Here is a small selection of the pieces I've written over the past few years.
More comments have been written in my blog. Click the images or links to load the essay.
Post your comments, opinions, and ask questions on the Mumpsimus FORUM.

HARMONICAS

After a couple of years of abstinence, I started playing music again. But I'd sold all my instruments and equipment a few years back, so I needed to get new stuff. Here's a page on my experiences with harmonicas. Lots of brands and models. Just some notes and things for neophytes to consider when looking for a new harp. I've looked at harmonicas from Hohner, Seydel, Bushman, Lee Oskar, Suzuki, Hering, Johnson, Merano and still have a few more to come in. Not by any means a definitive guide, more a personal journey to finding what sounds and styles of harp I preferred. This is a work in progress and will grow and change as I get new instruments to test.

THE CUBAN QUESTION

Why do Americans hate and fear Cuba so much? Or is it just Castro they fear? Can that fear justify a 45-year embargo in violation of international law, and a concerted campaign of terrorism and assassination against the island and its people? Is it just Manifest Destiny thwarted? Or has American foreign policy been subverted simply to let politicians skim off more campaign funds from the exile community? Why has American normalized relations with China and Vietnam, but not Cuba? An essay on the relations between Cuba and the USA, with a separate history and a list of sources from the Web and in print. A Canadian perspective, of course...

CANADIAN UNITY

O Canada, eh? What is the glue that binds us together in this rambling collage of a country? Well I had some time to ponder that question while driving 1,000 kilometers across the province on Canada Day. Here's what I think is the central element that defines this great nation. Or at least what powers the common factor that unites my Ontario homeland. And here's my comments on sign bylaws and the encroaching shadow of Stalin through increased conformity and uniformity in our community.

BILLY BOY

Who wrote Shakespeare? I would have said William S. did, but read on. Like the UFO conspirators, there are those who seek secrets in Shakespeare's words, find hidden codes and dual meanings buried deep in his writing. Here's my take on the arguments that surround the works of The Bard - but pursue the links for the arguments to determine their truths for yourself.

SCOVILLE'S LEGACY

What's hotter than the Spice Girls? Hot peppers, of course - habaneros, serranos, chilies, Tabasco, and others. Thanks to Dr. Wilbur Scoville, we have a means to measure the levels of joy these spicy fruits have on our taste buds. He unwittingly created a place for himself in legend by developing his process.  But the technique is secondary to the pleasure-pain of hot foods. If you're an aficionado of peppers and their effects, you might be amused by this item. If you're not - maybe you'll learn to appreciate them from it. For me, it's only hot enough when my eyes begin to bleed.

And more comments: What about SUVs and the increasing number of bad drivers on the road today?

Are we becoming Stalinistic in our municipal approach to signs?

MILLENNIAL MADNESS

Why did so many foolish people get on the bandwagon to celebrate the 'millennium' on New Year's Eve, 1999? Any one with even the slightest common sense or elementary math skills knows the second millennium didn't end until the year 2000 was over. Year 2001 was the first year of the third millennium.

If you're confused by all the misleading hype, click here to read my comments on how calendars work, how the date of the millennium is properly calculated and how unscrupulous marketers, politicians and 'New-Age' entrepreneurs misled the gullible into wasting their money on so-called millennial projects and other scams in 2000 - the wrong year! And how even local communities bought into the stupidity and flocking like sheep to create millennium committees, murals, parties and other nonsense just because they unthinkingly had to do "what everyone else was doing." Baaa, baaa....