Randy | March 13, 2011
The damage control dweebs who frame the wordage spoken by media talking heads have been outdoing themselves with the bag of shit the recent earthquake in Japan has handed to the nuclear power plant industry. A couple days ago I heard a reporter explaining that to cool an overheating reactor core, officials at one plant […]
Randy | March 6, 2011
Oddly enough, this poem was born from an intention to write something with a pretty beginning that set the reader up for a funny punch line involving the way Spring unveils just how much frozen dog shit has been slumbering under the snow and ice in our yard, and that blessed day when Nature does […]
Randy | March 4, 2011
A couple days ago this little gem caught my eye, a beautifully rendered short animated film written and directed by Andrey Shushkov titled Invention of Love. Subtitled, “A love story from the world of gears and bolts,” it serves up bittersweet in a neat little package.
Randy | February 25, 2011
Growing up with a burning interest in living safely and well outside of the comforting arms of “civilization”, I spent a lot of time learning and mastering my skills one at time so I knew they wouldn’t fail me when I needed them to live. More than half a century worth of winters down the […]
Randy | February 23, 2011
Binary code is straight forward. 1 or 0. On or off. Black or white. Love Justin Bieber or hate Justin Beiber. There are no shades of grey. I don’t get a heart throb vibe from this kid at all, but then I was brought up on the premise that the true definition of a male […]
Randy | February 16, 2011
On those rare occasions when I find myself on the road alone, singing helps keep me alert. This first song has always been one of my favourites, probably because I’ve spent way too many years of my life being part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Anyway, settle back for a dose […]
Randy | January 24, 2011
Of the known Icelandic sagas, both Grænlendinga Saga (The Saga of the Greenlanders) and Eiríks Saga Rauða (The Saga of Eirik the Red) speak of the discovery of Vinland – what we call North America – by the Vikings. They also make mention of Freydís Eiríksdóttir. Freydís was the daughter of Eirik the Red and, […]
Randy | January 18, 2011
I am both saddened and honoured to bear the news to the world that yesterday, in his own bed and in the company of those who loved him with all their hearts, Alf vom Garreler Esch, also known as Alf, went to sleep for the last time. Originally brought to Canada from Germany, and coming […]
Randy | January 17, 2011
In the course of my research for the Skrælingibók, I have turned up a number of excellently rendered documentaries, one of which I’m presenting here for your viewing pleasure. Made in 2004, the 40 minute documentary Vikings: Journey to New Worlds was directed by Mark Fafard, co-written by Mark Fafard and Jonathan Hock. My thanks […]
Randy | January 8, 2011
A thousand years ago, Viking expeditions out of Greenland made incursions into North America. Much of what we know of this time comes down to us from a pair of Icelandic Sagas that were written two hundred years after the events they describe, supplemented by archaeological examination of the failed Vinland settlement at L’Anse aux […]