Friday October 28, 2011

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Ted Talks

Malcolm Gladwell: The strange tale of the Norden bombsight

Malcolm Gladwell tells the tale of the Norden bombsight, a groundbreaking piece of World War II technology with a deeply unexpected result. Detective of fads and emerging subcultures, chronicler of jobs-you-never-knew-existed.

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Open House

Waterloo hosts annual science open house, gem and mineral show this weekend

WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo will host its annual science open house this weekend to introduce children and their parents to an assortment of fun and hands-on activities. The science open house takes place Saturday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology on Waterloo's south campus. The centre houses the earth sciences museum, which will present the associated gem and mineral show from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct 28 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

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Hospitality

Pender, reports that “Bingemans seeks to build hotel, convention centre in east end.”

KITCHENER - In a new report, Terry Pender, said that Mark Bingeman, president of a Waterloo area hospitality enterprise called, Bingeman’s, said “There have certainly been some discussions at the city level, investigating and understanding the project.”. Pender, always one to grind the stone, quickly noted that “these talks have not been public”.

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Safety

Local emergency responders to participate in mock school bus emergency exercise tomorrow

Waterloo - Waterloo Fire Rescue, Waterloo Regional Police Service, EMS, School Bus Transportation Services of Waterloo Region and the District and Catholic school boards will be participating in a school bus emergency exercise on Oct. 28.

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Composting

Put your pumpkin in your green bin

Waterloo Region - An estimated 50,000 pumpkins are used as Jack O'Lanterns to celebrate Halloween in the Region. Pumpkins discarded after Halloween normally contribute 200 metric tonnes of organic waste to the Regional landfill site, all of which could be diverted for composting through the Region’s Green Bin program.

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Strategy

Talks begin on establishing joint task force

KITCHENER – Discussions are officially underway between the city and Maple Leaf Foods around establishing a joint task force in Kitchener, following last week’s announcement that the local Maple Leaf Foods plant will close in 2014.

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Arts and Culture

Audiences are treated to a kaleidoscope of colours with baritone Hugh Russell and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony

Kitchener - On Friday & Saturday, November 4 & 5 at 8pm at the Centre In The Square Hugh Russell returns to the stage with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony to perform Mahler’s highly emotional and musically graphic Songs of a Wayfarer. This program also includes Mozart’s entertaining Paris Symphony and the richly lyrical Second Symphony of Brahms.

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Research and Development

Studies to begin on space science and exploration ideas

CAMBRIDGE - COM DEV International Ltd., has been awarded contracts by the Canadian Space Agency to develop concept studies in areas related to future space science and exploration ventures. The studies are part of the CSA’s strategy to invest in emerging ideas that could become Canada’s next revolutionary technologies.

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Quarterly Income

Insurance Company Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results

GUELPH - Co-operators General Insurance Company released consolidated financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2011. Consolidated net income was $6.2 million compared to a net loss of $(8.9) million for the same quarter in 2010. This resulted in earnings per common share of $0.14 for the quarter compared to $(0.61) in the same period last year.

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Mergers and aquisitions

Ontario and Quebec losing M&A market share to Western provinces

PwC Report - Deregulation of the Canadian Wheat Board, Plan Nord, Ontario's Liberal win, the shale gas revolution to shape Canadian M&A.

TORONTO - A new PwC report on Merger and Acquisition deal activity comparing provincial buy side and sell side transactions shows that while Ontario and Quebec continue to be top investment destinations in Canada, each has lost market share to the western provinces over the past 10 years.

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Centennial

Breakthrough Initiative on Responsible Sourcing of Aggregates Wins National Award for Excellence

TORONTO - The Green Living Excellence in Corporate Responsibility Awards recognized Holcim Canada with two awards for demonstrating leadership and committing to create sustainable change in the Canadian aggregate sector. Bill Galloway, Senior Vice-President Holcim Canada, and his team were recognized with the Senior Corporate Individual and Team awards in the Large Business - Resource, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas category.

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Rating

Top Honour in Canadian Online Banking Study Won for the Second Straight Year

TORONTO - For the second straight year RBC Royal Bank has ranked 1st in Surviscor's Online Banking scorCard, a comprehensive, objective annual assessment of online features and functionality at major Canadian banking institutions.

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Employment Index

Monster Employment Index Canada Increases By 15 Per Cent Year Over Year During Q3

Montreal - "Online recruitment remained significantly higher on a year-over-year basis, with Q3 showing a 15-per-cent increase from the 2010 period amid particularly strong activity in manufacturing and processing jobs and primary industry occupations," said Peter Gilfillan, senior vice president of international sales and general manager of Monster Canada.

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Green Energy

RENEWABLES MILESTONE ACHIEVED WITH PIONEERED TIDAL TECHNOLOGY

London UK - Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has achieved a significant milestone in the deployment of tidal energy technology with confirmation that its prototype tidal turbine, located subsea off the Orkney Islands, Scotland, has successfully generated and fed over 100 megawatt hours of electrical power into the national grid.