Happy Pharrell Welcome On Hollywood Walk of Fame

 Talk show host Ellen Degeneres welcomes music producer/singer Pharrell to the walk of fame family.

 

 Photo credit: The Jazmine Brand/Xavier Image press

Canada marks 50th birthday of the Maple Leaf

Terry PedwellThe Canadian Press
When most Canadians contemplate their national flag, their thoughts might naturally turn to Canada Day, July 1.

Historians and others may think about Feb. 15, the day in 1965 when the modern Canadian flag — bearing its familiar hallmark symbol, the Maple Leaf — was first raised on Parliament Hill.

For Joan O’Malley, Nov. 6, 1964, will forever be the birthday of Canada’s iconic red-and-white banner, the day her father asked her to do an impromptu sewing job that she will never forget.

“For me, it’s my 50th anniversary,” O’Malley told a small gathering of friends, family and political dignitaries Friday on Parliament Hill, where she was presented with the flag that flew from the Peace Tower on Nov. 6 this year.

With her original Singer sewing machine on display, O’Malley described the night her father approached her to ask whether she could sew the three prototypes that had been chosen as the finalists to become Canada’s new emblem.

National War Memorial Caption of Remembrance Day

WWII veteran waits in the shadow of the National War Memorial ahead of 2014 Remembrance Day services in Ottawa. The Canadian Press 

Bruce CheadleThe Canadian Press
More than 200 years of Canadian military sacrifice was packed into one emotional hour Tuesday morning at the National War Memorial.

A national Remembrance Day ceremony that sprang from, and traditionally focused on, the great world wars of the 20th century sprawled out in 2014 to encompass everything from the 1814 Battle of Lundy’s Lane to last month’s deadly attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

“We have had sombre occasion in past weeks to ponder our identity as the very symbols of our peace and freedom were violated,” Gov. Gen. David Johnston told a massive Ottawa crowd that police estimated near 50,000.

Johnston, in full military uniform, stood just steps from where Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, an honour guard at the memorial, was gunned down three weeks ago in an armed attack on Parliament Hill. Two days earlier, Warrant Officer Patrick Vincent died when he and another soldier were run down in Quebec by a man harbouring jihadist sympathies.

Touching Quotes from Remembrance Day

Princess Anne speaks to veterans following the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

The Canadian Press
Some of what was said Tuesday at Remembrance Day commemorations across Canada:

“It is my honour to read a message from Her Majesty the Queen: ‘Seventy-five years ago, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth dedicated this National War Memorial in honour of all those who paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. Today, it is fitting that with this ceremony of rededication, we pay tribute to all those Canadians who in the intervening years have laid down their lives in the service of peace, justice and freedom.'” — Princess Anne at the National War Memorial.
—
“We have had sombre occasion in past weeks to ponder our identity as the very symbols of our peace and freedom were violated. And now here we stand, and here we shall remain: unshaken in resolve; grateful in remembrance of those who have sacrificed; rededicated, like this memorial, to our eternal duty: peace and freedom—the very soul of our nation.” — Gov. Gen. David Johnston.
—
“We can never repay the debt we owe to the intrepid men and women who paid for our freedom with their lives, but we can remember their enormous sacrifices and pay tribute to their bravery and patriotism.” — Statement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Transgender Actress Laverne Cox is a Glamour Magazine ‘Woman of the Year’

 

The Glamour Magazine ‘Woman of the Year’ award is an award that honors celebrities, politicians, local leaders and athletes for their powerful roles in influencing women everywhere.

 

The 24th annual Women of the Year Awards event will be held in New York City today, Monday, November 11.

 

Laverne Cox has certainly had a good year. Her portrayal of Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black made her the first transgender woman to ever be nominated for an Emmy, and she was also the first transgender woman to ever make the cover of Time.

 

According to Glamour Magazine, they chose Laverne Cox because “Her unparalleled candor, courage, and eloquence have helped us understand a community that is far too often misunderstood. She teaches us that gender identity lives, first and foremost, in our hearts and minds.” 

Canada Remembers Heroes Fallen Past

                 People lay poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier following Remembrance Day ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. BLAIR GABLE / REUTERS  

The Canadian Press
Gov. Gen. David Johnston has formally rededicated the National War Memorial to commemorate all who have died in the service of Canada.

Johnston wore full military uniform as he spoke to the gathered crowd, estimated to be in the tens of thousands of people, about the importance of memory.

There is a new inscription on the granite wall — "In Service to Canada - Au service du Canada" — and the dates of the Afghanistan mission and the South African War have also been added.

Princess Anne delivered a message from the Queen, who said it is fitting to rededicate the monument to all Canadians who gave their lives in the service of peace, justice and freedom.

Johnston also paid tribute to two soldiers killed last month — one of them just steps away from where the Governor General was standing.

Johnston said Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo have joined the ranks of thousands of other dead, who will always be remembered.

Photo | Garden of remembrance in Glasgow, Scotland

Veterans and members of the public, attend the opening of the garden of remembrance in George Square on Nov. 4 in Glasgow, Scotland. On Remembrance Day a two minute silence will be observed across the country, to honor those who fell during World War I and World War II, among others

45th Anniversary Of Sesame Street

Big Bird and Sesame Street continue to attract millions of viewers after 45 years on the air. Mark Lennihan/AP

Beth J. Harpaz
The Associated Press
You don’t get to be the longest-running children’s show in U.S. TV history by doing the same thing over and over. So even though parents who grew up watching “Sesame Street” can still see old favourites like Big Bird, things on the street have changed since the show debuted 45 years ago on Nov. 10, 1969.

Cookie Monster now exercises self-control and sometimes eats fruits and vegetables. Millions of kids watch the show on phones and computers instead of TV. And there’s less time spent on the street with human characters. They’re just not energetic enough for today’s viewers.

That “Sesame Street” still exists at all says a lot. In 1973, it was one of two TV shows for preschoolers. Now it’s competing with 84 kids’ shows on TV and countless others online. Yet “Sesame Street” still holds its own, ranking 20th among kids ages 2 to 5 with 850,000 viewers per TV episode, according to Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind the show.

But now half the viewers watch it in digital formats. Options include SesameStreet.org, PBSKids.org, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and some 50 apps. A “Sesame Street” YouTube channel has a million subscribers and 1.5 billion views. And touchscreens have been “a magic wand for us in terms of engagement,” says “Sesame Street” senior vice-president Scott Chambers. Kids can trace letters or point to colours or shapes, and the app provides positive reinforcement.

Member of Parliament pushes to make Remembrance Day a national holiday

Jordan Chittley | CTV
In light of two soldiers being killed on home soil in recent weeks, there are renewed calls by federal politicians to make Remembrance Day a day all Canadians get off to observe and remember.

MPs debated Bill C-597 in the House of Commons on Monday night. The private member's bill seeks to make Remembrance Day a nationwide statutory holiday, and will be up for a vote on Wednesday evening.

It is currently a holiday and paid day off in all provinces and territories except Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.

The bill -- officially titled “An Act to Amend the Holidays Act” -- was introduced by Ontario NDP MP Dan Harris.

"I certainly think, in Ottawa, the tragic events of a couple weeks ago … brought the issue home for many MPs," Harris told CTV News Channel.

While Harris first tabled the bill in May, it is just a coincidence that it will be debated after the recent soldiers’ shootings and just before Remembrance Day.

World Trade Centre reopens after 13 years

13 years after the 9/11 attack, the World Trade Center is re-opening for business & has been renamed One World Trade Center. 

Standing at 541 meters with 104 floors, it is officially America’s tallest building and cost $3.9 billion to put the skyscraper together. One of the first tenants, publishing giant Conde Nast started moving in yesterday, Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, is said to be moving to the 25th floor with her staff, while Vanity Fair editor, Graydon Carter, has chosen the 41st floor. An official opening ceremony date is yet to be fixed. 

The old twin buildings went down on September 11, 2001 after it was hit by two planes hijacked by terrorist group, al-Qaeda.  

See more pics of the new structure after the cut...

100 Years Landmark | Poppy Lives On As Symbol

Queen Elizabeth Walk Across A Poppy Plantation

SYLVIA HUI | AP
William Sellick pinched the tiny scarlet petals with deft ease, turning them into paper poppies and pressing them into a wreath.

The flowers are a potent symbol of remembrance and patriotism that sprang up in the aftermath of World War I to honor the war dead and raise funds for survivors. A century since the Great War, the poppies live on: They are hung as wreaths or worn on lapels across Britain - from Prime Minister David Cameron to "X-Factor" celebrities to countless commuters braving the blustery streets of London - as the nation prepares to mark Armistice Day on Nov. 11.

Each handmade flower evokes the image of poppies springing up from destruction and decay in Belgium's Flanders Fields, home to many of the Great War's bloodiest battlefields. The haunting scene was immortalized in a war poem by Canadian army doctor John McCrae: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses row on row."

McCrae noticed that the resilient red corn poppy was the first plant to flourish in the churned-up landscape. The poem, penned in 1915 shortly after McCrae buried a friend, struck a chord around the world and started poppy symbolism in the English-speaking world.

History In Making | World's First Baby Delivered Via Transplanted Womb

For the world's first baby born to a woman with a transplanted womb -- a medical first -- only a victorious name would do.

Which is why his parents named him "Vincent," meaning "to conquer," according to his mother.

The 36-year-old Swedish mother learned she had no womb when she was 15 and was devastated, she said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press.

"I was terribly sad when doctors told me I would never carry my own child," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

More than a decade later, she heard about research led by Dr. Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm IVF, on transplanting wombs into women who didn't have one. She immediately signed up.

"Mats told us there were no guarantees, but my partner and I, maybe we like to take risks, we thought this was the perfect idea," she said.

The woman's mother had wanted to be a donor but wasn't a match. Instead, she received her new womb from a 61-year-old family friend, who had previously had two sons.

Canada On Verge Of Mobile Internet Landmark

iphonecanada

Canadians are on the verge of passing a major mobile milestone, according to measurement firm comScore.

Of all the time Canadians spend online — and it's a lot, ranking second in the world at 33 hours per month — 49 per cent of it is now tied to mobile devices.

It won't be long until Canadians are officially using their smartphones and tablets more than desktop and laptop computers to access the Internet.

ComScore says instant messaging apps, social networks and mobile web searches are spurring the growth in phone and tablet usage.

And for some users, mobile access to the Internet has become so convenient that it's now the only way they go online.

There are now 1.3 million Canadians that in the course of a month will only use a mobile device to access the Internet and won't use a computer at all, said comScore's Paul Rich, a senior account manager.

"Four per cent (of Canadian Internet users) look at online content in a month with (just) their mobile devices — their smartphone or tablet —and they don't access anything on the desktop. That's an emerging shift we're seeing," said Rich.

Patrick Modiano wins Nobel Literature Prize for works about Nazi occupation

French novelist Patrick Modiano has devoted his career to exploring the traumas of the Nazi occupation of his country, including how it could strip people of their identities.

On Thursday, the 69-year-old Parisian's steadfast efforts over the past 45 years earned him the 2014 Nobel Prize in literature.

In a sign of how effective his works have been, his 1968 "La Place de l'Etoile" was later hailed in Germany as a key post-Holocaust work.

Modiano was out for a walk on Paris' Left Bank when he received word of his prize. "I was walking near the Luxembourg Gardens when my daughter called with the news," Modiano said at a news conference at the offices of his French publisher Gallimard. "It came as a complete surprise, I just kept walking. It felt like it was happening to my double."

He was at a loss when asked how he would celebrate his win.

"Nothing special. I really didn't expect this," he said, adding that he would dedicate the prize to his grandson, who is Swedish.

China Topped The US As The World's Largest Economy

Sorry, America. China just overtook the US to become the world's largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fun. This was inevitable, but it still feels momentous: By one important measure, China's economy is now the biggest in the world, topping the United States.

China's gross domestic product is worth $17.6 trillion, adjusted for China's relatively low cost of living, compared with $17.4 trillion for the U.S., the International Monetary Fund estimated as part of its latest World Economic Outlook. Here's how that looks in chart form:

Here's another way of looking at it -- China's share of the global economy is now slightly bigger than America's, at 16.5 percent to 16.3 percent:

Ottawa | Finance Canada headquarters building to be named after Jim Flaherty

A new building in Ottawa housing Finance Canada will soon be dedicated to the memory of former finance minister Jim Flaherty.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce shortly that the modern, glass-enclosed structure a few blocks from Parliament Bill will be named the James M. Flaherty Building.

One of the GTA’s best-known political figures, Flaherty held various cabinet posts in Ontario’s Progressive Conservative governments from 1997 to 2003 before switching to the federal scene, where he was named finance minister by Harper in 2006.

Flaherty held the portfolio for eight years until resigning in March 2014. His death less than a month later shocked parliamentarians and led to an outpouring of appreciation for the well-liked MPP from the riding of Whitby-Oshawa. At a state funeral in Toronto, Harper lauded Flaherty as the “best finance minister in the world.”

Hooray!!! India Reaches Mars on First Attempt

Narendra Modi

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said on Wednesday that India has become the first nation to have successfully reached Mars on its maiden attempt.

 

He announced from the headquarters of the state-owned space agency in the southern city of Bangalore, that with 74 million dollars, the cheapest inter-planetary mission ever to be undertaken, an historic feat was made for the country’s indigenous space programme.

 

“India has reached Mars, history has been created, we are the only country to have succeeded in its first attempt,” he said.

 

Modi said that  the success was an indication that India was a country full of determination to succeed.

 

“We have made it a habit of achieving the impossible. Humanity would not have progressed if we had not taken such leaps into the unknown and space is the biggest unknown out there,” he said.

 

Modi said that Mars has got its Mars Orbiter Mission, (MOM) and the moment it was named MOM, he knew it would not disappoint.

Photo: 888,246 ceramic poppies are planted in memory of Veterans

A Chelsea Pensioner walks amongst ceramic red poppies in the moat at the Tower of London in London. It is slowly turning red as some 888,246 ceramic poppies are planted in memory of the British and Commonwealth dead from World War I.

Europe Marks WW1 anniversary

(LtoR) Britain's Prince Harry, Belgium's Queen Mathilde, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Belgium's King Philippe, Britain's Prime minister David Cameron and Britain's Prince William attend a ceremony at the Saint Symphorien Military cemetery in Mons, Belgium, during commemorations marking 100 years since the invasion of Belgium by Germany at the start of World War I. (JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom)

The French and German presidents commemorate the 100th anniversary of Germany’s declaration of war on France on August 3, 1914.

Francois Hollande and his German counterpart, Joachim Gauck, made a joint tribute in Alsace to soldiers killed during World War One.

They  lay the first stone for a memorial at Vieil Armand cemetery.

On Monday events were held in Belgium to mark Britain’s declaration of war on Germany.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron will take part in that ceremony in recognition of the day that Britain went to war.

Some 30,000 men were killed in the mountains around Vieil Armand, known in German as Hartmannswillerkopf.

The cemetery there contains the remains of 12,000 unidentified soldiers.

Hollande and Gauck will pay tribute to the sacrifice those men made and celebrate the importance of the modern Franco-German relationship in Europe.

They will lay the foundation stone for a Great War memorial and exhibition centre on the site, which is due to open its doors to the public in 2017.

The two leaders will meet again on Monday in the Belgian city of Liege, where heads of state from across Europe will mark the escalation of the war after Germany invaded Belgium.

Happy New Month

Happy new month Fellas. Lets rock this out! Be awesome in your endeavors. And contribute meaningfully to  your community of interest and circle of influence