Most readers know about Meic, my Border Collie. Less known is Holly, Karen’s Shih-poo, a Shih-tzu and Poodle cross. (Yeah, I know, you’re expecting me to make some bad joke about crossing Bull Terriers with Shih-tzus, but I won’t.) Border Collies are generally considered to be the “smartest” of all dog breeds, and frankly, they…
As someone who lives within a kilometer of Highway Seven, I can write this with equanimity, with friends and fond memories on both sides of the line. And to those readers from “away”, let me explain that Highway Seven runs from Ottawa to Toronto, hugging the Canadian Shield mostly along the way, bifurcating Eastern Ontario…
They met at a servicemen’s dance in wartime Britain, the handsome young Canadian soldier and the petite girl in WAAF uniform, her massive dark curls hinting of her Welsh ancestry. For him, at least, it was love at first sight, and soon enough she too began dreaming of a life together after the War. In…
Most Ottawa Valley towns have a Carnegie library, and almost everyone knows they’re named after Andrew Carnegie, who endowed such libraries all across North America, and even beyond. But although Pembroke, Renfrew, Arnprior, Almonte and Carleton Place all had O’Brien theatres (only Renfrew remains, I believe), few are aware of the pioneer business magnate who…
Once upon a time there was a Republican president who was a friend of the middle class, gave them a break and made the rich pay for it. He presided over one of the most robust economic growths in history, and made America great. No slogans, no razzmatazz, just action. During his administration the tax…
Don’t know about you, but I have an interesting relationship with artificial intelligence. Well, to be truthful, I have an interesting relationship with a lot of human intelligence, too, and that’s part of this rant. I use AI a lot, especially for grunt research and for techie stuff. Second best tech assistant I’ve ever had,…
Among the many American stories which are part true and part myth is the heroic saga of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark whose well-funded expedition, between 1804 and 1806 adventured across North America from the white-settled East to the Pacific. Almost without exception, Americans will tell you confidently that this was the first such voyage…
You know the type – they like to get you in a corner at gatherings, position themselves between you and any dignified escape route, lean in conspiratorily, and begin to share in infinite detail their life stories, their views on fusion energy, and how they would solve the world’s problems. You’ve never heard so much…
You know those times you’re on a phone call, and after you’ve rattled on for five minutes you realize the other party has been disconnected for the last four? I think this is what the great communicator George Bernard Shaw had in mind when he said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion…
The pirates ships of yesteryear were rough companies, filled with a motley and ragtag crew often with nowhere else to go, little internal loyalty, but bound together by convenience and mutuality of self-interest. Or, more accurately, a symbiosis of self-interest. The biggest, baddest pirate got to be captain, and the rest eye-gouged and shanked one…