A thought about war and presidents
“We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens.”— Sandra Day O’Connor The U.S. Supreme… Read More
Year: 2026
Reading list: Some of the books I’ve read so far this year
Winter is a good time to read. Can’t get around much anymore, to tweak the Duke Ellington standard. I always love seeing people’s reading suggestions (my want-to-read list is hellaciously long), and I thought it… Read More
A thought on the powerful connections between women
“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.”— Adrienne Rich The poet Adrienne Rich had a long writing career and a… Read More
Saturday digest: Uploading your photos to AI is much riskier than a virtual hairstyle
Bald as I am, I don’t give a lot of thought to hairstyle ideas. But the concept has very much been on my mind lately, because of an inundating number of ads for AI-powered apps… Read More
A thought on why it’s perfectly OK to have many books going at the same time
“I am reading six books at once, the only way of reading; since, as you will agree, one book is only a single unaccompanied note, and to get the full sound, one needs ten others… Read More
Trivia notes: That time the Stones played Ontario in lieu of a prison sentence
Adam Walsh and I scratched another one for the books today, with the monthly trivia show for CBC Radio’s The Signal. You can listen to the whole thing right here. I thought it might be… Read More
Yep, that’s a spike: Charts that help explain Friday’s big jump in gas prices
UPDATE | In this post from Friday morning, I noted the PUB uses interruptions to make adjustments outside of the scheduled weekly setting … and it did. Early on Saturday morning, prices surged another 12.4… Read More
A thought about how New Yorkers aren’t rude; they’re just in a hurry
“Etiquette in New York is all about time management. In other places, you seem rude if you see someone and don’t talk to them long enough. But here, it’s all about speed. And people are… Read More
A trivia Friday is coming up!
This is Adam Walsh. He hosts (and produces) The Signal on CBC Radio in Newfoundland and Labrador, and I’m going to be his guest on Friday for a trivia show. My job: to make him… Read More
A thought on the variety of making an egg
“The test of a cook is how she boils an egg. My boiled eggs are fantastic, fabulous. Sometimes as hard as a 100 carat diamond, or again soft as a feather bed, or running like… Read More
Inflation is easing. So why does it feel worse?
A detail in the latest City of St. John’s economic snapshot caught my eye — and it speaks to an ongoing rift between what people are feeling and the bigger economic picture. The city’s report,… Read More
A thought on the limits of being neutral when you’re a journalist
“It would be irresponsible for me and CNN to tell you what the person being gang-raped says, what the rapist says — and to give each equal time and moral equivalence. I can’t do that… Read More
Rare blog, rattlin’ blog: Some housekeeping notes
It’s been (counts fingers) six weeks, less a day, since I launched this website, and revived Dot Dot Dot, the blog I ran into the ground with intermittent activity for a decade and a half…. Read More
A thought on the line between actor and audience, and other things about Tim Curry
“It’s an odd pairing. I’ve always loved the audience, but from a distance. Once you’ve elicited a strong response from an audience, you want it again. That kind of an energy is as addictive as… Read More
Steven Page once stepped outside an undersold gig in St. John’s, and heard a cover band doing Brian Wilson
On Friday night, Steven Page and his trio headlined the annual Big Ticket fundraiser for the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in St. John’s. What an evening. (The photo above and another below come from the wonderful… Read More