Self-Checkout and Job Suckers
Recently, I’ve been thinking about a former colleague who spent more than a few years teaching me about ins and outs of the wild world of work. While out to lunch at a cafeteria-style place, he told me to leave my tray and dishes on the table because I wasn’t being paid to do the […]
The reason of rhyme
The late rock iconoclast Frank Zappa (father of the legendary band the Mothers of Invention) once stated that “all the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.” He was echoing the sentiments expressed a century and a half earlier by the philosopher John Stuart Mill, who was troubled by the […]
I am the problem
“If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” Well, heck, when I first heard that phrase I didn’t think the concept could possibly apply to me, unless I wanted it to apply to me. In other words, if I didn’t acknowledge there was a problem I couldn’t possibly be a […]
Fishwrapped!
I’ve just been fishwrapped. And I’m still smarting from the experience. It all started innocently enough when I decided to take my wife out for dinner with a couple of friends to celebrate her birthday. Nothing too fancy: hearty pub food right here in Wellington would suffice. So we chose the Midtown brewery. I was […]
Declutter? That is the question
I actually lost sleep, recently, wondering how to get rid of some of the things I’ve accumulated over the years. It seems the more room I have, the more crap I manage to find to fill the space. I am the carp of crap. Nature may abhor a vacuum, but I seem to fear open […]
Glenn Gould and the Last Supper
‘Primo penserio’—brainstorming—first thoughts in a new year bring me to how fortunate we are to have the lending library system that is ours. Libraries are the best of democratic facilities; sources of learning; advocates of literacy and, importantly, they are open and free to everyone. The very existence of libraries is a lesson in giving, […]
What they got for Xmas
I hope you survived the Christmas deluge. Let’s see what various personalities around the world got for Xmas. It turns out all of them got real books with real titles. Justin Trudeau. Costume Through the Ages: Over 1400 Illustrations. Perhaps this will satisfy his urge to dress up. Doug Ford. Fifty Places to Camp Before […]
A year of Mondays
New Year’s Day is like the mother of all Mondays. It’s the day for a list of resolutions. Like Monday, New Year’s Day is the day we clear the deck and make way for a brand new “me”. New Year’s Day! Let’s put Christmas away and jot down a few resolutions we’ll probably ignore, starting […]
Evensong
Vespers, Matins, Evensong… words with connotation of meditation, communion, spiritual engagement with a higher Being, however one may chose that to be. At this moment I’m borrowing the Church of England’s expression for an end-of-day gathering of community for prayer mostly rendered in song—Evensong. Mainly I like the poetry, the sounding of the word. It’s […]
Banana Republican of the Year?
You have to ask yourself what award Doug Ford is gunning for: Banana Republican of the Year, perhaps? Mr. Ford can’t seem to keep his hands off Hydro One, even though the government’s share in the company is less than 50 per cent and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Ordinarily, the […]