The sharp edge: razors and rituals

Daily life / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / PhilosophyLeave a comment

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Since I switched to using a safety razor, as I wrote about last spring, I’ve continued to pursue my explorations into razors, blades, technologies and techniques about shaving. I’ve learned much, but still want more hands-on experience. Nothing teaches like hands-on. I followed up that post with another one on shaving, a month later, about what I’d learned since that first piece. Now, four months later, I come back to the topic with new discoveries to relate. And some new razors to describe. But let me interject a comment on why this matters. Shaving is something I do if not ……… click below for more ↓

More loafing about

Bread & Baking / Food & DrinkLeave a comment

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[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”14″ display=”basic_imagebrowser”] I am always trying to create the perfect loaf; that one loaf that captures every element of bread in perfect harmony with the others: taste, crumb, crust and appearance. An impossible quest, I appreciate, given my lowly talents, but great bread is the Holy Grail of cooking and I cannot stop searching. It’s the journey that matters. Every step leads me towards the mountain. Good bread is easy to make – or at least relatively easy after you’ve learned and mastered the basics. You can even make reasonably good bread in a bread machine with almost ……… click below for more ↓

My answers to residents: 6

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018Leave a comment

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NB: As a candidate for Deputy Mayor in the upcoming municipal election, I receive questions from residents about my stand on various issues and policies. I have posted my responses here for everyone to read. My responses are in italics, below. 1. What is your vision for the transportation system here in Collingwood over the next 4 years? Are there any specific projects you would champion around the Council table? What role do you see transit and active transportation playing in Collingwood’s transportation mix moving forward, and how will you work to integrate those into our community over the next ……… click below for more ↓

Small town rules

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Election 2018 / Taxes / User fees and costsOne Comment

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In their book, Small Town Rules (Pearson Education Inc., USA, 2012), authors Barry Moltz and Becky McCray explain seven rules for businesses that use the model of a small town to offer advice on growing and maintaining a business n the “connected economy.” And while most of their rules are aimed at businesses, I suggest some are equally applicable to small towns like Collingwood. Don’t get me wrong: a municipality is not a business and despite some common functions and shared accounting techniques, a municipality cannot be run in the same manner as a for-profit business. For a start, we ……… click below for more ↓

The arts of politics and baking

Bread & Baking / Collingwood / Daily life / Election 2018 / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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In his book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, author Robert Prisig wrote about how dealing with the small things of daily life  – like fixing his wayward motorcycle – could teach us about the world at large. A sort of microcosm-becomes-macrocosm perspective, with the vagarities of motorcycle repair to colour the learning. What we learn in one we can apply to the other. * Baking bread, too, offers a meta-window into other arts and crafts, in particular (for me), politics. Bakers and thinkers have oft cited bread as a metaphor for life (listen to master baker Peter Reinhart’s comments on ……… click below for more ↓

What about climate change? No. 2

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Election 2018 / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

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A few of the apocalyptic headlines from the past few days: Final call to save the world from ‘climate catastrophe’ – BBC news Landmark UN climate report warns time quickly running out – Al Jazeera news Scientists Just Laid Out Paths to Solve Climate Change. We Aren’t on Track to Do Any of Them –Time magazine Planet has only until 2030 to stem catastrophic climate change, experts warn – CNN Earth has only until 2030 to stem catastrophic climate change, experts warn – ABC news UN report on global warming carries life-or-death warning – CBC news Terrifying climate change warning: ……… click below for more ↓

Are facts inflammatory?

Censorship / Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Municipal PoliticsLeave a comment

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Inflammatory is the word I was told the Connection used this week in rejecting an ad by mayoral candidate John Trude*. That ad challenged some of the claims of one of his opponents by stating what actually happened at council this term in four areas: open and accountable government, the hospital redevelopment, working together with our municipal neighbours and sole-source contracts on major expenditures. All of Trude’s comments are backed up by facts taken from the media, town agendas and town staff. Take for example, sole sourcing. You may recall back in 2014 that deputy-mayor candidate Brian Saunderson promised when ……… click below for more ↓

Abby the heartbreaker

Daily life / Personal Reminiscences / PetsLeave a comment

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She was a small cat. At first we thought she might be not much older than six or eight months, but no, we were assured, she was fully grown. Just petite. Two kilos, maybe a hair more. Black with a little white patch on her chest. Big, expressive eyes. This was a dozen years ago, back when the humane society was in its infancy, and didn’t yet have a permanent shelter. Cats and dogs that couldn’t find homes or foster care were kenneled with willing veterinarians around the region. Susan and I had agreed to adopt one more cat, and ……… click below for more ↓

Robocalls and smear campaigns

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Election 2018Leave a comment

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Have you received the robocall yet? Many Collingwood residents have, and every one I’ve spoken to thinks they are in appallingly bad taste. And they are right. It starts out pretending to be a survey asking who you will vote for in the municipal campaign, but after three questions it turns into a nasty attack ad against mayoral candidate John Trude. As nasty as the candidate for whose campaign it was created. How low, how cheap and immature a tactic this smear campaign is. Well, not inexpensive – these are a huge campaign expense for a small-town candidate. But money ……… click below for more ↓

My answers to AWARE Simcoe

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Candidates throughout Simcoe County were sent a series of questions by AWARE Simcoe, which describes itself as “…a citizens’ group with members in all Simcoe County municipalities as well as in Barrie and Orillia. We work to protect water, the environment and health through transparency and accountability in government.” I have included the questions and my responses, below. 1. Water is a finite resource. Do you feel there is a need to protect water, wetlands and recharge areas from development, aggregate extraction and other intrusive activities in your municipality? If so, how will you achieve this? ANSWER I currently sit ……… click below for more ↓

Ten points on affordable housing

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Election 2018 / Planning & Policies / TaxesOne Comment

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I was invited, along with the other candidates for this municipal election, to address residents at Rupert’s Landing this week. Each candidate was provided a list of ten questions and given three minutes to respond to one of them. I will comment on the other nine in a future post, but for now, I wanted to talk about question two, which I chose to answer: There is insufficient affordable housing in Collingwood. What are your plans for increasing affordable housing for low-income adults? Three minutes is a very short time in which to address a complex, challenging issue. I had ……… click below for more ↓

Red light cameras for Collingwood?

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Planning & Policies / Staff and administrationLeave a comment

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A small but very irate number of residents have broached with me the topic of installing red light cameras at Collingwood’s traffic intersections. I hadn’t really thought about it – except to acknowledge that traffic seems to be getting busier. I’ve seen traffic backed up for 500-1,000m at numerous intersections in town – even on weekday afternoons, and seen it enough times to recognize it is the future here. More cars means an increase in the number of bad, inattentive or aggressive drivers will also go up. Although I don’t know if the percentage remains the same, the number of ……… click below for more ↓

Time and conflicts in mayoral politics

Collingwood / Council / Election 2018 / Entitlement / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

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Being a mayor today, even in a small town like Collingwood, takes time. A lot of time. Time that working people are hard pressed to find in their busy days. I know from the experience of three terms that even councillors who work cannot attend every meeting, every event, every activity they are invited to. Mayors have to be on call, doing town business and dealing with residents’ calls during every day, and many, many evenings. Even on weekends they have little to no free time outside their mayoral duties. They have to attend meetings with staff, with residents, local associations, ……… click below for more ↓

The campaign’s moral compass

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Election 2018 / EntitlementLeave a comment

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Every politician – in fact, every human – has a personal moral compass that helps guide the way they act, debate and vote in office. While a politician’s may not be the same as the compass that they use as civilians, as family members, as employees, or as a friend, it operates similarly to direct their actions. For some, their moral compass is a strong internal force that is the same regardless of circumstance or role. For them being a politician is not morally or ethically different from being a member of the community, from being in a service club, ……… click below for more ↓

My answers to residents: 5

Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Election 2018 / Planning & Policies / TaxesLeave a comment

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This is a somewhat edited response to a resident who asked about a splash pad. The resident also commented that, “As nice as Collingwood is, we feel that this town is falling behind the times compared to other towns close by and the advancements they have achieved.”  Here’s in part my reply: Yes, we need a splash pad here. The WaterFront Master Plan has a proposal for one at Harbourview Park (along with a winter skating trail) for about $3.6 million. See here: http://www.collingwood.ca/files/2016-11-09%20Collingwood%20Waterfront%20Master%20Plan%20Final%20Report.pdf I have not had the opportunity to discuss this plan with the current PRC director, Dean ……… click below for more ↓

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