October 11, 2007
Dalton Loves You, Uncle Sam Doesn't Trust You, Your Phone Is Lying To You
To no one's surprise, yesterday's Ontario election (read our liveblog of the results here) was a big victory for the status quo, with voters giving the Liberals another majority and soundly rejecting Mixed Member Proportional voting. Dalton McGuinty was pleased, having given his acceptance speech the day before the election, while John Tory, having lost bids to become mayor of Toronto and Premier of Ontario, needs only an unsuccessful run at the PM-ship to complete the trifecta of Canadian political failure.
The American government is demanding that Canadian airlines release personal information about passengers on planes flying over the U.S., even if they don't take off or land there. The data will allow U.S. law enforcement to be on the alert for radicals and terrorists parachuting surreptitiously from passenger planes while in American airspace. In other news, about half a million undocumented people walked across the American border from Mexico last year.
People who habitually carry vibrating cell phones and BlackBerries are frequently subject to false alarms, thinking they're receiving calls when they aren't. The source of the imaginary vibrations isn't clear, although desperate loneliness is a strong possibility.
42% of Canadian surveyed think that we should eliminate the one cent coin as a form of currency. Government officials expressed concern over the idea, pointing out that if we can no longer pick up pennies in the street, we'll have to get all our good luck from horseshoes, rabbit's feet and leprechauns.
Photo by ariehsinger from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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The government officials might also be concerned that getting rid of the one cent coin would eliminate an important source of revenue.
re: flying data. Seems the USA is slowly becoming more like the old USSR.
Re: faux rings. Not really your phone lying to you so much as your nervous system and ultimately, brain.
Hey Dave, Down here in the USA...we passed being the USSR a long time ago.
American Democracy is the New Facism.
Regarding the passenger lists: It's all in the interests of national security, mind.
Doesn't it count toward the trifecta that Tory managed Kim Campbell's disastrous federal campaign in 1993?
Rob
OMG, mystery vibrations have SO happened to me. It's paranoia, for sure. Worried I'm missing an important call whilst away from my desk!!
I've never had phantom vibrations, but plenty of times I'd swear my phone was ringing when it wasn't.
I have the TTC door chime sound as my ringtone, so now every time I'm sitting on the subway and deep in thought or listening to my iPod, I all of a sudden think my phone is ringing.