'Tacky' Easter decorator back with Canada Day colours

A Dartmouth, N.S., woman whose Easter decorations drew a snub asking her to not degrade the neighbourhood has decked her home in red and white for Canada Day — and she says most of the community is backing her.

Lori Perron converted red-and-white Christmas lights into patriotic illumination and hung the maple leaf flag from windows, decks and poles. She's even planted it in her garden.

'It upset me at first, but it empowered me to go: Whatever. We're still going to do it.'—Lori Perron

"It's just done in fun. It's not done to offend anyone. We should all celebrate that we're Canadians," she said Saturday.

Her exuberant Easter decorations caught a lot of attention.

It also drew a letter saying: "The community asks that you do not demoralize our subdivision and street with yet again, your very tacky decorations. Halloween and Christmas was enough. Perhaps you should consider that this area is a step above you."

Canada Day cookies

The media coverage of her ordeal went viral, including articles in the U.S.

"It upset me at first, but it empowered me to go: 'Whatever. We're still going to do it,'" Perron said. "I don't think we're beneath this neighbourhood, as someone thinks we are."

Perron said her neighbours have been "99 per cent great" and showing support with waves, horn honking and positive feedback. The anonymous letter writer has not voiced an opinion on the Canada Day decorations.

Perron, her husband and their children plan to bake Canada Day cookies and hand them out on July 1.

The Perrons' next plan is to dress up their house for Aug. 4 — though she's not sure how you decorate for Natal Day.

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Public pianos are 'keys to the street' in Vancouver

A Vancouver group is setting up pianos in the city's public spaces and inviting the public to sit down and tickle the ivories as they are passing by this summer.

The "Keys to the Street" program which runs to Aug. 24, has already placed three pianos at:

• Creekside Community Centre on the False Creek Seawall.
• Robson Park at the corner of St. George Street and Kingsway.
• Spyglass Dock, 1800 Spyglass Place.

One more is expected to be installed for a short time outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Robson Street, in partnership with the Vancouver Public Space Network.

Each piano comes with a bench, a funky paint job and rain cover. Local community groups will take care of the pianos, and will get them once the program ends.

"Keys to the Street" was launched by CityStudio, in collaboration with the City of Vancouver and Vancouver's six post-secondary schools. The project was inspired by public pianos popping up in numerous other cities around the globe including Montreal, Toronto, London, Munich, Barcelona and even Campbell River.

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Canadian superhero Captain Canuck rises again

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Comic book fans can easily rhyme off names like Superman and The Avengers, but a Canadian team is hoping a new revamp will put Captain Canuck back in the mix.

The Canadian hero, who debuted on comic book shelves almost 40 years ago, is making a comeback in a new animated web series debuting — fittingly — on Canada Day at captaincanuck.com.

Back in the early 1970s, as industry leaders Marvel and DC Comics were putting out stories about Spider-Man, Batman and Superman, Winnipeg-based artist Richard Comely and his artist friend Ron Leishman were wondering why there wasn't yet a Canadian counterpart.

"We would talk and he said 'There should be a Canadian superhero.' I said 'Duh! Yeah! Why isn't there [one]?'" Comely recalled to CBC News.

In 1975, the self-published indie comic Captain Canuck made its debut.

"It was really big, much more than I expected," Comely said. "Canadian media certainly was very interested and so was American media. And it sold very well … it just sold out everywhere."

Though the title eventually lapsed, a new group of creators — with the approval of Comely — is reviving Captain Canuck in an online series, featuring the voice of actor Kris Holden-Ried, best known for TV hits Lost Girl and The Tudors. Laura Vandervoort, Tatiana Maslany and Paul Amos are also taking on voice roles for the initial five-episode run.

In the video above, Richard Comely tells CBC's Eli Glasner about the early days of Captain Canuck.

Marvel favourite Wolverine aside, comic book heroes hailing from Canada have largely been overshadowed by the likes of Spider-Man, The X-Men or Batman. In the photo gallery above, CBC News takes a quick look at more Canadian comic heroes.

Tune in to the July 1 edition of The National as Eli Glasner reports on the super fans propelling the homegrown hero from the comics to the web.

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Dancers to rock to ‘silent disco' at Folly Fest in Gagetown

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People in Gagetown will be rocking out to the sound of silence in Gagetown this weekend during Folly Fest.

So-called silent disco is the latest dance craze to hit the Maritimes and it's helping event organizers two-step around noise bylaws.

DJs pump music through dancers' wireless headphones.

"It's like you're … in your bedroom," said dancer Lee Neckritz. "You want to listen to music really loud, but so that no one else hears it.

"Now everyone gets to do that in the same room," he said.

Avoids noise complaints

Silent disco dancers can choose which music they want to listen to by changing the frequency on their headphones. (CBC)

The marriage between music and technology will allow Folly Fest organizers to keep the party going without fear of noise complaints, said Mike Humble.

"We have a curfew in the village of Gagetown, which we completely respect," he said. "So we can't have late night music, which most music festivals of our stature do. So it was a way to solve a whole bunch of problems with a really cool idea."

About 160 wireless headsets from the company Silent Storm have been brought up from Boston for Folly Fest, with a test run of the equipment being held in Fredericton last Saturday, during an outdoor silent disco at the Capital Complex.

Fredericton's noise bylaws have no power over the new technology, so partiers could dance on into the night without fear of being ousted.

"You can pick and choose what you want to listen to too," said festival head-of-security Lee Breen.

Multiple DJs spin tunes simultaneously, while a band also plays. Dancers simply have to change the frequency on their headset to listen to whichever music they prefer.

Throw in a volume toggle and dancers at Folly Fest will have more of a choice in how and what they listen to than ever before.

Folly Fest runs until at Sunday with silent discos at 2 a.m.

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Body-heat powered flashlight takes teen to Google Science Fair

A hollow flashlight powered by the heat from a user's hand, designed by a 15-year-old girl from Victoria, has been picked for the finals of the Google Science Fair.

Ann Makosinski, a Grade 10 student at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, is one of 15 students from around the world who beat out thousands of entries from more than 100 countries to earn their spot as finalists.

They will visit the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif., in September for the prize ceremony, Google announced Thursday. Winners will be chosen in three age categories, and one will receive the grand prize, which includes a $50,000 scholarship from Google and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Makosinski said she is excited about presenting to the Google Science Fair judges, many of whom are scientists, and being able to talk to the other finalists about their projects.

'I'm really interested in harvesting surplus energy, energy that surrounds but we never really use.'—Ann Makosinski

Makosinski has been submitting projects to science fairs since Grade 6, and has been particularly interested in alternative energy.

"I'm really interested in harvesting surplus energy, energy that surrounds but we never really use," Makosinski said in an interview Thursday.

While researching different forms of alternative energy a few years ago, she learned about devices called Peltier tiles that produce electricity when heated on one side and cooled on the other. She experimented with such tiles for her Grade 7 science fair project and thought of them again as a way to potentially capture the thermal energy produced by the human body.

Makosinski did some calculations to see if the amount of energy produced by warmth from a person's hand was theoretically sufficient to power an LED bright enough to use in a flashlight, and she found it was more than enough.

Stumbling block

She bought Peltier tiles on eBay and tested them to see if they could produce sufficient power to light an LED. It turned out the power was more than enough, but the tiles generated only a fraction of the voltage needed. Further research suggested that if she made some changes to the design of the circuit, transformers could be used to boost the voltage.

Makosinski admitted there were points in the experiment when she thought it would never work, but said "You just kind of have to keep going."

She spent months doing research on the internet, experimented with different circuits and even built her own transformers, which still didn't provide enough voltage.

"This took quite awhile 'cause I had to do it during the school year as well and I had homework, plays, whatever that I was also doing," she recalled.

In the end, she came across an article on the web about energy harvesting that suggested an affordable circuit that would provide the voltage she needed when used with a recommended transformer, she said in an online report submitted to Google.

Finally, the circuit worked.

Steady beam of light

Makosinski made two different flashlights, each using a slightly different kind of Peltier tile, by assembling the electronics with other parts:

• An aluminum tube, obtained from a mechanical shop at the University of Victoria, where her father works as a laboratory manager. The aluminum was used to transfer the cooler temperatures of the air to one side of the Peltier tiles.
• A PVC tube from Home Depot used to house the aluminum tube, with an opening cut in it to allow a person's hand to come in contact with the other side of the Peltier tiles.

Makosinski tested the flashlights and found that both were brighter when the air temperature was 5 C than when it was 10 C, due to the bigger difference between body temperature and the air temperature. But even at 10 C, both flashlights maintained a steady beam of light for over 20 minutes, she reported.

In all, the materials for each flashlight cost about $26, she said, but she thinks that if it were mass produced, it could be manufactured and sold for a far lower price.

Neither of Makosinski's parents have a post-secondary science education, but they have encouraged her passion for science, she said. Her father helped her by teaching her the basics of electronics and ordering the parts she requested online.

Makosinski said she is looking forward to her upcoming trip, including the visit to Google's headquarters. She added, "I just can't believe that I actually made it this far."

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Calgary's kids create adorable thank-you notes for flood volunteers

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Body Break duo snags Amazing Race Canada spot

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Try Coke soft drinks for breakfast, Coca-Cola's U.K. sales pitch says

Get people to drink swap tea or coffee for soft drinks with breakfast — that's one of the strategies Coca-Cola's main bottler in Europe is targeting to boost sales in the United Kingdom.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. issued a report last week that identifies a variety of ways it can increase sales over the next five years in the region. One category entitled "Complete the Meal" notes that breakfast is often referred to as the most important meal of the day, with about a quarter of all drinks being consumed before 10 a.m.

'How do we motivate people to make soft drinks … part of their morning ritual in the same way as tea or coffee?' — Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.sales report

"How do we motivate people to make soft drinks, like smoothies, juices and other on-the-go products, part of their morning ritual in the same way as tea or coffee?" the report asks.

In a statement, the company said it was referring specifically to smoothies and juices in suggesting breakfast as an area for growth.

The optimistic report comes as soda consumption has been fading in developed countries such as the U.S. amid concerns they fuel weight gain. To combat criticism, Coca-Cola Co. began airing TV ads this year that explain what it's doing to fight obesity. The Atlanta-based company and rival PepsiCo Inc. are also working on making better-tasting diet sodas that use natural sweeteners.

Although sodas remain the flagship drinks for both companies, they've also been looking to sell more of other drinks such as sports drinks and bottled waters.

The "See the Opportunity" report issued by Coca-Cola Enterprises also notes that there are no soft drinks in the United Kingdom designed as "relaxation" drinks, as there are in Japan and the U.S. Without specifying any brands, it notes that drinks containing melatonin are expected to exceed 300 million liters of consumption in the U.S. by 2014.

Other ways to increase sales include making soft drinks a pick-me-up at work or providing the right range of packages at the right prices for teens at places such as the movies, the report says. It also notes that the "Daytime At Home" category is largely untapped for the soda industry, with tap water and hot drinks being the most common beverages at home.

The report notes that people want to be more healthy by drinking more water but that soft drinks can offer "refreshing, health and tasty alternatives.

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Racing pigeon travels from Japan to Vancouver Island

No one is sure exactly how a Japanese racing pigeon ended up on Vancouver Island.

The bird was found near Comox, and has been recovering at a rescue centre in Courtenay for the past two weeks.

An electronic tag clasped on the pigeon's foot is proof the bird came from Japan, nearly 8,000 kilometres away.

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Coffin for sale comes with unexpected occupant

An Iowa man's online classified ad offering an oak coffin for sale neglected to mention the full skeleton inside, so police interrupted the deal and seized the bones.

The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reported that the coffin belonged to the now-defunct Council Bluffs chapter of the International Order of Odd Fellows, which promotes anonymous giving to the poor.

Dave Burgstrum placed the ad on the Craigslist website to sell the coffin for $12,000 US because he's trying to raise money to pay the property taxes on the fraternal organization's hall.

Burgstrum said the coffin was made in the 1900s and had been used in the group's rituals to represent death. The bones had been in there for years.

"They were just there as long as anyone could remember," said Burgstrum, who is one of a handful of remaining members of the Council Bluffs chapter of the Odd Fellows.

Burgstrum said lodge records suggest the skeleton was donated by a doctor who retired in the 1880s.

But Council Bluffs Police detective Michael Roberts said human remains can't be sold with proper identification.

"If they had papers of origination, then they would be OK to own," Roberts said.

The skeleton was sent to the Iowa State Medical Examiner. Pottawattamie County forensic investigator Karen Foreman said it's unlikely the skeleton will be identified, but the race and gender can be determined. And if the skeleton is Native American, federal law requires that it be returned to the tribe.

Burgstrum said the laboratory is welcome to keep the skeleton. His interest has always been in selling the coffin.

"I'm ready to wheel and deal on it," he said. "I'd like to get those taxes paid."

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