GM steers for Wall Street
By Jason Kirby - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 0 Comments
GM was going ahead with its plan for an initial public offering, even though markets have been in free fall over fears of a return to recession
Getty Images
General Motors may make cars and trucks, but these days the most important order of business is to extract itself from state ownership. That single-minded goal appears to be behind a flurry of announcements coming out of the company’s Detroit headquarters.
Just moments after it announced strong second-quarter results—US$1.3 billion in earnings compared to a loss last year of US$13 billion—GM said its CEO, Ed Whitacre, would leave the company on Sept. 1. His replacement, the company’s fourth CEO since March 2009, will be Daniel Akerson, a managing director at private-equity firm the Carlyle Group. At the same time, GM said it was going ahead with its plan for an initial public offering, even though markets have been in free fall over fears of a return to recession.
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Flying straight for disaster
By Tom Henheffer - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2:20 PM - 0 Comments
Canadian birds are about to fly south for the winter, thousands won’t be returning
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Canadian birds are about to fly south for the winter, but thanks to the oil slick contaminating their temporary home along the Gulf of Mexico, thousands won’t be returning.
Although oil has stopped leaking from BP’s underwater Gulf pipeline, more than 1,000 km of coast and almost 20,000 acres of inland marsh have been contaminated with toxic hydrocarbons, and those numbers are expected to increase as hurricane season churns up submerged crude and spreads the greasy sheen covering wetlands. It’s a mess that’s already decimated local wildlife populations, and is now lying in wait for tens of millions of unwitting Canadian ducks, geese and other birds—including endangered white pelicans and piping plovers.
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Just gimme a second
By Julia Belluz - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments
Winnipeg traffic crusaders recently launched the Just One Second campaign
ISTOCK
Extending the amber traffic light by a second is all that is needed to cut intersection accidents and red-light violations, according to a pair of self-appointed Winnipeg traffic crusaders who recently launched the Just One Second campaign. Since 44-year-old Larry Stefanuik took early retirement from his job as a traffic cop, he and businessman Todd Dube have been on a mission to make local intersections safer places where people get fewer tickets.
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Julian Schnabel is no shrinking violet
By Joanne Latimer - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments
The notorious artist-filmmaker talks about his upcoming T.O. exhibit—and issues a smackdown
Nathaniel Welch/Corbis Outline/ Andrew Tolson
“I’ve gone vegan,” said Julian Schnabel. “It’s been three weeks.” From anyone else, that might not have been a shock. But this iconic painter and filmmaker of enormous appetites—for reading, surfing, music, fatherhood, fame—is known for his pyjama-wearing lifestyle of excess. “I need to be in good shape to deal with the pleasures and battles that life might set upon me,” explained Schnabel, 59, over the phone from the famous pink palace he built in New York’s West Village.
The 170-foot-tall Palazzo Chupi is the perfect emblem for Schnabel’s pleasures and battles: some neighbours protested because it blocked their view; some found it gaudy or thought it unseemly for an artist to dabble in real estate development, while others marvelled at its beauty or seethed with jealousy. Richard Gere bought one of the five upstairs units for a rumoured $15 million.
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Frequent diners club
By Julia Belluz - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments
Restaurant chains are rolling out airline-style rewards and points programs to fill seats
Marc Asnin/Redux
Restaurants are taking a cue from the airline industry and implementing loyalty programs they hope will lure frequent diners by offering free trips, a peek at new menu items, and entry into contests.
Starbucks customers in Calgary and across the U.S., for instance, can now get a “My Starbucks Rewards” card that gives habitual caffeinators a star with every purchase. More stars mean more benefits: refills on brewed coffee and tea, or the chance to buy rare coffee beans and trips to far-flung coffee-growing regions. Denny’s Rewards Club members get discounts on meals and a “tasty offer” on the anniversary of signing up. At Kelsey’s, eKlub participants are welcomed with a free starter, and then receive news alerts on deals, coupons and contests. The most appetizing offer, though, may come from the Outback Steakhouse, which honours its American rewards club members with a “free Aussie-Tizer” on joining and enters them into a contest for a trip to Australia and tickets to see country singer Tim McGraw.
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Canadian wounded in hostage shooting flown from Manila
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 1:53 PM - 0 Comments
Injured hijacking survivor Jason Leung flown home to Hong Kong
18-year-old Canadian Jason Leung, who was seriously injured during a bus hijacking in the Philippines this Monday, was flown from Manila to Hong Kong today. Leung suffered a serious head wound after an ex-policeman armed with an M-16 assault rifle took control of a tourist bus and went on a shooting rampage. His mother is alive and unhurt, but his father and two sisters were among the eight people who were killed by the shooter. Leung wasn’t expected to be moved so soon, but doctors said he was stable enough to return to Hong Kong. The Leung family has Chinese-Canadian citizenship and live in Hong Kong, though Jason and sister Doris were attending school in Toronto. Philippine President Benigno Aquino II addressed the media on Thursday saying that “someone will pay” for the mishandling of the hostage rescue operation.
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An important, cost-effective outrage
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 1:45 PM - 0 Comments
CBC gets hold of the RCMP report the government doesn’t think you need to see.
One section of the report states: “The program, as a whole, is an important tool for law enforcement. It also serves to increase accountability of firearm owners for their firearms.”
The report found that the cost of the program is in the range of $1.1 million to $3.6 million per year and that the Canadian Firearms Program is operating efficiently. “Overall the program is cost effective in reducing firearms related crime and promoting public safety through universal licensing of firearm owners and registration of firearms,” the report states.
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Cellphone bans aren't making the roads any safer
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 0 Comments
There’s plenty of proof that these laws won’t reduce collisions or improve driver attention
Kayte Deioma/Keystone Press Agency
Winnipeg police enjoyed a big day last month. The first day of the province’s ban on cellphone use while driving netted 109 tickets and nearly $22,000 in fines for local drivers. With this haul, Manitoba joined most of Canada in banning cellphones in the name of road safety. Despite all this popularity, however, there’s plenty of proof that these laws won’t reduce collisions or improve driver attention.
To date, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia have all passed laws forbidding hand-held cellphone use by drivers. Alberta is expected to follow suit this fall with a proposed law that goes even further—outlawing grooming, writing, sketching and reading while driving as well—in order to cut down on distracted driving.
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Broccoli can help fight stomach problems: study
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:36 PM - 0 Comments
Vegetable fibre boosts defences against stomach infection
In a new study from the University of Liverpool, scientists looked at how vegetable fibre could influence the passage of damaging bacteria through cells inside the gut, the BBC reports. The study found that the fibre seemed to up our natural defence against stomach infection. Fibres from plantains (a large banana) and broccoli were especially helpful, although a common stabilizer added to processed foods had the opposite effect. Experts are now looking at whether broccoli and banana could be used to help treat patients with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that leads to symptoms like diarrhea and abdominal pain.
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RCMP report: long-gun registry cost effective, efficient
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:33 PM - 0 Comments
Unreleased report has been in government’s hands since February
CBC News has learned that an RCMP report evaluating Canada’s long-gun registry has concluded the program is cost effective, efficient and an important tool for law enforcement. The findings of the report have been in the hands of the government since February, but have not yet been released. The report found that the Canadian Firearms Program is operating efficiently at a cost of $1.1 million to $3.6 million per year, and contains over 40 pages of analysis of the effectiveness of the firearms registry in both urban and rural areas. The Conservatives have denounced the long-gun registry, which was introduced by the Liberal government in 1995, and a private member’s bill being considered this fall would scrap it entirely. The RCMP has not given a firm date for the report’s release.
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Epidural offers protection during labour
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:29 PM - 0 Comments
Procedure may cut risk of incontinence in later life
In a new study of nearly 400 women, researchers from the Nepean Clinical School of Medicine in Sydney, Australia found that one in ten women who had vaginal births suffered damage to their levator muscles, which hold up internal organs, and one-third of those who had a forceps delivery experienced some muscle trauma, the BBC reports. Pelvic muscle injury incurred during childbirth can be a key risk factor for organ prolapse. This condition occurs when pelvic muscles are so weak that the organs they support, like the bladder and uterus, begin to drop, and symptoms can include sexual problems, urinary and faecal incontinence, or chronic constipation. Surgery is generally the best option. Women who’ve given birth once are four times more likely to required hospital attention for this condition than those who have none, while those with two vaginal births are eight times more likely. In the study of nearly 400 women, researchers found that those who had an epidural, a spinal analgesia that blocks contraction pain, had a lower risk of damage.
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Google offers Canadians free calls from G-mail
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:24 PM - 0 Comments
International calls as low as 2 cents per minute
Unstoppable Google will go head to head with online telephone service provider Skype by offering free calls from any Gmail account to others in Canada and the U.S., it announced Wednesday. The service will make its money by charging for calls to international destinations including Europe, China and Japan, with rates starting as low as 2 cents per minute. People will be able to receive calls on their PC for free as well, if they sign up for a free telephone number provided by Google. Skype, owned by eBay, has thus far been the leader in internet voice services with 8.1 million paid subscribers and a profit of $13 million in the first half of this year.
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N.L. will not help feds with AbitibiBowater payout: Williams
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 0 Comments
Feds settled case for $130-million after Williams seized assets in 2008
Newfoundland premier Danny Williams—who seized assets from newsprint maker AbitibiBowater in 2008 after the company closed its struggling mill—says his province will not help the federal government pay a $130-million settlement to the company. AbitibiBowater is a Montreal-based newsprint company registered in Deleware, which made it eligible to sue Canada for $500 million in damages after Williams expropriated timber, hydro and water rights, plus the mill itself. Williams says he’s “very, very pleased,” to hear of the settlement and says he does not regret his decision to take back timber and hydro rights, although he says he should not have expropriated the mill itself. It’s unclear if the federal government will be able to claw back any money from the province.
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Is this art to die for?
By Julia Belluz - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 0 Comments
Grim murals in Dostoevskaya station could make people wary about riding the subway
Valery Sharifulin/ITAR-TASS/CP
Can grim murals on a subway platform prompt suicide? This is the question Russian psychologists have been grappling with since this summer’s opening of the Dostoevskaya station in Moscow.
Commuters who pass through the underground stop get a glimpse of a grim-faced Fyodor Dostoevsky, and grey-scale mosaics depicting scenes from the 19th-century writer’s works. There’s the brooding portrayal of Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment, as he’s about to implant an axe into a woman’s head. Another shows a character with a gun to his temple from Dostoevsky’s novel The Demons. These images, say health professionals, could make people wary about riding the subway, and encourage violent behaviour. “The deliberate dramatism will create a certain negative atmosphere,” remarked one prominent Russian psychologist, “and attract people with an unnatural psyche.”
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Her Majesty enacts as follows
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:17 PM - 0 Comments
The Liberals have set out legislation they will propose when Parliament returns next month that would be effectively enshrine a mandatory long-form census. The full text of the proposed bill is here. The Statistics Act would also be amended to eliminate the threat of prison for non-compliance.
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Kim Jong Il makes second trip to China this year
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:09 PM - 0 Comments
Leader is said to be travelling with son to prepare transfer of power
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il made his second trip this year to powerful ally China, his country’s biggest source of diplomatic and financial support. This is his second trip to the country, just three months after the last visit. These trips are deemed unusual given that the reclusive leader rarely travels. But his stop in Jilin city in Jilin province in northeastern China was confirmed by two teachers at the Yuwen Middle School. “He definitely came over. But I’m not sure if his son was with him or what time he came,” said one teacher. Another teacher said Kim visited the school in the morning for about 20 minutes. Kim is rumoured to be travelling with a son to consult with Chinese officials on plans to transfer power to the heir apparent. This comes ahead of a meeting next month that may settle his succession and grant the son a key party position.
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The great typo-eradication road trip
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
Plus, a grandfather’s secret Nazi past, a short history of celebrity, strange tales of American gas chambers, the diary of ‘Little Edie,’ and the upside of irrationality
THE GREAT TYPO HUNT
Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
Do misplaced apostrophes send you into apoplexies? Misspelled words have you reaching for the smelling salts (and then the dictionary)? Never fear, fellow word nerds, we have new heroes in our midst!After a five-year college reunion led to some soul-searching, Deck decided the keen eye for errors he’d developed as an editor at Rocks & Minerals magazine could be put to better use. And so, the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) was formed. Armed with a typo correction kit (Wite-Out, Sharpies, chalk), Deck and Herson set out on a 2008 road trip around the U.S., intent on righting wronged words everywhere. For 2½ months, they sought out typos in grocery stores, menus and road signs, making fixes like chalking over the stray apostrophe in a billboard beseeching tourists to “bring your camera’s,” or convincing a store owner offering “Hooded Sweatts” to discard that extra “t.”
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Chilean miners may be trapped until December
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:48 AM - 0 Comments
Clothes, medicine and games sent through borehole to men facing long wait
The Chilean miners who have been trapped underground for three weeks have been informed that they may not see the light of day before Christmas. The health minister, Jaime Mañalich, said the 33 men—who had not previously been told how long the operation could take—had accepted the news calmly during talks with the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera. Rescue workers have also finished a second narrow borehole, which has the diameter of a grapefruit, and will be dedicated to channeling drinking water to the miners and keeping communications flowing. Though Mañalich said the men are still in good shape, rescuers are trying to keep the miners mentally and physically fit by sending clothes, medicine and games down the 700-metre borehole. The men will also be given antidepressants. “We expect that after the initial euphoria of being found, we will likely see a period of depression and anguish,” Mañalich told reporters. “We are preparing medication for them. It would be naive to think they can keep their spirits up like this.”
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Conservatives slammed by science journal over census scrapping
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:39 AM - 0 Comments
‘Nature’ says move is part of global attack on census-taking
An editorial in the Aug. 26 issue of the science journal ‘Nature’ says the Conservatives’ decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census is plain wrong, and part of a global attack on census-taking. “Census-taking around the world is under assault, thanks to concerns about privacy, cost and response rates,” write Stephen Fienberg and Kenneth Prewitt, the latter the former director of the U.S. Census Bureau. “Most scientists and policy-makers worldwide fail to appreciate what is at stake until it is too late to repair the damage of short-sighted decisions.” The authors of the article say government statistics are the backbone of many policy decisions and research studies, adding: “This decision will lower the quality and raise the cost of information on nearly every issue before Canada’s government.” The Conservatives have defended their decision by saying no one should face jail for refusing to answer intrusive questions. But many others—including provinces, municipalities, charities, and social scientists which rely on census data for planning—have come out against the move.
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100-year-old scotch, on ice
By Josh Dehaas - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments
Five crates of Mackinlay’s and two cases of brandy were found in 2006, buried in the Antarctic
Getty Images
After a day of dodging icebergs, an Antarctic explorer could be excused for warming up with a glass of scotch (hold the rocks, please). Mackinlay’s was the drink of choice for Sir Ernest Shackleton during his famed expedition at the turn of the 20th century.
Five crates of Mackinlay’s and two cases of brandy were found in 2006, buried in the ice beneath the hut at McMurdo Sound where Shackleton and his crew wintered during the Nimrod expedition. After convincing the 12 Antarctic Treaty nations to allow researchers to drill through the ice, the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust extracted one case in May. It spent several weeks defrosting at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch before it was cracked open last week to reveal 11 bottles wrapped in paper and cushioned by straw. (One bottle was missing, and another was half-full, suggesting one of the explorers helped himself.)
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Canada to open new Arctic station
By macleans.ca - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:57 AM - 0 Comments
Harper announces plans to set up a research station at Cambridge Bay
Stephen Harper has announced that his government plans to open up a new research station in the Arctic. Analysts say that the facility, planned to be located at Cambridge Bay, will bolster Canada’s sovereignty claims to disputed parts of the Arctic territory. The station will be a “world-class, year-round, multidisciplinary facility exploring the cutting-edge of Arctic science” said Harper in a statement, reported the BBC. The facility is part of Harper’s new four-part strategy in the Arctic, which also includes protecting the region’s ecosystem, developing a strong Northern economy and encouraging local governance.
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Front-row seat to an execution
By Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
Capital punishment in Japan it seems to be growing in popularity
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg/Getty
While the death penalty is considered archaic in many countries, in Japan it seems to be growing in popularity. Last week, a poll revealed that 75.9 per cent of the public supports capital punishment.
The poll comes on the heels of two executions in late July, the first time the death penalty was used since the Democratic Party assumed power in September 2009.
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Japan puts the elderly to work
By Joseph Coleman - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
Solution to an aging society: out of the hammock and back in the office
Jeremy Sutton-Hibb/ Joseph Coleman
Kato Manufacturing, in Nakatsugawa, in central Japan, is hardly a relaxing place. Generators grind, the air pounds with the slam of steel presses, and hundreds of pieces of metal rattle as they’re shuffled and arranged and transported on wheeled carts. In the middle of the racket, 73-year-old Hisao Kitawaki works steadily, showing a new employee how to guide a steel basket filled with grease-laden parts—for autos, airplanes, hairdryers—into a cauldron of cleaning solution. He uses a white towel to pat the sweat from his face; steam clouds his glasses.
A steel-products factory is an unlikely hangout for a man his age. But you won’t catch Kitawaki complaining—he’s exactly where he wants to be. Eight years ago, just as he was growing bored with the hobby-filled life of a pensioner, he saw an advertisement Kato put in the paper looking for special kinds of workers: old ones. “The only condition was that you had to be at least 65 years old,’’ Kitawaki says. “Okay, I thought, I meet that condition. The timing was perfect.’’
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The 'heart' of Wasaga
By Julia Belluz - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
Paul Vozoris the “wonderful heart of Wasaga Beach”
Getty Images
Paul “The Blanket Man” Vozoris was a local fixture in Wasaga Beach, Ont. With a cigarette dangling from his lips or between his tanned, rough fingers, Vozoris would wander around the small community—snow or sunshine—in his worn cut-off jeans, layers of blankets cinched with a woven belt, and a Santa Claus beard.
Exactly how he ended up in Wasaga was a mystery. Some speculated his family was murdered; others thought his mind snapped because his wife was killed in a car crash. But the truth emerged late last month after he collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of 64.
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Stephen Harper moving in relation to a rhythm
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:37 AM - 0 Comments
As this Canadian Press dispatche details at some length, last night the Prime Minister danced. Here is the video.
This, of course, follows two recorded instances this summer—see here and here—of Michael Ignatieff dancing.
No instances of Jack Layton dancing have been reported in recent months. But for the purposes of equal time, here is video of him performing what is described as an “Inuit square dance” and here is video of him performing Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy.
