The Mumpsimus Blog – New blog site for my posts
I have a new site for my blog posts: www.ianchadwick.com/blog/ This site will remain active for its archives, but comments will be closed. I’ve found the WordPress package a better…
The Mumpsimus Blog site Community Blog List
The Mumpsimus Blog – New blog coming soon
I've been tinkering with Wordpress as a new blog platform for the past week, trying out its features and layout options. very nice. Flexible, powerful and a lot more social…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Idiot lights on the highway
Drove to Thornbury and back last night: a beautiful, clear fall night, dry and cool. A lot of traffic was on the road along Highway 26, many of them with…
The Mumpsimus Blog – What’s wrong with Collingsaga?
This week, Collingwood Council unanimously approved the name "Beachwood" for a section of Highway 26 that runs through our town. The Ministry of Transport asked Collingwood and Wasaga Beach to…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Latest blog for Huff Post
I'm blogging sporadically for the Huffington Post these days. So far all about municipal issues. Roughly once a week. Here's my latest effort: www.huffingtonpost.ca/ian-chadwick/municipal-bonusing_b_999666.html You can link from there to…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Human rights gone awry
A lot of news stories I read while in England used the term "human rights" to describe some failure of the powers to be to come to terms with the…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Back from England
Spent the past two weeks in and around London, England, on my first vacation to that country. Visited a lot of fascinating places, mostly historical, others more contemporary: museums, historic…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Jesse James, myth-making and pop culture
In the 2007 movie, The Assassination of Jesse James, we get to see a nascent American pop culture in a collision between its pop star (James) and a displaced fan…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Election Raises Concerns for Ontario’s Municipalities
Two questions about the aftermath of the upcoming provincial election are on the minds of councillors in most of Ontario’s municipalities: will there be downloading? And will there be another…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Rising municipal insurance costs a concern
AMO - the Association of Municipalities of Ontario - just released the results of a comprehensive survey of municipal insurance costs across Ontario. Just like your personal insurance, the costs…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Updated software for blog
Just a quick note: the blog software was updated yesterday. The display is a little different and it has a few new features. Invision's blogging package is not as good…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Not much change promised for Ontario’s municipalities this election
Ontario’s provincial leaders are promising a lot this election. It’s what they’re not promising that is more troubling to me. I listened to the leaders of the three parties speak…
The Mumpsimus Blog – A reflection on AMO’s 2011 convention
Spent most of this week at the annual AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) convention. This year it was held in London, ON, and around 2,600 municipal politicians and staff…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Simcoe County to consider rail line acquisition
The Barrie-Collingwood Railway (BCRY) may have a little more life left in it. There's a motion on the agenda for the County of Simcoe's Planning and Economic Development committee for…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Axial tilt and evolution
What role does Earth's axial tilt play in the ongoing evolution of life on this planet? That question has intrigued me ever since the Japanese earthquake, this spring. I read…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Myth, storytelling and modern writing
Back in 1949, Joseph Campbell, a follower of Carl Jung, wrote a book called The Hero With a Thousand Faces. It traced the story of the 'hero's journey' through the…
The Mumpsimus Blog – The last train
A chapter in local history was written, and closed, this week. The last freight train left Collingwood on July 14, 2011, ending more than 160 years of rail service to…
The Mumpsimus Blog – Relearning the bass and other follies
The past few weeks I've been a bit pre-occupied with several tasks and pursuits, so I haven't been blogging much, although I have been busy. About a month ago, I…
The Mumpsimus Blog – 500-million-year-old fossils create economic development opportunities
This intriguing story is from a media release from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, posted on the Municipal Information Network. Exciting stuff when a…
The Mumpsimus Blog – The honeymoon is over…
It seems Council's honeymoon ended last night with the defeat of Councillor Hull's motion. Four members of council* opposed what should have been an easy motion to accept. But -…