The Daily News (Halifax) Thumbs up, thumbs down THUMBS UP to Bill Freedman, a Dalhousie University ecologist who is a finalist in the Canadian Environment Awards, which will be presented in Vancouver on June 5. Freedman's specialty is urban wildlife. He hopes to bring more native plant species into the city environment, and he's leading by example with the plants on his own property. Freedman also founded the Canadian Environmental Literacy Project, which provides online curriculum materials. Win or lose, Freedman is doing more than his share to make the Earth a greener place. THUMBS UP to Joey Comeau, who found a novel way to pay for his fourth year at Saint Mary's University after his student loan didn't come through. That's novel - literally. An aspiring writer, he posted parts of a novel he was writing on the Internet, along with a request for money if downloaders wanted to read more of the book. The title: Lockpick Pornography. The subject matter: gay men who use their lock-picking skills to commit burglaries and other crimes. After a few chapters, Comeau made enough money to pay his tuition. Now, he's found a publisher for the book and a movie deal in the works. He took a chance - and made good. THUMBS DOWN to the people who have contributed to the $18 billion in uncollected federal taxes unearthed in the latest auditor general's report - and to the Canada Revenue Agency for its laxity in collecting the debts. Auditor General Sheila Fraser says unpaid taxes are rising at a faster rate than the payments Canadians fork over every April. And it dwarfs the last fiscal year's $8-billion surplus. It doesn't take much imagination to envision how that forgone cash could be invested in health care, infrastructure and defence. THUMBS DOWN to San Jose Sharks fans for booing the playing of O Canada at the start of Game 5 of the team's NHL playoffs series against the Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks fans had - apparently mistakenly - thought Oilers supports had previously booed The Star-Spangled Banner at the previous game in Edmonton. So, what did Oiler fans - notorious for their rowdy behaviour after games - do when the Sharks ventured north? They gave a rousing round of applause to the singing of the American national anthem. Then the Oilers won the game 2-0 to advance to the conference final. Sweet. Category: News C 2006 The Daily News (Halifax). All rights reserved.
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