On October 2, 1941, the Montreal Gazette ran a story with the headline, "Religion Guarantees Worthless in Soviet Constitution, Foes Say."
Hitler had only recently attacked his erstwhile eastern allies, and now the western powers, including the whole of the British Commonwealth, and thus of course including Canada, were trying to make the mental adjustment required to think of Soviet Russia as an ally. That headline, I submit, reflects the struggles of that moment.
Here's the lead: "WASHINGTON, October 1. -- President Roosevelt's action in calling attention to the Russian Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion brought replies today that the guarantee meant nothing."
That's why old newspapers are cool. They strip away our own hindsight, and help put us into the world of, say, October 1941.
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Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
27 November 2011
09 July 2010
There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
The title phrase of this blog entry is often abbreviatred TANSTAAFL in libertarian circles. Those aren't initials, buddy. That's an acronym, pronounced "tan-staff-ill."
Anyway, it is a profound truth. I was once arguing about health care policy with a Canadian who was trying to instruct the ignorant Yankee on this subject. She said that of course health care in Canada isn't a free lunch. It does get paid for obviously -- doctors don't work for free -- hospitals don't construct themselves. So since there is no such thing as a "free lunch" anyway, there is nothing to be concerned about. Right?
I told her that she had entirely misunderstood the significance of TANSTAAFL. The point isn't "the free lunch is like Big Foot. Big Foot doesn't exist, so he won't come and hurt you." The significance of TANSTAFFL is a warning, not a bit of re-assurance.
The warning is precisely that some people sometimes deceive themselves into believing that they see a free lunch, or that they see Big Foot for that matter. The coddling of such deceptions can do real harm. The danger is not Big Foot but the delusion.
Anyway, this column in the Chicago Sun Times Monday made much the same point using that Independence weekend favorite beverage -- lemonade. When that old symbol of childish enthusiasm and entrepreneurship, the lemonade stand, is turned into a lesson that good (material) things are "free," things are in a sorry state indeed.
Anyway, it is a profound truth. I was once arguing about health care policy with a Canadian who was trying to instruct the ignorant Yankee on this subject. She said that of course health care in Canada isn't a free lunch. It does get paid for obviously -- doctors don't work for free -- hospitals don't construct themselves. So since there is no such thing as a "free lunch" anyway, there is nothing to be concerned about. Right?
I told her that she had entirely misunderstood the significance of TANSTAAFL. The point isn't "the free lunch is like Big Foot. Big Foot doesn't exist, so he won't come and hurt you." The significance of TANSTAFFL is a warning, not a bit of re-assurance.
The warning is precisely that some people sometimes deceive themselves into believing that they see a free lunch, or that they see Big Foot for that matter. The coddling of such deceptions can do real harm. The danger is not Big Foot but the delusion.
Anyway, this column in the Chicago Sun Times Monday made much the same point using that Independence weekend favorite beverage -- lemonade. When that old symbol of childish enthusiasm and entrepreneurship, the lemonade stand, is turned into a lesson that good (material) things are "free," things are in a sorry state indeed.
20 May 2010
The Galea scandal
On Tuesday the U.S. filed a criminal complaint against Anthony Galea, a Canadian doctor who allegedly brought into the United States "merchandise contrary to law," specifically the unapproved drug actovegan.
The complaint itself is sparse, but supporting affidavits are attached, and the gist of them is that Galea has been helping NFL players and athletes in other sports dope themselves up.
I have nothing specially to say about this, but each of the following five blogs has something:
1. HotNewsTrend focuses on a Tiger Woods connection.
2. ObsessedWithSports uses this complaint as a window into the different worlds of baseball on the one hand and football on the other.
3. Geoff Shackelford calls it a "dreadful picture on many levels.".
4. Celebrity Dirty Laundry has a brief entry on the matter. Says very little.
5. And Tony Monkovic, on The New York Times' blog, notes that "no athlete wants to be linked to Galea these days — and for Woods to have an association of any kind with him still has the power to shock." Not really courting controversy here, are we Tony?
The complaint itself is sparse, but supporting affidavits are attached, and the gist of them is that Galea has been helping NFL players and athletes in other sports dope themselves up.
I have nothing specially to say about this, but each of the following five blogs has something:
1. HotNewsTrend focuses on a Tiger Woods connection.
2. ObsessedWithSports uses this complaint as a window into the different worlds of baseball on the one hand and football on the other.
3. Geoff Shackelford calls it a "dreadful picture on many levels.".
4. Celebrity Dirty Laundry has a brief entry on the matter. Says very little.
5. And Tony Monkovic, on The New York Times' blog, notes that "no athlete wants to be linked to Galea these days — and for Woods to have an association of any kind with him still has the power to shock." Not really courting controversy here, are we Tony?
13 July 2007
One Million
Toyota recently announced that it's passed the 1 million mark in the sale of hybrid vehicles worldwide.
Such nice big round numbers sometimes have psychological significance, and perhaps this marks a threshold, where the hybrid is no longer an innovation, but a normal part of the auto markets.
Of course, Toyota is no longer alone in bringing them to us, although Detroit still seems rather clumsy in this matter. The real challenge to Toyota in the hybrid end of the market is from another japanese giant, Honda. Here's the URL for an enthusiastic assessment (by a Brit, Steve Nelson) of the latest from Honda.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/display.var.1543980.0.0.php
And here's a discussion of the differences between the two Japanese corporation's approaches in this area.
http://www.vicnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=36&cat=46&id=1021078&more=0
To my tastes, frankly, that second article, from a paper in British Columbia, Canada, sounds a bit too patly partisan, as if the reporter was simply putting his own name to a Honda hand-out. Still, I'm in no position out of my own technological ignorance to argue with it.
Such nice big round numbers sometimes have psychological significance, and perhaps this marks a threshold, where the hybrid is no longer an innovation, but a normal part of the auto markets.
Of course, Toyota is no longer alone in bringing them to us, although Detroit still seems rather clumsy in this matter. The real challenge to Toyota in the hybrid end of the market is from another japanese giant, Honda. Here's the URL for an enthusiastic assessment (by a Brit, Steve Nelson) of the latest from Honda.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/display.var.1543980.0.0.php
And here's a discussion of the differences between the two Japanese corporation's approaches in this area.
http://www.vicnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=36&cat=46&id=1021078&more=0
To my tastes, frankly, that second article, from a paper in British Columbia, Canada, sounds a bit too patly partisan, as if the reporter was simply putting his own name to a Honda hand-out. Still, I'm in no position out of my own technological ignorance to argue with it.
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