Google wants to see your papers

By Jesse Brown - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 12:17 PM - 8 Comments

Earlier this month, Google+ kicked a geeky hornet’s nest by suspending the accounts of users registered under pseudonyms and nicknames. The angry reaction to their Facebook-like “real names” policy was unsurprising, considering the tech-centric early-adopter types who currently populate the nascent social network. I don’t want to call the Google+ crowd (of which I am a member) nerdy, but let’s just say that more than a few users would rather be known as “Lord Voldemort” than whatever happens to be printed on their birth certificates.

Speaking of those birth certificates, Google would like to see them.  When suspended users complained to Google, they were given ‘review’ forms. If you insist that “BonerKing” is your ‘common name,’ Google will ask you for government-issued ID to prove it:

We have reviewed your appeal and need more information in order to verify that the name entered [ __ ] is your common name.

Please reply to this email with a copy of your government issued ID, which we will dispose of after review.

Critics of the policy brought up numerous people for whom pseudonyms are perfectly reasonable and necessary, such as women with abusive exes or stalkers, government employees forbidden from using their real names on social networks, gay teens who are out online but not at home, and so on. (As an aside, wouldn’t the entire online dating industry cease to exist if ‘real name’ policies were standardized?)

The debate has come to be known as the #Nymwars, just in case additional proof of the disgruntled users’ geekery was needed. As it rages, Google has sprinkled fuel on the fire by introducing a “Verified” account system, similar to the one used on Twitter. Some team at Google now has the job of contacting every “Lady Gaga” on the network to find out if one of them is actually her highness Stefani Germanotta.

The move raises new questions: Lady Gaga, after all, is not the name on Ms.Germanotta’s government-issued ID. So why does she get to use her nickname when the rest of us cannot? Because she’s a celebrity, stupid. But since when does Google care about celebrities? And isn’t there something weird about Google demanding to see our ID under any circumstance?

It may not be ‘evil’ per se, but it sure does feel a bit…unGoogly. I have an interview request in with the search giant, who have been remarkably open with and responsive to me in the past. I hope to share their thinking on these policies in an upcoming post.

Jesse Brown is the host of TVO.org’s Search Engine podcast. He is on Twitter @jessebrown

Update:  Google initially granted me an interview on this, and then nixed it without explanation. 

A final visit to Parliament Hill

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 11:17 AM - 4 Comments

Jack Layton’s casket is now lying-in-state in the House of Commons foyer.

CBC has live online coverage here.

Crossing the aisle

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 11:00 AM - 1 Comment

Stephen Harper recalls a conversation with Jack Layton during June’s filibuster.

They chatted about a number of different things, he said, some personal and some political. “I don’t mind telling you that I could see at that point that he was a much sicker man than he had been before the election. That was very obvious to me,” the Prime Minister recalled.

“And of course, we were also right in the middle of a big parliamentary battle,” he said. “It was pretty emotional, and we were at loggerheads. But even at that moment, with the big personal challenge he had in front of him and with the big political battle we had going on between us, he was just still full of optimism and goodwill and that’s what I will remember.”

This would seem to be the same conversation observed at the time in this sketch.

‘The beginning of the end’

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM - 12 Comments

The Prime Minister talks about the latest developments in Libya.

“We have to be careful. . . This is the beginning of the end of the Gadhafi regime. I don’t say it is the end,” Harper said during a trip to the Arctic Tuesday. “We anticipate it will be at least a few days for the process of regime change to actually be in place…

“To this point, notwithstanding the fighting and the loss of life, there is good reason to be optimistic,” he said. “This is a revolution essentially affected from within. People have overturned a tyrant. We’ve seen the areas that the rebels control. We’ve seen life go on.”

He anticipates, the Globe reports, that the military mission will end in the “not-too-distant future.” Spencer Ackerman (and Matthew Yglesias) reminds everyone not to get ahead of themselves.

Culinary racism?

By Emma Teitel - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:55 AM - 1 Comment

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

The walls surrounding Cittadella were erected to protect the northern Italian city amid violent, 13th-century wars. The fighting has long since ended, but another, more bizarre war is under way: Mayor Massimo Botocci has taken aim at the kebab, a Turkish meat sold at streetside stands. “They aren’t part of our tradition,” the mayor explained, adding that “the smell it gives off” doesn’t fit with the city’s rich, Italian heritage. “If someone wants to eat a kebab, he can do it at home or outside of the historic centre,” he said, citing health and sanitation regulations.

Botocci, a deputy with the populist, anti-immigrant Northern League, part of Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling, centre-right coalition, is not alone in taking umbrage with the kebab: in 2010, the mayors of Lucca in Tuscany and Milan imposed similar bans, which were widely interpreted as an attack aimed at the country’s Middle Eastern and Indian immigrants. But Botocci is facing a tough fight in Cittadella: Italy’s north boasts the country’s best kebab. He may find that the city’s medieval walls are better at keeping out foreign invaders than foreign foods.

Cockpit crisis

By Chris Sorensen - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:47 AM - 42 Comments

Hans van den Boogaard/Hollandse Hoogte

With low clouds and a fine mist hanging in the morning air, the pilots of Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 anticipated a routine approach to Amsterdam’s busy Schiphol Airport on Feb. 25, 2009. But instead of touching down gently on the runway, the white and red Boeing 737 dropped out of the sky and slammed into a muddy field just short of the airport, smashing into three pieces. Nine people died, including all three pilots. Another 84 were injured.

Investigators attributed the crash to a faulty radio altimeter, aggravated by pilot errors and oversights. Radio altimeters use radio waves to measure a plane’s altitude—a key piece of equipment, which is why a 737 is equipped with two of them. But what nobody in the cockpit of Flight 1951 realized was that the malfunctioning altimeter happened to control the 737’s auto-thrust systems. So while the co-pilot was busy monitoring the autopilot (which used data from a different altimeter), and Capt. Hasan Tahsin Arisan was watching the co-pilot as part of a training exercise, and a third “safety” officer was supposed to be watching everyone to make sure nothing got missed, the auto-thrust erroneously engaged its “retard” mode, thinking it was just above the runway. The throttles were cut and the plane’s nose pitched up, causing the plane to drift into an aerodynamic stall. The flight crew tried to recover by returning the throttles to full power, but their initial efforts were thwarted by the confused auto-thrust system, which they forgot to disengage. There was no time for a second try.

Continue…

Christopher Michael Sheppard

By Stephanie Findlay - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:40 AM - 0 Comments

Illustration by Jack Dylan

Christopher Michael Sheppard was born on a wet, snowy, windy morning in Bay L’Argent, Nfld., on Feb. 6, 1978, to Rupert Sheppard and Patricia “Pat” Baker, the middle of four children. (Two years later, the couple would lose their second daughter Ruby to health complications.) Pat, whose father was a deep-sea fisherman, was a homemaker. Rupert, who grew up with 14 brothers and sisters, worked, among other jobs, with CP Rail in Ontario and the Canadian Coast Guard in Newfoundland.

Toddler Chris had a shock of shaggy, dark brown hair, like his dad, and emerald green eyes, like his mom. His grin was infectious. “Chris was a bit of a rambunctious fellow,” says Rupert, “but if he couldn’t make you smile throughout the day, then girl, you had a glass jaw.” Older sister Ann-Marie, Chris, and younger brother Jamie made an inseparable trio. “They had their little toughs every now and again,” says Pat, “but one protected the other.”

The Sheppards’ early stomping grounds were in Harbour Mille, an 18th-century fishing village on Newfoundland’s southeast shore. Days after school ended, the family would pile into their bright yellow wooden boat for the 20-minute ride across Fortune Bay to the cove where their small log cabin stood. “Me and my brother would be curled in the bow of the boat with a blanket over our heads and there’d be 14-foot waves,” says Jamie. “It was lots of fun. Giggles left, right and centre.”
Continue…

In conversation: Jane Fonda

By Kate Fillion - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:35 AM - 1 Comment

Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images

Jane Fonda—Oscar and Emmy winner, political activist, workout guru, bestselling author, and philanthropist dedicated to preventing teen pregnancy—has a new cause: revolutionizing the way we view aging. In Prime Time, she explains how and why life’s “third act” is (or could be) better than ever.

Q: Why do you call life post-60 “prime time”?

A: Most of the time, contrary to popular opinion, it’s happier, less stressful, you have fewer hostile emotions. That’s been the case with me, and studies show this is true for most people, whether they’re rich or poor—though rich helps!—men, women, married, single.

Continue…

If rock’s not dead, it’s on life support

By Philippe Gohier - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 15 Comments

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

When U2 wrapped up its 360° tour last month, they closed the book on the highest-grossing tour of all time, raking in over $736 million. Rock bands, it seems, can still make a dollar or two on the stadium circuit.

Of the 10 highest-grossing tours last year, seven were by traditional rock outfits, with Bon Jovi, AC/DC and U2 leading the way. Among the interlopers, appropriately enough, was “Walking with Dinosaurs—The Arena Spectacular,” which seemingly differentiates itself from the rock performers on the list by featuring animatronic dinosaurs rather than figurative ones. Because while the touring circuit, at least as far as the big earners are concerned, is still dominated by rock acts, they are increasingly aging rock acts.

A Deloitte study published in January found that, of the 20 top-grossing live acts between 2000 and 2009, the lead singer for eight of them will be in his or her sixties this year. Moreover, the older acts are still soaking up the vast majority of the touring cash available: 94 per cent of the money earned by the biggest live acts in those years went to those whose lead singers are now 40 and older; not a single one had a singer still in his or her 20s.

Continue…

Could an ‘innovative’ school in Montreal’s fall victim to religious infighting?

By Martin Patriquin - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:20 AM - 5 Comments

Photography by Roger Lemoyne

The closing of an English school is hardly news in Quebec. Fourteen institutions have shut down in as many years in Montreal alone, thanks in large part to a dwindling English population and language laws preventing children of French parents and immigrants from attending. Yet, in the case of Nesbitt Elementary School, home to some 420 students and, according to commissioner Julien Feldman, “one of the most successful bilingual programs in the province,” the culprit isn’t numbers or stifling regulation. According to many Nesbitt proponents, it’s the victim of age-old infighting between Catholic and Protestant factions within the English Montreal School Board itself. And, in an odd twist, one of the school’s would-be saviours is none other than Louise Beaudoin, a staunch French-language hawk and former Parti Québécois minister who fought for decades against expanding access to English schools.

Nesbitt, which faces the chopping block in January, is located in Rosemont, a traditionally francophone neighbourhood with a significant English population. Because of this historical reality, Nesbitt is one of the few schools in Montreal’s east end to offer both majority English and French immersion programs. The result: French families who qualify (under Quebec law that means at least one parent had to have attended English school) can send their children to learn English, while English children receive nearly 70 per cent of their education in French. It has certainly impressed Beaudoin, the district MNA. “In an era of alarming dropout rates, it’s important to support the schools that have a winning and innovative formula,” she wrote in a letter to Nesbitt principal Mary Theophilopoulos last June.

Yet, despite the unexpected plug, and a noisy grassroots campaign on the part of Nesbitt parents, it remains on the list of six schools targeted for closure next year. Not even the EMSB can fully explain why. According to board policy, there are five reasons (including low enrolment numbers and proximity to other schools) why a school would be considered for closure. And yet, EMSB director general Robert Stocker concedes that “the school doesn’t fit into any of the five criteria.”

Continue…

Don’t drink and paddle

By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:10 AM - 3 Comments

A. Green/Corbis

Ontarians, enjoying the last days of summer, may want to think twice before knocking back a beer, then hopping into a paddleboat to bob around the lake.

Two weeks ago, an Ontario Provincial Police marine patrol arrested a 57-year-old man at the helm of a paddleboat, charging him with operating a vessel while impaired. The resident of Upper Island Lake, just north of Sault Ste. Marie, was also fined $200 for failing to have a life jacket aboard. Ontario’s boating and drinking laws are the strictest in the country, and the paddleboater also had his driver’s licence suspended for 90 days; if convicted, he’ll lose his licence for a year, OPP traffic and marine Sgt. Randy Nethery told Maclean’s.

Boaters, he says, face the same penalty as those caught drinking and driving, and the laws aren’t restricted, as you might think, to those navigating a boat with a motor: canoeists, kayakers, even—yes, really—people floating on dinghies or goofing around on windsurf boards are all subject to charges. “The boating and the drinking don’t mix,” says Nethery. “The biggest thing we worry about is drowning.”

Continue…

The little mill town that could

By Tom Henheffer - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Midway was devastated when, three years ago, its lumber mill closed. Residents of the tiny B.C. town, located just north of the U.S. border, started packing—200 were suddenly out of work—and the schools got ready to close. Then, a year ago, something incredible happened.

Midway and a few surrounding Kootenay communities banded together and, with the help of private investors—including 42 locals, who raised a total of $700,000—put together $1 million to buy the mill. They found a new tenant, and a $10-million mill refurbishment project brought life back to the community. But now they have to raise another $800,000 or lose their investment—and control of the mill.

“You could see the hope. People started making plans for the future instead of just next week,” Randy Kappes, Midway’s mayor and the owner of the town’s single gas station, told Maclean’s. Now, he says, “they’re holding their breath.” The agreement, hashed out last January, included a $1-million mortgage from the mill’s owners, Montana’s Fox Forest Products. Originally, the loan was to be repaid in full, 60 days after the first lumber began rolling out in October. But Fox refused to close the deal until the deadline was pushed up to Aug. 31. Lawyer’s fees and start-up costs ate up most of the capital, and new investment stalled, explains Stephen Hill, the deal’s chief architect.

Continue…

Of love and politics and life

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 5 Comments

Jonathan McLeod notes Jack Layton’s use of the word “love.”

It is unfortunate that it requires the death of a man, and the words of a political leader, for the country to embrace an outlook of love over anger, but how glorious, should that be the legacy he leaves to us. Love is transcendant. Love is transformative. It appears Jack Layton understood this. We are fortunate to have such men among us, if only too briefly.

Mr. Layton used the l-word in his first statement last month announcing his new cancer diagnosis. It reminded me, at the time, of something Bill Siksay, citing Svend Robinson, said upon departing Parliament this spring—Mr. Siksay’s remarks had stood out to me as something I’d never heard before. Talking to Anne McGrath for this piece, she reminded of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians and mentioned former German chancellor Willy Brandt as a leader who had spoken about love and politics. Love was also, to cite perhaps the most celebrated example, at the heart of Martin Luther King’s rhetoric and philosophy.

More thoughts from Brian Topp, Tim Powers, Ralph Goodale, Niki Ashton, Glen Pearson, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Kady O’Malley and Dan Arnold. From Torontoist, a panoramic image of the chalk tributes outside city hall in Toronto and another picture capturing the extent of the messages, a display that prompted this note last night from Mr. Layton’s son, Mike.

Police blotter

By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 8:20 AM - 0 Comments

British Columbia: The police chief in Victoria was driving in his unmarked Dodge Charger when a motorcyclist whizzed past him, going 123 km/h in a 50-km/h zone. The chief turned on his sirens, tracked down the speedster and doled out a $483 fine.

Alberta: A Calgary woman was arrested after rampaging through the city’s downtown streets behind the wheel of a Jeep. The driver allegedly smashed into several parked vehicles. After an hour-long chase involving a helicopter and several cruisers, police finally stopped her. She reportedly threatened them with a knife before being arrested.

Manitoba: When two people in Winnipeg refused a man’s request for a smoke, he allegedly whipped a sawed-off shotgun out of the waistband of his pants before firing it off. The man was arrested, and police seized a duffle bag full of beer and ammunition.

Continue…

REVIEW: The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency

By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 8:00 AM - 1 Comment

The election of Barack Obama didn’t end racism, but what exactly did it do? Kennedy, a Harvard law professor, attempts to examine how Obama functions in a political world where colour remains an issue: he “made himself black enough to arouse the communal pride and support of African-Americans but not ‘too black’ to be accepted by whites.” Kennedy goes on to explain that Obama tries to offer his black constituents “signals that he identifies with them,” giving symbolic comfort without scaring away the white voters he will need for re-election.

Kennedy is of the opinion that scaring away white voters is a danger because racism “is ingrained in American culture,” and he defends some (though not all) of the ideas of Obama’s much-criticized mentor Reverend Wright. But he also defends Obama from the charges of appeasing white America, noting that Obama’s unwillingness to be more forthright and challenging about race relations “is probably the most realistic course of action under the circumstances.” He also notes that the symbolic significance of Obama’s election has had some very real benefits: “Nothing in American history has more powerfully elicited patriotism among black folk than seeing a fellow black elevated to the presidency.”

Because the book mostly focuses on the 2008 election, Kennedy doesn’t always have much to say about the huge changes in the perception of Obama that have taken place since then. And though he says that there is a “racial backlash” against Obama, he doesn’t fully explain what this backlash is or how it differs from the similar conservative revolt against the white Democrat Bill Clinton. And when he mentions the non-white Republicans who were elected in 2010 (with minimal support from African-Americans, who mostly don’t think Republicans represent their interests), Kennedy has to admit that “ideology does trump race” in some circumstances.

Who’s next?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 5:10 PM - 16 Comments

The early leadership speculation focuses on two potential candidates to succeed Jack Layton as leader of the NDP: deputy leader Thomas Mulcair and party president Brian Topp.

Mr. Topp has support throughout the country. He was born and raised in Quebec, arrived in Ottawa in 1989 as an assistant to former Quebec New Democrat MP Phil Edmonston, then moved to Saskatchewan to work for former premier Roy Romanow. Widely regarded as a moderate, he has union ties through his tenure as executive director of ACTRA and could possibly pull together the same kind of coalition as Mr. Layton. 

There are other hopefuls who will be able to garner small pockets of support. But, for the moment, no one would seem to have the momentum of Mr. Mulcair or Mr. Topp.

Gordon Korman Explains It All

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 4:15 PM - 6 Comments

Not meaning to trivialize an earthquake, but this passage from The War With Mr. Wizzle popped into my head and I sort of had to go looking for it:

Elmer walked to the front of the class and set up several charts and sketches along the blackboard ledge. “My project deals with the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands Fault Line.”

Mr. Thomas frowned. “What fault line?”

“The earthquake fault line, sir,” replied Elmer blandly.

At the back of the room Wizzle’s head snapped up to attention.

“The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands Fault Line is not as well known as the San Andreas Fault Line in California, but nevertheless it exists, representing a clear and present danger to the area. The fault itself has been dormant since the Lower Cretaceous Period. However, a hairline offshoot of the fault, which I have named the Elmer Drimsdale Fault because I pinpointed it, is quite active. The end of this line actually extends to the Macdonald Hall grounds, passing directly underneath the south lawn.”

Now Elmer had Mr. Wizzle’s full attention. That strange incident last night! An earthquake!

“Seismic activity has been rather light of late,” Elmer went on, “but if you refer to this chart, you can see that a quake of major proportions is overdue.”

“Remarkable,” said Mr. Thomas. “Is Macdonald Hall then in danger?”

“Oh, no,” said Elmer. “You see, activity on my fault line is very local. Even in the event of a major seismic disturbance, the nearby buildings would remain intact.” He paused and beamed.

Of course it turns out this was all a story made up by Elmer Drimsdale to fool the title character into thinking his house was on a fault line, when it was actually the victim of an earthquake machine. Still, having grown up reading Korman, my first instinct today was to blame the whole thing on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands Fault Line. There are some habits that are hard to break for an Ontarian of my generation.

Jack on film

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM - 1 Comment

The Georgia Straight digs up Jack Layton’s feature film debut.

Why Rick Perry will shake up the Republican race

By John Parisella - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 3:52 PM - 3 Comments

There is no doubt which Republican won the first week after the Iowa straw poll. Despite taking the Iowa showdown, Michelle Bachmann ended up playing defence to Texas Governor Rick Perry during Perry’s first week in the race. Never mind his controversial statements about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his dismissal of climate change science as a hoax, Perry has changed the nature and the tone of the nomination race. He has shown he is a candidate to be reckoned with.

Presumptive favourite Mitt Romney reacted coyly by staying on course, not rising to the bait, and sticking to an economic message while attacking the Obama record. Former Bush operative Karl Rove was not as subtle and harshly criticized Perry for the Bernanke comment. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman also attacked the Texas governor, knowing full well that Perry’s early supporters would not defect his way.

While there are concerns about this Republican field, it became evident that Perry has the profile, the record, and the finances to make a real run. It may actually scare off any latecomers such as Sarah Palin. Continue…

The ‘fight’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM - 2 Comments

Carly Weeks takes apart a cancer cliché.

“It does set up a battle with a winner and a loser, and I think that some people certainly think that there would be better ways of talking about this,” said Dr. Ellis, who is also an associate professor in the department of oncology at McMaster University.

Instead of fixating on the idea of a cancer battle, Dr. Ellis and a growing number of experts in the field say, it is more important to focus on learning to live with cancer. For those undergoing treatment, this can be much more empowering than the idea they can somehow control the ultimate outcome if they fight hard enough.

5.9 magnitude quake hits northeastern U.S. and Canada

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 3:12 PM - 1 Comment

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake originating in Virginia rocked Washington, D.C. on Tuesday shortly before 2 p.m. EST, and seems to have been felt as far north as Quebec City. Parts of the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol Building have been evacuated, as well as the control towers at Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, several sources report. The epicentre of the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said was 3.7 miles deep, was in Mineral, Virginia. Tuesday’s quake was the second strong shake to hit the U.S. since Monday night, when many Colorado residents awoke to trembling shelves and furniture due to a 5.3 magnitude tremor, the largest to strike the state in 40 years. No injuries have been reported so far in either quake, although buildings on Tuesday were being evacuated as far up north as Toronto.

Contra Costa Times

Rebel forces take Gadhafi compound in Tripoli

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 2:43 PM - 0 Comments

Rebel forces stormed and seized Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s compound in central Tripoli on Tuesday, though the elusive leader himself remains out of their grasp. Several fighters loyal to Gadhafi were reportedly killed in the attack, the most intense battle since anti-Gadhafi forces entered the Libyan capital just days ago. Earlier in the day, the compound had served as a stage for Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Saif, to make an appearance before journalists after reports had emerged claiming he’d been captured by the rebels.

AFP

Look back in laughter

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments

This Hour Has 22 Minutes compiles its favourite moments with Jack Layton.

Zealous, but not overly so

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 2:08 PM - 0 Comments

Chris MacDonald draws a business lesson from the political career of Jack Layton.

Clearly, the challenge Layton faced—and by all accounts met admirably—is the same one faced by business leaders everywhere. And that is how to compete zealously in order indirectly to promote the common good, while at the same time resisting the natural temptation to behave in such a way as to bring the entire endeavour into disrepute. Competing in a zealous but civil way is an essential part of Jack Layton’s legacy, and a crucial challenge for all leaders in the worlds of politics and commerce.

Jeff Jedras takes the same lesson for partisans.