Last month, Toronto held their Pride festival–the largest in the world. There were also Pride festivals in Amsterdam, London, New York, and Berlin that same weekend, along with hundreds of other cities throughout the world.

Now, it’s our turn.

Two weekends from now marks the 36th annual Vancouver Pride Parade. Pride festival events get underway [...]

From The Toronto Star:

Toronto’s Pride Week may have seen its last cheque from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government after this year’s $400,000 contribution provoked a backlash from within the ranks of MPs and Conservative supporters.

And Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy appears to have been disciplined for the controversy, losing her power to announce handouts [...]

US pastor opens church to guns

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he said was an effort to promote safe gun ownership.

Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for [...]

So recently, Geoff put out a call for suggestions on future Terry speakers. One more to add to the list: Dambisa Moyo. She was recently in Toronto to participate in a debate with Stephen Lewis on the pros and cons of aid in Africa. I wasn’t able to get off work to go, [...]

Via The Globe and Mail.

The most interesting part to me is the comments section beneath the article. Apparently people feel very strongly about this particular issue. Someone even made the connection between the current economic situation and Archie’s choice of a woman with family money! 

Edit: also interesting is the feminist interpretation [...]

From the FAFIA report on Women’s Inequality in Canada Canadian women are paid less than their male counterparts across all age groups and education levels. Women earn less than men working in the same sectors, or even in the same jobs. 
• Comparing men and women who have full-year, full time employment, women earn 71% [...]

Already alarmed over funding cuts to basic research, scientists say two appointments in particular are worrisome. Mark Mullins, the executive director of the conservative-leaning Fraser Institute — and a former adviser to the Canadian Alliance Party — was recently appointed to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which funds university research [...]

From The British Medical Journal:

In 2005 males under the age of 20 exceeded females by more than 32 million in China, and more than 1.1 million excess births of boys occurred. China will see very high and steadily worsening sex ratios in the reproductive age group over the next two decades. Enforcing the existing ban on sex selective [...]

Dr. Atomic, the transfixing new opera by the composer John Adams in collaboration with the director and librettist Peter Sellars, calls to mind William Carlos Williams’ lines in Asphodel, That Greeny Flower: “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems/ yet men die miserably every day/ for lack/ of what is found [...]

From today’s Globe and Mail (full article here):

KIEV, Ukraine — A widespread scare about vaccine side effects in Ukraine has led to a sharp drop in immunizations that could result in disease outbreaks spreading beyond the former Soviet republic, international and local health officials say.

Hundreds of thousands of fearful Ukrainians have [...]

I came across this great article in the Journal of Cell Science via the NY times about the value of stupidity in science. To quote:

For almost all of us, one of the reasons that we liked science in high school and college is that we were good at it. That can’t be the only reason – [...]

number of cells in all your organs combined: 10¹³

number of bacteria currently living happily in your gastrointestinal tract: 1014

Not sure why evolution seems to be perpetually on my radar these days. (Edit: although Darwin’s approaching 200th birthday could have something to do with it).

In any case, another set of interesting lectures are on the horizon.

In particular, the one on religion by Dr. Ara Norenzayan, a psychologist here at [...]

Finally something uplifting to counter all the stories of bank executives and hedge fund managers installing $15000 toilets and $300 000 rugs. Proof that ethical business can be profitable.

It reminds me a bit of the Gateman Goes Global lecture last fall. Only, at the time, I was frustrated by the pervasive [...]

More evolution talks are headed our way. This series being put on by Cecil Green College looks so good, I almost didn’t want to share it with you guys. Almost.

(Hey, when the seats are first come, first serve, a Darwinist has to do what a Darwinist has to do. It is survival of [...]