03 Mar A nation of ‘fraidy cats?

This is what a snow day looks like in Nova Scotia in 2010:

Ridiculous. Ludicrous. How does this happen? Is it yet more proof that Environment Canada/CBC weather hysteria has destroyed our ability to distinguish normal weather from that which is dangerous? Is it further evidence of our society’s atrophied ability to assess and manage risk? Of our obsession with danger? Have we become a nation of ‘fraidy cats? A friend offers an alternative explanation:

They haven’t filled their quota of snow days.

Gotta get ’em in, in other words, like the employee who makes sure to take all her available sick days, lest she “lose” them. And it’s well to remember that the school officials who manage these decisions belong to the belong to… the teachers’ union.