Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
From the BBC: Militants in Pakistan pose a threat to the country's existence, according the the American General, David Petraeus. Speaking in London after meeting the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, the commander of US Central Command said Pakistan had to deal with the problem. He went on to say he would help Pakistan make [...]
Tue, September 30 2008 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
Jagoda Pike is off to head the Ontario bid committee for the 2015 Pan American Games. Southam/CanWest veteran and TorStar board member Don Babick is taking the job on an interim basis, according to a TorStar news release. Pike became the Star's publisher in October 2006 (here's a post from that time).
Tue, September 30 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Washington Post business columnist Steve Pearlstine shakes his head at the reaction to the financial crisis in the U.S. From the W-P: Oy vey. That is the technical economic term that best sums up a day in which the House of Representatives refuses to pass a $700 billion rescue plan pushed by the White House and [...]
Tue, September 30 2008 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » 2 Comments
This page has an interactive timeline that marks developments in the crisis since Sept. 7, when the U.S. government bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage lending companies. This page shows the geographic breakdown of the House of Representatives vote. The NYT also had an animated infographic that walks you through the day's numeric festivities [...]
Tue, September 30 2008 » Main Page » Comments Off
The item is about reaction by Torontonians to today's stock market carnage. But it's a newspaper website! :) See it here. (And yes, I know they've been doing Globe Docs for a while)
Tue, September 30 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
In My Market Bakery in Kensington Market, there is the following notice: Did you lose your machete? We may have it! Skill testing question required! The rightful owner either hasn't been by to claim it, or hasn't passed the skill-testing question requirement. The gals who work there tell me it's a nice machete, with a fairly [...]
Tue, September 30 2008 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
Do some reporting this election season, preferrably from all-candidates forums. From Inkless Wells at macleans.ca: Two weeks to go in this campaign. It’d be interesting if bloggers all over the country went out to all-candidates’ campaigns and reported to their readers — and through links in the comments below, to ours — what they see. [...]
Tue, September 30 2008 » Main Page, Media, politics » Comments Off
I came up with these in a Feb. 8, 1998 posting to CAJ-L, an email discussion list for journalists. I think they stand up, so here’s a slightly-tweaked version: Study them, absorb their lessons and then go forth and be controversial (the principles also apply to blog postings):
Mon, September 29 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
I'm trying to find something I once wrote that I thought was rather witty. In that process, I also found this post I made to CAJ-L, an email discussion list for journalists, on June 3, 1997. I thought it might be worth revisiting, given that Canada is currently in election mode. Based on last night, [...]
Mon, September 29 2008 » Main Page, Media, politics » Comments Off
Saturday's Report on Business called itself The Debt Issue, and highlighted the following number in red type: $2,587,527,300,000 That would be total U.S. consumer debt … and counting. Here are som other factoids the Globe dug up: $1.62 trillion – In “non-revolving” loans for cars and houses. The figuure was $922 billion in 1999. $970 [...]
Mon, September 29 2008 » Main Page » Comments Off