Abracadabra
Keep your eye on the bouncing ball. The common principle of both magic and marketing is misdirection. Look here, not there. Get your audience to look away from the grift, and they will be convinced the impossible is real. It’s magic. And marketing. Among the most common misdirection tricks is to change the denominator. Your […]
To clarify
Last week I wrote that Council was set to require municipal employees and contract staff to be fully vaccinated by November 15 unless exempted by a physician or nurse practitioner. Council approved the policy at its meeting on Tuesday. I also wrote that the County policy would be “flexible” insomuch as it would accommodate those […]
Respect
I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” These, according to Ronald Reagan, are the most terrifying words from the English language. The consultants had rarely witnessed as much community participation in rewriting a secondary or official plan as they had in Wellington. Not in the County—not anywhere, they said. The residents of the […]
Indoors
It takes 9.9 times the median income to buy a median-priced home in Toronto— the fifth most expensive city in the world. Vancouver is worse at 13.8 times—behind only Hong Kong. Canada is winning the race to become the—or one of the—priciest place to live in the world. It is disappointing we didn’t talk more […]
Winter
Natural gas prices are rising. It may be nothing. Or it could become a very big problem indeed. Not just in your home, but around the world with the potential of pitting nation against nation to secure the lifeblood of their economies. Short-sighted energy planning has made industrialized nations more vulnerable to the price of […]
It’s time
Things change after Labour Day weekend. Summer is over. Not phenologically— but psychically, the world shifts profoundly next week. Many will go back to school. Some back to work. We will make plans. New commitments. We are all a bit more serious after Labour Day. Sit a bit straighter. Work a bit harder toward our […]
Forever wars
America has been in retreat for a long time. Long before Afghanistan. Long before last week. The US doesn’t want to be the bulwark of liberal democracy anymore. It hasn’t wanted to do this for some time. This makes the world a more dangerous place. Not since the years after the Second World War have […]
Tipping point
Do you buy this? Does this chart make sense to you? Take a closer look. The blue bars represent the number of new homes built each year in Prince Edward County since the amalgamated municipality was formed in 1998. There is little in this trend to suggest it is set to explode into an orgy […]
Stars, arrows and question marks
The test of a good book for me is when I remember it after I put it down. Plenty of tales and accounts are funny, moving or bracing at the moment. But rare is the story that lingers. That changes the way you think, because its themes, motifs, argument, or approach rattle around your brain […]
Not your money
Taxation without representation is tyranny. The British learned this the hard way in the American colonies. So did the French royalty, eventually queuing up before the guillotine to pay for their arrogance. Indeed, many of the best history altering revolutions trace their origins to a ruling class that believed it had a divine right to […]