What would you think of a neighbour who planted a thorn bush between his property and yours? When I bought my current house, there was not only a thorn bush with spikes the length of my finger and the thickness of kebab skewers, but also a chain-link fence and a…

The aphorism “That which does not kill you makes you stronger”, is a quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche. I hope to persuade you that this aphorisms, stated in this absolute, unqualified format, raises three questions which challenge its veracity. 1. Does a life threatening adversity always make you stronger? 2…

To be honest, there may be no connection between Flin Flon and Crater Lake in Washington state, except through my “heat oppressed brain”. However, my speculation is not entirely unreasonable as I will point out below and there is a relationship between a mysterious lake in northwestern United States, a…

Full disclosure. I was the president of a localPublic service union but at the same time might be taking what is considered a conservative position. Be that as it may, I firmly believe that the public service in Canada is the most equitable employer in the country because the ratio…

Frost’s poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, is just plane lovely, few embellishments. The first three stanzas remind us of the old adage that we need to take time to smell the roses, even if it baffles a companion, in this case the “little horse”. …

During the first two decades or more of the opening of the zinc casting plant operated by Hudson Bay Mining & Smelling Co. in Flin Flon, Manitoba, a worker had to manually lower a label mounted on a pulley into the molten zinc, draw it out, and pour the hot…

The end always justifies the means but it does not justify any and all means. The phrase, “The end justifies the means.” is attributed to Niccolò Machiavelli but not exactly in this formulation. In his book ,The Prince, dedicated to the Medici family, Machiavelli argues that it is unwise to…

From time-to-time financiers and economists float the idea that the world should return to the gold standard or develop a world currency, issues taken up by Margaret Kopala in her fascinating book on long wave economic cycles, The Dog Bone Portfolio and Richard’s book, A new Case for Gold. From…

The Road Not Taken There are two puzzling elements to Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. First, the title itself. It suggests he might be wistfully fantasizing about where a road might have taken him if he had indeed taken it. One of the constants in the human character…