There’s an amazing interview with Bill Clinton at the American Prospect Online: The Clinton Formula, by Michael Tomasky.
Archives for 2003
Dahlia Lithwick in Slate
on the gay marriage decision in Massachussetts: Holy Matrimony – What’s really undermining the sanctity of marriage? “Here’s my modest request: If you’re going to be a crusader for the sanctity of marriage – if you really believe gay marriage will have some vast corrosive, viral impact on marriage as a whole – here’s a brief list of other laws and policies far more dangerous to the institution. Go after these first, then pass your constitutional amendment.”
In the wake of the RWC,
the Economist has published an article on the impact of the sport’s economics on the game internationally.
They oversimplify the situation, however, in suggesting that the “Big 8” (the old 5 Nations and the 3 southern hemisphere powerhouses) are all in the same boat. In fact, the top 5 nations have run away from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (although Wales was uncharacteristically strong this year), while Argentina has unquestionably caught up with those Celtic nations. And for Japan to be included as a so-called “middle-tier” team above Samoa, Canada, and Italy is a bit strange.
In the case of Argentina, their improvement seems to be the exception that proves the rule. Italy’s rise is clearly associated with their inclusion in the 6 Nations, while conversely Canada’s (and others’) relative backsliding can be attributed to a lack of equivalent competition on a regular, meaningful basis.
The simplest solution would just be to re-work the Six Nations and have a playoff among four or five of the stronger teams to decide who will take Italy’s “new” slot in the tournament each year. In any case, Rugby is a great sport for the sheer joy of the game, but it’s also interesting in terms of its economic and geopolitics!
New to me:
YULmetaBlog. “The YULmetablog aggregates postings from various Montreal Bloggers (both in french and english).” I’ve set it up so every post here that I categorize as “Montreal” will ping the site (and thus it will appear there). Pretty cool.
In neighbourhood news,
I noticed recently that a new condo conversion project is about to get underway a couple of blocks from my house. Named nothing less than Les ParisLofts du Plateau, it’s just off St-Laurent at Rachel. Normally this would be the cause for some teeth-gnashing in a city like Montreal, where people honestly (and not so honestly, frankly, from time to time) cherish their authenticity like few other places I’ve been.
In this case, though, it’s totally good news. ParisLofts is named after Paris-Star, the textile and clothing manufacturer that is now located at the site. Currently the building is butt-ugly, and it has been the scene of many pollution and general neighbourhood degradation stories for years. They installed a filter of some sort several years ago – but removing the factory is several orders of magnitude better news for the ‘hood, I think.
[Full disclosure – if you look at this picture of the proposed view, the large tree on the far left of the photo is in my backyard, and the little sliver of white-ish facade between trees is my neighbour’s place.]
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