Gift #1- So the first announcement of the new McGuinty government was a new statutory holiday on the 3rd Monday of February. Now we have another 3 day weekend in February. That makes 10 statutory holidays if you include August's Civic Holiday (Simcoe Day in Toronto). If you include Easter Monday and Rememberance Day (in Novmber) then we have 12 days off for employees -- that's more than 2 paid weeks of paid vacation.
Now if you are a freelancer or independent consultant you get 0 days off. Why isn't there a Small Business Tax Credit or Rebate Day to ensure small business owners also get some free time to spend with their family and they don't suffer the consequences of an unpaid day? Surely we shouldn't make the free time gap between full time employees and small business owners even wider?
And by the way the US while appearing to have more holidays than Canada, actually has less formal statutory holidays (10 or 11 depending on whether you count MLK Day). Many organizations only give you 6 or 7 days off though, about half of what Canada has.
Gift #2 - Radiohead has released their new album "In Rainbows" on Oct 10 2007. You can download the full album without digital rights management (DRM) off their website. Here's the kicker -- for the MP3 versions you decide what you want to pay. If you decide that you want it for free you just pay a 45 pence (Radiohead is a UK band) fee. They have lots of articles justifying this approach. It's kind of a cool idea -- maybe their experiment will finally once and for all decide what a music track is really worth. Hope they release the stats.