After reading that the Park Cafe and Diner was listed as one of the 52 things that makes Saskatoon great, Wendy, Oliver, and two co-workers walked down to check it out for lunch today. I was late so Wendy ordered me a mushroom burger and fries and our table had two other burgers and two [...]
March, 2011:
Building the University of Saskatchewan
I have mentioned this site several times to people lately and I thought I would post it here. Since I have called for Saskatoon agencies to release their archives, I thought I would give some credit to the University of Saskatchewan has done a fantastic job of putting some of their historical archives online especially [...]
The challenges of remaking a city
With apologies to Eminem, this story about urban reengineering of Detroit shows how hard it is to remake a struggling city. Mayor Dave Bing wants to save Detroit by persuading residents to leave their homes for better neighborhoods, but the city has struggled to accomplish the smallest of relocation projects — even when they involve [...]
Cracking Down on Croparazzi
You know, because the economy, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq weren’t important enough, a bill introduced by State Senator Jim Norman of Florida would make it a felony to take a picture of a farm without the owner’s permission: A person who photographs, video records or otherwise produces images or pictorial records, digital or otherwise, [...]
Jordonland: Established in 2011
There is a documentary on micronations by Jody Shapiro. Here is the interview in Mother Jones. MJ: In the film you say there are hundreds of micronations being formed, every year—what’s the average lifespan for these things? JS: It’s a loose term right now. It fits from anywhere from a kid in a parent’s basement, [...]
The New York Times paywall and the future of journalism
Good editorial in the New York Times about why the New York Times has been quiet about their coming paywall. In it there is this interesting tidbit: The stakes for The Times, which like other newspaper companies has seen major declines in print advertising revenues, are enormous. I asked Mr. Morton to rate, on a [...]
What are kids learning in college?
Not much according to Bob Hebert. A provocative new book, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” makes a strong case that for a large portion of the nation’s seemingly successful undergraduates the years in college barely improve their skills in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing. Intellectual effort and academic rigor, in the minds [...]
