When civil discourse fails
Last week, a well-watched trial ended with charges being dismissed, a cliff-hanger ending to what was considered a potential turning point in free speech on the wild west of the Internet. Gregory Elliott was charged with criminal harassment for an online war of words turned ugly. The backstory is convoluted. Elliott was reacting to three […]
Hero complex
After a rocky start in late 2015, the federal government’s promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada is well underway. Though opinions on this effort—along with an understanding of both the definition of refugees and the Syrian conflict—vary, one conclusion seems inevitable: unforeseen problems will emerge. Earlier this week, an article published by CBC […]
Following the young cats—and Mr. Jagr
With only a handful of games remaining before the All-Star break, NHL teams are assessing their expectations for the remainder of the regular season. The break usually comes at the halfway point in the season; however, for a variety of reasons, some teams have played well over half of their games. The Black Hawks played […]
Back in time
While on my way back from research in Portugal, I offer some snippets from previous articles. Starting next week, I’ll report on the results of our investigations. Europe of the 12th century was completely different in national boundaries and political outlook than we know it today. This was about to change radically for two reasons; […]
Charity begins at home
The more I hear about charitable organizations and how uncharitable some of them really are, the more likely I am to avoid donating. Last week, the City of Toronto, the GTA, City of Orillia and the City of Brockville were knocked back on their collective butts when the doors of their Goodwill stores closed. Little […]
Specialists
We have constructed a world that functions on specialization. The complexities of our society require it: from baristas to barristers, from construction workers to cardiologists, we each know how to do one thing that defines our function in society, and we must all rely on other specialists to know their own work, because we cannot […]
The Brampton Beast
The Brampton Beast flew into Fort Myers a week ago to spend a little time in the Florida sunshine. They left last Sunday with very light tans. Normal rainfall for the entire month of January is less than an inch. Last week, we had more than six inches of rain, and a couple of tornadoes. […]
Stuff
Tryin’ to figure what it is about material possessions that seem to sometimes take up way too much space in our physical environments and our consciousness. Like way too much space: And I’m guessing that I don’t hold a patent on the concept, as in I am not alone. The challenge for me is that […]
High-tech hub
Wellington has been at the epicentre of the wine boom. And now it could be at the epicentre of the high-tech boom. A software developer by the name of Steve Fences—up until now, based in Toronto—is moving to Wellington this March as Wellington is the location for beta testing his new application. “Wellington,” says Mr. […]
Boogers and cooties
Boogies, boogers: found in the nose and is the result of drying of the normally viscous colloidal muscus, more commonly known as “snot”. I used to work with a person who picked his nose. He was a multi-tasker. He would pick his nose while he was amending a mechanical drawing. He would pick his nose […]