"To love someone," wrote Jean Vanier, "is to show them their beauty, their worth, and their importance." That can be a tall order, but a few Halifax members of the Asperger's Syndrome Parents' Empowerment Network give it a good shot in this short video, produced by Halifax filmmakers John Hillis, Michael MacDonald, Caley MacLennan, Kimberlee McTaggert, Andrew Starzomski, and Amy Spurway: H/T: Valerie Patterson...
The Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), pictured above, is a sluggish member of the falcon family, more prone to scavenging for carrion than fast-flying pursuit of prey. The vulture of the falcon clan, you might say. The map at right shows its normal range, but late this morning, one showed up at Lawrencetown Beach, HRM. I'm not sure if this is the first record in Nova Scotia, but it is certainly rare. Photo: Tom Grey; H/T: JBD...
Yesterday I posted a photo from National Geographic's new Tumblr feed showing Alexander Graham Bell leaning in to kiss a woman who was holding herself inside one of his iconic tetrahedral kite frames. Both the National Geographic and I identified the women as Bell's wife, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard. Not so, writes Contrarian reader Donna Johnson, who works at the Bell Museum* in Baddeck: This is one of my favourite photos. Also a favourite of the visitors, who are sometimes a bit disappointed when we point out that, contrary to popular opinion, this is actually Bell kissing his daughter Daisy, not Mabel. If you...
100? 500? 1,000? The correct answer is much higher: more than 22 fatal shootings per day in the first 98 days since the horrific elementary school massacre. Huffpo has an interactive chart: (Please don't just look at the graphic. Click on the link and then on "next.") Astounding....
At Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams reviews the week's celebrity apologies, and finds most wanting. Then she highlights this example of how to apologize with grace: [L]est you think nobody knows how to own up to bad behavior, there have this week also been some fine examples of how to do it correctly. David Petraeus, the former head of the CIA/ladykiller appeared at a Los Angeles ROTC dinner and got the awkward part out of the way early. “I join you, keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago,” Petraeus said. ”I am also keenly aware...
National Geographic has been publishing gorgeous photographs for 125 years, so starting a Tumblr feed seems a natural step for the dowdy journal. One of the first entries features Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell [See update below] inside a tetrahedral kite frame, while her husband, Alexander Graham Bell, leans in for a kiss. Doesn't it just make you wish you had known these two? Dated October 10 16, 1903, this photo surely must have been taken at Beinn Bhreagh. Click on the image to see the full-sized version. *UPDATE: It appears there is controversy about whether the woman in this photo is Mabel...
How often has the US attacked targets in Pakistan with unmanned drones, and how many of those killed have been children, civilians, putative insurgents, or "high-value" military targets? The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has prepared an interactive graphic to help answer these questions, which you can try for yourself by clicking the screenshot below. Definitely worth a look. The bureau summarizes the results: The justification for using drones to take out enemy targets is appealing because it removes the risk of losing American military, it's much cheaper than deploying soldiers, it's politically much easier to maneuver (i.e. flying a drone within Pakistan vs....
Do wind farms make some people sick? Or do false claims of a connection between wind farms and illness make people sick? The question arises because opponents of wind farms often contend they cause illness, but scientific studies have consistently found little or no evidence to support such a connection. [This report by Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health is typical.*] Now a team of public health researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia has collected every known public complaint of wind farm-induced illness in that country (those filed with the wind companies themselves, those filed with three government commissions, and those...
In response to yesterday's post about Merriam-Webster's vocabulary quiz, on which 60-year-olds leave younger word-users in their dust, Contrarian readers of various vintage have shared their scores. In alphabetical order: Andy Weissman (70+) 3420 Andrew Bourke (40-something) 3700 Anna Daniels (20-something): 3660 Blair MacKenzie (30-something): 3720 Charlie Phillips (50-something) 3660 Contrarian (sexagenarian): 3660 David Rodenhiser (5040-something) 3960* Elaine Fournier (40-something) 3700 Greg Lukeman (30-something) 3900** Jeffrey Shallit (50-something) 3900 John Denault (70+) 3720 Mike Targett (30-something) 3760 Peter Spurway (50-something): 3860 Shelley Porter (40-something): 3140*** Stan Jones (70+) 3800 Steve Manley (30-something): 3480 Suzanne MacNeil (20-somthing): 3400**** * Current raw score leader, verified by screenshot. ** Current leader on an age-adjusted basis. *** Ms. Porter has filed a protest...