Math, physics, all that boring school stuff...

...sometimes, it's more important than you might think...

Judging by the panicked screams in this video, the folks demolishing a 275-foot smoke stack in Springfield, Ohio didn't expect it to snap power lines, destroy power equipment, or terrify children when it collapsed into the wrong direction.

There were no injuries resulting from this incident, but 8,000 people did lose their electricity due to the power equipment being crushed.

**********

BONUS LINK: The world's cutest bomb squad

Like a fish needs a bicycle

From today's Bono-endorsed... "Journal of the Blatantly Obvious"...

Operation Bite My Own Testicles

Compassionate, intellectual left...yet again... forgets to ask...

"Where are the "Queers Against Saudi Arabian Apartheid?"

**********

RELATED: In other "Oh Canada" news...

This is Toronto? Seriously?

Sibel, the Turk: She actually says, "I'm not racist. I hate everyone equally — especially Jewish people."

Downtown D, the Albanian: I don't know that I've ever met an Albanian, but now I don't want to.

No aboriginals... no Newfies... just dim-bulb Eurotrash?

C'mon... that's just phonin' it in.

**********

LAST WORD: And no one was beheaded

The grand imam told Mr. Obama that there was a church next door and that during Christmas parishioners use the mosque’s parking lot because the church does not have enough space.

Mr. Obama turned to reporters and said, “That is an example of the kind of cooperation” between religions in Indonesia.

Good grief... I can see why he brings his teleprompter everywhere he goes.

From the wonderful folks who brought us...

...lead-painted baby toys...

His sentence appears to be part of a trend of growing intolerance for government critics and independent social activists.

Environmentalists, AIDS activists and lawyers who took on sensitive cases have disappeared, been locked up, or otherwise harassed, while this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient, dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, is serving an 11-year prison sentence for subversion handed down after he co-authored a call for widespread reform of the authoritarian, one-party political system.

And don't think all us Ontarians don't appreciate it.

When Michael Ignatieff talks about...

...bringing the boys back home... he isn't necessarily talking about soldiers...

Figures from the Correctional Service of Canada show that the previous Liberal government approved all applications. In comparison, 27 per cent of requests were rejected during the first year of Conservative government, followed by 30 per cent in 2007-2008 and 20 per cent in 2008-2009. Figures for 2009-2010 are not available.

"The previous Liberal government put criminals first. We put public safety first," said Chris McCluskey, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

The fact is... it ain't Stephen Harper who wants to bring Ronald Smith back to Canada.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

I'll spare you (thank you comment moderation) this morning's dozen angry, rambling diatribes full of lol'ing & hahaha'ing from my own personal anonymous troll.

Apparently, Nonny feels I am devoid of the milk of human kindness. The fact that he, like Professor Zinfandel, would kiss up to the likes of Ronald Smith or Omar Khadr... speaks to the rising tide of anger that resulted, for instance, in the election of Rob Ford as Mayor of the Centre of the Universe.

I believe the candied unicorns & rainbow tide is turning. It'll be interesting to see how the left-blinded Coalition of the Swilling reacts as we turn the idealogical corner.

If Nonny is any indication... it ain't gonna be pretty.

Well... that certainly explains PETA

Results from a McGill University study, released yesterday, suggest that people... (men, anyways)... become less aggressive at the sight of meat.

Boys will be, uh...never mind

"When I saw the blood, I completely panicked. The bowl was full of it, and I screamed for my mother. She practically knocked the door down trying to get to me."

"I was standing there with my pants around my ankles, pointing at the bowl, hyperventilating."

If you ignore it...

..they will come...

In a sign of the odd ingenuity that has grown from the real estate collapse, he is banking on an 1869 Florida statute that says the bundle of properties he has seized will be his if the owners do not claim them within seven years.

A version of the same law was used in the 1850s to claim possession of runaway slaves, though Mr. Guerette, 47, a clean-cut mortgage broker, sees his efforts as heroic.

Ooh, ooh... I know this one...

...it was Ironman.

Just something to think about...

...while you're sitting waiting for 6 hours in your local hospital emergency room...

Since Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced 75 new scholarships for foreign PhD students in China last week, paying their way has turned into a provincial battleground.

The initiative will cost the province $20-million over the next four years, supplemented by $10-million more from universities.

It is Mr. McGuinty’s latest attempt at a precarious political balancing act: driving an outward-looking innovation agenda while trying to soothe rattled voters ahead of an election next year.

Well, heck... why not, huh?

As long as we've got all those excess taxpayer monies lying aroun... wait a minute...

RELATED: Oh, stop fretting...

...I'm sure there's a rigorous selection process...

The exposure of Mr. Zhang’s faked credentials provoked a fresh round of hand-wringing over what many scholars and Chinese complain are the dishonest practices that permeate society, including students who cheat on college entrance exams, scholars who promote fake or unoriginal research, and dairy companies that sell poisoned milk to infants.

Sophisticated political analysis...

...just ask an old Dipper turned Fiberal...

"It's kind of a tit-for-tat thing that's going on," Rae said Monday during an interview airing on CBC's Power and Politics with Evan Solomon. --

Interesting, though... that Bob doesn't have any trouble picking sides.

I dunno... maybe people are finally wising up to all the uber-rehearsed slicksters who think they know what's best for us...

"He is exactly the fuck we are always picturing ourselves not giving."

Not sure I'm really following here

How is this guy a "Yemeni cleric"... but Omar Khadr is a Canadian? --

A U.S.-born radical Yemeni cleric has called for the killing of Americans in a new video posted on a radical Muslim website.

Anwar al-Awlaki referred to Americans as "the devil," adding that killing them does not require special religious permission known as a fatwa.

Hey, Anwar... you maybe wanna point me towards those "special" killing rules? I'm especially interested in that "Americans are deductible" clause.

'Cos it's just not something my religion ever taught me.

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Geez - you think these people are secretly admirers of Mark Steyn and are intentionally giving him more material for his next book?"

**********

UPDATE: Apparently, you still can have...

...too much suckass political correctness...

-- EDMONTON -- Following a maelstrom of complaints, the contentious material contained in a city-sponsored anti-racism campaign has been pulled.

"It just sent the wrong message," said John Reilly, a diversity and inclusion consultant with the city.

The site called on caucasians to recognize their "white privilege."

Police forces in the GTA are frantically...

...rounding up farmers, duck hunters & skeet shooters as we speak...

Police said Donald Richard Grant, 27, was gunned down at the entrance to the Holiday Inn Express near Hwy. 401 and Dixie Rd. around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

"He's one of my rap kids," Omololu-Olunloyo said in an interview from Ottawa. "He was a promising artist. "He was a good kid ... very determined."

Rivalry in the industry is often intense.

Ya think?

Omololu-Olunloyo said Grant, who started as a songwriter for several musicians, was the third young rapper she represented to be killed in the GTA in recent years.

**********

RELATED: Remember, you were a kid...

...and all those gangs were just breaking down people's front doors... and killing them?

Yeah... me neither.

Police are on the hunt for three suspects after a woman was shot to death during a home invasion in Markham Monday night.

The woman’s husband was also shot after the thugs made their way into the home on Helen Ave., near Kennedy Rd. and Hwy. 407. His wounds are not believed to be life-threatening.

**********

LAST WORD: A celebration of Iggy

Because spending 2 billion taxpayer dollars to chase after farmers, duck hunters and skeet shooters is really gonna take a bite out of urban handgun mayhem.

Yup... Grandad's old single shot .22... that's the real problem.

War on Poverty started in 1964

Musings on the not-so-invisible hand of the market...

You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor."

We still have the poor, and they only demand more. Still waiting for the "Thank you's."

**********

RELATED: If you build it...

...they will come...

-- POVIRNITUK, Que. -- Here's what $588,000 will buy you in Nunavik: a no-frills home with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. No basement, no second storey.

The province now pays about $3,094 a month for each unit to cover maintenance, utilities and other expenses. Eligible Nunivak families get the semi-furnished homes with heat and electricity for a maximum rent of $358 a month.

Some of the new social housing units, built just two years ago, already need major repairs. They have broken windows, damaged walls and are in general disrepair.

The province recently also started eviction procedures against 80 Inuit renters who owe on average $30,000 in unpaid rent.

For anybody who's interested... at maximum rent that works out to 7 years of arrears... apiece.

No Tea Party for you!

So much for the overpowering, right-wing juggernaut of Fox News North...

"But this story is far bigger than me. I’m a footnote in a larger, more important drama. The bold, irreverent, alternative voice that SunTV once promised to deliver to Canadian television viewers has vanished."

"A left-wing American lobby group, together with novelist Margaret Atwood, slew the unicorn before it even found its feet."

**********

RELATED: Toe-may-toe, Tah-mah-to...

In other "you can't get there from here" news...

Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid quiet tribute to the 31 people slain at the hotel, looking over their names inscribed in a memorial before meeting with victims' families and survivors of the shootings.

Indian commentators seized on the president's failure to mention Pakistan, India's neighbor and bitter rival. Pakistan was home to the 10 assailants.

Which doesn't stop the Globe from slathering lipstick on the pig...

Barack Obama has risked upsetting his hosts in India by pushing the country toward peace talks with Pakistan that would encompass several issues, rather than focusing on the single problem of terrorism.

Hope and... change the subject... quick!

From our voluminous, overflowing...

..."but, that would make too much sense" file...

I don’t understand why some movie studio doesn’t decide to become the Good Guys of the industry. Get rid of all those annoyances, all the lawyer-driven absurdities, and market the heck out of it.

C'mon guys... he's a really good reader...

...that must count for something...

"We thought Obama is a trained orator and skilled in the art of mass address with his continuous eye contact," an official, who did not wish to be identified because of security restrictions, said.

Obama is known to captivate audiences with his one-liners that sound like extempore and his deep gaze. But few in India know that the US president always carries the teleprompter with him wherever he speaks.

Poorest country in the world?

It sure doesn't sound like it...

"That means Canadian taxpayers are shelling out an average of about $244,000 for each diplomat getting new digs in Haiti — and that is just for the land." --

Looks like the "gravy train" isn't just a Toronto phenomena.

A junkie... is a junkie...

...is a junkie.