Ah, science.

The BMJ’s Christmas issue is full of goodness as usual. Ingested foreign bodies and societal wealth: three year observational study of swallowed coins Objective: To examine the relation between coins ingested by children and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But sadly, for it would’ve made a fine headline had the results been different, Conclusion: Therecontinue reading

Contagion risk (non-flu version)

Business reporters fell over each other today in an effort to categorize the impact of Dubai’s announcement that it was implementing a six-month “stand-still” on the debt of the real estate arm of its conglomerate Dubai World, essentially asking debtholders to hold onto bonds past maturity. Complicating the efforts of reporters to put the storycontinue reading

Well, THAT’ll fix the recession

Funding one (1) 26-week internship is now worthy of a Federal press release: Government of Canada helps post-secondary graduate gain work experience in aquatic research The Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute will receive $14,189 for its Aquatic Health Researcher project through the Career Focus program of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy. This funding willcontinue reading

Perpetuating inequality

David Cay Johnston on why the government’s lack of interest in cracking down on Canadian users of tax havens is a problem: “If the current law does not give the government the investigative tools to find wealthy and sophisticated tax cheats, then those tools need to be provided. Otherwise, you have a de facto policycontinue reading

I’ll have what they’re having

You might think that, in a GDP report that revised the first quarter contraction to 6.1% from the already amazing 5.4%, a growth figure of 0.1% for June is not a conclusive sign that a recovery has taken hold. This is, apparently, because you are not Canadian business journalist, or economist employed by the Bigcontinue reading

The elusive bear

Ontario forests are full of bears, but many hikers and campers never see the elusive animals at all. These days, financial bears are just as hard to find. I know I’m not the only one puzzled by the buoyant mood among economists and financial writers in Canada — ex-Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg and thecontinue reading

Floating on a sea of oil

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 ofcontinue reading

Relax already

Next casualty of the recession: spas. Any place whose doors I’ve darkened in the last ten years has been in touch over recent months; some highlights from this week: We’re writing to share some news about some incredible Limited Time Only Offers. …Serious Savings While Appointments Last! 50% OFF Selected Facials As a welcome back,continue reading