2020
Marking Emancipation Day
August 1st is Emancipation Day. It is exactly 186 years since the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 received royal assent. While it is often thought that this was done during the…
Choose your tech tools (and all tools) well
I tried using my old HP Stream notebook computer today – which I bought two years ago, naively, because it was slim and compact and blue, and barely used it…
Systems Collapse Ahead? It Is Increasingly Probable
Synopsis: First rule: Question everything. Think for yourself. Satyagraha: Gandhi’s word for truth-force, meaning also: non-violent civil disobedience, as inspired by Thoreau’s short essay, which inspired Tolstoy, Gandhi, and later…
Covid 19’s Best Friend – Authoritarians
The far right and Covid-19 are best pals. Whether it’s Trump’s America or Bolsonaro’s Brazil, Mahdi’s India, BoJo’s Britain, even Kenney’s Alberta, Thug Rule does seem to encourage the pandemic’s…
Science, “Scientism”, Group-Think, & Radical Healing
Like acupuncture, which was pooh-pooh for decades as unscientific bunkum and hocus-pocus, but is now acknowledged by the mainstream conventional Western medical establishment to work – though our crude…
In Fairness to Donald Trump
It’s not easy being “fair” to Donald Trump. I can’t think of another leader so needy, pathetic, dishonest and cruel as this guy. That’s not to say there haven’t been…
A final message from US Rep. John Lewis
“While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled…
On disproportional representation
Yes, it’s bad enough that fully 10% of the election candidates for the Saskatchewan Party have impaired driving convictions – including the Premier, and one individual who was convicted based…
Trump Heads For the Bunker
Has Donald Trump run out of steam? Has he lost his mojo? Is he in a Trump slump? What did he really mean when he said earlier this week that…
On denialism
To date, most of the response to Scott Moe’s multi-billion-dollar irrigation scheme has focused on the immense cost for uncertain return, as well as the lack of consultation with people…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – John Metta discusses how low-income workers have been barely treading water for decades even before the coronavirus collapse. The Canadian Centre for Policy…
Russia Claims to Have a Vaccine
It’s pretty big talk, the sort of thing that can leave someone looking pretty foolish if it’s not true. Russia claims it will start a mass vaccination programme this October.…
Hmm, Tough Call. What to Open, Schools or Boozers?
A scientist advising Britain’s Tory government says it may be necessary to close pubs if schools are to open next month. Prof Graham Medley told the BBC there may need…
Hey, Wendy read this!
It’s as easy as opening the Books app on your IOS device and searching. The book came up before I was finished typing the first words of the title. Hey…
Saturday Photo: Wake-up Call?
In this difficult time I’ve been on the look out for things that make one smile. That’s whey I was delighted when a friend brought over sunflowers last weekend: everytime…
The Boss From Hell
Paul Krugman writes that Donald Trump is every worker’s nightmare — the boss from hell: Such bosses have the reverse Midas touch — everything they handle turns to crud —…
Movies you have watched more than five times
No explanations (like, for example, that mine conclusively prove I’m still a teenager). Just say them. Mine: Being There. Princess Bride. Local Hero. Rock’n’Roll High School. Scott Pilgrim vs. The…
Never confuse Kenney with Trump.
One of my favourite writers wrote in a Toronto Star op-ed the other day that she thought Alberta premier Jason Kenney is the closest thing Canadians have to Donald Trump.…
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue tops Alberta independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller list for week ended July 26
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, July 26, 2020. The lists are compiled…