Maggie Siggins, author of A Canadian Tragedy: Colin and Jo Ann Thatcher, had this to say about Colin, the just-paroled murderer, on CBC Radio's As It Happens:

He's living in Regina in a half-way house, which is where I live ...

I didn't know that Maggie had recently done time. But I'm delighted she's out and that her and Colin are trying to rejoin society! :)

To the surprise of no one, the great Canada Now experiment will be tossed on the ash heap of Corpse history in February.

Instead, supper-hour newscasts will be local and one hour in length.

Now, in the CBC story I heard on The World At Six, there was mention of myCBC.

In the CBC.ca story, there is some expansion on that concept, along with the mention of "civic journalism":

The accompanying text:

Edge Designs is an all-women-run company that designs interior office space. They had a recent opportunity to do an office project in NYC. The client allowed the women of this company a free hand in all design aspects.

The client was a company that was also run by all women execs.

The result?

Well, we all know that men never talk and never look at each other, and never laugh much in the restroom. The men's room is a serious and quiet place.

But now, with the addition of one mural on the wall, let's just say the men's restroom is a place of laughter and smiles!

Laughter and smiles? Men's washrooms are a place of business. Serious, serious business that requires a great deal of concentration and attention to the matter at hand (hence the quiet). And nobody will use the one with the camera in front.

(Thanks, Harvey!)

The NYT reports on the interlocking plotlines of a U.S. Supreme Court case on whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant.

With the Village Voice's critical credibility in tatters after firing legends like Robert Christgau, Gawker Media's Idolator blog hopes to fill the roll of the music poll Pazz and Job with its own offering: Jackin' Pop.

The Huffington Post blog is actually going to send reporters out to cover the U.S. Congress and will gear up for the 2008 presidential campaign. Question: Will their reporters wear pyjamas? :)

Thomas Homer Dixon argues there are limits to how far human inventiveness can take us when a critical resource becomes in short supply. Take oil, for example.

It would appear that in North Waziristan, an erroneous report can trigger something a bit more serious than an outraged letter to the editor.

From the BBC:

One of Iran's most senior clergymen has issued a fatwa on an Azeri writer said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.

The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan's Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie.

It was issued by the conservative Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fazel Lankarani.

The writings of Rafiq Tagi sparked recent demonstrations outside the Azerbaijani embassy in the Iranian capital, Teheran.

The Iranian media is reporting that Grand Ayatollah Lankarani's followers inside the republic of Azerbaijan wrote to him asking for advice about what they called "the apostate writer".

They accuse the Azeri writer of portraying Christianity as superior to Islam and Europe as superior to the Middle East.

They allege that he has ridiculed all the sanctities of Islam and done it knowingly, fully aware of the consequences of his action.