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Kudos to the creative Spanish minds that have brought billboards to a whole new level. This billboard for the ANAR Foundation (Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk) is able to reach two different audiences at once. 

Through the power of lenticular printing, adults and children see different messages when staring at the same billboard. The content visible to each person is based on the their vantage point. Anyone under 4 feet 3 inches will see a message targeted to children, and anyone taller will see a message tailored to adults. 

Check out this video to see it in action. 



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#MyDaffodil

I decided to dust off my blog to talk about something near and dear to my heart, Daffodil Month. Did you know that every 3 minutes, cancer picks a fight with another Canadian? Every April, the Canadian Cancer Society-with the help of generous volunteers- sell daffodil pins. Daffodils are worn to support Canadians living with cancer and to let them know they do not have to face this disease alone.

In August of 2012 I started working for the Canadian Cancer Society and my passion for this organization and everything it does has intensified. I wear my pin not only for family members I have lost to cancer and family who have survived, but to also show that I am a part of this fight and support everyone working towards seeing cancer defeated.

 I want to sincerely thank everyone who wore a daffodil this April. It is becoming the "poppy of spring" and I look forward to more and more Canadians uniting in the fight against cancer each and every April.

Preserve the Unknown

My latest obsession: BBC's Human Planet. A documentary series geared to enlighten the developed world about how humans survive in the most intense places on earth. It's absolutely fascinating.

One section, however, could not be studied (and for good reason). Above is an arial image of one of the last uncontacted tribes in the world. Located in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, the group of indigenous people have never EVER been exposed to the outside world. They only know their immediate surroundings.

Take a second and try to fathom that tribes like this exist. They have no idea about different races and places around the world. They remain untainted from outside influence and Jose Meirelles intends to keep it that way. Working for FUNAI, a government organization, he is fighting to preserve their way of life and make sure they remain uncontacted. The threat of illegal mining and logging poses to be his main problem in making sure he wins the fight.

Described as "the last free people on the planet", take a look at the video excerpt below to get a better understanding of the importance of preserving these tribes:



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Look Mom! No Hands!

On May 22, a fleet of self-driving cars drove on a public highway in Spain during normal traffic... A WORLD FIRST! Google's self-driving cars were equipped with safety systems including cameras, radar and laser sensors, enabling them to monitor the lead vehicle and other vehicles on the road. 


Those sitting in the driver's seat were asked to take their hands off the wheel and feet away from the pedals as the cars zoomed along at a speed of 85 km/h for 200 kilometers. 

"It is quite funny to see the passing vehicles. They are quite surprised seeing me not driving the car but reading a magazine," Wahlstrom, driver. 

Check out this video to see how a legally blind man has also been using these cars to help him gain more autonomy. What was once a figment of our imagination is now quickly turning into a reality. And I thought self-parking cars were mind-blowing! 


What are your thoughts? 

Kate Winslet: Too Sexy For 3D

As many people know, April 15th marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The well-loved film has recently been released in 3D in theaters but China thought Titanic3D might be a bit too intense and opted to censor parts. No, I am not talking about the scenes of the Titanic crashing or the ship flooding; I am referring to Kate Winslet's nude scenes.

To cut to the chase, the Chinese government elected to censor these parts of the movie because they feared that viewers would reach out and try to grab Kate's breasts due to the "realer than most" 3D experience and make the other people in the audience uncomfortable.

Here's the official statement that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released:

"Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch and thus interrupt other people’s viewing."

"To avoid potential conflicts between viewers and out of consideration of building a harmonious ethical social environment, we’ve decided to cut off the nudity scenes"

The scene that bares her breasts has now been replaced with a head-and-shoulders close up (similar to what is seen above). I think we need to give the men a little more credit. Yes, I can understand a sex scene being arousing (especially in 3D) BUT I doubt they would be reaching out to cop a feel. And if they did, I think I would find it to be more funny than offensive.

I will leave you with a comment from an angry and disappointed "Offbeat China" blogger:

"I waited 15 years to see 3D boobs, not 3D iceberg."

I'm sure his heart will go on...

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St. Lawrence Market: Nothing Better

Toronto's St. Lawrence Market was recently ranked by National Geographic as the world's best food market!

The complete list of National Geographic's top 10 food markets, ranked from the book Food Journeys of a Lifetime, is as follows:

1. St. Lawrence Market, Toronto
2. Union Square Greenmarket, New York City
3. Castries Market, St. Lucia
4. Ver-o-Peso, Belem, Brazil
5. Mercado Central, Santiago, Chile
6. Kreta Ayer Wet Market, Singapore
7. Kauppatori, Helsinki, Finland
8. La Vucciria, Palermo, Italy
9. Cours Saleya, Nice, France
10. Borough Market, London, England

A Snapshot of 2011

Australian Scott Jones kisses his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas after she was knocked to the ground by a police officer's riot shield in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadians rioted after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I am going to let these images speak for themselves. Click on the title below to view remarkable images capturing the highs and lows of this year:

The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011

Two lights from the former site of the World Trade Centers shine for the 10th anniversary of 9/11

US gay service members march in a gay pride parade for the first time ever.

Gay Penguins Must Mate for Survival

Pedro and Buddy came to the Toronto Zoo this year from Pittsburgh's National Avairy to "pair bond" (aka get hooked up with a couple females). Instead of pursuing the eligible females, Pedro and Buddy became quite the love birds. The cute couple were snuggling, calling to each other, and displaying courtship behaviour. Cute, right? Well until the fact that these African penguins are flirting with extinction...

The Toronto Zoo has decided to isolate the pair for the sake of their species survival. Mr. Mason, curator of birds and invertebrates at the Toronto Zoo, explains the following:

“The two girls have been following them; we just have to get the boys interested in looking at them... If [Pedro and Buddy] weren’t genetically important, then we’d let them do their thing"

They want to be clear that their separation of the homosexual penguins is by no means trying to be anti-gay. The zoo simply cannot afford to go a season without passing on the penguins' genes.

I am curious to see if the males will even be interested in the females. Thoughts?

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I promise to love you in sickness and in health, until 2013.

Sounding much like an informercial, Leonel Luna from the Democratic Revolution essentially wants to give couples a test run of their marriage without having them commit to "until death do us part" right off the bat. Out of 33,000 couples that tied the knot in Mexico City in the past 2 years, approximately 16,000 filed for divorce. Knowing the financial setback a failed marriage creates, Luna introduced a bill to Mexico City's legislative assembly.

"Under Luna's bill, couples would sign a marriage contract that would last two years. Once that term was over, the couple would have the option to renew. The contract would specify if property is owned by both spouses or separately. It would also state who would get custody of the children, if any, and how benefits would be distributed." -CNN

As you could imagine, the two-year marriage bill is causing quite the controversy especially in a country with the second largest catholic population in the world. This clearly goes against their values. Take a look at the CNN report to learn more about the reasoning behind proposing this bill.

What do you think about having a 2 year marriage contract implemented?

For the full article click here

A Beautiful Addiction

A recent Harvard University study researched how men react to seeing beautiful women. The result?

"A beautiful woman's face is like chocolate, cash, or cocaine to a young man's brain." -ABC7 News

Watch this news report for more details...

Socialnomics

Take a look at this video on just how huge social media is. The FactSnacks in here will blow your mind!

I have blogged on a couple topics mentioned in this video. For more details on the baby named "Facebook" and the Star Wars Volkswagen commercial click the links below.

Baby Name Hall of Fame

The Force is With This Cutie

Best Places to be a Woman

Newsweek magazine recently ranked 165 countries to measure the state of women's progress across the globe. Below are the 5 categories that were examined and graded:

1. Treatment under the law

2. Workforce participation

3. Political power

4. Access to education

5. Access to health care

I am happy to say that Canada placed very high! Check out the top scores:

Newsweek highlights women's progress worth celebrating. Examples include a woman holding the top spot at the International Monetary Fund, self made female billionaires in Beijing, and women holding highest political offices from Thailand to Brazil, Costa Rica to Australia!

Unfortunately, there are also countries highlighted where women are not progressing. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive. In Somalia, 95% of women are subjected to genital mutilation. Also, the poverty rate in the U.S.A. rose to 14.5% last year (the highest in 17 years!).

What stood out to me the most in this article was a success story about a country who would have ranked very poorly less than 10 years ago but is now climbing the charts. Take a look at what Newsweek had to say about it:

"In our own research, the country that holds some of the most significant lessons doesn’t rank at the top or the bottom, although a decade ago, it almost surely would have come close to last. In 2003, after decades of civil war, Rwanda’s transitional government passed legislation requiring that a third of the seats in Parliament be held by women. Today, its Parliament is more than 50 percent women, and girls are enrolled in secondary school at the same rate as boys. Last year the World Economic Forum ranked Rwanda first among East African nations in economic innovation."

Oh, and incase you were wondering, the United States placed 8th. They had an overall score of 89.8 compared to Canada's score of 96.6!

And Then There Was Light

Below is emotional footage of a group of chimpanzees seeing daylight for the first time in 30 years!

The chimpanzees were taken from their mothers shortly after their birth and transported to an Austrian facility. They were locked in cages for 30 years for medical testing. When in isolation, scientists gave them HIV and hepatitis.

Finally, the testing came to an end once the pharmaceutical company behind the research was sold (thank goodness). It was now time to reintroduce the chimps to the outside world. They were moved to a farm where their keepers struggled to get them outside. As one might assume, this was a very confusing process for the group who had not seen the light of day in decades.

Once they finally made it out, their reaction says it all. The farm keepers and others present at this time were overjoyed with excitement to see their reaction. I found it precious!

"They hugged as if saying, 'We're finally free'. And then they laughed." -Commentator

"The chimps are incredibly happy. This is amazing, I have been waiting for this moment for so long." -Renate Foidl, their keeper

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How Much is That Girly in the Window?

In the spirit of students heading back to school, I decided to share this bold advertisement for Axe Body Spray.

The side of this all female college residence building was wrapped in a giant calendar of the month of March. The fine print, on the bottom right of this image under AXE SCHEDULE, says the following:

"As wrapping the female students' dormitory in the shape of calendar and using Axe for a month throughout March, we aimed for the expression that a new female can be met on a daily basis, to promote the brand image and preference for Axe."

In my opinion, the message is more along the lines of "you can have a new female everyday of the week". While I will give this campaign props for being bold and creative, I cannot help but believe this is a blatant objectification of women. I do not know how an educational institution (or any building for that matter) would support having this displayed on their building.

A Beautiful Nightmare

A new world record worth reading, but never to try topping. Monaco has recently gone in the books for the most expensive car pile-up. A Bentley crashed into a Mercedes, a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an Aston Martin right in front of the famous Place du Casino! I guess luck was not on their side, here are the stats (USD):

- Bentley Azure ($408,135)

- Mercedes S Class ($122,485)

- Ferrari F430 ($228,625)

- Aston Martin Rapide ($228,625)

- Porsche 911 ($130,645)

"The entire cost of repairs is estimated at over £40,000 ($65,340) as the Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and the Bentley would all need new front wings and bumpers, with added expense of door repairs for the Bentley." - Source

A Blind Visionary

Fact: The painting above was done by a man born without eyes. Esref Armagan has been blind his entire life and has astounded scientists with his incredible paintings. He has proven that vision is more than information brought in from our eyes. It also involves our ability to understand space.

Scientists at Harvard University used an MRI scanner to observe his brain. While painting, regions of Esref's brain that should not have any activity (due to his blindness) react in an extraordinary way. How he captures perspective and depth absolutely baffled scientists.

"No one can call me blind. I can see more with my fingers than sighted people can see with their eyes." -Esref Armagan

Take a look at this video to get a better understanding of how astounding he really is.

I Heart New York

Gay couples lined up outside the city's marriage bureau in New York excited and anxiously awaiting their opportunity to take advantage of their new right to marry. ABC News stated the following:

"Officials, expecting a rush of gay couples wanting to get married, initially set a lottery capping the number of marriages on Sunday to 764 couples, but later accepted all 823 couples across all five city boroughs."

Above is a photo from the first gay marriage in New York. Kitty Lambert, 54, and Cheryle Rudd, 53, tied the knot at Niagara Falls' State Park's Luna Island. Starting at midnight, couples started saying "I do" all across the state and I could not be happier. New York became the 6th and largest state to recognize same-sex marriage.

Seeing the overwhelmingly joyous reactions warms my heart. Below are a few of my favourite photos from some of the 823 couples' big day.

Phyllis Siegel, 77, and Connie Kopelove, 85, were the first couple to be married in Manhattan. They have been together for 23 years.

I wish New York's newly weds all the best! xoxo

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Bomb Diggity

Darren Clarke won the Open Championship and happily embraces the Claret Jug. Some fun facts about Clarke include the following:

- At 42, he is the oldest golfer to win the Open Championship since Roberto De Vicenzo

- No one, until now, has ever won the Open after more than 15 attempts. This was his 20th!

- Known for drinking 24 pints of Guinness after his Ryder Cup victory

The most interesting thing about Clarke, in my opinion, has nothing to do with golf. Below is an excerpt form an article written in February of 2003 from CBC's Golf Digest:

"In one of the few jobs I've had apart from golf," Clarke says, "I worked in a nightclub, setting up the bar. One day, after I'd been there a couple of hours, a call came through that a bomb was ready to go off in 15 minutes. Everyone cleared out. Sure enough, exactly 15 minutes later, the whole place was flattened. I'd been 10 yards from the bomb for two hours. You say, growing up, that you get used to it. But you don't."

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Reunited and It Feels So Good

Pollux, a black Labrador, decided she needed to see more of Canada. In June of 2010, she ran from the backyard of her home in east-end Montreal and headed west. In fact, a year later she was found 4,500 km away from home in Kamloops, B.C.!

There are many theories as to how Pollux traveled across Canada. She escaped her backyard through an open gate on a rainy day. Owner, Isabelle Robitaille, thinks she hopped on a freight train to avoid the water (which she hated). Robitaille also considers the possibility that a trucker or family that was heading west may have picked up Pollux on the way.

It was not until Canada Day of 2011 when Robitaille received a call from the SPCA branch in Kamloops. Thanks to a chip that was implanted in the dog, her owner's information was retrieved and Pollux can go home sweet home.

Pollux -might I add- was found in good health and good body condition. She will be flown home to be reunited with her family just in time for her 9th birthday.

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Phil Pallen #WINNING

I just wanted to send a BIG congratulations to Phil Pallen! Not only is Phil the creative and talented mastermind behind FactSnacks graphic design but he has landed a job with Ryan Seacrest Productions! After competing for the chance to be Charlie Sheen's Social Media Intern and making to the final round from 80,000 contestants, Phil has taken advantage of the great opportunities the new found publicity has gotten him. I could not be more proud and many people would agree...

Facebook post

Article published by the Toronto Star. Click here to read!

Yep, it's legit!

And last but not least...

I would like to point out that I received the first shout-out (no big deal). I feel honoured and will continue to show my love and support for my dear friend as be climbs the ladder of success. I feel it was just yesterday we were combining my creativity and his technique to create digital masterpieces!

I strongly encourage all of you to visit Phil's webpage, fan him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter... pretty much cyber stalk the crap out of him. Why? Because he is incredibly talented and deserves all that he has recently been awarded. I will leave you with my personal favourite video from his Charlie Sheen campaigning days...

Webpage: www.philpallen.com

Facebook: Fan Page

Twitter: @philpallen