York University sports marketing Professor Vijay Setlur says the NHL’s absence might mean more airtime for Major League Soccer or several winter Olympic sports, but he recognizes the size of the programming gap TSN will have to fill. “You can only have so many darts and poker,” said Setlur, who teaches at York University’s Schulich School of Business, in the Toronto Star Nov. 26. “If I was one of these lesser profile properties I would call TSN right away and say ‘how can we help you fill your void?’” Read full story.
The appeal of annuities
Everyone has a different level of tolerance for longevity risk, according to Moshe Milevsky, professor of finance at York University’s Schulich School of Business and executive director of the Individual Finance and Insurance Decisions Centre. He says advisors should assess the extent to which clients are worried about this possibility to determine whether they’re good candidates for annuities. “Some people are very longevity risk averse – they worry that they’re going to [live to 100], and that they’ll have no money,” said Milevksy in Investment Executive Nov. 25. “You’ve got to elicit their attitude towards longevity risk, just like you elicit their attitude to financial risk.” Read full story.
Rogers beats BCE in NHL rights bidding battle: corporate Canada
Nadir Mohamed, 57, told reporters yesterday in Toronto that the deal, the biggest in his five years as chief executive officer of Canada’s largest wireless provider, will provide fresh revenue from sports content and be immediately accretive to earnings. It also deprives BCE’s TSN network of national rights to Canada’s favorite sport. . . . NHL hockey nets about C$100 million in advertising revenue for CBC in a year, a third of its total, said York University Professor Wade Rowland in Bloomberg.com Nov. 27. Read full story.
Poor choices
“Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the job market, poverty and the assumptions we make when we talk about people’s choices, partly because recently I’ve seen two excellent and provocative posts about this,” wrote York University PhD candidate Melonie Fullick in University Affairs Nov. 25. “I think a theme in these posts is how the scope of (perceived and actual) possibility diminishes radically as your finances worsen – and this affects not only the decisions you make but also your whole view of the world and what it has to offer.” Read full story.
Five catalysts
The drive for perfection amounts to “a huge proportion” of suicide, particularly in youth, according to Professor Gordon Flett of York University’s LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research. Many people put on a front or “social mask” so even close friends and family don’t realize the extent of the pain, helplessness and hopelessness they’re experiencing. “No one’s that perfect,” said Flett in the Barrie Advance Nov. 14. “People need to be attuned when their sixth sense goes off.” Read full story.
Katy Perry remembers Olivia Wise as Toronto teen dies of cancer
Toronto teenager Olivia Wise touched the hearts of people around the world after a video of her singing Katy Perry’s “Roar” went viral. Wise died Monday afternoon, two years after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. . . . Wise’s story has affected many including York University student Zev Gasner, who created his own video showing 1,000 messages of thanks to the young singer from university and high school students, reported Global News Nov. 26. Read full story.
Status quo after federal byelections
York University political science Professor Dennis Pilon says it was a good night for the Liberal Party of Canada and its rebranding efforts around their leader, but calls Trudeau’s comments nonsense. “If anything, Thomas Mulcair’s party is a calmer, gentler, less critical party than Jack Layton’s,” he said in News1130 Nov. 26. “Jack came out of a kind of city, street-fighting Leftism that could convey his ideas in a very common sense way. Mulcair is much more a professional politician and he’s been a very effective parliamentarian. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to judge the actions of our politicians by their performance in Parliament anymore. It appears the branding efforts around Justin Trudeau have worked their magic.” Read full story.
‘Great judicial mediator’ set to retire
As he gets set to retire on Dec. 10, Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler plans to focus on one of his passions, alternative dispute resolution, after he leaves the bench, reported Law Times Nov. 25. Among his post-retirement activities, he’ll be spending time at the new Winkler Institute for Alternative Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. It’s fitting given his record of success in using mediation in high-profile matters, including the Air Canada restructuring case and a dispute between Ontario Hydro and its power workers. He maintains his faith in mediation despite his disappointment at the breakdown of talks in the Nortel Networks Corp. bankruptcy proceedings. Read full story.
Laurier professor honoured with annual Polanyi prize
York University biology Professor Jean-Paul Paluzzi was one of five professors to win $20,000 from Queen’s Park Monday as a recipient of the Polanyi Prize for research. He is studying the basic physiology of mosquitoes and ticks so we can find better ways to treat these carriers of diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease. “You want to be able to target them more specifically, so you’re not affecting other species like honeybees,” said Paluzzi in the Waterloo Region Record Nov. 25. “The more we know about these pests, the more we can refine our control of them.” Read full story.
Jazz musician Brian Katz thrives on improvization
Nothing thrills Toronto jazz musician Brian Katz more than getting on a concert stage and making something up. . . . When he is not performing or in the studio, Katz leads a busy life as a music teacher around Toronto. In addition to leading a klezmer ensemble at York University, Katz teaches improvisation, jazz and classical music there. “I like living on the edge,” he said in the Canadian Jewish News Nov. 26. “However, I balance that by still maintaining practice in classical music. I do enough stuff that is preordained.” Read full story.
No guarantee of spring provincial election: professor
The provincial government’s recent fall economic statement may be a signal we are headed for a spring election, but there is no guarantee, said York University political science Professor Robert Drummond in the Richmond Hill Liberal Nov. 22. . . . The economy, while in better shape than it was immediately following the 2008 collapse and during the 2011 provincial election, is still recovering, said Drummond. Many of the measures in the fall economic statement appear to be there as an effort to rouse the still-sluggish economy, he said, noting if an election is in the cards, it is much harder to sell the electorate on austerity. Read full story.
Man with early onset Alzheimer’s says he’s ‘the smiling, happiest grandpa you’ll ever see’
Last November, Al Stager was at a workshop attended by people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, their family members and community artists. They created art that illustrated how they felt about the negative way they were often viewed by the public, and how they’d like to change that. Their art helped in the development of a new theatre production called Cracked: New Light on Dementia, reported the Guelph Mercury Nov. 23. The play, funded by a federal health research grant, is based on research by University of Waterloo Professor Sherry Dupuis; York University Professors Christine Jonas-Simpson and Gail Mitchell; and Pia Kontos at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Read full story.