By michael | Published:
20 November 2009
In the ‘whatever is begun in anger ends in shame’ department, Canada risks descending into pariah status with the latest revelations of complicity in torture in Afghanistan.
Posted in Canada, Peace |
By michael | Published:
16 November 2009
Hamilton proved not to be a hotbed of republican sentiment last week on November 9, 2009 when Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, visited Dundurn Castle.
By michael | Published:
9 November 2009
The fall of the Wall in 1989 was a joyous occasion for me. I lived in West Berlin in 1981-2 and understood the brutality, ugliness and the simple lack of convenience that the Wall brought to the great city of Berlin. The Wall was an interesting geo-political artifact of the Cold War but it was also very offensive, as walls that imprison populations tend to be.
By michael | Published:
4 November 2009
In Saturday’s’ Globe and Mail there was an interesting article by André Picard about the career of Dr. David Sackett, who pioneered the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM promotes the idea that rather than just relying on tradition or expert opinion in medical diagnosis, the proper approach is to find available evidence and then attempt to apply it. This idea seems to make great deal of sense.
By michael | Published:
30 October 2009
This year for Hallowe’en Ben decided to be a Pirate Pickle, while Liam went the Sesame Street route dressed as Elmo.
By michael | Published:
28 October 2009
The Aldi idea is that when shopping for groceries you don’t need to have the choice of dozens of similar goods; all you want is one quality product of at a reasonable price. As a result of this restriction of consumer choice Aldi can discount their prices (and reduce their costs) substantially.
By michael | Published:
28 October 2009
The McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) had its official opening on October 26, 2009. I took a tour with several others and found the experience enjoyable and interesting. MIP is a research park and technology transfer facility whose goal is to take technologies developed at McMaster University and transform them into viable businesses. MIP joins dozens of other university research parks in Canada.
Posted in Cities, Hamilton |
By michael | Published:
21 October 2009
The weekend of October 17-18, 2009 was the last weekend of Doors Open events in Ontario. The boys and I decided to visit the small town of Smithville, which is a small farming community on the upper plateau of the Niagara Escarpment, about 12 kilometers south of Grimsby. In Smithville among the open sites were the Smithville Train Station and the Smithville Presbyterian Church.
By michael | Published:
14 October 2009
To attract crowds to the Supercrawl (which it sounds like they were successful in doing) live music became the main attraction. Overall, this made it less of an art-focused event.
By michael | Published:
9 October 2009
People who are accosted to participate in an art happening during events like Nuit Blanche may be reluctant to do so unless they are assured of a few things: that they will not be too embarrassed by the experience, that they will probably have some fun, and that there is some tangible award for participating (although this reward need not be substantial).
