Some Stuff That You May Not Have Heard Of

So . . . today I'm doing something a little different, just listing off some of the lesser-known (I think) things that may be of interest or entertainment.  No particular theme, rant, or complaint today, just some stuff to make your Friday a little fresher.  Enjoy!

Stones, Specks, Conjured Rolex

So . . . a spiritual leader and guru died this past week.  Sathya Sai Baba was revered by millions around the world and believed to be holy and capable of miracles (one such miracle, it seems was his amassing of $8.9 billion, with a b, in net worth).  These miracles supposedly include conjuring items out of thin air, both in person and in photographic form (i.e. if you put a picture of Sai Baba on your mantle, you might find treasure there in the morning), such as rings, Rolex watches, and a holy kind of ash that he pulls from his 'fro.  By now you may be thinking that this is something of a joke, or if you haven't heard of him before (as I hadn't as recently as a couple of years ago), something I made up.  But before you dismiss Sai Baba as ridiculous, you might want to cast a more critical eye on yourself.

Sufferin' Suffrage!

So . . . we're in the home stretch of the election campaign here in the Great White North (you should take off to here, and apparently it's a beauty way to go) with decision day a week away.  Just enough time for the NDP to lose their again-too-early bump in the polls and for all those voters to run back to the Liberals.  Today I'm going to give you a bit of a grab bag of election topics that I have on my mind: suffrage, branding, and goals. 

Let My Legumes Go

So . . . it's Passover time for us Jews, that most difficult of holidays for picky eaters.  I don't like matzah (unleavened bread - and pretty much all non-Jews seem to like it, probably because they don't have to eat it) and I don't like my food options restricted either, which makes for a bad combination.  In fact, I think I prefer the 25-hour fast of Yom Kippur to the eight-day bloating of Gas-over.  Making things even more difficult is the tradition of not eating kitniyot, which is sort of a catch-all term for any food that is small and dried (think beans, rice, lentils, barley, corn etc.).  This year, I'm lifting the kitniyot ban in my house.

So Four Old White Guys Walk Into a Debate . . .

So . . . we had our debates last week, and as usual not much exciting came out of them.  I had already committed to making my Monday posts about the election campaign before I knew the debates were scheduled for Tuesday, and now I feel pretty silly writing about a current event that hasn't been current for almost a week. Oh well.  I can still snipe at the leaders (except the poor, excluded, irrelevant Elizabeth May) and give some general commentary.  This is more a post about what the debates showed us about the election than about anything specific that happened in them.

Periodic Haircuts

So . . . I got a (rather severe) haircut last week, and of course that got me thinking about Dimitri Mendeleev.  You know, the guy who came up with the periodic table of elements.  No, not because my hair is comprised of carbon and trace elements of the various minerals in my system (come back, zinc!), but because of his odd grooming habits.

Students: Can't Live With 'Em, Can't Live Without 'Em

So . . . as a university professor I have a first-hand view (or is it first-eye view?  My hand can't see!) of how students manage their post-secondary education.  And when a commentary comes along, like in the Globe and Mail this weekend, about the so-called universal right to higher education, or when a political leader proposes a plan to increase university enrolment as part of his platform, I take notice.  Because unlike many, I don't necessarily think that increasing the number of university students is necessarily a good thing.  And I don't think that post-secondary education is for everyone.

First Past the Post Post

So . . . the Canadian electoral campaign is still raging (an overstatement I know, but the 12-year-old in me gets a kick out of "raging election") with the debates scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday.  The French-language debate was supposed to be Thursday, but because more people care about the Bruins-Habs playoff game scheduled for that night, they moved the debate.  Today is part three of my election "coverage" (so quotated because I haven't really be covering the election so much as commenting on marginal issues) and the topic of the day is our electoral system. 

The Paradox of Outcomes: A Real-Life Case!

So . . . if you've been reading this blog for a little while you are undoubtedly familiar with my constant (obsessive?) interest in outcomes and chance.  Almost a year ago now I wrote this post, which used as an example the idea of entering a lottery and making the best decision (the decision that makes the most sense prior to a deciding event like a lottery drawing) and the right decision (the decision that ultimately proves most beneficial after the event).  Well, two weeks ago there was a lottery drawing that is (almost) right in line with my reasoning, and it proves to be a very difficult test case for me to defend.  But I'll try anyway.

Fear of a Black School

So . . . the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decided to quit while they were ahead and scrap plans for an "Afro-centric" high school.  The idea was the brainchild of a group within the board who had successfully started an Afro-centric elementrary school two years ago.  They wanted to build on that success (210 students with a 55 student waiting list) with the obvious next step, a high school.  This is a particularly misguided idea, for several reasons.  The story can be followed here; I'm mostly going to add commentary.

Looking for Extra-Chunky Spaghetti Sauce in Canadian Politics

So . . . it's week two of the Canadian federal campaign, and the two major parties have started promising billions of dollars that we will never, ever see.  I'm sure the minor parties have also been promising a lot, but come on, let's be honest - they will never be in power so their promises are even less meaningful than those of the Liberals and Conservatives.  And though I, like most Canadians, already know who I will be voting for; like most Canadians, I will be voting for the same party as last time (if you know me personally you can probably guess which party).  But Canadian politics has a party problem (not like that of Miley Cyrus - I don't think that Harper or Ignatieff have tried salvia), and that's what I'm discussing today.

No Foolin' Around - Help the Capital Protesters

So . . . one headline got me incensed today, more than any other.  It's about the ongoing protests in the Middle East, and I just feel like I've had enough of this.  But I really think it's starting to go too far.  The headline: "Rival Protests Fill Yemen's Capital."  I know what you're thinking: why this headline?  Why is this one the one that pushed him over the edge?  Well, you may disagree, but I believe that it's beyond the pale for protesters to have to fit into the the triangular wedge between the two upright lines of that letter.