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Halifax Daily News Stops The Press 2008-02-11 12:13:00 Shocking media news today. The Halifax Daily News has decided to no longer offer their newspaper to customers any longer. They will begin offering a free paper which will probably be distributed similar to The Coast.For those who were unaware, I have been delivering the Halifax Daily News for close to 6 months now as a second income. We were planning on using the money to pay off our student loan debts quicker. It is too bad they hadn't decided this one day before. The weather today made the drive very difficult....but that is the nature of the business.The Daily Metro will begin publication on Thursday. No word yet on where the paper can be found, but I am sure we will learn more soon.The official announcement can be read here which includes the following quote:“We worked hard to deliver an economically viable newspaper in the Halifax market with The Daily News,” said Marc-Noël Ouellette, Senior Vice President, Newspaper Group, Transcontinental Media. “It was an extremely tou ...

ECMA Results 2008-02-11 09:21:00 Here are some of the winners from last nights East Coast Music Awards. Joel Plaskett was the big winner of the evening with 6 awards in total. More awards can be found on the EAMA website.Entertainer of the Year: George CanyonRecording of the Year: Ashtray Rock (Joel Plaskett Emergency)Female Solo Recording: If You Were For Me (Rose Cousins)Group Recording of the Year: Ashtray Rock (Joel Plaskett Emergency)Male Solo Recording: House For Sale (Dave Gunning)Rising Star Recording of the Year: Brand New Skin (Stephanie Hardy).Group Single of the Year: Fashionable People (Joel Plaskett Emergency)SOCAN Songwriter of the Year: Joel Plaskett for Fashionable PeopleVideo of the Year: Fashionable People directed by Randall Thorne (Joel Plaskett Emergency)DVD of the Year: Back Stage Pass (Rankin Family)African-Canadian Recording of the Year: It's The Music (Jamie Sparks)Alternative Recording of the Year: The City Destroyed Me (Nathan Wiley)Bluegrass Recording of the Year: Saddle River String Band ...

Premier Playing Hardball 2008-02-09 14:51:00 Premier Rodney MacDonald sent a clear message to the opposition parties last night that their "free ride" is over. He told his party members that the opposition is going to have to start backing up their claims against them and will be held accountable for any promises they make. He also told reporters that he will not be giving in to their demands during the spring budget since there likely won't be enough money for him to keep all of his promises. Wait a minute. Rodney MacDonald is planning on holding the NDP and the Liberal parties accountable for all of their promises and then later on says he won't be able to meet all of his? It sounds like the Premier may be gearing up for an election in anticipation that his budget will not be supported. Nova Scotians have always criticized the Premier for not being tough enough to lead the province but now he is changing the tune of his fiddle. Last year the Premier was also forced to hold over promises such as lower cla ...

City Cycling 2008-02-08 00:07:00 I am always impressed to see new groups created which look at improving their community. Recently the HCC (Halifax Cycling Coalition) was formed in an attempt to improve the experience for cycling in the provincial capital. Their goals include raising awareness of cycling in HRM, improving facilities for bicycles and communicating with the government about specific issues concerning transportation. Cycling is a major issue in the city and the HCC is likely to face some uphill battles. The city is simply not designed for a pleasant cycling experience which is a shame.  If cycling were encouraged it could go a long way in helping our population get back in shape and lowering our emission levels which are impacting the environment. Currently cyclists are forced to battle traffic on major highways which could cause a big safety concern. Most motorists simply do not know how to conduct themselves when they approach an unprotected cyclist. This is why many people would like to see b ...

Gas Price Predictions For February 8th 2008 2008-02-07 13:12:00 It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on February 8th 2008.I predict gas prices will go down by 0.5 - 1.5 cents per liter.Gasoline Prices In New BrunswickJanuary 31st 2008 - 107.2February 7th 2008 - 105.9Difference - -1.3Gasoline Price GloballyJanuary 24th 2008 - $87.85 U.S. Per BarrelFebruary 8th 2008 - $87.80 U.S. Per BarrelDifference - -0.05To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified. ...

I will be back 2008-02-05 12:53:00 Postings may be scarce for the next few days as I have come down with the flu. I will be back as soon as I am feeling better. ...

Minimum Wage Spike 2008-02-01 11:32:00 The Province is considering a report which calls for a large boost to the minimum wage's over the next 8 months. By the end of March it could be increased from the current $7.60 up to $8.10. There would be more increases until October when it would reach the peek of $9.65. In the end there would be a 27% increase by the end of the year. The new rate would allow a single person working full time to make more than the poverty line of $20,000 per year. It only makes sense that any full time employee would make enough to support themselves and not be forced in to finding additional income streams. This large increase does pose a concern for jobs in the province over the long term. Studies have shown that an increase in minimum wage has a negative impact on employment opportunities. Such a large jump could deter lower paying jobs from opening in the future. Still it may be worth the risk. Nova Scotia businesses won't exactly be excited about this proposal, but it does make log ...

Gas Price Predictions For February 1st 2008 2008-01-31 09:26:00 It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on February 1st 2008.I predict gas prices will essentially stay the same. May change by less than 2 cents in either direction.Gasoline Prices In New BrunswickJanuary 24th 2008 - 108.3January 31st 2008 - 107.2Difference - -0.9Gasoline Price GloballyJanuary 24th 2008 - $87.85 U.S. Per BarrelJanuary 31st 2008 - $90.37 U.S. Per BarrelDifference - +2.52To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified. ...

Child Porn Is Here 2008-01-30 12:50:00 Recently released figures show a very disturbing trend in Nova Scotia. Over 5500 IP addresses have been logged from our province as downloading some form of child pornography. These figures appear to be much higher than the national average. The truly scary part is that a team of only 7 people are trying to track all of these down. They are so bogged down with work that they must prioritize the offenses that they pursue. All child pornography cases need to be considered a priority if we want to have any hope of slowing down this offenses. We need to look in to hiring more people who specialize in tracking these people and bring them in front of the courts. This is a truly despicable crime which affects the lives of these children for the rest of their lives. Allowing anyone to upload or download these images or video should be a crime on our part. ...

New Student Loan Program For Nova Scotia 2008-01-29 12:25:00 Students will save hundreds of dollars thanks to a new student loan program which will begin August 1st 2008. The new program will be a direct loan from the government which will cut the interest on the loans by 2 percentage points. The new program will help out future borrowers and people enrolled in classes after October 31st 2007. There have been some great movements to assist students with obtaining a post secondary education. My only complaint about this program is that it will not include people currently in repayment. They will continue to work with the banks with the current systems. Any money the government makes off the program will be reinvested in to the student assistance program. ...

Electronics Fees Begin February 1st 2008-01-28 20:54:00 Starting Friday, electronics will be a little bit more expensive. This is the day that the recycling fees will begin to be charged. The fees will range from $5 to $45 on items such as computer monitors and television sets. The good news is that these electronic items will not have designated locations for recycling. At this point 30 will be opening. The program will be expanded next year to include cell phones and scanners among other items. The government hopes that this program will be as popular as the bottle/can recycling program, but without giving a portion of the funds back that is unlikely. ...

Nova Scotia RSS 2008-01-28 13:06:00 For those unfamiliar with RSS feeds, they are a way to get updated articles from your favorite sites with very little effort on your part. It is an excellent way to keep informed on your time without missing any articles. You can use free sites such as Googles Reader to see all the latest news. Here is a list of RSS feeds for news items in Nova Scotia.Blogging Nova Scotia - http://feeds.feedburner.com/BloggingNovaScotiaCBC Halifax - http://rss.cbc.ca/lineup/canada-novascotia.xmlChronicle Herald - http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/rss.php?section=FrontHalifax Daily News - http://www.hfxnews.ca/rss/TheDailyNews/news.xmlCape Breton Post - http://www.capebretonpost.com/rss/TheCapeBretonPost/news.xmlNova Scotia Government Press Releases - http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/rss/rss.aspNova News Now - http://www.novanewsnow.com/rss/rss.xml ...

Cluck Off 2008-01-27 10:35:00 Louise Hanavan got a wake up call this week in Halifax. The 3 chicken she had been raising are actually illegal...sort of. A neighbor complained that the chicken feed was attracting rats to her property. The zoning laws for her region apparently had a way for the city to determine that the chickens are in fact illegal. The wording essentially said that everything is illegal in R2 zones unless the law specifically allows it. This means that since chickens are not mentioned in the law, they are illegal. Old laws like this need to be taken off the books or at very least not enforced. Anyone could use this wording to accomplish almost anything. All this does is allow the city officials to rule against you for whatever they seem fit to. If this wording continues to remain in the books then it will be used again in the future for other random issues. Laws need to be specific and not so vague that it can be used in any situation. ...

Gas Price Predictions For January 25th 2008 2008-01-24 04:02:00 It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on January 25th 2008.I predict gas prices will go down by 1 to 3 cents per literGasoline Prices In New BrunswickJanuary 17th 2008 - 109.2January 24th 2008 - 108.3Difference - -0.9Gasoline Price GloballyJanuary 17th 2008 - $90.70 U.S. Per BarrelJanuary 24th 2008 - $87.85 U.S. Per BarrelDifference - -2.85To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified. ...

NHL in Nova Scotia 2008-01-23 12:58:00 The executive for the National Hockey League's Players Association, Paul Kelly made a very interesting comment yesterday. He specifically named Nova Scotia as a possibility for a future team in the NHL. "if there was an interest there and there was a commitment on the part of the people of Nova Scotia to support a team and build a facility, I would obviously be an ally and would strongly urge that it be seriously considered."He explained in more depth today that he believes that expansion in to huge American markets is not the direction that the NHL should be taking. Smaller communities with strong ties to hockey could make a team profitable even with the small populations.I tend to disagree but would be very happy to see a team in our region. It would create a lot of economic spin offs and create a stronger sense of community. My concern is that the prices for a hockey game are outside the reach of many in Nova Scotian's to attend on a regular basis.The Halifax Mooseheads have been ...