Eventually the only source of humour that will be socially and politically correct will be bodily functions, spoonerisms and puns, and the sort of humour where people inadvertently slip on banana peels. And then the Cruelty to Foods that Used to be A…
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Sentencing for sexual abuse of children
R. v. Cloutier, 2011 ONCA 484 is a sad case of sexual abuse of children by a priest. The case deals mainly with appearance of fairness at trial but concludes with a useful statement of the law relating to sentencing in sexual abuse of ch…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Emergency Oil Reserves Tapped: Conservation Plan Gathers Dust
Last week a global oil emergency was declared and the response rolled out, but almost nobody noticed. The International Energy Agency (IEA) started tapping into member state’s emergency oil reserves, something that has only happened twice before. Whi…
Continue readingMSNBC suspends Mark Halperin over ‘dick’ comment
MSNBC proved that it is still amateur hour when it comes to cable news. The network is suspension city. In he past, it has suspended both Joe Scarborough (also involved with the Halperin incident), Keith Olbermann and Ed Shultz.No suspension was needed…
Continue readingPetraeus’s imaginary Taliban
In Nikolai Gogol’s novel Dead Souls, his protagonist Chichikov seeks to purchase serfs who have died but are still registered against their owners as taxable assets. By relieving the owners of the tax burden, Chichikov obtains ownership of the dead ser…
Continue readingThe Sensitivity Problem and the Social Sciences: Warn your students
This is a problem I am sure almost anyone who works with data runs into form time to time. It is also something we need to teach our students. Which I am sure we all do. This post is simply … Continue reading →
Continue readingBuckdog: Canada Day Long Weekend …
Hope you all get a chance to kick back and enjoy the first nice long weekend of the summer! Happy Canada Day canuks!
Continue readingThe Happy Wanderer: Republicans Unrealistic
You
think that the Republicans would be serious about reducing he deficit
that they should look at ways to reduce the deficit without hurting the
economy too bad. John Boehner is again sticking with the idea that as
long as millionaires …
The Disaffected Lib: Let’s Build a Fire Under Layton and Rae
In the course of Western civilization we have a rich history of blundering into emergencies unprepared, a history that teaches us the consequences of neglect are often horrendous. In most of these unfortunate situations we arrive at the moment of…
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Government of Canada Issues Statement Opposing the Alphabet
Or so I’m forced to conclude from this press release, in which new foreign affairs minister John Baird appears to express surprise and dismay at the “appointment” of North Korea to the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. Baird says Canada will “immediately review” whether to withdraw in protest from the Conference. Now, […]
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Full Dissent: When gay rights and religious rights collide
Canada’s National Post published a roundtable on Friday about when religious rights and the rights of sex and gender minorities collide, in the form of school board policies to protect and affirm LGBT kids. The roundtable focuses specifically one such policy being proposed in Edmonton by the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB), although this is on 
eaves.ca: Mind. Prepare to be blown away. Big Data, Wikipedia and Government.
Okay, super psyched about this. Back at the Strata Conference in Feb (in San Diego) I introduced my long time uber-quant friend and now Wikimedia Foundation data scientist Diederik Van Liere to fellow Gov2.0 thinker Nicholas Gruen (Chairman) and Anthony Goldbloom (Founder and CEO) of an awesome new company called Kaggle. As usually happens when […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On needless aggression
While I wrote today’s column before word came out about the Harper Cons’ meddling in the negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW, it looks like the Cons’ desire to provoke a war with workers extended even further than I’d thought – including through …
Continue readingLeDaro: AECL: Harper Government Sells to SNC-Lavalin
The gist of the story is that the seller – the Government of Canada – will pay $75 million to SNC-Lavalin for some new initiatives, and the buyer will write a cheque for only $15 million to buy AECL. That’s a great deal, eh. It does not end the…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Stove Man Turns up the Heat
Stoves can make a world of difference in places that rely extensively on old-school resource like wood and cow patties. Using an efficient stove can save trees from being felled and limit the amount of pollutants released during the cooking process.
Here’s episode one of Stove Man made by the Paradigm Project:
Episode 1: Woodwalk from The […]
Continue readingRedBedHead: Libyan Rebels Are NATO Patsies For A New Great Game In Africa
Today: UK PM Cameron with Mustafa Abdul Jalil,
head of rebel TNC & former Gaddafi Justice Minister
In the first days following the pro-democracy demonstrations and then uprising in Libya, it would have taken a hard heart indeed to not support t…
Continue readingThe Skinny: Google Canada from A to Z in English and French
Happy Canada Day tomorrow!From Google.ca auto-search, here is a list of all things Canadian that appear in the search bar when one types the first letter of each letter of the alphabet:In English:Air CanadaBest BuyCanadian TireDictionaryeBayFacebookGoo…
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Canada Day thoughts
Canada is a good place to be.
A client, quite seriously, asked me if I was afraid of what might happen in the Provincial election this fall. I replied that I was confident the Liberals would do well and went on about how the campaign hasn't reall…
Continue readingStupid Sex Tricks: You’ve heard of road turtles…
…but have you ever heard of AIRPORT turtles? Love is in the air at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. More than 150 turtles crossed over an active runway and disrupted air traffic on Wednesday so that they could continue their mating season. The diamondback terrapins were trying to get to an ideal […]
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