Contrarian reader Denis Falvey writes: A decision that flies in the face of one fact of science does not necessarily constitute ignorance. A bounty may not eradicate coyotes, it may not even lower their numbers appreciably, but it will change their habits. Coyotes live in an ecological niche; like any other animal, they will multiply to fill that niche. I would prefer that the limits on their ecological niche not include my doorstep, and the only way to achieve that is for the animals to be wary of coming near my doorstep. That's not going to happen with my singing Kumbayah'....

25 April, 2010

Experts say a bounty won’t lessen human encounters with aggressive coyotes, and might make matters worse. They base this conclusion, in part, on experience in Nova Scotia, where a $50 bounty in the 1980s failed to reduce coyote numbers. They say it on the Department of Natural Resources website—or they used to, until inconvenient scientific information was expunged just in time for Minister John MacDonell's flight from evidence-based decision making. [caption id="attachment_5079" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="John MacDonell "][/caption] The Winston Smiths assigned to expunge the historical record missed a few spots. They failed to delete wildlife director Barry Sabean's 1989 and 1991 declarations...

23 April, 2010

The folks at Informationisbeautiful.net got their numbers wrong by a factor of, er, 10. The amount of CO2 emitted by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano was not 15,000 tons of CO2 per day, but 150,000. To their credit, they owned up to the mistake, apologized fulsomely, and published a revised graphic: Although the planes vs. volcano equation is more of a saw-off than it first appeared, the eruption still looks like a net gain for the atmosphere (or it was until flights resumed today). This is a useful reminder of the adage,  garbage in, garbage out — especially important when it comes to vivid...

20 April, 2010

Saint Mary's professor Larry Haiven thinks blaming unions for unnecessary snow days is silly: This is part of a syndrome of "if in doubt, blame the unions."  So convenient.  So wrong. A few years ago I was taking a tour of the new Toronto opera house.  We were allowed to go everywhere except on stage, even though the stage was bare, with no current production going on. One of the tour members asked the docent why we couldn't go on stage.  The tour member said he had been on tours of all the great opera houses of Europe and had never been barred...

07 March, 2010

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,...

03 March, 2010

A few weeks ago, a swab test of Contrarian's laptop at Stanfield International Airport registered traces of nitroglycerin, leading to an additional interview and a 95% thorough physical pat-down. Details here. The Canadian Air Traffic Safety Agency (CATSA) has apologized in writing to a Winnipeg-based human-rights activist for a similar incident. A swab test of Ali Saeed's hands - not his laptop - turned up traces of trinitrotoluene, or TNT. After questioning, Saeed was permitted to board his flight for Denver. His return flight was uneventful. Regular readers will know that Contrarian detests many aspects of airport security. Recent air travel through...

18 February, 2010

By 7:30 a.m., today, it had stopped snowing at Kempt Head. Total accumulation: 2-5/8ths inches. Cancellations: Cape Breton Victoria School Board; Strait Richmond School Board; NSCC Marconi Campus; NSCC Strait Campus; Mayflower Mall (until noon, except for anchor stores); and pretty much every other event you could think of. Imagine! Two and five-eighth inches of snow! In February, in Nova Scotia! Gadzooks! Why hasn't the army been called? What on earth has happened to us? What has turned us into a nation of cowering, cringing, 'fraidy cats who darsn't get out of bed in the morning, lest something bad happen. Something bad might happen. Get...

17 February, 2010