Category Archives: Uncategorized

Single national narratives

Andrew Coyne, Canada is a French country: But if the history of Canada is an unbroken chain of sovereignty, Francis to Elizabeth, Champlain to Johnston; if what is important about it is not the change from French to British rule … Continue reading

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Research Idea Number 21

Why haven’t refractory problems been bred out of populations? What is the prevalence of refractory errors in other animal species? How would you measure this?

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Late to the party

I’ve been reading “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” recently — after pretty much everyone I know recommended it to me. It’s not a bad book, but there’s something that’s been bugging me about it, and I finally figured out … Continue reading

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A Chilean paraphrase

Overheard / participated in: A: “Wow, there was an 8.5 magnitude earthquake off Chile.” B: “I think it was closer to 8.8.” A: “Does the 0.3 make a difference?” C: “Well, with moment magnitude, that’s 2.8 times the energy.” A: … Continue reading

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Self-promotion

Hey! Have you been over at my SmugMug lately? If not, you might have missed my gallery of dog pictures, a very soothing collection of blossom photographs, and a huge gallery of underwater work.

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Pixel shock

There were a lot of things that the digital revolution made easier in the photography world. I’ve been taking pictures long enough that I can remember using Polaroid backs to evaluate exposure with studio strobes, and fighting to get the … Continue reading

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Service notice

I have migrated all of the Flickr content off of that service and on to SmugMug. I think this is going to make us all much happier. (Summary: SmugMug is a photo hosting site with some collaboration and Web 2.0 … Continue reading

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Thought for the day

The complaints of the major broadcasting and media companies regarding the long-term viability of local television would be a lot more believable — and easier to support — if CanWest Global hadn’t just recently tried to kill off a local … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving Quick Hits

Whatever you do, don’t panic: The drama of a call to the emergency services. Transcripts and audio recordings of calls to 999 in the United Kingdom. Interesting for lay readers because most people never actually hear what these sound like; … Continue reading

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City of blinding lights

Back from Tokyo yesterday afternoon, after a whirlwind 4 day stay in Japan. Why? Because it was days off, that’s why. It was a fantastic trip overall, reminding me of how much I love Japan — but I do think, … Continue reading

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