Randy | May 2, 2020
All these weeks into the global clusterfuck spawned by The Pestilence, it seems natural that as governments have become comfortable with the new reality (notwithstanding whether or not the body politic has) they would revert to the old habits inherent in partisan politics and party defining ideologies going back to great great great granddad’s generation. […]
Randy | April 16, 2020
There is no corner of the world unaffected by The Pestilence, and weeks of unrelenting media coverage hell bent on not letting anyone forget it have engendered a dangerous forgetting. We’ve forgotten that people occasionally sneeze and cough, that those occasions have always represented the majority of times when they do, and for the most […]
Randy | April 10, 2020
March of 1994 came at the end of a bitterly cold winter practically devoid of snowfall. Every lake, still-water, and bog was frozen to a depth of 18 inches or more, and the bare ground in forest and field was stone hard. When spring finally broke over the flood plain surrounding New Germany, Nova Scotia, […]
Randy | April 7, 2020
Our title today is a twist of a sentiment expressed in song by the character of Fagin in the musical Oliver!. In the wake of an existential threat from Bill Sikes, Fagin reflects on his own litany of bad life choices and how things might be different if he only tried some options on for […]
Randy | April 6, 2020
The title of today’s piece is common usage short form for part of a longer expression attributed to Lucius Cassius, “… whom the Roman people used to regard as a most honest and most wise judge, was in the habit of asking time and again in lawsuits: ‘to whom might it be for a benefit?’ […]
Randy | March 30, 2020
“The pleasure you find in traveling around your room is safe from the restless jealousy of men; it is independent of the fickleness of fortune. After all, is there any person so unhappy, so abandoned, that he doesn’t have a little den into which he can withdraw and hide away from everyone? Nothing more elaborate […]
Randy | March 27, 2020
“‘And it is also said,’ answered Frodo: ‘Go not to the Elves for counsel for they will answer both no and yes.’ “‘Is it indeed?’ laughed Gildor. ‘Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.’” ~ Lord of the […]
Randy | March 23, 2020
Our title today comes from something Mrs. LFM said last night in reference to statistics in general, and the way they are being presented in daily government COVID-19 briefings specifically. A state of emergency was announced yesterday for the Province of Nova Scotia, where we live. The details of its scope and perceived application can […]
Randy | March 22, 2020
The title of today’s piece comes from the pilot episode of the excellent, and now both late and lamented, television series Life. Specifically, it’s part of a greater conversation between lead character Detective Charlie Crews (played by Damian Lewis) and his partner, Detective Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi): Dani Reese: “I don’t exactly understand you.” Charlie […]
Randy | March 15, 2020
“Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honored friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark ‘that we were living in an interesting age’. Evidently he read the whole letter, […]