Explosive news.

Yesterday, BBC News ran an interesting story about a study performed by The Leading Question which suggests that UK-dwelling "people who illegally share music files online are also big spenders on legal music downloads" (emphasis mine). The complete BBC article may be found here and makes for intriguing (but ultimately inconclusive) reading. The findings are tantalizing and support my own feelings (i.e. that it is chiefly lovers of music who download illegally), but really offers only a preliminary assessment of what's happening.

Once again, thanks to Pacanukeha for the find.

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Also, Steenblogen blessed us with a sharp, insightful and intimate commentary on the appointment of a man to the chair of the Women Studies' doctoral program at the University of Washington. As usual, S. cuts through the underbrush and gets to the ripe fruit at the heart of it all.

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In a rare bit of good news, the Gazoo reports that the provincial government has nixed a plan to build a massive ballistics testing range in Northern Québec. I heard about this deal some time ago and had dismissed it as a fait accompli, despite the evidence of risks to the community and natural environment. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Two years after SNC Technologies announced a proposal to build a 105-millimetre ballistics testing range for the military in northern Quebec, the provincial government made an announcement of its own - thanks, but no thanks.

The shells would have been exploding in the wilderness near the Cree community of Waswanipi, about 700 kilometres north of Montreal.

There were fears the range would have had an impact on the Cree tallymen and the animals they hunt on traplines in the area. The trappers worried that, because of the noise, some of the animals would disappear during the 30-year project.

"The provincial administrator has refused the project," said Brian Craik, who represents the northern Quebec Cree on the Comite d'examen, or COMEX, which is made up of three representatives appointed by Quebec and two appointed by the Cree nation. The announcement came late yesterday.