Latest news with #Johnston
Vancouver Sun
4 hours ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Conversations That Matter: Tech entrepreneurship in British Columbia
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the journey of building a tech company from scratch in B.C. can be both exhilarating and daunting. Shawn Johnston, a serial tech company founder, knows the ups and downs better than anyone. 'I've had my face pressed against the glass more than once. That's when you stare into the financial abyss and can't see a way out, but then you do.' Survival in the hostile world of startups and, in particular, tech startups demands an ability to focus, refocus, and refocus again and again. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'Since 2010, I've had to reinvent myself so many times, I can't recall all the ways I've had to do it,' says Johnston. 'I redefined and refocused so many times because it's the only way to find the path forward. You simply have to stay on task and never give up.' The founder of Forge and Smith, a web design and web design agency, saw a new opportunity and launched another new company, Refoundry, a low-code themeless site builder for WordPress. Johnston says, 'I saw a need and decided I could fill it for companies that needed a faster (and lower-cost path for their customer's presence, and it's a hit!' Johnston joined a Conversation That Matters about how you find the inner strength and discipline to keep going in the world of tech entrepreneurialism. See the video at Learn More about our guests career at Join us Sept. 16 for Conversations Live on investing in B.C. in partnership with First Nations.
Sunday World
6 hours ago
- Sunday World
‘I know the craic', ex-Garda said during his arrest after car crashed into wall
Judge said she was 'quite disturbed' by the former garda's behaviour. A 34-year-old motorist and former member of An Garda Síochána has been convicted of failing to comply with a doctor's request to provide a blood or urine sample. Henry Johnston, Stoney Lane, Ardee, Co. Louth, contested the charge which arose after an incident more than two years ago when a BMW car crashed into a boundary wall close to his home. The defence contended that the demand for a sample was not made within three hours of driving. However, Judge Nicola Andrews said that the accused 'took every opportunity he could to frustrate the process'. Mr Johnston, who has no previous convictions, was convicted and referred to the Probation Service for a community service assessment. A neighbour testified that on May 31, 2023, she was in bed when awoken by a loud bang. She looked at the clock. It was 11.07pm. Her daughter, who had also woken up, said, 'It's Henry. He crashed into the wall.' Outside, they helped him. It was dark. They were afraid another car would come along. She ran to get some torches. She gave her phone to a woman to use its light as a warning and believed it was this person who rang gardaí. Stock image (Photo: Getty) News in 90 Seconds - July 25th They were trying to get the car off the road. It took a while. The left-side (of the car) was 'mangled'. It was put to her by solicitor Séamus Roe that in a statement she said '11-ish' and made no mention of 11.07pm on the clock. Gda Nuala Crossan gave evidence that at 11.25pm she responded to a report of a road traffic collision at Stoney Lane, Ardee. A car had crashed into a wall in a cul de sac. The defendant was in the driver's seat with the door open. The engine was running and the airbags had deployed. An alarm in the car had gone off. He said he was okay. His eyes were glazed and his speech slurred. Gda Crossan continued that she formed her opinion at 11.29pm that the man was incapable of having proper control over a mechanically propelled vehicle and arrested him at 11.30pm on suspicion of drink driving. She said that the man 'persisted in interrupting me' and during the caution said, 'I know the craic. I used to be a guard.'. He added, 'You know I'm not going to comment and incriminate myself,' when asked about what happened. On arrival at Dundalk Garda Station at 12.10am on June 1, he said he required a doctor's attention because he was asthmatic. A doctor was contacted. Gda Crossan said it was decided not to conduct an Evidenzer breath test. Mr Johnston's behaviour 'began to escalate'. He repeated demands for a solicitor to attend. No solicitor was available. The accused called Member In Charge of the station Gda Ryan Brennan a 'retard'. He put papers down his trousers, removed them and threw them at Gda Brennan. A doctor who arrived provided him with an inhaler. He refused it and refused to engage with the doctor. He said he wanted a solicitor. He refused to enter the doctor's room. Gda Crossan said the defendant then began to tap the Evidenzer machine and remarked, 'I will provide breath'. She explained that was no longer an option because of his previous claim that he would be unable to provide a breath sample and the fact that the Evidenzer guard had left. He said, 'Yes, I'll provide urine' and began shouting at the doctor that he would provide breath. The accused was asked to leave the room. He clung to the Evidenzer machine before being escorted to the custody area. Mr Roe said that he had an email from BMW which indicated the time the car's alarm went off. The author was not present. Judge Andrews did not allow it into evidence. Mr Roe put it to Gda Crossan that the accident occurred at 10.05pm. She replied that gardaí received a call at 11.25pm and that a woman heard a loud bang at 11pm. Gda Damien Fanning attended the garda station to conduct an Evidenzer breath test. He commenced a period of observation at 12.20am. Mr Johnston said that he was asthmatic, wanted a doctor and would be unable to do a breath test. Gda Fanning said he ended the observation. He felt it better to get a doctor for a blood or urine test. The defendant became aggressive, particularly towards Gda Brennan. Mr Roe said that the demand for a sample was made at 2.01am. In her statement the woman said she heard a bang at '11-ish'. He submitted there was a doubt the demand was made within three hours of driving. Judge Andrews said she was satisfied it was a lawful arrest and satisfied that any demand was within a three-hour period. The defence did not go into direct evidence. The judge said Mr Johnston 'took every opportunity he could to frustrate the process' and engaged in 'ducks and drakes' in any prosecution that might have been brought under Section 4. He refused to comply. Judge Andrews asked if the defendant was a garda, and was told by the prosecution that he was a former member of An Garda Síochána. Mr Roe said that his client was no longer in the force. He was single and working. Judge Andrews remarked that she was 'tempted" to impose a custodial sentence and was 'quite disturbed' by the defendant's behaviour. "I'm very concerned about what I heard.' The case was referred to the Probation Service for a community service assessment, and the court warned Henry Johnston to engage or he would be sent to jail. He was told he would also be getting a fine and disqualification. He was remanded on continuing bail to November 19. Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
ABC News
8 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
Retail giant Bunnings enters the energy market as battery sales soar past solar
When Warwick Johnston heard Bunnings was preparing to sell solar panels and batteries to households, he was unsurprised. Word that the commercial giant was joining the market for one of Australia's hottest retail categories would be big news to most. But Mr Johnston, who is the head of solar industry research firm SunWiz, had seen it before. Years earlier, Swedish multinational IKEA made a similar move. As IKEA soon found out, Mr Johnston suspected Bunnings would find the going harder in the solar and batteries market than it was anticipating. "I think it's fantastic that these big brands are getting in on it. It remains to be seen how successful it is," he said. Mr Johnston said the solar industry had historically been hyper-competitive, and large companies had found it tough. "The number one player in the solar industry had a 3 per cent market share. So, this is a market with many, many small players. "And large companies have tried to compete in that space and actually found it challenging to be nimble and responsive and lean enough to make it work." Bunnings' entrance into the solar and batteries market comes at an inflection point. Since the beginning of July, consumers have been able to get a steep discount off the up-front cost of a battery system under a federal government subsidy scheme. The scheme was a key election promise from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and has allowed households to receive up to 30 per cent, or $4,000, off the cost of a typical battery. Mr Johnston said the scheme was already supercharging demand. According to SunWiz, the number of batteries registered through the Commonwealth's small-scale renewable energy subsidy program eclipsed solar systems for the first time this month. Mr Johnston said in the past, there had only been one battery installed for every 12 solar installations, but it was now effectively one-for-one. "In 2024, it was 75,000 battery installations in the year," he said. "And a couple of days ago, we were hitting 1,000 installations per day. "So, that sort of implies we might get to 200,000 at that run rate in 2025." Analysis firm Green Energy Markets has uncovered similar findings. Green Energy Markets director Tristan Edis said demand for batteries under the scheme was higher than he had anticipated. He said installation rates for batteries were already high and "edging up" as pent-up interest from consumers was let loose by generous government incentives. Mr Edis said that at the current rate, the number of batteries installed could reach 300,000, equivalent to the number of annual solar installations, and have profound effects on the electricity market. "Over these next five years, we do need to be retiring some old coal-fired generators. So, that will open up some space for both gas and batteries. "But, really, to be put in perspective, the scale of what we can expect from batteries if they continue at their current rate … would be equivalent in scale to what we currently have for gas, at least in the east coast market." Mr Edis acknowledged big question marks were hanging over whether the surge in demand for batteries was likely to be short-lived or sustained. For starters, he predicted "commercial interests", which stood to lose from the take-up of batteries by householders, could try to put the stoppers on the subsidy scheme. Equally, Mr Edis said it was possible that the demand spike could "reflect largely an early mover, technology-loving market that may only represent a small proportion of households". However, he said his firm's research suggested this would not be the case. "We've been interviewing a range of industry participants and the feedback that they've been giving us suggests that their order book is sort of stretching out into next year," he said. "That would suggest that the level of demand is quite robust. "It looks like it is going to be reasonably sustained, but the other issue will be that we need to see ongoing cost reductions and price reductions from battery systems to open it up to new customers." Key to this, Mr Edis said, would be battery prices and whether they continued to fall as the market matured. Mr Edis noted that hot markets tended to attract a lot of new entrants, not all of whom were always reputable or scrupulous. But he said they also tended to be so competitive that prices for consumers fell. And if this happened with batteries, he said, a greater share of the mainstream market would be likely to buy a system. "That's what we saw in the solar market," he said. "And so that's what we're expecting to see also in the battery market. But there is a risk there with these new entrants." That new entrants included Bunnings was not lost on Mr Edis or Mr Johnston. Both said the development indicated Australia's battery market was becoming mainstream, in much the same way the solar market had become. But they also cautioned that Bunnings was entering a notoriously cut-through market where dominating had proved elusive for all other players. "The interesting thing is mass-market retailers have sort of done these things in the past and they sort of come and go," Mr Edis said. "And the issue is when you look at it, like the price that Bunnings is offering, it's not spectacular." Mr Johnston echoed the comments, noting Bunnings' offer was available online rather than in its stores. He said he did not expect the retailer's appearance to upend the market. "The battery market, I expect, will follow a similar suit to solar," Mr Johnston said. "And so, in short, it's very competitive. "Having a major player like this doesn't necessarily change that quite much." Mr Johnston said Bunnings' entry reflected an appetite from Australian householders to claw back more control over their energy bills, while tapping a renewable resource. There were already more than 4 million solar installations spread across Australian homes and businesses, which at times accounted for the biggest source of supply in the country's main grids. In time, Mr Johnston said, "the second biggest power supply could come from behind-the-meter batteries" at certain periods. "Australians have a love affair with solar, have a love affair with the sun," he said. "And yet, a lot of people have been really waiting till a battery comes until they act because they want the complete solution. "These days, people recognise that solar power is great at reducing electricity bills. "But if you can't use the power, then you're not going to get much money from it. And batteries solve that problem."
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
This author visited one of the world's most dangerous countries for research
'It was such an illuminating thing to go to this unbelievably foreign place. It's 95 per cent Islamic and just everything was foreign about this place to me. And still, the connections, the similarities, the commonalities were so much greater than the differences. It was kind of this epiphany, or at least this sunburst of wonder that week, to be reminded that we have to get outside and talk to people and give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. That sounds very trite...' she says, trailing off. Despite its history of devastating invasions and the push and pull of different regimes, armies, and nations, Johnston says they're such an independent people. 'It's this cultural crucible, an absolute polyglot; each village along is as different as a different planet.' Johnston works part-time as an emergency physician at an inner-city hospital, and her husband is a head and neck surgeon. 'The rest of the time I write. It's a compulsion,' she says. 'I've always thought I had the soul of a writer and the heart of a poet, but I didn't write for such a long time.' 'It just got to a point in my life where I have the brain space to be able to do it – all of this stuff that's been welling up there for decades is now just pouring out onto the page. I actually feel uncomfortable if I'm not writing. 'I seem to have something that I needed to explore, I needed to understand. Writing them into fiction is the best doorway into understanding the human condition and those things,' she says. 'And I've obviously been shaped by 35 years as a doctor, primarily in emergency, and seeing this huge spectrum of humanity, patients at their most vulnerable, these complexities. Just trying to understand humans and how they behave and why they make the decisions that they do, has been this compulsion: to try and start to scrape off the layers, it makes life more livable for me if I have a greater understanding of why things aren't perfect, and why people do the things that they do, and particularly the things they do to each other and to themselves.' The process helps her make sense of life. 'It's just my way of trying to navigate the world and make peace with this very complex, very messy, often very unkind and very traumatising world that we've made as humans.' Loading 'When you're forced to articulate [these thoughts] into sentences and paragraphs, something happens. Something happens in that alchemical transformation … this swirling anxiety about the world, I didn't realise that's why I was feeling this free floating rage or anxiety. I didn't realise that's what it was until I started to form it into ... language on paper. I was just in my brain doing what we all do, which is staying awake at night and not thinking productively, just ruminating rather than organising it.' Working in an emergency department, Johnston has seen a broad cross-section of society; the concept of the lottery of life is writ large, every day. 'It's so fundamental to what we're seeing at the moment, that idea,' she says. 'Nobody chooses to get born where they are, with however much money and however much family and privilege. To ignore that as so fundamental to how our lives turn out, including the generations before us… it's wildly stupid.' 'I don't know if there is any better illustration than the US right now of exactly that – the individualism that 'I merit everything because I'm a white man born in a certain time and anybody else does not deserve basic human rights'. It's staggering. It's so plain and obvious to most thinking human beings.' Johnston's second book, Tiny uncertain miracles, published in 2022, was set in the basement of the Royal Perth hospital, 'this labyrinthine, ridiculous structure where there are doors that go nowhere … it's just so fabulous, it's actually almost magical'. The story revolves around a scientist who works in the basement making proteins from bacteria, who comes in to discover that the bacteria have started making gold. 'It's the story of the main character, the hospital chaplain, a man of God who believes in science – one of the lines is he would have been a great chaplain had it not been for God – and the scientist who reads his horoscopes and thinks he's the chosen one. It could be alchemy or miracles, or whatever, that's the vehicle for telling the story. It's a little bit about fate and faith, free will, and the relationship between these two men.' It's a very different book to her latest. 'I've learned a huge amount as a writer since then,' Johnston says. Her first book, Dustfall, published in 2018, explores running away, medical error, asbestos mining and corporate conscience – or lack thereof. Her next offering is different again, a non-fiction book about 'the crazy, absurd wonders of the human body'. Written from an emergency medicine perspective, it's 'memoir adjacent', she says. 'It's not memoir, but there's lots of my experience in there – 35 years of emergency medicine and the wonders of the human body and the human when they're under stress and trauma.' 'It's actually the small things every day that I know are more important: the kindness...' Loading Despite emergency medicine being an impressive vocation, Johnston is humble about it, saying she 'just fell into it'. Working at the hospital brings her great joy. 'I look back and couldn't have asked for a more rewarding way to spend a few decades of my life. I get to actually make a difference; once in a while I get to do something fantastic. It's actually the small things every day that I know are more important: the kindness, the taking time with the patient, the sitting on the end of the patient's bed, the listening to them. You cannot overestimate the incredible power that those tiny moments have, far beyond saving lives,' she says. 'Everyone wants to talk about saving lives, which we do fairly rarely – we don't kill people but when I'm intervening in a very melodramatic way, that's low yield. It's tiny moments every day,' she says. 'That's the thing that I'm going to take away when I eventually hang up my shackles. I will be prouder for that.'
The Age
3 days ago
- General
- The Age
This author visited one of the world's most dangerous countries for research
'It was such an illuminating thing to go to this unbelievably foreign place. It's 95 per cent Islamic and just everything was foreign about this place to me. And still, the connections, the similarities, the commonalities were so much greater than the differences. It was kind of this epiphany, or at least this sunburst of wonder that week, to be reminded that we have to get outside and talk to people and give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. That sounds very trite...' she says, trailing off. Despite its history of devastating invasions and the push and pull of different regimes, armies, and nations, Johnston says they're such an independent people. 'It's this cultural crucible, an absolute polyglot; each village along is as different as a different planet.' Johnston works part-time as an emergency physician at an inner-city hospital, and her husband is a head and neck surgeon. 'The rest of the time I write. It's a compulsion,' she says. 'I've always thought I had the soul of a writer and the heart of a poet, but I didn't write for such a long time.' 'It just got to a point in my life where I have the brain space to be able to do it – all of this stuff that's been welling up there for decades is now just pouring out onto the page. I actually feel uncomfortable if I'm not writing. 'I seem to have something that I needed to explore, I needed to understand. Writing them into fiction is the best doorway into understanding the human condition and those things,' she says. 'And I've obviously been shaped by 35 years as a doctor, primarily in emergency, and seeing this huge spectrum of humanity, patients at their most vulnerable, these complexities. Just trying to understand humans and how they behave and why they make the decisions that they do, has been this compulsion: to try and start to scrape off the layers, it makes life more livable for me if I have a greater understanding of why things aren't perfect, and why people do the things that they do, and particularly the things they do to each other and to themselves.' The process helps her make sense of life. 'It's just my way of trying to navigate the world and make peace with this very complex, very messy, often very unkind and very traumatising world that we've made as humans.' Loading 'When you're forced to articulate [these thoughts] into sentences and paragraphs, something happens. Something happens in that alchemical transformation … this swirling anxiety about the world, I didn't realise that's why I was feeling this free floating rage or anxiety. I didn't realise that's what it was until I started to form it into ... language on paper. I was just in my brain doing what we all do, which is staying awake at night and not thinking productively, just ruminating rather than organising it.' Working in an emergency department, Johnston has seen a broad cross-section of society; the concept of the lottery of life is writ large, every day. 'It's so fundamental to what we're seeing at the moment, that idea,' she says. 'Nobody chooses to get born where they are, with however much money and however much family and privilege. To ignore that as so fundamental to how our lives turn out, including the generations before us… it's wildly stupid.' 'I don't know if there is any better illustration than the US right now of exactly that – the individualism that 'I merit everything because I'm a white man born in a certain time and anybody else does not deserve basic human rights'. It's staggering. It's so plain and obvious to most thinking human beings.' Johnston's second book, Tiny uncertain miracles, published in 2022, was set in the basement of the Royal Perth hospital, 'this labyrinthine, ridiculous structure where there are doors that go nowhere … it's just so fabulous, it's actually almost magical'. The story revolves around a scientist who works in the basement making proteins from bacteria, who comes in to discover that the bacteria have started making gold. 'It's the story of the main character, the hospital chaplain, a man of God who believes in science – one of the lines is he would have been a great chaplain had it not been for God – and the scientist who reads his horoscopes and thinks he's the chosen one. It could be alchemy or miracles, or whatever, that's the vehicle for telling the story. It's a little bit about fate and faith, free will, and the relationship between these two men.' It's a very different book to her latest. 'I've learned a huge amount as a writer since then,' Johnston says. Her first book, Dustfall, published in 2018, explores running away, medical error, asbestos mining and corporate conscience – or lack thereof. Her next offering is different again, a non-fiction book about 'the crazy, absurd wonders of the human body'. Written from an emergency medicine perspective, it's 'memoir adjacent', she says. 'It's not memoir, but there's lots of my experience in there – 35 years of emergency medicine and the wonders of the human body and the human when they're under stress and trauma.' 'It's actually the small things every day that I know are more important: the kindness...' Loading Despite emergency medicine being an impressive vocation, Johnston is humble about it, saying she 'just fell into it'. Working at the hospital brings her great joy. 'I look back and couldn't have asked for a more rewarding way to spend a few decades of my life. I get to actually make a difference; once in a while I get to do something fantastic. It's actually the small things every day that I know are more important: the kindness, the taking time with the patient, the sitting on the end of the patient's bed, the listening to them. You cannot overestimate the incredible power that those tiny moments have, far beyond saving lives,' she says. 'Everyone wants to talk about saving lives, which we do fairly rarely – we don't kill people but when I'm intervening in a very melodramatic way, that's low yield. It's tiny moments every day,' she says. 'That's the thing that I'm going to take away when I eventually hang up my shackles. I will be prouder for that.'
