The “Secret” Space Program Hoax

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Pseudoscience & Quackery2 Comments

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It’s just one more of those wingnut fantasy conspiracies that popped up on my Facebook feed recently. It’s not a new one: the old aliens-among-us nonsense just gets recycled and re-spewed by a whole new group of ignorati who follow the scam artists, hoaxers and charlatans who in turn make their living off this stuff. This latest group is, apparently, led by two top wingnuts. If there was an army for wingnuts, they’d be five-star generals. One is Corey Goode, described as having… …an extensive knowledge of the Off World Colony & Exchange Program, Secret Earth Governments, MILAB & Black Ops ……… click below for more ↓

Who By Fire

Books & Reviews / Culture / Literature / Poetry & Lyrics / Pop Culture / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTRX23EMNk I’ve been reading a biography of Leonard Cohen, recently: the 2012 I’m Your Man, by Sylvie Simmons. It’s an interesting journey through the life and thoughts of an exquisite artist who is, by nature, somewhat reclusive and stays out of the spotlight, but is deeply dedicated to his art. I don’t normally read “star” bios or autobiographies – frankly they often seem contrived and the lives portrayed, no matter how gussied up in prose, merely shallow. Most of them I categorize as “who cares?” books. Even those musicians I respect and admire have little to keep me turning pages. I struggled with ……… click below for more ↓

The Litmus Test

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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Two renegade members of council broke the town’s Code of Conduct by sending out an unauthorized media release to defend their own, personal positions – but presented them as “town” positions. You already know that reprehensible story. Clearly this is unacceptable behaviour by any elected officials in any community. But where are the angry protesters marching with signs demanding officials “inpeach” council, screaming “corruption” and demanding councillors resign? Oh wait, they got themselves elected to council this term… They promised us openness, accountability and transparency… and this is what we got instead.

Updated Ukulele Songbook

Culture / Music & Reviews / Poetry & Lyrics / Ukulele: instruments & musicLeave a comment

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Even though our local uke group, CPLUG, is not currently meeting, the songbook has not died. I have updated it with new arrangements and made a few editorial changes to the older content this past fall and winter. I, of course, continue to play the ukulele every day. If you don’t know this songbook, it’s a mix of more than 100 tunes ranging from traditional folk music to the 1980s, most of them arranged by me, with some that include my modifications of other people’s arrangements. There are some songs with more than one version – either the song in ……… click below for more ↓

That WTF Moment

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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WTF. Those three letters crudely but superbly sum up the two-page response made to the two members of council who recently sent out an inappropriate media release, pretending it came from the town. The letter was written by Remo Niceforo, President of Clearview Aviation Business Park. It starts by saying, Having sought diligently over the past 18 months to obtain an access agreement, this is the first time I have learned (through a media release) of the criteria to be met which might lead to an access agreement. That’s the first WTF moment. Here’s another: Your statement that, “the Town ……… click below for more ↓

The Blackened Nose

Buddhism / Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

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There’s a famous Zen tale that I was reminded of as I was reading the media release about the Collingwood Airport this week. It somehow seemed remarkably fitting. It’s about the folly of selfishness, of thinking yours is the only way forward, of possessiveness, of narrow views. I first came across this tale in the late 1960s, in a copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, by Paul Reps. I still have that book; a battered paperback I have carried with me ever since. This story is only one of more than 100 in the book. It’s number 48: Black-Nosed Buddha, ……… click below for more ↓

Lessons from the paper

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Media / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications4 Comments

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There’s a story on page B2 of the January 1 Enterprise Bulletin (not online yet*) that offers us three lessons. Two lessons on how the local media fails us, one on cringe-worthy political ineptitude. Those lessons are: How far the credibility of the paper has fallen; How little respect there is for real reporting and investigative journalism in the local media; How pusillanimous and dysfunctional council has become. Let’s start with number one. The article on page B2 is headlined “Business centre strategic board takes flight.” Now you might think you were reading a light piece about the development of the Clearview Aviation Business ……… click below for more ↓

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me…

Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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Turning 64, as in the 1967 Beatles’ song, once seemed so distant that it it was as remote as flying cars and jet packs. By the time I reached that age, I thought, we’d have a moon base colony, orbiting hotels as in 2001, A Space Odyssey, and were reaching out to the planets. Maybe even a base on Mars by then None of which had happened, of course, by the time I reached the magical age in the song, and even today it looks remote. But back then, in the late Sixties, the years ahead seemed so full of potential ……… click below for more ↓

Thank You and Happy New Year

Blog & Blogging / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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To all my readers: Thank you, and Happy New Year for 2016. You made 2015 special for me. In this year, my readership more than doubled. I have had more visitors in 2015 than my previous two years combined. Each year, my stats have doubled over the previous year. Clearly I must be saying something someone likes, because the numbers keep growing. This year marks a decade blogging for me. I welcome all of you and hope my humble scribblings can continue to amuse, bemuse, inform and entertain you. I may be opinionated, but I try my best to be ……… click below for more ↓

The Tribulations of an Evil Mastermind

Humour & Satire / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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Some days it doesn’t pay to be an evil mastermind plotting to destroy the very fabric of our community. Seriously. It’s just too damned hard keeping all the bits and pieces together. Take today, for example. Here I was, out with my co-conspirator minions at a local restaurant this morning, trying to come up with some new, despicable act to commit and what do they want to talk about? Grand kids. The weather. Snow plow blades. Pickup trucks. The Republican candidates. Movies. Christmas dinners. New Year’s Eve plans. Monty Python skits. Monty Python skits! How can you seriously concoct a ……… click below for more ↓

Just My Type

Books & Reviews / Fonts & Layout / Typography / What I'm Reading Now2 Comments

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Those long legs. Gently sloping shoulders. The swelling curves above and below. The sophisticated line of the throat. Everything to attract me, to draw my aging eye, to warm my heart. The sensual Bembo. She’s my kind of type. Bembo is one of the great Renaissance typefaces that has since been revived. It was designed by Francesco Griffo and first used in a book of poems and essays by scholar Pietro Bembo, published by printer Aldus Manutius, in 1495. Monotype recut it for modern use in 1929, digitized it in 1990 and more recently, in 2005, redesigned it for today’s printing as Bembo ……… click below for more ↓

Architeuthis dux redux

Animals & BIology / Science & TechnologyOne Comment

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qymNsj5hEo0 Imagine swimming beside a giant squid. That’s what happened recently to some Japanese divers, on Xmas eve, who happened to have the presence of mind to film this extraordinary event. The video, above, shows the animal in its glory. Stunningly beautiful.* Giant squid are rarely seen, and generally inhabit much deeper waters than humans can reach. Having one close enough to touch is bother exhilarating and – I suspect – terrifying. They are, after all, large, efficient carnivores. This one, however, was a baby at 3.7m. Surprisingly, the divers believed the animal was lost and gently pushed it in ……… click below for more ↓

PE5: Corel’s Wrong Direction

Computers & Programming / Software reviewsLeave a comment

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Way back in 1990, a program called Fractal Painter was published by Fractal Design. It offered a “natural media” approach to digital art: mimicking real world art tools and media in the digital environment. You could  – if you had more artistic skills than I – make an image onscreen that looked like it was a photo of a real-media image. Images had texture, oils had highlights. You could mix colours like you do in real life. It was brilliant, exciting and ground-breaking stuff. In 1997, after gobbling up several other products (including Poser 3D), the company became Metacreations, but it and ……… click below for more ↓

Cowboy Noir

Culture / Film & ReviewsLeave a comment

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I hadn’t previously considered western movies as film noir – I always thought of them as crime dramas – until I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance over the holidays, perhaps my third viewing of the 1962 movie. The gloomy shadows, the dark sets, the agony of the characters. And then it struck me: cowboy noir. But why not? Noir is, after all not a theme as much as an atmosphere. As one reviewer of cowboy noir put it, Noir is like a disease. Its symptoms are moodiness, despair, guilt, and paranoia… The tropes of the Western—sunlight, open spaces, nature—would seem to ……… click below for more ↓

Judas, a Biography

Arts / Behaviour & Psychology / Books & Reviews / Culture / Faith / Religion / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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Long before Darth Vader, long before Lord Voldemort, long before Stephen Harper, Judas Iscariot reigned as the supreme icon of evil in Western mythology. Judas betrayed God. How much worse can you get?* For 2,000 years we’ve used the term Judas to refer to anyone who betrayed anything, any cause, any belief, any friendship. Yet, like all the icons of evil that came before, and who have followed, Judas holds a fascination for us that transcends his actions. Dante consigns him to the ninth circle of hell, one of three traitors forever chewed in the mouths of the three-headed Satan. Yet Brutus, ……… click below for more ↓

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