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I am now an examiner at Examiner.com, writing on higher education in Ontario.

Please visit my Examiner page at http://www.examiner.com/x-29248-Ontario-Higher-Education-Examiner.

I will be submitting at least 3 articles per week, so please visit often and consider subscribing (it's free).

"...tear down this wall!"

20 years ago today the Berlin Wall fell, marking the first signs of the end of the Cold War.

Enjoy a gallery of images of this historic event here.

CBC takes a stand

Loyal CBC viewers and listeners, all 3,475 of us, are in a tizzy over the CBC's much-vaunted "rebranding" of the 24-hour CBC Newsworld into CBC News Network (that's CBCNN, in case you missed it).

Apparently completely re-jigged to attract a younger (read: not about to die) audience, the new format proved nearly unbearable to watch, what with the majority of the launch broadcast last week devoted mostly to the giddy new anchors babbling about the new set and only occasionally pausing their banter to mention the, ahem, news.

The greatest amount of flak being generated is that all of the broadcasters stand around the set, which is supposed to bring us closer to them and make the newscast more "transparent". This doesn't bother me nearly as much as how every time a segment anchor talks with a correspondent they ask them if they will follow-up, and the correspondent invariably says something like "Yes, so-and-so, I will follow up and keep you posted". This is incredibly inane, insulting, and rather condescending to the viewer and the correspondent.

There is also an alarmingly high level of distracting sounds, scrolling lines of text, huge moving images, and short news bites. For me CBC was always about the stories, with in-depth and incredibly intelligent reporting from what were certainly some of the most respected correspondents in the English language. The current format reminded me of a slightly more dressed up version of Much Music. I certainly can't tell most of the new female personalities from Erica Ehm. If I wanted to watch Kelly Ripa read me 20-second news bits I'd watch...well, you get what I mean. In addition, folks are also upset that some American consulting firm is responsible for this mess.

So it is with great ironic glee that I share this hilarious clip from a BBC parody of 24-hour news programs that ran in, get this, 2005. The show was called "Broken News" (a play on Breaking News). In this clip the anchors introduce us to the segment of the news called the Standing News. Absolutely priceless.

The unsinkable Nancy Pelosi

The U.S. House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) narrowly passed a transformational health care reform bill with a vote of 220-215.

Supporters claim the bill will extend health care coverage to 36 million Americans who currently do not have health insurance. The estimated cost of the bill, if passed in the Senate, will be $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

In a news conference late Saturday night, Pelosi claimed that they [the Democrats] have enough support to get the bill through the Senate. It was reported in various media that President Obama made a special trip to Capitol Hill to appeal for support allegedly imploring, "“When I sign this in the Rose Garden, each and every one of you will be able to look back and say, ‘This was my finest moment in politics.’ ”

This is a wonderfully historic victory for the Democrats and certainly one for Pelosi, already a history-maker as the first female Speaker of the House. May it also come to be a wonderful victory for America as well.

Yates Bound

No. 4 Queen's has just beaten No. 9 McMaster 32-6 to win the semifinal of the OUA championship.

Queen's will face either Western or Laurier next weekend in the championship game to vie for the Yates Cup.

Go Gaels Go!

Happy 40th!

This coming Tuesday will mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of "Sesame Street".

For those of us born around the same time (ahem), "Sesame Street" constituted an enormous part of our childhood. It's hard to believe that the show has been on the air that long and that celebrities of all stripes still want to guest on the "Street".

Even to this day the show emits a powerful nostalgic pull on our hearts. There are far too many wonderful clips to choose from, so I had to make a tough decision and share one of my all-time favourite sketches, featuring a lovable pair of alien visitors. Watch the clip here.

Yours truly presents...

Avoiding Financial Crisis: Money Management 101

The B2B networking guru is back with an engaging session full of hot tips gleaned from his journey from financial chaos to financial peace. With his trademark warmth and humour Stacy Kelly, Artsci'93, will share insights on the fundamentals of effectively managing your money.

Date:	November 10, 2009
Time:	6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Location:	Ellis Auditorium Queen's University Kingston, ON, Canada,
Cost:	This is a free event, but space is limited so register now! Register here.
Details:	This session will be presented by Stacy Kelly, Artsci'93, who will be speaking about budgeting, credit cards, credit scores, and strategies to prepare you for the next stages in financial planning. Registration for this event begins at 5:30 PM.
RSVP By:	Nov 9, 2009

Top Trends 2009

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

The worker in the mirror

According to Douglas Reid, Associate Professor of Global Business at Queen’s School of Business, employees in recession-era workplaces typically fall into the following behaviour patterns:

• The Terminated: while not physically present in the organization, their memories linger and affect those that stay.

• The Fearful: these employees believe they will be cut next. They are ready to search for a new job but cling tenaciously to whatever certainty their existing situation affords.

• The Indifferent: this group is watching the recession occur and believe it is going to affect someone else.

• The Delighted: high performers who delight in the improvement in their situation relative to the average consumer via sales and discounts in the marketplace.

• The Apocalyptic: a small group that believes that the recession presents a necessary “reset” for a myriad list of failures in the existing system of capitalism.

• The Longers: Hoping for a severance package and optimistic they’ll obtain rapid alternative employment.

• The Engaged: The core of a company’s renewal efforts. They understand the consequences of the recession and what needs to be done to help the business recover.

Source: http://business.queensu.ca/news/blog/?p=398

BNN@10

Toronto-based Business News Network (BNN) is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a great

look back at the top-10 stories of the last decade. It's an informative and thoughtful reflection

on the issues that have defined our world. Check out the special feature here.

[UPDATE] Biggest concert, EVER

On Sunday night YouTube streamed the entire "U2 360" concert live from the Rose Bowl. In addition to the record-breaking 97,000 fans in attendance YouTube has confirmed that nearly 10 million streams came into YouTube from 188 countries; the largest streaming event in YouTube history. Wow!!

It was an awesome concert, and you can watch the rebroadcast here. Enjoy!

Coming Soon

On Friday Queen's School of Medicine broke ground for a new building, an exciting and much-needed addition to the resources on campus for the teaching of our future physicians.

So far the $77M project is being funded by $28.8M from the Government of Canada, $28.8M from the Government of Canada, and $13.2M from private donations. The School is currently working to raise the $6.2M balance.

Ouch!

The Gaels took a beating yesterday, losing 13-25 at the capable hands of Laurier Golden Hawks. It was the Gaels' first loss in 18 games, and it was a big piece of humble pie to eat on the road.

Still, Queen's finishes at 7-1, atop the OUA, and remains the number-2 ranked team in the nation as they head for the playoffs. QB Brannagan also finished his CIS career with 10,714 yards, the second-highest in CIS Football history (after Western's Faulds).

Hats off (or is that 'Helmets off'?) to Laurier, a team that should never be discounted. Next weekend Queen's will face either McMaster, Guelph, or Ottawa in the quest for the OUA championship, the Yates Cup.

Queen's makes the grade

Queen’s received more A+ marks than any other university in the Globe and Mail 2010 Canadian University Report.

The survey of over 38,000 current undergrads at 53 schools gave Queen’s the highest grades in 10 categories, including quality of education, academic reputation, libraries, university atmosphere and diversity of extra-curricular activities. Overall student satisfaction is an "A". You can read the full results for Queen's here.

Got Paper?

Starting next week yours truly will be volunteering as a tutor at Queen's Writing Centre. I will be assisting first and second year students with their introductions, thesis statements, conclusions, and outlines. I anticipate that I will also advise them on stylistic and grammatical matters as is necessary. If you happen to be writing a paper and need advice I highly recommend the Centre's online handouts.

How long must we sing this song?

On October 18, 27 year-old Christopher Skinner was attacked by a group of men in downtown Toronto as he walked home alone from a party for his sister around 3:00 a.m. He was first physically assaulted and then the men piled in their SUV and ran him over, killing him. While police are reluctant to call the homicide a hate crime Skinner's family and friends believe the fact that Christopher was a gay man contributed to his murder.

I suspect that the police are hesitant to attach "hate" to the crime because it has not been proven that the assailants knew that Christopher was actually gay. However, whether or not the assaulted person is gay is almost beside the point. Assaulting someone because one believes that the person is gay (or Jewish, or Muslim, etc.) is key to establishing a hate crime. In fairness, this could simply, and horribly, be a case of random violence; that Christopher happened to be the dreadfully unfortunate person whose path crossed with a group intent on violence. Perhaps, although it's much more likely that the thugs in their SUV fortress, pumped up on whatever and with bravado fuelling a dangerous machismo, spotted Mr. Skinner on his way home and marked him as a fag worth bashing.

With deepest condolences to the family and friends of Christopher Skinner. May he rest in peace.

What a nail biter!

You know all those terrible Hollywood films about sports teams that have that ridiculous slow motion scene in the last minute of the game and the movie's hero somehow manages to save the day? Yeah, I have always loathed those scenes and those schlocky films too. Until today.

Yep, I can be a sentimental sports movie cynic no more, for today Queen's superstar QB Danny Brannagan threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Blaise Morrison (pictured) in the last 13.5 seconds to win the game 27-26 over Western. Wow! Yep, you read that correctly: 13.5 seconds. And, really, could a guy have a more appropriate name than Blaise? You couldn't write this stuff and get away with it. Oh, and for the record, Brannagan became only the second QB in CIS history to throw a career 10,000 yards.

Western's great QB became the third CIS QB to pass the 10,000 yard mark as well; a rare treat for football fans to have two powerhouse QBs in one game. A generous heap of praise to Western for an awesome match up that certainly met all the pre-game hype. Queen's moves to 7-0 and is the only undefeated university football team in Canada.

40 Years of Hilarity

In October 1969 a rather modest sketch show debuted on the BBC. The oddly named "Flying Circus" would go on to do for comedy, many believe, what the Beatles did for music.

For indeed, how can we imagine a world without the Parrot Sketch, the Argument Sketch, the Spam Sketch or, my all time favourite, the Cheese Shop Sketch.

Bravo and thank you to the utterly wonderful Monty Python!!

Queen's Football 6-0

The Gaels continued their winning streak this past Saturday, bowling over the Waterloo Warriors with a final score of 43-21.

The result was almost a foregone conclusion as the real anticipation was waiting for QB Danny Brannagan to close in on the OUA passing record, which he did just fine, making him the all-time Ontario passing leader, and just 466 yards shy of the national passing lead. Meanwhile, Brannagan is just 11 yards shy of breaking the 10,000 yard mark, which he will surely do next week, making him only the second player in CIS football history to do so.

The next match up is probably the most anticipated game in Canadian football this season: Queen's will host the mighty Western Mustangs at home on October 17. Go Gaels go!!

Do Ask and Do Tell

In an historic speech to the Human Rights Campaign 13th Annual National Dinner on October 10, Barrack Obama made a commitment to ending discrimination against LGBT people in the military, in the workplace, and their families. Some excerpts from his moving speech:

"And I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight. For even as we face extraordinary challenges as a nation, we cannot -- and we will not -- put aside issues of basic equality..."

"My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians -- whether in the office or on the battlefield. You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman. You will see a nation that's valuing and cherishing these families as we build a more perfect union -- a union in which gay Americans are an important part. I am committed to these goals. And my administration will continue fighting to achieve them..."

"And that is why -- that's why I support ensuring that committed gay couples have the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country. I believe strongly in stopping laws designed to take rights away and passing laws that extend equal rights to gay couples...For while there will be setbacks and bumps along the road, the truth is that our common ideals are a force far stronger than any division that some might sow. These ideals, when voiced by generations of citizens, are what made it possible for me to stand here today. These ideals are what made it possible for the people in this room to live freely and openly when for most of history that would have been inconceivable. That's the promise of America, HRC. That's the promise we're called to fulfill. Day by day, law by law, changing mind by mind, that is the promise we are fulfilling.

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