Archive for October, 2019

RCGS Resolute (Image courtesy OOE)

One Ocean Cancels Expedition, Announces ‘Restructuring’

October 30, 2019 at 1:55 pm

This is literally just in: The Squamish Chief reported yesterday that One Ocean Expeditions, the niche cruise line founded by Cape Breton native Andrew Prossin — the one that was supposed to be making Sydney its home port — is “restructuring.” The information came from an October 29th post onRead More

On the Clock: Stress and the Cyborg Job

On the Clock: Stress and the Cyborg Job

October 30, 2019 at 1:54 pm

I was listening to Intercepted, a podcast from The Intercept news outlet, on Wednesday and heard an interview with Emily Guendelsberger, a Philadelphia-based journalist who has written a book called  On the Clock, What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane. The interviewer, Jeremy Scahill, explainedRead More

On the Clock: The Local Angle

On the Clock: The Local Angle

October 30, 2019 at 1:53 pm

Earlier this year, acting on a tip that ambulances were being called quite frequently to what is now known as the Sydney Call Centre (although for most of the period for which I requested figures, it was the ServiCom call center), I FOIPOPed the Nova Scotia Department of Health toRead More

Ultra-Processed Food (or What Happened to Chicken)

Ultra-Processed Food (or What Happened to Chicken)

October 30, 2019 at 1:51 pm

This month, I told Michael Milburn I wanted to dig deeper into the concept of “ultra-processed” food, which we’d touched on last month in our discussion of plant-based burgers. Milburn said that in one way, it was possible to sum up everything about ultra-processed food simply by looking at what’sRead More

Source: Home Care, Nova Scotia

A Helping Hand at Home

October 30, 2019 at 1:47 pm

A 6 September 1989 headline in the Cape Breton Post reading ‘Home care program finally reaches C.B.’ announced the arrival of home care in Cape Breton, with 10 designated agencies across the Island and provincial funding being provided for the first time. Colleen Chisholm, regional coordinator of the home careRead More

The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 - Catholic plowshares activists who entered Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. (via Facebook)

Peace Quest Condemns “Unjust” Conviction of Anti-Nuke Activists

October 30, 2019 at 1:45 pm

Editor’s Note: What follows is a press release from Peace Quest Cape Breton, which is headed by the Spectator‘s own Sean Howard. Howard has written in detail about the group here and again here. Peace Quest Cape Breton condemns the unfair trial and unjust conviction of the Kings Bay PlowsharesRead...

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

October 25, 2019 at 8:30 am

Bad bidness Remember the business owner who accused me of breaking into their office and stealing their credit card? The one I chose not to name? Well, the story has taken an even stranger twist: I have now been accused of fabricating the whole thing to make business owners inRead More

While the Chief’s Away, the Force Stays Mum

While the Chief’s Away, the Force Stays Mum

October 23, 2019 at 1:38 pm

Peter McIsaac, chief of the Cape Breton Regional Police Services, has been on medical leave for at least six weeks. CBRPS spokesperson Desiree Magnus told me in a September 10 email: The Chief is currently off for medical reasons. But she did not respond to an email asking how longRead More

Canadian House of Commons. (Photo by Sam [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

About Monday Night

October 23, 2019 at 1:36 pm

I’m going to keep this short because a) the Canadian landscape is flooded with election analysis at the moment and b) I’m not good at it. But I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t want to say something about the election results so here are my thoughts:   Voter TurnoutRead More

4 November 2015; Marie Kondo, Author and Organising Consultant, Marie Kondo, on the Society Stage during Day 2 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland. Picture credit: 4 November 2015; Marie Kondo, Author and Organising Consultant, Marie Kondo, on the Society Stage during Day 2 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit

The Ethical Dimensions of “Tidying Up”

October 23, 2019 at 1:34 pm

Like many North Americans, I recently binge-watched the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. For readers who have been living under a rock and are consequently unfamiliar with this show, it features the Japanese tidying guru Kondo and her (eventually) grateful clients. I found myself watching the show somewhatRead More