Census Dotmap ~ Visualizing North Americans!

Infosthetics spots Brandon Martin-Anderson's Census Dotmap...

"This is a map of every person counted by the 2010 US and 2011 Canadian censuses. The map has 341,817,095 dots -- one for each person. [...] Technically, as the available census data is only available on a block level, all dots are placed randomly within each block's perimeter."

Charter Cities ~ Paul Romer on Honduran RED

Economist Paul Romer interviewed by TVOntario's Steve Paikin about new growth theory, the charter cities concept, the Honduran RED (special economic development zone), and the potential role for countries like Canada...

Accelerated Convergence ~ Growth Strategies...

I want to revisit the big idea of Accelerated Convergence -- figuring out how historically, and how going forward, countries begin to grow rapidly and catch-up with the most prosperous. Check out these data traces from Gapminder which show first Australia, then Canada, then Monaco, then Sweden, then Japan, then South Korea, and now China all shifting from prior GDP/capita trajectory into accelerated convergence mode and then (except for China, yet) converging in GDP/capita with United States...

Who else can do this in the future? And what if all countries began converging at the average Japan+SK+China rate? Where would we be by 2050?

War on Cycling ~ Toronto Mayor vs "Pinko" Bikers

Thanks to Calestous Juma for spotting Anna Soper's piece in the Guardian's Bike Blog noting that Toronto's removal of bike lanes marks opening salvo in 'war on cycling'...

"Relations between cyclists, pedestrians and drivers have grown fraught, and indeed deadly, in recent years. In January 2010, 14 pedestrians and one cyclist were killed in separate incidents. Regrettably, the new mayor and his administration have done little to diminish tensions [Since election, Mayor] Ford has done his best to halt the "war on cars" and keep bike-riding "pinkos" on our toes. Last month, the city council approved the removal of bike lanes on a major thoroughfare in downtown Toronto."

How's that for progress, eh?

Loser Scum ~ Canadian Hockey Fans Run Amok

After watching their Canucks lose to Bruins, hundreds of Canadian scum ran amok, rioting and wreaking havoc in downtown Vancouver. Inexcusable. I hope the Mounties track down everyone whose criminal behavior was captured by the cameras and they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law... Endnote ~ Disgusted by the disgraceful behavior of the relatively few riotous swine, thousands of Canadians are volunteering to help clean up and otherwise respond.

Ice Pilots ~ Buffalo Airways Delivers the Goods!

Just saw for the first time reality TV show Ice Pilots about the people and business stories of Buffalo Airways, a logistics and flight services firm up in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Cool!