Collected Data

Watch: "A Walk in the Woods"

Listen: "Autumn Eternal" by Panopticon

"Canadians are moving toward mobile technology."

National Post;

crtc


Graphic: New CRTC report may show the landline and the traditional TV set are going the way of the Dodo

"Leadership isn’t just the ability to attract followers."

Robert Reich;

Leaders inspire tolerance. Demagogues incite hate.


Leaders empower the powerless; they give them voice and respect. Demagogues scapegoat the powerless; they use scapegoating as a means to fortify their power.


Leaders calm peoples’ irrational fears. Demagogues exploit them.


On Leaders and Demagogues

"Campbell is the king of the nerds, or at least a particular kind of gore-loving nerd that's slightly more self-aware than most."

Miles Raymer for Vice;

During his Comic Con panel, Campbell jokingly expressed a bit of pessimism about his track record as a TV star. "Every time I star in a series it lasts one season," he said, referencing his runs on the short-lived The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Jack of All Trades, both of which were action-adventure series featuring a steampunk influence. Meanwhile, Campbell said, "Every time I'm second fiddle it goes on for fucking ever."


Bruce Campbell Will Never Die, But You Will

""I have a bad feeling about this," said no fans of Star Wars about the trailer"

CBC;

This interview has been edited and condensed to be shorter than an ewok. To hear the full interview, click on the audio labelled: Stephen Quinn and fellow Star Wars superfans speculate on new film


Star Wars trailer inspires crazy speculation from crazy fans

"More than they wanted anyone else to win, they wanted Harper to lose. They'd even vote Liberal if that's what it took."

Terry Milewski for the CBC;

So Harper could ladle pork like a Liberal. Better, in fact. Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin reduced the national debt by $90 billion and left a budgetary surplus of $14 billion. Harper's six deficits added $150 billion to the national debt.


Not his fault, you say? Perhaps so, although Harper certainly made the red ink deeper by cutting the GST and adding $14 billion a year to the deficit. Add on all the tax cuts for hockey moms and firefighters and parents and, well, Harper even contrived to double the budget for prisons at a time when crime was falling.


The end result was lower taxes and higher debt. The two are not wholly unrelated.


Even so, a rising debt can still be a smaller slice of the economy if the economy grows.


That's the big picture: Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is on a slow, downward creep, from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, which is better than our G7 partners. It's a meaningful measure of fiscal health. If Harper wants to be judged by the economy, then it could be a lot worse.


Stephen Harper's legacy: Good, bad and a dose of ugly

"Tonight we'll dispense with the formalities. I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau."

The BBC;

When Justin Trudeau was just four months old, then-US President Richard Nixon predicted the infant would one day follow in his father's footsteps.


At a gala dinner during a state visit to Ottawa in 1972, Mr Nixon addressed his Canadian counterpart: "Tonight we'll dispense with the formalities. I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau."


According to CBC, the elder Trudeau responded that should his son ever lead the country, "I hope he has the grace and skill of the president."


Who is Justin Trudeau, Canada's next prime minister?

Watch: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer"

"The Liberals didn't fear that the electorate was too stupid to wrap their minds around complicated topics."

Charlie Smith;

Justin Trudeau's positive campaign style, his clear love for the country's diversity, the strength of Liberal candidates, and the desire to throw out Stephen Harper's Conservatives were all factors behind what happened.


But perhaps more than anything else, the Liberals' adoption of many evidence-based policies may have proven decisive.


Justin Trudeau's emphasis on evidence-based policies paved the way to Liberal victory

"Harper has asked the party to instruct the caucus to appoint an interim leader."

Charlie Smith;

After nearly 10 years as prime minister, Stephen Harper is on his way out as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.


Stephen Harper will resign as leader of the Conservatives after party loses election

See ya Stevie.

"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS THEATRICAL POSTER"

star-wars-force-awakens-official-poster

"When it comes to science, technology and innovation, the “anyone-but-Harper” mantra holds especially true. Canada is unquestionably dumber in many ways than it was 10 years ago, and that’s a real embarrassment."

"Every party has their dipshit that they hide away in the back benches. Unfortunately, this party is almost entirely dipshits."

24% Majority Blog;

Honestly.  If you’re okay with all this stuff and still insist on voting Conservative.  Well.  Thanks for nothing.


2011-2015 Harper Government Wrap-up

"They shouldn't be targeting these ads to anybody,"

CBC News;

Stephen Harper is defending a Conservative ad campaign targeted at Chinese and Punjabi-speaking voters in Vancouver and Toronto that claims Justin Trudeau supports the sale of marijuana to children, the expansion of safe injection sites and the establishment of neighbourhood brothels.


Conservative ads aimed at Chinese, Punjabi voters claim Trudeau backs brothels, pot sales to kids

This is just pathetic.

Watch: "Hail, Caesar!" Official Trailer

Listen: "New Bermuda" by Deafheaven

"Politicians, including Harper's Conservatives, love to talk about the supreme importance of accountability."

Neil Macdonald;

what has provoked Biguzs's anger, and determination for a reckoning, is that someone under her command apparently had the gall to tell a journalist — and thereby the Canadian public — about the PMO overriding the professionals in her department


Government sensitivity over you hearing about 'sensitive' information

"The question is, Does the system work for the benefit of most people? Does it create upward mobility, equal opportunity? Or is it rigged?"

Don Pittis;

Although we are only beginning to understand the details — mostly because the Trans-Pacific Partnership was negotiated away from the prying eyes of voters — one of the main criticisms of international trade deals like the TPP is that the main beneficiaries are large corporations, not ordinary citizens.


"Negotiators worked overtime on terms to please multinational corporations — under close consultation with those same corporations. But there was no consultation with labour or civil society groups," says a release from the Trade Justice Network, a group that opposes the deal.


Mickey Mouse protection, the TPP and why America remains unequal

It struck me that, then and now, the only way to keep our rights is to keep fighting for them.


Convinced that the free market will solve our problems, we complacently wait, repeatedly voting for the status quo, not realizing the problem is more complex and that re-creating a truly free-market capitalism for the many, not the few, will require more than a Mickey Mouse effort.

Watch: "The Sherlock Special" Trailer

Watch: "We got notes... from the network"

"Tune in to the Gallifrey Shopping Network"



LEGO Doctor Who set announced

"Over time we've seen that this man cannot be trusted. He had no integrity. He's trying to stifle democracy. There's no end to what he's doing."

CBC News;

He used the word racism in reference to the debate over the wearing of the niqab by Muslim women taking part in the oath of citizenship.


Williams said the issue is not worthy of becoming a national issue, but the Conservatives have latched onto it in order to secure votes.


"He doesn't care if he isolates the issues of women or if he isolates the issue of minorities, and even crosses, possibly, that racism line," Williams stated.


"It doesn't matter to him. It's all about getting elected at the end of the day."


Danny Williams says Stephen Harper's tactics are borderline racist

There is nothing borderline about it.

Watch: "SPECTRE - Final Trailer"

Shameless Self Promotion: New Job Title!

I’ve just been named Senior Creative Producer on Season 3 of Timber Kings. The 10 x 1hr plus 6 x 22min season airs on HGTV in 2016.

About Timber Kings;

The most unique log homes on earth are custom built by master log-smiths in the small town of Williams Lake, British Columbia. Each one is handcrafted on site, then taken apart, shipped around the world, and reconstructed wherever the client wants. No one else can do it like the boys at Pioneer Log Homes of British Columbia. They are "Timber Kings."