Category Archives: Reflections

There is Nothing New Under the Sun

Here’s an interesting paradox: The idea that species can be changed by the pressure to reproduce in an unfriendly world is a moderate one, backed up by a fair bit of evidence. It’s also new. The unreasonable extrapolation of this … Continue reading

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Hypocrisy

If you’re looking for a scathing condemnation of hypocrisy, keep looking. What the world needs now is more hypocrisy. It used to be that when you were a bad man, you paid lip-service to the virtues of the good man. … Continue reading

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Medicine for Profit

I hope I’m being simplistic here, but why, when Canadian doctors make such a phenomenal profit from healthcare, do so many of them react so negatively to the idea of a medical system that generates profit? Just a question.

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Chivalry

OK, girls, here’s the deal. I doubt that King Arthur opened many doors for himself. But it wasn’t because anyone thought he couldn’t. It was because his subjects didn’t think such a glorious hero of battle should have to take care of such … Continue reading

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Conrad Black

I didn’t follow the trial closely enough to have a very well formed opinion of Conrad’s guilt or innocence. I did follow it closely enough to get an idea what I thought of the standard news coverage of it, and … Continue reading

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Cars

You know a vehicle is either very good or very bad when one of the selling points is “Street legal.”

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New take on BSE culls

Next time a cow with BSE shows up in your country, kill all the cows you have to to make yourself feel safe. Don’t burn them though. Send them to African villages dying of starvation. But make sure that each … Continue reading

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Pythagoras

The ancients thought of music as a branch of mathematics, which makes most of us say: “What a boring, stilted way to look at music.” But why not: “What a sublime way to look at math!”

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Annoyance

There’s a particular kind of uncharity belonging to people who talk endlessly without offering any breaks in the conversation, because they know that you’d use the first one to get away. They don’t stop to get a response, they don’t … Continue reading

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Mania

Why is it that when you’ve stayed up til two to complete some great important task, it suddenly seems like the right time to take care of every little neglected job from replacing the burnt out lighbulb to cleaning the oven window?

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