(CROSSPOSTED TO PROPELLER) Taking a spin through some of my favourite blogs recently in order to get propeller‘s blogroll up to date, I came across Double Plus Ungood’s faux-prickly post about Macs, which links to a pointed Guardian rant on the same topic. Essentially, the argument is that Macs are nothing more than toys for […] More »

The cult cartoon tv series “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” had a bit of recent trouble with their latest promotional campaign. But only in Boston. After attaching the 1 foot tall promotional blinking lite-brite displays throughout 10 major US cities, including post 9-11 New York City, almost 2-3 weeks prior, no municipality was flustered except Boston. […] More »

I understand that the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie has gained some notoriety since its debut, but is it really that offensive? The filters in charge of web content in the United Arab Emirates seem to think so. Last night I got an e-mail from a Canadian who lives in Dubai and tried […] More »

Last month I posted about the net neutrality fight in the U.S., and noted in an update that Canadians couldn’t sign the petition set up by the Save The Internet campaign urging the U.S. Congress to legislate against a two-tiered Internet. Since then The Tyee has picked up on this blind spot north of the […] More »

Good editorial in the Toronto Star today about a proposal to ban panhandling in Toronto. It calls the proposal “ill-conceived…on several fronts.” Which it is, really. Personally, I don’t get the logic behind such a ban. Yes, panhandlers make tourists uncomfortable and citizens feel guilty. But what’s the point of fining people who have no […] More »

CBC.ca is reporting that Scotiabank will not be following the lead of the apparently powerless Royal Bank in denying US dollar bank accounts to dual citizens of Canada and a bunch of nations the US does not like. Canadian citizens who also hold passports for Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and Cuba may not […] More »

I’m a little late getting to this, but a BBC blog called Magazine Monitor released a fascinating list at the end of last year: 100 things we didn’t know last year. Among my favourite tidbits, all of which are certainly worthy of their own entry: 3. Urban birds have developed a short, fast “rap style” […] More »

Judging by my own and my friends’ reaction to every new album, I am Sarah Harmer’s core audience demographic. I pay to download her music. I buy her CDs as gifts for friends. I have attempted to fit one of her rare live TO performances into my very busy life. I quote her lyrics in […] More »

After years of planning and much anticipation, 2007 looks to be the year the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project begins distributing its ground-breaking, $100 portable computers to children in developing countries. A spinoff of MIT labs founded by Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC aims to give the world’s poorest children access to a valuable learning tool […] More »

From today’s New York Times — what if WalMart forced Americans to drastically reduce their energy consumption? Would we like the megacorp a little bit more than we currently do? Even just a little bit? WalMart Pushes Energy Efficient Light Bulbs on a Reluctant Population More »

From Wednesday’s Toronto Star story, “Tories admit breaking rules”: The party has also been forced to send belated 2005 tax receipts to some 3,000 delegates who attended the convention, with instructions on the complicated process required to retroactively claim the tax credit. Oh, sweet karma! The 3,000 Canadians who most hate taxes are forced to […] More »