A local business owner has beef with OQLF "vigilante"

Posted By: Sarah Deshaies · 3/2/2013 4:30:00 PM

Turns out language problems are not exclusive to restaurants... on Viewpoints, Luca Caltabiano recounted a strange day at his shop, Chez Geeks, on St. Denis Street.

A man came in to the board game store and remarked on a lack of French on signs and objects in the store. Ultimately, he threatened to report Caltabiano, the owner of Chez Geeks, to the Office québécois de la langue française. 

Listen to Luca's conversation with Todd to see what he did to fight back and win support from his customers. 

Do you have what it takes to go to Mars?

Posted By: Sarah Deshaies · 2/15/2013 7:00:00 AM

Well, Raye Kass could probably tell you whether you could pull it off.

The Concordia professor of applied human sciences has years of experience in knowing what it takes to travel and work in the confine of space. She's also worked on the critera for people looking to qualify for the Mars One trip to settle Mars by 2023. The criteria is now available online, and the private enterprise will soon take applications. 

Only thing is - it's a one-way ticket to Mars. 

Think you'd still be up for it?

A man speaks to his sexual abuser - his childhood priest

Posted By: Sarah Deshaies · 2/14/2013 3:36:00 PM

Michael Mack is a writer, performer and poet. 

And he chose the stage to work through one of the most difficult parts of his life - being sexually abused by his Catholic priest as a kid living in 1960s North Carolina.

Mack's play, Conversations with My Molester, ran in Boston earlier last month; several people joined in on discussions after the show to share their pain.

As stories of widespread abuse by Catholic priests continue to bubble to the surface all over the world, listen to the story of one man who rang his abuser's doorbell as an adult, and then decided to speak about it. 

Addicted to a "harmless" drug

Posted By: Sarah Deshaies · 2/12/2013 7:00:00 AM

It was sometimes called the 'harmless drug' - meaning, it could help students power through marathon study sessions and exams, and leave no trace.

But Adderall, prescribed to adults for symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, has caused a myriad of debilitating and tragic effects on several patients, like Richard Fee.

The 24-year-old former college class president killed himself two days after running out of pills. he had become extremely addicted to the drug, and exhibited psychotic behaviour. Fee, and the efforts made by his parents to intervene, were recently profiled in the New York Times

Todd spoke to Dr David Juurlink, a medical toxicologist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and Jane Mundy, a Vancouver writer for Lawyers and Settlements who has written several stories about Adderall addicts and their families. 

Health Canada is expected to announce more guidelines when it comes to prescription drugs in the coming months. 

Image: Adderall ...

How to leave Quebec

Posted By: Sarah Deshaies · 2/11/2013 4:41:00 PM

Be honest - how many times have you threatened to quit Quebec and go somewhere else?

Though we have many assets in this province - poutine, festivals, the Habs - the political climate, the dragging economy and the state of our infrastructure is enough to make anyone want to call it quits.

And that's what Janik Litalien and Julie Lesage did. The two ex-pats have maintained a hub of info and support for those looking to move at the website Quitter le Québec (founded in 2005).

And now, they have just launched an English counterpart, Leaving Quebec.

We reached Janik in Hong Kong to discuss what exodus means for La Belle Province and for those leaving it.

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