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In my mind, Carl Docksteader was always larger than life. Oddly enough, or maybe because that’s the way great men are, he was always modest about himself and his accomplishments. Carl never went to university, and except for his last two years, he never lived outside the little rural township where he was born. Yet…

Don’t get me wrong– I’m a huge fan of Grammarly and Spellcheck, and without predictive typing I would not even attempt texting on the small screen. These are amazing and highly useful technologies. To be sure, these technologies are used in producing the Friday Briefing and Norm’s Notes, but from time to time I worry…

Most of us are a little vain about our appearance– pretty rare the individual who, before an important meeting or zoom call, doesn’t spend at least a minute in front of the mirror. Yet few of us give much thought to our vocal presentation. The truth is that our voices say much more about us…

I’m currently working through Mark Carney’s book Value(s), and I’ll confess it’s a tough read. Takes me back to postgrad economics classes, almost that kind of textbook reading. Interesting and valid, but not Tom Clancy, either. You really have to read, stop, contemplate, then move forward. Carney lays a careful bedrock of the history of…

In the early days after the American Revolution, the boundaries between the new republic and the Loyalist British Colonies (which were to become Canada) were imprecise, at best. In particular, the boundaries between New Brunswick and Maine, and the border between Lower Canada (Quebec) and Maine were uncertain and disputed. The land in dispute was…

A cute story, and true, is told of a road sign in Swansea, Wales. As you know, Wales is an officially bilingual country, and signage must be shown in both Welsh and English. A fine ideal, but sometimes the best-laid plans go wrong in the hands of the careless. As it happened, the city council…