So I noticed this morning the birds are gone. They used to wake me up every morning around five o’clock and since I’d just gone to bed at two or three, I’d roll over, put in my earplugs, and go back to sleep. And I just realized that I haven’t had to do this for…must …
Category: environment
Jun 10 2018
Private Property and Visual Intrusion
There should be regulations about what people can put on their private property that will be in view of their neighbours. Even more than in public spaces, visual material on private property is not easily avoided. If you put a swastika or a pornographic image on your garage door, and that door is right across …
Apr 02 2018
New and Improved
‘New and improved’ is not just a bit of harmless puffery; it’s a two-party addiction. Stupid consumers must have and stupid companies must produce – new and improved stuff. And it hurts third parties. Such as the animals who are used to test a product every time it changes, every time it becomes new and …
Jan 10 2018
On Power Outages in the Middle of Nowhere
I live in a cabin on a lake in the forest. You’d think that whenever the power goes out, there would be silence. Lovely silence. And lovely dark. And there is. For all of thirty seconds. Then everyone’s backup generator goes on. And for the next five, ten, twenty, or forty-eight hours, I hear engine …
Nov 11 2017
I can do whatever I want on my own property!
I am so very sick and tired of hearing ‘I can do whatever I want on my own property!’ The latest instance concerns a neighbour who has stuck some of those new solar lights in front of her cottage, lakeside of course. Thing is, they don’t have an on/off switch. So what she’s done on …
Nov 08 2017
The Weather Report
Does anyone else find the weather report really, really irritating? All that drama! It’s going to rain! Oh how exciting! A low pressure weather front is moving in! Oh my, grab the kids!! And the pseudo-scientific detail! The rain is going to be caused by water droplets, that’s droplets of H2O, in the air that …
Jun 05 2017
Business in Denial
‘We’re just providing what the market, what people, demand.’ ‘The customer is squarely in the driver’s seat.’ Yeah right. Gosh, shucks, don’t-look-at-me. One, I doubt that’s true. I mean, if people really wanted your product, you wouldn’t (have to) spend millions on advertising, advertising to persuade them to buy it. Supply isn’t (just) following demand; …
May 02 2017
Visionary?
Reading about Nipissing University’s Students in Free Enterprise (NUSIFE), which is a group of students who undertake projects “intended to increase the public’s awareness of entrepreneurship and business-related subjects,” it occurs to me to wonder why such an endeavour is undertaken only by business students. Consider the projects listed below – and imagine… – “Global …
Aug 18 2016
Blood & Oil
[since I’m at it — posting about tv that happened oh, a year ago…see June 1 post] About a year ago, the weather reports became dramatic. Forecasters started talking about “extreme weather events” with voices and gestures that rivalled sports game commentary, making droughts, wildfires, floods, tornados, and high temperatures all so—exciting. My god, I …
Sep 21 2015
Climate Change Disaster Movies
Have you noticed the increase in climate change disaster movies? Right, yeah, let’s get everyone comfortable with the idea. The idea that survival is possible. And, after, if only heroism.
fiction
