Category: Personal Reminiscences

The Cancer Diaries, Part 31

Cancer / Musings / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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It’s been about eight months since I last penned a post about my ongoing experience with prostate cancer, my subsequent surgery, treatment, my recovery from treatment and what’s happened since. That last post was written at the height of last year’s pandemic and lockdowns. Since then, I have only had phone consultations with my oncologist and urologist, but I expect in-person consultations to begin again with my next appointments this fall. In the meantime, I’ve been doing reasonably well. Until recently, most days, there are no issues or problems, or at least none I can identify as cancer-related. But that ……… click below for more ↓

Ontario, I Am Ashamed and Embarrassed

Canadian Politics / Musings / Provincial Politics / Rightwing claptrap6 Comments

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This morning, Ontario, I am ashamed of you. Ontario, you had an opportunity to do the right thing, and chose — deliberately chose — not to. I am ashamed and embarrassed by your choice. And that includes your choice not to vote. At stake was the future of this province; its education, healthcare, environment, libraries, long-term care; at stake were our seniors, and our children. None of that mattered to Ontario. Instead of voting for a better future, Ontario voted for Doug Ford. Well, not all of you: few of you actually cared enough to vote. Less than half of ……… click below for more ↓

Right v. Left in Modern Politics

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Musings / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US Politics3 Comments

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There’s a lot of palaver on social media about right v. left (or left v. right if you are so inclined), with webs of comments about the differences between these opposing political wings. And, at least among the comments I’ve read from Americans, there’s also a lot of misinformation and disinformation in play, especially about what constitutes the left (usually coupled with invectives and name-calling from the right). While many Canadians and Europeans (as socialist and culturally pluralist states) have a fair appreciation of what those political terms (left and right) mean, Americans —a nation of highly polarized, confrontational politics ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 3

Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Learning & Education / Media / Musings / Politics / Reading & Literacy / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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Back in the Mesozoic of my life, I came across a quotation from Giacomo Casanova that, as far as I can remember these days, went “No man can know everything, but every man should attempt to.” For many decades, I didn’t know the source, or whether it was misquoted, misattributed, or simply a fake as we experience so often on most internet quote sites (aka clickbait sites). But it stuck with me. I recently found a more fulsome translation of his words from Chapter V of his memoirs: No one in this world can obtain a knowledge of everything, but ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 2

Books & Reviews / Books about books / Fonts & Layout / Learning & Education / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Typography2 Comments

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Last post I mentioned I had rescued a set of encyclopedias from the dumpster at the end of this year’s Mother Of All Yard Sales (MOAYS; an Optimist Club event). I didn’t explain what I saved and why, but I’m here to explain, and to show. Bear with me. First, let me give you some personal background. Aside from being a writer, in my career I have been a book editor for a Canadian publisher, a magazine editor for two Canadian magazines, and editor-designer-layout person for two of our local newspapers (including the short-lived Sunday supplement, Huronia Sunday). I have ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 1

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Internet & Social Media / Learning & Education / Musings / Pop Culture / Reading & Literacy4 Comments

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When I was growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, having an encyclopedia in your home was the bee’s knees, to use my grandmother’s phrase. It was a sign of sophistication and learning, of culture and wisdom. And being reasonably well-off, because encyclopedias were not inexpensive. I can still hear Jimminy Cricket singing the song (it’s how I learned to spell encyclopedia). Many school libraries had them, although usually only one set and not always the most current or the best. You could find more sets in the local public library, including in the bigger library branches the vaunted Encyclopedia ……… click below for more ↓

Smith, Rock, and the Trivialization of Western Culture

Books & Reviews / Culture / Media / Media Issues / Memes; Internet & Social / Musings / Social Order & Disorder / TV / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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If Neil Postman were alive today, sitting in a bar or café with Chris Hedges, I wonder which one would say “I told you so!” first after seeing social media this past week? The story that clogged the social media pipes this week was the slap one actor gave another on stage during the performance of the annual onanism festival called the Oscars. And as soon as it happened, even while it was occurring, a shitstorm of comments, opinions and reportage flooded social media. Every social media feed was clogged with pieces like tarry stercus and then flooded by the ……… click below for more ↓

Kerouac’s Haikus

Books & Reviews / Literature / Musings / Poetry / Poetry & Lyrics / What I'm Reading Now2 Comments

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Haiku is like a razor blade: small, light, but yet strong and incredibly sharp. Haiku says “Look over there!” and then smacks you from the other side. Haiku is the neutron star of poetry: stunning density combined with astounding brightness. Haiku swims in a sea of metaphor, darting like quick, bright fish among the forest of words. Haiku has a formal definition: “an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively. It is also described as “a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking ……… click below for more ↓

Freedom or Just Free-Dumb?

Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Musings / Philosophy / Political fads10 Comments

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It’s a sad statement on modern affairs that the word “freedom” has been reduced to a generally meaningless term, thanks to the constant gaslighting by the right.  Every rule, regulation, protocol that the right doesn’t like, doesn’t agree with their ideology or that hurts their feelings is trumped up as an attack on freedom. The right thrive on such conspiracies. But while they press all the hot buttons to get their followers riled into a frenzy over perceived slights against alleged freedoms, you seldom hear the right speaking of responsibilities or obligations, unless it’s a call for funding and donations ……… click below for more ↓

Should Candidates and Officials Disclose Criminal Records?

Canadian Politics / Collingwood / deception & secrecy / Election campaigns / Municipal Politics / Musings / Politics / Provincial Politics5 Comments

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Some questions about openness and truth to consider as we start a year in which we have both a provincial and municipal election coming… Should a candidate for office disclose their criminal records when they campaign? Should they disclose it only if they were convicted of an offence or should they disclose charges as well? For full public transparency and accountability, should officeholders disclose any charges and convictions? Should candidates or officeholders disclose when they have been or are being sued and why? Would you vote for a candidate in an election who had a criminal record? Are there some ……… click below for more ↓

Toying With Townscaper

Computers & Programming / Games & Gaming / Personal Reminiscences / Software reviews4 Comments

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As a longtime gamer, I am always looking for new forms of computer and online entertainment for my PC. This week I discovered Townscaper and picked it up while it was on sale on Steam for about $6 (tax included, albeit a little more post-sale; also available for Android, Xbox, and iOS platforms). It’s money well spent, methinks, as a fan of city-builder and simulation games. You can try a somewhat limited online version of it to see how it works by clicking the link in this paragraph. Townscaper is not actually a game, but rather a virtual toy or ……… click below for more ↓

Godaddy Broke My Blog 2

Blog & Blogging / Daily life / My Writing5 Comments

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Prelude: For several years, I received emails from Godaddy – the company that hosts my online material — announcing my websites and blogs (then hosted on a Linux server) would be migrated to a newer server with a cPanel administration system. Allegedly this move would prove more efficient and offer faster access to my site (access has long been dismally slow). I wouldn’t have to do anything, just let Godaddy work. However, despite numerous emails promising the migration, nothing was done for those years until overnight on Nov. 18, 2021. On Nov. 19 I received an email saying the site ……… click below for more ↓

Godaddy Broke My Blog 1

Blog & Blogging / My Writing2 Comments

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I apologize to readers who have been wondering what happened to my blog. It seemed to go haywire, with an old, out-of-date theme showing and no posts since Nov. 18. Well, the answer is simple: Godaddy — the company I use to host my blog and websites — broke it. How and why I will explain in a subsequent post, but suffice to say they screwed up and I’ve been waiting for the past week to see if they would fix it. They haven’t. Apparently either they lack the technical competence to do so or the interest in customer service ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 30

Cancer / Daily life / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / ShakespeareOne Comment

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The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together… (Shakespeare: All’s Well That Ends Well, Act IV, Sc II.) Elumbated.* It’s an archaic word meaning “weakened in the loins” according to the OED. It apparently derives from the Latin elumbis “having a dislocated hip (from e out + lumbus loin).” I thought that the word itself might be well resurrected to describe someone who had had a radical prostatectomy. Like me: If the cancer is tangled with the nerves, it may not be possible to maintain the nerve function or structure. Sometimes nerves must be cut ……… click below for more ↓

How Can Anyone Afford a New House Here?

Collingwood / Musings / TaxesOne Comment

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My sources suggest that a local retailer recently bought the Blue Shores house shown on the right, paying more than $100,000 over the asking price, for a total of $1.15 million By my standards, that’s a helluva lot of money. Where would anyone working in retail get the funds to buy and maintain a home that sold for that much? I did some rough calculations. The minimum down-payment for a house selling at more than $1 million requires a $230,000 (20%) down-payment, plus another $19,000 in land transfer tax, legal fees of around $1,000, plus title insurance of $1,150, you’d ……… click below for more ↓

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