Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
02 May 2012
Biographies
A captured African was put on display at the
1904 World's Fair for the amusement of the public
King of the Klondike: Joe Boyle
A man of extraordinary energy had a life
packed with business success, military
exploits, diplomacy, and romance
Britain’s Last Witch: Helen Duncan
She was a fraud and swindler and in 1944 she
was jailed in Britain after being convicted
under the country’s ancient Witchcraft Act
The Brutal Life of John Liver Eating Johnston
When 20 or so Indians were killed in the Cypress
Hills Massacre in 1873 in Saskatchewan the
illegal whisky trade was partly to blame
Convicted Murderer Dr. Crippen May Have Been Innocent
One of the most notorious criminals in English history
was convicted of murdering his wife in 1910;
new evidence implies an innocent man was hanged
Viola Desmond: Victim of Racism
Nova Scotia confronts its racist past
by apologizing to Viola Desmond who was jailed
because she refused to submit to discrimination
Capitalism According to Milton Friedman
The American economist Milton Friedman, who championed unrestricted free enterprise,
has taken a lot of blame for advocating
the conditions that caused the Great Recession
Charles Burgess Fry: an Extraordinary Athlete
Cricketer, soccer player, and athlete, C.B. Fry was
also an academic, teacher, editor, writer, and publisher
Collyer Brothers: New York City Hoarders
Two eccentric New Yorkers from an established and respected family withdrew into their home and began collecting what many regard as garbage
As practitioners of what’s called the “dismal science” economists are not noted as sparkling personalities;
there are always exceptions
For more than 20 years, Albert Pierrepoint was
the U.K.’s official executioner carrying out
the ultimate sentence more than 400 times
Bernie Madoff is just the latest in a long line
of fraudsters who copy the tactics of Charles Ponzi
The unsolved story of Jack the Ripper has gripped
the public imagination for more than a century;
now, a new theory says he was not alone
John Searl: Inventor or Hoaxer?
John Searl built a machine in the 1960s that hovered like a flying saucer and drew its power out of thin air, so he claimed. Is he a hoaxer or visionary?
Lord Haw Haw: Hanged for Treason
William Joyce was an Irish-
Adam Smith saw himself as a philosopher but because
of his interest in the operations and principles
of the market he became known as an economist
Taking Charles Darwin’s views on evolution as his
starting point, Herbert Spencer applied the
theory to philosophy, psychology, and the study
of society; he called it his “synthetic philosophy”
Social Reform Crusader William Thomas Stead
A journalist raised in Victorian England
became a crusader for social reform, peace,
and for the rights of the underdog