Posts with the ABC News tag

Barris Beat

Perils of tech empowerment

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Drones, the tech equivalent of performance-enhancing drugs?

It’s now been just over two weeks since women’s Olympic soccer players from New Zealand spotted a drone flying over their training session near Saint-Étienne, France. Police quickly detained the operator as the New Zealanders registered a protest.

Within a day, the International Olympic Committee sent the drone operator and Bev Priestman, head coach for Team Canada’s women’s team, home. As penalty, FIFA, the soccer governing body, deducted six points from any Canadian women’s winnings. Meanwhile, Canada Soccer promised:

“(We shall) seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all our programs.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Taking their marbles home

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Photo courtesy parentdish.co.uk

What’s with these guys? This week, Stephen Harper, the leader of the largest dominion in the 64-year-old, 53-member Commonwealth – covering a quarter of the world’s total land mass and including a third of the world’s total population – told fellow members he’d decided not to attend the upcoming meeting of the community in Sri Lanka. He said he wasn’t happy with the human rights record of the host nation’s president. So, in a desire to protect what he felt are the values of Canadians, he’s decided not to show up. It was the prime ministerial equivalent of a schoolyard child’s pout:

“Nya, nya, na-nya nya!”

(more…)