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“The fundamental political idea of modern times is the presumed moral superiority of centralized control.” – Paul Lutus I start this brief essay on voting with this quote to underscore the basic idea – that even unto your most private choices on a quiet afternoon at Cape Spear or Rennell Sound you are at least… Continue reading Why Vote?

Okay, hello. We’re out in the yard this time, and I gotta get this done, ’cause there’s company coming, so I don’t want to be standing around here like a madman while there’s guests. (Well, I’m not standing, I’m sitting, but you know what I mean.) Today I want to talk about frameworks and differences.… Continue reading Frameworks & Differences

I know this is 2022. Many people are insisting that down is up. But as the saying goes, what goes down, must come up. So lost are we without meaningful meaning, that we have to explain proverbs like “a penny saved is a penny earned”. Actually, that’s one that’s always bothered me. So where is… Continue reading Astro to Astro

I uploaded this spoken essay to YouTube on May 27 2022 and laboriously changed their auto-generated subtitles to fit what I said, but I’ve since realized it’s more useful and also easier for me to simply provide what I prepared to read from, modified very slightly to fit what I actually said. Hello out there.… Continue reading What’s going on & The two ways of knowing

Voting pre-supposes an informed electorate. Okay, now that we’ve wiped the tears away and stopped laughing, if we’re still going to have voting, let’s talk about voting systems. I’ll be writing from a Canadian perspective, of course. First, there’s what we have now, FPTP. As soon as there are more than two viable options, it… Continue reading Voting Systems (if we care)

I first came to the purpose-built city of Prince Rupert, and British Columbia generally, in July 2017. Yesterday in my Facebook memories, I found this picture I took on Haida Gwaii three years ago to the day: This is a link to the entire set of albums, including trips to Rennell Sound and the south… Continue reading Looking west with eastern Eyes

Spoiler alert: We made it from Prince Rupert to Cape Breton, 13 days ago now. Of course there’s been this and that going on, but another reason (or perhaps justification) for the protraction is that I was expecting a tidy conclusion to the story, and once that arrived, then I would write something. But in… Continue reading Landed

It’s Tuesday, April 12th 2022, and we’re having a rest day at my cousin’s house in the cottage country near Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. We mean to reach Sydney on Thursday evening, and the trailer is due at a U-Haul dealer there on Saturday morning. While I watch the river through the window (which according… Continue reading Capital Cities

I don’t like being several days behind on the blogging because it makes getting going again all the more daunting. But tonight I can finally buck the trend, as we reached North Bay, Ontario while the sun still shone. It’s not even midnight yet! So here follows the long-awaited catch-up: Saskatchewan If you think rural… Continue reading A Place to Drive, a Pace too Slow

Tonight we are staying at a hotel near the airport in Saskatoon. We were actually able to make use of the hotel pool, although the hotel warm tub left a little to be desired. The timer for the jets would activate only the most feeble-feeling suggestion of a water flow. We’re making a bit better… Continue reading Mr. Kenney, May I Have a Map?