The End of Integrity

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Collingwood Council has apparently decided it is better to be viewed as hypocritical than as unethical. Following a year of investigations of council behaviour by the Integrity Commissioner, Robert Swayze, council decided that, rather than reform their collective behaviour, it was easier to dump the IC. So no more pesky peering into how they conduct themselves or whether they are acting in the best public interest. And yet most of those elected to council this term were among the group loudly demanding the last council hire an integrity commissioner to protect the public trust. Is that hypocrisy? Some would think so. The ……… click below for more ↓

Read, Re-read, Repeat

Books & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Scifi and fantasy / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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I’m currently re-reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantasy novel of Soviet life under Stalin, The Master and Margarita. Since this is actually a newer translation than the original one I read many years ago, I’m not sure it properly qualifies as “re-reading.” However, for me, re-reading a novel is uncommon. I seldom have the time to re-read, because my current reading list never dwindles (in fact it grows as I continue to add books to my library). Plus my interests and not static: I constantly seek to learn new things.* I always have a dozen books on the go, piled beside my bed ……… click below for more ↓

Why Do We Make Music?

Behaviour & Psychology / Culture / Music & Reviews / Musical Instruments / Science & TechnologyLeave a comment

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Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak. I’ve read, that things inanimate have mov’d, And, as with living Souls, have been inform’d, By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound. What then am I? Am I more senseless grown Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe! ‘Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs. Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night The silent Tomb receiv’d the good Old King; He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg’d Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom. Why am not I at Peace? William ……… click below for more ↓

A Sense of Pinker’s Style

Books & Reviews / Grammar / Language & Grammar / Style & usage / What I'm Reading Now / Writing & FictionLeave a comment

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I share one of Steven Pinker’s passions: I like to read style books, grammar books, language books. To me, they’re like literary chemistry sets. When I was young, getting a chemistry set for Christmas or a birthday opened a whole world to me. I’d explore all sorts of interactions and experiments until I had run out of chemicals to do them with. Used litmus paper littered my bedroom. Reading a book on style or usage is similarly exciting to me. How words can be placed, can work together, how they meld or conflict, the alchemy and the choreography of language, all ……… click below for more ↓

The Last Case of Sherlock Holmes

Culture / Film & Reviews / Pop CultureLeave a comment

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Sherlock Holmes. Iconic detective, 93 years old. Tending his bees in bucolic self-exile near the Dover coast. Mycroft gone. Watson gone. Mrs. Hudson gone. Even the band of villains and criminals who made him who he was are gone. All he has left are his memories and his bees. And his memories are failing. It’s 1947 and the countryside still bears the visible scars of the recent war. Holmes (Ian McKellen) has just returned from a trip to Japan to see a mysterious contact who promises a rare, native plant will help him with his senility. In England, Holmes raises ……… click below for more ↓

The Mouse on Mars

Astronomy & Cosmology / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Science & TechnologyLeave a comment

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No, that’s not the title of a 1960s’ sitcom or a 1950s’ movie. It’s what some conspiracy theorist thinks he found in a NASA photograph taken by the Curiosity Rover on Mars, in late 2014. The story was posted on the IFL Science website this week. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why pay these poor, deluded wingnuts any attention when it’s such an obvious case of pareidolia?” The answer is because they must be mocked in order to keep their silly gullibility from spreading to the scientifically-challenged. Not everyone who reads their content has your keen, critical eye, your cool ……… click below for more ↓

Mao: The Unknown Dictator

Books & Reviews / History & Biography / War & Military / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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Although I have read many biographies of the European dictators, and many histories of Europe and the Americas in the first half of the 20th century, I hadn’t read much about modern China until recently. Mao: The Unknown Story (by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday) was the first full-length biography I’ve read about Mao Tse Tung (Mao Zedong) and it is a remarkable work about a time and place in history that remains veiled to most of us even today. Mao’s rise to power and his leadership that won the Communist Party its iron-fisted rule in China has often been ……… click below for more ↓

The Airport Mystery

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies12 Comments

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What’s happening at Collingwood Airport? Or better yet: what’s NOT happening? And why isn’t it? Once touted as the role model for regional cooperation, and having the best potential for local economic development, it is now a topic for murmurings about a secret sale, and ugly rumours that this has become the worst regional relationship this town has ever had. Every time the airport comes up on the agenda, our oh-so-open and transparent Collingwood Council scurries behind closed doors to discuss it. But while that may seal a few local lips, it hasn’t stopped people in our surrounding region from talking about ……… click below for more ↓

CRAP Design

Books & Reviews / Publicity & Communications / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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CRAP: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity. An unfortunate acronym from the four basic principles of graphic design first expounded in Robin Williams’ delightful little book, The Non-Designer’s Design Book. It’s now in its fourth edition, adding 24 pages since the last edition, almost 50 since the 2nd and more than 100 since the first). Of all my books on graphic design, this has been my favourite for several years, ever since I bought the first edition in the late 1990s. It condenses so much information, so many ideas, so many nuances into clear, understandable principles. Plus, it’s well-illustrated, with many visual examples ……… click below for more ↓

Our Know-It-Alls

Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications3 Comments

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Collingwood Council obviously knows more than anyone else in municipal governance. More, in fact, than anyone else in the entire country. In fact, they may all be geniuses in local governance issues. Otherwise, why would council cancel their individual subscriptions to Municipal World magazine at the start of their term? Previous councils subscribed to an issue for each member of council, plus others for administration. While I can’t say everyone read them, the brightest and most dedicated politicians on council read them cover to cover. Now the whole town gets one issue. ONE for the entire workforce;  for the dozen or so staff AND politicians. That suggests council ……… click below for more ↓

The Gauche in the Machine

Advertising / Collingwood / Council / Marketing / Media / Public relations / Publicity & Communications5 Comments

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Rudibus ex machina: criticizing Collingwood’s latest newsletter feels a bit like punching a puppy. Or commenting on the sloppy grammar of local bloggers. Both are far too easy, like catching fish in a barrel, and I feel guilty when I even think of doing it. But since your tax dollars are at work, it needs to be done. Someone needs to stand up and say this is not the standard  we expect from a $55 million-a-year corporation. This might be a good runner-up in a high school contest, but it is not a professional product appropriate for municipal communications.* This ……… click below for more ↓

Climate Change and Collingwood

Collingwood / Council / Environment / Planning & Policies / Science & TechnologyOne Comment

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Climate change is arguably the single most pressing, most important, most challenging issue to affect governments at this time. Our world is suffering and weather is getting extreme in many parts. It’s affecting crops, wildlife, safety, water… everything. But what are Canadian municipalities doing to combat it, to reign in their use of fossil fuels, reduce their carbon footprint, reduce emissions, pollution, and embrace alternate energy systems? Not much, according to a study done by the Ontario Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure. OCSI’s 2014 report, “When the Bough Breaks” has some discouraging statistics. According to their survey, only 38% of Ontario ……… click below for more ↓

Proportional Representation in Canada

Canadian Politics / Politics / Provincial PoliticsLeave a comment

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laUPeXZlPEg] Another Canadian election has gone by where the majority government is formed by a party winning only 40% of the popular vote. This has political watchers and pundits increasingly vocal about changing the electoral system. But most of them agree it needs changing. So far, however, the Liberals are mum on how their campaign promise to reform our electoral system will be implemented. And while I have faith our new Prime Minister will be true to his word, since it will come from a committee effort, one can only wonder what sort of camel that horse will be.* Over the ……… click below for more ↓

Misunderstanding Local Government

Collingwood / Council / Critical Thinking / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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A recent editorial in the Collingwood Connection underscores the need to have writers who understand the actual process of government, and not simply comment on politics from an ideological perspective. It also underscores that some of our council still don’t understand why they are at the table. The anonymous writer of that editorial has penned this bit of cunning misinformation: Council was not being asked to decide if residents should be able to raise chickens in their backyard or pass judgment on the merits of the idea. They were being asked to start a process of public input. Well, we ……… click below for more ↓

The Republican Conspiracy

Critical Thinking / International politics / Politics / US Politics4 Comments

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CNBC GOP Debate: The Sh*tshow Version Last night’s debate was a total sh*tshow. Posted by The Huffington Post on Thursday, October 29, 2015 I realized only after watching this edited video that the activity of the so-called Republican candidates’ debate was not simply the circus it seemed from the outset; it was actually a conspiracy. A cunning, well-laid conspiracy. And it is so Machiavellian that I actually smiled in appreciation of its deviousness. My first reaction on watching the debate (online) was that no one in their right minds could ever select any of these clowns for president. Come on – Donald Trump as ……… click below for more ↓

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