By Brian Brennan Today is Persons Day in Canada. I was reminded of this, not by a story in the Canadian media – which by now has become blasé about this annual commemoration of women’s rights – but by an opinion column
Every day another media list of newly-published science papers arrives in my email inbox: the result of earnest investigations into weighty issues. Then, once a year, there’s the Ig Nobel Prize list, awarded by an organization called Improbable Research. Part of the
It’s the Labour Day weekend in parts of the world: a time for a break, to advocate for Workers, even to consider “labour.” The philosopher Hannah Arendt had interesting ideas about labour: she insisted on a distinction between “labour” and “work:” She
I was doing just fine ignoring the ice bucket trend, until actor Patrick Stewart wowed the world with his response to the challenge and made me look. It seems silly, but it turns out that silly — here, asking people to dump
James Foley, American teacher-turned-journalist, was abducted in Syria in November, 2012. He reportedly died this week after extremists dressed him up in an orange suit like the ones Americans put on prisoners at Guantánamo, and a man with a British accent cut off
I worked with Stephen Ward a lifetime ago, at The Canadian Press news service in Halifax. A philosopher by education, he took journalism seriously, and went on to a career of thinking, writing about, and graduate-level teaching in the field. He has now
Artist Thomas Leveritt filmed people’s faces with regular and ultraviolet light; the startling result reveals freckles and damage within layers of skin invisible to the naked eye. Leveritt tweeted, “We showed people what they looked like in ultraviolet, & wondered aloud if
Facts and Opinions is pleased to announce a new column — our first in the Think/Arts section — by Brian Brennan. In Brief Encounters, Brennan recalls conversations he had with celebrities during his 15 years as a newspaper entertainment reporter, and incorporates
International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe tackles the crisis of Israel and Palestine crisis in a new column, Hamas Leads Gaza Down a Dead-end Street. An excerpt: Not the least of the problems of finding any kind of solution to the plight of the Palestinians is
This is good. And quite funny. “News is like porn. People don’t want to pay for it on the Internet.” — John Oliver (Facts and Opinions does not sell advertising. If you think our journalism has value, please support us with a
Every person who fought in World War I is now dead – and yet no one alive today is unaffected. The war consumed much of the globe for, arguably, decades. Many contend that the unresolved conflicts of the “Great War” re-ignited to become