The Age of Doubt
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of scientific advancement; it was the age of flat-earthers and chemtrail fanatics. It was…
Ian Chadwick
Back on the Open (World) Range
This week, after 300 hours of play, I came to the end of the Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla game. During those hours, I spent my time as a Viking,…
Why The Great Revolt Matters Today
Thirteen eighty-one. Almost 650 years ago in the time of Chaucer, the English people did something unprecedented: they rose up against their oppressive king and nobles. It is known today…
Tubes to Transistors to Today’s Chip Crisis
When I was a young lad, in the latter part of the 1950s (not long after the Stone Age ended…), one of my self-taught technical skills was to be able…
Thomas More’s Words Are Still Appropriate Today
I can always find something in Shakespeare’s works to console, inform, delight, or move me, and more often than not, something that is remarkably relevant to current issues and events.…
The Moreness of Everything
The title of this post comes from a subhead in Thomas De Zengotita’s book, Mediated: How the Media Shape the World Around You (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005) in which the author…
Trump’s Nazification of the USA
Project 2025 was the MAGA world’s blueprint for turning the USA into a totalitarian state run by President — now dictator in all but name — Donald Trump. But the…
The Fakeness of Poilievre’s Leadership Victory
Mainstream media disingenuously called the vote to keep the rage-farming Trump mimic, Pierre Poilievre, on as CPC leader “a resounding endorsement.” Global News claimed “Members of the Conservative Party of…
Where is John Pym Now That We Need Him?
John Pym is the sort of hero we need these days; a politician who risked his life and liberty to stand up against the abuse of power by a king…
How Neoliberalism Leads to Libertarianism to Mad Max
Despite its misleading name, neoliberalism is not a liberal, progressive, woke, or left-wing ideology. It is a deeply far-right economic policy that aims to benefit the rich, the businesses, and…
Musings on Colour vs B&W
I grew up in the technological end of the black-and-white era. In the 1950s and early ’60s, our TV was black and white (technically called monochrome). So was everyone else’s,…
Can the USA be Saved?
The United States’ long experiment with democracy ended last year, just months shy of its 249th birthday since it declared independence from Britain. It quickly transformed itself into an authoritarian…
Thoughts on (Re)Reading Fowler’s
I had all but forgotten how delightful it can be reading Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. It gives me the same sort of pleasure as reading at random through…
Canadians Vacationing in the USA Are Collaborators
The US dictator Donald Trump has consistently threatened Canada’s economy and our sovereignty since his inauguration. His threats to make us the “51st state” have so offended Canadians that it…
Knee Recovery Final, and Doomscrolling, 28
So it ended today, Thursday. My physio sessions are over after seven weeks. I achieved 119° knee bend and, with a push from the therapist, got to 120°, the magic…
Recovering Knee and Doomscrolling, 27
Tuesday morning, not long after I finished my morning knee exercises, I drove to Barrie for my annual visit to my urologist — and the surgeon who removed my cancer-riddled…
Doomscrolling Notes, and Knee Recovery, 26
Well, I am happy to say I was wrong. Despite more than seven million people (possibly as many as 8.2 million) participating in the USA’s No King’s protest, the events…
Knee Replacement Recovery and Doomscrolling, 25
Are the grackles gone? We’ve hardly seen any these last few days. Around this time of year, they head south. When they are here, they flock around our bird feeder…
Knee Replacement Recovery, 24
Saturday: Today, October 11, was the last day for this year’s Farmers’ Market, and it was a good last day for the market, weather-wise. I used to really enjoy going…
Knee Replacement Recovery, 23
Got up to another unseasonably warm October day here: 29C, the third hot day in a row. But tomorrow it’s predicted to fall to 16! I dropped by the local…