Category Archives: news

malcolm gladwell explains college admissions

Like Malcolm, I, too, went to university in Ontario. I, too, filled out the tanking sheet. He describes my school and program kindly: There were several good ones and several better ones and a number of programs—like computer science at … Continue reading

notes from the scopes monkey trial

I really hope no one can take this guy seriously: Astrology would be considered a scientific theory if judged by the same criteria used by a well-known advocate of Intelligent Design to justify his claim that ID is science, a … Continue reading

vangroovy

Vancouver named ‘world’s best city’: For the fourth year in a row, Vancouver has claimed the top spot on an international ranking of the world’s most livable cities. Toronto is ranked 9th; Calgary is 10th; no American cities made the … Continue reading

the moron doesn’t fall far from the tree

“What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. And so many of the people in the arena were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.” —Barbara Bush on hurricane … Continue reading

religion makes you worse off

Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’: “In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion … Continue reading

belated katrina notes

some news of note: George Bush signed and executive order lifting wage restrictions and allowing government contractors rebuilding new orleans to pay workers less than the prevailing wage FEMA’s email server broke. New Orleans being underwater was preventable. Former FEMA … Continue reading

terrorism paranoia in the uk

some cops detained, arrested and released an innocent man on the tube because he was “suspicious”: The police decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going into a … Continue reading

bush a wimp on genocide

Nicholas D. Kristof calls George W. Bush “A Wimp on Genocide in Sunday’s New York Times: Mr. Bush’s position in the U.N. negotiations got little attention. But in effect the United States successfully blocked language in the declaration saying that … Continue reading

bicyclist charged with manslaughter

ouch.

Justice Denise Bellamy lays the smackdown

Jim Coyle writes in the Toronto Star about the toronto computer leasing scandal: The first volume of the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry report was called Facts and Findings. It was called this, presumably, because the title Lies and the Lying … Continue reading