Nightly ‘Casseroles’ (pots and pans) Protest

Posted on May 22, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher 3 Comments

Yet another awesome thing about Québec culture. This is right outside my apartment door: Every night, my neighbours are protesting the Charest government’s tuition increases. To make matters worse, Charest has been totally inept and incapable of coming up with a compromise. So these protests have been happening nightly, and they last for about 10-15 […]... Read More

Jon Lajoie – Song for the Students

Posted on May 21, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher

Montreal born and raised comedian/musician Jon Lajoie wrote and shared a song in support of the student protesters. He has also tweeted permission to upload and share it. Although he hasn’t specified the license, I’m going to assume Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. If you are Jon, or if you know Jon and he […]... Read More

Why I Love Québec Culture

Posted on May 21, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher

There are actually many reasons why I love Québec culture (including the music, which is an amazing mixture of French Troubadour and Irish Trad), however this photo highlights one aspect of Québecois culture that I really appreciate: This photo was taken by David Champagne, and is on his blog here. Here’s a video of the […]... Read More

Extreme Over-Reaction by Montreal Police (SPVM)

Posted on May 20, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher

Last night, things got way out of hand during the 26th consecutive nightly protest – which were given new momentum thanks to Jean Charest’s government passing the draconian and over-reaching Law 78. There was a lot to be ashamed of on both sides of the issue (especially these idiots). However, while we do expect citizens […]... Read More

Montreal under siege (video)

Posted on May 20, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher 2 Comments

An uprising against law 78, a law that requires protesters submit their protest plans 8 hours in advance to the authorities. A law that is considered by many to be draconian (French only) and over reaching (including the Quebec Bar Association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers). A couple of things were painfully obvious […]... Read More

Montreal under siege

Posted on May 20, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher 1 Comment

Last night, things got way out of control. There was a small group of trouble makers who were doing everything they could to get the police’s attention – they succeeded. To make matters worse, the crowd was supporting the instigators rather than denouncing it. The regular police force arrived first, and had to deal with […]... Read More

On Facebook alternatives – inverview with Evan Prodromou

Posted on May 18, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher

An interview with my friend and former colleague/boss Evan Prodromou, CEO, lead developer and founder of StatusNet.... Read More

The Definition of Insanity

Posted on May 14, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher 1 Comment

“We believe in this policy,” Charest said. “This policy is going to go ahead.” “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein... Read More

A Modest Proposal to Cover Tuition Costs

Posted on May 14, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher 7 Comments

Introduction With the student protests in Québec now approaching their fourth month, it seems that there have been very few reasonable proposals from either side as to how to address this issue in a way that would satisfy the economic concerns of the administration and the social concerns of the protesters (although, this isn’t to […]... Read More

Bruce Schneier schools Sam Harris

Posted on May 9, 2012August 10, 2025 by Christopher

Unlike some readers, I wouldn’t call Sam Harris a ‘racist’ (religions or ideologies aren’t races) or even a bigot. He thinks he’s actually got a good argument when he calls for profiling by the TSA. On face value, his arguments might seem sound, perhaps even nearly convincing – even though there’s a nagging feeling that […]... Read More

Christopher Murtagh

Ponderer, feminist, musician and dad.

Author: Christopher