It wasn't published, but you can read it here!
Background to the letter. The Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffled the provincial cabinet after barely a year in power. Actually, not just a shuffle, but also an increase in the number of ministers.
For more on the class sizes, click here
Re Radical Reboot, June 21I assume it’s just a coi…
Conversions, approximations, and an innumerate historian
Harry Shannon
There’s a story about
a museum guide, who was showing visitors around the exhibits. Coming to an ancient artifact, the guide
stated: “This one is five million and three years old.” One curious visitor asked: “How can you be so
accurate with the dating?” The guide
answered: “Well, when I became a guide…
How to be a Philanthropist – Part 2: A Look at Some Numbers
Harry Shannon
This post follows up Part 1 - An 11 Step Guide.
Recently, MacKenzie Bezos, newly divorced from Amazon's Jeff Bezos, promised to give at least half her $36.6 billion fortune to charity. In what must be the understatement of the year, she noted "I have a disproportionate amount of money to share."
Bezos had just si…
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
…
Media Hype? Check the Numbers
Unless you’ve been under the proverbial rock for the last few weeks, you’ll know that the TV show Game of Thrones (GoT) has just aired its final episode. It has had eight seasons.
Clearly fans of GoT were really into the show (although I
gather that they weren’t so enthusiastic about the final season). Based on the attention in th…
My letter in the Hamilton Spectator, May 14
Background: This letter responded to one a few days earlier in the Hamilton Spectator. That letter in turn was commenting on the story in the paper about Rabbi David Mivasair, who went to the West Bank to help repair a road used by Palestinian villagers to access health care, etc. He was arrested by Israeli forces.
RE: RABBI’S VIEWS CLASH…
My letter in the Toronto Star, May 14
Background to this letter: The Conservative government in Ontario opposes the federal carbon tax, claiming it is ineffective. Premier Doug Ford is taking the matter to the courts. As well, Ford has talked about increasing speed limits on Ontario highways. My letter was joining some dots.
Re He who tweets by gas prices, dies by gas prices,…
Econ 101 Pop Quiz
It seems the economic policy known as ‘supply-side’ has made a comeback in the U.S. under Donald Trump.
The underlying idea was, I understand, proposed by Arthur Laffer in the 1970s and formed the basis of Ronald Reagan’s approach in his presidency. The claim is that if taxes are reduced, society as a whole will benefit becaus…
What consumers want
Harry Shannon
CBC News Item 21 April 2019'Is that even legal?' Companies may be sharing new credit or debit card information without you knowing. … Information about the sharing of this kind of information with third party companies is often buried in the fine print of bank and credit card agreements…
There…
How I lost three hours to Summer Time
Harry
Shannon
Spring forward, Fall back; so goes the saying. Which means you ‘lose’ one hour when the clocks go forward in Spring.
Yet I
managed to lose three! I was in Canada
for the first one on 10 March. North
America extended the summer time period some years ago. The U.S. Congress were pretending they were
takin…