Education disadvantage
If a cash-strapped province or state had to make painful cuts to public services, the immediately noticeable effect would be the outright elimination of some of them. One would not…
Miscellaneous
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was…
Predictions for 2012
The end of the year is finally upon us, and an appropriate post must accompany it. Memes are lame, which is why I never rarely do them. Thus, I am…
Can you share this ?
Dear Massimo, Here is how the Wikipedia fundraiser works: Every year we raise just the funds that we need, and then we stop. Because you and so many other Wikipedia…
On the road again
A long and tiring term is coming to a close. Time to celebrate the holidays, then head out to Vancouver for a few days, to end 2011, and then it…
Copying time
I got the idea for this (silly) blog post from my primary, inexhaustible source of inspiration, but I swear, I have been thinking about doing a blog post on handwriting…
Tough acts to follow
This week has marked the untimely departure of two charismatic leaders from the helm of two very different organizations. Canada’s New Democratic Party Jack Layton succumbed to cancer, shortly after…
Eat less, exercise more… or, less ?
Like many adults in my age range (late 40s), I have observed over the past decade my weight progressively creep up, much to my great joy and satisfaction (tongue firmly…
Time for a change ?
It is a warm mid-Summer weekend. Instead of relaxing and enjoying the outdoors, the fresh air, the company of friends, the ferocious northern mosquitoes and all the joys that the…
On being anal
It took me a while to come to the realization that I need to vent over this subject right here, on my blog, no matter how petty, ridiculous and irrelevant…
Does not get much sillier than this…
… aka, the xkcd wikipedia meme All right, it has been a while since last time I did this kind of stuff. I saw it at VWXYNOT? (where else, eh…
Free agent professor
If you’re a college or university teacher, whom do you work for ?” Thus begins Stanley Fish‘s latest New York Times editorial on the subject of academia. Here are a…
iPad on the road
In a recent post, I stated my intent of purchasing an iPad2 as soon as it would become available in Canada, and expounded why I deem it as the optimal…
The face of a nation
This editorial cartoon, published on the Canadian National Post of May 18 2011, has prompted the Italian ambassador to Canada to write a letter to the newspaper, stating his displeasure…
Dissecting the 2011 vote
Having reaffirmed once again my inability at making accurate predictions, I am going to offer now my very personal reading of the results of the general election held in Canada…
Another election prediction
“Good predictions are only made by luck” (anonymous… nah, it’s me) You would think that, given my ability at guessing the outcome of elections, I would have given up by…
Dear flight attendant
… or airline employee standing behind your airline’s counter at the gate, or customer service desk, or checking in my luggage and issuing my boarding card(s), or talking to me…
The mantra of flexibility
In the Italy where I grew up (in the 70s and 80s), most jobs were for life. Most workers, not just government or state ones but also those employed in…
Roll Up the Rim Stats 2011
It's time for the fifth annual tracking of my Roll Up the Rim statistics. I'll update this post as my consumption totals rise up. As always, I record three statistics.…