From the Guardian. I love this story about Denis Thatcher. One morning, he and his wife were flying to Scotland. The flight attendant asked what he would like to drink, and he said firmly: "A gin and tonic." "Isn’t it a bit early for a gin and tonic?" Mrs Thatcher inquired. "It is never too [...]
October, 2010:
The broadest boulevards this side of Paris
At least BHP has good taste in cities It says it would relocate the headquarters of the Potash division to Saskatoon, where its executives would live and raise their children. They could do worse — Saskatoon is a gracious and sophisticated city with the broadest boulevards this side of Paris, and the world-class University of [...]
What’s a Clean Hit?
Found in the Vikings locker room. Vikes punter Chris Kluwe tweeted the picture on Thursday night. The message is likely in response to a clip in the video of Seattle Seahawks punter (and Saskatchewan native) Jon Ryan getting flattened on a punt return. The hit was praised as clean. Also, while looking at Jon Ryan’s [...]
Degeneration of the Central Nervous System
This is from the New York Times Two months ago, Boston University researchers found that some deceased athletes who had been found to have A.L.S. in fact had a different disease that, the doctors said, caused similar degeneration of the central nervous system. That discovery, bolstered by data that suggested that N.F.L. players had been [...]
So much for the Chretien way in the United Kingdom
I know Canada had a slightly smaller deficit than the United Kingdom’s – It was 9.1% or 39bn Canadian dollars versus a U.K. deficit of 11.5% or £156bn but these cuts proposed by David Cameron are mind boggling. Look at these numbers During his address to MPs, it was clear that few government departments have [...]
The impact of gentrification on San Francisco
From a series of articles written in 1999 in the San Francisco Guardian LET’S SAY THE NEXT major earthquake that hits San Francisco is of roughly the same magnitude as the Loma Prieta quake of 1989, or maybe just a little bit stronger. Let’s say it wipes out roughly 1,000 houses and apartment buildings and [...]
Dam It Jim!
There are 2.5 million dams blocking U.S. rivers and streams and 85% of them are past their 50 year life expectancy. Popular Mechanics shows how the world’s biggest dam removal will return Washington’s Elwha River to its free-flowing state. In the fall of 2008, Lake Mills, the 415-acre reservoir above the Glines Canyon Dam, will [...]
Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore
How big of a problem is income inequality? According to Robert H. Frank, economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University it is a growing problem. The rich have been spending more simply because they have so much extra money. Their spending shifts the frame of reference that shapes the demands [...]
