On voting day, Oct. 24, Collingwood’s online voting system suffered serious problems that prevented residents from voting. This happened not once, but twice in the same day. Voting had been open online and via paper ballot (at the library) since Oct. 3, but apparently many people decided to wait until
Continue readingTag: communication
Scripturient: Heritage District Rules Need Repair
A November story in CollingwoodToday about a new homeowner who got caught in the quagmire of our heritage district rules underscores the need for a thorough overhaul of the rules, a review of how the district is managed, and serious improvements in how the town and the heritage committee communicate information about the zone
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Video Calls: Communication In A Hyper-Connected & Deeply Dissociated Society
Thoughtful commentators to the Smithsonian and BBC recently “recommended limiting video calls to only those that are necessary. Petriglieri adds that positioning the video screen to your side may make it feel like you’re in a nearby room instead of under scrutiny. University of Québec psychologist Claude Normand tells National
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Rules For Good Communication – Both In Writing, and Verbally, and In The Arts (Along with core points on the philosophy of language, knowledge, perception, consciousness, ontology and epistemology, and the nature of being and reality – and lessons on how not to be long-winded!)
Here are a few thoughts on writing and verbal communication, and all forms of communication. As an author, writer, reader, lover of books, and philosopher, I believe I have some potentially helpful thoughts to share on the subject, though my own communications are not without faults themselves. I am no
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We can do that ourselves, thank you.
This ongoing concern for foreign countries interfering with our federal election is more of a joke than a threat. It is not that it could not happen, but why bother? What would be the mythical country’s objective? Why would they, for example, prefer one of our leaders over another? This
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Can We, Should We, Will We Live Forever Online
When typing for this blog I have often wished I could just think my thoughts at the computer and have them type out on the screen. This, no doubt, has much to do with the fact I am a one finger hunt and peck typist (having been streamed into drafting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lies, hyperbole and alt truths.
What has happened to politics? And what has happened to the decency that it used to have? We all know that U.S. president Donald Trump creates his own truths but we also know that he is not really a politician. He does not know any better. Justin Trudeau knows better.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump can: You can’t.
Social media are a trap just waiting for the unwary politician. While I have tested some of the major social media apps, I try to stay away from them like the plague. They are not mainstream. They are not only overrated but they are for people who need to get
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pushing mediocrity to prove what?
If I learned one thing as a political organizer of many years, it is that you never leave the smallest detail to chance. The same rule applied in business when I had computer programmers reporting to me. I never let a program be released until it had been given a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “You don’t say, Mr. Spicer!”
On the wall above our computer is an old framed black and white Frank & Ernest cartoon with four characters in the wigs and knee-britches of the colonial period. One of the gentlemen, who does not look like George Washington is saying: “’Cannot tell a lie,’ eh? … In that
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 3 Things I’ve Learned as a Law Clerk
BY RACHEL SPENCE, LAW CLERK Upon entering the legal field I was excited and eager to see if I had what it took to keep up in the real world, outside of school. I had been warned by other graduates that there was always a learning curve when starting, which
Continue readingThings Are Good: Email, Productivity, And How You Feel
Dealing with an endless stream of emails is challenge in any office environment – even just socially it can be rather taxing. The solution to email always seems to be just around the corner with a new startup from Silicon Valley appearing every year to “save” us from email. Here’s an idea it’s not that […]
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Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: GMOs and politicians: how do we know what is true or not?
I had a really good facebook conversation yesterday, in a public page about politics. The topic was one GMOs and I was taking a position that would have been inconceivable to me several years ago. I was arguing against mandatory labelling of GMOs. Someone else made a really good comment
Continue readingScripturient: Propaganda?
Last term, when council sent out community newsletters to keep residents informed, the illiterati screamed these were ‘propaganda’ and a waste of tax dollars.* Now this council has done the same thing and these nattering nabobs of negativity have raised their voices and screamed… nothing. Their silence is deafening. Well, they wouldn’t
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: That pre-writ lit.
Part 2 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. There are many arguments about the literature required by candidates in the pre-writ period (the time between being chosen as the candidate and the election call being official). If the Prime Minister decides to wait for the chosen date of October
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Emotional Intelligence? Can you tell the expression just by their eyes? QUIZ!
It is remarkable how humans can understand emotions. Many of you know that the way to tell a person’s emotions is within their eyes. Forget the smile on their face- […]
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Decline in Media Credibility and Profitability
Last August the Pew research Center released the results of its latest study on how much the American public trusts the media. This has been part of an ongoing study since at least 2002, and ever since the first report, … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: But is it news?
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford seems to get more than his fair share of headlines these days, most of them negative. The stories that follow are full of allegation, innuendo and “unnamed sources.” Gripping tabloid stuff. Real time soap opera. But … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics Canada: Why Justin Trudeau can not ‘stay positive’
In the world of politics the fight can really only stay as clean as your dirtiest player and the Conservative Party of Canada could not be a dirtier player. They are the textbook example of Karl Rove’s warped, cynical play-book. The latest attack ads against Justin Trudeau demonstrate how low they
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Deafness, speech and the Performance of Gender
Deafness, speech and the Performance of Gender This weekend I had the privilege of participating in a conference on Disability and Ableism at Ryerson University. Let me just say first that it is an incredible feeling to be among people fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). To see them speak
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