The unfortunate thing about democracy is that we can’t get our way on every issue. We have to choose the leader who is closest to our way of thinking. Inevitably we have to accept compromises in order to get the greatest number of our preferred policies enacted. But how many compromises do we have to [...]
Category Archives: Random thoughts
Random thoughts
(SVP, voir plus bas pour la version Française) I’ve been writing this column for ten years now. I often get random thoughts that turn into columns and stories but many others just sit there as just that – random thoughts. They don’t look like they will ever develop enough to be any more than the [...]
Smooth rocks and plastic rings
SMOOTH ROCKS AND PLASTIC RINGS (SVP, voir plus bas pour la version Française) Why do we always seem to come home from vacation with a pocketful of smooth rocks or seashells we picked up at the beach or cheap plastic rings we bought at an amusement park? I don’t know about you but I have [...]
Science and marketing: Strange bedfellows
(SVP, voir plus bas pour la version Française) Here’s something I published today in the on-line version of Metro. Someone who read it asked me if it meant I was against all ‘Soft’ sciences. I’m not sure what is meant by that word but I am not for or against anything per se. Science simply [...]
The golden rule 2.0
THE GOLDEN RULE 2.0 (svp, voir plus bas pour la version Française) The golden rule is nice – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Unfortunately, just like any advice, what may be good for one person can be a pretty bad for someone else. The rule of moral reciprocity is [...]
200 and counting. I’m still big in Bulgaria!
In today’s Journal Métro is my 200th column. I started in September 2005 and this blog started a couple of years after that. My blog posts are mostly elaborated versions of what I put in my column with a few assorted random postings thrown in. Every other week I scratch my head wondering what I’m [...]
Do-overs and Mulligans
Erase! Erase! Oh, if only… Do-overs (French version published today in Métro: Recommencer, April 8, 2014) Voir plus bas pour la version Française. What if you had the power of a do-over? Or something equivalent like erasing a day from your life? When would you use it? There is no shortage of bonehead things we [...]
Clicker wars
The battle lines are drawn. And by that I am not referring to the newly launched provincial election campaign nor to events in Crimea. I refer instead to a battle that is waged on a daily basis in living rooms across the world. Clicker wars (Source: La guerre des télécommandes. Journal Métro, March 11, 2014) [...]
The glorification of thieves
I don’t know about you but I can’t get my head around the fact that people like Vito Rizutto have so many mourners at their funerals and keep getting treated like celebrities. If someone were to come up to me and make the following offer – pay me and I’ll protect you from harm, or don’t pay [...]
All I want for Christmas is…more stuff!
(Source: J’en veux plus. Journal Métro, December 17, 2013). Voir plus bas pour la version Française. I’ve been slowly emptying out my parent’s house now that they are both in a nursing home. It’s amazing how much stuff people accumulate over the years. My parents were immigrants and had to make do with very little. They [...]
