A Lion's Mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) plied the waters of Conception Bay, near Bauline NL, last week. Photo: Emilie Novaczek....

12 August, 2014

A great friend who moved from rural Cape Breton to Fredericton a few years ago has been trying ever since to convince me her move wasn't the cultural equivalent of falling off a cliff. Now comes the improbably named Gracen Johnson with persuasive video evidence of Fredericton's coolness: Johnson explains: I'm 24 years old and just finished my Master's in urban planning. This year, I'm moving against the grain of conventional wisdom for young grads. Instead of chasing a big job in a big city, I'll be moving across the country to a small city that actually has a reputation for joblessness. Smaller cities interest...

11 August, 2014

The YouTube notes say, "Filmed in the '70's, not far from Fogarty's Cove, Guysborough County." It has the look of a CBC or NFB production. If anyone knows who filmed it or where it aired, reach for the comment link above. The musicians are the late Stan Rogers, guitar; Garnet Rogers, fiddle; and Dave Eadie, electric bass. [UPDATE] Clever detective work by an anonymous Contrarian reader traces the source of this recording to an episode of the CBC TC Variety series, "Canadian Express." The series ran from September, 1977, to September, 1980, and featured moveable venues and changeable hosts. An episode hosted by...

09 August, 2014

Paris photographer Laure Fauvel captures young people as they vanquish the monsters that lurk in closets and under beds: We should all have such courage....

09 August, 2014

Retired CBC producer Peter Kavanagh calls out Halijourno Tim Bousquet's response to my critique of Dal professor Tom Duck's op ed piece in the Halifax Examiner [now liberated from behind a paywall], in which Duck defended disruptive behaviour at the Fracking Review Panel's public meetings by young opponents of the controversial technology. "People use the resources they have available to them," [Bousquet wrote]. I think that is a cop out justification for the mental shades/blinders people can wear. If you want to stop a wrong, do so based on real science. You don't get to adopt the same approach to science that your...

07 August, 2014

Contrarian reader, journalist, playwright, and communications smart guy Ryan Van Horne thinks the lack of civil discourse by some youthful fracking opponents is only half the problem: I do get a kick out of the notion that oil companies are getting bullied by young kids; it sort of has that man bites dog kinda feel to it. The trouble with this is that bullies are often wrong or can't back up their position with facts. I am all for civil debate on this issue and more science to explore the risks—and verify the safety—of hydraulic fracturing. Let's have an open and balanced discussion though,...

07 August, 2014

The folk music-comedy duo  Garfunkle and Oates, whose charming and funny singing videos you may have seen on YouTube, launch a comedy TV series tonight, and IFC has put a sneak preview on line. Here's what happens when you try to watch it from Canada: And here's what happens after you install a free unblocker extension on your Internet browser: I haven't owned a working TV for almost 10 years. I stream lots of television on my external monitor, my iPhone, and when it's working, my Android tablet. I have no intention of policing myself to protect some middleman corporation that wants to extract unearned value while passing through someone else's creation—and offering crappy service...

06 August, 2014

The Halifax Examiner yesterday featured an op-ed piece by Thomas J. Duck, professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science at Dalhousie, about the province's controversial fracking review panel. Publisher Tim Bousquet promo-ed the piece with the headline, "Climate change: the elephant in the room during fracking debate." Unfortunately, Duck's piece is behind the Examiner's paywall—no complaint implied; even journalists are entitled to make a living—but [Duck's piece has is no longer behind a paywall] I don't feel the piece, which devoted only one of its 12 paragraphs to climate change, lived up to the headline. Here is a response I posted on the Examiner's provocative website. I was hoping this...

06 August, 2014

Last week, I decried HRM council's decision to reject a staff-recommended plan to replace The Ugliest Building Cobb Ever Designed with a new four-pad rink, and instead vote to spend two-and-a-half times as much money for 25 percent less rink. Waye Mason, the excellent councillor who moved the motion to save TUBCED, aka The Halifax Forum, responds. First the math: $45 million gets you four rinks at DND lands. DND gets one and Halifax gets three, so Halifax pays 75%, which is $33.75 million. The lower figure you cite assumes the Forum lands sell for $18 million and all that money goes against the construction cost,...

06 August, 2014

Aaron Beswick of the Chronicle-Herald yesterday confirmed a rumour I heard late last week:  even as it spews unusually thick clouds of noxious fumes over the Town of Pictou, the Northern Pulp mill has been running flat-out. Northern Pulp’s top five most productive days since opening 57 years ago were all this year. It set two production records in July alone, producing 979 air-dried tonnes of kraft pulp on July 17 and 972.9 on July 15, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle Herald. Those records were set a month after a leak that sent untreated effluent into Pictou Harbour and just before a campaign by Pictou County...

06 August, 2014
Show more
Loading...