From a lexicon of housing bubble jargon, courtesy of the Irvine Housing Blog, a term whose definition has a familiar ring: · MIRAGE (Moneyed Immigrants, Rich Ancestors, Generous Expatriates): Acronym to lampoon the bulls’ argument that housing demand is being supported by cash-rich immigrants, wealthy parents and transplants from other states. February’s Toronto Life featurescontinue reading
It’s called a toll
It’s been a good year for skiers all over North America this year, with record snowfall from east to west. But that also means more cars on highways to ski resorts, including the highway leading to the hills from Denver: Interstate 70, the east-west corridor to the high-country ski resorts, bottlenecks to four lanes fromcontinue reading
String Quartets
An interesting piece on string quartets and the psychological dynamics thereof, in the Times of London. It marks the disbanding of the Alban Berg Quartet after nearly 40 years. (Kind of reminds me of Vickram Seth’s An Equal Music, a book I remember being inexplicably fond of when I read it some years ago.)
Catching up on weekend reading
Britain’s economy is still looking shaky. According to a survey of employers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: …38% of the more than 1,500 employers surveyed plan redundancies over the next three months, with a quarter intending to let go at least 10 employees. And the Guardian publishes one of the most lucidcontinue reading
The Urbanist’s Bankruptcy Court
I have finally got around to reading the January issue of Toronto Life. This is somewhat depressing, but nicely put: Amid the biggest development boom in the city’s history, its planning department—more overworked and understaffed than any other—cannot meet its obligations to review developer’s proposals, consult stakeholders, conduct studies and make recommendations to council. Thecontinue reading
The angry vexillologist
Site of the day: someone in New Zealand’s cranky effort to give letter grades to the world’s flags. He doesn’t like busyness, maps, text in living languages, weird colour combinations, Union Jacks or automatic weapons. Start with the F grades – you know you want to. (I kind of like Bhutan’s flag, which he awardscontinue reading
Anyone interested in a Spanish timeshare?
…’cause another housing bubble has burst: The Spanish government is reportedly considering a rescue package to “refloat” the housing market and slow job losses in the construction sector, raising concerns over investor appetite for the country’s sovereign bonds. It’s a familiar story: …unemployment jumped 132,000 in January, the sharpest one-month rise in a decade. Carcontinue reading
The super sands
Patiently, comprehensively, Jennifer Welsh and Annette Hester take down Harper’s boasts of Canada as an energy “superpower”: First, we produce a great deal of crude oil (and, unlike most countries, could produce more), but our natural gas production is in decline. A decline that will accelerate as more natural gas is used to coax heavy,continue reading
Wines
We finally came to the end of our Circa(tm)-style-binding wine notebook, conveniently just before we left for Hong Kong. So a new year, a new wine journal. Highlights: Chateau de Cruzeau 2004, AOC Pessac-Leognan, 12.5%, $22.75. A very nice white Bordeaux from a Vintages release last fall, pretty much sold out in Toronto Central butcontinue reading
The Antagonistic East
Local labour relations not rancourous enough for you? Look east to Fredericton and the St. Thomas University “strikeout”. A faculty strike is now in its third week — but that strike came after the faculty was locked out by the administration December 27. What’s at stake? Well, hard to say at this point, since thecontinue reading