I had a great time watching the NFB documentary “Being Caribou” when it was screened at the Calgary International Film Festival a few years ago. I am happy to share with you that the full documentary video “Being Caribou” is now onlineo!
In this feature-length documentary, husband and wife team Karsten Heuer (wildlife biologist) and Leanne Allison (environmentalist) follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot across 1500 km of Arctic tundra. In following the herd’s migration, the couple hopes to raise awareness of the threats to the caribou’s survival. Along the way they brave Arctic weather, icy rivers, hordes of mosquitoes and a very hungry grizzly bear. Dramatic footage and video diaries combine to provide an intimate perspective of an epic expedition.
I remember I had tears in my eyes when I watched the beauty in the landscape and the wildlife Karsten and Leanne showed in the film. And as I watch the film online, I am touched again when I see the beauty and the filmmakers respect for the caribous and the wildlife.
It is easy to think that only humans matter and we don’t need to respect other life forms on this earth. I think that view is short sighted as we (humans) are just one of the living beings on earth and, at some point, we have to learn to live while respecting other living beings on this Pale Blue Dot.
P.S. I feel I have to add this note. I am not your typical environmentalist or animal lover. For example, I love steaks, and if I can trust the meat quality, I will probably even try Caribou steaks too!
BUT, I refuse to be so arrogant to think that human beings rule supreme and can trample other living beings on earth without careful thoughts and reasons. It is no laughing matter to seriously disturb the habitat of Caribous or other animals and putting their survival in danger.
In the last few days, I have been deeply disturbed by the horrible treatment of Kevin Smith and Natali by Southwest Airlines. You can hear more details in Kevin’s two detailed podcasts,
Note: To be absolutely clear, since both Kevin and Natali can put their seats’ handles down, they are definitely NOT “too fat to fly”.
As I kept thinking how shitty Kevin and Natali had been treated, I knew I had to do something more. So, this past Friday (Feb 19) when I dropped my better half to the airport for her to have some fun in Vancouver, I took the opportunity to ask the nice WestJet check-in lady about their “person of size” policy. You see, I know WestJet modelled itself after Southwest Airlines, I was expecting the worst.
Well, to my surprise, the lady mentioned something called “one-person-one-fare” (more on this later) in response. My initial thought was: Cool, one person (regardless of size) pays one fare only, thats nice.
If you have a dispute related to federally-regulated modes of transportation, the Canadian Transportation Agency may be able to help. The Agency can bring you and the transportation operator together informally, help you to understand each other’s needs and interests, and find a solution that works for both.
If you think the above words are just some toothless idle BS, then you will be quite wrong. In fact, WestJet, Air Canada, and Air Canada Jazz, weren’t nice “willingly”!
In February 2008, Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet sought leave to appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal.
In May 2008, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the airlines’ application.
In August 2008, the airlines applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s Decision to dismiss their application.
On November 20, 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet’s application for leave to appeal. The Agency’s January 2008 Decision stands.
I am not a lawyer, but for persons functionally disabled by obesity, the “one-person-one-fare” policy applies. So you will only need to pay one fare.
And for other persons of size, I strongly suspect if you can put the seat handles down, you will be OK. You see, with the “one-person-one-fare” policy in effect for over a year, I seriously doubt any Canadian airlines’ flight crews will make any fuzz for people flying within Canada. They know they are in the losing end of this argument.
Well, the WestJet check-in crew member was quick to tell me about “one-person-one-fare” policy, so I think they are all well-trained by now.
Please share your thoughts flying within Canada (or US).
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Zi (老子) (???)
I love good quotes and I have posted a collection of quotes I love to share and new quotes are being added to it constantly.
I was going to add the above quote to my collection. But before I add it and since I can read and understand Chinese, I decided to check and do a bit of research to confirm.
Well, I found this translation and its cited source (Ch 27) at Wikiquote. After reading the Chinese source reference (Ch 27.01 “善行 無轍跡。”), I am starting to doubt if the translator got the translation right. In short, the translator may have gone too far so I am reluctant to go on a stretch with him.
So while
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”
sounds deep, cute, and even fit my temperament, I don’t think Lao Zi (老子) ever said it. And I am more incline to go with the translation of
Since John Adams the TV miniseries was based on John Adams the biography by historian David McCullough, I expect the show gets all of the historical details right. And the producers managed to make it an interesting show to watch. Bravo to them.
Vancouver’s downtown Robson Street – a standard-issue urban retail strip in its pre-Olympic life – has blossomed into a vibrant, giddy pedestrian hub, replete with street dancers, skaters, caped patriots wrapped in flags and a crazy popular zip line that hurls screaming participants across the sky every couple of minutes.
With traffic cordoned off near its nexus outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, the street has been transformed from a sea of cars into a tidal wave of cheerful humanity.
Throughout the day and night, throngs of people saunter the street, taking in the sights or becoming part of the action themselves.
Love this quote as it shows how hard Peter works. Incidentally, if you shop in Giordano and one of the customers being observed, you may feel a bit creepy. :)
“I spend some of my weekends on the computer watching through cameras in our stores to see how customers respond to promotions.“
Lau, who took the reins of the storied company in 1993, is credited with transforming once-troubled Husky into one of Canada’s largest energy firms. In January, the Harvard Business Review named him one of the world’s best-performing CEOs. [...]
What was supposed to be a temporary assignment for the young accountant from Hong Kong stretched into nearly two decades at the head of one of Calgary’s largest energy players after he was personally handed the task of turning the company around by Li Ka-shing, one of the richest men in the world.
Lau took the reins of Husky at a time when the debt-laden producer was bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars in red ink, with a debt to cash flow ratio of about 15 times. After a painful restructuring, he returned the company to profitability and lowered debt in line with industry standards, to two times cash flow, in less than five years.
Once the company was back on stable ground, Lau steered Husky onto a growth path by expanding the company’s retail network and making big investments in heavy oil and oilsands, and the East Coast off shore. In the process, Lau showed his skills as a shrewd deal-maker with a series of well-timed acquisitions that cemented the company’s recovery.
Don’t ask me why but I find it fun to follow advanced mathematics and computer researches (almost and very often beyond my limit of understanding). I find some enjoyment in learning about some of these advanced stuff.
I actually laughed quite hard, in a good way, at the 42:22 point, when Terence mentioned the guaranteed upper bound of 2**2**2**2**2**2**2**100k. Establishing an upper bound beats infinity. :)
The video “Math Prodigy Terence Tao” is a lot of fun to watch, even, lets be honest, it looks and smells like is an UCLA Math department informercial. :)
Objecting to the ground rules for Friday’s scripted and highly managed live television statement by Tiger Woods, the Golf Writers Association of America announced a boycott of the event Thursday. The ground rules originally allowed close proximity to Woods for three pool reporters who would agree not to ask him questions. [...]
The president of the G.W.A.A., Vartan Kupelian, said, “To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe.”
““This is not a press conference,” Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, said on Wednesday.
Three wire services — the AP, Reuters and Bloomberg — were invited. The Golf Writers Association of America was offered a pool of three reporters, negotiated for six reporters, then its board of directors voted overwhelmingly not to participate.”
P.S. One day, may be prime minister stephen harper will get the same consistent treatment from the Canadian media. (Of course, I am dreaming here. As this was tried before stephen harper won. And the press and Canadians lost.)
“What actually seems to be happening is that by avoiding real disaster, we also managed to avoid confronting our own intellectual failings. … It’s as if it were still 2007: we’ve gone back to it. People are espousing the same positions, the same rhetoric about private sector dynamism and the evils of big government. The same denunciations of Keynesian economics are right back in vogue. ”
- Paul Krugman
Apple is not guilty directly but should be held responsible because we know where the desire for secrecy comes from. What is illegal (kidnapping and illegal confinement) in US should be illegal in China when done in the name of Apple’s desire for secrecy.
One measure to determine an airline’s labor productivity. It is calculated by dividing an airline’s total revenue by the number of airline employee full-time equivalents as reported to the US Department of Transportation.
As part of the “No LUV for Southwest Airlines” business case study, I intend to define and expand on the concept of “Dis-Revenue per Employee“.
Please note that this article serves as a placeholder for an ongoing business case study of the Southwest Airlines social media storm. Information contained here will be under constant update and revision.
***
Business case background:
Southwest Airlines was a respected brand only a few short days ago. So what had happened to the brand in less than 100 hours that caused people to say out loud that they will NEVER fly with Southwest again? Thus no LUV for Southwest Airlines.
The purpose of this business case is to look deeper into the causes leading to Southwest crashing its brand in a perfect social media storm. And how other businesses can learn from Southwest‘s mistakes.
photo credit: av8pix @ Flickr
Keywords:
Dis-Revenue per Employee, Revenue per Employee, Southwest Airlines, Twitter, Social Media, Social Network
Kempton received his undergrad degree in Computer Science (with high distinction) from University of Toronto and is well versed in social media technologies from his years of blogging experiences. His MBA degree from University of Calgary has also prepared him to deliver comprehensive insightful study/report on time and within budget. During Kempton’s undergraduate and graduate studies, he has received multiple scholarships and awards for his academic excellence.
A Business Case Study (draft / beta)
It will take some time to complete the full report so please be patient.
What Kempton plans to do is to update this report in different draft versions. And keeping it as a “draft/beta” version until it is completed.
Concluding note for now
This report will study some serious issues and topics even though the trigger of Southwest‘s troubles may seem “trivial” to some people. But let me assure you, the business implication is deep and significant.
Just so you know I can laugh at myself and the absurdity in whole mess for Southwest. Here is one of my favourite ad, it serves to remind me to be humble and always be ready to do what is needed and right (and to learn).
The following video is fun to watch. Fun is one thing, practical is a different matter. I have no idea idiots can call themselves “design experts” these days! If I knew any idiots can call themselves “design experts”, I would have called myself design experts long time ago. At least I have read Bill Buxton’s insightful “Sketching User Experiences” from cover to cover and hopefully will NOT design something as stupid as these “design experts”.
As an exercise to the readers, can you name 10 things why the depicted “design” is silly and likely stupid? Have fun.
P.S. If all they want is to get them brand out there, then they have succeeded. Even if I am laughing at them.
Recently, I have been thinking about what to write in my 3,000th post which is only 21 posts away.
- I’ve thought about inviting some blog friends to write a few words and post them, but that will take some coordinations and will take some time from the blog friends.
- May be I will interview myself to talk about how I feel about the 3,000th post? That may be fun.
Love to hear what you think and your suggestions for my 3,000th post, just leave a comment or email me. Your ideas may help to inspire me when it is time to write that milestone 3,000th post (probably days away).
Posted by kempton 
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