My wife and I went back to a favourite haunt this week, to discover that everything changes, but it all remains the same. The venue is in the hills 20 kilometres north of the walled city of Carcassonne, near the where the Spanish/French Border meets the Mediterranean. We discovered La Chateau Villatade winery there, a…
Politics, Social Commentary
(London)Derry
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
Just to put everyone in the picture, my heritage is Irish. Northern Ireland Loyalist Protestant to be exact, but that never meant anything to me. I always thought of myself as just Irish. The Troubles took up most of my adult life, and I always found it difficult to think that the people I knew…
Social Commentary
Gambling on Sports
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
There are a few practices in our society that many people think should be part of our freedom to act how we choose, and which also seem to fulfill a need in humans. So why not? Prostitution comes to mind. Gambling in all its forms is another. The why not is because somehow in their…
smart
Don’t Run Away from a Falling Tree.
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
What with climate change and storms and all that, your chances of getting hit by a falling tree have gone from 1 in 1,000,000 to 1 in 200.000, or some incomprehensible number like that. As such, it behooves us all to learn what to do and not to do when a tree falls near us.…
Social Commentary
Social Causes of Violence
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
There has been a lot of breast-beating in the media recently because of the upswing in violent crime. Ever since the COVID epidemic, instances of racially motivated attacks have grown. Especially disturbing recently is the rising number of random attacks on strangers. Why is this happening, and what should we do about it? Well,…
Social Commentary
The Advertising Age
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
Humankind is entering on a new era: the Age of Advertising. Everything we used to pay for is now “free,” but the experience is spoiled by masses of advertising that pays for it. This seems a good thing, because money is poured into arts facilities and sports teams. However, there’s an old adage about “too…
Politics
Statistics Say Trudeau Stays
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
There has been lots of idle speculation recently about whether Trudeau should step down as Liberal leader. If you follow this blog, you will know that I have been of the opinion for several years that he should quit before he’s too far behind. However, that was then, and this is now. If he planned…
Social Commentary
Renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
The Original Doctrine For the last four or five hundred years, Europeans honestly believed that they were superior to every other society in the world, and they could play “finders keepers” with the whole surface of the globe as well as what lay below the surface. There’s nothing new about the idea. Every conqueror in…
Social Commentary
Nova Scotia Shooting Inquiry Exceeds Its Mandate
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
Recent demand for a public enquiry into Chinese election interference has revealed a great gap between what the public (and the Opposition) expect from a public commission, and the reality of what can be done with the findings. In the Nova Scotia situation, a public enquiry has started out with good people and good intentions…
Politics
Writing the Prince George Educational Pot Boiler
by renaissanceadmin • • 0 Comments
A friend of mine who is a teacher in School District 57, Prince George (my old stomping grounds) drew my attention to this article last week, but it got pushed aside by hotter news items. As it deserves. However, Daphne Bramham of the Vancouver Sun picked it up this week, so I don’t feel too…