Category Society
Blasts From The Past
I was hit by nostalgia, struck by something Germany has that is long gone in Canada. The Yellow Pages showed up on my doorstep. Are you old enough to remember phone books? They contained the names and numbers of everyone with a telephone. The Yellow Pages contained only business listings. Businesses who wanted more visibility […]
Disturbing News
“I read the news today, oh boy!” – The Beatles Took some time yesterday to do more than just skim the headlines. Gotta admit there are some strange things happening in the world. Figured I should comment on a few. Guilty Until Proven Innocent The Canadian province of British Columbia has a new weapon […]
Science Meets Religion
When I first saw the t-shirt in a store window I knew I had to buy it. Of course it would be on a Sunday and the store was closed. For those who don’t speak German, the words are from of Genesis 1:3. And gott Sprach means “And God spoke.” Und es ward Licht is “and […]
That Time Again
It is the second Thursday in May, which means the annual March For Life should be taking place on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill this afternoon. Since I now life in Germany, I won’t be there to see it. It is usually the biggest protest of the year in Ottawa. And it is usually almost entirely ignored […]
The Crane Moves On
Early last week I was wondering about the stalled construction for the new apartment building at the edge of town. I asked my wife how the construction company could afford to keep a crane up and idle for the past six months. I guess they couldn’t anymore. Thursday it was dismantled and removed. I just […]
What Market?
When it rains…no-one shows up. The Spring Flomarkt, or flea market if you prefer English, took place in the Sulzburg market square yesterday. Or a pale imitation of it. This is usually a big event. But the weather played havoc with the attendance. I had hoped for some bargains; instead I was underwhelmed. I was […]
Remembering Kent State Again
It was one of the pivotal events of my teen years, one that shaped my attitudes towards government and the place of protest in society. Every year, on May 4, I remember the Kent State killings. The original of this post ran on this date in 2015. Forty-nine years later their names are a footnote […]
Troop Deployment
There are soldiers in the streets in Canada. This is not a coup. This is democracy in action. I’ve been in countries where the sight of soldiers was never good news, places where the military was an alternative government, just waiting to seize power. It isn’t like that in Canada. Our transitions from one government […]
Welcome To Maihock
It’s a holiday today in Sulzburg. Last year I was out of town and didn’t know what I was missing. I really don’t know anything about May 1 celebrations – we don’t have them in Canada, at least not that I have ever seen. When we signed the lease for our apartment in Sulzburg we […]
No Room For Hate
Whether it is killings at a mosque in New Zealand, church bombings in Sri Lanka or the mostly unreported violence against Christians in the Middle East, the attacks have a common theme. The perpetrators are motivated by hate. Maybe it is coincidence, but the Lutheran churches in Lippstadt, Germany (and elsewhere for all I […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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