Looking forward to 2015-18
Looking forward to 2015 and beyond, here are some of the things I would like to see Collingwood Council and the town staff accomplish in the upcoming term. I have…
August 2014
The Militarization of Police: But Why?
Since the beginning of the year, several stories in high-profile mainstream media publications have examined what some find to be the increasing militarization of police forces in North America. In…
"Anti-Semitic" troll on Common Dreams site turns out to be Jewish Harvard grad
The progressive news website Common Dreams offers stellar content on a regular basis. It has been fearless and honest in its coverage of Israel and in so doing has attracted…
Diamond’s Collapse
A while back, Mound suggested I read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and I finally got to it. It’s a fascinating read particularly for anyone interested in ancient civilizations. Diamond explores…
What Is the Meaning Of All This Chaos?
I am always amazed at how television pundits manage to call elections when just a fraction of cast votes have been counted. It’s always been a matter of considerable frustration…
Beyond Institutions Personal Learning in a Networked World
by Stephen Downes Introduction: What learners Need Sorry, I forgot to turn on the audio recording. That’s how you start a broadcast, with dead air. Thank you very much it’s…
When Overshoot Meets Inequality
Tuesday marked Earth Overshoot Day, 2014. August 19th was the day by which humankind had consumed an entire year’s production of renewable resources. Overall that means we’re using resources more…
This Is What Happens When You Run Out of Water.
Could you get by for three weeks with 12-gallons of water? That’s a smidge over 45-litres which works out to about 2 litres per day. In Porterville, California, the county…
Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – James Meek writes about the UK’s privatization scam, and how it’s resulted in citizens paying far more for the basic services which are…
We Need To Do What These Guys Are Doing
“These guys” are the Brits. What they’re doing is taking an inventory of their transportation infrastructure to assess its vulnerability to severe storm events caused by ‘early onset’ climate change.…
Finding Vivian Maier: A Documentary Recommendation
I feel like taking a break from writing about politics today, so I will briefly turn to another of my favorite topics, documentaries, two posts about which I have written…
The Relentless Advance of the Surveillance/Security State
I’m not sure how this can be abused but I expect clever minds will be exploiting it very soon. How about a smartphone app that allows cops to zero in…
libraries and ebooks: a good fit, but a very bad deal, or why library users should just say no to ebooks
Do you ever borrow ebooks from your public library? Do you have any idea how your library adds ebooks to its collection, or at what cost? The number of library…
Premier Wynne should not toy with Quebec.
It seemed an unfortunate heading given to a story in The Toronto Star the other day. The heading was “Wynne toys with buying more Quebec electricity.” The headline editor must…
Ditching It
http://herdingcats.typepad.com/ Stephen Harper spent the week wandering around the North, crowd testing his stump speech for the 2015 election. Chantal Hebert writes that, before decides to
Cartoonist compares mayor to Hitler, thinks battered women are funny
…that’s the Toronto Sun’s Andy Donato. Said David Miller was Hitler, thinks battering women like Kathleen Wynne is funny. He cartooned Yours Truly this fine morn, so someone decided to…
Stephen Harper’s Great Paranoid Tour of the North
Well it's hard to know what exactly Stephen Harper is doing up north. Whether he's there to make more promises he never keeps. Or hide from the media.Or warn us…
Tina Fontaine and the Utter Bestiality of Stephen Harper
They held a funeral service for Tina Fontaine yesterday and how sad it was was. "Our sweet girl is now reunited with her daddy and the angels," long-time family friend…