Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

 Humber Bay Dive Incident: 58-year old woman passes in Toronto hospital I recently volunteered to help the Ontario Underwater Council research and write fatality reports - accurate information about accidents that occur in the Province while people are diving. The reports are meant to give reliable/factual data to the dive community and to make recommendations on how to make the sport safer (based on the facts of the incident). I had hoped I would go the whole year without having to work on a report.  Sadly that is not the case. A 58-year old woman died this week following a Friday April 13th incident in Toronto at Lake Ontario's Humber Bay. What follows is the report that has been posted on the Ontario Underwater Council web site.  It is reposted here because I write about diving and have built up a following of visitors looking for scuba information. Location of the park. Not accurate as to the location of the incident Date of Incident: 2012-04-13 Summary: A woman wa

Stephen Weir in costume as the Greek Chorus A Review About My Toronto Stage Debut At Harbourfront Pictured I am on stage at Toronto's Harbourfront, in the midst of my acting debut.  My wife and I and 4 of our friends were 20% of the Greek chorus in two short plays Ajax and Little Iliad . The mask was integral part of my costume. The pair of plays were written and performed by hometown guys Eban Webber and Frank Cox-Connell. They had a 5-performance run at the Enwave Theatre as part of Harbourfront’s annual World Stage Theatre.  The two short plays took a 21st century Social Media generation approach to the telling of one the (mostly) lost Greek epic plays, which chronicled the Trojan Wars.  What is left of the Little Iliad is thought to been written in the middle of the 7th century BC. Webber and Cox-Connell's first short play frame their take on the Little Iliad by portraying two friends talking on Skype.  Eban Webber (playing himself) is on stage while

(as published in Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-weir/linkedin-privacy_b_1401066.html )  Stephen Weir LinkedIn Privacy Alert - Telephone, Telegraph and Tell a Publicist LinkedIn With Investigative Journalists - Maybe You Want To Drop Me Soon Yesterday, for the second time in a month an investigative criminal reporter has called me looking for info on people that I am linked into through the popular business social network. This time it was concerning a case of medical fraud, and one of my Linkedin  contacts was related to a doctor arrested in the US.  The Star was trying to reach Toronto relatives for comment. My Linkedin contact, a member of the media himself, was related directly to this doctor. At the beginning of the month the Globe and Mail was asking for Linkedin information that would help the paper contact a woman about to be charged over an insider trading issue (gold stocks). Their calls kicked off an internal ethical debate.  You see

 . 18th annual Shipwreck Festival sets a record for number of paid attendees Over 500 wreck aficionados crowded into a high school theatre in Welland to hear North America's top shipwreck experts talk about their latest underwear finds.  Shipwreck 2012, Ontario's largest underwater event, is  an annual symposium staged by the Niagara Dive Association (NDA).  This year's wreckstock set an attendance record. " We reached that magical number of 500 paid attendance" said volunteer organizer Ian Marshall on Saturday at the Welland Centennial High School , just as the Shipwreck 2012 conference was wrapping up, "We do know that we sold over 500 passes, but, there were a number of  divers who bought tickets but didn't them up so the actual attendance will be a little lower than tickets sold. But, of course, we have to add in all the unpaid exhibitors and speakers numbers too, to find out how many made it here this year. Going to be next week before w

Toronto Sun Photograph by Stephen Weir Left to Right:   Diversity Business Network's Coutney Betty, Head of Diversity  London Olympics Stephen Frost, and Chief Bill Blair holding his Diversity Award    Yesterday I posted pictures and a press release about the Diversity Business Network on my press release webpage.   The posting concerned a new Diversity Award that was presented to Toronto's chief of police. The Diversity Business Network (who I help out) recognized Toronto Police Chief William Blair as the 2012 Canadian Diversity Leadership Award winner at a Diversity conference in Toronto  on Friday. The award recognizes an individual or organization who is a ‘Champion’ for diversity and has also achieved success in implementation of diversity strategies to achieve organizational goals. The Toronto Sun picked up my photo from the conference and ran it in Saturday's edition (March 24) - so I have moved that photograph over to my blog about stories and pho

.  86-year Old Arnaud Maggs in the running for Canada's largest photography award Three photographers from across Canada have made the shortlist for the 2012 Scotiabank Photography Award. The finalists, Toronto's Arnaud Maggs, Vancouver-based Fred Herzog and Alain Paiement of Montreal, were chosen from 12 names submitted by a panel of artists, experts, curators and critics. Maggs at the Scotiabank Photography Award - Andrew Weir The announcement, held at Scotiabank headquarters, was attended by the media and members of the arts community (pictured below).  In the auidence was 86-year old photographer Arnaud Maggs (pictured), who was named to the Prize's shortlist. After hearing his name announced the photographer came to the front of the executive boardroom and expressed his gratitude for being so honoured (pictured). . Internationally acclaimed photographer Arnaud Maggs is best known for detailed, grid-like portrait studies that betray a stark intimacy.

Rendering of Toronto's L-Tower This is one glass ceiling you won’t want to break through L-Tower penthouse suite at Yonge and Front lets you look out and up out of the same  big window By Stephen Weir Stephen@stephenweir.com There are now eight luxurious penthouse units for sale at the L-Tower project in downtown Toronto.  When built, these two-level skyboxes will be at the top of a 58-storey all-window condo building, where their mass is all glass! “ The problem with all-glass buildings is that they all begin to look the same, unless you are willing to make a bold move,” said Sam Crignano, partner in Cityzen Development.  “Architect Daniel Libeskin has done just that  … no more so than with the 57/58 floor penthouse suites!” Backstreet view of Libeskind L-Tower construction site. Downtown Toronto. The penthouse suites will have 2-storey tall, all-glass windows.  For the units facing north up Yonge Street, the glass actually angles in a curve over the two floor