Talkin’ ’bout meine Weltanschauung

A chat with the compychatthingamabob, which may not be exactly as illustrated. I find having a consistent philosophy to be impossible. For starters, if you hold to any one principle to the exclusion of all other considerations, you end up doing terrible things. So somehow the gestalt matters. “Everything in moderation”, although perhaps not literally… Continue reading Talkin’ ’bout meine Weltanschauung

Keep Abegweit Abegweit

This was originally written on October 10, 2025, as a letter to The Guardian, and it was published on October 24. The editor changed the anglicised name Micmac into the transliterated forms, with the following note: “Several occurences of the word Micmac in the above letter were changed to Mi’kmaq or Mi’kmaw, perhaps proving the… Continue reading Keep Abegweit Abegweit

Safety culture and the provincial fire ban

This was originally written on August 30, 2025, as a letter to The Chronicle-Herald, once the gold standard of respectable Nova Scotian newspapers. Apparently the Postmedia hollowing-out has replaced their editorial department with crickets, as my submission was entirely unacknowledged. Current county-by-county fire restrictions: https://novascotia.ca/burnsafe/ Dear Editor, Now that people in Cape Breton and selected… Continue reading Safety culture and the provincial fire ban

The Genres of Humankind

See also: An XYsplanation The man and the woman are the genres of Humankind, and there’s a comparable aspect to so very many other species of creature too: the bifurcation into sexes, roughly chromosomally-aligned, is foundational to who is essential (as in essence, at a minimum) and who comes to be expecting, generally speaking, although… Continue reading The Genres of Humankind

An open letter to CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke regarding photo radar and red-light cameras

The Mayor replied. Update below. Mister Mayor, Regarding the prospect of photo radar and red-light cameras, I am firmly against the establishment of such technocratic terror in this developing conurbation. Just because other jurisdictions are forever finding new ways to abuse their citizens doesn’t mean those ways need to find purchase here. All things being… Continue reading An open letter to CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke regarding photo radar and red-light cameras

Review: The Fabric of Reality

David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality came recommended as a must-read. I’ll agree that it’s a worthy read, but all you really need is this: Reality is increasingly comprehensible and we blaze new trails of knowledge via suppositions that stick, because they have good arguments to support them that withstand criticism. Better arguments explain more… Continue reading Review: The Fabric of Reality

Ukraine: The Bumper Sticker

See also: On the Nationalisms of Very Eastern Europe In this domesticum, we acknowledge Ukraine is her own nation-state, with all that that entails, including increasingly meaningful independence from Moscovian ‘governance’. Such does not preclude the transnational nature of a linguistic continuum. In this case, the germane one is persons for whom Russian is the… Continue reading Ukraine: The Bumper Sticker

An XYsplanation

See also: The Genres of Humankind If you’re an XXist, that’s currently in vogue and so therefore it’s understandable. Even the Prime Minister of Canada calls himself an XXist, and depending on your point of view that might count as a significant endorsement. We all start out as being what becomes a typical XX (whatever… Continue reading An XYsplanation