1. IT COULD BE WORSE FOR OUR CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. According to the Globe and Mail, Canada’s cultural institutions ‘held steady’ in 2010. Although things are going to get rocky in the next couple of years.
2. GAYS NO LONGER CRAZY IN ALBERTA. Our friendly province next door has removed homosexuality from its diagnostic guide of mental disorders. Only 37 years behind the American Psychiatric Association.
3. A REAL-LIFE FROGGER GAME ENDS POORLY. Remember Frogger? That classic arcade game in which you attempt to guide a frog across a traffic-infested highway? Someone tried to play a live-action version of Frogger in South Carolina last Monday but lost to an SUV. Presumably he racked up enough points for an extra life, because the man is in stable condition at an area hospital.
4. LOOKS LIKE BP WILL DO JUST FINE, THANKS. The financial liabilities resulting from BP’s massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in April of 2010 are not nearly as bad as the company feared. Fines and fees are in excess of 40 billion – but that’s not enough to do any real damage to their bottom line. Which means that they could do this kind of thing again some time. I look forward to BP’s next assault on the environment.