Reflections of an Old Man

The pandemic is showing us the real distribution of power and money in this world, as opposed to what we tell ourselves in our virtuous fantasy world: I. e. "We are the good guys". Israel is way ahead of everybody else in vaccine rollout and Africa hasn't even started yet. Neither has the concentration camp called Gaza. Countries are falling over each other placing orders for vaccine way above requirements and politicians are making all kinds of noises trying to appeal to voters. The stark reality is that those that have rich and powerful friends that can pull strings jump ahead of the rest of us in the queue. And Canada is way down in the line with African nations at the bottom. What's new pussycat?

There are now indications that a lot Canadians are getting sick of sitting around at home and are getting into Mother Nature, even in cold winter weather. And our father out there is the sun, or Sol, as my forebears used to call him. (notice how we have turned him into an object "the sun", rather than our father "Sol" in our arrogant culture). Tiny invisible microbes have always been the greatest enemy of humanity, from day 1. The total number of people killed have far exceeded anything we have managed to inflict upon ourselves. The original peoples here on Turtle Island can certainly attest to that, as their forebears were decimated by bugs brought in by the European colonizers. Here, Sol is our protector with his ultraviolet rays with wavelengths between 100 and 400 nanometers which rattle the very inner foundations of viruses, bacteria and other tiny critters. So, these critters hide from him as best they can, for their own protection. And if we hide with them, a

COVID is a near perfect weapon if you want to take down an organized society because it exploits pre-existing tensions between members of that society: It creates enough death to engender real fear at the professional levels of the society, but not enough to alarm the general populace. The result is that controls have to be imposed on the general population, against their will, to alleviate the fears of professionals for uncontrolled spread. This serves to magnify differences in outlook and belief of various societal groups, weakening the fabric of society. In other words, COVID is a near perfect biological weapon. History is, once again, a great teacher: How could a small group of Spaniards bring down the Inca and Aztec empires of South and Central America? They scouted out pre-existing differences between groups within those empires and exploited them. And, "Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves!" the Brits used exactly the same tactic to establish their empire. Oh Sol,

We humans have a tendency towards aggression towards our surroundings, including ourselves. In order to preserve cohesion with a group, that aggression needs to be directed outwards towards individuals or other groups. In a relatively civilized society there are many tensions as we are all aware of at this time and lockdowns, especially of competitive team sports, removes a great release valve for aggressive instincts. Meanwhile a new tool for being aggressive against fellow humans has emerged: The internet and social media. "Pleasantries" can be exchanged without consequences to oneself from a keyboard. The Romans had their internal problems too and found it convenient to construct an arena for the entertainment of the citizenry: "Located just east of the Roman Forum, the massive stone amphitheater known as the Colosseum was commissioned around A.D. 70-72 by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the Roman people. In A.D. 80, Vespasian’s son Titus opened

The time has now come to go on the offensive in this war against COVID. And make no mistake, this is War with over two million casualties so far. To date, the strategy has been to run away from the virus with social isolation etc. Trying to keep the virus out of our lungs where it really thrives. We have to start killing the beast instead of just running and ultra violet radiation is arguably one of the best tools readily available. Both the science behind, and technology to implement a UV offensive is well established and UV Air Purifier units are readily available commercially at this time, for any size indoor spaces. To get going, all you need is an electrical power outlet. Vaccines are a great longer term tool, but let us not kid ourselves, the virus is way ahead of any major vaccination campaigns. This new weapon we have, UV air purifiers, has not been available in any other major pandemic outbreaks in human history and we need to adjust out thinking to take advantage of them righ

Right out of the chute, for those that vehemently deny climate change, this has always been happening, in one form or another since the clock started ticking. But how big of a deal is it at the present time? It makes perfect sense that a change in the gaseous composition of the planet's atmosphere will change weather patterns which in turn will change air and ocean currents, as the Earth turns around its own axis. We know that large volcanoes erupting in the past have blotted out the sun for many years, cooling the planet and causing massive life extinctions. But life comes back, always, albeit in a slightly different form so as to adapt to prevailing new conditions. And that includes us humans. Who is to say that we did not evolve from a more primitive stage to our present one as a result of a major shift in weather/climate? So, Greta, when the climate changes, let some of us evolve to a yet higher stage of adaptability to Nature, instead of believing that we are all going to kick

Back in the 1970ies, when I lived in North Queensland, Australia, I befriended an old English couple, Bob and Edna as I recall. He was an industrial chemist by profession, but also an entrepreneur, then long retired. In the late 1930ies Bob and Edna owned a hotel in the holiday town of Brighton on the English south coast where they interacted with many people. Having an interest in the Great Depression and subsequent war, I asked Bob about the prevailing 'feeling' when it became evident that war was about to break out. I was taken aback by his answer: "We welcomed it" he said. "People began talking to each other again". A common enemy, excitement, patriotism. A way to escape the mundane daily life of the depression. Jobs everywhere, industry cranks up.

Like Bison, humans form groups to maximize the chances of survival and propagation. As do bacteria and other life forms. In most species these bonds are largely instinctive, but in humans there is a conscious intellectual element as well, because of the nature of our brains. In a peaceful and ordered society this tendency is channelled into team sports, among other things and is generally considered to be positive. In a troubled society, the energy goes into supporting opposing political factions with potential for actual violence as we have witnessed in the US lately. When things turn really nasty, the opposing group is de-humanized and made ready for slaughter in a confrontational war, or by way of 'ethnic cleansing'. In the last few years we have been slowly slipping down this greasy totem pole, driven by an accelerating pace of wealth finding its way into fewer and fewer hands, at the expense of people at large, with very predictable results. Because it has happened so many

Watched the ceremony, very cliquey. There they are: the Obamas, the Bushes, the Clintons and many other establishment figures. Some very sorry looking characters there as well: Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence whose party has been torn apart by the mob that stormed the Capitol two weeks ago. And the Black Knight has returned to his lair in Florida, there to ponder next steps. My crystal ball looks kinda blank right now, so I have to turn, once again, to history for some guidance. In the past, before the creation of nation-states, local warlords used to rule the roost, controlling limited geographical areas by force. They were constantly warring among themselves, building alliances and feuding in an ever changing mosaic across the landscape. So, will Trump now try to build a local power base in Florida, after things settle down? And will other "strong men" in different parts of the US try something similar? One can only speculate, but one thing is for sure: 74 million voters are

The Grand Old Party (Republicans) are in a shambles right now. They married a Black Knight called Donald Trump and the divorce is very messy. They followed their knight to the brink; he went over the edge and is disappearing out of sight, leaving a confused entourage watching him go. Tomorrow the Democrats will control the White House, the Senate and House of Representatives and can pretty well set any policy direction they like, unencumbered by the Republicans. That is not a healthy state of affairs in a democracy and could lead to more political volatility down south. We can only watch the drama unfold from our northern perch.

I have a hard time believing that that the COVID virus is just an accidental product of Nature. Morphing from using bats in a limited geographical area for reproduction to infecting the whole world in a matter of months? Nah, forget it. That story belongs in Fairy Land. To top it off, the virus just happened to emerge in a community (Wuhan) where one of the world's leading bug research labs is located. Too much! This critter is beautifully tuned to move fast without causing too much havoc in its wake. Just right to cause civic strife.

We are now almost one year into a World War against an invisible enemy that is trying to best us at every corner. And, so far, it is succeeding. As in any war, the outcome will depend on strategies adopted by both sides, and on how those strategies are implemented. On our side, the main strategy is social distancing, masks, etc. and now, vaccines. On the other side, the virus is mutating, following Darwin's principles of natural selection for virility, and spreading across the globe. It has gotten us between a rock and a hard place, making us weaker by forcing us to shut down our economies to limit virus spread. So, what is a new and major step we can take to get ahead of COVID that will also help our economies? The answer is much improved and re-designed ventilation of our indoor public spaces with virus killing filters incorporated in air circulation systems. This will enable many businesses to reopen their doors to the public with much lower risks of infection.

After what happened on Capitol Hill on January 6, at the instigation of Donald Trump, with 5 dead to show for it, the question is: What happens next? I find it hard to believe that Trump thinks that he can walk away from it after January 21 when all the sharp knives will be coming out, looking for blood. That makes me wonder what his next move might be? Head for South America on Air Force One, loaded up with gold bullion from Fort Knox? If he chose that route, he could join up with the descendants of the National Socialist crew that left Germany in 1945. The story has it that many of them live in self governing communities in South America with no national government willing to touch them.

With Alberta Premier Jason Kenney hiding under his bed from an irate public, another decision regarding the re-opening of our public schools is being implemented with no regard to persistently high COVID numbers in the community. The timeline (January 11) for re-opening schools in the new year was determined well before Christmas and because of lack of leadership within the government, had Education Minister Adriana LaGrange go with the flow to implement the decision. That in spite of the emergence of a COVID variant in Britain that has seen the whole country locked down. This navel gazing government with its immature agenda, should be replaced as soon as possible.

Today, January 4, 2021 many Albertans lost faith in their provincial government after it was revealed that senior politicians and bureaucrats had ignored travel constraints asked of the people of Alberta by themselves. Blatant disregard of the rules laid down for everybody to minimize COVID transmission has ignited public anger at the level of hypocrisy attained in Alberta. The likely response by a lot of Albertans will be: “If they can do it so can I. Time to socialize! Yeehaa!” And so they will. Tonight British Prime Minister Boris Johnson put his own nation back in full lockdown as of this coming Wednesday due to the rapid spread of the new COVID variant in that country. And we know that the variant is already present here in Canada. So we are set for a perfect storm, with many Albertans believing that the whole pandemic is nothing but a pile of bullshit. A lot of people need to see bodies in the street before they will accept that COVID is more than a creation of somebody’s fancy.

Alberta’s rookie UCP Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) have been virtue signalling in public for a long time now, standing around with masks, 6 feet apart for photo ops. And a goodly number of them, and senior bureaucrats, have relaxed in Hawaii and other destinations over the Christmas holiday period, sending out recorded Christmas messages, with snowy backgrounds, to their constituents hunkered down at home. Premier Kenney promptly excused their transgressions of stated government policy of essential travel only, by saying that he had not made the government position sufficiently clear to his underlings. Duh!! Mama Duck Kenney protects his little flock? Exactly. That’s all they are: Political ducklings with a whimsical Mama Duck.

It is interesting to note how pandemics have a habit of popping up in situations of human conflict. That was so in 430BC during the war between Sparta and Athens in the Hellenic world and during the Great War in 1918 in our era. The primary disease vector was troop movements and we have a similar situation today with the unprecedented degree of world wide travel by people from the “developed” world. And also migrations and movements away from conflict zones. So, it was just a matter of time before something would happen on the pandemic front. This time around, a whole host of complex issues muddy the picture, not least of which are political divisions within and between nation/states, generating conflicts between people for the benefit of the viral agent. And that agent, COVID, is doing what Nature compels it to do: Respond to the need to multiply in a hostile environment by changing and adapting itself so as to be able to spread more quickly. This process is well understood by scienc

Following revelations that a number senior people in the Alberta Government have enjoyed their Christmas holidays in warmer climes, with recorded Christmas messages to their constituents with snowy backgrounds, Jason Kenney stood up and made excuses for them all, putting the blame on himself for not being up front about expectations. Not unlike Justin Trudeau, who loves to say that he is sorry, but mostly on account of his own behaviour. Stephen Harper, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister from February 6, 2006, to November 4, 2015. and in whose cabinet Jason Kenney served, ran a tight ship to ensure against gaffs by his underlings. Jason Kenney’s attitude is exactly the opposite and will cost him at the next election, if he makes it that far. Rookie politicians, like Jason Nixon and Tyler Shandro, among others, have been putting forward flawed political proposals for some time now, such as scrapping coal mining bans in the headwaters of our rivers, getting rid of a whole bunch of pr