Reflections of an Old Man

I’m happy to say that readership is increasing steadily and that feedback is generally positive. That was not the case earlier, especially during the ‘official pandemic’. The idea of the timeline is to share information that I am interested in with you folks that read and watch what I publish. Because of automation, this does not feel like ‘work’ to me at all. Facebook has its shortcomings, including the Zuckerberg appointed ‘police’, in whose bad books I currently occupy a spot, but it is also a very convenient medium for sharing information and ideas. Before retiring in 2011, I used to be a Caroline area reporter for Mountaineer Publishing in Rocky Mountain House for 11 years and was responsible for one page in “The Mountaineer” weekly newspaper with a circulation of about 10 000. That included local news and an opinion column I called “Pen Meets Paper”. I am happy to say that this is one family owned paper that has survived the online publishing revolution. Now in my 80th year I am ...

I happen to live in a place in Canada where conflict is likely to take centre stage in the near future: Alberta, that was the launchpad for the Freedom Convoy that shut down Ottawa for some 3 weeks in February. Prince Justin and his crew in Ottawa are in the process of launching an environmental armed police force based in Calgary, that is now advertising for applicants for positions. The leading contender for the Alberta United Conservative Party leadership position, Danielle Smith who will be the next Premier of Alberta if she wins, is on record saying that she will not cooperate with this new agency. At the same time, the federal government is attempting to greatly expand an environmental protection area in north-west Alberta and likely plans to use its new police force to enforce regulations at the expense of the oil and gas industry. Many Albertans see this as the thin wedge of a sword to shut down Alberta’s oil and gas industry and generate internal conflict within the province....

Covid has settled down among us. A stranger on the block some three years ago, it is now a familiar visitor to most. It has also learnt “to behave” for its own long term good. So it no longer kills a bunch of us hosts, like it did in the early stages. Most people, like myself, experience something like a cold during the period Covid breeds up inside our bodies. Being a host is no longer an extremely traumatic experience for most, so our fear of the virus has subsided. That’s exactly what Covid needs and wants from us, because that gives it free reign to invade and occupy our bodies. In other words, it has adapted to ensure its own long term survival in the human population. It is a smart virus. Can that be said of us, in regards to how we treat Gaia, our Earth Mother? Billions of us are crawling all over her, satisfying our own desires at her expense, with little or no regard for the well being of our host. Are we going to be a smart virus?

I’m risking my writer’s neck with this piece comparing Germany and France. So be it. Germany is the economic power house of Europe, no questions asked. Frenchmen tend to be more laid back, enjoy a drink of wine and beat up on their own government when they get pissed off about something (yellow vests come to mind). The Germans got badly beaten up in wars twice last century, with France on the winning side in both cases. But they pull themselves up by their bootstraps, rebuild industries and commerce, and away they go again. So what is their problem? They seem to get the thin end of the stick no matter what? Like now when they might be shivering in their homes this winter as Putin threatens to turn off the taps on pipelines to Germany from Russian oil and gas fields. The German idea was to use Russian gas as an interim measure while they created wind and solar farms and decommissioned their nuclear plants. The French? They wisely held on to their nuclear power generating plants and even...

In modern history this word is associated with Napoleon’s final defeat at a village of that name in Walloon Brabant, Belgium in 1815. “Waterloo” means “water” and “sacred forest”. From my studies online it is becoming obvious that water is the very underpinning of life and that our fresh water is being used at an unprecedented rate as heatwaves are enveloping the globe at this time. Fresh groundwater and surface water levels are constantly sinking both in North America and Europe. So I decided on a little experiment here in my own back yard: Collecting rainwater from the roofs of my cabins. Thanks to fortuitous timing I collected well in excess of 2000 litres in June during drought breaking rain events and stored the water in numerous drums and other containers. (I also have a good shallow water well but it showed signs of stress during the 2000- 2002 drought with fine sand coming out of the tap). This year I have also been growing green beans in my garden and tried growing th...

During July in 2021 we had tropical heat on the prairies in Western Canada, where I live. +30 degrees Celsius day in and day out for some 5 weeks. And very little rain resulting in bone dry conditions and low crop yields. This year farmers had better luck with some good rains in June, before things started to dry out. Then along came August with another tropical heat wave that we are in right now. +31 yesterday and the same expected today. When I first arrived in Canada I was struck with how cool the summers used to feel, after some 21 years spent in Australia. Not any more. In 1961 I spent 6 months with my family in Baghdad, Iraq where the temperature during summer fluctuated anywhere between +40 and +45 degrees C, making +35 feel ‘cool’ when it happened from time to time. The locals in the Middle East are well adapted to these conditions in terms of personal habits and clothes worn, for example. They also take a break from about 10am till 4pm every day to get away from the searing he...

That has been the catch cry of the New York ‘progressive’ establishment since he became the 45th President of the US in 2017. One reason for this frenzy “to get him” is that he is the ‘outsider on the inside’, a part of the New York establishment, but not really. Moreover, during a long period of engagement in the entertainment world, he developed connections to Eastern block countries in Europe. Prior to 2017 the Trump team managed to tap onto a seething anger amongst common Americans against the Obama led ‘progressives’ that had long forgotten them and their troubles. So they voted for Trump as President. It was the shock of a lifetime for the New York Deep State establishment that see themselves as the controllers of the Western Empire. Trump’s perceived connections to the Russian Empire were viewed with great suspicion as well and an attempt was made to “get ‘im” during the Russia Gate drama. Another attempt was made after he was accused of trying to blackmail Ukrainian President Z...