If I Could Turn Back Time
Somehow I meet myself back in the year 1990….
In Hindsight, the Future was a Mistake
Call me cranky, say I’m wearing horseshit coloured glasses, but I’m becoming more and more convinced that the invention of the Integrated Circuit was a huge mistake. Everything has a chip in it now, and pairing it with wireless or wired network access has opened up indescribable conveniences and efficiencies that are awe inspiring when I sit back and consider the progress made in my lifetime.
Intruding on the Default
Humans don’t truly respect one another in our modern society. We constantly intrude on one another and take advantage of our unwillingness to create conflict, giving the advantage to the intruder.
Social Norms Evolve
...they aren’t created
Trust. The Glue That Holds Society Together.
This article on Open Canada raises an important point:
Dear Men, We Only Have Men to Blame
From what I understand of certain narratives our there, the decline of men in the workplace is because of the rise of women and immigrants. I’ve always known that to be bullshit, but it’s a simple story, and our innate bias in using observational data (I see brown people working where white people used to, etc.) acts as confirmation. It’s all wrong. Completely wrong.
Is Canada Free-Riding on Defense?
It is taken as fact that Canada’s is a “freeloader” or “free-rider” in NATO. I find this to be a particularly pernicious and troublesome myth. Dan Gardner presents it thusly
Welcome to the Vibellion
It’s wild to type this out as both a record and a commentary at the same time. I am recording for posterity a chaotic situation that is in rapid flux. There’s a lot of background information that needs to be known and understood as this post exists in the middle of “something.” How will this post stand the test of time, especially online time as digital records disappear? If you read this in the present or the future, and have no idea what I am going on about, I apologize. I hope all the related records stand the test of time.
The Death of Liberal Optimism?
Has the reactionary right stolen optimism from us?
What Do People Want From Politics?
A response to David Moscrop
Is Copilot a Better Author?
As an experiment I asked Microsoft Copilot to analyze my blog post
AI, The Digital El Dorado
A modern quest for a myth.
The Internet Broke Society
Yeah I know, everyone says it. But are they wrong?
The Misunderstanding is Strong
When the math doesn't math
The Algorithm Wants You to be Angry
My friend brought up a conversation we had back on the Twitters. “The Algorithm just wants us to be angry, or hurt, or emotional so we engage.”
It's Your Fault You Didn't Protect Yourself
Information security and how we have been made responsible for our own safety and security.
The Ethics of Staying on Twitter
When Elon Musk announced his intention to purchase Twitter, I knew then and there that staying on Twitter is counter to the values I hold. I cannot in good conscience provide revenue to any company owned by Elon Musk.
Unpacking the Ontario Election
For such a snoozefest of an Election campaign where the result was foretold eons ago when the Ontario Liberals elected Steven Del Duca as their new leader, there’s still a lot to unpack and understand. We know the result, but what really happened and why did it happen?
What Does it Matter? All Politicians Lie.
For all the political coverage and obsession with all things politics, interviews with power brokers, pundits, partisans and political operatives; we never discuss the big elephant in the room. That a significant and prominent segment of the electorate is cynical about all politicians. An election is throwing out the current crop of bums to replace them with a new crop of bums.
The Police Are Not an Army
..even though they dress and equip like one.
The Problem With the Strategic Voting Campaign
As with every election lately in Canada where a Conservative party is leading in the polls, there are calls for “progressive voters” to vote strategically in their riding to deny the Conservative candidate a seat in government. The upcoming Ontario election on June 2, 2022 is no different.
Ideology as Religion
A response to A lament for conservatism by Sean Speer
Journalism is Poised on a Pedestal of Rubble
Originally Published: Jan 2, 2022
Sharing our Lives
To set the background, I’ve been incredibly skeptical of the benefits of language policing, tone policing, and other debates around how we should use language to communicate with each other. As powerful and flexible as the English is, it is also an imperfect vessel for imperfect humans to share imperfect thoughts.
Passengers Along for the Ride
There’s an old joke attributed to Will Rogers
The Right to be Horrible
“You are horrible people. I mean that. I am not being facetious or wry. You are not good people. And by ‘you’ I mean everyone in Ontario who has been griping about the Amber Alert that woke most of the province late last night.”
In Defense of the Right to Be Outrageous
“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Justine Sacco via Twitter (Note: Formerly Twitter. Now the site known as “X”)