Fraser Institute schools report

This may be the only time I ever say something nice about the Fraser Institute, but this report they’ve done with nifty summaries of each Ontario school’s test results from the past five years is much more useful than anything else I’ve seen. Except for the final rating out of 10, it’s just straight reportingcontinue reading

Point and shoot

Hey, check this out — here’s a link to the World Press Photo award winners. The winning photo: But some of the other ones are even more stunning, such as and That last one is a wounded US Marine on his wedding day.

Unnecessary Headline Week Begins!

And once again ctv.ca kicks it off: Bobby Orr’s father Douglas dies at age 82 I searched for the significance of this, but it’s just what it says: an old man died, and his son is Bobby Orr. Still, it’s almost as newsworthy as the story that leads the Canada section this morning: Vancouver 2010continue reading

Vote for the new 7 Wonders

As reported by the weekend Globe & Mail. The 21 finalists make a fascinating and multicultural list; I wish I knew more about them. Website here. We all have personal favourites that did not make it. For me, it is the Pantheon and Chartres; maybe they are not big enough?

You know the Court is unhappy when…

“Mrs. Dickie is awarded her costs before this Court on a solicitor and client basis and in the Court of Appeal on a substantial indemnity basis.” In any civil action, if you lose there’s always the risk that you’ll end up paying the other side’s costs–sort of. Usually costs are awarded on a party-and-party basis,continue reading

Faust

We went to see Faust on Tuesday. Kenneth Winters had a pretty accurate review in the Globe–the singers are generally good (Brett Polegato as Valentin somewhat more than good), but the real star is the orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin which impressed both with its virtuosity and in giving the music a sense of idiomatic Frenchness.continue reading

Thoughtless Headline Week Continues!

Baird ready to shut windows on greenhouse: globeandmail.com OK, thoughtless might be a bit harsh. However, it’s one of those classic cases where the headline sounds clever, but misunderstands something it’s trying to make light of — in this case, the greenhouse effect. Because wouldn’t Baird be opening the windows of the greenhouse… so wecontinue reading