Live Free or Die

Every Oscar-Winning Film Cliché: The Movie

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:17:49 -0500

Every Oscar-Winning Film Cliché: The Movie:

In the interest of full disclosure, some parts of this trailer would probably only win a Golden Globe. (Thanks, Dustin.)

Why insurers don't control costs

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:17:49 -0500

Why insurers don't control costs:

One of the oddities of the health-care reform debate is that we tend to despise insurers for two contradictory things. On the one hand, we hate them for saying no. No to procedures, no to people, no…

Ont. throne speech baffles - How do we “keep spending, but not”? How do we reduce health...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:52:15 -0500

Ont. throne speech baffles - How do we “keep spending, but not”? How do we reduce health $ by “following the patient”? http://bit.ly/atmT1t

Up The Rebels! Down The British!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:37:04 -0500

Up The Rebels! Down The British!:

NYU’s Center on Law & Security has launched a new blog, and Peter Clarke takes to it to observe:

Looked at from the UK, the debate raging in the United States about how and where the…

Look At How Broken The Contracting System Is For An Explanation Of Why Blackwater Thrives

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:37:04 -0500

Look At How Broken The Contracting System Is For An Explanation Of Why Blackwater Thrives:

Blackwater killed civilians in Iraq; shot at civilians in Afghanistan; set up a shell company to get its Afghanistan contract with the Army; and stole guns intended for the Afghan police….

Job creation datapoints of the day

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:37:04 -0500

Job creation datapoints of the day:

Lending to small businesses is often a spectacularly good way of creating jobs — and almost always creates more jobs per dollar spent than any kind of infrastructure investment. One can argue at…

… Or that it’s called “self service” … Or the ‘Welcome to...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:16:52 -0500

… Or that it’s called “self service” … Or the ‘Welcome to Ontario’ sign…

Not sure what I love most about WestJet’s baggage drop line: that the checkin line is shorter,...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:16:52 -0500

Not sure what I love most about WestJet’s baggage drop line: that the checkin line is shorter, or that the rest of T3 is empty

Country Driving

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:47:01 -0500

*Country Driving*:

The author is Peter Hessler and the subtitle is A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory. It is the account of the author’s driving journeys throuh the Middle Kingdom. Here is one bit:

…

Organic wine datapoint of the day

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:58:45 -0500

Organic wine datapoint of the day:

Meg Sullivan has a good write-up of a paper by Magali Delmas and Laura Grant, which asks a simple question:

Why would wineries seek costly eco- certification without informing their customers…

The Cult of Norway

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:52:49 -0500

The Cult of Norway:

Other non-economist readers of The Economist may possibly share my fascination with the magazine’s back-of-the-book department, consisting of two pages labeled “Economic and financial indicators…

Waiting for my last shift at the 24 hour spin for kid’s cancer treatment http://j.mp/arpehz

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:43:18 -0500

Waiting for my last shift at the 24 hour spin for kid’s cancer treatment http://j.mp/arpehz

Those budget cuts, in full

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:28:57 -0500

Those budget cuts, in full:

My fellow pundits seem greatly impressed by the budget’s “austerity,” to judge by the headlines and commentary that appeared afterward. Here, then, in graphic form, is just how austere it was.
The…

A reasonable question

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:28:57 -0500

A reasonable question:

I have been, for quite some time, intimidated by polenta. I don’t like saying that out loud, because it makes me sound like a total cream puff, but in the spirit of keeping it real, I’m saying it….

RT @InklessPW: Many nights you walk by Langevin and PM’s convoy is there quite late, 8,...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:15:08 -0500

RT @InklessPW: Many nights you walk by Langevin and PM’s convoy is there quite late, 8, 9 pm. After anthem stunt, the question now arise …

Great New Yorker essay on Eastwood http://j.mp/9dXeiG

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:15:08 -0500

Great New Yorker essay on Eastwood http://j.mp/9dXeiG

All thy sons command... no change

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:32:12 -0500

All thy sons command... no change:

Shared by Nick Ragaz
Phew. But I don’t think that Speeches from the Throne are the intended forum for trial balloons.

I’m a bit stunned at the speed with which this O Canada lyric change trial…

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:06:21 -0500

Smells Like Teen Spirit:

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today blaming the 2007 minimum wage hike for higher teen unemployment. It features this nifty chart:

Hmm, is there anything else that might have…

An empty, almost flippant budget - Andrew Coyne's Blog, Canada - Macleans.ca

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:33:11 -0500

An empty, almost flippant budget - Andrew Coyne's Blog, Canada - Macleans.ca:

Andrew is right. But he really needs to start adopting a structural rather than an ideological analysis, if he wants to understand what’s going on and not just be mad about it. The mad is funny, though.

"Every few months, he gets into a feud with Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Page says..."

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:21:46 -0500

““Every few months, he gets into a feud with Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Page says the deficit will be bigger than Flaherty projected. Flaherty puts on his little Irish-cop smirk and says, poncy little crat doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And then the deficit turns out bigger than Flaherty projected.””

- Peering into tomorrow, blind as a bat - Inkless Wells - Macleans.ca