Musings From the Road — Last Day of Spring Edition

| June 20, 2018

Notwithstanding the presence of automotive AC, and casting all concerns of increased fuel consumption from aerodynamic drag aside, there is a place in my world for Hillbilly air conditioning. For you uninitiated to its joys, that’s driving fast with all the windows open. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the 44 of my 61 […]

A Week in Thirty-six Movements

| June 16, 2018

I have just come out the other end, as it were, of a week of battle with an intestinal infection of surpassing vileness. Among other things, it spawned this. Critic’s Notes on Maestro Whynacht’s Symphony, “A Week in Thirty-six Movements” I attended the first performance of Maestro Whynacht’s daunting new symphony, “A Week in Thirty-six […]

The French Will Eat It

| April 22, 2018

The production of cheese predates recorded history. It originated through the transportation of milk in bladders made of ruminants’ stomachs due to their inherent supply of rennet. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheese-making originated. However, it may have originated either in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, or the Sahara. Cheese-making was known […]

Sometimes That Is Your Circus, and Those Are Your Monkeys

| April 15, 2018

I first met Katherine (Kat) Finck back before the turn of the century in my capacity as an épée coach with the South Shore Duellists Fencing Club where I had the great pleasure both of fencing her, and contributing in my own small way to cultivation of her innate killer instincts. Of all the firsts […]

Well Now, THAT was Fun! — When Good Accounting Systems Go Bad

| April 5, 2018

As many of your know by now, and those that don’t will in a moment, I have been a security consultant for 37 years. 35 with the LFM family firm Whynacht Security Solutions. As with most successful businesses, the schedule is demanding and can get unruly if you don’t keep your saddle cinched tight and […]

“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 […]

Ode to an Anthem

| February 26, 2018

If you ain’t from around here, you probably won’t know how many tweaks and revisions the national anthem of Canada — O Canada — has undergone since it was first performed, as a French poem set to music, on 24 June 1880. As with any popular patriotic song, it went through a series of translations, […]

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 […]