The August 2005 issue of Popular Science, the wonderful rag that celebrates good old-fashioned American know-how, has, as its cover story, a survey of 6 proposals to counteract global warming.
Author: David Barker
Pride Day in Toronto
Toronto hosts the 3rd largest pride day in North America with over a million people flocking to the city over the weekend.
The Little Drummer Girl, by John Le Carré
A Le Carré spy novel is more than just another cheap paperback thriller. That is what we learn from the dust jacket of The Little Drummer Girl. According to the L.A. Times: “Le Carré’s ability to create character, dialogue and event approaches the amazing … THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL confirms without qualification his status as a writer of elegance and importance.”
Mrs. Dalloway
I must be maturing; I think I’m developing a deeper appreciation for Virginia Woolf. My first encounter with this author came when I was 18 and had to read Edward Albee‘s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in high school. I had no idea what Virginia Woolf had to do with the play, and so, because I didn’t know any better, I decided to read something by Virginia Woolf.
American Culture not as Ubiquitous as You’d Think
For my wife’s birthday, I bought her tickets to Wicked, which we saw on Saturday. It uses the Wizard of Oz as its point of departure and tells the story of life before Dorothy — the relationship of Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba (who became the Wicked Witch of the West) — and also the story of how the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion came to be.
Advertising and Conspicuous Consumption
The first—quarter earnings statement from Google is out. Its earnings have jumped by 477% and revenue has doubled thanks to online ad sales. At the same time, reports from the Inuit indicate that global warming is advancing three times as quickly in the Arctic as elsewhere in the world.
The Canadian Recording Industry Association
Yesterday, the Canadian Recording Industry Association made its submissions to an appeal court in an attempt to overturn an earlier decision which held that file sharing (including music files) is legal in Canada.
The FCC and Obscenity
We can all rest easier now that the Federal Communications Commission of the United States of America is authorized to enforce new legislation designed to return the living room of America back to the family! However did we manage without them?
Culture as Collaboration
A while ago, at an art auction, I purchased a single Dali wood cutting from a series of 100 prints to commemorate the 700th birthday of Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, in 1965.
Progressive Christianity
Some things never change. The April/05 issue of the United Church Observer [named changed to Broadview in 2019] features an extended letters–to–the–editor section because of the huge response to an article from the February/05 issue — “Believing Outside the Box” by Jennifer McPhee. The article is about a minister, Rev. Gretta Vosper, who decided to come clean with her congregation about her struggles with the orthodoxy of the United Church.
Obscenity
Just as I was ruing the plight of the human mind at the hands of publicly instituted censors, I received this delightful piece of unsolicited advertising in my mailbox. “You’ll do anything to protect your kids from inappropriate content.”
Phonics
George Bernard Shaw advocated the use of a phonetic alphabet and even made provision for it in his last will and testament. What a sad little man.
About Education
There is an apocryphal story about Einstein that goes something like this: One day, Einstein was standing at a counter while a civil servant completed a form for him. The person asked for his telephone number but he couldn’t remember it. The person was incredulous that a man of Einstein’s genius and reputation was unable to remember his own telephone number. But, as Einstein explained, why should he clutter his mind with information that he could look up in a book?
BitTorrent Part 2
This is a follow–up to my entry on BitTorrent. I have another theory about why BitTorrent doesn’t work. According to Wired, BitTorrent’s creator, Bram Cohen, has Asperger’s syndrome.
The Presumption of Incoherence
Today, in the west, we scrutinize everything with a presumption of incoherence. We use post-modern theoretical models to call into question even the possibility of coherence, suggesting that the world we inhabit is fundamentally fractured.