russ skinner noted:

Hydraulic Oil Spills on the Subway

https://stevemunro.ca/2024/04/06/revisionist-srt-history-at-the-ttc/?page_id=60755

Unintended consequences of failure porn

Much food for thought.

Quebec passes motion calling on store clerks to greet customers with ‘bonjour’

Quebec passes motion calling on store clerks to greet customers with ‘bonjour’.

Reading this reminded me of walking into a hotel restaurant in Montreal, carrying two newspapers. The hostess looked down, saw the Montreal Star just as I was flipping to the second paper,  La Presse. She switched languages mid-greeting, and I mimiced her. “Good soir.” “Bon evening.”

 By the way, I think the motion is…

An Open Letter to Rev. Franklin Graham from a “Small Church” Pastor

Very nice, irenic, presentation.

Why I consider this scary

Earlier today, I posted a link to this New York Times article on the resignation of Alabama Governor Robert Downey, and commented that the sixth paragraph was scary.  That paragraph reads:

“The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent…

Another excellent book by Mark Pryor

I just finished reading Mark Pryor’s The Paris Librarian:  A Hugo Marston Novel, which contained this paragraph:

I also want to thank you, the reader, and I truly hope that you enjoyed The Paris Librarian. There is no greater reward for a writer than to know that his or her work is enjoyed by the reader. If you did enjoy it, or any other Hugo story, please tell others and like it on Facebook, or…

Sanctifying bigotry: why the Episcopal Church is wrong to host Donald Trump’s inaugural prayer service

Many good points here, but I’m not part of the Episcopal Church. And I find it interesting (and disappointing) that @realDonaldTrump asked for there to be no sermon.

Wondering why movies based on real events take so many liberties with the facts

In today’s New York Times, there is an article by their new England Bureau chief, Katharine Q. Seelye, that starts by looking at why most reviewers outside New England “have generally given the movie positive notices.” On the other hand, most writers in New England “have been far more critical.”

She introduces the next part of the article with a very interesting statement:

what I’ve found is that…

Trying to interpret Iowa voters

This morning I was trying to catch up on my news reading for the week, and took a look at yesterday’s New York Times. One of the pieces I looked at was by Trip Gabriel, reconnecting with some of the people he had spent some time with in Iowa over the last year.

I was wondering about the Democratic party’s ground game when I read this paragraph:

“Maybe it’s time to have some change,” Mr. McKibben…

I knew a post on the subject was coming, but I was still pleasantly surprised…

I try to read widely both on the Internet and elsewhere, and as I’m doing the former I try to keep an eye out for items that will be of interest to other people with whom I interact on the web. One of the people I follow closely on Twitter, and frequently retweet items from, is @pubcoach, Daphne Gray-Grant IRL, one of whose tweets yesterday pointed to this blog post. It was encouraging that my…

From the Reader’s Digest (English Canadian edition, December 2016):

The story said, “More than 30,000 pigs were floating down the Dawson River.”  What piggery owner Sid Everingham actually said was “30 sows and pigs,” not “30,000.” (From Morning Bulletin (Australia).

The thing is, I can see how could have misheard the original quote.

I’m Offended! By Easily-Offended Christians — New Small Church

Well, we did it. We made it through this Christmas without a major national brouhaha erupting about a not-holy-enough red cup, banned lyrics at a school play, or a scandalously-placed manger scene. So let’s keep it going, shall we? Let’s resolve to go through the coming year determined not to be so easily offended anymore.…

via I’m Offended! By Easily-Offended Christians — New Small Church

**I…

Okay, the previous post was optimistic

It turned out that I was the person responsible for the technical difficulties, and the fact that I am posting this (and you are able to read it) would indicate that I have extricated myself from them.

And, you were saved from a lot of coverage of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Stand by for more posts, and happy New Year.

Technical difficulties were temporary, but we’re back

So, what should have been a simple upgrade and migration seems to have hit a few speed bumps.  The previous posts here seem to have disappeared (temporarily, I hope), but we will press on.

The intention is to blog (here, and on sister sites to be unveiled shortly) much more regularly, and with purpose.

If you’re new here, welcome (and feel free to check out the sidebars).  If you’ve been…