Occasionally Gifted

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Occasionally Gifted

Address:

3400 Ridgeway Dr Unit 12

City:

Mississauga

State:

Ontario

Zip Code:

L5L 0A2

Phone number:

(905) 257-2433

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45 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Friday, September 16

West of Memphis, with guests Lawless. Vancouver blues-folk artist Leah Barley plays the WISE Hall, with guests Shiloh Lindsey and Chicken-Like Birds. Mississauga hip-hop musician Ramriddlz plays Alexander Gastown, with guest DJ Floetic. Local blues artists Jerry Doucette, Shaun Verrault, Al Wailin' Walker, and Rob Montgomery and His All-Star Band play Edgewater Casino's Blues Guitar Blast. ETCETERA The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (above) features musicians, magicians, artists, tea masters, martial arts masters, and storytellers. FOOD & DRINK The Greek Food Festival at the Hellenic Community Centre celebrates Greek food and culture with performances by the Elkelam Dance Ensemble from Greece, a Hellenic heritage room, and tours of St. George's Orthodox Cathedral. The Brews n' Chews neighbourhood house party and pop-up pub night at Gordon Neighbourhood House raises money for the organization Young Ideas.   FORUMS At a free forum at SFU Harbour Centre, panelists Rita De Grandis, Samir Gandesha, Johannes Maerk, and Jerry Zaslove discuss the different reasons for the far right gaining ground in most Western countries. SPORTS Stephen Hui Vancouver's Terminal City Rollergirls present International Roller Derby Playoffs at Richmond Olympic Oval. TAKE ACTION British-born academic, writer, journalist, and activist Raj Patel discusses the world economy and the future of food at SFU Harbour Centre. COMEDY Comedian Graham Clark presents a night of comedy that takes inspiration from TV game shows at Hot Art Wet City Gallery. The Radical and Carmelahhh! perform improv comedy showcases at Heritage Grill. Toronto-born, L.A.-based standup and sketch comedian Steph Tolev performs the second of three nights at the Comedy Mix. Standup comedian Glenn Wool performs the first of two nights at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. Sam Tonning hosts a night of standup comedy at Seven Dining Lounge. ARTS ETCETERA As part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, ecccentric guides walk audience members through a 40-minute... (Straight.com (blog))

Curler Mike Harris keeps his cool now

Doug Flowers, president of Goldline curling supply company in Mississauga, spent three years developing five styles of protective headgear in the forms of a toque, ball cap, visor, peaked poor boy cap and a headband. Each contains padding in the back made of impact-absorbing bicycle helmet material. Flowers has watched the headgear debate tilt in favour of those who think players should be wearing them on the ice. "We had a big uptick in sales at our Scarborough store," Flowers said in the aftermath of the Scarboro death. "We're definitely seeing a lot more interest." Hart advocates headgear for club curlers. "In recreational and grassroots curling it needs to be promoted with the aging curling population," he said. "I don't think at the top level it's required." LOOKING AHEAD Whoever emerges from this championship on Sunday will be heading for some familiar and stiff competition at the Brier in Ottawa next month. The defending Team Canada -- skip Pat Simmons, third John Morris, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen -- will be front and centre as they attempt a repeat. Newfoundland's Gushue, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and World Curling Tour money-leader this season, will make his thirteenth appearance on the national stage. He'll be among the front-runners. In his eighth Brier appearance, Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard will try to find the magic that won him the national championship in 2006. Up-and-coming Adam Casey will represent P.E.I. for the second year in a row and shows potential despite finishing ninth last year. Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories returns for a tenth trip if he can get through the qualifying round among Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Yukon to get into the full Brier competition. Rarely a contender, he tends to upset at least one of the favourites. Four provinces will hold their championships between Feb. 10 and 14. Mike McEwen will try to make his first Brier while competing in a field including defending Manitoba champion Reid Carruthers. Defending champions remain the favourites with Brad Jacobs in Northern Ontario, Kevin Koe in Alberta and Jim Cotter in B.C. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick will start their provincials Wednesday and declare champions on Sunday. ... (Toronto Sun)

Here come the hybrid transit plans: Editorial

A consultant and city staff concluded that running a heavy-rail line on this route, from Mount Dennis to Mississauga’s Airport Corporate Centre, could cost up to $7.7 billion.To put that in context, the price tag for Tory’s entire 22-station SmartTrack system is supposed to be only about $8 billion. Furthermore, the expert report released on Tuesday found that a light-rail line originally envisioned for the area could carry four times as many riders as the mayor’s much-vaunted heavy-rail approach, and cost just $1.3 billion.To his credit, Tory bowed to the evidence and dropped the ill-judged western spur from his plan. “You will not see me digging in my heels and insisting on charging ahead with things that don’t make sense,” he said.Tory did receive some encouraging news in the form of a new ridership study. It found SmartTrack could attract more than 320,000 “daily boardings” by 2031 and also relieve commuter pressure on Toronto’s already packed Yonge subway.But there’s a huge caveat here: Ridership projections are extremely fluid, subject to variables that can alter the final result. For example, the impressive maximum for daily boardings holds true only if SmartTrack trains are available every five minutes. And it’s not at all clear that this intense level of service is possible.Other factors affecting predicted ridership include fare structures, assumed population growth, projected employment levels, ultimate alignment of the system’s routes, and the “horizon year” selected for analysis (2031 or 2041, for example). It’s all very hazy.SmartTrack’s uncertainties don’t end there. Whether Union Station can even handle all the passengers this new service might deliver remains under study. Successful integration of TTC and GO Transit fares has been described as a “make or break” factor, but it’s not clear how that will be done. And Tory is relying on a questionable budget device, called tax increment financing, to pay for the city’s share of this project.With the western spur heavy-rail line now on the rubbish heap, commuters have yet to see how much of Tory’s remaining plan will ultimately make sense and what else will be dropped. When it’s all thrashed out they shouldn’t be surprised to find something rather familiar: yet another transit and transportation “hybrid.”... (Toronto Star)

How the Saudis Churn Out Jihad Inc.

It’s Salafi-Jihadist Insurgency, Stupid!” In 2014, four girls left Canada to join ISIS after study at the Al-Huda Institute in Mississauga, Ontario.  A few months ago, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation published a report, “Inside the Jihadi Mind,” dissecting the propaganda and ideology of “Salafi-jihadism,” with themes of “the nobility of jihad,” the “end of humiliation” and the “disgrace of enemies.” Researchers, including terrorism expert Emman El-Badawy, said they found Islamic teachings in 87 percent of the propaganda of “Salafi-jihadism” that they studied. Over four decades, I—and dozens of other Muslims with whom I have spoken—have seen the spirit of religious dogmatism overtake the lives of loved ones, as the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar have exported their state religion of Salafism to the world. They are buttressed by the teachings of Islamist ideologues like Syed Qutb, the godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; Maulana Mawdudi, a godfather of Islamist movements in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, like Tablighi Jamaat and Jaamat Islami; and Abdullah Azzam, teacher to a generation of Afghan and Pakistani fighters, including Al Qaeda leaders Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman al Zawahiri.. Key to their most extreme teachings is the romanticization of “jihad and martyrdom.” When I first arrived in Pakistan in the summer of 1983, I saw the first inklings of this ideology through a female cousin, a dear pen pal of mine. She was starting to get influenced by the Saudi Islamization of Pakistan, which started with the rise to power of General Zia ul Haq in 1977 and the radicalizing of U.S.-sponsored Afghan warriors into “mujahideen” fighting the Soviets with the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. During that time, Salafi ideology cross-fertilized with a traditionally conservative ideology of South Asia called Deobandism. The Deobandi ideology is named for a village in my native state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India where the school is based, at the university, Darul Uloom Deoband, or “House of Knowledge Deoband.” I have family members who studied there, and its ultraconservative dogmatism influenced my paternal and maternal lineage, with my mother, as a rising teen, having to wear the black face veil and burka, or gown. Militant Deobandism has become the ideology of the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani militant groups. My pen pal retreated away from playing late-night games of gin rummy with our male first cousins, because, by conservative interpretations of Islam, where one can marry first cousins, they were suddenly haram (forbidden or illegal) to her; they were potential marital partners. Back in the U.S., in the early 1990s, I got disturbing news one day from my mother that a cousin in Gaithersburg, Maryland—indoctrinated to extremist Islam through the Tablighi Jamaat, a missionary group founded outside Delhi as an offshoot of Deobandism—had taken his wife and children to India on a ruse and seized their passports, refusing to let them return to America. The story was he had seen a note from his daughter, indicati... (Daily Beast)

PAMA Brings You Tales From Peel to Northern Ontario This January!

Discover the alternative Peel that might have been with project plans for a retractable domed stadium in Mississauga and a "CN Tower" in Brampton, to name just a few. Painting Workshop with Manitoulin Island artist Nikki Manitowabi: Jan. 30 from 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.PAMA is proud to present Manitoulin Island artist Nikki Manitowabi for a hands–on painting workshop focused on inspiration and technique. Workshop includes a tour of Manitoulin Island's most celebrated paintings in the new exhibition From the Heart of Turtle Island. Register on–line at pama.peelregion.ca or by calling 905–791–4055  ART GALLERY OPENING RECEPTION:  Jan. 31 from 2 – 4 p.m.  Exhibitions: From the Heart of Turtle Island, Carl Beam's Selected Prints &Spiritual ConnectionsJoin us for a lively afternoon of First Nations dance performed by Lindy Kinoshameg and Leslie McCue. Enjoy Curators' talks and meet attending artists. See a stunning showcase of vibrant contemporary art. These exhibitions explore the prominent artistic legacy of Aboriginal art and how it continues to fuel the creativity of a new generation. The main gallery features from the Heart of Turtle Island: Contemporary Art from Manitoulin Island showcasing artists such as Carl Beam, Ann Beam and their daughter Anong Beam, plus Leland Bell, James Simon Mishibinjima, Mary Pheasant and more. Adjacent galleries feature Carl Beam's Selected Prints, with works from PAMA's own collection and pieces on loan from the Beam Family. The exhibition explores themes of personal connection to place and history and highlights the prints of this dynamic innovator and one of Canada's most significant artists of the twentieth century.  The Spiritual Connections exhibition looks at themes of spirit, myth and folklore in selected works from PAMA's works on paper collection. Family Literacy Day: Jan. 31 from 2 – 4 p.m.Discover storytelling traditions, folklore, and family stories. Explore the new exhibition From the Heart of Turtle Island and listen to First Nations stories read by some special guests. Bring a photo or picture of special significance and creat... (Region of Peel (press release))

Iconic former Oakville hospital director dies after suffering stroke

Reynolds Street. She held that position for 36 years and was present for such pivotal moments in history as the 1979 hospital evacuation due to the Mississauga train derailment, and the 1982 birth of North America’s first test tube twins at OTMH, which garnered national media attention. Parsons retired in 1987, but HHS officials say she remained a tireless advocate for both OTMH and for health care in Oakville. When she retired, OTMH established the Lillian H. Parsons Bursary, which provides annual funds to assist children of OTMH staff with their post-secondary education. To date, more than $200,000 in bursaries has been awarded to more than 200 children. HHS staff said Parsons was actively involved in the evaluation of the applications and attended the hospital’s annual meeting and awards ceremony to personally congratulate each recipient. Parsons was also recognized by having the cafeteria at OTMH (Parsons Pantry) named in her honour. The name has made its way to the mammoth eating area at the new OTMH. In honour of Parsons, flags at OTMH have been lowered to half mast. Parsons remained engaged in the activities at OTMH until the end. Most recently she participated in the OTMH October Garden Party that was held to celebrate and say goodbye to the hospital at 327 Reynolds St. She was also a front-row VIP at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Oakville hospital, which was held in November. In a recent video production celebrating the history of OTMH she reflected on her life in health care. “I really and truly feel that I had the best career in the world…I really did,” said Parsons. “I think it was because it was Oakville. Oakville has a spirit and certainly the hospital was lucky to get it.” Parsons’ nephew, Michael, talked about his aunt’s life, stating hers was “a life well lived.” “This is a woman that gave her life to Oakville without any reservations or wanting something back,” he said. “She was all about making the lives of Oakville people better and she did it until the last day of her life.” Michael noted Parsons knew every employee at the hospital by name during her time as executive director. He also called her a trailblazer for women as she excelled at her prominent position at a time when there were no shortage of obstacles placed in her way. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton also spoke about Parsons, noting her “legacy of dedication to our community’s health will always be an inspiration.” Parsons was also deeply committed to her family. Michael said when her sisters, Eleanor and Catherine, were confined to a... (InsideHalton.com)