Jan 01
“Guy bashing takes its toll with Hisicanes Frances ($9 billion), Charley ($14 billion), and Ivan ($18 billion)”
Doh! Can’t we do anything right? Ivan Mother Nature can’t resist taking a chip shot at “man”kind’s waning self-esteem. Hurricanes Frances, Charley, and Ivan are suddenly the bad guys. Whatever happened to naming hurricanes after women (or, at least, taking turns). Alas, I guess it’s a sign of the times. Move over Histerectomy, Mentruation and Guynacology. Here comes the Hisicane.
Jan 01
“Controversy over euthanasia just won’t die.”
No matter how hard they try, its adversaries just can’t put it rest.
Jan 01
H2O starring Paul Gross
It was pretty much your same old, same old (that’s same old2 for you math and science aficionados) kind of year at the movies. Although Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 actually outdid all others at the Box Office, I am inclined to give my vote for best new movie to a different 2, in the form of “H2O”, a Canadian made-for-television mini-series with a dark and sinister (or what dark and sinister personalities who don’t normally comment publicly on movies – let alone Canadian movies – referred to as a “ludicrous and cheesy”) plot-line. I know there will be a lot of good (and bad) Christians out there who will be shouting on high, “Water you talking about heathen? Have you forgotten the Passion of Christ, and His ability to literally walk on (and, in box office terms, all over) H2O.” After careful consideration of the facts, I am still inclined to give the nod to H2O, if for no other reason than the fact that even God and His Christian Fundamentalists should only get one vote for their chosen one, and they already burnt it on G.W. Bush.
Jan 01
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Despite being informed by a West Virginian junkyard owner that sensitive CIBC customer information is routinely being misdirected to his fax, CIBC bean counters do not take steps to rectify the problem until he spills the beans publicly on a Canadian News magazine show. While performing damage control, CIBC must also factor in a host of other security faux pas not the least of which being reports of an Automated Teller Machine in Moncton, New Brunswick that was distributing Canadian Tire money to unsuspecting customers.
Jan 01
The Canadian Dollar
The mercurial rise of the Canadian Dollar in relation to its mighty neighbor to the south (currently pegged at $0.83US) leads Canadians to actually notice when they receive Canadian Tire money from bank ATM machines
Jan 01
Ten Fortune 500 drug companies profited about $36 billion in 2002 – more than the combined profits of the remaining 490 businesses. Those 10 U.S. drug companies spent 14% on research and development, compared to 31% on marketing and administration. The Prescription Drug industry has the biggest lobbying group in Washington D.C. (675 lobbyists at a cost of over $91 million) and spends huge amounts of money on political campaign contributions ($85 million in 1999-2000). According to Families USA, in the year 2000, 6 months after Vioxx went on sale, Merck & Co. netted $40.36 billion in sales. Of that amount 17% was profit, 15% was spent on advertising, marketing and administration and 6% was directed to research and development ~ so much for the myth that drugs are expensive because of the high price of Research and Development.
Runner Up: Moscow boasts more millionaires than any other city in the world.
Jan 01
After years of being accused of bending over backwards to attract every Tom, Dick and Achmed to our land of the free (loader?), Immigration Canada attempts to make things right by giving the green light to any foreign strippers on the premise that they will in turn bend over backwards for Canadians.
Jan 01
They successfully flooded the market (and marketing) with sexy digital music recorders of the MP3/iPod variety replete with enough memory to store a kazillion songs. After the initial joy of unwrapping these wonderful gadgets, trendy consumers caught up in this must have mania find themselves singing the blues. They (and their MP3 players) are left to ride out the New Year with an empty feeling asking themselves over and over (perhaps a kazillion times), now that I can store as many songs as I want, where can I find something worth recording.