I remember asbestos mines in the 60s and giant boilers in schools (!!) covered with the stuff! http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/130-years-canadian-asbestos-production-192622068.html MONTREAL – Canada‘s once-mighty asbestos sector has ground to a halt for the first time in 130 years, as production of the controversial fibre has stalled in both of the country‘s mines.
Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: Even Obama Knows The Military Are Toast
It’s possible that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military junta that has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last February, will regain the initiative but it will be very difficult. After months of whittling away at the momentum and morale of the revolutionary movement with arrests,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: NDP Leadership Quick Links
As promised, let’s take a quick run through plenty of material on the NDP’s leadership campaign… – Straight Goods has posted Ish Theilheimer’s interviews with each of the candidates. – I can only figure Justin Ling has been reading Future Babble and looking to Dan Gardner’s criticism of reckless pundits
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Rafe’s 80th Roast a Big Success!
Thank you to all those who helped make last night’s celebration of Rafe Mair’s 80th birthday a smashing success! A packed house at Vancouver’s Wise Hall was treated to entertaining and inspiring words from a wide range of speakers – each representing the different areas of Rafe’s long and storied
Continue readingcartoon life: The landscape exhibition #20
A silk road Filed under: art, design, digital, painting Tagged: art, collage, digital, iPad, landscape, painting
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: On Good Authority
I was quoted in the House of Commons question period yesterday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. “Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I know the NDP bandies about numbers with respect to jobs, so I thought I would seek some authority about their numbers. I went to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Occupy Movement: More Wisdom From Star Readers
I wrote the other day that I normally refrain from excerpting large chunks of text from other sources, but here I go again, this time a reproduction of letters from perceptive Toronto Star readers on why we should be thankful for the Occupy Movement. I was especially struck by B
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Holland in Montreal: A Woofnerf in St. Henri
Elin spent three years at The Hague, living just off a canal on a street that ended with -laan: neither she nor I can remember the complete name but the -laan referred to the canal. Then she moved to St. Henri, just off the Lachine canal, and I used to
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Friday Classical Music Interlude – Camille Saint-Saëns, Aquarium, from Carnival of the Animals
http://youtu.be/Y38d8MJUvq8 VII Aquarium Strings without double-bass, two pianos, flute, and glass harmonica: This is one of the more musically rich movements. The melody is played by the flute, backed by the strings, on top of tumultuous, glissando-like runs in the piano. The first piano plays a descending ten-on-one ostinato, in
Continue readingWho Knew it was legal to Camp at Best Buy
Ken Sander’s photo TreeHugger
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Kelly Block to Finally Reveal What Was Really Going on in Her Office
If only that were true. In December of 2010, a staffer in Kelly Block’s office, leaked details of a confidential pre-budget House Finance Committee report, to several key lobbyists. When caught, the Conservatives claimed that he was a “rogue” staffer and would be dealt with. Their modus operandi when caught
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Meeting Today
Today I’m meeting with my publicist and have a 3 page list of contacts gleaned from all the helpful suggestions and recommendations of people on my email address list who passed along suggestions. So a big shout out: THANK YOU! If anyone has any other promotion ideas or contacts for
Continue readingDon’t Mess up Like Texas – maybe too late?
We still have time to raise awareness on Bill C-10, the omnibus crime bill being rammed through the House of Commons by the Stephen Harper Conservatives. LeadNow.ca This would be funny if it weren’t so true. Crime rates at record low levels and a crazy government decides it needs to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The New Generation Gap
Yesterday, Elections Canada released a study on the problem of youthful apathy on voting day. The study suggests that “young Canadians don’t vote because politicians aren’t able to connect to the issues that matter to them.” That conclusion isn’t all that surprising. But when you dig down into the numbers,
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Lawsuit headed to Supreme Court over judge’s "plagiarism"
This is a very weird story. Lawyers want judges to copy their submissions — indeed, the main reason to give submissions electronically is to encourage judges to 'cut and paste'. It is common enough for judges to adopt the submissions of one side or another — that doesn't mean the
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 140 Law: Legal Headlines for November 25, 2011
It’s Black Friday in America, as we wish our American readers a happy Thanksgiving weekend, our busy week of tweets and headlines is almost at an end. I’ll be blogging ‘n tweeting from a super-secret remote location next week (with very unreliable internet access, I’m told), so time will tell
Continue readingeaves.ca: Statistics Canada Data to become OpenData – Background, Winners and Next Steps
As some of you learned last night, Embassy Magazine broke the story that all of Statistics Canada’s online data will not only be made free, but released under the Government of Canada’s Open Data License Agreement (updated and reviewed earlier this week) that allows for commercial re-use. This decision has
Continue readingTrashy's World: Friday miscellany…
… double-decker edition… Saw this piece by Lawrence Martin on a possible run by Dalton McGuinty for the leadership of the federal Grits. Interesting. Personally, I’d like to see his brother David take a run at it. David is a fine MP and has a keen sense of politics. We’ll
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