Risk: Nothing of Value Happens Without It

| May 27, 2018

“In 1866, a book was published titled Readings for Young Men, Merchants, and Men of Business. Fortunately for the world, this tome has been unearthed and scanned by Google bringing it back just in time to prove my point. “This is a world of excuses where everybody needs to have one foot over the safety […]

“Further Annoying the Law-abiding Won’t Help”

| April 1, 2018

“How much do you trust your government? “It’s the eternal American question, but one Canadians should be asking themselves, too. “Because in a few months, we will presumably all wake up free — for the first time in any of our lives — to legally possess recreational cannabis. “And with that new freedom will come […]

Smoke, Mirrors, and a Soldier

| March 25, 2018

I read an article the other day written by Josh Makuch and published last Friday to Vice  with the title, “I’m a Veteran In Favour of More Gun Control — Gun owners could learn a lot from how the Canadian military treats their firearms.” This was, of course, trendy because the Trudeau government is only this […]

Musings on Musketry — Part the Second: The Real Meaning of “Military Grade”

| March 23, 2018

When last we convened in the matter of musketry, I closed with reference to how, “The care and feeding, proper shooting, and maintenance of a wooden stocked rifle, particularly one of this vintage, requires dedication to what it means to be a Marksman.” As you will know from having read the first installment in this […]

Musings on Musketry — Part the First: Back in the Day

| February 19, 2018

The first firearm I came to own was a Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.1* service rifle built in 1942 by the Savage Arms Company as part of the U. S. lend lease programme in aid of the British war effort against Nazi Germany. In 1973, at the age of 16 and with the approval of my […]

Pervertibles

| February 4, 2018

The most fulfilling moments in my so far 37 year career as a security consultant have involved engineering nasty surprises for miscreants, mostly human but occasionally from other tribes, who thought they were smarter than everyone else but weren’t. Oh, sure, along the way we’ve saved a few lives, but that was just collateral un-damage […]

Mud, Rightly Considered

| January 14, 2018

Our title today paraphrases G. K. Chesterton’s observation that, “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” The poem was inspired by a combination of current meteorological realities here in Nova Scotia, and some reading I’ve been doing on daily life of British and Commonwealth soldiers in […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2017 Edition: Day 9

| December 29, 2017

The Fire Without and the Fire Within By LFM It’s only just started, but coming to pass Is a Winter as cold as a well digger’s ass. Yet it’s still not extreme if the truth’s to be told, For it used to be worse, just go ask someone old. Its fury brings failures of power […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2017 Edition: Day 6

| December 26, 2017

Culturally, the hospitality aspects of festivities prevailing at this time of year exist in a maelstrom of ill considered and contradictory drives. Year after year, many will attempt to answer seasonal motivations to visit people who sometimes live at a great remove and may be reached at no small peril to life and limb, even […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2017 Edition: Day 4

| December 24, 2017

Someone most of us here have enjoyed the benefit of “knowing” since our childhood embarks on another perilous journey tonight, and few have every paused to consider the strategic, tactical, and logistical realities of a Grand Mission that, done half-assed, could end up being Nick’s last ride. He’s been at this a while so it […]