CBC: That’s Col. Rick to you: Mercer gets a military gig “We offered him a Sea King ride and he immediately said, ‘No.’ I thought he was scared to fly in the Sea King, but he’s been in the Sea King on numerous occasions and that’s not the case. He said, ‘No, no, I wantcontinue reading
another one bites the dust
Peter Harder, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, has resigned, according to CTV. It’s relatively rare for a high-powered DM to outright resign, so certainly an opportunity for some ill-informed speculation. What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? Being passed over for the job as Privy Council Clerk? Two and half years ofcontinue reading
Words –
– cannot express my admiration: Sloth wins 3-year battle with German scientists At long last, zoologists give up trying to bribe animal to move January 24, 2007 Associated Press JENA, Germany – To thine own sloth, be true. For three years, scientists at the University of Jena tried to persuade Mats the sloth to co-operatecontinue reading
How odd –
It’s embarrassing that I didn’t notice this before James Howard Kuntsler pointed it out, but what’s with the green foliage outside the window in the tape of Hillary Clinton declaring? It doesn’t look later than maybe mid-October. Chappaqua, NY should be in zone 6a, only half a zone warmer than us.
Body language
For anyone close to a TV, it’s worth tuning in for a few of the remaining moments of the State of the Union address, on now, to see the body language between Pelosi and Cheney, seated side by side. They clap at different points in the speech, and look distinctly uncomfortable when they both happencontinue reading
Oh boy, satellite colonoscopy feed!
From my newsfeed inbox this morning: Transmitted by CNW Group on : January 23, 2007 09:00 Video B-Roll Via Satellite – McGuinty Government to Make Important Investment in Cancer Screening TORONTO, Jan. 23 /CNW/ – The following B-Roll is available at the listed times and co-ordinates: Live Satellite Coordinates: DATE OF FEED: Tuesday, January 23,continue reading
Bev Oda doesn’t have any friends at Boing Boing
Our Heritage Minister Bev Oda’s press on Boing Boing keeps getting worse and worse, with Torontonian Cory Doctorow’s latest post continuing the trend. The Canadian Recording Industry Association, which embarrassingly now only represents American companies, is facing off against, well, pretty much everyone else: recording artists, Canadian record companies, composers, the Bare Naked Ladies, Michaelcontinue reading
Bedside manner
From Konrad Yakabuski’s multi-page profile of Stephane Dion in the weekend Globe: When he appeared on the Tele-Quebec public affairs show Les Francs-tireurs last fall, interviewer Patrick Lagace asked him to prove that he has a sense of humour. Mr. Dion replied by asking whether he was familiar with the world’s shortest bedtime story. “Docontinue reading
Cynicism, part 815 in a series
So Canada’s New Government (getting things done — for everyone) has announced some “new” initiatives that will give homeowners grants for retrofitting their homes. This new ecoENERGY (why is the combination of lower- and upper-case letters so appealing to governments?) retrofit program will provide grants of about $1000 for homeowners who make their homes morecontinue reading
Philanthropy
I’m curious what our resident philanthopy expert thinks about Margaret Wente’s column in today’s Globe. It looks like classic Wente… broad brushstrokes, full of cliched overgeneralizations, but (also classic Wente) she may have half a point (or not). She’s picking up on U.S. research by Arthur Brooks to the effect that charitable contribution rates arecontinue reading