Art vs. Commerce

Commemorate the pie!

Props to Shakespeare Pies of Shakespeare, Ontario [map].

• U.S. Opposes U.N.'s Planned Rights Panel - "The reputation of the Geneva-based panel, which helped draft the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has recently been tainted by the frequent election of members with dismal human rights records, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe." [Washington Post]


• The Star has a Google Maps-ified traffic camera tool.


• Trucking industry split over speed-limiters - "Proponents say the move will help convince the public that the trucking industry has evolved beyond its devil-may-care reputation." [National Post]


• "Kofi Annan and dozens of government ministers were meeting [in Paris] to discuss France's once-ridiculed call for an international [airline] tax to fight poverty and disease in the developing world." [AP/China Post]

• "While it is certainly sad to see a horse and police officer injured in such a way, what seems to be missing from any of this discussion is why the hell Toronto police are still using horses." [Spacing]


• Quebec's LCBO-esque SAQ caught up in pricing scandal [Canada.com, CBC]

Yawning or snarling? Or what?

Apples Make Us Happy,
originally uploaded by TheGiantVermin.

I have no explanation for this photo. Maybe it was the awesome power of Corwin's fully operational iBook.

500th post!

• NDP names shadow cabinet.


• Rothstein to replace Major on the Supreme Court of Canada [Globe and Mail]


• Google Page Creator, yo. [via MeFi, Waxy]

Strangest. Email. Ever.

Call out Gouranga be happy!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga
That which brings the highest happiness...
 

• NOW says BENCHmark is neat, and I agree [via Spacing]


• Headed out cycling along Bloor? Take the Tooker (yes, that Tooker). [via Torontoist]


• Home-made book scanner (mostly) built from junk - "The lesson of this story is that LEGO is great." [via Gizmodo]


• Stage actor sees similarities playing both Gollum and former NDP leader [Canada.com]


• CD Howe report calls for per-student funding, deregulated tution, vouchers, end of PSE as we know it [PDF]


• Court gives TTC St. Clair green light - "The judges ruled yesterday that the project should be allowed under the new planning rules, which were ordered into effect in late January by the Ontario Municipal Board, not the long-dated Metroplan in place when the project was born." [Globe and Mail]

Get your health on

• "Best buy" migraine meds? [Consumer Reports Medical Guide]


• GlaxoSmithKline licenses out migraine drug after Italian antitrust probe [Forbes]


• Migraine sufferers seek alternative to prescription relief [Asbury Park Press]


• Heart disease risks common in migraine sufferers [INN, Neurology]


• Academic perfectionists more prone to depresion [York University]


• Migraine and cognitive function: some reassuring news [Neurology]

Branching out, yet again

I've started a(nother) separate blog, called Tenant City, to track news and stats related to tenants' rights and rental housing policy in Toronto.

Not the most creative name, I know, but for now it will basically be a scrapbook of newspaper articles cross-linked to relevant web resources (with the occasional graph thrown in for good measure).

This post about the 10% jump in eviction applications by landlords to the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal is a good example of the standard I'm aiming for.

Whee!

Tags: Tenant, Toronto, Affordable housing.

• How did the "penthouse" of an apartment building get its name? [Ask Yahoo!]


• Harris, at Ipperwash inquiry: I wouldn't change a thing [Toronto Star]


• Tory's Tories promise they'll settle on some sort of private schools policy, one way or the other... eventually. Before the election. For sure. [Globe and Mail]

• White ninja is interrupted by Charity


• This book scanner is hawt [via Gizmodo]


• Record sales of sleeping pills causing worries - "[Experts] fear doctors may be ignoring other conditions, like depression, that might be the cause of sleeplessness." [New York Times]


• Sweatshops: another day, another dollar [Bustedtees]

Get rich rid quick

Giving stuff away is fun (especially when it's to make room for fancy new things).

Being in a reasonably large city, and thanks to craigslist, it only took just 12 minutes for a taker to contact me.

For low-value items, I say: "screw eBay!" It's much simpler (and quicker) to give crap away.

• Oh, craigslist: sweet domesticated squirrel needs new home.

• Canada's beer trade: a swing to imported brands [StatsCan]


• UN report calls Gitmo a torture camp - "'We categorically object to most of the unedited report's content and conclusions as largely without merit and not based clearly in the facts,' [US Ambassador] Moley wrote in a response." [Scotsman, Guardian, Washington Post]


• 20 Ideas for a great podcast [via Lifehacker]


• White snow, brown rage: the racial case against the winter games - "Deep in my heart, I hungered for a mahogany man-killer who would avenge me on the slopes and forever banish my Winter Olympics-induced shame." [Slate]


• In addition to an online collection of eBooks, the Toronto Public Libarary also lends Rocket eBook readers at 6 of its 99 branches.


• The Coffee Trail - "Until recently, the only people who would have negotiated this path were stoic farmers in rubber boots, bedraggled army patrols or the occasional band of Marxist guerrillas." [New York Times]

Until February 28th, Ikea's Vaughan location will give you $20 off purchases of $150 or more (~13% off) if you show them your YRT/Viva monthly transit pass. Attempting to hump that much Ikea stuff home with you may be a challenge, but I'm sure you're up to it.

My Metropass, on the other hand, merits bupkis in terms of discounts (though the free shuttle bus from Leslie subway station to the North York Ikea is still handy).

Tags: Ikea, York Region Transit, Discount.

• Tibet envoys 'in China for talks' - "[China] fears the death of the 70-year-old spiritual leader in exile could create a rallying point for Tibetans unhappy with Chinese rule..." [BBC]


• BC eyes mixed health care - "Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberals pledged to update the Canada Health Act on their own, if necessary." Emphasis mine... utter confusion also mine. [National Post]


• Bolivia's Morales keeps union job - "the move could be unconstitutional..." [BBC]

• Amazon has readability stats and tag cloud-esque concordances (like this one) for some books. The book nerd in me really digs this stuff.


• Cheney Hunts Quail, Everyone Else Ducks - "Mr Cheney came close to eliminating a leading Republican Party donor and Bush Administration supporter..." [Sydney Morning Herald]


• Google Book Search and the Public Good [Google Video]


• Hargrove unrepentant after NDP suspension - "I never did hug Paul Martin. Paul Martin hugged me." [Globe and Mail]

• Coffee and Aluminum: Icons of Modernity [INeedCoffee]


• If Canadians Ruled the Earth [Worth1000 via bOINGbOING]

• Recall David Emerson?


• Hang the MC: Blaming Hip-hop for Violence - "Here in the Ricoh Coliseum — a soulless, converted hockey rink near Lake Ontario — for tonight only, violence is fantasy, belligerence a business plan." [CBC]


• Songbird vs. iTunes - fight! [via bOINGbOING]


• Spacing has good linkage on the now-certain TTC fare hike.

• I Am But A Vessel Through Which God Drones On Indefinitely - "It is my God's infinite tedium, not mine, that I strive to share with you." [The Onion]


• Tory MPs riled by Harper's outsiders - "This is shocking. It's just unbelievable... We campaigned against this kind of stuff." [Globe and Mail]


• U.S. war dodgers fight to stay in Canada - "Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board denied asylum to both, refusing to acknowledge either one as a so-called conscientious objector because they didn't consider themselves pacifists..." [Toronto Star]

• "There is a large increase in neural activity in the amygdala when the dinosaur crushes the caveman." [Edge.org via bOINGbOING]


• "One day, two flip flops." Day one, too. Harper's off to a good start. [Torontoist, CBC]


• "It still boggles my mind that people see this kind of development as a step towards a 'world class city.'"[Spacing]

• Getcher Gomery Report while it's hot.


• This thing is pretty sweet [Gizmodo, Primo Tech]


• EFF sues AT&T over NSA wiretaps [Wired, EFF]