March 2012
12 posts
The Trouble with the 99% →
Very well written contrast between the rhetoric of “the 99%” vs. traditional class analysis.
February 2012
21 posts
Wealth Linked to Bad Behavior →
Recent studies where participants were tested on everything from cheating at dice to cutting people off in traffic finds that wealthy individuals are more likely to lie, cheat, and steal candy from children. (Bloomberg)
Montreal goes after the Homeless →
Over the past decade, police tickets written to homeless people in Montreal have gone up six times over, and homeless people (2% of the population) now make up for a quarter of its tickets.
Shoppers Fight Cops for Nikes →
Crowds awaiting new limited-edition sneakers charged a Foot Locker in Orlando, prompting a clash with shield-bearing police. Kinda gives new meaning to that hold Nike spoof ad, “just riot”…
Putin Planning Biggest Military Buildup Since Cold... →
Fearing a war with the west, Putin is calling for a dramatic re-armament program which includes hundreds of nuclear missiles.
Criminalizing Tardiness →
Los Angeles high school students are now fighting a new law which allows police to fine kids for being late for class, often costing upward of a thousand dollars, and sometimes ending in handcuffs…
"Vic wants to know you. Let's get to know Vic" →
Public Safety Minister and anti-privacy campaigner came under attack this week as a Twitter user named “Vikileaks” exposed the sordid details of his recent divorce.
Lockdown: The Coming War on General-Purpose... →
A new piece from Corey Doctorow on the future of open computing.
The superstore that knows your deepest secrets... →
An embarrassing tale of modern consumer tracking. Engineers working for Target Inc, found a way to track purchases and determine when customers are pregnant, in order to send them coupons almost immediately upon finding out. This came as something of a surprise to the father of one teenage girl…
New Hamilton Blog: Steel City Rising Against... →
A new blog dedicated to confronting poverty in Hamilton. A must-read to understand these issues.
Nobody Cared, Nobody Did Anything →
A statement regarding the normalization of violence against indigenous women in Canada. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Keystone XL - The Bad Idea that Just Keeps Coming... →
Senate lawmakers have now attempted to sneak the Keystone XL pipeline from the Tar Sands into an unrelated highway bill to avoid Pres. Obama’s recent rejection.
Canada ahead in low corporate taxes →
A new study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers finds that Canada has significantly lower (and falling) corporate tax rates than most G8 nations. So much for Soviet Canuckistan.
Megaupload shutdown fails to stop pirates →
A new study reveals that the Shutdown of Megaupload/Megaideo, one of the most successful streaming sites online managed to slow file-sharing for roughly a day, with sites like Putlocker quadrupling their traffic by the following evening.
Occupy and the Hostile Media →
Another excellent article from Boots Riley of The Coup.
McGill students →
Jilted students at McGill University in Montreal have taken over parts of an administration after repeated conflicts with the management, particularly the office of Morton Mendleson, where thery’re holding a “surprise resignation party” for him.
Labour Divided over Keystone Pipeline →
Though Obama has been attacked by a number of unions for his rejection of the infamous tar sands’ pipeline, another group (representing a larger membership) has been vocal in opposing the project, while others (AFL-CIO) are still neutral.
Billionaires funding Geoengineering... →
Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Tar Sands corporations are now funding a group of scientists’ lobbying efforts on behalf of geoengineering to prevent catastrophic climate change. Anything to avoid talking about the economy I suppose…
Wall Street, the NYPD and the Manhattan Spy Centre →
In what might be the most comprehensive (illegal) domestic surveillance effort ever, Lower Manhattan’s camera grid is now tied to a single location, where the NYPD and representatives of Wall Street firms have the ability to search records by any combination of physical characteristics. And no, I’m not kidding
BMW "adopts" deadly cold spell →
As part of a creative advertising campaign, BMW took part in a program from Berlin’s Free University to “adopt a vortex” and follow the weather pattern as it moved. Unfortunately, the vortex they chose has now killed over a hundred people in a deadly East European cold spell. Remember, folks, climate change is brought to you by car companies.
FBI Looking to track Social Media →
The FBI is looking for help building software to track social media in real time to track events as they happen or “potential threats” even before the fact. Scared yet?
