Vitreous Something One green eye followed my footsteps thru the parking lot. I caught it in a rusted hand, surprised by my blinking palm. plucked it dryly, placed it in the ashtray so I wouldn’t squish it on the steering wheel. It blinked disapproval at the music squirping from the speakers “You’re pretty, for an […] More »
We’ve been having a spot of trouble with the commenting system on the blog for the last few days; comments mysteriously changing which post they appear on; comments suddenly appearing on every post on the blog, stuff like that. The magazine and podcast comments work fine. It appears to be a problem with the comment […] More »
As the world prepares for H1N1’s much-touted fall resurgence, Dr. Bonnie Henry’s approachable, non-technical guide to flu preparedness fails to deliver on its promise, offering neither protection nor peace of mind. Readers in search of preventative measures won’t find much insight beyond the obvious: wash your hands. True to her title, Dr. Henry, the director […] More »
[Editor’s Note: Siena Anstis, who has served as our Africa correspondent on the blog over the past few months, is moving on to new projects. She’ll continue to contribute to the blog, but wanted to pass on some of the things she’s learned during her time working and reporting in Uganda, Kenya, and elsewhere for […] More »
If ever there was a conspiracy theory that had every likelihood of being true, it’s that a shadowy cabal of billionaires are meeting at some remote location in the Swiss Alps (perhaps the Hotel Mont Pelerin, or the latest Bilderberg stronghold) to plot how to most effectively screw the rest of the world. Michael Moore’s […] More »
60 Minutes aired this report last night on Bloom Energy, a California company officially launching this week that says it has perfected a fuel-cell technology that is capable of making the conventional energy grid obsolete and producing clean(er), cheap(er) power. I get the strong whiff of bullshit off this whole story, and yet there’s something […] More »
The Hub King’s Cross café in London is buzzing today with a new breed of tech geek: consumed not by robots or video games, but African development. This group, about 100-strong, are meeting at the tri-annual Africa Gathering event. And together, through what they call Information and Communication Technologies for Development, or the unwieldy acronym […] More »
In this edition of Listen to This, Nick Taylor-Vaisey talks with Glen Pearson, Liberal party critic on International Cooperation and MP for London North Centre. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, and with the deadline for withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan approaching, Pearson discusses the successes and failures of Canada’s international assistance efforts in […] More »
It makes for safer driving in Canada, but the price is high Wintertime in Canada is sure to mean roads covered in snow, ice and salt. Here’s a look at the country’s de-icer of choice— how it’s good, how it’s bad, and what can be used instead. Click below to see the PDF full-screen: In […] More »
In today’s Verbatim, we’ve got a transcript of my interview with Alisa Palmer, director of Cloud 9, currently playing in Toronto at the Panasonic Theatre. Cloud 9 is British playwright Caryl Churchill’s 1979 play that masks a scathing critique of English colonialist notions of sex, gender, and race beneath a fast-talking and often absurd family […] More »
The Claim Proponents believe that biochar—a fine charcoal produced when biomass is burned without oxygen—could dramatically cut our carbon emissions while improving soil productivity. The Investigation Here’s how it works: When organic matter decomposes, it releases carbon back into the atmosphere. This naturally occurring breakdown contributes a whopping 220 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide to the […] More »