Attention must be paid to these ideas

Published Sept 12, 2009 in The Globe and Mail, a reputable Canadian news organization, is this readable summary of the situation in which the information tsunami is leaving us: information-rich and attention-poor.

Lots of implications for everyone within the sound of my voice (as the radio preachers used to say). Of special interest for teachers, journalists and other ex-experts.

Interesting comments, for once, on the Globe and Mail site.

Trying to make a killing, again

A Canadian provincial government wants to seize the proceeds from the sale of a book by convicted wife-killer Colin Thatcher.

I say you should decide whether Thatcher makes any money -- not the Saskatchewan government.

You should decide whether he collects a couple of bucks from his tortured retelling of the case, and his literally incredible insistence that he didn't murder JoAnn Wilson.

If you don't think so, then don't buy Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame. You will be in good company as you let this flotsam wash past you in the information tsunami.

Thatcher was convicted of killing Wilson in 1983. He appealed, but the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal told him to take a hike. So did the Supreme Court of Canada.

That's guilty, guilty, guilty.

Now that he is out on parole, who cares if a couple of hundred people fork over $35 for his book? That's a couple of hundred people who will see through his delusions of innocence.

It is highly unlikely his book will hit the best-seller lists. This angry author will not get to make a second killing.

But let the readers decide whether the book should live or die.

That's a better chance than Thatcher gave JoAnn Wilson.