The Root of it All

Paris Hilton, star of The Simple Life , the "celebutante" who is famous mostly just for being famous, was sent back to jail Friday.

That was the comment posted by sueite last Sunday, followed by the one-word question, "Why?" The glib answer is, "Why not?" In fact, there are a couple of posters -- not sueite -- whose own comments about this city are usually so negative that I have

Maybe it’s the heat, or maybe I’ve just been too busy these past couple of days, but despite continuing to mull over a few ideas for a column topic, nothing has really gelled. So, I offer a smörgasbørd of scattered thoughts for this weekend’s column.

Just last week I was telling Pete Vere that topics for my column seem to just make themselves known. Today’s is topic no exception.

I would like to start by extending my condolences and deepest sympathy to the family of Jordan Manners, the student who was shot and killed in his Toronto high school on Wednesday.

I received this e-mail earlier today from Chris Allen, the grandson of the last engineer of the Bellevue locomotive and whose letter got the ball rolling on the "save the locomotive" campaign. He is quite concerned by rumours he has heard.

In the grand scheme of "holidays" my favourites are the ones where turkey dinner is served. The others I enjoy for various reasons. I’d like to say I enjoy having the day off, but this has not always been the case: often I had to work on those days.

To start off today’s column, here’s a little quiz about water . 1. How much of the Earth’s surface is covered by water? a) About 30% b) About 50% c) About 70% d) About 90% 2.

The following is the full text of an e-mail I sent to federal party leaders Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe, and Jack Layton and our MP Tony Martin, regarding the Shane Doan affair.

This past week in Toronto, five elementary school students were disciplined for alleged "cyber bullying" of some of their teachers. As a result, they will not be allowed to participate in the planned end-of-year class trip to Montreal.