From the back page of the WSJ last week, buried under all the financial meltdown news, a thoughtful and evocative piece, if sad in the context, which has been reproduced in a few other places: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html
Stuff Archives
Wake up and smell the listeria
Finally, someone says it: the handling of the listeria outbreak has been abysmal. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with the sluggish public health response of a less educated, far less blessed nation. 16 people have died during the outbreak, and not one of the public officials or government members responsiblecontinue reading
RX: Ikea
I’ve avoided posting anything from the Globe Facts and Arguments page until now, I think, but yesterday’s essay is just too dreary and sad to ignore. The author is a Globe copy editor who has taken a dream job — which, amazingly, given the generally subpar morale of the Globe newsroom, appears to be hercontinue reading
Bottle up and explode
As one among the 29% of Canadians who, really, couldn’t care less about the increase in prices at the pump, I read the Canwest story “Pent-up anger unites nation” feeling like I imagine separatists do when Canadian nationalists bemoan the possibly imminent departure of Quebec: According to a new poll by Ipsos Reid, carried outcontinue reading
From Great Unwind to Greater Depression?
While thoughts of deflation are rippling through the Anglosphere, the European Central Bank is still more concerned about rising prices, hiking interest rates again today. There are a couple of reasons this makes sense: one, the ECB’s only mission is to contain inflation, while the US Federal Reserve, the shadow of which hangs over allcontinue reading
The TTC does fine, except for the actual riders –
The original hat tip for this in the Toronto blogosphere goes to 299bloorcallcontrol, as far as I’m aware, though Spacing has weighed in: The TTC has just begun installing a new 2008 edition of its subway network maps in subway cars … The TTC did away with just displaying the approximate address numbers along Yonge,continue reading
The neighbourhood is different. The crime is the same.
Do you remember Tyler Roulston? What about Tristan Wright? Jonathan Rodrigues? What high schools did they go to? They were all shooting victims under the age of 25 this year in Toronto. One may have been known to police. Another was shot in front of a house party with dozens of witnesses. Another was killedcontinue reading
The longest post in the last five minutes
Business reporters are constantly under pressure to quantify whatever they’re writing about. Unfortunately, there’s so little context associated with this that the reader is left with absolutely no idea as to whether the information is significant or not. Case in point: the dreaded “in XX period of time” construct. First example, from today’s Globeinvestor.com: Pricescontinue reading
Nothing but blue skies does he see
Rudyard Griffiths of the Dominion Institute, who has become a pundit-for-all-seasons, sees gloom ahead: While the fear of a recession seems like the last thing on the mind of the average Torontonian, I for one cannot figure out how the Ontario economy can avoid a prolonged economic turndown, and most likely a nasty one atcontinue reading
What’s the contribution to GDP of the geek sector?
If one ever needed confirmation that the component of the economy devoted to the care, maintenance and entertainment of geeks is large and thriving, look no further. Yes folks, it’s a crew served, direct fire, nerf support weapon. Needless to say, I want one. Be afraid cats, be very afraid…