Slabs on side of new building are part of government’s radical new policy on crime
Harry Shannon
People passing by the new Toronto Courthouse in downtown Toronto have been puzzled by the slabs extending from the east side of the building (shown in the photo). ProbablyMaybe can now reveal their purpose. They are an integral part of …
Category: Humour
Failure to sample can be dangerous to your health
Harry Shannon
Background: Municipalities in Ontario held elections last week. A couple of days before, the Hamilton Spectator published a letter complaining that an opinion poll reporting on the race for Mayor was useless. I responded and the letter was in the print edition a few days later. Below is the letter I sent; there were some minor edi…
News Flash: Bank call centre tells truth
Harry Shannon
We’ve all heard it far too many times: “Your call is important to us.” Indeed, that’s the name of a book by Laura Penny. Most, if not all, of us probably view that in the manner of the book’s subtitle, “The truth about bullshit.”
So I was surprised when I phoned the CIBC Visa call centre (CIBC is one of the bigges…
Giving “ZAP” a whole new meaning …
Harry Shannon
…but not intentionally.
I get regular email updates on COVID-19 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. This is part of the latest one.
Spot the typo.
…
“I’d do anything for my kids” … except leave them a world they can live in
Harry Shannon
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted in a press
conference today that he won’t change his government’s climate policy. “We mine and export coal, and burn it here to
produce electricity. It’s just too
important for the economy not to do it,” he said.
When reporters asked him about the future fo…
Who likes Poutine?
Harry Shannon
In the Anglo-Saxon world, the President of Russia’s name is spelled Vladimir Putin. So I was surprised to see how the French write his surname. The picture is a still from the CBC’s nightly news show ‘The National’ on 29 December.
Here’s an idea for Margaret Atwood. Her book this year, ‘The Testaments,’ …
The inefficiency of the private sector
Harry Shannon
A few years ago, my wife and I spent nine months in the
UK. Before we came from Canada, we had
to start a bank account to transfer some money to make a deposit ahead of our
arrival for our rental house. We tried
various banks; the only one that accommodated us was Lloyds.
We set up the sterling (pounds) accou…
FAANGs or …?
Harry Shannon
A couple of weeks ago the Toronto Star had a story on the big tech companies Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. The headline used an acronym to write: “Tech giants’ FAANGs sink teeth into our wallets.” (They also mentioned Microsoft, but I guess the acronym wouldn’t have worked.)
The story quoted a Univer…
Communing With the Dead – or the Living?
Harry Shannon
I had to renew my Ontario Driver’s Licence and my Health
Card. One of the forms sent to me was
for registering as an organ and tissue donor.
I was happy to fill it out, though I added a note that my
organs can’t be used to generate private profit.
But what caught my attention was the space to add my phone nu…
Is dinner with Donald Trump dangerous?
Harry Shannon
Otherwise, why would the royals be wearing seatbelts at the state dinner? (Though someone should tell Prince Charles that it's supposed to go over his shoulder.)
I found this photo on the web site of Harper's bazaar. It's attributed to WPA POOL GETTY IMAGES
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