I’ve taken a break from this website for now, but stay tuned for more content in the future. In the meantime, you can keep in touch by… Read more “Stay Tuned!”
Continue readingTag: Miscellaneous
Maple-Flavoured Politics: Thomas Mulcair: Should he be interim NDP leader?
In the past couple of days I’ve read a few tweets and quotes in articles from people suggesting that it would be inappropriate for Thomas Mulcair to remain as interim leader of the NDP after his failure in the leadership review vote at the NDP co…
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: Joy of Victory; Disappointment of Defeat
I’m a member, donor and supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada and I’m on the board of the local Liberal riding association. I also volunteered many hours of grunt work to the election campaign of the Toronto Centre (my home riding) Liberal candidate, Bill Morneau. I didn’t put in
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: The Alberta Election’s Federal Implications
As I look at my Twitter feed today, May 6, 2015, the day after the Alberta provincial election, I see that some federal Conservatives are saying that the results of the Alberta election don’t worry them. I’m not surprised they are saying that. After all, it is literally the politically
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: It Begins With Words
After his March 9, 2015 speech in Toronto to the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Justin Trudeau took a lot of flack for his reference to the Komagata Maru, the St. Louis and “none is too many.” In the course of the 40-minute speech, he spoke expansively about
Continue readingChristmas Card 2014
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Continue readingExponential Book: Don’t mix me with them!
In these two videos [1,2], prominent non-believers [1] Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sam Harris reject the denomination “atheist” as not only inaccurately portraying their views on the (non) existence of God, but also, according to them, of little content or use, and even potentially pernicious. The Oxford Dictionary defines Atheism
Continue readingExponential Book: Absence of evidence and evidence of absence
It has been a while since my last blog post (yes, I love euphemisms). I have not been writing for the simple reason that I ran out of things to say, a fate that I am told few, very few amateur bloggers escape. So, what am I doing here now? Well, I have
Continue readingFalse positive: private profit in Canada's health care: “There should be a law”: One Patient Pays $ 13,245.85 in Drug Dispensing Fees
I work in an addiction treatment clinic. Some days I think there is little that would shock me, but then there is always the pharmacy industry. Recently we had a patient transfer to our clinic. Unlike most of our patients he was a “private pay” patient with insurance. Also, unlike most
Continue readingUPDATED: Mini Metro High Score
Mini Metro by Dinosaur Polo Club High Score Saturday 3 May, 2014 2000 Riders Delivered 7 Lines 5 Tunnels 1 Increased Capacity Line 3 Double Rail Lines Previous High Score Friday 2 May, 2014 1305 Riders Delivered 5 Lines 2 Loops 3 Tunnels 2 Double Capacity Trains 1 Triple Capacity
Continue reading10 Things You Didn’t Know About Aaron Manton
Aaron’s parents gave him his grandmother’s Chevrolet Lumina at age 16. At age 17, he sold that car and purchased a banjo. Aaron’s first act of political volunteerism was at age ten, when he wrote “Kids for Dalton because Dalton is for Education” on the sidewalks in his neighbourhood in
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Whose death would stun the Western World?
A month ago I asked readers What is the most misunderstood idea of all time? My next big (slightly morbid) question is Whose death would stun the Western World? A few years ago when Michael Jackson unexpectedly died, it felt like the world sort of skipped a few beats. I
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: ACN Inc Recruiting Hard in Kelowna: Do YOUR Research
ACN, a multilevel marketing (aka, pyramid) organization recruiting in Kelowna, across Canada, the US, and around the world. ACN – American Communications Network – is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company dealing in telecommunications technology and plans, television, energy, and other services. As per Wikipedia, Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a marketing
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Reasons I hate hockey
Aesthetics. What is beautiful? What defines beauty, quality and goodness? What distinguishes different levels of quality? For example, why are Oasis’ Wonderwall or Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit iconic songs of an era, whereas Swirl 360′s Hey Now Now fell out of our collective consciousness in months? These questions teeter
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Are depression and schizophrenia the same?
No. They’re not. But would this post have received as many views and thoughtful comments had I gone with a more sober title like “Affective and Hallucinatory Disorders of the Mind – Do They Have More In Common Than Most Think?”… In any case, now that I’ve got your attention
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: 75,000 Page Views
So there’s that..
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: About Death By Trolley
Well hello, there! Have you been waiting long? No? Good. Please, do come inside. (Pro-Tip: Given that this is the blog of a Canadian, social etiquette dictates that you remove your shoes upon entering.) Welcome to Death By Trolley! You’ve entered an oddly though explicably named corner of the Internet
Continue readingFalse positive: private profit in Canada's health care: Canada Health Act used in Zombie Defence of For-Profit Health Care
Andrew Duffy, in an article syndicated by Postmedia, made the logical equivalent of mixing metaphors when he used the Canada Health Act (CHA) to legitimize the use of private clinics. The result, as with mixed metaphors, is a “head-scratching” argument in favour of Centric’s takeover of the Shouldice Clinic. Duffy
Continue readingExponential Book: Mountain Lion and stuff
Between work and home I own eight Apple computers — four iMacs, two MacBook Air, two Mac Pro. So, like any respectable user, I promptly upgraded the operating system to the new version, OS 10.8 (aka Mountain Lion), which has now been available for a few weeks. Around this time
Continue readingExponential Book: Mend it, don’t end it (email, that is)
I blissfully went through the first half of my life without electronic mail, and yet I cannot imagine living without it now. There are specific tasks for which mail (narrowly defined here as the transmission of text written by the sender, to one or more recipients) is simply irreplaceable. People
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