"The problem with measurement," Dennis S. O'Leary once said, "is that it can be a loaded gun: dangerous if misused and at least threatening if pointed in the wrong direction." Today, in the era of social media and "Big Data", researchers and consultants salivate...

"My Dad got fired from his job at a law firm; he's trying some shift work now, but it's not working out so well."

"I hear you. My Mom works in government so she can bank her sick days and that helps a bit. But it's been brutal on my...

"Pennies don't fall from heaven -- they have to be earned here on earth."

- The Late Margaret Thatcher, former UK Prime Minister

"Every regulation represents a restriction of liberty, every regulation has a cost," said the late U.K. Prime Minister, Lady Margaret Thatcher. May she...

Our time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your...

According to Eric Schmidt's famous (and famously contested) factoid from a 2010 comment, five exabytes of user-generated information now get created every 10 minutes in 2013. Schmidt may, in fact, be too low by a few exabytes. No matter. In this era of Big...

There is one inalienable truth about happiness. Grumpy old men, and women, are not grumpy whatsoever -- contrary to popular myth. In fact, this truth remains the most contrarian of all research on happiness, and, to the best of my knowledge, is still the most evidence-based.

In a brilliant...

If the world were a perfect place, we'd all be fully recognized, rewarded and appreciated for our hard work -- and talent and perseverance would be the only way to get ahead. But in our fast-track world, does merit always mean success? That's what the MeriTALKcracy initiative is all about....

Both of my parents, professors and brain researchers Mary and Philip Seeman, are members of the prestigious Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour. It is therefore doubly unsettling to me when some of the greatest contributors to the social contract we call...

Does the prime minister wield too much power? Is our skilled immigration policy in need of major reform? What role do museums play in Canadian society? Could Healthy Living Vouchers help in the battle against obesity? These are the questions posed by the four finalists competing for the $50,000 2011/2012...

Did you ever wonder what DSK was doing in his room
When the maid came in with her duster and broom?
Was it something unspeakably common and low
For that seemingly upper crust Socialist pro?
He could have been reading a library...

As waistlines around the world bulge, there is an abiding grassroots advocacy for government to do something -- anything! -- to fix the obesity crisis. Imposing a fat tax on foods, specifically sugary drinks, is one politically fashionable idea. Now a number of provinces are poised to introduce legislation that...

Why is it that I'm increasingly asked -- by people working in large Canadian corporations -- to help them find care for themselves or for their loved ones who are depressed or suicidal? I'm not a doctor. My sole qualification to help anyone in such circumstances is thin: I'm the...

Given the lack of contrarian postpartisan ideas in Canadian and U.S. politics today, I would recommend taxpayers everywhere to revisit a 2007 book edited by iconoclast John Brockman that asks the question: "What is your dangerous idea?"

The book invited more than 100...

In 1997, sociologist Nathan Glazer declared, "we are all multiculturalists now." By this he meant that the so-called "melting pot" had dissolved as a binding construct for Americans; multiculturalism had displaced assimilation.

We are at a similar moment of reckoning in Canadian health care. While there remains a...

Why are looming holidays a time of such stress?
This is an issue that's hard to assess
It could be the flu
That's making us stew
But are there some other good grounds for distress?

A person I know at his family feast
Finds that...

The measure of success in the war on terror is the absence of a terrorist attack. So said Professor Loch K. Johnson of the University of Georgia in his keynote address at the 2011 CASIS International Conference on security and intelligence held Nov. 9-10 in Ottawa.

Is...