May 2013
2 posts
Israel Says Google Recognizing Palestine Hurts... →
I find stories like this frustrating. Despite the power it wields, Google is still not a nation. It is a company that endeavours to make as much money as possible.
So, by changing the website through which is makes money from Palestinians, isn’t safe to assume that the decision has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with appealing to that site’s customers?
Put another...
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April 2013
4 posts
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February 2013
1 post
World Wildlife Federation turns to drones in bid... →
via Ars Technica by James Holloway on February 22, 2013 at 12:10PM
January 2013
2 posts
Domestic cats are destroying the planet →
via io9 by Annalee Newitz on January 29, 2013 at 12:25PM
The Blogger Abides: Words and Phrases I’ve... →
via mental_floss by Chris Higgins on January 02, 2013 at 12:10PM
December 2012
9 posts
WatchA performance from the fall, also at the El Mocambo, with League of Rock band “Uppa Creek”, featuring John Hooke on guitar, Bill Baldassi on drums, Rob Gray on keys, and our lead singer, Val Stagg.
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WatchMy most recent League of Rock performance, with “Ivan and the Lackeys” at the El Mocambo! Featured were Alan Atkinson and Kenn Moyer on guitar, Ivan Luxenberg on drums, and singer Marc Aniballi.
May 2012
1 post
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WatchHere I am playing with “Hairball” this April at the League of Rock Winter 2012 final showcase.
February 2012
1 post
The Weirdest Unsolved Mysteries of World War II...
World War II was a period of dramatic change across the globe. But along with all the political machinations and military strategies, some seriously bizarre stuff happened. Here are five of the most mysterious incidents from World War II. The Baffling Battle of Los Angeles A few months after Pearl Harbor, America was pretty on-edge, especially along the west coast. Everyone was...
November 2011
1 post
M Thru F: Halloween isn’t Even Cold to the Touch... →
October 2011
1 post
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Blair "cuts" police budget →
To start, let me say that I really don’t have any issues with the Toronto Police Service (TPS) or with Chief Bill Blair. That’s not to say that I don’t think that TPS is the most efficiently run city service or that Blair has been perfect since taking over as Chief, but I think he’s done a better job of running TPS than did superstar Julian Fantino and he certainly took it...
August 2011
7 posts
July 2011
3 posts
5 tags
The case against data
I love data. Somewhere in my past as a poetry-writing football player, a Master of letters, a soul-sucking advertiser, and a creator of web pages, I missed my calling as a bean counter. I get it honestly—my Dad has “mad skills” in math, my sister has managed multi-million dollar companies, and my brother grew up planning to be an accountant until he, too, got distracted by the arts.
...
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
3 posts
March 2011
1 post
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Was God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible? →
So, if God has a wife and Jesus is both God and God’s son, does that mean that God is a hillbilly?
February 2011
2 posts
No one is entitled to all the wealth →
Having just spent the past two days at provincial council, I find my drive to get behind the NDP renewed and when I read and watch stories like the one linked above, I know why. I believe in a Canada that benefits Canadians. Not for some abstractly patriotic reason, though. No, my reason is that I believe we have a duty to the other members of our community, whether that community is our street,...
Confession app creating "neurotic" gays →
When I first heard about the Catholic-church endorsed Confession app, I passed it off as another lame attempt at relevancy in a modern age, much like Kirk Cameron’s post Growing Pains film career and the recent tendency toward beatification of someone for having a really good shit after eating cheese. But it turns out this little app could actually be capable, according to LGBT rights...
January 2011
2 posts
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Parliamentary planning →
So, explain to me why it is now a matter of Cabinet confidence how our federal government plans to spend our tax dollars. Moreover, how is it okay that federal departments are able to simply ignore requests for information issued by independent internal auditor Kevin Page?
These are just a couple of the questions left unaswered by the link above, which begs another question of the CBC:...
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December 2010
1 post
My challenge to Toronto →
Rob Ford has already cost Toronto hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. Not bad for one day’s work.
I’d guarantee that if you asked Torontonians why they voted for Rob Ford they’d say something like “Stop the Gravy Train” or “Respect for Taxpayers”. And, if you asked them what they meant by that, they’d almost certainly say...
It's hard to be a blogger
Too ambitious. It’s on that I’m blaming my lack of updating this blog. I keep having (and even starting) great ideas for posts, but they never see the light of day because they’re too ambitious. So, I’m going to take a step back and try to be more off the cuff.
To start, let’s talk about Rob Ford. Specifically, his plan to cancel Transit City, a plan that will cost...
October 2010
1 post
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Better late than never?
Turned out I was busier last week than I expected to be, plus I got a little distracted this weekend by life, so this post is coming out later than I’d planned. Still, it’s here and that’s what matters, right? Right? Hello…? But that’s not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is the recent pattern of failure we see from demonstrable political action. I think...
September 2010
1 post
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And another thing...
Ladies and gentlemen of the audience,
(… at least, those few of you still with me.)
Allow me to inform you that, in one week’s time, I shall be returning from my prolonged hiatus to rant and rave once again about any number of topics and situations. How about some upcoming post titles to whet your appetite?
Really, Toronto? Rob Fucking Ford?
…And I for one welcome our new...
May 2010
2 posts
Filming Transformers 3 Being Filmed Violates... →
Tell me this isn’t copyright run amok! How can something not yet published be subject to copyright? If anyone can explain that one to me, I’d really like to hear it.
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“(Female) Conservative Senator warns Women’s groups to “Shut the Fuck...”
– (via @newtypography via @katanma on Twitter)
Ah, democracy in action!
I’m not sure what aspect of this makes me more frightened, ashamed, and horrified about the current government in Canada. There’s the fact that they have suddenly taken this socially conservative stance that we...
March 2010
6 posts
4 tags
Don't mess with Texas. But, history? That you can... →
The idea that a few gun-toting, Reagan-loving, conservative nut-jobs can dictate the narrative being taught in high school history classes in the U.S. scares the hell out of me. Anyone who paid attention in history class knows that historical narratives are, by the nature of being written by people, biased and unreliable. The victors write the history and all that.
The fact is that this example...
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President Obama Discusses Three Strikes... →
If you have an opinion of free speech, copyright, and an open internet, the time for action is now.
As we all know, thanks to Michael Geist, the ACTA Treaty, being negotiated in secret by representatives of many governments, will institute a three-strike model for dealing with internet piracy. This model will make internet service providers responsible for the use of their networks, requiring...
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Lesbian panic shuts down Mississippi high-school... →
I’m really tired, in 2010, of reading about ignorant reactions to homosexuality. I keep seeing stories similar to the one linked above - stories about stupid, small-minded decisions being made because a person tried to exercise their fundamental right to exist. Even if one believes that God cares about with whom a particular person sleeps, who does it hurt if that that particular person...
