Social Order & Disorder – Page 17

Please preserve the CBC: no more cuts!

2012-03-28 2012-03-28 Arts / Canadian Politics / Media Issues2 Comments

Canadians who care about media content, journalistic integrity and fair reporting are anxiously watching for tomorrow’s federal budget announcements. Big cuts to the CBC are expected, according to this Huffington Post story: Cuts to CBC funding expected in the upcoming federal budget could have dramatic implications, touching everything from popular television programming to foreign news bureaus and eliminating hundreds of jobs, observers predict. The CBC’s own story about the predicted cuts doesn’t mention the CBC, but it does say, “…many public servants in Ottawa are … click below for more ↓

So many bad quotes, so little time

2012-03-20 2012-03-20 Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & SocialLeave a comment

I was browsing through my blog posts today and found I have actually written about improperly attributed quotations on the Net nine times since I first started blogging back in March, 2005. On my old Mumpsimus blog, I posted two pieces about these bad memes: A quote misattributed to Henry David Thoreau, November, 2010. A quote misattributed to William Shakespeare, January, 2009. On this new blog, which I launched in mid_December, 2011, I have written seven pieces about bad Internet quotes, starting with the Slowly … click below for more ↓

James Miles? Goethe? Sorry: this quote is from Malcolm Forbes

2012-03-18 2012-03-18 Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & SocialOne Comment

Another New Age quote showed up on Facebook today, one of those warn-n-fuzzy, touchy-feely sayings that either make you gag or go weak at the knees. This one is ascribed to James D. Miles. Miles was, according to answers.com (a site of dubious factuality and not terribly reliable at the best of timns), “…an associate professor of Psychology at Purdue University.” The author of this answer claimed Miles was “…quoting the German poet, novelist, playwright, scientist and philosopher Johann Wofgang von Goethe (1749-1832).” Miles is, … click below for more ↓

Does This Really Sound Like Sitting Bull?

2012-03-18 2021-08-28 Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & Social3 Comments

Another quote meme going around on the Internet claims to be from Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake), the famous Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux chief. A fascinating man in a difficult time, and a source of inspiration today. He was brave, intelligent and, from all accounts, wise. So when I read the quote below, I was torn. It’s a good comment, one that sounds like it should come from a wise man. But was that wise man really Sitting Bull? Or perhaps these words are from someone else. … click below for more ↓

Crystal crazy: self-professed psychics on Facebook

2012-03-17 2012-03-17 Atheism & Spirituality / Memes; Internet & Social / Science & Technology2 Comments

The Internet has provided a virtual continent for the colonies of faith healers, psychics, astrologers, UFO hunters, ghost and haunting sightings, crypto-zoologists, promoters of angels, spirits, demons, auras, and a wealth of pseudoscience and claptrap. In a culture where the critical thinking, quest of knowledge and skepticism that characterized the Enlightenment have given way to superstition and fundamentalism, the Net has proven a rich source of believers and followers for the charlatans and hucksters. Facebook and Youtube combine to make the Alexandria Library for the … click below for more ↓

Nope, this quote is not from Plato

2012-03-04 2022-04-23 Memes; Internet & Social5 Comments

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Seems like a wise thing to say. And I wish Plato had said it — it would have saved me a lot of time today. I spent many hours today putting together a quotation widget for this blog and trying to ascertain every quote I included came from a respectable, creditable source. Most were fairly easy to confirm, but others … click below for more ↓

Not a John Lennon quote… just another bad meme

2012-02-28 2015-11-02 Arts / Memes; Internet & SocialOne Comment

Another unsourced, mis-attributed quote is going the rounds, found as are so many on Facebook, this one turning itself into another of those annoying, unsourced Internet memes that people love to share: “When I was five years old, my Mom told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life.” … click below for more ↓

It wasn’t Einstein who said it…

2012-02-25 2012-02-25 Arts / Atheism & Spirituality / Books & Reviews / Memes; Internet & Social5 Comments

Yet another incorrectly attributed quotation is being passed around the Internet, this time on Facebook. This one is, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” A saccharine, touchy-feely, warm-puppy quote that appeals to some who take comfort in them, but Einstein never said that. According to Wikiquote’s page on Einstein, This gets almost 500k hits on google, but as far as I can … click below for more ↓

Why not a Napoleon theme park?

2012-02-18 2012-02-18 History & Biography / Personal Reminiscences / Urban Design & GrowthLeave a comment

There’s a sarcastic, somewhat-tongue-in-cheek commentary in the Guardian this week, called, “Why not have a Napoleon theme park?” In it, Agnès C. Poirier editorializes on a recent proposal by a French MP to build a theme park in France dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. She writes, Abroad, observers could be forgiven for almost choking on hearing this news: why not a Stalin or a Kim Jong-il theme park too? That made me choke, almost pushing my half-swallowed tea through my nose. Imaginations must run very high … click below for more ↓

What Shall We Do With the Mountain View?

2012-02-14 2012-02-14 Collingwood / Urban Design & Growth2 Comments

Here’s a new song for Collingwood, sung to the tune of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? Unbeknownst to council, the town wants to own the Mountain View Hotel for $1.9 million. This little-known fact appeared in the 600-plus page budget document without any fanfare. or even any other sort of notice. You’d have to dig through page after page of mind-numbing arrays of figures to find it. Normally, when the municipality wants to buy property, we go in camera to hear a … click below for more ↓

Collingwood’s population on the rise, faster than Canada’s

2012-02-08 2012-02-08 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Urban Design & Growth2 Comments

Statistics Canada has released some of the key data data from its 2011 Census. In the five years since our last census (2006), Canada has grown in population size almost 6% to 33,476,688. That’s ten times larger than we were in 1861. Once again, our growth rate was the highest among G8 countries. According to the StatsCan analysis of the data, “every province and most territories saw its population increase between 2006 and 2011.” However, it notes that, “The rate of population growth increased in … click below for more ↓

Bad Lao Tzu meme adds to growing list of mis-identified quotes online

2012-02-07 2012-03-18 Atheism & Spirituality / Memes; Internet & Social / Personal Reminiscences / Religion / Science & Technology

This bad meme is going the Internet rounds: “If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.” Lao Tzu Well, although deep – if a bit saccharine – it’s not from the Tao Teh Ching, the only work that the Old Master (the literal translation of his … click below for more ↓

Why Admiral Collingwood should go ahead

2012-02-05 2012-02-05 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Urban Design & Growth5 Comments

Juxtaposition. That’s the issue Collingwood Council has to wrestle with, Monday: what effect will the juxtaposition of the proposed development’s size and height have on the existing, smaller buildings? Some people are afraid our existing heritage buildings will be diminished by this project. Last week I was in Toronto. At the corner of York and Wellington Streets, I saw the Toronto Club; a beautifully preserved, late 19th-century red-brick, three-storey building. It’s in the, heart of financial district, surrounded by tall, modern skyscrapers, some 30 or … click below for more ↓

Make it happen, crowd tells council about Admiral Collingwood

2012-01-29 2012-01-30 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal Reminiscences / Urban Design & GrowthOne Comment

Four hundred people, perhaps more, packed the Collingwood Legion, Sunday afternoon, to support the Admiral Collingwood development, at Hume and Hurontario Streets. It was arguably the most important public meeting of the last 18 months. The clear message, both from speakers at the rally and audience members, was “make it happen.” So many people packed the Legion hall that it was standing room only, with some forced to watch and listen from the alcove. The rally was called by a group of citizens to counter … click below for more ↓