Chris Forde, a documentary filmmaker, is doing a movie on Paddle to the Amazon … the longest canoe journey ever.
I’m interested in this because I read and reviewed the book Paddle to the Amazon, which is the amazing story of Don Starkell and his son Dana, who paddled from their home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to […]

Teresa’s grandfather’s last message … we left it on our answering machine for almost two years, until I recorded it onto my computer.
Click the pink play button:
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Teresa’s Opa (Rienk Koat) died in 2005. Here’s one of the pictures we have of him in our kitchen.
He died less than a month after leaving this […]

Russell Davies talks about how to be interesting:

While I was at the U of O I kept going on about how the core skill of any future creative business person will be ‘being interesting’. People will employ and want to work with (and want to be with) interesting people.
And since I’d spent quite a lot […]

Recent history:

Pope says Islam is violent
Islamics react with violence
Pope apologizes

It was not smart of the Pope to quote that 14th century sentence about Islam and violence. But it’s hard to argue that Islam is a religion of non-violence if, every time Islamics are offended, they react with violence.
Here’s a very good summing-up of the issue.
What […]

Jackie deJonge is the wife of Hendrik, a friend and colleague of mine.
Right now she, Hendrik, and their 5 kids are going through a very tough time - just as they were about to move to Australia, she was diagnosed with a very severe form of cancer in her left arm. She’s recently gone through […]

I just saw POV on PBS: Waging a Living, and I am ashamed that I am ever in any way discontent with my life or my job or my salary.
Waging a Living follows the lives of 4 individuals who are “working poor.” (More details about them.)
One’s a security guard in downtown San Francisco, making $9-10/hour. […]

I’ve always loved reading about General George S. Patton, a passionate, brave, smart commander - who had his flaws just like the rest of us.
My favorite Patton quotes:

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their […]

Overheard today outside a Burnaby, BC high school: “They don’t know about Chinese people there!”
Volume, high. Asian woman and boy leaving SUV, hurrying to get into the school.
Conversation continued at high speed in (presumably) Mandarin.