No, Elon, We Won’t Be Going to Mars Soon

Behaviour & Psychology / Books & Reviews / Science & Technology / Space and space travel / Technology & Gadgets / What I'm Reading Now5 Comments

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Delusional SpaceNazi and democracy destroyer Elon Musk says his company will launch its first rockets to Mars in 2026, and could have human missions sent to the Red Planet as early as 2029, but for sure by 2031. Well, that’s piffle for a lot of reasons. We won’t see a human flight to Mars for many, many more years and not likely to happen within my remaining lifetime (a couple of decades at least, I hope). But despite the ridiculousness of his posturing, sycophantic media … click below for more ↓

Collingwood’s Mystery Councillor

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / MusingsLeave a comment

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Who is Ian MacCulloch? We were only told by the town that he’s the newly-appointed councillor, chosen this month by council to fill the seat vacated by Brandon Houston, who quit his responsibilities and resigned back in January. But unless you dig deeply, you won’t know anything more about the newbie other than his appointment. The town’s announcement about him was vague and insubstantial, although not surprising for a townhall that prefers secrecy over openness. In fact, the town said nothing about MacCulloch’s experience, his … click below for more ↓

Can Mark Carney Save Canada From Trump? Let’s Hope So.

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Mark Carney, our new Liberal leader, is campaigning to be Prime Minister of Canada. His main opponent, the rage-farming, grievance-mining Trump mimic Pierre PoiLIEvre, is campaigning to be governor of a 51st state. Canadians generally think PoiLIEvre is the candidate most likely to cave in and do whatever is necessary to appease Trump. That includes giving away our country just for a pat on the head from the US dictator. PoiLIEvre’s party caucus all know this, they know how their leader has aligned himself with … click below for more ↓

Trump Mimic PoiLIEvre Voted The Most Likely to Roll Over to Trump

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Politics / Rightwing claptrap5 Comments

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The grievance-mining, rage-farming, puerile Trump mimic Pierre PoiLIEre was voted by Canadians the political leader most likely to cave in to Donald Trump rather than stand up for Canada against the fascist bully. That’s not surprising, given the piffleswipe PoiLIEvre has been using Trump’s playbook since Trump started his own campaign some years back: lie, deflect, gaslight, accuse, lie again, insult, never take responsibility, attack, lie some more, and blame everyone else. PoiLIEvre’s own corrosive mix of far-right bombast and bumper-sticker slogans gained him a … click below for more ↓

Rage-Farming Trump Mimic Poilievre Scrambles to Pretend He’s Pro-Canada

Canadian Politics / MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / Trump fascism / US Politics13 Comments

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The trade war that the racist and fascist felon and Putin asset Donald Trump initiated against American allies Canada and Mexico, as well as against China, Colombia, and other nations has brought out the stark differences between Canada’s conservative parties and our centrist and leftist parties. Suddenly caught like deer in the headlights by Trump’s attacks, the federal CONservatives are flailing to try and convince Canadians that they aren’t really the rightwing Maple MAGA extremists they’ve been pretending to be for the last few years. … click below for more ↓

WTF Ontario?

Politics / Provincial Politics4 Comments

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Seriously, WTF? How could such a corrupt grifter like Doug Ford not only get re-elected, but get his party of lackluster cons, conspiracy cultists, Talibangelists, and ne’er-do-wells elected as the government again? It’s almost like the majority of voters in this province don’t read the news, don’t care about what he’s done, are apathetic about democracy, and are too lazy or stupid to bother to vote. Oh, wait… The voter turnout in the 2025 Ontario provincial election was an appalling 45%. FORTY FIVE PERCENT! That … click below for more ↓

Chaucer’s House of Fame

Chaucer / Musings / Poetry2 Comments

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Recently, while I was reading in bed — as is my nightly habit — I came across some lines (641-660) from Book II of Chaucer’s early poem, House of Fame, in a recently purchased book on his prologue to the Canterbury Tales (a small 1960 reprint of a 1903 original picked up at the local used book store). I’ve seen the 2,158-line poem (Wikipedia says 2,005 but that’s wrong) in my Riverside Chaucer, but never paid it much attention and can’t recall ever reading it … click below for more ↓

Sidewalk Ethics and Etiquette

Collingwood / Council / Legal issues / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsLeave a comment

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There is a theory that a person’s moral compass may be judged by how they deal with shopping carts. Those with even a modicum sense of ethics and morality return them to the store or its corral. Those who leave them in the parking lot or steal them are immoral and unethical, and probably sociopaths who support Trump or PoiLIEvre. Back in 2020, I wrote about this theory, and quoted from a website that included this statement: “The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test … click below for more ↓

Dither, Dally, and Doddle

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Municipal elections2 Comments

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If I were looking for a single word to succinctly describe Collingwood Council, it would not be ‘decisive.’ Nor would it be progressive, capable, innovative, or enterprising. I would not even apply the word ‘adequate’ much less ‘competent.’ No, the word that comes to my mind is ‘inept.’ At the November 18, 2024 meeting of council, Mayor Hamlin announced that Councillor Brandon Houston was taking a leave of absence for an unspecified period of time and an unspecified personal reason. This didn’t set off many … click below for more ↓

Don’t be a Traitor to Canada

Canadian Politics / Trump fascism / US Politics6 Comments

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As I write this, Canadian news media are racing to cover and explain the story that the racist felon fascist president, Donald Trump, has imposed 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. This is a concerted effort to cause their economies to collapse, and in Canada’s case, to bully us into submission and allow our nation to be subsumed into his empire. As I have written on social media in the past, he is following Hitler’s playbook: his Rhineland move is to send troops into … click below for more ↓

The New Fascists Have Arrived. American Democracy is Dead.

MAGA cultists / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US Politics20 Comments

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I get no satisfaction from saying ‘I told you so’ and ‘I warned you about them.’ But I did, over and over. So did many, many others, all of them far more informed and experienced in politics, reporting, and history than I. They warned about fascism. They warned about racism. They warned about criminal behaviour. They warned about the oligarchs. They warned about Project 2025. But millions of Americans ignored them and elected a convicted felon, a blatant grifter in cognitive decline who openly lied … click below for more ↓

The Body Snatchers

Books & Reviews / Bureaucratic malaise / CollingwoodLeave a comment

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I think it’s about time for another remake of the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this time instead of aliens taking over human bodies, we should have a far-right leader who creates a cult of personality that turns normal people into mindless, worshipping zombies he and his henchmen control. Oh, right: that’s not fiction. It’s actually happened: MAGA is the prominent contemporary example, but we can also turn to other rightwing parties emerging in democracies across the world, which themselves in thrall to … click below for more ↓

The Rise and Fall of Self-Checkout

Culture / Culture wars / Predatory capitalismOne Comment

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I refuse on moral, ethical, and simply human grounds, to use a self-checkout at any local store where they are installed. My initial reaction to them was outrage: this is how big retail chains get rid of employees and reduce their staff and thus human costs. This is how people at the lower end of the wage scales get unemployed but CEOS and executives get bonuses. It also means the customer is forced to play the role of cashier without any monetary benefit from doing … click below for more ↓

Home on the Open World Range

Culture / Games & Gaming / MusingsOne Comment

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A recent article in the Journal of Internet Research described a study that came to the conclusion that open-world games (OWGs) “may offer unique cognitive escapism opportunities, potentially leading to relaxation and enhanced well-being.” Well, duh! Pretty much everyone playing OWGs has known that for the past three decades since those games were published. After all, isn’t escapism the whole point of gaming? People have played games for millennia: to gamble, for intellectual challenges, for entertainment, learning, competition, and often for simple solo pleasure. But … click below for more ↓

Blue Skies, Nothing But Blueskies…

Musings / Social media issues / Social Order & Disorder3 Comments

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Enshittification is a delightful neologism coined by author Cory Doctrow in 2022 to describe how things decline in quality and service. While it initially meant to describe how vendors would gradually change their services to move the focus from users to business interests, it has expanded to include the way Elon Musk has turned Twitter-aka-X-aka-Xitter into a fetid swamp of rightwing toxins: racism, misogyny, Russian disinformation, lies, and, of course, his conspiracy-addled pronouncements from the throne, which no user is allowed to block. Ever click … click below for more ↓

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