Monthly Archives: February 2023

The No Surprises Report

The Rouleau Commission says that Canada’s federal government was right to impose the Emergencies Act to end the Freedom Convoy a year ago. To many this will come as a surprise, but I had expected it. I don’t feel the government was actually faced with a situation where the security of the nation was threatened […]

The Big Day

We’ll find out at noon EST. But a year later, does anyone care whether the government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act in face of the Freedom Convoy? Justice Paul Rouleau held a series of hearings in the fall of 2022, as required by law, as to whether conditions warranted the mass suspension of […]

Thinking About Death

I’m not feeling my own mortality at the moment, but still, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about dying. Especially how we die. Canada’s Parliament at the moment is considering a Bill to delay the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) to the mentally ill. That was supposed to happen in […]

Let The Bot Do It

I’ve been swamped lately, work and family things, and haven’t been able to find the time to finish the posts I wanted to share here next. So I thought I’d try and experiment. I asked one of those artificial intelligence engines to write me a post about cash register receipts – which for some reason […]

I’m Giving Up

For today anyway. I was hoping for the perfect Valentine’s Day post. But the words wouldn’t come. So I thought instead I would switch to music. There are millions of love songs out there. Some of them I even like. I could post a video of a love song. It would be fitting for the […]

Must Be Monday

An Ocean of Ice – II

More ice sculptures from Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa, part of the 2023 Winterlude festival. (I’m ignoring the Super Bowl today, though I may watch the game – I bought some good snacks.)

An Ocean of Ice – I

Ottawa’s tourism people are probably cursing the weather these days. We’re halfway through Winterlude, the annual winter carnival, and the Rideau Canal skateway, around which many of the activities take place, has yet to open for the season. And with temperatures above freezing in the forecast for every day next week, it is unlikely to […]

The Costs of War

Time to take a look back with a post from this date in 2015. I figure you either haven’t read it becasue you weren’t a subscriber back then, or have forgotten it. When we toured the First World War battlefields in the Ypres area of Belgium last summer, the enormity of the human toll was […]

The Palace V – The Artists

I’m not sure I noticed them when I was going into Baron Empain’s palace, but I couldn’t help noticing them from the roof. There were so many of them. Maybe it was a class. Maybe a flash mob of sorts. Maybe it was coincidence. From the rooftop I could see about fifty artists, each drawing […]