Bear with me
Our family has lived for decades at the edge of the forest in North Vancouver’s Seymour River valley. Bear encounters are not rare. We’ve had these animals in our yard…
Norman Farrell
Note to readers
Renovation work underway in and around our home explains why this site has been quiet recently. That and the July trip Gwen and I took across the ocean, which allowed…
Moral numbness
Writing for The Atlantic magazine, journalist David Brooks comments: There’s a question that’s been bugging me for nearly a decade. How is it that half of America looks at Donald…
Terawatts of clean energy
American company Quaise Energy is developing a new way to access the largest untapped energy source available. It will use established production methods of the fossil fuel industry, but the…
Economic power = political power
The video embedded here is not the least bit critical of its subjects. There is no discussion of wealth building through tax benefits, strategies that eliminate competition, or the use…
The Efficiency of Electric vs Fossil Fuel Economies
Markham Hislop and Professor Mark Jacobson dive into the rarely discussed fact that the electric economy is significantly more efficient than the fossil fuel economy, and therefore, less energy is…
A Reader asks…
Regarding Hydro boss Mr Clark’s odd and unsubstantiated assertions that geothermal is just “too expensive”? Says who? Where? In what scientific context? Enhanced geothermal systems: An underground tech surfaces as…
Fact versus Fiction
People of this world have many problems. Not least among them is climate change. Environmental activist David Suzuki discussed his pessimism about the future. Dr. Suzuki thinks we have now…
A plea for help – UPDATED July 17 and July 23
Carol Linnitt, co-founder of The Narwhal sent an email to people on the organization's mailing list. I hope everyone reading this will respond to her plea for financial assistance for…
Democracy, protect it, or lose it
The concept of collective policy-making has existed for a long time, but democracy, which allows most adults to vote, has a relatively short history...
Lew Edwardson on BC Hydro
Always articulate and thoughtful reader Lew Edwardson left a comment on the IN-SIGHTS article THE HEAT BENEATH OUR FEET. I think it needs to be amplified. Drought in northeast BC…
The heat beneath our feet
After writing about geothermal energy, I made a remark on Facebook regarding a Western Canadian company having to go to Bavaria to launch its first commercial clean energy project. I…
Carbon tax cost BC taxpayers $24 billion
Introduced in July 2008, British Columbia's Carbon Tax cost BC taxpayers $24 billion before it was eliminated at the end of fiscal year 2024-2025. People in BC were encouraged to…
Geothermal, ever present energy
Months ago, I wrote Geothermal — clean, non-destructive renewable energy. It was about Calgary-based Eavor and the company's use of unique drilling technology to realize geothermal energy. I have followed…
July update
After being focused on personal issues for a while, I will resume publishing a few pieces each week. Thank you to the people who have continued to support IN-SIGHTS. Please…
Regular activity at In-Sights will resume
Our world has had no shortage of bad news and bad actors in recent times. Two hours spent with Cirque du Soleil remind us that humans are also capable of…
Facebook censorship
Minutes after I placed a link on Facebook to the IN-SIGHTS article Road to Dictatorship, the post was removed. Facebook labelled it spam, which is typically defined as irrelevant or…
Road to dictatorship
According to a democracy research project based at Sweden's University of Gothenburg, 27 countries have transitioned from democracies to autocracies since 2005. Nations controlled by strongmen now outnumber those where…
Small item, large consequence
Stewart Hicks is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He described how a simple connecting device for roof trusses helped revolutionize the home-building industry. It…
Why do they lie?
I wonder. Do politicians lie because they think Canadians are collectively stupid, or do they lie because we are?