Ken Follett on Fall of Giants and the rest of his Century Trilogy
By Patricia Treble - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - 0 Comments
‘The 20th century is the most dramatic and violent period in the history of the human race’
Ken Follett doesn’t need to write another word. He’s sold more than 100 million copies of best sellers such as The Pillars of the Earth, Eye of the Needle, and World Without End. But like so many popular historical novelists, he just can’t stop. Now he’s back with a sprawling epic, Fall of Giants. The 985-page book is the first volume in his Century Trilogy, centred on five interrelated families at the beginning of the 20th century. As if that wasn’t enough, executive producers Ridley and Tony Scott have transformed his Gothic cathedral-building novel Pillars into a US$40-million miniseries that is garnering boffo ratings around the world.
Q: The Century Trilogy is a massive project. Did you know that going into it?
A: Yes. I thought about it a lot. I’m 61 years old, if I’m going to do something really, really ambitious, this is probably the moment to do it?
Q: Why centre your book in this era?
A: The 20th century is the most dramatic and violent period in the history of the human race. We killed more people in the 20th century than in any previous century, in the trenches of World War I, in the Soviet Union under Stalin, in Germany under the Nazis, Spain under Franco. There was World War II and the bombing of Dresden by the British and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a horrible century and yet it is also the century of liberty.
Very few countries were democratic before the First World War. In Britain in 1900, fewer than a quarter of the adult population had the vote. None of the women had the vote in any of these countries, so that’s 50 per cent of the people who weren’t allowed to take part in democracy. And the franchise was gradually extended to working class men, so democracy really only had a toehold in the world in 1900. Now we take it for granted, certainly in all the countries we think are “civilized.” And that’s a big contrast with what we did in terms of killing each other.
Q: Had you done anything this big about this century?
A: No, certainly not. This is going to be a million words before it’s done.
Q: I noticed it was not quite 1,000 pages. Did you just not want that fourth number on the pages.
A: [laughing] No, I was just thinking about telling the story.
Q: Why these particular characters?
A: I was looking for people who could be involved with great events of the period. So there had to be several people fighting in the trenches of WWI, someone fighting in the Russian Revolution in an active way, there had to be at least one suffragette campaigning for votes for women, there had to be somebody taking part in American politics of the time. The characters grew out of the history. Then I had to make more than just participants in history, it isn’t a history book, it’s a novel. The foreground is their personal dramas, love and hate and making money and losing money and get married and all the things that we always write novels about.
Q: Who’s your favourite character?
A: I was thinking the other day, the character who’s most like me is Maude. Because she’s not directly involved in politics, but she’s very close to the heart of things. She talks to everybody and she knows what’s going on. And I’ve been like that for the last 13 years. My wife has been a member of Parliament, my friends have all been ministers in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. But I’ve not been in politics, I’ve been the person they poured out their troubles to.
Q: This is book one of an opus. Did you map everything out in advance?
A: I had a rough idea of the whole thing. I spent about six months working on the whole concept, but I decided not to map all three books in detail in advance because it would have taken me years. I’m now writing the first draft of book two. I’ve done the plan and have done about 100 pages.
Q: What is your writing technique?
A: I write pretty much every day, when I’m not doing this. I like to start early in the morning, ideally at 7 o’clock in the morning and work until five. I do that Monday to Saturday at the moment because these are long books and if I don’t work six days a week it will take me even longer to write.
Q: Do you have a deadline for the second book?
A: It is essentially a self-imposed deadline. I want to publish book two in 2012 and book three in 2014.
Q: Do you take any time off?
A: A little, but I’m not attached to time off. I really enjoy my work. Occasionally I’ll take a couple of weeks off. If my grandchildren come to visit me, I don’t work all day. One has one’s priorities, after all.
Q: Because you have a rough outline, have you ever gotten stuck in your books?
A: I haven’t got stuck for a long time. There are moments when I come to something rather glib in my outline that says “they quarrel” or “they fall in love” and I’ve really got to wrack my brains to make something of that very brief statement.
Q: The love affair between Maude and Walter is particularly strong? Will they be in the second one?
A: Most of the characters in the first book appear in the second book but as more background characters. The focus is going to be on their children. Maude and Walter have two children and they are principal characters in book two?
Q: Is it going to go to 2000?
A: I think I’m going to end it in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think that is the symbolic end of the 20th century.
Q: The focus is more the Western world?
A: It is really about Western civilization, though of course other countries are involved. Clearly when we get to book two, the involvement with Japan becomes extremely dramatic to put it at its mildest.
Q: The Pillars of the Earth miniseries just aired on the Movie Network. It came out 21 years after the book. Why did you wait so long?
A: I insisted when selling the rights that it be at least six hours of television. Or even eight. That was a deal breaker. We had a couple of sets of quite serious negotiations with producers, but they wanted to do it as a four-hour miniseries or even a two hour movie of the week. Although I’ve never imposed restrictions on other books, with Pillars of the Earth, I said I’m not willing to sell the rights unless they guarantee at least six hours.
Then Ridley Scott came along and said “you’re quite right, it has to be eight hours of television.”
Q: Did you have any input into the miniseries?
A: They sent me the script and it was very good. I was very pleased and relieved. I didn’t suggest any changes. So my main involvement was playing a small part in the series, playing an Anglo-Norman merchant.
Q: If you talk about Pillars being a big miniseries, then the Century Trilogy would be the miniseries to end all miniseries. Do you think you’ll see it on the screen?
A: I’ve been talking to the producer of The Pillars of the Earth about it, and they’ve now optioned World Without End and I had dinner with her in Paris on Tuesday—excuse me for being swanky—and we were kicking ideas around about how she could do the trilogy.
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Atheists know more about god than believers do: survey
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 4:36 PM - 0 Comments
Conscious rejection of faith leads to knowing more, says researcher
Atheist and agnostic Americans know more about religion than their religious fellow citizens, according to a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. A survey found that self-identified non-believers answered questions about Christianity with better results than participants who identified as religious. For example, a majority of Protestants did not know who started the Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther), and 40 per cent of Catholics didn’t understand the concept of transubstantiation. Asked for his comment, Reverend Adam Hamilton told the LA Times, “I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it.”
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More useful idiots
By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 2:41 PM - 0 Comments
About 100 American “progressives” met and dined with the decidedly fascist president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his visit to the United Nations in New York this month. Among those attending were former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and former attorney general Ramsey Clark. Here’s one guest’s account of the dinner. Continue…
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How I Met Your Mother Without Laugh Track (Literally)
By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 1:58 PM - 0 Comments
Because canned laughter is mostly a thing of the past, most “without laugh track” clips are really nothing of the kind (just audience laughter muted). But this extended scene from last night’s How I Met Your Mother actually is without the laugh track, provided by an audience watching the finished episode. So here’s what it’s like.
[vodpod id=Video.4534314&w=640&h=385&fv=]
The actors on How I Met Your Mother don’t pause for laughter, which is why the show gets fewer “laugh track” accusations than shows that don’t have post-dubbed laughter: the audience laughter has to be dubbed in at a low level so as not to drown out the lines, so many people don’t notice it. Still, even in one unedited shot with no “coverage,” you can sort of see why the show still uses the track: it’s not that it’s not funny without it, just that the camera format and lighting has a somewhat spooky empty-studio feel without the presence of the laughter. On a single-camera show, the director and cinematographer use the lighting and camera angles to create atmosphere and avoid the feeling that the characters are just on a studio set. But on HIMYM, a set just looks like a set, and the laughter provides the sense of atmosphere that the mise-en-scène cannot.
Also, since I won’t get another chance to use this: Ben Vereen was last night’s HIMYM guest. An hour later, Charlie Sheen was on the same network. That’s right, Charlie Sheen and Ben Vereen on the same network on the same night. Pinky and the Brain fans will know why this is is significant. For the rest, just google “Charlie Sheen, Ben Vereen, shrink to the size of a lima bean.”
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Court strikes down prostitution laws
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 1:52 PM - 0 Comments
Ban on sex trade puts prostitutes in danger, says Ontario court
A ruling by Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has effectively struck down Canada’s ban on prostitution. “These laws, individually and together,” wrote Justice Susan Himel in the landmark decision, “force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” The ruling, which had been on reserve for nearly a year, was prompted by a case in which three sex trade workers argued the laws forbidding prostitution force sex workers onto the street and expose them to violence.
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Conservatives take power in New Brunswick
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 1:44 PM - 0 Comments
Tory leader David Alward elected with overwhelming majority
David Alward, leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives, was elected with a strong majority government in Monday’s provincial election. Alward will lead 42 Tory MLAs compared to 13 Liberals, handily beating outgoing Liberal premier Shawn Graham. The Tories will now be expected to realize of campaign promises that include balancing the budget in four years—the province has a $749-million deficit —while simultaneously freezing property task assessments for seniors and freezing NB power rates for three years. Alward has also promised to reduce the number of cabinet ministers from 20 plus the premier to 15 plus the premier. Alward will be sworn in on October 12.
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Canadians evenly split when it comes to the oilsands: Poll
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 1:40 PM - 0 Comments
Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba most opposed to oilsands
According to a new Ipsos Reid poll released to CBC News, Canadians are evenly split on the issue of oilsands development in Alberta. To the statement “while there are some risks to the environment with this development, the need for energy in Canada outweighs those risks,” 51 per cent of those surveyed agreed, while 49 per cent of Canadians agreed with the sentiment that “while there is a need for energy in Canada, it does not outweigh the environmental risks with this development.” Interestingly, the country was not divided along East-West lines about this subject. Residents of Atlantic Canada (64 per cent), Alberta (62 per cent) and Ontario (58 per cent) are most likely to agree that the need for energy outweighs the environmental risks. Residents of Quebec (71 per cent) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (both 60 per cent) are more likely to think that the environmental risks outweigh energy needs. Also, 22 per cent of Canadians who have heard about oilsands development either don’t know or don’t care enough to determine whether or not it’s a good thing or a bad thing.
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Russian president fires mayor of Moscow
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 1:25 PM - 0 Comments
Local mayor was closely associated with Putin
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has fired his longtime political nemesis, Moscow major Yuri Luzhkov. One of the last of the Yeltsin guard, Luzhkov has ruled Moscow since 1992 and is closely associated with Russian PM Vladimir Putin. Medvedev seized his opportunity after Lezhkov publicly criticized a decision of his. Following a highly publicized dispute, Medvedev announced from China that he was dismissing the mayor. Boris N. Nemtsov, a member of Russia’s democratic opposition, told the Washington Post the decision to can Luzhkov “means that Medvedev has a chance to be a real president.”
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Will Bruce Power send nuclear shipments across Great Lakes?
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:49 PM - 0 Comments
Company wants to send radioactive material to Sweden
A Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing is underway into a request by Bruce Power—an Ontario nuclear power plant—for permission to ship radioactive waste through the Great Lakes and across the Atlantic Ocean for processing in Sweden. The waste in question involves 16 school bus-sized radiation-contaminated steam generators. At the hearing, the risks that come with shipping radioactive waste through the Great Lakes will be considered. If approved, Bruce Power will have a Swedish firm reprocess and remove the non-radioactive parts and concentrate the remainder, said Duncan Hawthorne, the utility’s chief executive officer. But those who live along the waterways–including 40 million Americans and Canadians who take their fresh water from the Great Lakes–are concerned about contamination in the event
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'With this luck came great responsibility'
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:47 PM - 0 Comments
With little more than two days remaining in her mandate, Michaelle Jean addressed a farewell reception on Parliament Hill a short time ago.
Breaking down solitudes, according to my motto, ending isolation and building on our desire to live together: these were and remain the objectives of the governor general who stands before you today, a woman born in a country where the social foundations had collapsed, where power was exercised brutally to the detriment of all, a woman who was extraordinarily lucky to be able to pursue her dreams in a country where anything is possible, our country.
And with this luck came great responsibility. The responsibility to spread hope and, as much as possible, give it the means to be realized.
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RIM announces the Playbook
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:46 PM - 0 Comments
New tablet expected to rival Apple’s iPad
RIM has finally revealed its answer to Apple’s iPad: the Playbook. The tablet was unveiled the company’s developers conference in San Francisco on Monday. RIM’s tablet will be the first business-centric device to enter the market. Analysts say that by emphasizing its business potential, the Waterloo-based company has made a smart move. The playbook will have a 18 cm screen with two cameras to enable video conferencing. It will not use the current Blackberry OS, but a custom one developed by QNX, which was recently acquired by RIM. It is expected to be commercially available by 2011.
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A new leader for North Korea?
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:43 PM - 0 Comments
Kim Jong-Il’s youngest son appointed general
Kim Jong-Il’s son Kim Jong-un was appointed a four-star general at North Korea’s biggest political gathering in three decades. A TV broadcast from the country also noted that Kim Jong-il had been reappointed as general secretary of the Workers Party, which can be read as an “expression of [the] absolute support and trust” the people had in him. Dr Kongdan Oh of the Brookings Institute said, “He will be the crown prince. That’s it. There is no doubt.” But she added: “The father provides a halo effect – the question is what happens when Kim Jong-il dies. That will be an interesting time.” Other analysts, however, are still uncertain whether the younger Kim will actually lead the country after his father’s death, and if so how independent he would be.
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The Strange Magic of a TV Flop
By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:42 PM - 0 Comments
Lone Star. I mentioned it in a couple of previous posts, how the premiere was an epic disaster despite great reviews. The creator, Kyle Killen, led an internet campaign to save the show, encouraging as many people as possible to tune in for the second episode (which almost didn’t air because the ratings for the pilot were so bad). And now we know that the ratings for the second episode went down a bit, as second episodes often do, and that a number of people who stuck around to watch it were tuning out in the second half-hour. The main question at this point, unfortunately, is when Fox will shut down production and whether we’ll get to see the episodes that have been produced.Update: And it’s gone. Canceled after two episodes. Fox can’t actually be blamed for this decision, since they had no choice. The key question about any show’s survival is whether it’s doing better than what the network could replace it with. (This is what keeps many low-rated NBC shows on the air, that they do just enough numbers that the network is in doubt about whether it could find something that would do better.) Almost anything would do better in that time slot than Lone Star has, sadly but true.
Some have wondered whether there was any point in fans getting involved in a save-our-show campaign for a show that was essentially doomed. I think this misses the point, though: save-our-show campaigns are only partly about saving a show. Yes, people do it because they like a show, or in this case because they liked the pilot and thought it would make a good show. But it doesn’t really matter if the campaign has a chance of working or not, and it really shouldn’t matter, because it’s not like an election — you don’t pick a show to support based on practical considerations. These campaigns are fun for the people involved: in this case, they got to interact with other fans, interact with the creator, and most of all feel like they were interacting with the show itself: demonstrating support for a TV show is one of the few non-passive things we can do. And it’s also a way of expressing your idea of what TV ought to be, or what you’d like to see the networks do. The Lone Star campaign was about fans saying that this is the sort of show that networks should be doing, the cable-style, morally-ambiguous drama. From a business standpoint, Fox has no choice but to take it off, and most campaigners knew that on some level — but so what? It’s Fox’s job to make business decisions; it’s not the fans’. The fans just want to stick up for what they find entertaining, and that’s what save-our-show lobbying is all about.
As to why it’s such a flop: I don’t know. I was talking about this last night, and I realized that while there are all sorts of reasons you can come up with for why a show flops, it’s hard to find a definitive one — especially when, as with this show, everybody seems to have collectively changed the channel after House. All the reasons are probably true to some extent. It was hard to promote, so no one really knew what it was; it was about a man who is cheating on two women, and only Archie comics readers like to hang out with guys like that; the competition was tough. The explanation I would add is that James Wolk may not have what it takes to carry a series. He’s basically a Krasinski — handsome but not impossibly so, affable, nice hair. The comparison I draw is if the part of J.R. Ewing were played by Bobby; pretty guys with good hair can be likable and fun to watch, but they’re frequently not very compelling. And anti-heroes absolutely must be compelling or they will drive people away — you can have a cute, affable Romeo but a cute, affable Othello or Macbeth is something else again. Anti-heroes don’t have to be old, but it helps if they’re so charismatic that you can’t take your eyes off them no matter what they do; I never got the impression that James Wolk is someone people absolutely had to see. Perhaps they needed to cast the part older and pick a more familiar actor for this make-or-break role.
But then, perhaps that wouldn’t have worked. And none of these explanations, even taken together, can fully explain why this show flopped so badly. That’s why a flop, in its own strange way, has a certain magic to match a hit. No one fully knows what makes a hit — if they did, they’d be making hits instead of this season’s crop of disappointments. But no one knows exactly what makes a bomb, either. We can explain why Lone Star was not popular; we can explain why it isn’t going to get picked up for more episodes; we can’t really explain why audiences just didn’t want to see this show. That’s kind of interesting in its own way.
Of course, just because we can’t explain why Lone Star bombed is no reason we can’t speculate about it, so if you have your own theories about what caused its failure, have at it. And, of course, let’s remember that the viewership of Lone Star would be a great week for all but a select few cable dramas; of the top 25 basic cable shows in the U.S. last week, the only drama in the mix was Sons of Anarchy, which got fewer viewers than Lone Star did. Still, obviously, cable is not broadcast and vice-versa, and the fact remains that Sons of Anarchy is a hit and Lone Star isn’t.
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No pregnant nuns, please
By Stephanie Findlay - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
The ice-cream ad that has been banned in Italy
An ice cream advertisement has been banned in Italy after complaints from Christians that it was offensive. The ad, which depicts a heavily pregnant nun with the line “immaculately conceived,” prompted 10 complaints to Italy’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after running in the magazines The Lady and Grazia. (Another ad in the campaign features two men in cassocks and clerical collars close to kissing, with the line “we believe in salivation.”)The ice-cream company, Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano, defended itself against the pregnant-nun complaints, arguing that “conception” described the development of their ice cream. The company also claims that the ads are, in part, meant “to comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the Church to social issues.” But the ASA ruled that the pregnant nun ad was “likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics,” and banned it. That wasn’t the first time the ASA has had to police the company’s ads. Last year they canned another one that depicted a priest just about to kiss a nun.
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Will Jennifer Lopez be good for American Idol?
By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
We need a new Simon. Bring on the condescending self-absorbed diva.
Everett Collection/ CP/ Eric Thayer/Lucas Jackson/Reuters
When asked what he thinks of Jennifer Lopez replacing him on American Idol, Simon Cowell said, “I got to know her quite well,” damning with faint praise as usual. We’ve all gotten to know Lopez quite well over the past decade, but is that a good or bad thing for the world’s most popular competition show? With the departure of superstar judge Cowell and failed judges Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi, Idol has seemingly turned to Lopez as its last best hope: TMZ and other publications reported that Fox is giving her a one-year, $12-million contract to sit and listen to young people who can’t sing. Fans of the show are already skeptical of Lopez’s ability to hold our interest: “I doubt Jennifer will be an entertaining character,” says Dave Della Terza, whose website Votefortheworst.com is dedicated to whipping up votes for bad but entertaining Idol candidates. “I’ve been saying they need a judging panel of Kanye West, Whitney Houston, and Howard Stern.” But there might be one hope for Lopez, and the show: Idol needs someone who can be as hated as Cowell was. And if anyone can generate that level of animosity, she can.
Of course, many people are comparing Lopez not to Cowell, but to the much-missed Paula Abdul. Like Abdul, Lopez started as a dancer (she performed on In Living Color on Idol’s own network, Fox). Also like Abdul, her work in the music business isn’t behind-the-scenes like Cowell, but a series of hit records and videos. And now her career is more or less where Abdul’s was in 2001—not completely gone, but not where it was at her peak of popularity. We’re a long way from the days when Lopez and Ben Affleck were the most famous couple in the world of celebrity gossip, or when she was giving well-regarded performances in movies like Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight. Even her fashion choices don’t seem to matter much; it’s not like it was at the 2000 Grammys, when her famously revealing Versace dress made her a role model for women who wanted to be sexy without being skinny.
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Kids these days
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 11:24 AM - 0 Comments
NDP MP Nathan Cullen asked school children in his riding to submit proposals for private members’ bills.
Emily, 11, a student at Muheim Memorial Elementary, proposed a federal bill that would modify tax law to allow individuals to donate a portion of their Income Tax Return to a registered charity by filling out a new section on their tax forms. The amount would then be paid directly to the charity by Canada Revenue Agency…
Bulkley Valley Christian School student Justin Steenhof wants to encourage ski resort operators to make responsible safety choices by providing branding and pricing incentives. He proposed resorts be certified by the Minister of State for Sport as a “Head Smart Ski and Snowboard Facility” and be permitted to exempt skiers and boarders wearing helmets from paying HST/GST on their ski passes and equipment rentals.
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Iran sentences Canadian blogger to 19 years in prison
By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 11:19 AM - 0 Comments
Hossein Derakhshan has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison, according to an Iranian news source close to Iran’s presidential office.
CBC’s The Current this morning aired very good interviews with Marjan Alemi, Derakhshan’s ex-wife, and with Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was jailed by Iran for 118 days last year. The interviews aren’t yet posted on The Current’s website but will be soon. Bahari’s account of his ordeal can and should be read here. Continue…
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Tony is a punk rocker
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 10:32 AM - 0 Comments
Tony Clement—former president of the Progressive Conservative campus club at the University of Toronto, former president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, a former cabinet minister under Ontario premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, a former candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, a former candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, a former minister of health at the federal level and presently the Minister of Industry in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper—confesses his objection to the Establishment.
If by this you mean do I go up vs The Establishment, my answer is that I’m one of the most anti-Establishment people I know…
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An asterisk
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 9:14 AM - 0 Comments
It seems Statistics Canada’s previously reported support for the move to a voluntary census was not entirely unwavering.
In July, then-chief statistician Munir Sheikh ordered the creation of a new, voluntary survey on behalf of Industry Minister Tony Clement. The order, obtained by the federation for the court case, describes the resulting impact on the data collected by Statistics Canada. ”It is recognized that the quality of the data collected by the voluntary (survey) will be lower than that of a mandatory survey,” the order reads.
It lists 39 federal institutions that use census data and goes on to warn that some information will simply be lost. Some survey data, “will not be useable for a range of objectives for which the census information would be needed,” wrote Rosemary Bender, the assistant chief statistician.
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The Commons: Vic Toews makes a funny
By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 6:57 PM - 0 Comments
The Scene. It should not ever be said this government goes about its business too quietly, that it attempts to hide or conceal its true feelings or intent. Indeed, to the contrary, it wears its gleeful disregard quite proudly.
Consider, for instance, today’s display from Vic Toews. Take note particularly of the really, very hilarious thing he said. Continue…
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Genetic defect could cause migraines: study
By macleans.ca - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 4:14 PM - 0 Comments
Defect might be target for new treatments
A new study published in Nature Medicine suggests a flawed gene, which has been found in a family of migraine sufferers, might trigger severe headaches and help scientists understand why one in five people suffers from migraines, the BBC reports. Rated as a leading cause of disability by the World Health Organization, a migraine is a long-lasting headache usually felt as throbbing pain on the front or one side of the head, sometimes preceded by a visual disturbance (or aura). Until now, the genes directly responsible have been unknown, but in this study, a team from the University of Oxford found a gene called TRESK was directly to blame in some patients. If the gene doesn’t work properly, environmental factors can trigger them.
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Americans resist push to eat vegetables
By macleans.ca - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 3:51 PM - 0 Comments
Only 26 per cent eat veggies three or more times per day
The U.S. government and vegetable producers are pushing Americans to eat more veggies, but it isn’t working: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a study finding that only 26 per cent of U.S. adults eat vegetables three or more times a day, the New York Times reports, falling far short of federal health objectives set 10 years ago. Only 23 per cent of meals include a vegetable, it said, and the number of dinners prepared at home that include a salad has fallen to 17 per cent, from 22 per cent in 1994. Meanwhile, sales of convenience vegetables (like pre-packaged broccoli) are growing as the food industry tries to make it easier to eat vegetables. But it seems that people aren’t eating more vegetables as a result; they’re just shifting veggie purchases to more convenient ones. The government recommends 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables for people who eat 2,000 calories per day, equal to nine servings.
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The good ole days
By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 1:36 PM - 0 Comments
Neil Reynolds pines for the days when our politicians were (likening female colleagues to prostitutes?) wittier.
We don’t need a better kind of good behaviour in the Commons. We need a better kind of bad behaviour – in the Commons generally and in QP specifically. We especially need a better kind of invective. Canadian MPs have demonstrated occasional brilliance in putting down their honourable opponents. (One classic: Prime minister John Diefenbaker’s reference to MP Flora MacDonald, his colleague, as “the finest woman ever to walk the streets of Kingston” – an excellent example of an insult that offends a person and a place at the same time.)
Whatever your definition of wit, we need to retire the idea that the British Parliament is some great temple to lively and smart repartee which we should strive to emulate. For one, it shouldn’t matter—if we’re not happy with our lot that should be enough to seek change, regardless of how it compares to how it is elsewhere. For another, the Brits have more than enough of their own problems. Indeed, their current Speaker came to his post with an explicit call for reform amid much lamenting about the decline of the institution. There are plenty of reasons why there’s might seem a more interesting debate—not least being the tremendous amount of close coverage that is dedicated to PMQs—but for the most part, I suspect, we here in the colonies are simply fooled by the fact that a British accent makes everything sound wittier.
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Toronto is safest city in the world for employers: report
By macleans.ca - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 1:32 PM - 0 Comments
Fair, transparent government is key, say researchers
According to a study by Aon Consulting, a global risk management firm, Toronto is the least risky city in the world when it comes to recruiting, employing and relocating employees. The study measured the risk involved to organizations in 90 cities worldwide by analyzing demographics, education, employment practices and government regulations. Toronto led the ranking and Montreal and Vancouver came in fifth and 13th place respectively. “Montreal and Toronto are among the five lowest risk cities primarily due to Canada’s low level of corruption; strict enforcement of equal opportunity laws; health and retirement benefits; and high quality and broad availability of training facilities. The main difference between the two is due to Toronto’s larger population as well as quality and broader availability of training resources,” said a press release issued by Aon on Monday. The highest risk cities included Dhaka, Bangladesh at No. 90; Phnom Penh in Cambodia at 89; Lagos in Nigeria at 88; Karachi in Pakistan at 87 and Tehran at 86.
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Coyne on Parliament's bickering, heckling, whining MPs
By Claire Ward - Monday, September 27, 2010 at 1:06 PM - 0 Comments
Why won’t MPs behave themselves?
Despite cross-party promises of improving decorum in the House of Commons this September, MPs are back to their regular schoolyard antics going into the second week of Parliament’s fall session.
Claire Ward, of Macleans.ca, asks Andrew Coyne: how can we get MPs to behave themselves?
