Posts

THE DAY MY APPENDIX DIED!

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53 YEARS ON - REMEMBERING WHEN BOTH THE MUSIC AND MY APPENDIX DIED   (from one of my Facebook postings which is getting a lot of traffic) Today is the day my Appendix died! I was very very young. So young I was placed in a hospital room ward for both male and female youngsters.  It was the Ottawa Civic Hospital. When I awoke after my operation the girl in the next bed was sobbing loudly. Why was she weeping? Was I dead? Had my operation gone badly? Well it wasn't for me.  Turns out while I was in the OR she learned that her favourite rock and roll singer had died in a plane crash. Never heard of him (back then anyway). I was crushed that she did not care about me or my just removed appendix. So,  it was 53 years ago today that my appendix died and Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a horrible plane crash.  

100 Words. Non-Fiction. Canada Reads 24-hour Name Dropping contest

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  Stephen Weir and Maria Nenadovich in front of Andy Warhol's Mao Title: When Time Stood Still In A Small Town Ontario Author:   Stephen Weir (stephen@stephenweir.com) The Story: A roof. Four teenagers.  A fatal attraction. 45 years ago we were atop of the tallest building in Renfrew.  It was a science experiment with Superball.  Throw Superball and ita bounce towards the stars. How high would it fly when thrown from the roof? Whoosh! Screaming screaming streetward. It hit with a sickening splat. Next? Zooming skyward it arced towards the post-office clocktower. Time stood still. Plop. Tinkles of glass. A round hole at  6. Before the bouncing stopped we scattered in four very different directions. Guy Fox. Karsh. Hemingway. Pope Paul. Death has caught two. We won’t meet again.

Steve Jobs, I-Pads, Canon Cameras changing how press conferences are run

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Stephen Weir HUFFINGTON POST RAN THIS EDITED VERSION OF A BLOG POSTING ON JANUARY 14th . How Steve Jobs Transformed PR    Huffington Post 1.14.2012      See the full length blog at: http://20minutesoffame.blogspot.com/2011/09/was-it-only-year-ago-that-you-never-saw.html Last month when the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) held a media launch for an exhibition of miniature working models of some of Leonardo da Vinci's greatest inventions, Massimiliano Lisa, curator of the traveling show, dedicated the day to the memory of Steven Job. Lisa (no relation to Mona) compared the game changing genius of Da Vinci to the intellect of the recently deceased head of Apple. The room full of science geeks agreed with the visiting curator. Little did they know how much Jobs has changed how PR people like me stage media events -- including the event they were at. In the old days -- a year ago -- there was a certain never-stray-from blue print for the physical set-up of a press event. The

Patrick where for art thou - tale of theft and intrigue in the US Virgin Islands

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Recent Fluff From Stephen Weir's Many December Facebook Postings . If he says Patrick a few times, you know he is hot ... and he is probably an illegal alien! While doing some research into a recent fatality in the US Virgin Islands, I searched through a number of recent press releases issued by the USVI police information officer. Serious business, but, I still was amused to read about a stolen parrot, who likes to say Patrick over and over and over again. Ac cording to the police, earlier today thieves on the island of St Croix stole two male African parrots, a power generator and a gate lock from a farm.  The police say the value of the items was $4,200 and have asked locals to keep an ear out for any parrots saying Patrick. They are asked to call Crime Stoppers and say the word Patrick (over and over and over again).

If a Tree Exhibition was staged in the forest would ....

. THE McMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION www.mcmichael.com NEW EXHIBITION LISTING INFORMATION  The McMichael Tree Project                 January 28 to April 22, 2012                                                                                                This winter and spring, the McMichael celebrates the artistic, cultural,and natural aspects of the tree with two breathtaking exhibitions, a variety of  programs, and special  installations.  As part of this project, the McMichael presents the exhibition,  The Tree: Form  and Substance,  which provides an exciting  opportunity for us to connect the gallery's  interior spaces with our  newly invigorated outdoor spaces and forested landscape, for the very first time. In conjunction with our own exhibition, the gallery also presents  The Tree: From the Sublime to the Social , organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery; an exhibition that considers the tree as a subject in art from the early twentieth

Diving Into Bat Infested Waters!

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  Stephen Weir,  "the moment I knew" - photo by Jim Kozmik Mayan Riviera Runs A Small Price to Pay for Cenote Diving November 2011 issue of Diver Magazine By Stephen Weir This picture, taken in a freshwater Yucatan cenote (cave) was snapped at the exact moment in time that I realized that in 48-hours I was going to be sick.  You know, Montezuma”s Revenge, or as I coined it following a sink hole diving expedition in Akumal, Mexico, the Mayan Riviera Runs . This is not a diss on the Yucatan’s water system. This was something self-inflicted and it could have happened in any "fresh" water cave in the world. Blame it on the sanitary habits of flying animals or cenote diving being just too amazing for my own good.   Watch a You Tube Video of Cenote dive guide Mario explaining to Stephen Weir, how the Mexican Cenotes came to be. 2-minutes  http://youtu.be/lV12iGAzURQ . The east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan State is a flat, dry land void of rivers, lakes or

Photographs used in Diver Story Sidebar About Akumal Diving

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 PHOTOGRAPHS OF DIVING OFF AKUMAL BEACH - YUCATAN FACTS SIDEBAR A coral encrusted moped in the sand off Akumal Beach - Weir A Scuba Dive Girl drifts in the current Akumal - Weir Yucatán Facts • The Yucatán Peninsula is a large, cavernous limestone shelf not more than 165 feet (50m) above sea level and without any surface rivers. Instead, rainwater penetrates the porous limestone and forms underground rivers. • Most diveable cenotes in Mexico are to be found in the Riviera Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula. It’s been estimated there are approximately 30,000 cenotes in this region of which an estimated 100 are diveable. • Many cenotes are located on private land and are accessible only with permission. Most are basically inaccessible by normal means but many are open to the public. Entrance fees vary from $10 pesos to $100 pesos, approximately USD$1-10, for those managed by locals. Commercial operations offering more to see and do typically charge more, USD$10-25. • The Rivier