cheapesthostings2

The University of Ottawa's International Development Week is February 2nd to the 7th. Scheduled speakers are: Feb.2: Alex Neve , Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada Feb.3: Maude Barlow , Senior Advisor to the UN on questions of water Feb.4: The Honorable Lloyd Axworthy , former Minister of Foreign Affairs Feb.5: His Excellency S.M. Gavai , High Commissioner of India Feb.6: Alexandre Trudeau , Journalist Feb.7: Peter Levesque , Knowledge Mobilization Specialist Contact hpihc@uottawa.ca or visit www.sdi-idw.uottawa.ca for more information.

In a valid deductive argument, the conclusions follow necessarily from the premises. This is a proof in the mathematical sense of the word. Provided we know that the premises are true, we can establish with complete certainty that the conclusions are true. For example, identifying a single unicorn would establish without a doubt that unicorns exist. Unfortunately much of the time this type of certainty isn't possible. Consider another example from the realm of mythology: weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. Here's what Donald Rumsfeld had to say on the subject in 2002 (the boldface is my addition): There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence . ... Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist. But surely hunting high and low for WMD month after month and not finding any ( absence of evidence ) supports the inference that there ar...

Check out Gramercy Riffs . They have been described as a "heartbreak/nostalgia pop" band; see other commentary here .

Searching Google for "no evidence" yields "about 21,300,000" hits. It seems we're keen to deny that there is any empirical support for countless different claims. For example, scientificblogging.com reports that there is "No Evidence For Fish Oil Benefit In Arrhythmias" based on a systematic review just published in BMJ. (Full disclosure: I have previously participated in research on omega-3 fatty acids, however I have no related financial interests.) What does the review itself say? This is the first systematic review attempting to evaluate whether the protective mechanism of fish oil supplementation is related to a reduction of arrhythmic episodes determined either by a reduction in implantable cardiac defibrillator interventions or a reduction in sudden cardiac death. We found a neutral effect on these two outcomes. The confidence intervals for these outcomes were wide and a beneficial effect up to a 45-48% relative risk reduction cannot be exclu...

Michael Ignatieff, the new leader of Canada's Liberal Party has been described as a political chameleon . Writes Michael Valpy : But who is Michael Ignatieff really? Is he the pinkish liberal who champions human rights and carries Pierre Trudeau's torch for social justice? Or is he the conservative realist who embraced George W. Bush's attack on Iraq and flirted with the notion that torture could be acceptable? I wonder if Ignatieff's 2004 book, The Lesser Evil , should instead have been titled Maybe Torture's Like, Ok? But one thing's for sure—as a reviewer on Amazon.com put it—Ignatieff is "fuzzy on the whole 'good-bad' thing." For a commentary on torture minus the fuzziness, see this 2003 editorial from the British Medical Journal. The subtitle puts things in focus: Torture is a form of terrorism: there are no justifications for it

So our Governor General, Michaëlle Jean acceded to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request that Canada's parliament be suspended until late January. And the justification ... ? Well, none was provided. But perhaps it had something to do with Harper's Conservative Party being on the brink of losing control of the government. Now I don't dispute that the Governor General was acting within her powers. But I do think her powers need some tweaking if parliament can be suspended just to allow the Prime Minister to evade the will of the elected members of parliament. That kind of contempt for democracy smacks of absolutism. Who does the Governor General report to, anyway? Oh, right: the Queen of England! I'm reminded of some lines in the jingoistic second verse of "God Save the Queen": O Lord, our God, arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall. Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all. God save us al...

I note with alarm that Canada's parliament may soon be perogued ! Update 07Dec2008 : Overheard at a party: "We're in prorogatory!"