crest-logoCREST Halifax has uploaded  a video of last Tuesday's all-party debate on environmental issues, which was sponsored by the Ecology Action Centre. The video of the two-hour debate is divided into 10 segments. Unfortunately, they are not annotated, so contrarian can't point you to the particular segments where Howard Epstein tried to defend the NDP's plan to subsidize coal-fired electricity, the many places where Green Party deputy leader Brendan MacNeill oversold the concept of feed-in tariffs for wind power, and the spot where the NDP, the Greens, and the Liberals all but nixed the proposed Donkin coal mine.
31 May, 2009

Mary Roach, accidental science writer, comedian, and author of Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, reveals 10 things you probably don't know about orgasm in a talk at Long Beach, California. Actually,  regular readers of Canadian Family Physician may already know Fact #5, the nugget about hiccups, and pig farmers may know Fact #7 about, well, pig farmers....

31 May, 2009

Cape Breton's young, tech-savvy, music aficionados discuss the provincial election's impact on their favorite industry. Hint: fiddles haven't been mentioned....

31 May, 2009
fallows-roof-1s Two questions about this photo from an entry in Atlantic Magazine writer James Fallows's wonderful blog:
  1. Do you notice anything unusual about this cityscape?
  2. Can you name the country in which this photo was taken?
Answers after the break. 
31 May, 2009
In describing the uncertainty around the June 9 election this morning, CBC Radio's Jean LaRoche said many voters would abandon the Tories, and most of those votes would of course go to the Liberals. This is conventional wisdom, based on a left-right spectrum that runs from the NDP, through the Liberals, to the Tories. There's a good chance it's wrong.
30 May, 2009
north-korea-2 Curtis Melvin, a PhD candidate at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia,  has harnessed a vast network of citizen spies who use Google Earth's mapping tools to fill in the geographical blanks in the world's most secretive nation. The palace pictured above is one of 73 elite compounds enjoyed by North Korea's Kim Jong Il and his inner circle. Melvin's contributors have mapped the country's railways and power lines, and tagged thousands of anti-aircraft installations, nuclear facilities, prisons, mass graves, hydro dams, restaurants, banks, churches, temples,  hotels, and elite playgrounds.
30 May, 2009
NDP leader Darrell Dexter today promised to provide 1,000 home insulation grants for low to modest income households. This is a much better idea than Dexter's plan to subsidize carbon production by removing the provincial share of HST from home electricity bills. Here's why:
  • Insulation grants will cut the province's CO2 emissions, while the carbon subsidy will increase them.
  • Insulation grants will target homeowners most in need, while the carbon subsidy will go disproportionately to the well-off, because they use more electricity.
  • Insulation grants will create jobs for carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and local businesses, while the carbon subsidy will have little or no employment impact.
  • Insulation grants will produce permanent reductions in home heating costs, while savings from the carbon subsidy will last only as long as the tax break is in place.
29 May, 2009

Don Connolly points out that Nova Scotia has two colorful seasons. Speaking Wednesday from Marshy Hope, Pictou County, home of legendary fall foliage, the CBC Radio host described the profusion of pale greens, pinks, yellows, and maroons on display this week. Contrarian concurs. This row of Saskatoonberries, flowering at the edge of Kay MacLean's front field in Ross Ferry, is a perennial favorite....

29 May, 2009

With 10 days to go, a Liberal friend sums it up: Everyone I talk to expects an NDP  government. Everyone. They say, "Darrell's a good leader." They say, "it's his turn." I haven't heard a single person say they expect someone else to form the government. He could win a majority....

29 May, 2009
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