive and investigate complaints concerning harmful content, collect data, and develop more regulations. The Chairperson of the Digital Safety Commission would be voted on by Parliament. The Digital Safety Commission may investigate complaints and hold hearings regarding violations of the Act. The commission may act with the power of the federal court and may authorize any person to investigate compliance and non-compliance.

Penalties for violating an order of the commission or hindering anyone they authorize depend on whether a regulated service or individual commits the violation. The maximum penalty for a violation is not more than 8% of the gross global revenue of the person that is believed to have committed the violation or $25 million, whichever is greater. Cabinet and the Digital Safety Commission can make further regulations concerning the Commission’s powers and financial enforcement (fines).

Setting up a bureaucratic arm will do little-to-nothing to protect children. The last thing our system can handle right now is a stack of new complaints. It can’t even handle the existing ones.

Part 2: Bill C-63 creates a new hate crime offence that will make any offence under the Criminal Code, or any Act of Parliament, an indictable offence and punishable to life in prison if the offence was motivated by hatred. A definition of ‘hatred’ is introduced in s. 319(7), which is defined to mean ‘the emotion that involves detestation or vilification and that is stronger than disdain or dislike.’ s. 319 (8) includes the clarification that the communication of a statement does not incite or promote hatred, for the purposes of this section, solely because it discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends.

Furthermore, the bill increases the punishment for an offence in s. 318 (1), advocating genocide, to imprisonment for life. The current punishment is up to 5 years. The bill also increases the punishments for offences in s. 319 (public incitement of hatred, wilful promotion of hatred, wilful promotion of antisemitism) from up to 2 years to not more than 5 years.

Alarmingly, a peace bond is created for ‘fear of hate propaganda offence or hate crime.’ This will allow a person to seek a court-ordered peace bond if they reasonably fear that someone will commit a hate propaganda offence or hate crime against them in the future. If you’ve watched the movie “Minority Report” you know how scary this is.

Part 3: The bill reinstates Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which empowers officials at the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to make subjective determinations as to what forms of expression constitute hate speech, and they may also decide on remedies including fines. This will allow any individual or group in Canada to file complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against users who post ‘hate speech’ online, with an accused facing fines of up to $50,000.

The legislation defines hate speech as content that is “likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of such a prohibited ground.” In other words, the content doesn’t necessarily have to directly express vilification; it only needs to be assessed as “likely to” vilify someone by a human rights tribunal. Section 13 is a punitive regime that lacks procedural safeguards and rights of the accused that exist in criminal law. Truth is no defence, and the standard of proof that will apply to Section 13 is “balance of probabilities,” not “beyond reasonable doubt,” as exists in a criminal case.

As you have rightly pointed out, Parts 2 and 3 of this bill are a direct attack on freedom of speech and will have a significant chilling effect as people fear the possibility of house arrest or life in prison. Margaret Atwood has gone so far as to say that C-63 invites the possibility of revenge accusations and the risk of “thoughtcrime.”

Furthermore, its alarming that the bill enables individuals to anonymously file complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against those they deem to be posting hate speech. If found guilty, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal can impose fines of up to $70,000 and issue takedown orders for the content in question. Additionally, the tribunal is granted the authority to shield the identities of complainants and prohibit defendants from disclosing this information if uncovered. In essence, accusers of hate speech will have their identities safeguarded, while those accused face significant financial penalties.

Common-sense Conservatives believe that we should criminalize and enforce laws against sexually victimizing a child or revictimizing a survivor online, bullying a child online, inducing a child to harm themselves or inciting violence. Criminal bans on intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfakes, must be enforced and expanded. Conservatives believe that these serious acts should be criminalized, investigated by police, tried in court, and punished with jail, not pushed off to a new bureaucratic entity that does nothing to prevent crimes and provides no justice to victims. We will bring forward changes to the Criminal Code that will actually protect children without infringing on free speech.

Thank you again for writing to me, and please accept my best wishes.

Warmest regards,

Rachael Thomas
Member of Parliament for Lethbridge”

https://twitter.com/theMitchio/status/1781296423096508791?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1781296423096508791%7Ctwgr%5Ebf03932a9029c261939ea0d9a9ff9324defb9051%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurocanadians.ca%2F2024%2F05%2Fcanada-to-imprison-anyone-who-has-ever-posted-hate-speech-online

Art

Inuit Artwork On Display At South Korean Art Biennale

August 29, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Six Inuit and three Korean artists have been selected to share their drawings as part of a Canadian pavilion during the 15th annual Gwangju Biennale in Korea. It’s the first Canada-Korea collaboration of its kind and is a feature of the 2024-2025 Year of Cultural Exchanges between the two nations.

It’s the second time Inuit artists from West Baffin Cooperative have shared their artwork at the biennale, and builds on the growing relationship between Kinngait Studios and its counterparts in Gwangju, Korea.

Kinngait Studios

Earlier this year, West Baffin Cooperative hosted two Korean cultural delegations in Toronto, Ottawa, Iqaluit, and Kinngait. During the visits they learned more about each other’s cultural practices and found a genuine fascination about the places in which each other respectively live.

Those preliminary cross-cultural exchanges served to inform this year’s pavilion, which ultimately led to the exhibition’s main theme that explores definitions of home.

In some cases, interactions between the artists were observational, about landscape, climate, or traditional attire. Other conversations were more nuanced, about linguistics and speculations around ancient Asia-Arctic migration. There were also intimate moments between the two groups, including demonstrations of identity through cuisine; exchanges of maktaaq and kimchi, palauga, and soju.

Maktaaq- a traditional food of Inuit and other circumpolar peoples, consisting of whale skin and blubber.

There were also political discussions about the still complex and often strained relationship between the government of Canada and Inuit people and those paralleled histories in Korea.

The exhibit features a set of six framed drawings taken from the 2023 pavilion, as a nod to the previous exhibition and a collaborative lithography commissioned for this project.

Seol-a Kim Art Installation (via instagram )

The six Kinngait artists include: Saimaiyu Akesuk, Shuvinai Ashoona, Qavavau Manumie, Pitseolak Qimirpik, Ooloosie Saila and Ningiukulu Teevee. The three participating Korean artists are Sae-woong Ju, Joheum Lee and Seol-a Kim. For the Silo, Paul Clarke. Featured image- 핏설악 퀴미르픽, 무제(고향과 또 다른 장소들), 2024, 종이에 잉크 Pitseolak Qimirpik, Untitled (Home and Other Places) 2024, ink on paper.

Transportation

Rethinking Canada Tariffs On China EVs

August 28, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Via friends at C.D. Howe Institute. A version of this memo first appeared in the Financial Post.

To: Canadian trade watchers
From: Ari Van Assche
Date: August, 2024
Re: Canada’s Electric Vehicle De-Risking Trilemma

With the recent wrap-up of Ottawa’s month-long public consultation on levying tariffs on electrical vehicles (EVs) made in China, let’s paraphrase a story Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman once used to explain the often under-appreciated benefits of free trade:

Consider a Canadian entrepreneur who starts a new business that uses secret technology to transform Canadian lumber and canola into affordable EVs. She is lauded as a champion of industry for her innovative spirit and commitment to Net Zero. But a suspicious reporter discovers that what she is really doing is exporting Canadian-made lumber and canola and using the proceeds to purchase Chinese-made EVs. Sentiment turns sharply against her. On social media, she is widely denounced as a fraud who is destroying Canadian jobs and threatening national security. Parliament passes a unanimous resolution condemning her.

Going the other direction: China is Canada’s third largest destination for agricultural products.

This story underscores a critical dilemma that should have been central in the public consultations.

Those opposing tariffs argue that trade is a potent yet undervalued tool in our fight against climate change: It provides Canada access to low-emissions technologies at increasingly affordable prices, which is essential for transitioning society away from carbon-intensive energy sources. In contrast, those in favour are concerned about supply security, fearing excessive reliance on our biggest geopolitical rival for low-emissions technologies. They warn against swapping the West’s age-old energy insecurity in oil for insecurity in the supply of critical minerals and EV batteries.

The $70,000 cad Polestar 2 EV produced by Volvo. In 2010, Geely Holding Group a Chinese automotive group bought Volvo.

Copilot AI

“As of now, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) market is making strides globally, but in Canada, the landscape is still evolving: Tesla Model Y and Polestar 2: While not exclusively Chinese, the Tesla Model Y (which is produced in China) and the Polestar 2 (a subsidiary of Volvo, which has Chinese ownership) are currently the most prominent Chinese-made EVs available in Canada. These models have gained attention due to their performance, range, and brand reputation¹.”

I examined some of the national security issues that have surfaced in the discussion surrounding supply chains for low-emissions energy technologies like EV batteries in my recent C.D. Howe Institute report.

After examining the various de-risking policies governments have implemented, including their downsides and unintended consequences, I conclude Ottawa probably should develop de-risking policies.

But it needs to apply them judiciously, prudently and rarely. And it needs to justify them with credible, detailed evidence regarding concerns about supply security and whether domestic industry really would be able to compete if market conditions were fairer. This will be important in upholding Canada’s reputation as a leading proponent of the rules-based multilateral system.

China’s role in the supply chains of low-emissions energy technologies does raise real security concerns. China has established near monopolies in several critical minerals and other components of EV batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. No ready alternatives are produced in other countries. For example, 79 percent of global production capacity of polysilicon, which is key for solar cell production, is in China. The next biggest producers, Germany and the United States, have difficulty competing with China’s high-quality, ultra-cheap polysilicon.

China’s monopolies create chokepoints that could enable its government to manipulate production to pursue its own geopolitical ambitions.

Precedents exist: China blocked rare-earth exports to Japan in 2010 and banned exports of rare-earth processing technology in 2023.

Several countries have started adopting de-risking policies to reduce their reliance on these Chinese chokepoints, usually either onshoring or friendshoring. Canada’s recent Critical Minerals Strategy is typical. It was designed in part to reduce this country’s dependence on foreign-mined and processed critical raw materials by, among other things, allocating $1.5 billion to support Canadian critical minerals projects related to advanced manufacturing, processing and recycling.

But these de-risking policies come at a cost.

Ottawa needs to carefully navigate a “policy trilemma” as it strives to formulate a policy agenda that simultaneously targets three goals: Advancing security, promoting low-emissions energy adoption, and capturing the benefits of trade for consumers and businesses.

Proposed steep tariffs on Chinese EV imports provide a good example of the trilemma.

They may well safeguard security by protecting a domestic production base. But they could discourage the uptake of EVs, which are already experiencing a slowdown in sales. Moreover, such unilateral action against China could escalate geopolitical tensions, thereby generating new risks, including Chinese retaliation. The path to effective de-risking is clearly fraught with trade-offs and requires careful navigation.

There is scant evidence that China is on its way to becoming a near-monopoly in global EV production itself, but it may seek to benefit from its near-monopoly in key inputs. The ultimate question that the government should answer is, therefore, whether the security concerns regarding these chokepoints, and more generally China’s willingness to compete fairly under these conditions, justify the costs and risks of higher tariffs. The burden on Ottawa is to provide concrete evidence to that effect before imposing an inherently costly tariff on Canadians.

Ari Van Assche is a professor of international business at HEC Montréal and Fellow-in-Residence at the C.D. Howe Institute.

Fashion

Recycling Sweats From The Already Recycled

August 27, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

The other day I was sorting out clothes for the Canadian Diabetes Association’s clothing pickup, when I came across recycled, and then again recycled, sweat shirts. Some people save egg cartons, bottles, margarine containers, and old tins, (the list is endless) for recycling. These items could be saved for themselves; curbside recycling pickup; or for friends’ projects. I save old and used arms and legs cut from sweat shirts.

This material is soft, and easy to sew together in new combinations- injecting creativity into a new favorite sweatshirt .

I keep a box in the basement of sweat shirts arms, a second box for legs and the third box is for cuffs, buttons, necks, waist ties and emblems. While watching T. V., I would cut off arms at the shoulders, and legs from the belt line. I would ask friends and family for their used sweat shirt tops and bottoms. “Don’t throw them away,” I would plead. “I will come over and pick them up!” For myself, I find the cuffs on my sweat shirts become frayed quickly. I would replace them with cuffs from the third box. I would cut off the cuff and then reattach the “new” cuff I had taken from the third box by stretching the material, pinning and inserting it back into the cuff.

This whole process could also be done for replacing thinning areas on the arms. I now have created a “new/used” sweatshirt. Mixing up the colours of the cuffs and arms allows me to change the colours, and replace worn areas. Try putting white arms into a red sweat shirt. Red and white—you are truly Canadian!

You have probably had many a spill on the front of your favorite sweat shirt.

I find that these stains never come out. (Forget it. I’ve tried and tried). From the third box, I would retrieve an emblem cut from another sweat shirt like a sporting team, golfing logo, or a bit of prose. This emblem can be sewn on a front of a sweat shirt to cover up those impossible stains that never wash out. Bravo! You now have a “new/used” sweatshirt.

When you get tired of your creations, repeat the process. This recycling can go on forever.

When you think you have had it with these extra “cut parts,” drop them off at a thrift store. They can be used again by other people for their creative projects. Try giving them as gifts, or at a garage sale under “Unique Clothing.”
Now that the arms, cuffs, fronts, and emblems have been taken care of, let me address the legs. Take one old sweat pant, and cut off the legs, one inch below the crotch.

Sew them up by hand, or on a sewing machine across the bottom of both legs. From the leftover leg material, cut strips the length you need, and sew attaching them to the waist, (criss-crossing is the best way) to make straps shoulder or hand lengths. Fantastic! You now have a purse or recyclable bag for purchases depending on the size of the sweat pants used. Try sewing a change purse using a saved drawstring from a collected waist tie.

pursemadefromrecylceddenimgentlemanbroncosesque — *Here is a kitschy purse made from recycled denim.*

It costs nothing but your time and creative effort. Any left over leg material is now scrap material. This scrap material can be used for kitchen wash cloths, furniture dusters, or something I love to do, wrapping scrap pieces around a sponge mop. It’s a great way to get all those cob webs lurking at the top of the ceiling. It is certainly safer than standing on a chair.

It has been pointed out to me that I have been recycling from the recycled. That is true, and something I enjoy, and will continue to do. For the Silo, Blair Yager.

Culture

Commodifying Art -Damien Hirst

August 26, 2024 The Silo 2 Comments

All of modern life is a spectacle. Much of what contemporary man experiences in Western society is a false social construct mediated by images.

These mediated images create desires that can never be fulfilled; they create false needs that can never be met. “Many of our daily decisions are governed by motivations over which we have no control and of which we are quite unaware” (Berger 41). The constant spector of the mediated image creates an endless cycle of desire, consumption, and disinterest, fueling a banality in life that feeds the commodification of life.

Increasingly life itself becomes a commodity and the image more important than the reality it represents. This commodification infiltrates every aspect of human production, including the arts, and finds its pinnacle expression in the work of Damien Hirst. Hirst has carefully crafted a brand identity that has far surpassed the value of his art work in importance and worth. Working in tandem with former advertising executive turned art dealer Charles Saatchi, the spectacle of the Hirst image becomes the commodity. “Reality unfolds in a new generality as a pseudo-world apart, solely as an object of contemplation. The tendency towards the specialization of images-of-the-world finds its highest expression in the world of the autonomous image, where deceit deceives itself” (Debord
143).

No longer is the work of art itself a commodity, but rather the image of the artist (his/her/cis brand) that becomes the commodity.

It is this spectacle that drives the consumer to identify with a particular artist or brand. “The astronomical growth in the wealth and cultural influence of multi-national corporations over the last fifteen years can arguably be
traced back to a single, seemingly innocuous idea developed by management theorists in the mid-1980s: that successful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products” (Klein 4). The image has increasingly infiltrated and dominated the culture and the whole of society and has become “an immense accumulation of spectacles” (Debord 142).

Butterfly by Damien Hirst

Where once the products of labor were the commodity, now it is the spectacle that has become the commodity.

A prime example of this spectacle is Damien Hirst’s sculpture, “For the Love of God.” The sculpture consists of a platinum skull covered with 8,601 diamonds. The sculpture valued at over $100 million usd/ $129.361,000 cad [exchange rate at time of publication] is clearly out of the reach of almost any collector. The sculpture itself is not the art product, rather it is the spectacle that is the product. “Mr. Hirst is a shining symbol of our times, a man who perhaps more than any artist since Andy Warhol has used marketing to turn his fertile imagination into an extraordinary business” (Riding, nytimes.com). Acknowledging that the sculpture is out of reach for the majority of collectors, Hirst offered screen prints costing $2000 usd/ $2,587 cad to $20,000 usd/ $25,870 cad ; the most expensive prints were sold with a sprinkling of diamond dust.

Karl Marx argued that the value of the commodity arose from its relationship with other commodities; its ability to be exchanged for other commodities. Marx used the the production of a table to illustrate his thesis:
“…by his activity, man changes the materials of nature in such a way as to make them useful to him. The form of wood, for instance, is altered if a table is made out of it. Nevertheless the table continues to be wood, an ordinary, sensuous thing. But as soon as it emerges as a commodity, it changes into a thing which transcends sensuousness.” (Marx 122)

Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull remains mere diamonds, valuable yes, but still diamonds. However, when coupled with the spectacle of Damien Hirst’s identity, the skull becomes a fetishized commodity capable of selling screen-prints valued in the thousands. The argument can be made that diamonds on their own carry value, and could be commodities themselves, however that doesn’t account for the fact the Hirst was able to sell prints of the skull for over $2000 usd/ $2,587 cad. Nor do the diamonds alone account for the spectacle surrounding the art work; it is Hirst’s brand, his image that creates the spectacle.

“The mystical character of the commodity does not therefore arise from its use-value. Just as little does it proceed from the nature of the determinants of value” (Marx 123). The value of a commodity arises from its spectacle, its ability to be desired. In Marx’s day that desire was its ability to be traded for other commodities; today that value is derived from its association to a brand, an identity, a spectacle. “Art reflects the illusory way in which society sees itself, it reflects the bourgeoisie’s aesthetic ideas as if they were universal” (Osborne 79).

The spectacle feeds itself through the mediating of the image to create desire for status and recognition, through associations.

“The ends are nothing and development is all – though the only thing into which the spectacle plans to develop is itself” (Debord 144). The spectacle’s main objective is self perpetuation. Its aim is totality. It must be noted that Hirst himself did not even create the work of art, but rather employed a studio full of jewelers to execute the sculpture, and printers to produce the prints.

Hirst exemplifies the bourgeoisie capitalist employer who retains ownership over the fruit of the employees’ labor. He is in many ways more akin to a captain of industry than he is to the romantic notion of an artist. “In the early twenties, the legendary adman Bruce Barton turned General Motors into a metaphor for the American family, something personal, warm and human” (Klein 7). Hirst has also turned himself into a metaphor, however, metaphors aren’t always true. This falsehod is at the heart of the issue. The spectacle isn’t concerned with what is true, rather it is concerned with what can be made to appear true. It is this appearance of truth that makes a commodity valuable. This fetishism of the commodity is why gold and silver have value, it is because people gave them value. It is the reason Damien Hirst, or any other brand, has value, because people gave it value.

Damien Hirst cannot be blamed for commodifying art, he is simply following a long tradition of turning objects and products into commodities. The fact that his commodity is his own image doesn’t seem to matter. “Hirst is just playing the game. It is a game played by collectors and dealers at art fairs throughout the year; it is a game finessed as never before by Sotheby’s and Christie’s; it is a game in which, in the words of Nick Cohen, a rare British journalist to trash Mr. Hirst’s publicity coup, ‘the price tag is the art’ ” (Riding .nytimes.com).

That final statement beautifully summarizes the commodification of art, ‘the price tag is the art.’ The fact that the art is obscenely priced, and out of the reach for the majority of collectors, the fact that it is made of diamonds, a precious stone known as the blood stone because of its association with brutal and oppressive regimes, merely adds to its allure, to its spectacle. Damien Hirst is merely playing the game, like many before him. He is a part of the growing culture
industry that sells image. Images are the new commodity fetish. Images are the new mysterious commodities exchanged for more the more durable and enduring commodities. The bourgiousie sell their images, which have no real value, to the public which consumes them, in exchange for goods of real value.

“The $200 billion usd/ $270 billion cad culture industry – now North America’s biggest export – needs an every-changing, uninterrupted supply of street styles, edgy music videos and rainbows of colors. And the radical critics of the media clamoring to be ‘represented’ in the early nineties virtually handed over their colorful identities to the brand masters to be shrink-wrapped.” (Klein 115)

Nick Cohen said of Hirst, “[he] isn’t criticizing the excess, not even ironically … but rolling in it and loving it. The sooner he goes out of fashion, the better.” What Cohen fails to realize is that the spectacle is a fashion. And when one image goes out of fashion, another takes its place. Hirst may indeed go out of fashion, but another art brand will take his place, perpetuating the commodification of the arts in increasingly bombastic ways.

Perhaps art has always been a commodity?

In the past patrons would hire artists to paint them into scenes from the gospels. Patrons could be seen on the outskirts of paintings piously praying, thus creating an image of themselves as good and pious Christians. By association with the sacred art, the patron was creating a mediated image. Rulers did this all the time. The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius is a perfect example. Its a mediating image that communicates power and authority.

But none of these examples reach the level of spectacle and fetishism that is Damien Hirst. While art may have been a commodity in the past, it was never commodified. In other words, while the art itself may have been exchanged for other goods, the artist himself was not treated as a commodity. The art of the past may have served a purpose, it may have contained a mediated message, but it was still a product, and it was the product that was valued, not its brand identity.

The commodification of art creates a unique problem in history. If it is the spectacle that matters, and the artist’s identity that has value, then what value is left in the art itself?

What then separates art from ordinary objects? Is there any aesthetic emotion that remains in the work of art itself, or does the aesthetic emotion dwell completely within the spectacle? These are questions that cannot easily be answered, and ultimately will require the lens of history to answer completely. But they are a pressing concern, for when art is commodified, it may cease to be art and instead become celebrity, product, or worse, advertising. For the Silo, Vasilios Avramidis

Works Cited
Berger, Arthur Asa. Seeing is Believing: An Introduction to Visual
Communication. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
Debor, Guy. “Showing Seeing: A Critique of Visual Culture.” The Visual Culture
Reader. Ed.Nicholas Mirzoeff. New York, NY: Routelage, 1998. 142-144. Print.
Klein, Naomi. No Logo, No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. New York, NY: Picador, 2000.
Print.
Marx, Karl. “Showing Seeing: A Critique of Visual Culture.” The Visual Culture
Reader. Ed.Nicholas Mirzoeff. New York, NY: Routelage, 1998. 122-123. Print.
Riding, Alan. Alas, Poor Art Market: ‘A Multimillion Dollar Headcase.’ The New York
Times. June 2007, Damien Hirst and the Commodification of Art http://www.visual-studies.com/interviews/moxey.htm

Culture

Why Canada On Track For Record Asylum Claims This Year

August 24, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

ANALYSIS: Canada Is On Track for Record Asylum Claims This Year—Here’s Why — An RCMP officer and a worker look on the demolition of the temporary installation for refugee claimants at Roxham Road Monday, in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., on Sept. 25, 2023. The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz

The closing of the unofficial border crossing Roxham Road last year stemmed the flow of asylum-seekers into Quebec from New York state, but overall numbers are rising in Canada with a spike in those arriving by air. The rise has many reasons behind it and can’t be accounted for by the growing scope of global conflict alone, immigration experts told The Epoch Times.

A major contributor is likely an increase in travel visa approvals.

The government has recently ramped up its visa processing to eliminate a backlog from the pandemic, Montreal immigration lawyer Stéphanie Valois told The Epoch Times. After arriving on travel visas, many people proceed to claim asylum.

A group of asylum seekers wait to be processed after being escorted from their tent encampment to the Canada Border Services in Lacolle, Quebec, on Aug. 11, 2017. Canada sees influx of 25,000 asylum seekers crossing border from US (alipac.us)

Fewer travel visa applicants have been asked to prove they will return home in recent years, said lawyer and York University international relations professor Michael Barutciski in an email. This is also likely contributing to an increase in air arrivals, he said.

From January to June this year, Canada processed just over 92,000 asylum claimants. That’s a lot more than the roughly 57,000 claimants in the same period last year—and 2023 was already a record-breaking year.

By contrast, from 2011 to 2016, the number of claimants Canada received each year ranged from around 10,000 to 25,000. The numbers began to climb thereafter, and Canada’s per-capita intake of asylum-seekers is now comparable to that of Germany, the European Union’s largest host country, according to Barutciski’s analysis of EU figures for a Macdonald-Laurier Institute paper published in July.

Nearly 28,000 claimants arrived via air in the first half of this year, compared with roughly 8,000 by land. This is a reversal of a long-standing trend of land arrivals being far more common, even before Roxham Road became a heavily used route.

The total number of asylum claimants processed by Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada during the first six months of 2017–2024. For 2011– 2016, only annual data is available, so we cut the annual total in half to give a rough estimate for comparison. (The Epoch Times) — The total number of asylum claimants processed by Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada during the first six months of 2017–2024. For 2011– 2016, only annual data is available, so we cut the annual total in half to give a rough estimate for comparison. The Epoch Times

From Land to Air

Roxham Road is an unofficial border crossing between New York and Quebec used by more than 100,000 migrants since 2017. Its use waned after Canada and the United States closed a loophole in their bilateral Safe Third Country agreement in March 2023.

The agreement says anyone seeking asylum must file their claim at the first of the two countries they enter. But the loophole was that this requirement applied only to official border crossings. Now it applies anywhere along the border: Asylum-seekers will be turned back to the United States to make their claims there.

Most of the asylum-seekers in 2023 were from Mexico—about 25,000 of all claimants that year, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada.

The federal government further tightened restrictions on migrants from Mexico in February 2024 by requiring Mexicans to have travel visas.

“This responds to an increase in asylum claims made by Mexican citizens that are refused, withdrawn or abandoned,” said the federal government’s announcement at the time. “It is an important step to preserve mobility for hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens, while also ensuring the sound management of our immigration and asylum systems.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June, after meeting with Quebec’s premier, that his government would “improve the visa system“ in general, but he did not elaborate and it was not a major point of discussion.

The Epoch Times asked Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for any update or specific plans but did not receive a response as of publication.

“When people apply for a visa, it’s almost impossible to know what their intentions are when they arrive in Canada,” immigration lawyer Valois said. They may be planning to seek asylum, or sometimes the situation changes in their homeland—if a war starts, for example—and they decide to make a claim, she said.

The same is true of international students who file asylum claims, she added. Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has expressed alarm regarding international student claims.

The number of international students claiming asylum at Seneca College increased from about 300 in 2022 to nearly 700 in 2023. Claims from Conestoga College students rose from 106 to 450 during that same period.

These increases are “alarming” and “totally unacceptable,” Miller said in February.

As the method of entering Canada to claim asylum has changed, so have the most common countries of origin and the destinations within Canada.

Countries of Origin, Destination

The highest number of claimants so far this year have arrived from India. IRB data on country of origin is only available for January through March. It shows approximately 6,000 claimants from India. The next greatest are those from Mexico (about 5,800), Nigeria (5,061), and Bangladesh (3,016).

Given that the data is limited to only three months, it’s hard to tell how the annual total will compare to 2023. But if the number of Mexican applicants remains steady, Canada may see numbers similar to last year.

However, the number of Haitians and Colombians—which were among the highest in 2022 and 2023—appears to be on the decline. These are also groups that would have come in large numbers through Roxham Road.

The new claimants coming in now are from countries that differ from the top source countries for refugee claims worldwide, Barutciski said, referencing data he analyzed from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Canada’s spike is not following global trends, he said, which suggests it may have to do with a perception that Canada’s asylum policies are especially lenient. In other words, Canada is attracting claimants who feel they may not successfully seek asylum elsewhere.

Asylum-seekers are specifically people who arrive in the country without pre-approved refugee status. For example, although Canada has taken in many Ukrainian refugees, Ukraine is not a top source of asylum-seekers.

The majority of claimants so far this year have arrived in Ontario, whereas for years, Quebec was at the centre of the asylum issue.

Quebec has received more claimants than Ontario almost every year since 2016. The only exceptions were 2020 and 2021, but Ontario’s numbers were only slightly higher during those years (a difference of approximately 700 people in 2020 and roughly 1,600 in 2021).

In the first half of this year, Ontario received approximately 48,000 claimants and Quebec received 33,000. British Columbia and Alberta were the next highest recipients, with roughly 5,200 and 4,500 respectively.

How to distribute claimants, along with the federal funds for helping settle them, has been a hot topic.

Quebec received a pledge of $750 million in federal funds in June, and B.C. Premier David Eby was most outspoken about other provinces wanting help as well. Minister Miller replied in June that British Columbia needs to take on more asylum-seekers if it wants more money.

Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador have said they are willing to take on some of Quebec’s asylum-seekers.

Quebec has requested a federal quota system that would relocate asylum-seekers to other provinces.

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) in May put together an estimate of federal costs associated with each asylum claimant from a visa-exempt country.

The average cost for each claimant is $16,500 cad in 2024, the PBO said.

Asylum-seekers are eligible for a work permit, with the processing time to get it about six to eight weeks, according to the Quebec government.

The claims themselves can take years to process. The current projected wait time, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, is two years for a refugee claim and one year for an appeal. The backlog of cases has grown over the years to more than 186,000 as of March 31 this year. For comparison, the backlog was approximately 10,000 in 2015.

The proportion of claims that are approved is rising. The data available for 2024 so far, from January to March, shows 82 percent approved—or some 11,000 out of around 13,500 claims ultimately assessed—not counting others that weren’t assessed as they were either abandoned or withdrawn by the claimant.

Similarly, in the 2023 calendar year, roughly 79 percent were approved. That was a steep increase from the 69 percent figure in 2022, and the 71 percent in 2021. If we jump back to 2013, the number was 60 percent, which increased to 64 percent in 2014 and continued to climb.

For the Silo, Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times. The Canadian Press contributed to this report. Featured image via alipac.us : A group that stated they were from Haiti line up to cross the U.S.-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec, from Champlain in New York, Aug. 21, 2017.

Quebec Calls for Asylum Seekers to Be Distributed Throughout Canada via Federal Quota System

Earth

Why Canadians Must Get More Sunlight

August 23, 2024 The Silo 4 Comments

TORONTO – Following restrictive sun exposure advice in countries with low solar intensity like Canada might in fact be harmful to your health, says the co-author of a new study on sunlight and vitamin D.

The published study Sunlight and Vitamin D: Necessary for Public Health by Carole Baggerly and several academic researchers, examines how organizations such as World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. Surgeon General call for sun avoidance, but ignore the fact that cutting out sunshine will reduce vitamin D, an essential vitamin for bone health, and create probable harm for the general population.

“Humans have adapted to sun exposure over many thousands of years and derive numerous physiological benefits from UV exposure, in addition to vitamin D,” said Baggerly, executive director of Grassroots Health and breast cancer survivor.

“These benefits are in addition to those derived from vitamin D alone and cannot be replaced by vitamin D supplements and therefore sun avoidance being recommended by the US Surgeon General, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Dermatology Association and others, is unnecessarily putting Canadians at risk.”

From mercola.com -studies suggest we need more sunlight than currently recommended dosages

Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that enables calcium absorption and is critical for good bone health. Low levels are linked to bone conditions such as rickets in children and osteomalacia and osteoporosis in adults.

In Canada, vitamin D from sunlight can only be synthesized in the skin during the spring, summer and fall months, around midday, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., when the UV index is above three and your shadow is shorter than your height.

Statistics Canada reports that 12 million Canadians, or 35% of the population, have insufficient vitamin D levels, including 10% who are severely deficient, which sets them up for higher disease risk.

According to Dr. Reinhold Vieth, Scientific Advisor for the Canadian Vitamin D Consensus and professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, “If organizations warn people to stay out of the sun, then they should also let people know that they will not be producing vitamin D. Both the risks and benefits of UV exposure need to be addressed in the best interest of health. Unfortunately, the message Canadians keep hearing lately is that there is no benefit to being in the sun. The paper by Baggerly et al presents a clear case that good overall health does correlate with spending time in the sun.”

A group comprised of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Vitamin D Society and Pure North S’Energy Foundation, have endorsed a draft Canadian Vitamin D Consensus which recommends that Canadians enjoying the sun safely, while taking care not to burn, can acquire the benefits of vitamin D without unduly raising the risk of skin cancer.

Vitamin D deficiency is an indication of sunlight deficiency.

“People today work less outdoors and spend less time outdoors than at any previous time in history, which is why vitamin D deficiency is rising globally. In addition, when people are outside, many use sunscreens, which can significantly prevent the production of vitamin D in the skin,” said Dr. Vieth. “With increasing amounts of evidence suggesting that vitamin D may protect against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other chronic diseases, it’s more important than ever to examine this issue more closely.”

“We urge public health entities to re-evaluate their current sun exposure policies and recommend UV exposure levels that promote a balanced, moderate approach that are both beneficial and safe,” said Baggerly.

About the Vitamin D Society:

The Vitamin D Society is a Canadian non-profit group organized to increase awareness of the many health conditions strongly linked to vitamin D deficiency; encourage people to be proactive in protecting their health and have their vitamin D levels tested annually; and help fund valuable vitamin D research. The Vitamin D Society recommends people achieve and maintain optimal 25(OH)D blood levels between 100 – 150 nmol/L (Can) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA).

Culture

Nine Percent Of Canada High Incomers Considering Using Foodbanks

August 22, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Few Canadians are immune to the rising cost of living, according to a new report from Statistics Canada, with 9 percent of those in the highest income quintile considering using a food bank.

Data from spring 2024 shows that while 42 percent of Canadians are concerned over rising food prices, about 9 percent of those in the highest income bracket report they may have to turn to a food bank or similar community organization for help. That number rises to 14 percent for those in the second-highest income bracket, StatCan said.

A cart is filled with bags of food during a Thanksgiving food drive for the Ottawa Food Bank, at a grocery store in Ottawa on Oct. 7, 2023. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Nearly half of Canadians report struggling to meet day-to-day expenses, up 12 percentage points from 2022 to 45 percent.

The survey found that the number of Canadians who feel “quite a bit” or “extremely” stressed over financial issues increased slightly since 2022, from 33 percent to 35 percent this year.

Families with children and those living with a disability are struggling the most, StatCan said.

Fifty-five percent of families with children say rising costs have impacted their ability to cover daily expenses, compared to 42 percent of households without children and 37 percent of single Canadians.

Shrinkflation– a sneaky way of charging more by giving less. General Mills shrunk its “family size” boxes from 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Those with disabilities are also more likely to be facing financial difficulties, with 57 percent saying they are struggling to meet daily costs, compared with 43 percent of those without a disability.

Housing is one of the biggest concerns Canadians cite, with nearly four in 10 saying they are concerned about their ability to afford a home because of rising prices. The number has risen from 30 percent in 2022 to 38 percent this year.

StatCan found that renters are more uneasy about increasing prices than homeowners, with nearly two-thirds of renters “very” concerned over housing affordability compared with about one-third of homeowners.

Food prices are another top concern for those surveyed, with more than one in five Canadians saying they may not be able to afford groceries. The number has risen to 23 percent, up from 20 percent two years ago.

Of those worried about food prices, 8 percent say they are very likely to need help from an organization such as a food bank. Another 15 percent say they are somewhat likely to need community help.

More than one in four families with children say they expect to turn to food banks and similar organizations, compared to one in five for other household types, StatCan said.

About one-third of Canadians with a disability say they expect to get food from a community organization in the next six months, compared to one in five of those without a disability, the agency said. For the Silo, Chandra Philip / The Epoch Times. The data was collected between April 19 and June 3.

Pairing Perfect Wines With Vegetarian Dishes

August 21, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Melding the varied flavors of vegetable-focused cuisine with the nuanced profiles of fine—and even budget—wines can transform a simple meal into an extraordinary dining experience. From the earthy undertones of roasted vegetables to the vibrant zest of fresh herbs, each vegetable dish holds a unique flavor profile that, when paired with the right wine, can be elevated via enhancing flavors and overall meal complexity. Below are expert tips for harmonizing garden-fresh and vineyard-driven delights.

When Garden Meets Grapes: Elevating Vegetable Dishes with Perfect Wine Pairings

Have you ever wondered why a glass of wine tastes so much better when paired with the right dish?

While it’s true for any cuisine, wine pairing for vegetable dishes in particular can be a game-changer—and not just benefitting those living a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, but rather everyone who enjoys gastro gifts from the garden.

The art of wine pairing, once thought to be reserved for meat and seafood dishes, has evolved to embrace vegetarian cuisine. Understanding how to pair wine with vegetarian dishes is an art that can elevate your dining experience to new heights. Here, we delve into the nuances of wine pairing with vegetarian food, considering ingredients, cooking methods, and seasoning. Whether you are hosting a dinner party or enjoying a quiet meal at home, these tips and examples will help you choose the perfect wine to complement your vegetarian dishes.

Understanding the Ingredients

Vegetarian dishes often feature a variety of vegetables, grains, legumes, and plant-based proteins. Each ingredient brings its own flavor profile, from the earthy tones of mushrooms to the sweetness of roasted bell peppers. When pairing wine, consider the dominant flavors of the dish. For instance:

Mushrooms: Earthy and umami-rich mushrooms pair well with Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. For example, mushroom risotto’s creamy texture and deep umami flavors of a well-made mushroom risotto are beautifully complemented by a Pinot Noir, whose earthy undertones enhance the dish’s richness.
Tomatoes: The acidity and sweetness of tomatoes complement well with Sauvignon Blanc or Chianti. The savory and slightly tangy tomato sauce used in eggplant parmesan pairs excellently with Chianti. Its bright acidity and red fruit flavors balance the dish’s robust flavors.
Greens: Leafy greens like spinach and kale, with their slight bitterness, match nicely with crisp whites like Pinot Grigio or Grüner Veltliner. Take Kale and Apple Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette as an example, the fresh, slightly bitter kale, combined with sweet apple and tangy lemon vinaigrette, pairs beautifully with Grüner Veltliner. The wine’s crispness and slight peppery notes enhance the salad’s flavors.
Root Vegetables: Sweet and earthy root vegetables, such as carrots and beets, pair wonderfully with wines like Merlot or Zinfandel. The sweet, earthy flavor of roasted beets pairs harmoniously with the smooth, fruity notes of Merlot.

Cooking Methods

The way a dish is prepared can significantly influence its wine pairing. Here are some common vegetarian cooking methods and corresponding wine suggestions:

Grilling: Grilled vegetables often have a smoky, charred flavor. Pair them with robust wines like Syrah or Malbec. The smoky, charred flavors of the grilled vegetables find a perfect match in Malbec, whose robust fruit flavors and tannins stand up to the boldness of the dish.
Roasting: Roasting enhances the sweetness of vegetables. Consider wines with a hint of sweetness or spiciness, such as Riesling or Grenache, like Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. The sweet, creamy flavors of roasted butternut squash soup are complemented by the slight sweetness and acidity of Riesling, balancing the richness.
Stir-frying: Stir-fried dishes, especially those with Asian influences, pair well with aromatic whites like Gewürztraminer or light reds like Gamay. The aromatic and slightly spicy flavors in stir-fried tofu or vegetables are enhanced by Gewürztraminer. This wine’s floral and lychee notes, along with its slight sweetness, balance the dish’s flavors.
Raw: Fresh, raw dishes such as salads or crudités benefit from crisp, light wines like Sauvignon Blanc or Rosé. The fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella in a Caprese salad pair nicely with a crisp Rosé, whose acidity and light fruit flavors enhance the dish’s freshness.

Seasoning and Sauces

Seasonings and sauces can dramatically alter the flavor profile of a dish, impacting the wine pairing. Here are some examples:

Herbs: Fresh herbs like basil, cilantro, and mint call for wines that enhance their freshness. Think of Sauvignon Blanc or Vermentino for your favorite Pesto Pasta. The fresh basil in a vibrant pesto sauce pairs beautifully with Vermentino, whose citrusy and herbaceous notes complement the herb’s freshness.
Spices: Spicy dishes, whether it’s a dash of chili or a complex curry, pair well with slightly sweet wines like Riesling or off-dry Chenin Blanc. The heat and aromatic spices in a chickpea curry are balanced by an off-dry Chenin Blanc, whose slight sweetness tempers the spice.
Creamy Sauces: Creamy or cheesy sauces, often found in vegetarian pastas or casseroles, pair excellently with full-bodied whites like Chardonnay or Viognier. The rich, creamy sauce in fettuccine Alfredo finds a perfect match in Chardonnay, whose full body and buttery notes complement the dish’s richness.
Tangy Sauces: Tangy sauces, such as vinaigrettes or lemon-based dressings, match nicely with high-acidity wines like Albariño or unoaked Chardonnay. The tangy lemon and fresh herbs in a quinoa salad pair well with the high acidity of Albariño, enhancing the dish’s bright flavors.

Pairing wine with vegetarian dishes is a rewarding endeavor that opens up a world of flavors. By considering the ingredients, cooking methods, and seasonings, you can create harmonious pairings that elevate your meals. Whether you’re enjoying a simple weeknight dinner or hosting a lavish gathering, these wine and vegetarian food pairings will impress and satisfy you. For the Silo, Sylvia Ba.

Wine consultant Sylvia Ba is a vinicultural expert with the “VinoVoss” AI Sommelier wine search engine and recommendation system developed by BetterAI.

Earth

Ontario Town Votes Yes To Nuclear Waste Storage

August 20, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Ontario Town Votes to Become a Willing Host for a Nuclear Waste Repository — Uranium pellets are shown during a tour of a Nuclear Waste Management Organization facility in Oakville, Ont., on Dec. 12, 2023. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

By The Canadian Press

Ontario Town Votes to Become a Willing Host for a Nuclear Waste Repository

A northwestern Ontario town has formally decided it is willing to become the site of a deep geological repository for Canada’s nuclear waste.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization plans to select a site this year where millions of bundles of used nuclear fuel will be placed in a network of underground rooms connected by cavernous tunnels.

The process for the $26-billion project had already been narrowed down to two sites, Ignace in northern Ontario and another in southern Ontario, and the NWMO says that both the local municipality and the First Nation in those areas will have to agree to be willing hosts.

Ignace, between Thunder Bay and Kenora, is now the first of those four communities to make its decision known, and town council voted in favour of it at a special meeting on July 10.

One of the many natural waterfalls found in Ignace, Ontario.

A committee of community members tasked with taking the pulse of the town’s willingness presented the results of a community vote and said that out of the 640 residents who voted, 495 or 77 percent voted in favor.

Neither of the First Nations has yet made their willingness decisions, and the municipality of South Bruce is set to hold a referendum in October.

Site for Canada’s Underground Nuclear Waste Repository to Be Selected Next Year

Ontario Partners With Bruce Power to Expand Nuclear Energy Generation Station

The current fleet of nuclear reactors in Canada will produce about 5.5 million used fuel bundles, with around 3.2 million already in either wet or dry storage on site at nuclear plants.

But the NWMO says the current containers of thick concrete walls lined on the outside with a steel plate are designed to last 50 years, so they are not a long-term solution.

The organization, funded by the corporations that generate nuclear power and waste, such as Ontario Power Generation and Hydro-Quebec, is instead planning to build a deep geological repository, as far underground as the CN Tower is tall.

The used nuclear fuel pellets, baked into ceramic, are contained in fuel rods made of corrosion-resistant Zircaloy. Those rods will be in containers made of carbon steel and coated with copper, and those containers will be packed into bentonite clay.

Opponents in the affected communities worry about safety, while proponents see value in the jobs and economic development the project will bring.

Transportation

Porsche Commit Long Term To Gasoline Engines

August 19, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Change of Plans

There was a time, not terribly long ago, when it seemed like the automotive industry was on the fast track to total electrification.

Ahead of Their Time

Many of us think of hybrid or all-electric power as a relatively new technology. After all, Porsche just introduced its very first production EV, the Taycan. But in reality, electricity has been around in the automotive world for over a century. And Ferdinand Porsche was one of very first pioneers to embrace this technology. When Porsche was a teenager back in 1893, he installed an electric lighting system in his parents’ house. Even the very first vehicles he designed had electric drives. After toying around with a few different ideas, Porsche designed the world’s first functional hybrid car, the Semper Vivus (Latin for “always alive”), in 1900. But due to its modest power output, heavyweight, and lack of infrastructure, the idea was relegated to the back burner for many years.

Amid concerns over global warming, governments around the globe began floating regulations that sought to ban ICE vehicles outright – but in recent months, with demand falling behind expected levels of growth, a lot has changed, and now, those same plans are being scaled back.

Up To and Beyond

While Porsche recently revealed that it continues to develop the all-electric version of its Cayenne crossover, it also plans to continue to offer hybrid and combustion engine-powered examples of that same model – “up to and beyond 2030,” in fact.

Keeping the V8

Interestingly, Porsche also noted that the currently, third generation of the Cayenne will be upgraded and will continue to be offered alongside the fourth, all-electric generation model. Engineers will focus on the Cayenne’s ICE powertrains, however, including its twin-turbocharged V8, which it will need to tweak to ensure that it meets increasingly stringent emissions standards.

Still Focused

This is obviously great news for fans of ICE powertrains and the V8 in general, but also note that Porsche remains focused on an electrified future, regardless. “Our product strategy could enable us to deliver more than 80 percent of our new cars fully electrified in 2030 – depending on the demand of our customers and the development of electromobility in the regions of the world.” Oliver Blume CEO Porsche AG.

As such, Porsche plans to continue making gas engines for some time, it seems.

Sci-Tech

OPED: Made by Human: The Threat of Artificial Intelligence on Human Labor

August 17, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

This Article is 95.6% Made by Human / 4.4% by Artificial Intelligence

One of the most concerning uncertainties surrounding the emergence of artificial intelligence is the impact on human jobs.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Let us start with a specific example – the customer support specialist. This is a human-facing role. The primary objective of a Customer Support Specialist is to ensure customer satisfaction.

The Gradual Extinction of Customer Support Roles

Within the past decade or so, several milestone transformations have influenced the decline of customer support specialists. Automated responses for customer support telephone lines. Globalization. And chat-bots.

Chat-bots evolved with the human input of information to service clients. SaaS-based products soon engineered fancy pop-ups for everyone. Just look at Uber if you want a solid case-study – getting through to a person is like trying to contact the King of Thailand.

The introduction of new artificial intelligence for customer support solutions will make chat-bots look like an AM/FM frequency radio at the antique market.

The Raging Battle: A Salute to Those on the Front Lines

There are a handful of professions waging a battle against the ominous presence of artificial intelligence. This is a new frontier – not only for technology, but for legal precedent and our appetite for consumption.

OpenAI is serving our appetite in two fundamental ways: text-based content (i.e. ChatGPT) and visual-based content (i.e. DALL·E). How we consume this content boils down to our own taste-buds, perceptions and individual needs. It is all very human-driven, and it is our degrees of palpable fulfillment that will ultimately dictate how far this penetrates the fate of other professions.

Sarah Silverman, writer, comedian and actress sued the ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta for copyright infringement.

We need a way to leave a human mark. Literally, a Made by Human insignia that traces origins of our labor, like certifying products as “organic”.

If we’re building the weapon that threatens our very livelihood, we can engineer the solution that safeguards it.

The Ouroboros Effect

If we seek retribution for labor and the preservation of human work, we need to remain ahead of innovation. There are several action-items that may safeguard human interests:

Consolidation of Interest. Concentration of efforts within formal structures or establish new ones tailored to this subject;
Litigation. Swift legal action based on existing laws to remedy breaches and establish legal precedents for future litigation;
Technological Innovation. Cutting-edge technology that: (a) engineers firewalls for preventing AI scraping technologies; (b) analyzes human work products; and (c) permits tracking of intellectual property.
Regulatory Oversight. Formation of a robust framework for monitoring, enforcing and balancing critical issues arising from artificial intelligence. United Nations, but without the thick, glacial layers of bureaucracy.

These front-line professionals are just the first wave – yet if this front falls, it will be a fatal blow to intellectual property rights. We will have denied ourselves the ideological shields and weapons needed to preserve and protect origins of human creativity.

At present, the influence of artificial intelligence on labor markets is in our own hands. If you think this is circular reasoning, like some ouroboros, you would be correct. The very nature of artificial intelligence relies on humans.

Ouroboros expresses the unity of all things, material and spiritual, which never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and re-creation.

Equitable Remuneration

Human productivity will continue to blend with artificial intelligence. We need to account for what is of human origin versus what has been interwoven with artificial intelligence. Like royalties for streaming music, with the notes of your original melody plucked-out. Even if it’s mashed-up, Mixed by Berry and sold overseas.

These are complex quantum-powered algorithms. The technology exists. It is along the same lines of code that is empowering artificial intelligence. Consider a brief example:

A 16-year old boy named Olu decides to write a book about growing-up in a war torn nation.

✅ Congratulations on your work, Olu!

47.893% Human / 52.107% Artificial

Meanwhile, back in London, a 57-year old historian named Elizabeth receives an email:

✅ Congratulations Elizabeth, your work has been recycled!

34.546% of your writing on the civil war torn nation has been used in an upcoming book publication. Click here to learn more.

We need a framework that preserves and protects sweat-of-the-brow labor.

As those on the front-line know: Progress begets progress while flying under the banner of innovation. If we’re going to spill blood to save our income streams – from content writers and hand models to lawyers and software engineers – the fruit of our labor cannot be genetically modified without equitable remuneration.

Culture

Go Gourmet With Your Classic Comfort Food

August 16, 2024 The Silo 1 Comment

Poutine. Mac n cheese. Cup cakes. Hot dogs. Grilled cheese. COMFORT.

Once upon a time when you thought of these foods you thought of the basic cup cake mix, a pack of Ball Park Frank’s or a box of KD. But now restauranteurs and chefs everywhere are adding their own unique gourmet touches – and it’s catching on.

Poutine originated in Quebec consisting of french fries, fresh cheese curds and brown gravy.

Today it is found all across Canada and has turned into an almost regional food. One of the most extreme I have found was on the east coast; lobster claw and a white seafood gravy. It’s no longer just “pub grub” either, high end restaurants have discovered adding more fat in the form of foie gras boosted flavor and their bottom line with an average price in the mid 20’s.

Same goes with grilled cheese.

When I was a kid it was Kraft Singles and two slices of Wonder bread. Now it’s full flavored brioche and smoked gruyere with options like fire roasted peppers and house cured back bacon.

Mac n cheese is definitely getting a lot of attention and, in my opinion, is one of the most customized dishes of this new gourmet classics trend. From the meat lover to the vegetarian you can add almost anything you like. And why stop with cheddar? Chefs are adding all kinds of new dairy delights including cheeses that are soft, hard, smoked, brined, imported and are made from more than just cow’s milk.

So why are we so bent on changing the classics?

Have these comfort foods lost their ability to please or are we just looking to liven things up a bit? Why not take some of these classics and add your own personal touch? It can be something as simple as adding a fried egg to your hamburger. Even a single ‘extra’ can turn your regular comfort food choice into something extra special.

Be your own comfort food connoisseur or perhaps you’ve whipped up something really outside-the-box recently. Let us know in the comments below. For the Silo, Graeme Desjarlais. Feature image is AI generated.

Culture

LSD Guru Timothy Leary Acid House Now For Sale

August 15, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Historic New York Estate Also Has Ties To Addison Mizner & Standard Oil!

Via our friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

In what might have been the best New York real estate deal since the Dutch bought Manhattan in 1626 for $24 usd/ $33 cad in trinkets, one of New York’s historic properties, which includes a 38-room Victorian mansion, a 10,000-square-foot guest home, a stone bowling alley, a carriage house, a gatehouse, and much more on 2,078 acres, has hit the market for $65 million usd/ $ 89,101,000 cad. The property last sold for just $500,000 usd / $685,600 cad in 1963, when Standard Oil president Walter C. Teagle sold the long-neglected property to brothers Billy and Tommy Hitchcock, heirs to the Mellon family fortune. If it gets its asking price, it will more than triple the record for a real estate sale price in the Millbrook area, which currently stands at $19 million usd/ $26,053,000 cad.

The Hitchcock estate, also known as Daheim (“at home” in German), became infamous in the 1960s as the domain of Harvard psychologist-turned-LSD-evangelist Timothy Leary, who used the property for psychedelic experimentation for five years. Nina Graboi, an influential figure in the psychedelic movement, described the scene as “a cross between a country club, a madhouse, a research institute, a monastery, and a Fellini movie set.” Considered “the most dangerous man in America” by Richard Nixon, Leary hosted such counterculture luminaries as Allen Ginsberg and attracted frequent raids by the FBI, which eventually caused him to leave. The estate fell into disrepair but has undergone extensive renovations in recent years that have restored it to its former glory. Photo Credit Tyler Blodgett/ Heather Croner Real Estate Sotheby’s International Realty

Sci-Tech

The Best Theater Sound System In Finland

August 14, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

— Kino Piispanristi integrates Genelec’s famous “The Ones” loudspeaker range along with the latest Dolby Surround technology to deliver premium audio quality — the best to be found (and heard) in Finland.

NATICK, MA, August, 2024 —Kino Piispanristi is a full-service 286-seat independent movie theater close to Turku, Finland. The venue is a long-time passion project of Henry Erkkilä, a movie lover who wanted to create a modern cinema that transcends tradition when it comes to audio-visual technology. Kino Piispanristi cinema strives to continually deliver a superior experience, so its luxury new premium screen features a Genelec sound system comprising the brand’s unmatched smart active studio loudspeakers and subwoofers.

Genelec “The Ones”

Erkkilä discovered his love for the film industry as a young boy. His father had a film projector that he travelled around Sweden with, bringing the latest screen favorites to audiences in his home country. Prior to the screening, Erkkilä would be tasked with dropping off advertisements in the local area, showcasing the movie on offer that evening and encouraging people to attend.

Inspired by his father, he set up his very own touring movie theater concept in 1998, but it wasn’t until 2017 that Erkkilä finally opened his first permanent space. Kino Piispanristi began with two theaters, but now the cinema boasts five screens, as well as additional venues in Turku, Salo and Laitila.

“We strive to offer all the perks of a modern cinema without being a faceless corporation,” begins Erkkilä.

A look at some of the Genelec’s installed in Kino Premium.

“We react to trends quickly and make moves boldly so that our customers can walk in and out feeling happy. Having the greatest theater sound system in Finland is an excellent way to help us light up people’s faces!”

Kino Piispanristi’s newest screen is a premium, more intimate space with exceptional picture quality and a 7.1 audio system based around Genelec’s “The Ones” family of coaxial three-way studio loudspeakers – which deliver extended frequency response, controlled directivity and fatigue-free listening. Three 8361s – the flagship of The Ones range – are deployed for LCR, with six of the more compact 8341s in the surround positions, complemented by two 7380 subwoofers for clean, controlled LF performance.

“For our premium space theater, sound is everything.”

“Theater technology, be it projectors, screens, audio or seats, is constantly evolving and unless you’re among the frontrunners, you might get left behind,” Erkkilä explains. “Genelec is widely known and admired as a wonderful example of Finnish engineering and design. As a local business, we try to emphasize the importance of using locally sourced products, and Genelec’s quality is unmatched. This was a pilot project for us and we’re looking into expanding our other spaces – since it’s been such a hit. We charge a few Euros extra for the premium screen, but the movie experience is so good that our customers still see it as excellent value.”

GLM Space calibration software at work.

Usually found powering the world’s most notable music, broadcast and film studios, Genelec’s studio loudspeakers are now being specified for an increasing number of high-end residential and boutique commercial cinemas around the world – thereby allowing customers to experience the same kind of sonic detail and clarity as the movie creators themselves.

The Ones models provide optimized performance by intelligently adapting to the acoustics of the room, achieved by a combination of GLM space calibration software and internal DSP within each loudspeaker and subwoofer. “GLM calibration allowed us to achieve a better balance with the lower and higher voices on screen,” explains Erkkilä. “Without it, it’s likely that the room would’ve changed the natural feel of the audio. It gave us full control over the system.”

PDF brochure on how Genelec used this cinema for a product case study.

GLM offers precise calibration of each loudspeaker’s in-room frequency response, playback level and distance delay, minimizing unwanted room influences and ensuring the best possible audio quality. In addition to the Genelec system, Kino Piispanristi uses Dolby Cinema processors which bring a natural feel to film soundscapes – immersing the audience in the true excitement of cinema.

“Our expertise in cinema and Genelec’s legacy in sound was the perfect match, and the collaboration was even more meaningful because of the local connection,” concludes Erkkilä. “The Ones loudspeaker series has completely transformed the cinema, and now we can offer audiences everything that the big players can – and more. The cinema is a result of a lot of hard work and dedication, and the Genelec system feels like the icing on the cake. It’s reinvented what we show on the screen.”

Transportation

Supercars Can Be Financed

August 13, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Take this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT for example:

Lot 214 |Monterey Jet Center 2024 Thursday, 15 August 2024

2005 Porsche Carrera GT Lot 214 Estimate: $1,100,000 – $1,300,000 USD/ $1,509,000 CAD- $1,704,000 CAD
Illustrative Hammer: $1,100,000 USD/ $1,509,000 CAD
Illustrative Purchase Price*: $1,215,000 USD/ $1,667,000 CAD
Down Payment: $500,000 USD/ $686,100 CAD
Amount Financed: $715,000 USD/ $981,000 CAD
Monthly Payments**: $7,299 USD/ $10,015 CAD

Highlights of this supercar include:

A desirable single-owner example offered with less than 23,643 documented miles at the time of cataloging
One of just 477 produced for the U.S. market in 2005
Finished in classic Communication Colors of GT Silver exterior over Ascot Brown leather interior
Unmodified and offered with four pieces of its factory luggage set and other delivery accessories
Features servicing and maintenance by a single authorized Porsche dealer
One of the most collectible Porsche models ever produced

Chassis No. WP0CA29875L001120

Porsche seldom exits a motorsports arena without a taste of triumph. Yet, in 1991, an exception proved the rule as Porsche ventured into Formula One, supplying engines to the Footwork-Arrows team with their newly developed 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V12. This engine, essentially a combination of two TAG-Turbo V6s from Porsche’s McLaren days proved cumbersome and prone to reliability issues. Midway through the season, Footwork-Arrows terminated their contract with Porsche due to these setbacks.

Undeterred, Porsche embarked on a solitary path of refinement over the subsequent three years, nurturing the engine’s potential through advancements in technology and engineering. Eventually, they succeeded in transforming it into a robust and potent V12 powerplant. This worthwhile endeavor of internal engineering spurred Porsche to further explore Formula One’s evolving regulations, resulting in the development of a 3.5-liter V10 engine—purely as an educational pursuit. Later iterations saw this V10 engine grow to 5.5-liters and find application in Porsche’s LMP2000 sports racing prototype, codenamed Typ 9R3 and conceived for the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite its initial promise, the LMP2000 project met an untimely demise, leaving the formidable V10 engine temporarily abandoned until a pivotal turn of events.

Porsche’s engineers were fervently engaged in another ambitious project—the Carrera GT prototype, internally referred to as SCM (Super Car Millennium).

Housed in Huntington Beach, California, a select team of designers undertook the task of bringing SCM to life. In a nod to its showpiece stature, the decision was made to equip this extraordinary prototype with the same 5.5-liter V10 engine originally developed for the 9R3 project. So fantastic was the reaction to the prototype driven along the Champs-Élysées to the 2000 Paris Motor Show that the approval of a production version was a foregone conclusion.

Commencing in 2003, the Carrera GT swiftly became the quintessential analog supercar of its era. Embracing a back-to-basics philosophy, in stark contrast to its technologically intricate predecessor, the 959, the Carrera GT boasted a raw engineering ethos. Its naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V10, renowned for its rapid revving capability, paired seamlessly with a six-speed manual transmission nestled within a carbon fiber monocoque chassis. Eschewing electronic driving aids, the Carrera GT epitomized a driver-centric experience, delivering unrivaled auditory and performance thrills akin to those found on the racetrack. Produced for a short two years, just 644 Carrera GTs were sold through U.S. Porsche dealerships

This 2005 Carrera GT was constructed in the final year of production and was delivered new to Howard Cooper Porsche of Ann Arbor, Michigan with a purchase date noted in the service book as 22 December 2004 with 15 delivery miles/ 24 kms. Selected with XT Bucket Seats and finished in the Carrera GT’s official Communication Color of GT Silver Metallic over an Ascot Brown leather interior, this fantastic single-owner example features a clean CARFAX and, at time of cataloging, less than 24,000 miles/ 38,624 kms. GT Silver was a long-held bespoke color for the Carrera GT and certainly one of the most popular, echoing those giant-killing RS Spyders of the late 1950s and ’60s.

According to its CARFAX and ownership records, this Carrera GT features servicing while under single ownership by the consignor at Howard Cooper Porsche, later known as Germain Porsche and now Porsche Ann Arbor. One of the many benefits of a single-owner super sports car such as this is the familiarity between the official Porsche dealer and owner and the expected elevated level of trust between the two. Twenty visits to the selling dealer over the 19 years have ensured that this Carrera GT has remained in regular hands during those service visits, remaining at the ready for those special Michigan days that offer the most to both car and driver. Partial service records on file show a Major Maintenance in 2009 with a new windshield at 10,739 miles and two recorded maintenance visits in 2015 and 2017, the latter being a two-year service visit. Furthermore, it should be noted that all services have been conducted at the original selling dealer, Porsche Ann Arbor.

Offered with service records on file dating from 2007 to 2020, this single-owner Carrera GT is accompanied by an impressive number of delivery items including its original window sticker, owner’s manuals, hard top panel bags, centerlock socket, tools, and factory fitted indoor car cover. Furthermore, all Carrera GTs were delivered with a set of factory fitted luggage by Ruspa of Italy, color-coordinated to the selected interior color of the car. Over the years many of these sets have become disassociated with their cars, yet this Carrera GT retains a nearly complete set in Ascot Brown—an additional, and welcome benefit.

Created by specialist teams with a narrow focus and cloaked in secrecy, with little interference from the corner offices, the Porsche Carrera GT is an exquisite example of race-honed engineering brought to life on the road. Never before offered for sale, this single-owner Carrera GT, number 455, should make an enjoyable addition to those in search of the finest motorsport-derived super sports car of the 2000s. Just as Porsche intended. For the Silo, Jakob Greisen.

Internet bidding is not available for this lot. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Sci-Tech

Feds False News Checker Tool To Use AI- At Risk Of Language & Political Bias

August 10, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Ottawa-Funded Misinformation Detection Tool to Rely on Artificial Intelligence

A new federally funded tool being developed with the aim of helping Canadians detect online misinformation will rely on artificial intelligence (AI), Ottawa has announced.

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said on July 29 that Ottawa is providing almost $300,000 cad to researchers at Université de Montréal (UdeM) to develop the tool.

“Polls confirm that most Canadians are very concerned about the rise of mis- and disinformation,” St-Onge wrote on social media. “We’re fighting for Canadians to get the facts” by supporting the university’s independent project, she added.

Canadian Heritage says the project will develop a website and web browser extension dedicated to detecting misinformation.

The department says the project will use large AI language models capable of detecting misinformation across different languages in various formats such as text or video, and contained within different sources of information.

“This technology will help implement effective behavioral nudges to mitigate the proliferation of ‘fake news’ stories in online communities,” says Canadian Heritage.

OpenAI, Google DeepMind Employees Warn of ‘Serious Risks’ Posed by AI Technology

With the browser extension, users will be notified if they come across potential misinformation, which the department says will reduce the likelihood of the content being shared.

Project lead and UdeM professor Jean-François Godbout said in an email that the tool will rely mostly on AI-based systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

“The system uses mostly a large language model, such as ChatGPT, to verify the validity of a proposition or a statement by relying on its corpus (the data which served for its training),” Godbout wrote in French.

The political science professor added the system will also be able to consult “distinct and reliable external sources.” After considering all the information, the system will produce an evaluation to determine whether the content is true or false, he said, while qualifying its degree of certainty.

Godbout said the reasoning for the decision will be provided to the user, along with the references that were relied upon, and that in some cases the system could say there’s insufficient information to make a judgment.

Asked about concerns that the detection model could be tainted by AI shortcomings such as bias, Godbout said his previous research has demonstrated his sources are “not significantly ideologically biased.”

“That said, our system should rely on a variety of sources, and we continue to explore working with diversified and balanced sources,” he said. “We realize that generative AI models have their limits, but we believe they can be used to help Canadians obtain better information.”

The professor said that the fundamental research behind the project was conducted before receiving the federal grant, which only supports the development of a web application.

Bias Concerns

The reliance on AI to determine what is true or false could have some pitfalls, with large language models being criticized for having political biases.

Such concerns about the neutrality of AI have been raised by billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X and its AI chatbot Grok.

British and Brazilian researchers from the University of East Anglia published a study in January that sought to measure ChatGPT’s political bias.

“We find robust evidence that ChatGPT presents a significant and systematic political bias toward the Democrats in the US, Lula in Brazil, and the Labour Party in the UK,” they wrote. Researchers said there are real concerns that ChatGPT and other large language models in general can “extend or even amplify the existing challenges involving political processes posed by the Internet and social media.”

OpenAI says ChatGPT is “not free from biases and stereotypes, so users and educators should carefully review its content.”

Misinformation and Disinformation

The federal government’s initiatives to tackle misinformation and disinformation have been multifaceted.

The funds provided to the Université de Montréal are part of a larger program to shape online information, the Digital Citizen Initiative. The program supports researchers and civil society organizations that promote a “healthy information ecosystem,” according to Canadian Heritage.

The Liberal government has also passed major bills, such as C-11 and C-18, which impact the information environment.

Bill C-11 has revamped the Broadcasting Act, creating rules for the production and discoverability of Canadian content and giving increased regulatory powers to the CRTC over online content.

Bill C-18 created the obligation for large online platforms to share revenues with news organizations for the display of links. This legislation was promoted by then-Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez as a tool to strengthen news media in a “time of greater mistrust and disinformation.”

These two pieces of legislation were followed by Bill C-63 in February to enact the Online Harms Act. Along with seeking to better protect children online, it would create steep penalties for saying things deemed hateful on the web.

There is some confusion about what the latest initiative with UdeM specifically targets. Canadian Heritage says the project aims to counter misinformation, whereas the university says it’s aimed at disinformation. The two concepts are often used in the same sentence when officials signal an intent to crack down on content they deem inappropriate, but a key characteristic distinguishes the two.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security defines misinformation as “false information that is not intended to cause harm”—which means it could have been posted inadvertently.

Meanwhile, the Centre defines disinformation as being “intended to manipulate, cause damage and guide people, organizations and countries in the wrong direction.” It can be crafted by sophisticated foreign state actors seeking to gain politically.

Minister St-Onge’s office has not responded to a request for clarification as of this posts publication.

In describing its project to counter disinformation, UdeM said events like the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, the Brexit referendum, and the COVID-19 pandemic have “demonstrated the limits of current methods to detect fake news which have trouble following the volume and rapid evolution of disinformation.” For the Silo, Noe Chartier/ The Epoch Times.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

Culture

3 Reasons Canadians Are Tossing And Turning At Night

August 9, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Did you know that a third of Canadians are not getting enough sleep?

We all live busy lives. When it comes time to shuffle things around on the schedule, your sleep is often the first place to take a hit.

However, nothing is more frustrating than trying to be good and turning in early to finally get a good night’s sleep. You toss and turn for a few hours, looking at the clock, wide-awake. Why did you bother going to bed early? You might as well have stayed up late to watch a movie or get some work done.

Even though we’ve all been sleeping our entire lives, most of us are doing it wrong. Our sleep habits and our bedtime routines are preventing us from getting the deep rest we need.

Here are a few of them:

1. Your Mattress

Let’s start with the obvious, your mattress. We often hold onto a mattress much longer than we should. The reason is simple: mattresses are expensive to replace. Or at least they used to be.

You no longer have to squeeze as much life as you can out of your current mattress to save enough money to buy a new one. Now, you can discover the benefits of buying your mattress online for a fraction of the price that we’re used to paying at furniture shops and big-box stores.

This way, you get a far more comfortable mattress, and you can sleep better knowing it didn’t cost you a fortune.

2. Your Devices

This is such a hard habit to break. For most people, the phone or tablet is the last thing they put down before bed and the first thing they look at when they wake up.

You might find it relaxing to read on a tablet or lazily scroll through your social feed before bed, but it’s actually keeping your body awake.

There are a number of reasons that experts point to when it comes to digital devices robbing people of their sleep. However, on a physiological level, the light from the phone hurts your body’s natural melatonin levels, which keeps you awake for longer.

3. You’re Away From Home Too Much

Ever notice how tired you feel when you’re on the road a lot?

This nice big king-sized hotel bed has crisp and clean sheets. So, why can’t you wake up feeling refreshed in it?

It’s because the human body isn’t designed to sleep well when it’s not in a place is sees as “home.” In fact, only half of your brain is asleep, while the other half stands on guard to protect you from unfamiliar threats.

It’s not just that you’re travelling, active and busy. It’s that half your brain is still awake.

These are only a few reasons that you’re having trouble falling asleep or waking up feeling rested. Of course, there are always lifestyle factors that can hurt your sleep patterns.

However, you could be doing all the right things when it comes to diet or exercise, but still have trouble sleeping if you’re struggling with any of the issues we mentioned above.

Your body wants to sleep and knows how to sleep. Don’t get in its way!

Culture

How Spices Elevate Complexity Of Wine

August 8, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

With August already ushering in temptations laden with pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg and other fall flavor favorites, it’s the perfect time to explore spiciness in wine–a multifaceted characteristic adding depth and excitement to the vinicultural experience. Whether it’s the peppery punch of a Syrah or the warm and gingery notes of a Gewürztraminer, spicy wines elevate the complexity of wine and enhance the overall tasting experience.

Earthy, mineral, spicy … these terms are commonly used to describe wine.

The spiciness in wine is like the spiciness in food, it is not a flavor, but a sensation. Spiciness in wine is one of those intriguing characteristics that can elevate a wine and add complexity to it. It’s a sensation that parallels the heat from a chili pepper or the warmth from a touch of cinnamon. But what exactly makes a wine spicy? How can we identify it, and more importantly, how can we enjoy a spicy wine with food?

But what exactly is a Spicy Wine?

When we talk about spicy wine, we’re referring to wines that evoke a sensation of warmth and tingling on the palate, much like certain spices do. This spiciness can manifest in various forms.

For instance, a wine with a peppery character can remind one of the sharp bite of black pepper or the more subtle heat of white pepper. On the other hand, a wine that exudes baking spices flavors might reveal the sweetness and warmth of cinnamon or nutmeg, adding a familiar touch to its profile. Other wines might bring to mind the slightly sweet and woody heat of cloves or ginger, offering yet another layer of spiciness.

Certain wines are particularly known for their spicy profiles.

Syrah, for example, is the most common spicy wine, known for its black pepper notes, especially in wines from regions like the Rhône Valley in France or the Barossa Valley in Australia. Meanwhile, Grüner Veltliner, the iconic Austrian white wine, displays a white pepper spiciness, setting it apart among white wines.

Gewürztraminer, with its exotic and aromatic profile, often carries a ginger-like spiciness, along with floral and lychee notes. In fact, “Gewürz” means “spicy” in German. On the other hand, Zinfandel, a robust and often fruity red, can express a range of spicy characteristics, from cinnamon to cloves, depending on the region and winemaking style.

Why Does My Wine Taste Spicy?

The spiciness in wine can be attributed to several factors, primarily the grape variety and the winemaking process. The inherent spiciness in certain wines often comes from the grape variety itself due to specific chemical compounds present in the grapes.

Rotundone is the primary aroma compound responsible for peppery notes in wine.

Found in grape skins, rotundone is particularly prominent in varieties like Syrah and Grüner Veltliner, making the wines feel peppery and adding a layer of complexity to their flavor profiles. Similarly, 4-vinylguaiacol is known for contributing clove-like aromas and flavors. It’s more commonly found in wines made from grapes that have a higher phenolic content, influenced by the grape variety and growing conditions.

No those aren’t pacman characters. From researchgate.net – Synthesis of 4-vinylguaiacol (4-VG) or 4-vinylphenol (4-VP) from ferulic acid (FA) or p-coumaric acid (p-CA) using E. coli harboring phenolic acid decarboxylase from B. licheniformis (BlPAD) on the cell surface.

Beyond the grape variety, the winemaking and aging processes can also play a significant role in developing spiciness in wine. One of the key factors here is the use of oak barrels. When wine is aged in oak barrels, it can take on additional spicy characteristics. The type of oak, the level of toasting, and the length of aging all influence the final profile. American oak, for example, tends to impart more vanilla and coconut notes, while French oak can contribute subtle spices like clove and cedar. The interaction between the wine and the wood allows for the development of complex flavors that enhance the wine’s overall spiciness.

What Food to Pair with Spicy Wine?

When it comes to wine and food pairing, the key is to complement and balance the wine’s spicy notes with the right dishes. Just like light foods with crisp wines, sweet dishes with sweeter wines, one approach is to pair spicy wine with spicy food. Similar flavor profiles can create a harmonious match where the flavors complement each other.

For example, pairing Syrah with pepper-crusted meats can enhance the black pepper notes in the wine, creating a cohesive and robust flavor experience. Grüner Veltliner pairs wonderfully with spicy Asian cuisine, balancing the heat of dishes like Thai green curry or Sichuan cuisine with its fresh acidity and white pepper spiciness. Gewürztraminer can be a great match for dishes that have a touch of sweetness and mild spice, such as Indian curry. The ginger-like spice in the wine enhances the overall richness of the dish. Similarly, Zinfandel pairs well with hearty, smoky dishes like barbecue ribs, where the clove and pepper notes in the wine complement the smoky, tangy flavors of the ribs.

In addition to the dishes with similar taste profiles, it’s helpful to think about broader categories of foods that pair well with spicy wines. Meats, particularly those with rich, robust flavors, often match well with spicy reds like Syrah or Zinfandel. The spiciness in the wine can stand up to the bold flavors of the meat.

For white wines with spicy notes, like Grüner Veltliner or Gewürztraminer, consider lighter fare that still offers complex flavors. Asian and Mexican cuisine, with its intricate balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy elements, can be an excellent match, as can dishes with a touch of sweetness or mild spice, which help to highlight the spicy characteristics of the wine.

Spiciness in wine is a multifaceted and enchanting characteristic that adds depth and excitement to the wine.

Whether it’s the peppery punch of a Syrah or the warm, gingery notes of a Gewürztraminer, spicy wines offer more complexity to the wine and pleasure to the overall tasting experience. For the Silo, Sylvia Ba.

Wine consultant Sylvia Ba is a vinicultural expert with the “VinoVoss” AI Sommelier wine search engine and recommendation system developed by BetterAI. The user-friendly online platform picks the perfect wine every time, for any occasion courtesy of a highly advanced artificial intelligence assist.

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Sci-Tech

Virgin Galactic Completes New Spaceship Manufacturing Facility

August 7, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Orange County, Calif. – Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”) recently announced the completion of its new manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona (Greater Phoenix area), where final assembly of its next-generation Delta spaceships is scheduled to take place starting in Q1 2025.

An initial team of Virgin Galactic technical operations and manufacturing personnel has begun preparing the facility to receive and install tooling, expected to arrive in Q4 2024. The facility will then begin to receive major subassemblies, including the wing, the fuselage, and the feathering system next year, as the team scales to build the first two ships of the Delta fleet. Once ground testing is complete, Virgin Galactic’s mothership will ferry completed spaceships to Spaceport America, New Mexico for flight test ahead of commercial operations, which are expected to begin in 2026.

The multiuse facility includes two hangars equipped with multiple bays, designed for maximum flexibility in building and testing space vehicles.

Work at the facility will be supported by the Company’s digital twin technology, which enables seamless integration between Virgin Galactic and suppliers through real-time collaboration, promoting strong governance and increased efficiency and reliability.

In May 2024, Virgin Galactic opened a ground testing facility in Southern California for Delta subsystems, including avionics, feather actuation, pneumatics, and hydraulics, using an Iron Bird test rig.

Design concept- Virgin Galactic’s MACH 3 Supersonic commercial passenger jet – a partnership with Rolls Royce (Concorde engines) could mean this design stands a real chance of being produced as well in the future.

Virgin Galactic’s Delta spaceships will seat up to six private passengers, and each is expected to be capable of flying up to eight missions per month, dramatically increasing access to space.

“The completion of our new manufacturing facility is an important milestone in the development of our fleet of next-generation spaceships, the key to our scale and profitability. Tooling will begin arriving in a matter of months to support spaceship final assembly, which we expect to commence in Q1 2025.”

Michael Colglazier • CEO of Virgin Galactic

Culture

We Should Be Consuming Fats Not GMOs

August 5, 2024 The Silo 3 Comments

Archaeological studies have confirmed that ancient humans broke open bones for marrow and based on fossilized coprolites, ate a diet rich in fat. CP

When Dr. John Salerno – a protégé of “Atkins Diet” creator Dr. Robert Atkins – testified before the U.S.D.A. about plans for its most recent Food Pyramid revision, he spoke his mind: The food industry is corrupt and has supported recommendations that do not support the population’s health.

“Hidden sugar, preservatives and highly processed white starch are what are really causing our health epidemic in the United States and Canada, Mexico, Australia and the United Kingdom,” says Salerno, author of “The Silver Cloud Diet,” (www.thesilverclouddiet.com). “Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease are killing this country, and it’s not because people are eating too much organic natural fats.”

Since the initial popularity of the Atkins food plan some years ago, however, there have been critics of the low-carbohydrate diet.

The science was and is sound, says Dr. Salerno, who worked closely with Atkins on research. The problem was that the diet itself was not sustainable.

After the terrorist bombings of September 11, 2001, Dr. Salerno served as the Medical Director for the World Trade Center Landfill, a position that earned him a commendation from then-mayor Rudy Giuliani. In this capacity, he was charged with monitoring the health of the public workers assigned to manage the landfill where debris from the World Trade Center was transferred.

“The basic principles needed revision both to make the diet sustainable and to take into account the foods available today,” he says. How does a low-carb diet work? Salerno answers the most frequently asked questions:

• How is a low-carb diet today different from the Dr. Atkins plan? Thirty years ago, the food supply was less degraded. Now, low-carb dieters have to be more proactive about selecting chemical-free foods that are not highly processed. There are many more farming techniques today that introduce unnatural elements into our meats and vegetables, and there are many, many more highly processed foods on store shelves. We need to be vigilant about preservatives and additives; hormone-infused meat can wreak havoc on a body.

• What’s the first step? The Fat Fast Detox quickly puts one’s body into fat-burning mode. Adhering to the carb-free diet for two weeks will have participants losing five to 15 pounds and two inches from the waistline. Breakfast, for example, could include two large organic eggs and a side of bacon, sausage or ham, which can be washed down with coffee or tea with cream and sweetener.
• What about eating out? Sustaining a low-carb diet is pretty simple when eating at restaurants. Take the burger out of the bread and skip the French fries. You’re good to go with grilled fish, roast chicken, pot roast, pork tenderloin, shrimp, scallops and pates.

• How can you eat on the run? A small amount of planning goes a long way. Boil eggs and keep them on hand for long car trips and office snacking. Add to that list jerky salmon, nuts and string cheese. These foods are dense with nutrients.

• Where can you find “clean” foods? Buy as “close to the ground” as possible, meaning choose organic produce, eggs and dairy. Inquire at farmer’s markets where they grow crops. Find a local provider for meats and fish if possible.

• Can you eat cake on a low-carb diet? As your health and vitality improves with lost weight and increased activity, you can introduce more carbohydrates into your diet.

• Are low-carb meals safe for family members who do not need to lose weight? What’s good for you – a broad and varied diet of unprocessed foods – is good for your family!

• When is the diet over? Eating foods that are healthy, unprocessed and natural is something you should never stop doing. However, if you feel you’re starting to gain excess weight, go on a detox regimen by cutting out carbs completely for one week.

• So, fat is good for you? Natural fat is the most nutrient-dense food there is. It’s lubricates your joints and helps your brain function at its best. It also keeps your hair shiny and helps prevent wrinkles. When you cut out processed carbs from your diet, you don’t need to worry about natural fat, which is an appetite suppressant.
For the Silo, Dr. John Salerno.

Culture

Canadian Navy Monitors Chinese Research Vessel in Arctic- Foreign Actors ‘Collecting Intelligence’

August 2, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Report via friends at thepochtimes.com. A Canadian warship was deployed to the Bering Strait in July to keep an eye on a Chinese polar research vessel as it navigated the passage between Russia and Alaska, underscoring Beijing’s growing interest in the region.

HMCS Regina in camouflage paint scheme used to confuse or obscure enemy’s visual observation.

The HMCS Regina shadowed the Chinese Research Vessel Xue Long 2 (China’s first domestically built Arctic research vessel) sometime between July 7 when it left its home port of Esquimalt, B.C., and July 25 when it returned.

China has called itself a “near-Arctic state” and has two icebreaking polar research vessels in service, the Xue Long and the Xue Long 2. The latter, delivered in 2019, has a displacement of 15,421 tons and is capable of breaking polar ice with both its bow and stern.

polarjournal.ch “On the scientific side, several research station and two Polar research vessel (here: Xue Long) underline China’s ambitions as an Arctic power. However, the plans of the Chinese government go far beyond research and science as outlined in the White Paper presented in 2018.” Image: Timo Palo- Own work, CC By-SA 3.0, via Wikicommons

Although the federal government did not publicize this part of HMCS Regina’s trip to the Arctic Ocean, a National Defence spokesperson confirmed the encounter in an email to The Epoch Times Aug. 1.

National Defence media relations officer Andrée-Anne Poulin also confirmed a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval task group was in the area.

cbc.ca : “The shadowing took place just days ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s surprise visit to China. The minister went to Beijing in an attempt to repair the frosty diplomatic relationship between Canada and China.”

“The ship and its embarked CH-148 Cyclone Air Detachment interacted safely and professionally with the Chinese Research Vessel Xue Long 2 throughout its transit through the Bering Strait,” Poulin said, adding that the Chinese task group vessels “remained in international waters at all times” and had “no encounters with HMCS Regina.”

canada.ca : “The CH-148 Cyclone is one of the most capable maritime helicopters in the world. It is Canada’s main ship-borne maritime helicopter, and it provides air support to the Royal Canadian Navy.”

National Defence declined to give further mission details, citing security protocol.

Foreign Minister Joly in China in First High-Level Meeting in Years

Lack of Federal Mining Investment Oversight Leaving Arctic Vulnerable to China: Macdonald-Laurier Institute

The U.S. Coast Guard reported the detection of Chinese navy vessels July 6 within the country’s exclusive economic zone that stretches 200 nautical miles from the coastline of Alaska.

The HMCS Regina left port in B.C. the following day. Commander of the Canadian navy’s Pacific fleet Dave Mazur said in a July 28 social media post the ship deployed “on short notice for a brief but impactful deployment.”

The U.S. Coast Guard said the Chinese vessels replied to radio communications, saying their purpose in the vicinity was “freedom of navigation operations.”

“The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms,” Coast Guard District commander Megan Dean said in a July 10 press release. “We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska.”

The Coast Guard said it kept the Chinese task group under surveillance until all ships had crossed back into the Pacific Ocean.

Security Issues

The risk of foreign actors invading Canadian waters is on the rise as the region becomes more accessible, Poulin said.

Competitors are “exploring Arctic waters and the sea floor, probing our infrastructure and collecting intelligence,” she said. “We are seeing more Russian activity in our air approaches, and a growing number of Chinese dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms collecting data about the Canadian North that is, by Chinese law, made available to China’s military.”

Despite not being an Arctic nation, China has aspirations of becoming a “polar great power” by 2030, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Poulin said China is increasingly growing its navy, including its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, as well as its investments, infrastructure and “industrial scientific influence throughout the Arctic region.”

Chinese encroachment in the Arctic is not a new issue. The country’s Snow Dragon icebreaker completed its first-ever voyage through Canada’s Northwest Passage in 2017.

A China Shipping Line cargo ship sails sails off the coast of Alaska past the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (David Goldman/The Associated Press)

China’s Xinhua News Agency described the voyage as one to test the viability of sailing Chinese cargo ships through the Arctic waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Joly Visit

Canada’s monitoring of the Chinese ships occurred when Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was preparing for an official visit to China to reinforce bilateral ties.

The minister met with Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi on July 19 “to discuss Canada-China relations as well as complex global and regional security issues,” Global Affairs Canada said.

The meeting happened as there is heightened attention in Canada to Beijing’s interference in Canadian affairs, with an ongoing public inquiry investigating the issue.

Past Hostile Encounters

Beijing has also shown hostility to the Canadian military in other encounters.

Last year, a Canadian military helicopter operating in the South China Sea was buzzed by Chinese fighter jets, putting Canadian personnel at risk, the Department of National Defence (DND) said at the time.

A year before that, in international airspace in Asia, Chinese fighter jets also buzzed Canadian planes on a U.N. mission to support sanctions against North Korea.

A similar incident again happened in 2019, where Chinese jets buzzed Canadian ships in the East China Sea. For the Silo, Jennifer Cowan.

Art

Contemporary British Painting Artist Claudia Böse Distills And Repairs

August 1, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Claudia is drawn to regions which are borderlands, geographically and psychologically and have been rendered throughout history by artists. Her work is process driven and deeply shaped by its relationship to daily life, a passion for history and art made by women.

Claudia talks about her process; ‘When I get going, there is a certain energy, and impulse within me and picking up from the residues of leftovers from previous sessions, remnants that I have been living with since. One of the main ingredients that informs my decisions seems to be reacting to impulse to distil [UK spelling. US spelling ‘distill’] and repair something. Even though I don’t know what that is.’ (From Obscure Secure, exhibition catalogue, in conversation with Hayley Field and Jacqueline Utley, 2014.)

CBP: Your abstract paintings feel like individual identities, each with an independent relationship with you, rather than products of a series. Can you introduce something about your approach to painting?

Claudia Böse: I very much like your first paragraph as nobody ever pointed this out to me. It is kind of obvious to me that each painting is very separate from the others and never part of a series.

I never know what I am going to paint. Painting is bigger than me.

When I start to get into the painting it is out of this world and right in it too.

Das sich zu Erwartende, oil on canvas, 2022

CBP: Describe a typical starting point for one of your paintings?

CB: I get paints, brushes, palette knives, plenty of time, rags, and quiet space. I sit for quite a long time just looking and listening. I am waiting to start. I begin at some moment and that is it. I am on auto pilot. Sometimes there are older panels in the studio which I might also work on. I might just give one painting one coat of new colour or scrape off the middle of an older work. Anything can happen.

For the past 10 years I painted in this Church on the second floor. Our allotment is also near. During Covid I had this place for two years to myself which was an amazing experience. When do we get any thing like this as a painter? I wonder this might also be the only time I have ever sold so many paintings. There was a special integrity at work for a short time and has not happened again.

February, oil on board, 24cm x 18cm , 2015

CBP: Erasure and removing paint is a fundamental process of yours and other painters. Can you talk more about scraping away?

CB: Scraping away and moving paint, it is not about the surface only I think about, but as important is the below and next to it and underneath it, with its own structure and beauty and rules – on one level it is not decorative, there is a reason, giving it space also to its own being. I am German and British, but too much to get into it here.

CBP: You discuss your pull to borderless regions that have been interpreted throughout history by artists and writers. This is a very evocative connection between the feeling, process and scholarly to paint research. Could you talk about this connection in more detail?

CB: Perhaps this is something painters do to find out about visual existence and expression of finality. I moved for three years to the island of Ruegen where Caspar David Friedrich lived and worked. I moved there to see with my own eyes what he saw and painted then. Constable and Sebald interest me for similar reasons.

Green on white, oil on panel, 12cm x 12cm, 2011

CBP: You’ve talked in past articles about decisions about when and how you use paint are strongly guided by your empathy for work which has been created by other women painters. Is this through mark making appropriations or another type of approach and sensibility? Has this changed for you more recently?

CB: This is a very different question now. Things have changed and come to an end in Europe. Women and men are equal. It will take time and all will get used to it. For six years I was part of Obscure Secure¹ and we were not sure if change will really come. I am so glad that things have changed forever.

Letting go, oil on canvas, 89cm x 70cm, 2018

CBP: Can you talk about how you work with colour to build mood and space in your painting?

CB: This question is amazing for all painters. There are growing moods supported by colours we use in a personal way. I have always painted with the same ambition, origin and style and mood. I also always use in painting white, yellow, earth colours and pink to have a presence. There are so many different colours of each. I wonder how many colours I touch in my life?

CBP: How prolific are you as a painter in terms of routine and successful completion of works verses the abandonment of paintings?

CB: I am aware how few phases I have left to paint in my life. This is a very interesting time. I recently started getting rid of art things I really won’t need anymore. New things will come too, I am sure.

CBP: What are you working on right now?

CB: I am painting new work. I am also getting my studio open for September.

1. Obscure Secure is an artist-led collaborative project focusing on work by 20^thc women artists, initiated in 2013 by Claudia Böse, Hayley Field and Jacqueline Utley with a practice based research exploring the visibility of women artists in collections. The name Obscure Secure was taken from one of The Hawstead Panels at Christchurch Mansion, most available writing about the panels say they were probably painted by Lady Drury in 1610. The panel ‘Obscure Secure’ has an image of a bear in a cave with the text beneath it. We decided to use this title because the words and image resonated with working with collections, where work is often hidden but kept safe.

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Sandra Blow, mixed media, 30cm x 30cm, 2022

Staying alive, oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, 2012

Trabant, oil on paper, 91cm x 116cm, 2011

Claudia Böse was born in Nueremberg, Germany in 1963 and trained at Central St. Martins and the Royal Academy Schools in London. Her awards include the International Bursary, Arts Council Ireland and the Travel Grant, European Cultural Foundation for residencies in Ireland and Poland. She was also the recipient of the Something useful project in India as well as being a collaborative artist of ‘Obscure Secure’, a project supported by the Arts Council England. Her paintings have been exhibited England, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Florida and India. She is working in a church tower and has been based in Suffolk since 2002.

Recent exhibitions include: 2024; Slow Painting, Contemporary British Painting & Guests, Studio KIND at the Cornstore & The Plough Arts Centre, Exeter, 2022-3; Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Saxmundham, Suffolk, 2022; Wells Art Contemporary, Vitalistic Fantasies, Elysium, Swansea, Paradoxes, Contemporary British Painting, Isle of Wight, Quay Arts Centre, A Generous Space, Hastings Contemporary.

Featured image- Bathroom by Claudia Böse. Watercolour, spray paint and acrylic paint.

http://www.claudiaboese.info/

@boeseclaudia

Supplemental- A kinship of process. British-Canadian artist Jarrod Barker’s “Some Assembly Required” 2024. Acrylics.

As if that wasn’t enough, two extraordinary events took place recently.

Paying tribute and reinterpreting the Turbo heritage

The hybrid design process at Porsche

Figure of the month:

A mandala is a diagram of the universe—a map of true reality that in Tibet is used to conceptualize a rapid path to enlightenment.

It’s equally flexible in accommodating digital sources.

Ever wonder what all that academic talk is that curators like to use so much? Do you find it pretentious or worse?

The essay begins with the following statement:

For Greenberg, Avant-Garde situated itself outside the influences of both capitalist and communist influences that were gradually dampening society’s ability to appreciate any depth of meaning.

As we approach Fall and Winter (sorry!) and the weather starts becoming cooler, one of the best ways to layer is using Numi’s bamboo undergarments and basics under your clothing.

The secret to layering, even in Fall and Winter, is to look stylish, not bulky.

Undergarments feature patented Sweat-Secret Technology, a high performance fabric in the underarm area to absorb moisture to help you stay dry and comfortable and your clothes clean.

Transformative Highlights

Great for all shapes and sizes.

Revolver.news reports: The real shocker in this bill is the alarming retroactive aspect.

It’s the second time Inuit artists from West Baffin Cooperative have shared their artwork at the biennale, and builds on the growing relationship between Kinngait Studios and its counterparts in Gwangju, Korea.

Those preliminary cross-cultural exchanges served to inform this year’s pavilion, which ultimately led to the exhibition’s main theme that explores definitions of home.

There were also political discussions about the still complex and often strained relationship between the government of Canada and Inuit people and those paralleled histories in Korea.

This story underscores a critical dilemma that should have been central in the public consultations.

Copilot AI

After examining the various de-risking policies governments have implemented, including their downsides and unintended consequences, I conclude Ottawa probably should develop de-risking policies.

China’s monopolies create chokepoints that could enable its government to manipulate production to pursue its own geopolitical ambitions.

But these de-risking policies come at a cost.

Proposed steep tariffs on Chinese EV imports provide a good example of the trilemma.

This material is soft, and easy to sew together in new combinations- injecting creativity into a new favorite sweatshirt .

You have probably had many a spill on the front of your favorite sweat shirt.

When you get tired of your creations, repeat the process. This recycling can go on forever.

All of modern life is a spectacle. Much of what contemporary man experiences in Western society is a false social construct mediated by images.

No longer is the work of art itself a commodity, but rather the image of the artist (his/her/cis brand) that becomes the commodity.

Where once the products of labor were the commodity, now it is the spectacle that has become the commodity.

The spectacle feeds itself through the mediating of the image to create desire for status and recognition, through associations.

Perhaps art has always been a commodity?

The commodification of art creates a unique problem in history. If it is the spectacle that matters, and the artist’s identity that has value, then what value is left in the art itself?

From Land to Air

Countries of Origin, Destination

Canada’s spike is not following global trends, he said, which suggests it may have to do with a perception that Canada’s asylum policies are especially lenient. In other words, Canada is attracting claimants who feel they may not successfully seek asylum elsewhere.

The majority of claimants so far this year have arrived in Ontario, whereas for years, Quebec was at the centre of the asylum issue.

Quebec has requested a federal quota system that would relocate asylum-seekers to other provinces.

The average cost for each claimant is $16,500 cad in 2024, the PBO said.

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TORONTO – Following restrictive sun exposure advice in countries with low solar intensity like Canada might in fact be harmful to your health, says the co-author of a new study on sunlight and vitamin D.

“Humans have adapted to sun exposure over many thousands of years and derive numerous physiological benefits from UV exposure, in addition to vitamin D,” said Baggerly, executive director of Grassroots Health and breast cancer survivor.

In Canada, vitamin D from sunlight can only be synthesized in the skin during the spring, summer and fall months, around midday, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., when the UV index is above three and your shadow is shorter than your height.

Vitamin D deficiency is an indication of sunlight deficiency.

About the Vitamin D Society:

Nearly half of Canadians report struggling to meet day-to-day expenses, up 12 percentage points from 2022 to 45 percent.

Housing is one of the biggest concerns Canadians cite, with nearly four in 10 saying they are concerned about their ability to afford a home because of rising prices. The number has risen from 30 percent in 2022 to 38 percent this year.

More than one in four families with children say they expect to turn to food banks and similar organizations, compared to one in five for other household types, StatCan said.

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Ontario Town Votes to Become a Willing Host for a Nuclear Waste Repository

Ignace, between Thunder Bay and Kenora, is now the first of those four communities to make its decision known, and town council voted in favour of it at a special meeting on July 10.

The current fleet of nuclear reactors in Canada will produce about 5.5 million used fuel bundles, with around 3.2 million already in either wet or dry storage on site at nuclear plants.

Opponents in the affected communities worry about safety, while proponents see value in the jobs and economic development the project will bring.

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We need a framework that preserves and protects sweat-of-the-brow labor.

Poutine. Mac n cheese. Cup cakes. Hot dogs. Grilled cheese. COMFORT.

Poutine originated in Quebec consisting of french fries, fresh cheese curds and brown gravy.

Same goes with grilled cheese.

So why are we so bent on changing the classics?

— Kino Piispanristi integrates Genelec’s famous “The Ones” loudspeaker range along with the latest Dolby Surround technology to deliver premium audio quality — the best to be found (and heard) in Finland.

“We strive to offer all the perks of a modern cinema without being a faceless corporation,” begins Erkkilä.

“For our premium space theater, sound is everything.”

Take this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT for example:

Highlights of this supercar include:

Chassis No. WP0CA29875L001120

Porsche’s engineers were fervently engaged in another ambitious project—the Carrera GT prototype, internally referred to as SCM (Super Car Millennium).