Random links
- Bill to end ‘hate speech’ portion of human rights law gets mixed reviews but Senate approval
- "A private member’s bill repealing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the so-called “hate speech provision,” passed in the Senate this week. ... The bill from Alberta Conservative MP Brian Storseth passed in the House of Commons last summer, but needed Senate approval. It has received royal assent and will take effect after a one-year phase-in period." Considering the implementation of this was a farce, I'd consider the removal of these bits from the law to be a good development.
- Look, up in the air! Radio-controlled Superman takes to the sky
- "Otto and business partner Ed Hanley have created a small start-up company that creates radio-controlled planes designed in the form of people, characters and objects"
- I Don’t Feel Your Pain: A failure of empathy perpetuates racial disparities.
- "... when viewers saw white people receiving a painful stimulus, they responded more dramatically than they did for black people. ... the researchers did not believe racial prejudice was entirely to blame. After all, black participants also displayed an empathy gap toward other blacks. What could possibly be the explanation for why black people’s pain is underestimated? ... It turns out assumptions about what it means to be black—in terms of social status and hardship—may be behind the bias. In additional experiments, the researchers studied participants’ assumptions about adversity and privilege. The more privilege assumed of the target, the more pain the participants perceived."
- 5 reasons price gouging should be legal
- "In Calgary, a Facebook page called 'YYC Flood Profiteering Shame Wall' sprang up to try and embarrass businesses which increased their prices. ... The page featured posts condemning some stores for high prices of water while praising other stores for putting their water on sale. Those running the Facebook page missed the irony when they later had to inform people that the stores offering cheap water had sold out. Charity has its place, but removing the profit motive from businesses virtually ensures shortages during crises."