August 16, 2007
Markets Going To Hell, Mammoliti Going To Party, Drivers Going Too Fast
Stock market volatility continued yesterday, with the TSX index adding a 194 point drop to a loss of about 10% in the last month. A spokesman for the Global Society of Plutocrats said that in spite of the burgeoning financial crisis, everything remains fine for the super-rich.
Toronto City Councillor Giorgio Mammoiliti is still planning on taking a $5000 trip to a zoo conference in Budapest next week in spite of a City Hall ban on discretionary travel. While there he'll be able to attend workshops on subjects of civic importance such as "Amphibian Ark" and "Supporting Zoos in Need of Assistance." In Mammoliti's defence, the trip was organized and approved way back in June when the city's financial outlook was extremely rosy.
A website launched this week by a US graduate student shows evidence that Wikipedia is being used by politicians, including Canadians, as a vehicle for propaganda. WikiScanner shows the source of edits to the popular online encyclopedia, revealing that many of them originate from inside government departments, sometimes removing criticism or adding flattering information about politicians. Who'd have thought that an open reference source that can be changed by anyone with a keyboard and an agenda would be used for propaganda? Humans are so disappointing sometimes.
As part of Ontario's new campaign against dangerous driving, drivers traveling more than 50km/h over the posted limit will be treated as street racers. Also, the planned purchase of a plane to aid in pursuits will ensure that Ontario becomes a prime source for totally awesome police chase videos.
Photo by Faded Photograph from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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Why don't we bring back photo radar? Then no one would go 50 over. I realise it was unpopular, but safety is more important. When people travel more slowly, they burn less fuel per distance traveled as well, so it could also be sold as a green initiative.
Yeah -- how dare an arm's length organization act autonomously, a zoo attempt to be something more than a glorified theme park, or a board member of a non-profit charged with the welfare and conservation of thousands of animals make an effort to be well-informed in the exercise of his responsibility. Whatever is this city coming to?
i loved me some photoradar. it totally reduced speeds, paid for themselves in something crazy like a month and were removed why? because they were unpopular?
unpopular with the wrong crowd, is more like it. Those unpopular closed-circuit cameras are still around town, because the people with whom they are unpopular don't have enough clout to get rid of them. but try pissing off those speeding highway commuters from oakville, and photoradar didn't know that hit it.
Sorry, I misunderstood it as a public official taking an taxpayer funded trip to a popular tourist destination instead of acquiring information through phone calls, emails, and the web like those of us without expense accounts.
The zoo (and the TTC) aren't so much arm's length as finger length.
"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information."
Michael Scott (The Office)
Councillor Mammoiliti, wasn't he the one said that he and his wife couldn't pay the mortage on $90,000 a year?