Well, by God, it’s happened.

After kicking the idea around for awhile, the federal government has announced that the app TIKTOK will no longer be allowed on government-issued phones.

Citing national security issues, the government has declared that the Chinese-based app harvests personal data at a rate that has security agencies concerned.  As well, the Canadian government has formed the opinion that ByteDance, the company controlling the app, has deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and that the app can be used by nefarious actors – read China – to gather information on Canadians that may in turn be used to cultivate leverage in the area of espionage.

This is the second Chinese company literally accused by the Canadian government of being a front for intelligence-gathering operations.  A couple of years ago it was Huawei, the giant Chinese smartphone manufacturer, that was given the red light in its hopes to become the provider of a 5G internet network in Canada.

Like ByteDance, Huawei has been ruled a potential threat to national security, something that has had the company banned from 5G networks in several western countries already.

Wow!  That was fast!

In mid-February, I took two shots at Town Council for the horrendous condition of Argyle Street, how it’s a vehicular menace, and how something should be done to correct years of neglect.

Renfrew Town Council has responded.  Magnificently.  And very timely, as well.

Continue reading “ARGYLE AND LOCHIEL TO BE RECONSTRUCTED” →

Elvis Francois is one lucky dude.

Adrift on the Caribbean Sea for twenty-four days, Elvis managed to survive by eating what he had on hand, some garlic seasoning, some liquid seasoning, and a bottle of ketchup.  I know some people put ketchup on everything they eat, but Elvis has taken that to a new level.

After having been blown off course, it was two weeks before Elvis was scooped out of the drink by the Colombian Navy.

Heinz, the company that produces the famous ketchup, took note of this and wondered where Elvis had ended up after surviving his ordeal.  They wanted to find him, but couldn’t, so they went to their Instagram account to put out a message in a bottle if you will.

Labelling Francois as the Ketchup Boat Guy, or #theketchupboatguy, Heinz enlisted the help of its followers to track down this Caribbean sailor.  After 4.8 million views, and some 4000 likes, Elvis was found, safe and sound in the Dominican Republic.

Heinz wants to buy him a new boat, and he’s thrilled.  There’s no talk as to what kind of boat or anything, but at least Elvis will once again be able to take to the waters of the Caribbean if he chooses, and he will do so in a new craft, bought by #theketchuppeople.

There’s also no word on whether Heinz will lay in a stock of #57 for any future voyages.  At the way this guy goes through ketchup, that could end up being expensive.

Any objective reading of Eastern European history will show Russian attempts to subjugate the Ukrainian people over the years.

For over 500 years, the indomitable Russians have been making efforts to remove any cultural distinctions that may exist between Russia and Ukraine.  The Kremlin argues strenuously to this day that Ukrainians are Russians. 

Language, religion, education, architecture, arts and other cultural sign-posts have been a battleground for half a millennia, ebbing and flowing, flowing and ebbing.

Today, Russia is engaged in a tragic adventure, invading a neighbour once again. This time, as in other times, it’s to save Russians, or Russian-speakers, from the “Nazis” that have taken up residence in Kiev.

Continue reading “UKRAINE: A LEGACY OF GENOCIDE” →

Oh my God, what happened in Vancouver?

Residents of the verdant and breath-taking capital of Western Canada were jolted recently with a smack of snow and ice and some temperatures that will wreck your golf game.

The forecast is no hell either.  Precipitation of varying sorts, dependant upon the temperatures, dependant upon the wind, dependant upon the current, dependant upon God know’s what else, will fall from the sky.  And I know, in Vancouver, it’s “so what?”  

Still, it’s gonna fall from the sky clear through to next Sunday at least, so that might give them some pause.  Not because of huge accumulations of snow, more because of the inconvenience. 

Life can be a real bitch when you don’t have a snow-scraper and there’s a need in the here and now.

That said, people in Vancouver are as Canadian as they come.  Hell, a lot of them probably come from elsewhere in Canada, so they’ve got an idea about how to lean into winter weather.

In Renfrew, we call this kind of weather Tuesday.  Unless it’s Wednesday.  

Weather’s like that.  Hard to put your finger on.

The war took a nasty turn this week when Ukraine successfully applied to UNESCO to have borsch labelled as an authentic Ukrainian dish.  The beet and meat soup, with its distinctive red colour and a flavour to match, is also a staple in Russia, where it’s known as borscht, which is borsch with a “t” at the end.  A Ukrainian cultural dish, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

The Russians, predictably, are furious.

Continue reading “UKRAINE DESIGNATES BORSCH AS A NATIONAL CULTURAL DISH” →

“It’s not easy being green.”

I think it was Kermit the Frog who delivered the famous line, back when he used to have a singing career. But today, in Renfrew, Ontario, those words have particular meaning. Ask anyone utilizing the intersection of O’Brien Road and Innovation Drive here in Renfrew, and they’ll tell you.

There’s a set of lights at this intersection, appropriate given the volume of traffic that passes by and through this spot. Traffic lights make sense of what would otherwise be mayhem, guiding motorists through a place often travelled.

O’Brien, at this point, runs in a north-east/south-west configuration, but it doesn’t matter much which of those two directions you happen to be going, since it’s damned near impossible to tell whether the light is green, white, or just not working properly.

That’s because the green lights don’t shine green. To be blunt, they don’t shine at all. In either direction.

Is it something I can help with? You know, get a couple of buddies together on a Saturday, a case of beer, and change the bulbs on the green lights? I’ve got some Christmas stuff I haven’t used, as green as all giddy-up. I’ll happily scale a ladder and screw them in so people using this intersection have some certainty as to the right of way.

Maybe we can hire students to hold up signs saying GREEN.

I know, a small-beer solution, which is concerning, because that’s the second beer-related reference I’ve made, and it’s Friday night, and am I giving myself away?

Regardless, I know it’s small-potatoes (better reference perhaps) but still, red is red and green is green, and it makes a difference. And if I, a local with razor-sharp vision can’t make sense of it, what are we to do about the half-blind fellow from Shawville trundling through town?

We proceed through intersections because the light is green, not because it’s not red.

We should do something.

Spring is coming!! Well, sort of..

I know I should be careful saying stuff like that, because I don’t want to offend the winter gods.

Did you ever notice that, when you start cleaning your golf clubs, start prepping the patio furniture, do anything that portends the arrival of spring/summer, that you’re going to get a 30 cm hammering of snow the next day to put you back in your place?

Not my intent.

I just wish to point out that the photo above, taken at 5:45 PM, is surely a harbinger of better things to come. I know this because, not long ago, it was dark before 4:30 PM.

An example of a small thing that makes me happy. I’ll bet I’m not alone.

Alex Murdaugh is the most famous man in America.

I have to admit that, prior to the last month or so, I’d never heard of the guy, accused of killing his wife and son at the family kennels in June of 2021.

That’s some serious business, that.  Murder is bad enough.  Murdering your wife is worse still.  Murdering your wife and son, the worst.

Continue reading “THE MOST FAMOUS MAN IN AMERICA: MEET ALEX MURDAUGH” →

Best keep an eye on China.  And know that China’s probably keeping an eye on you.

The first statement is 100% true.  The second is 100% maybe.  The concern is 100% real.

First, let’s differentiate between the CPC, or Communist Party of China, and the people of China, aka the Chinese.  For the balance of this article, when referring to the Chinese, the reference is to the CPC and not the people.

China is a strategic adversary, a polite way of saying that they’re one day likely to be a strategic enemy if they’re not there already.  And by this we’re not talking about an economic rival, but rather a potential military threat.  Not to our home shores, although images of hordes of Chinese balloons floating through our skies were given sustenance recently with the shooting down of a Chinese “weather” balloon, and perhaps a couple of others as well.

Continue reading “CHINA CONSIDERS GIVING RUSSIA WEAPONS IN FIGHT AGAINST UKRAINE” →