Philip Lee responds to Contrarian's effort to get the New York Times to correct its obituary of Donald Marshall: While I appreciate your efforts to have the record corrected at the New York Times, I am disappointed by your wink-wink, nudge-nudge attack on journalist and author Michael Harris. First, you've misrepresented his position. Michael Harris recently spoke about the Marshall case in a lecture theatre filled with students and professors at St. Thomas University in Fredericton where he is a visiting chair this fall. Among other things, he outlined at length the significance of the robbery story and how this was used...

26 October, 2009

On July 22, 1941, an unnamed couple got married in Amsterdam. The bride lived in a second-floor apartment at Merwedeplein 39. The girl next door, in the second-floor apartment at No. 37, leaned out the window to get a good look as the happy couple left the apartment. Someone filmed the scene. It is the only time Anne Frank was ever captured on film. The Anne Frank House museum recently uploaded the film footage to YouTube, "thanks to the cooperation of the couple."...

26 October, 2009

Despite two disappointing byelections, last week may be remembered as a good one for Liberal leader Stephen McNeil: He turned a potential crisis to his advantage by supporting the government bill blocking access to tainted Grit trust funds. He put Premier Darrell Dexter on his back foot by challenging New Democrats to go further and ban third-party contributions, as recommended by Chief Electoral Officer Christine McCulloch. Caught by surprise, Dexter dithered. It was a show of leadership under pressure. To consolidate, McNeil should: Keep after Dexter on third-party contributions. Ms. McCulloch's imprimatur put this issue beyond partisan reproach. Dexter can choose between following McNeil's...

25 October, 2009

The New York Times has corrected its obituary of Donald Marshall, Jr., following remonstrations from Contrarian and from one of the lawyers who represented Marshall before the celebrated inquiry that bears his name. The original Times obit, published in its August 7 edition, two days after Marshall's death, contained the following paragraph: Late on the night of May 28, 1971, Mr. Marshall and a friend, Sandy Seale, went walking in a Sydney park and tried to rob an older man, Roy Ebsary, who drew a knife and killed Mr. Seale. As Contrarian wrote to the obituary's author, William Grimes: The Royal Commission on the...

23 October, 2009
faulkner-cJames Fallows, author, Atlantic Magazine writer, and erstwhile speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, has cataloged with discernment his admiration for several of President Obama's landmark speeches over the last 18 months. So it was surprising to read his prediction that the president's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize will flop. Fallow's argument is "probabilistic:" Of the hundreds of Nobel prize acceptance speeches delivered over the years, he contends, only one was ever noteworthy:  the three-minute oration by novelist William Faulkner, a man notorious for hating to make speeches. Here is Faulkner's remarkable address, delivered on December 10, 1950:
The full text is after the jump:
12 October, 2009

I promise not to go on about this ad nauseam, but I just discovered that Beagle-owner Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic noted Rosie's obit in his Daily Dish blog Sunday. Rosie's sardine can caper reminded Andrew of the time his now aging beagle Dusty broke into an overnight bag some house guests had imprudently left on the floor of his loft—with two large boxes of Godiva chocolates hidden inside. Moneyquote: It was a beagle Linda Blair - with viscous chocolate liquid projectile vomiting everywhere in sight. I went to grab her to get her outside. She decided this was a game....

09 October, 2009
Moss Scuttle-csA few years ago, Contrarian's participation in the now-obscure practice of wet shaving was rescued by a Nova Scotia invention, the Moss Scuttle, a unique collaboration between a Tatamagouche potter and the town doctor. This Saturday, from 2-4 p.m., Thanksgiving weekend tourists will have a chance to visit Sara Bonnyman's pottery studio for her first ever open house. The event will celebrate the 35th anniversary of  this remarkable business (recently given new vigor by worldwide sales of the Moss Scuttle) and raise funds for the Lillian Fraser Memorial Hospital in Tatamagouche. A bit of background: Chris Moss, a Tatamagouche physician, is even more of a shavegeek than Contrarian. He uses an old fashioned straight razor (ouch!) and a badger brush (ahhh!) for his morning ritual. Unable to find a proper scuttle, the antique, double-walled bowl traditionally used to keep lather warm, he designed one himself, and asked Sara to make it.
08 October, 2009

Doug MacKay, who edited the Halifax Daily News in its heyday, writes from Toronto: I am sorry to read that Rosie passed away. From the moment she peed on the editor's carpet, I knew she and her owner were of like mind. A great companion. For the record, Rosie only ever peed on the editor's carpet once, and at a young age. It is acknowledged, however, that the stain never came out, and may have played a role in Transcontinental's subsequent decision to abandon the Burnside location. UPDATE: What is it with beagles and journalists? James Cobb, Automobiles Editor of the New York...

06 October, 2009
Rosie running -cropped -sRosie, who died yesterday at 13, was the World's Most Food-Motivated Dog. She won the title with a stunt modern science has yet to explain. sardine can 1-ssOne evening about five years ago, I returned home from a day-trip to Sydney with a notion to make a sardine sandwich for supper. I had left an unopened tin of sardines on the kitchen table before leaving for town. At least, I thought I had, but now I couldn't find it. Losing things is nothing new for Contrarian, and finding them is not his long suit. I spent a few minutes searching for the sardines, then made something else for supper. While putting Rosie to bed later that night, I spotted the sardine can stashed among the blankets at the back of her sleeping crate. She had chewed the top off, and extracted every morsel of fish and every drop of sardine oil. The can didn't even smell of sardines anymore. In horror, I rushed to inspect Rosie's mouth, expecting to find her lips and tongue shredded. Not a nick. Rosie was fit as a fiddle, and wondering when her next meal would arrive. "Golden slumber close your eyes." And sate your tummy. [More tributes after the jump.]
04 October, 2009
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