Monday, June 20, 2011

Manufacturing Guilt, wrongful convictions in Canada

Dawn Anderson & Barrie Anderson point out the mistakes and wrongful convictions of people in Canada accused and convicted of serious crimes.  It is very interesting especially as most of the cases are ones I remember hearing about in the news.

It also points up the fallibility of our judicial system - judges, lawyers, police and even the witnesses that were coerced and bought off.  Yikes an indictment to be sure.  However, it must not be forgotten that these cases are the few. (very few)  And that as a result of these high profile cases changes have been made to the system to help in the future.

Very interesting read though.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Wicked All Day

This new episode in the series is about Zoe and her Marquess.  Of course it looks very bad at the beginning but they all manage to sort themselves out in the end.  Opps, did I spoil it.  Oh, right, it's a romance so that's how they all go.  Liz Carlyle is a favourite of mine and this series about the Scots (Lord Rannoch and Evangeline ) carries on in grand style.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Guided by a Stone-Mason

Thomas Maude leads you through an exploration of the cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Britain in this small book.

It was an informative read set out like you are on a walking tour of the cathedrals without the walking.  He explores the bones of the church in a structural way that makes you feel that you will see any old building with new eyes.

When our children were young we travelled and churches were often on the agenda.  They were beautiful, free, and usually welcoming to families.  Many of his descriptions reminded me of the cathedrals I have seen in Halifax, Montreal, Seattle, Salt Lake City.  Perhaps not even all very old.  It is a testament to the early stone masons that with our modern materials we wish to repeat the patterns from a thousand years ago.