Bruce Wark, writing from an HRM neighborhood where the ban on overnight parking is not enforced, critiques my critique of the ban: [Y]ou use "reasonable accommodation" as though you have proved it. It is as though you are saying that your assertion in the first paragraph is sufficient to support what you're saying in the second. The rules of logic say that he who asserts must prove. Furthermore, your assertion that "traffic tsar" Ken Reashor "evinces no interest in reasonable accommodation" is a neat, but logically unconvincing way of first, labelling Reashor as a Russian dictator, then glossing over necessary proof...

24 January, 2011

Dartmouth Cole Harbour MLA Andrew Younger has pulled off something remarkable: He has outflanked the most populist politician in the province on an issue of populism. Earlier this week, Younger challenged Transportation Minister Bill Estabrooks to use his ministerial powers to lift HRM's hated overnight winter parking ban, implemented last month by fiat of the city's unelected, unaccountable traffic tzar. The response from Estabrooks, normally one of the most adroit and citizen-connected politicans in Nova Scotia, sounded uncharacteristically  stuffy: I'm not going to interfere in the winter parking ban," he said. "I'm going to wait to see what the councillors advise me and...

22 January, 2011

Contrarian reader Stan Jones offers further evidence of 21st Century North America's altered perception of weight: Footage of the Benny Goodman Orchestra playing Sing, Sing, Sing in 1937. Those are some skinny musicians. Note especially Harry James, whose solo begins 38 seconds into the tune: (That is, of course, Gene Krupa on drums, and Goodman himself on clarinet.) As a former TV host, Glennie Langille has first hand experience with society's social expectations around weight. She offers a skeptical view of the notion that skinny equals healthful: My first observation is that the original photo of Kennedy makes him appear to have an enormous...

22 January, 2011

Google's ability to produce its Street View images still leaves me gobsmacked. Now see what the land survey industry has been up to in the digital technology department: Using a portable, eye-safe, laser scanner, and traveling at posted speeds, this vehicle collects data and imagery with survey grade accuracy: Yes, they need a better video, but still...

19 January, 2011

Scott Logan, who formerly served as Nova Scotia's Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Promotions, responds to our observation that John F. Kennedy would seem skinny today: This piece and the previous on "Your Lying Pants" speak so graphically to socialized norms. When the majority of people smoked it was "cool." When—for various reasons—the tipping point was reached where the majority were non-smokers, the efforts to reduce tobacco's harmful impact on society gained great momentum.  In tobacco, the strategy was based on "re-normalizing" society's previous normal view of smoking. In other words the "new cool" was re-cast in a non-smoking image. The health...

17 January, 2011

The John F. Kennedy Library in Boston has released a huge trove of digitized images and recordings of the late president. Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic's tech blogger, has published a selection. Here's what struck me: As a young naval officer, Kennedy was certainly slim, but no one would have thought him gaunt or emaciated. Yet Kennedy's Navy ID card reveals that he was six feet tall and weighed just 150 pounds. Six feet, 150 pounds! How our standards of girth have changed (as previously noted)....

15 January, 2011

The frequency with which certain terms appear in Google search queries foreshadows reports of actual 'flu activity from agencies like the Centres for Disease Control by about two weeks. Google tracks the frequency of 'flu-linked search terms and maps the results by region. The current map for Canada shows low frequency in the west and east, moderate in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and high in Ontario and Quebec. This is a screenshot. The actual map is interactive, so you can click on a province and see the search trends there over time. Check out the explanatory video. H/T: Steve Manley, 'flu sufferer....

13 January, 2011

Citizen-artist and longtime culture critic Andrew Terris likes the realignment of culture portfolios in Tuesday's cabinet shuffle. In addition to explicit cultural entities, the new Department of Communities, Culture, and Heritage will be responsible for the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, and the provincial library system. It will administer the offices of Acadian Affairs, Gaelic Affairs, and African Nova Scotian Affairs. Over the years, culture has regularly been batted around within the bureaucracy, often ending up with dubious partners. First there was Culture, Recreation and Fitness (we used to call it Cult, Rec and Fit), then Tourism and...

13 January, 2011

Rosa Donham, age 4, got a USB microscope for Christmas. This week, she began photographing some of her favorite objects around the house, including this one: It's the mouth of a sand dollar....

13 January, 2011

If agencies produced birthday parties, they'd all rock like Chelsea Bedano's 8th. You have only to sit through a few agency pitches to know how close to the mark this is. H/T: DR, via Adfreak.com. The ad agency is john st., Toronto....

11 January, 2011
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