How many Poles were gnashing their teeth seeing Polish-born Miroslav Klose not only playing for Germany in the World Cup, but actually singing the German national anthem at the start of each game? Sport has thankfully, become an arena for ersatz violence between nations whose past conflicts were far too real. In immigrant nations like [...]

Young women are avoiding computer science because of geeks. These are described as men with “masculine geeky” traits like addiction to computer games, science fiction memorabilia, and junk food. The women also apparently resent the geeks’ propensity for memorizing Star Trek lines and “never leaving the lab”. So says a recent study from the University [...]

Some readers, like me, may once have listened to CBC Radio. Specifically, I listened extensively to Radio Two when they still had predominantly Classical programming prior to September 2008. BTW,  latest stats show that, while radio listenership has gone up by about 3% since 2007, CBC Radio Two listenership is down over 13%. Big success [...]

Say it ain’t so. The mafia is in Montreal. Who could believe it? Even after reports some months ago of corruption in the contracting of the city’s construction jobs, there must have been a few Pollyanna’s who still assumed the best.
Well, if you’ll pardon the macabre allusion, perhaps the cold-blooded murder, on a Montreal street, [...]

There are different ways you can react to the great void that is the thousand channel universe. Broadly put, you can either be indignant, indifferent, or go along for the ride. Admittedly, I guess you could also be a booster of the expansive banality that is modern TV, but let’s put that aside for the [...]

Some years ago something called deprivation therapy was popular. It involved getting into a pod-shaped tank where no light or sound could penetrate. Scantily clad, one would lie in a bath loaded with epsom salts to ease floatation and minimize drowning. I don’t know exactly what this therapy was for, but I gather the womb-like [...]

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We must be approaching the journalistic dog days of summer because the number of dog-bites-man stories shows no sign of diminishing. Take the one about residents of the B.C. interior opposing hydro-electric development there. (For readers who don’t know, the interior of British Columbia is a magical place, barely touched by the troubles of the [...]

Don’t expect to get fed at an embassy reception in Ottawa unless you come early. The professional grazer corps has perfect timing and they assault the buffets tables elbows-up, like feisty grannies at the bargain bin.
It was at an embassy reception last year, after the food had run out, that I encountered a German parliamentarian; [...]

Another month, another series of stories about how Prime Minister Harper is likely to be shuffling off the public stage. It’s as if they hope the sheer number of these stories can make the blessed event actually happen. One grizzled media veteran essentially suggested the PM might end up in the EI lines because: a) [...]

After weeks of hand-wringing stories about possible cuts at the CBC, and sheaves of commentary about the direction of the Corp (including at least a week of same in the National Post) the cuts have finally been announced. The headline of 800 job cuts is now splashed across front pages across the country and, of [...]