Scripturient

My Rogers’ Cable TV Speech

Each candidate was given three minutes to speak for a spot on Rogers Cable TV recently. Here is what I said (in about two minutes): Municipal politics is really quite simple. It’s all about people. Caring about the people you live and work with. Caring if seniors can afford their taxes. Caring if the sidewalk in front of your neighbour’s house is in good repair. Caring about parents who had to drive for hours on dark, snowy roads to get their kids to hockey practice in another town because there was no place to play here. Caring whether the garbage ……… click below for more ↓

My BIA ACM Speech

2014-09-26 2014-09-26 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Personal Reminiscences / PoliticsLeave a comment

This is the speech I gave at the BIA-ACO all-candidates’ meeting, Wednesday evening. The question all candidates had to answer was, “What is your vision to ensure that Downtown Collingwood thrives as a vital economic and cultural part of our community?” We had two minutes to respond. Here’s what I said: For our downtown to thrive, it needs people. The town can help bring them here. But it is up to the businesses to draw them in. People come to any downtown for two main reasons: ambiance and experience. Collingwood already has good ambiance. We have a beautiful heritage district ……… click below for more ↓

The Utility Animal

2014-09-26 2021-05-15 Animals & BIology / Behaviour & Psychology / Critical ThinkingOne Comment

In the July/August edition of Pets Magazine (the Cat Care issue) there are two articles that caused me concern. One is “The Loyalty and Bravery of a Cat” (p.28), the other is “Quick-Thinking Cat Saves the Day.” (p.26). The latter is a pet profile from the Purina Hall of Fame that honours pets for “extraordinary actions.” The former is about a YouTube video showing a family cat attacking a dog that had itself attacked the family’s four-year-old son. The acts themselves and the cats involved are extraordinary and deserving of praise as individual animals. But the idea that cats in ……… click below for more ↓

Examined Lives

2014-09-26 2021-05-15 Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Thought and deed. Thought and life. How does a person’s life, their upbringing, their daily toil affect their deepest thoughts, their beliefs, faith and passions? And as outsiders looking in, can we understand a person’s thinking by examining their lives? Can we understand their philosophy that way? I don’t know. Biographies describe the events of a person’s life, but cannot look into their innermost thoughts. Modern biographies told in conjunction with living people as collaborators may pull the curtains up, letting us see what they want us to see. But dead people? Most lives are measured in arbitrary milestones that ……… click below for more ↓

Extra Virginity

2014-09-24 2014-09-24 Collingwood / Food & Drink / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

For some time before I got this book, I’ve been aware that there is more to olive oil than meets the eye. Or tongue. How much more really was startling. When I started reading Tom Mueller’s 2012 book, Extra Virginity: the Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, I was simply amazed at how little I really knew about the stuff (and of course you already know how much I love learning new things). Recently, the good folks at the Collingwood Olive Oil Company (on St. Marie St) gave us a brief introduction and tasting of real extra-virgin olive oils (and continue ……… click below for more ↓

The Trolley Problem

2014-09-23 2015-06-11 Critical Thinking / Philosophy / What I'm Reading Now10 Comments

I had read about the “trolley problem” in the past, but not given it much thought until recently when I saw Thomas Cathcart’s little book of that name in the philosophy section of an Indigo bookstore. It’s subtitled, “Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the bridge? A Philosophical Conundrum.” I, of course, was so intrigued I had to buy it. I have read others of Cathcart’s books and liked his work in introducing/popularizing philosophical concepts. The original trolley problem is a thought experiment that goes like this, as Wikipedia puts it: There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the ……… click below for more ↓

The Forgotten Gulag

2014-09-22 2016-07-24 Books & Reviews / History & Biography / International politics / What I'm Reading Now2 Comments

In the introduction to Anne Applebaum’s Pulitzer-prize-winning book, Gulag: A History, she ponders why the “crimes of Stalin do not inspire the same visceral reaction to the crimes of Hitler.” Yet Stalin’s actions and policies killed millions more than the Nazis. Maybe it’s because the USSR wrapped itself in as much secrecy as it could muster for so long. Maybe it’s because the Soviet camps were so far removed from sight and never received the pictorial and media coverage the Nazi camps received.* Maybe it’s because during the Cold War, the West was disinclined to care about the welfare of ……… click below for more ↓

Some Latin Quotes to Ponder

2014-09-21 2014-09-21 Culture / Language & Grammar / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Here are some translations from Latin quotations I took from a few books of mine, notably The Anchor Book of Latin Quotations, compiled by Norbert Guterman (Anchor-Doubleday, New York, 1966 and reprinted 1990) and Cave Canem: A Miscellany of Latin Words & Phrases, by Lorna Robinson (Walker & Co., New York, 2008). Some of these have resonance in today’s politics, even local politics. Others have resonance in events, issues and thoughts about the world. Some are simply words that have resonance to me and my own choices in life. Terence: People who are unsuccessful are all somehow inclined to be ……… click below for more ↓

The Unexamined Life

2014-09-20 2014-09-20 Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Personal Reminiscences / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

“The unexamined life,” Socrates declared in his trial, “is not worth living.” His student, Plato, wrote down those words in his account of Socrates’ trial and death, in the book, Apology.* Socrates was speaking for himself and about the value of his life as a thinking person. He was on trial in 399 BCE for impiety – questioning the gods and introducing new gods – and corrupting youth. His real “crime” was his threat to established thought: he made his followers think, to question everything, to examine their beliefs and their knowledge and determine for themselves its validity. He taught them critical thinking ……… click below for more ↓

The OPP Investigation

2014-09-19 2014-09-23 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Politics4 Comments

In order to clear up the misinformation, rumours and outright lies about the OPP investigation, spreading on social media by some candidates and among the angry bloggers, let me set the record straight. Here’s what we know: Approximately eighteen months ago, someone local went to the police and and filed a formal complaint. The police opened an investigation. The police have not interviewed the Mayor, Deputy mayor, Councillors Lloyd, Cunningham, West, Edwards or myself in that time. After more than 18 months, no one has been charged with anything. No one has gone to jail. No one has been in court. The police have not ……… click below for more ↓

The Emperor’s Handbook

2014-09-15 2014-09-15 Books & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors” of the Roman Empire. He lived 121-180 CE and died while on campaign in Germany. Like many Roman thinkers of his day, he followed the popular Stoic philosophy and his writing became an important document in the late Stoic phase of classical antiquity. While he ruled, Marcus Aurelius kept notes – written in Greek – about his thoughts and beliefs, as a guide for his own life and behaviour, applying his Stoic beliefs to his everyday life. These thoughts were never intended for public reading or publication such ……… click below for more ↓

A Treasure Trove

2014-09-14 2014-09-14 Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Marketing / Personal Reminiscences / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

A recent trip to Toronto to see family and friends – and celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary – also netted me a treasure trove of books, thanks to the proximity of a new/used BMV bookstore to our hotel. And, of course, Susan’s patience while I browsed the shelves. Several times. I managed to find a dozen books (well, to be fair I found many more I wanted, but restrained myself to buying only a dozen). These included: Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, by Tom Mueller (hardcover, Norton & Co., 2012). I actually started reading the ……… click below for more ↓

Abusing quotation marks

2014-09-09 2014-09-10 Humour & Satire / Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & Social / Style & usageOne Comment

What goes through your mind when you see words in a paragraph or a sentence surrounded by quotation marks? Like that sign in the image on your left? That they are words excerpted from conversations or written content? Or that they are special; peculiar words, or perhaps used ironically, sarcastically or in jest? Take these examples from the “Blog” of Unnecessary Quotation Marks: “Chicken” pot pies $5.99 Please open the door “slowly” “Push” the last channel button. No “Free” refills It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? What is in the pie that isn’t “chicken” but we’ll pretend it is? Try reading ……… click below for more ↓