Mock Turtle

From the Fans of Toronto Public Library’s blog post on the renovated Bloor-Gladstone branch:

Realization

I have finally been able to put my finger on a thought that has half-occurred to me on my now-numerous visits to renovated libraries. Here’s a slogan to get you started: “Your tax dollars at work!” TPL keeps getting awarded modest increases in budget, even as it carries out budgetary trimming here and there, because we want to reward something that’s already working.

But what I’ve really been ruminating on is this idea. We live in a city that is otherwise so wedded to mediocrity it becomes indistinguishable from outright championing of mediocrity. Nonetheless, we build giant palaces to every form of learning, all free of charge and open to everybody. What we do here is we build palaces of learning. Ninety-nine of them. And when they wear out, we fix them. We throw good money after good because we think libraries are that important – which they are.

Toronto really does do a great job with libraries (see also: Runnymede branch, Jane-Dundas, Lillian H. Smith….). It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Metro Ref.

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So remember a year ago all those rumours about oil being stored at sea? Well, now there’s so much of it out there that I’d think twice before swimming in any ocean for a while. One oil-watcher calls it “the largest and longest continuous glut of supply that I have seen in 30 years of following energy prices” and thinks the price per barrel could fall from the current $70-ish to $20 before the end of the year.

I don’t see how this is unavoidable; I’m still puzzled that it hasn’t happened yet. In the early part of the decade, post Asian currency crisis, oil prices were at $20 per barrel. Now, however, consistently weakening demand and massive oversupply isn’t leading to lower prices — yet another example of markets not functioning like they should.

Canada has become so resource-dependent that a serious fall in oil prices would cripple any nascent recovery for quite some time. Wonder what the mood is like at the Stampede?

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