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Relearning the bass and other follies

06 July 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Personal reminisence, Music and ukuleles, Social values
The past few weeks I've been a bit pre-occupied with several tasks and pursuits, so I haven't been blogging much, although I have been busy. About a month ago, I bought an Epiphone Viola bass from Blue Mountain Music. It was the culmination of several months' exploration and investigation of bass instruments that began with an electric...

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Tags: ukulele, guitar, bass, music 0 Comments


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500-million-year-old fossils create economic development opportunities

09 June 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Science, Social values
This intriguing story is from a media release from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, posted on the Municipal Information Network. Exciting stuff when a government recognizes the importance of fossils, evolution and science, and helps promote them to the public.

Capturing the significance of...

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Tags: science, fossils, economic development 0 Comments


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The honeymoon is over...

07 June 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m..., Collingwood life
It seems Council's honeymoon ended last night with the defeat of Councillor Hull's motion. Four members of council* opposed what should have been an easy motion to accept. But - because we had only eight members at the table - it was defeated by being tied. And I think the defeat will have much greater implications for council in the...

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Tags: Collingwood's municipal madness, smoking, council 0 Comments


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A tempest in an ashtray

03 June 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m...
Last week, Councillor Keith Hull gave a notice of motion that read, "THAT Council of the Town of Collingwood herein petitions the Province of Ontario, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to change legislation to permit municipalities across the Province the ability to prohibit smoking in public places that...

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Tags: Collingwood's municipal madness, downtown, smoking 0 Comments


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Things that go bump in the bank account

25 May 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, Science, Collingwood life
There's a front page story in this week's Enterprise Bulletin about self-professed ghost hunters looking for a "haunted" house in Collingwood to feature on a new TV series called "Paranormal House Inspection." That really bothered me because it reads like an advertorial on the front page (and equally that the Discovery...

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Tags: psychics, claptrap, superstition, haunted houses, gullibility 3 Comments


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The end of the world, a little earlier than expected...

13 May 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Spirituality and religion, Social values
Apparently the world will end on October 21, 2011. That's exactly five months after the "rapture", which takes place this month on May 21, when, the site says, Jesus will arrive for his third official visit to this planet.* Judgment Day, apparently, is only a week away. I thought I had at least until December, 2012 to get the...

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Tags: religion, apocalypse, eschatology, rapture 8 Comments


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Buddhism in the West

11 May 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Spirituality and religion, Social values
I've been reading James Coleman's excellent book, The New Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2001) of late. Subtitled, The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition, it chronicles the many threads of Buddhism on its complex journey into Western culture. Fascinating, thought-provoking stuff, even if the material is a decade old...

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Tags: religion, transformation, Buddhism 0 Comments


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Creationist victory a sad day for American education

22 April 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Science, Pointless legislation, Social values
It's pretty easy to make fun of American education these days. There are viral videos on YouTube that paint a bleak, even frightening, picture of the average American unable to locate Iraq on a world map, unable to identify the name of a country beginning with the letter "U", the religion of Buddhist monks, and so on. Rick Mercer did...

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Tags: America, creationism, evolution, science 3 Comments


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Changing our policy towards pets

05 April 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Collingwood life, Social values, Collingwood's municipal m...
How many cats and dogs are there in Collingwood? No one knows. In Canada, such statistics are not kept by Stats Can. But we can make an educated guess.

A recent survey done by Colin Siren of Ipsos Reid estimated there are 7.9 million cats and 5.9 million dogs in Canada. The survey also shows that 35% of Canadian households have a dog, while 38%...

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Tags: Collingwood, cats, responsible pet ownership 0 Comments


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Number 94. The good news: we're not New Glasgow

04 April 2011
Posted by Ian Chadwick in Collingwood life, Social values, Collingwood's municipal m...
Five years ago, Collingwood was listed as the 11th best place in Canada to live. The ten top spots were all taken by cities, making Collingwood the number one town in Canada to live.

Today, in 2011, Moneysense magazine ranks us 94th out of 180 towns and cities, not even in the top half. And some of our ratings are even lower than that: affordable...

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Tags: best places to live, Collingwood 0 Comments



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