By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 26, 2015
Local boosters have been successful in getting the eastern section of Burlington Street dubbed the Tesla Expressway, for the Serbian inventor of the AC current. The stretch will be an “expressway” in name only since the speed limit won’t be raised. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 22, 2014
(By Andrew Dreschel) Mayoral hopeful Brian McHattie has reversed his controversial stance on not driving on the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
The west-end councillor, who opposed the $225-million project for environmental and financial reasons, has refused to drive on the eight-kilometre highway since it opened more than six years ago.
But in the face of community blowback, the would-be mayor says he realizes he needs to be open to other viewpoints.
McHattie, 54, quietly ended his personal boycott last month. As part of his 100 day neighbourhood tour of the city he drove south on the Red Hill to the Valley Park neighbourhood on the Mountain.
Asked if he intends to drive the road again, McHattie said, “I think so. For sure.”
Since launching his mayoral campaign he’s heard loud and clear most Hamiltonians firmly embrace the expressway.
“It became clear to me that as mayor of the city, it’s a whole different ball game. You’re no longer the ward councillor, you’re representing the whole city and you have to understand all those different perspectives, which are the majority based on the feedback I was getting.”
According to McHattie, his refusal to drive the Red Hill, revealed by The Spectator in January, came up frequently while canvassing. Residents pointed out the road’s benefits, including economic development at business parks, better local traffic flow in the east-end, and simple convenience.
He says some accused him of being stubborn, which stung because that’s not how he sees himself. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, May 8, 2014
Farley Mowat, one of Canada’s best-known authors and a noted environmentalist, has died at age 92.
Mary Shaw-Rimmington, the author’s assistant, confirmed his passing to CBC News on Wednesday afternoon. Mowat died at his home in Port Hope, Ont.
Mowat, author of dozens of works including Lost in the Barrens and Never Cry Wolf, introduced Canada to readers around the world and shared everything from his time abroad during the Second World War, to his travels in the North and his concern for the deteriorating environment.
Pierre Berton 1920-2004
More than 17 million copies of his books, which have been translated into dozens of languages, have been sold worldwide. The gregarious writer was a consummate storyteller, whose works spanned non-fiction, children’s titles and memoirs.
Describing Mowat as “a passionate Canadian,” Prime Minster Stephen Harper touted the writer as “a natural storyteller with a real gift for sharing personal anecdotes in a witty and endearing way.” (Source: CBC News)
Meanwhile, we may have reached “peak beard frequency,” according to research published in the journal Biology Letters recently.
Men’s facial hair trends may be guided by Darwinian selection, researchers hypothesized. So they asked women and men to rate different faces with “four standard levels of beardedness.” The faces that were rarer were rated as more appealing. It’s an evolutionary phenomenon known as “negative frequency-dependent sexual selection.”
“The idea is that perhaps people start copying the George Clooneys and the Joaquin Phoenixs and start wearing those beards, but then when more and more people get onto the bandwagon the value of being on the bandwagon diminishes, so that might be why we’ve hit ‘peak beard’,” study author Prof Rob Brooks told the BBC.
“Peak beard” is reached when the most men in professions not usually associated with facial hear sport beards. The BBC suggests that may have happened in January when a Newsnight
Some say the Rubicon was crossed in January when Jeremy Paxman, the BBC Newsnight presenter, shaved his beard off, saying “beards are SO 2013.”
When “peak beard” frequency is reached, the pendulum swings back toward lesser-bristled chins — a trend we may be witnessing now, the scientists say. (Source: Discovery.com)
#RIP #FarleyMowat The original hipster http://t.co/1jDhLZC3Ow pic.twitter.com/O9PzOMl35A
— mackaycartoons (@mackaycartoons) May 8, 2014
REPUBLISHED in the Edmonton Journal, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, and Yahoo News Canada.