Stephen Rees’s blog

Sun

This is a purely personal and self interested appeal. I am 59 and I attend as many free SFU public lectures as I can manage. I have a very limited income, but I can manage that too. But I was utterly appalled to read

For more than 30 years, Simon Fraser University has been offering tuition-free full-credit courses to anyone over the age of 60.

The program — which attracts about 60 students per year — has been a source of pride for the school, and has been growing each year. Despite its popularity, however, the full-credit seniors’ program is in jeopardy.

SFU financial vice-president Pat Hibbitts told The Vancouver Sun that SFU’s board of governors is considering a proposal to cut the program to help make up for an unexpected $6.3-million shortfall for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

My late mother was the founder and Secretary of the Worker’s Education Association branch in Loughton, Essex. Literally up until her last breath at the age of 84 she was actively promoting adult education, and given the demography of where she lived ,that was mostly directed to people over 60. There is no argument that education never ceases - and keeping the brain active is the best strategy for holding on to your marbles. Despite many peer reviewed studies that demonstrate the value of educating old people her last twenty years were a continual battle with the authorities to keep her program going - and not for lack of customers!

I have a Bachelors and a Masters degree, and do not actually need academic credits for anything. My mother actually accumulated more than enough credits for more than one degree - but never wanted one. “I only read for pleasure” she said, in typical understatement. Her interests included English Literature, Archaeology, Classics, History - especially Economic and Social History, Anthropology and she “dabbled” in a wide range of other fields too - setting up new courses every year to meet demand and usually went to the classes - just because she could.

I have no idea at all what can be done about this situation, but one thing I think I can bet is that the BC Liberal Government in Victoria will not give a stuff about this - unless they are forced to. It is typical short term, compartmentalised thinking. The benefits of education go far beyond getting people into employment, but so far as I can recall that is about the only thing I have heard from this government. Quality of life means nothing to them since it does not appear anywhere on anyone’s balance sheet. And it has been apparent for years that shifting emphasis away from road building and car orientation would have major health benefits as more people walk and cycle. Exactly the same argument applies to adult education - it will reduce the escalating costs of caring for an ageing population . But that does not get reckoned into the “need” to cut university funding , in a province which has been running large surpluses for years and has no need to cut spending, other than a political preference for a dogma that regards all public spending other than law enforcement and prisons as “wasteful”.

CBC News

I am not surprised. The information comes from Royal Bank and is part of the spring RRSP campaign. What is important is that for most of us, work defines who we are. “I am an economist” sounds so much better to me than “I am retired”.

For me, this is my work. Blogging is only part of it. Once upon a time I used to be paid to try and implement the Livable Region Strategic Plan. Somehow that ceased to be the most important thing my employer was supposed to do. Not that anybody back then bothered to change the legislation - or even the rhetoric. When I came to BC I had not even heard of the LRSP. I remember looking at Transport 2021 and wondering where the new freeways were going to be. It took me quite a while to start to understand the concept of “liveability”. Indeed, I remember very clearly being invited to help organise a conference on “sustainable transportation”, and simply not being able to decode what to me was a meaningless catch phrase.

Trouble is, once I began to see what it was supposed be about I was struck by the dissonance between what we said we were doing and what we were actually doing. Which, truth be told, was not a whole hell of a lot really. Lack of available funding being a terrific all purpose explanation. But now there seems to be a lot of money on the table. $11bn for Gateway apparently. $14bn for transit (which turns out to be quite a bit less).  But still, not chump change.

So now we are at a turning point. And this self appointed job seems to me to be the most important thing I can do. It gives me a feeling of some worth. What do retired people do? Can you think of yourself sitting back and saying, “My work is done here”? I suppose if I had been working on turning out widgets I could have stepped away from that easily enough. But my work has always been about what kind of place I live in. Or what could be done to some other place to make it work better. And frankly, as a transportation economist, I killed a lot more projects than got built, because there are some really nutty ideas out there. And often there is a charismatic politician (or, worse, one who thinks [s]he is) promoting some scheme [s]he dreamt up in the bath. Sadly we have had more than one of those inflicted on us in recent years. And you would have thought by now that we would have become a tad more sceptical of mega projects in general and transportation mega projects in particular. But, as someone observed, the price of not understanding history is to repeat it. And every time you do that, the price goes up.

Vancouver Sun

A small piece but at least it did get noticed. Now what I would like to see is a car free day in Richmond. Maybe a start would be to open the night market actually on Number Three Road.

Nah. Not gonna happen.

Flickr says: We found 1,398 results for photos matching “car free day“.

Today this blog got 179 views. This is the highest total since it started. Thank you.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Video released of BBC’s Johnston

A video has appeared on the internet showing the first pictures of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston since his abduction in Gaza on 12 March.

It is said to have been posted by the Army of Islam, the group that says it is holding the reporter.

I hope that you noticed the box in the sidebar. This is just to keep you up to date on what is happening. Essentially, nothing.

Blatherwick retiring from chief health post (4:25 p.m.)

Vancouver Sun

Well he’s earned it but I am going to miss him. There are very few public servants at any level of government here who have such a straightforward approach to getting the truth out there.

He’s been chief medical health officer for Vancouver coastal since 1984.
Since then, Blatherwick has racked up accolades for establishing the largest needle exchange program and first supervised injection site in North America; creating the Pine Street (now Pine Free) Youth Clinic; and campaigning for safer sex at the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
He claims his biggest achievement was reducing the public’s exposure to second-hand smoke.

…

He … received the Order of Canada in 1994 for his work in public health and an award as a Canadian Health Hero from the Pan American Health Organization in 2002. He was also the recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.

Brothers in Arles: BIOGRAPHY I The Studio of the South was Vincent van Gogh’s dream — Paul Gauguin came along for the ride

Gail Starr, Special to the Sun

Published: Saturday, January 27, 2007

THE YELLOW HOUSE

Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks

in Arles

BY MARTIN GAYFORD

Little, Brown/H.B. Fenn, 339 pages ($32.99)

An interesting review - and with two links that I followed up and spent a lot of time on. So, since this is a web log, it is worth giving the actual URLs which work - unlike the ones in the Sun.

The Art Institute of Chicago has a fairly straightforward approach - easy to navigate and find what you want and some nice larger scale reproductions of the paintings - though all small enough to deter copying. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam on the other hand, has all this and more - even though the “experience” is little bit overdone, in my view, relying heavily on the viewer “interacting” in ways that are sometimes  hard to detect. But nice music for the multi-media fans. Have a fast connection though - it takes a while to load - but well worth the time I think.

Van Gogh has, of course, become something of a modern icon. His paintings now command some of the highest prices in the world. His life is so well documented - mainly in his own letters to his brother, Theo - that he has been the subject of many books and films. And the Don McLean song “Vincent”. But despite all that - or maybe because of it - his mental illness, his poverty and generosity, his suicide - seeing his paintings has always had a profound impact. Not just on me but literally millions. And I have stood in front of his paintings in Paris, Amsterdam and Chicago - as well as in London - and they always stun me. I live with two large prints - Thatched Cottages at Cordeville and The Harvest - in my sitting room.

“But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”

Josh Groban 

These new colours first appeared on the new trolleybuses, which I have seen in passing but yet to photograph. But I saw this and felt the need to comment.

Back in the BC Transit days, the guys at Burnaby could not resist adapting BC Transit’s livery by the addition of black window surrounds, which in my opinion did little to enhance the appearance of the vehicle. I think this new livery is a reversion to that style, and it is unfortunate. They have retained the swoops (which I thought looked dated when I first saw them on Hull buses back in the seventies!) but the overall impression - especially from the front is something dark and forbidding. I think transit vehicles need to look friendly and welcoming - perhaps the best example being the smiling face that greet passengers on this British train.

Oddly enough, the livery is a variation on red white and blue and the yellow end is mandated for safety reasons - visibility for track workers. But the addition of a grille to improve the driver’s environment had a very pleasing effect.

One good thing about the bus at present it does not carry any adverts. I wonder how long that will last.

Guardian Unlimited Business | | Last year’s model: Airfix goes bust

This is really sad. So much of my youth was spent with the heady smell of plastic solvent in my nostrils as I slaved over an Airfix kit. I really liked the Messerschmidt 262 - it was the first jet fighter, but because it had no props you could actually play with it! Most Airfix model planes had to be left on their stands - though they always fell off when Mum dusted. They never stayed as built for long. Bits snapped off too easily. I was never allowed to suspend the planes on strings from the ceiling. When I built the Liberator, my Dad actually opened up about his war time experience in the RAF. A rare event. When I asked him which colour scheme I should use, he told me the following story (I will use the first person for his voice is still clear in my memory)

The one’s I saw were white, with red crosses. They were used to ferry released allied POWs back home from the camps in Burma and Singapore. They refuelled at Shaiba, where I was based. If the Arabian Gulf is the arsehole of the world, Shaiba is half way up it. I was a radio mechanic, and had to go on board to check the radios and change the crystal used to tune the VHF channel. The planes had been built as long range bombers but were now converted to transport stretchers. All the passengers were quiet but very happy to be going home at long last. They had obviously suffered. Hunger was the least of it. They were all very thin.

One day soon after VJ day, one of these planes, loaded with blokes going home, and full of fuel, failed to clear the perimeter fence on take off. I was in my radio truck, and was first on the scene. There is not much you - as an individual - can do about a loaded Liberator which is on fire.

After he told me this story, I tried using paint stripper to take off the RAF camouflage and paint it white. I think it was just as well that the paint stripper destroyed the model. I realise now (as I did not then) he did not enjoy revisiting that memory.

Airfix also took over the molds for a few 00 gauge (4mm scale) model railway items when the original manufacturer went belly up. There was an oil tank car, a guard’s van, a 4 wheel diesel railbus, an 0-4-0ST and, best of all, a BR standard 2-10-0. The two piece axles did not stand up to actual use but they made nice static backgrounds to the working trains, and were much cheaper.

There is now hardly any full sized railway manufacturing in Britain - the country that produced the first steam engines. Trains come from Germany, or Spain. Locos from Canada. Now there are no more models with Made in England on them either.