Olde Posts Addenda (8)

  Since all of the news is "breaking" these days, here are some more stories which have broken and are related to older news items in MM.

Muffle the Mufflers
  In a recent post I mentioned that drivers of very noisy vehicles were, in some places, being fined (see: "Traffic Cameras"). I recall that many years ago, some of my buddies would install an extra tailpipe on their cars and on each of them, place glasspack mufflers which were very loud. More recently, a very loud car passed by me and, as it slowed, issued what sounded-like gunshots. It turns out that the noise-making technology these days is much more advanced. If you use it in London, you could be fined.

"Custom Car Owners Can Turn a Switch on Loud Exhausts, Police Say it's Still Illegal: Systems Allow Driver to Adjust Much-hated Loud Muffler Noise, and Avoid Police Attention," CBC NEWS, May 21, 2026.

  "In a video shared on the London Police Service's social media channels, Const. Greg Pearson gets down on his hands and knees and shines a flashlight into the exhaust pipe of an Audi he's pulled over.

  After his inspection, Pearson, who works in the London police's road safety section, gives the owner some bad news and two tickets, totalling fines of $220.

 "The sound emanating from this vehicle is excessive and unusual," he says on the video, using almost the exact wording from the section of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act that covers illegal equipment.

The fine isn't just for the noise.

  During his inspection, Pearson also zeroes in on an electronic device attached to the exhaust pipe. In one setting, the exhaust flows through the muffler and sounds like a normal car. When the driver flips a switch, the muffler is bypassed, and the car suddenly becomes very loud.

   "That's illegal," Pearson tells the driver. "You can't have that on the roadway...."

   Many car hobbyists like to hear the roar of a high-performance engine. Those trying to enjoy a quiet summer evening, however, often complain about excessive noise."

The Great Wine Burglary

   Large quantities of things are often stolen these days and MM  has covered some of the crimes under the heading, "Large Larcenies." My favourite thefts are still, "The Great Huron County Chicken Heist(s)", which have finally been solved. 
  Also ranked very high among my favourites is the theft of just a few bottles of wine, which can hardly be characterized as a "misdemeanour", since one of the bottles cost $24,000. Those are American dollars.
   This great story was probably missed by you since it was buried in this post, "Factlets (21 & 22)", where you will also find some photos of wine lists from restaurants where the corkage fees alone are far more than you would ever pay for a bottle. Go back and have a look at it.

   Last November a couple showed up at  L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant, which is in Virginia, not France. The woman indicated that she was working on behalf of a wealthy Canadian client who would perhaps book the restaurant. She asked to see the wine cellar. Her accomplice was wearing an unusual overcoat with deep pockets, in which he stashed a few bottles. As they were leaving, the crime was discovered and the couple chased. A few bottles and the woman were caught, but the fellow was last seen at an airport heading for Eastern Europe.
   The fellow may still be in Eastern Europe, but the wines have found their way back to Virginia.  The woman, Natali Ray, pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 12 months in jail. The missing bottles had been delivered to Ray's lawyer's office. The owners of the wine think the $24,000 bottle of pinot noir is now likely worthless since it was probably improperly stored during the 145 days it was missing. 
"Nobody is going to pay $24,000 not knowing how the wine was kept," Alain Borel said."
    The male suspect is likely somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Sources:
  The return of the wine and the recent sentencing were reported in The Washington Post: "A $24,000 Bottle of Wine Was Stolen Then Returned," Dan Morse, May 18, 2026.

A Bonus Source:

   This story was also picked up by the reporters in the Kent seaside town where Ms. Ray resided, before her great American misadventure. Details about the crime are provided as well as some interesting items about Ms. Ray. The piece by Gerry Warren was found in the Herne Bay Gazette, May 21, 2026.

   "A former Herne Bay guest house owner has been jailed over an audacious fine wine heist at a luxury American restaurant.

   Natali Ray, 57, was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting her role in the distraction theft in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, according to The Washington Post.

   The creative writing graduate, who previously lived with her family in a property she had operated as the Bay View Guest House in Herne Bay, admitted grand larceny, possession of burglary tools and defrauding a restaurant or inn.

   The court heard how Ray and alleged accomplice Nikola Krndija posed as representatives of a wealthy Canadian businesswoman interested in booking a lavish dinner at the upmarket L'Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant.

   Using the fake name “Stephanie Baker” and wearing a disguise, Ray reportedly distracted sommelier Christian Borel with questions about the wine cellar while Krndija swapped rare bottles with cheaper substitutes, prosecutors said.

   The stolen wines, from the prestigious Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estate in Burgundy, France, were valued at about £30,000.

   Prosecutors said the pair had carefully planned the raid, parking away from the restaurant, using disguises and specially adapted clothing to conceal the bottles.

   Krndija fled and remains wanted, with authorities believing he boarded a flight from New York to Vienna the day after the theft. Ray, however, was apprehended in the restaurant car park.

   Judge Alexander R. Iden sentenced her to a year behind bars, although she is expected to receive credit for about six months already served in custody. Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence, arguing the theft had involved extensive planning.

   The case took another bizarre twist earlier this year when two of the missing bottles resurfaced after being delivered to Ray’s lawyer’s office by an unidentified man, said to have an Eastern European accent.

   But the restaurant’s owners said the wines had effectively lost much of their value because there was no way to prove they had been stored correctly during the 145 days they were missing.

  Before moving to Kent, Ray had been raised in Leicester and later started a charity for orphans while living in an area affected by the Balkan refugee crisis, court filings stated.

   The filings also stated she enrolled in higher education aged 45, earning a first-class degree in creative writing at Canterbury Christ Church University and a master’s at the University of Kent in 2019.

   Her defence lawyer told the court Ray had no previous convictions and had spent the past decade battling a rare blood cancer while continuing chemotherapy treatment during her time in jail."

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 15)

 Guy Lombardo

   It is a cold and rainy day in London, but that was not the case forty-two years ago when The New York Times published a story about the Guy Lombardo Ball at Wonderland Gardens on the eve of the opening of the Guy Lombardo Museum. The title of the article may not be accurate and the Museum did not last, but it is worth remembering sunnier days on this gloomy one. Here is a portion from: "IN HOMETOWN, GUY LOMBARDO WON'T BE FORGOT," By Douglas Martin, The New York Times, May 21, 1984.

LONDON, Ontario, May 20 -- It had been a day of warm breezes and spring blossoms. But Saturday night at Wonderland Gardens, where thousands of colored lights twinkled and three shimmering silver balls hung from the ceiling, it was New Year's Eve.

 ''I want you to imagine it's winter out there and the snow is blowing and it's Dec. 31,'' the master of ceremonies said. Then, precisely at midnight, the dance band struck up ''Auld Lang Syne,'' couples kissed and everyone said happy new year.

  It was the first annual Guy Lombardo Ball at Wonderland Gardens, the now-fading dance palace where the bandleader and His Royal Canadians first played over a half-century ago. And even if London's most illustrious native son was only on stage as a cardboard cutout with a balloon taped to its hand, Mr. Lombardo was on hand in such tunes as ''A Sailboat in the Moonlight,'' ''Boo Hoo'' and ''My Gal Sal,' all made famous by the band.

   London, a town of 270,000 about 125 miles west of Toronto, was honoring ''The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven'' with the ball, a reunion of people including Mr. Lombardo's first piano player and his drummer for 56 years, and, most important, the opening of the new Guy Lombardo Museum next door to the dance hall.

   Indeed, the residents were doing the somewhat un-Canadian thing of crowning a hero. Unlike the United States, where heroes' faces are carved on mountainsides and Babe Ruth became a candy bar, Canada seems a bit suspicious of the heroic. Perhaps only Terry Fox, the young cancer victim whose 4,305-mile run across Canada on a route directly passing the new museum here, has been accorded unabashed hero status in recent years.

  Mr. Lombardo is made more difficult to categorize because it is tough to decide whether his success is Canadian or American. In his autobiography he said that he and his original nine Canadians were like ''characters out of Horatio Alger, seeking our fortune.'' All became American citizens.

  A sort of cultural schizophrenia was apparent in a short sketch prepared for the museum's opening. At one point it says Mr. Lombardo is ''the American Dream personified,'' while later it calls the Royal Canadians ''true Canadian heroes.''

  It is nonetheless a truism that many ambitious Canadians are naturally going to follow their dreams to a richer next-door neighbor 10 times larger in population. America's sweetheart, Mary Pickford, was Canadian. So was Raymond Massey, everyone's vision of Abraham Lincoln.

   And today, restless (or maybe just cold) citizens of this northern nation have made Los Angeles the third biggest Canadian city, behind Toronto and Montreal. From the television anchorman Peter Jennings to the singer Neal Young, Canadians are peppered through American life. A Part of New Year's Eve By any definition, however, Mr. Lombardo's success was huge. His was one of the the most famous big bands from 1930 to 1950; no one else came close to selling 300 million records, as did the Royal Canadians. The band played every Presidential inaugural from Roosevelt's in 1933 to Jimmy Carter's in 1976.

   Most important, from the time they began their New Year's Eve broadcasts from New York's Roosevelt Hotel in 1929 until Mr. Lombardo's death in 1977, they were as much the world's New Year's Eve as Times Square, funny hats and too much champagne....
   The 1,400-square-foot museum, built at a cost of about $100,000, is dominated by Mr. Lombardo's last big boat, Tempo VII, winner of a number of big races. Other exhibits are more meager, with Mr. Lombardo's violin, a trumpet and original Royal Canadian red jacket arriving only the morning of the opening. Most of the items are posters, photographs and press clippings, with an antique radio playing any of some 600 Guy Lombardo tunes. The museum's sponsor, the London Rowing Club, is still eagerly seeking contributions of more objects to display.

   But on opening day everyone's main object seemed to be to have a good time. The crowd was colorful, like a big party.

  Members of the rowing club favored tuxedos with different colored cummerbunds and ties; as the night air chilled a scattering of minks provided matronly warmth, and one local politician strutted about in a bright yellow suit with matching shoes. Col. Tom Lawson of the locally based Royal Canadian Regiment graced the occasion with his dress reds. All Want to Remember

   And everybody seemed to want to remember, particularly about Mr. Lombardo's generosity to the town even after he had traveled far enough not to have to look back. There was the 1937 benefit concert for flood victims here and a special concert at London's 1955 centennial.

  Students from Catholic Central High School played ''Powder Your Face With Sunshine'' on instruments given to the school by Mr. Lombardo. Most years, folks said, the Canadians were able to make it back for one concert.

   Elaine Gardner, Mr. Lombardo's sister and Mr. Gardner's wife, remembered that the name Royal Canadians resulted from the prodding of a Cleveland promoter. Lebert Lombardo, Guy's brother and the band's trumpeter, recalled that the band picked up ''Auld Lang Syne'' as a theme song when they were doing the Robert Burns Panatella radio show. (Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, wrote the song.) Stories were also told about Mr. Lombardo's legendary sense of discipline and decorum. Trousers had to have knife creases; drinking before or during a show was taboo, and a fresh carnation was expected to adorn the lapel of each red jacket.....
   At the dance, more than 1,000 guests, paying $10 each, glided across the floor like the old days. To at least one observer, the collective impression was that of a gracefulness such that everyone seemed at times to be gliding on wheels."

   On this bleak day, during a rather bad time, it is worth revisiting such an event and to remember that forty years ago Guy Lombardo was probably more popular than  the Canadian singer, Aubrey Graham, is today.

Sources: 
   The Wikipedia entry is a solid one and it even has a section related to the "Guy Lombardo Museum".
   "London, Ont., To Vote on Closing Guy Lombardo Museum," CBC Arts, Jan. 14, 2008:

   " It could be the swan song for a London, Ont., museum dedicated to native son and musical legend Guy Lombardo.

   London's city councillors will vote Monday on a staff recommendation to close the 1,000-square-foot museum.

   Called the Guy Lombardo Music Centre, it has been dogged by poor attendance, with only 400 visitors in 2007.Lombardo, a violinist and bandleader of The Royal Canadians famous throughout the world, was born in the city. The Royal Canadians were noted for playing the traditional Auld Lang Syne as part of New Year's celebrations in New York.

   Local heritage advocates said they're ready to fight the recommendation to close the museum.

   The closure would be a "slap in the face to Lombardo's legacy," said Barry Wells, an advocate for heritage preservation.

  The recommendation to close has not received public input or scrutiny, he told CBC News.

  The current facility needs to be expanded, run professionally and better marketed, rather than shut down, he said.

  The museum opened in 1983 and displays photographs, posters, video recordings, song sheets and the Tempo VII, an award-winning racing boat owned by Lombardo, who was a racing enthusiast.

   The museum was run by a volunteer board until 2001, when the city took over after infighting and resignations at the board.

   However, it costs taxpayers $27,500 annually to run the museum, according to Ross Fair, general manager of community services in London.

A city report recommends closing the museum permanently and turning artifacts over to Museum London.

  It says Lombardo's birthplace should be marked by naming a pavilion and walking trail in a London park after him."

   "A Bright Note: Guy Lombardo - A Series on Forgotten Canadian Legends, Patrick Maloney, The London Free Press, Oct. 2013.

   "Talk about an old acquaintance who's been forgot and never brought to mind.

   Those are essentially the lyrics immortalized by Guy Lombardo, who may be the most commercially successful musician in Canadian history -- and they serve as a mournful tune for his frayed legacy, a long note, fading into silence.

  "He represents music and the fulfillment of dreams," Nick Panaseiko of the Royal Canadian Big Band Music Festival, said a decade ago. "He is an all-around icon."

   Or, at least, he was.

   Born Gaetano Lombardo Jr in London, Ontario in 1902, Guy Lombardo and some of his brothers formed a big band that drifted from their Canadian roots to U.S. stages -- sparking a stunning run of success that's arguably unmatched among other Canadian performers (take that Celine Dion and Justin Bieber).

   It's believed Lombardo and The Royal Canadians sold at least 100 million records, though the group's boosters will argue sales were three times that.

   Whatever the exact figure, the dance band's popularity was stunning: From 1929 to 1952, there wasn't a single year the band didn't produce a record that hit the charts, many of them going to No. 1.

   But rock 'n' roll took root in the mid- 1950s, and a 1954 single that hit No. 24 on the pop charts was the last time Lombardo and his band enjoyed such a level of chart success.

   That, though, didn't spell the end of Lombardo's fame. He's perhaps most famous for having performed for nearly 50 years on New Year's Eve broadcasts enjoyed by millions across North America -- first on radio, then on television, until the tradition ended in 1976.

   They made the performance of the song Auld Lang Syne a New Year's tradition that still stands.

   Alas, more than 35 years after Lombardo's death at age 75, his name likely draws little recognition from Canadians.

   Even in his hometown of London, legal wrangling marred a 2002 attempt to mark the centennial of his birth, and poor attendance led to the shuttering of the city's Guy Lombardo Museum."

Traffic Cameras

Photos Are Not On Ontario's Radar 

   I was in Vancouver last month and noticed an article that contained this map which showed some of the more "popular" cameras in that city.

   Here is the reference to the article which indicates that the introduction of traffic cameras is a positive thing to do if one is interested in promoting public safety.

   "These Metro Vancouver Intersections Caught the Most Speeders, Red Light Violators, Last Year," Nathan Griffiths, Vancouver Sun, April 23, 2026.
   "More than 128,000 B.C. drivers were ticketed for speeding or running red lights last year under a traffic camera program that a local medical health officer says should be expanded because it saves lives.

   Research from Canada, the U.S., Australia and Europe all show that traffic camera programs reduce crashes that result in injuries and fatalities, according to Brandon Yau, a medical health officer at Vancouver Coastal Health.

   "They've been pretty well-studied internationally, and so the evidence is relatively conclusive," Yau said.

   He said programs, such as the installation of traffic cameras, that aim to reduce speeding and running red lights led to a roughly 40 per cent reduction in fatalities, and a 20 to 50 per cent reduction in injuries.

   "Most importantly, we have really good evidence that it impacts driver behaviour," he said. "If people know that there's a red light camera or a camera to watch their speeding, they're adjusting their behaviour...."

   Over the past three years, the impact of adding speed enforcement at 35 locations "led to a 52 per cent decrease in drivers exceeding the speed limit by more than 25 km/h," the ministry wrote.

   Red-light infractions decreased by 13 per cent and the number of repeat red-light offenders declined 29 per cent in the past five years, according to the ministry."

   Apparently those living in B.C. do not object to this visual surveillance since a poll in 2024 found that  "seven-out-of-10 British Columbians supported automated speed cameras."
   Back in 2024, I noted that London added fifteen new red light cameras to its photo arsenal. If you want to know where they were placed, see "Candid Cameras."  Although it was argued that the cameras would likely be effective in reducing speeding and accidents, while generating revenue, it was also mentioned that over thirty years ago the Ontario Progressive Conservatives decided to stop using photo radar. 
   Premier Doug Ford is also opposed to the use of cameras and wants to protect taxpayers from this "cash grab". The Ontario government introduced legislation to ban the use of cameras by municipalities and Bill 56 ("Building a More Competitive Economy Act") was passed and the use of such cameras banned. The bill sped through the legislature, but I am not sure how Ontario voters felt about such a measure. (See: "Ford Government Passes Bill Banning Municipal Speed Cameras in Ontario," Joshua Freeman, CTV News, Oct. 30, 2025.)
   I do speed on occasion and could be caught on one of these cameras, but I think it reasonable to have them and install even more. The fine levied is sent to the owner of the car and demerit points are not added to a driving record. I could also blame my wife. The city gains some revenue and the driver learns a lesson.

   While I am at it, perhaps the sound of cars could be recorded as well as the speed. That is already happening in France and even in Edmonton where very noisy cars are fined. For more about lowering the level of "acoustic aggression" see "Advance Noise Alert" in this post on MM. 
The Bonus:

   While I am on the subject of motor vehicles and Premier Ford's many interesting initiatives, don't forget to renew your LICENSE PLATES. 

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 14)

   Usually these snippets are about old news relating to London. Here are a few minor snippets that are more current. 

One Small Slice For Mankind
   A while back, I noted the closing of London's cricket plant, (see, "Olde Posts Addenda (5)). More recently there was better news on the food front:
  "London-based Company Using A.I. Pizza Machine to Serve Up Fresh Slices," Lauren Stallone, CTV News, April 29, 2026.
   "Appetronix, an automation company in London, is using AI driven dispensing technology to create the ultimate comfort food.“What we have behind us is our fully autonomous robotic pizza making machine,” said Ray Schott, co-founder of Appetronix.The first of its kind, the unique machine was designed to bring freshly made food to places where it is not always available."
   More importantly, it is nice to have some news about A.I. that is benign rather than threatening. For a good example of the latter see this piece which relates to the potential harm that A.I. may do to the children, before it gets around to destroying the rest of us: 
   "What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools?:The tech world assumes that A.I.-aided education is necessary and inevitable. A growing number of parents, educators, and cognitive scientists say the opposite, Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, April 23, 2026. It begins this way:
   "I don’t like A.I., and I am raising my children not to like it. I’ve been telling them for years now that chatbots are manipulative and dangerous, that A.I. image generators are loosening our collective grip on reality, that large language models are built atop industrial-scale intellectual-property theft. At times, I find myself speaking with my kids about A.I. in the same terms that we might discuss a creepy neighbor who lives down the block: avoid eye contact, cross the street when you walk past his house, and, when in doubt, call on a trusted adult....Somehow, I was not prepared for the creepy neighbor to start hanging around my kids’ schools; somehow, I thought we had until high school."

More London Tidbits

Forest City Facts
   Local citizens will be able to get London information from sources more creditable than Mulcahy's Miscellany. According to the article above, "The project will feature 200 short historical facts displayed along the Thames Valley Parkway, in green spaces, community centres and at events throughout the city during the bicentennial year." The complete article is found in the London Free Press, May 14, 2026.
   Many of the facts and placards have already been produced and about 200 are expected by the end of the bicentennial year. So far, MM has provided fourteen snippets and more are planned. I will continue to search for some and hope they supplement, rather than duplicate the ones found on the Forest City placards. 

  The London & Middlesex Historical Society is one of the groups involved in this project and a member of the Society, Dan Brock, is publishing a new book with the title: Chronological Saga of The London and Middlesex Historical Society: 125 Amazing Years. For more information, see the website of the LMHS.

May May Be The Cruellest Month

 More Weather Drama 
  Happy Victoria Day! We had a cool and cloudy April and just finally experienced a warm and sunny day, and another one is predicted. The forecast also calls for complaints with which we will be deluged. They have already begun, even though it is warm, not hot. 

Try to make it through another excruciating day if you can. That's it. I have said enough about this subject. See, for example, The Human Suffering Index. 

Post Script:
   For those of you south of our border, 22°Celsius is about 72°Fahrenheit, but up here it feels like  it's 90 F. 

Beautiful Campuses

    The news related to colleges and universities is mostly of the bad kind these days. It is spring, however,  in some parts of the world (but not yet in Ontario), where blossoms are in bloom and commencement speeches are sprouting on campuses which are often attractive oases. So, let's focus on them.
   Take a break from the bad news and enjoy visiting these institutions of higher education which are described as some of the "most stunning college campuses in the world." Two are located in Canada.

39 Beautiful Campuses

1.Flagler College, Florida
2. Trinity College, Dublin
3. The University of the South, Tennessee
4. Queen’s University, Ireland
5. Princeton University, New Jersey
6. Cornell University, New York
7. Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
8. University of Colorado at Boulder
9. Royal Roads University, British Columbia
10. University of San Diego, California
11. University of London, England
12. Furman University, South Carolina
13. University of Cambridge, England
14. Kenyon College, Ohio
15. Harvard University, Massachusetts
16. University of Edinburgh, Scotland
17. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
18. Notre Dame University, Indiana
19. University of Oxford, England
20. Pepperdine University, California
21. University of Bologna, Italy
22. University of British Columbia, Vancouver
23. University of Capetown, South Africa
24. University of Chicago, Illinois
25. University of Glasgow, Scotland
26. University of Hawaii at Manoa
27. University of Otago, New Zealand
28. University of Virginia, Virginia
29. Stanford University, California
30. University of Sydney, Australia
31. Yale University, Connecticut
32. The College of William & Mary, Virginia
33. University of Queensland, Australia
34. Villanova University, Pennsylvania
35. University of Cincinnati, Ohio
36. University of Coimbra, Portugal
37. College of Charleston, South Carolina
38. Tsinghua University, China
39. University of Washington, Washington

Sources:
   This list is from: "The 39 Most Stunning College Campuses in the World: If We Had to do Undergrad Over Again, We'd Enroll Here," Korin Miller, House Beautiful, April 1, 2026. Both pictures are from the article and there are more. The top one is of Royal Roads and the bottom is of the library at Trinity College, Dublin.
   I was led to that article by this one: "Two Canadian Universities Ranked Most Beautiful College Campuses in the World," Daniel Chai, Daily Hive. Apr 11 2026.
   "Studying at university is hard work, which is why it’s important to schedule in breaks from the books while you’re on campus. For those attending two Canadian universities on a new list of the most stunning college campuses in the world, you’ll find plenty of beautiful spaces to recharge....
   "The ranking, recently published by interior decorating magazine House Beautiful, named Royal Roads University in Victoria and the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the top 25.
   According to House Beautiful, the campuses on the list are remarkable in every sense.
   “They offer far more than academic spaces—they foster creativity, inspiration, and a rich cultural atmosphere that enhances student life,” said author Korin Miller.
   “We’ve searched far and wide, even reaching destinations like Australia, to showcase some of the most visually striking universities worldwide.”
   Royal Roads University cracked the top 10 in ninth spot, with the Hatley Park National Historic Site described as “pretty incredible.”
“The rest of campus does not disappoint, with 642 acres of vibrant greenery and spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the exotic Japanese Garden.”  
   UBC landed in 22nd place on the list of the most stunning college campuses in the world, with its access to both mountains and beaches being a top reason."

   If you are impressed that Royal Roads occupies 642 acres, you will be more impressed by the 27,000 acres in Georgia that contain Berry College. If you go to the bottom of that post you will learn that Sewanee (No.3, The University of the South) sits in "The Domain" which consists of 13,000 acres. Since you are unlikely to do that, I will provide the two additional references you would have found there: "America's Most Beautiful College Campuses," Travel + Leisure, June 24, 2021.  See also: "South's Most Beautiful Colleges 2020," by Jennifer Chappell Smith, Southern Living, Sept. 11, 2020.

   If you think retiring and relocating to be near such places would be a good thing see, "University Retirement Communities."   There is a new retirement community for old people at Berry College - The Spires at Berry College - and here is their description:
"Celebrated as “America’s most beautiful college campus” and nestled alongside pristine Eagle Lake at the foot of Lavender Mountain, our location at Berry College is without question a picturesque place to retire. Even better, this incredible lakeside sanctuary serves as the setting for senior living that feels every bit as good as it looks."
   Western University is still a beautiful place, but not quite as beautiful as UWO was. I just hope the Pawpaw Trees planted there, survive our very cold spring. 

The Bonus: UBC (No.22) is also known as, The University of Beautiful Cars. 

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 13)

    I have been away for a bit and slow to resume blogging. I am lacking in the creative energy required for even the most mundane of posts and am not lacking in other things that I should be doing instead. Still the resumption will be attempted and I will begin with another London item and you will now have been given a baker's dozen of them. 

  This one occurred just over one hundred years ago when two men were hanged in London on the same day in 1924 and the report is found in the Casper Daily Tribune (Wyoming). Mr. Murrell killed someone while robbing a bank in Melbourne. Mr. Topping murdered his girlfriend.

The Bonus:
   Since I don't feel like doing those other things mentioned, I will offer here an editorial comment since it is a "reactionary" one that I would prefer go unnoticed. Perhaps we should bring back hanging as a punishment. That sounds harsh, but I am not advocating hanging all criminals, just those who are guilty of crimes, such as stealing from public institutions, as opposed to private corporations, where more leniency could be justified. 
  Given that this is a London snippet, here is an example from London:
"Alleged fraud worth $60M uncovered at London Health Sciences Centre,".
   "An audit has uncovered a decade-long fraud at the region's largest hospital network with the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) filing two separate lawsuits implicating five former executives, a contractor and companies hired to do work.
   The lawsuits total more than $60 million and allege that some executives knew about the scheme and did nothing to stop it. One of the lawsuits also links more than 60 "suspicious properties" worth almost $20M to three people involved in the alleged scheme, purchased after multi-million dollar contracts were awarded by the hospital....
"The Fraudulent Scheme was a calculated, multi-year campaign of deceit and theft, deliberately engineered to misappropriate public funds for personal and unlawful gain," the lawsuit that was filed Wednesday alleges."

  It was announced more recently that 288 Registered Nurses at the LHSC were going to be laid off, a not unrelated development. 

  Admittedly, hanging is a bit harsh for our time, but perhaps we could at least bring back the pillory and erect a few of them at the intersection of Wellington and Commissioners where the guilty could be displayed for a very long time and even in the winter. 
Sources:
  The article quoted above is by Kate Dubinski, CBC News, July 9, 2025.
  For more about hangings in London see "Hanging Days" by the late Christopher Doty. 
  For more about hanging generally, see "The Gibbet".

Blake Whiting - The Author - Does Not Exist

   I am still in the Comox Valley which is why I have not been doing much blogging. There are many better things to do, but it is cloudy this morning so I will produce something for those who are eagerly awaiting more prose from me, and for a few others who may be mildly curious about whether I still exist. I will finally get back to the subject of books.
   If the title has prompted you to search for "Blake Whiting", you will have found a baseball player and a lawyer and likely an obituary-or-two. You will not have found anything about the prolific author of the many books found on Amazon and elsewhere which appear under that name. Here are some samples from goodreads and more can be found on Amazon.

   I also have not been doing much reading while roaming around Vancouver Island, but I did notice an article and it is worth calling to your attention. If you are not interested in books, I will mention Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is the actual author of the books supposedly written by Blake Whiting. Who is behind Blake Whiting directing AI queries is not known at this point. Basically if one chooses a subject and a few books and articles related to it, AI can absorb the material and produce something which is not exactly plagiarism, nor is the resulting book actually  a 'new' one about the topic. It is best not to buy these books which are compiled from the work of real authors. Regard them as coal mine canaries since many more by other 'authors' will soon be available.

Source:
  "Who Is Blake Whiting?: The Most Astonishingly Productive Historian in Recent Times is Someone You’ll Never Meet," by Andrew Lawler, The American Scholar, April 16, 2026.
   "No living American historian is as prolific as Blake Whiting. In one week alone last fall, he published 13 books on a host of complex archaeological and historical subjects, ranging from the collapse of Near Eastern civilizations in 1177 BCE to the recent discovery of a huge Silk Road–era city in Central Asia.
   Amazon sells his hardbacks for $28.99, the paperbacks for $20.99, and the Kindle versions for a bargain $7.99. What you can’t buy from Amazon at any price, however, is Blake Whiting’s CV. Though the books claim to be copyrighted in his name, you won’t find an author picture or bio, nor will you find his website or Instagram. He does not belong to the faculty of any college or university, and he is unknown to those academics he cites in his books—which are not actually copyrighted.
   Whiting, as you have guessed, is neither historian nor human. His fake persona is harbinger of an alarming trend threatening disaster to academics and journalists alike.
   I know this all too well; I am a science and history author who has published extensively on many of the subjects covered in Whiting’s books. I have written magazine features that have been clearly reshuffled, reorganized, and supplemented with other freely available material to masquerade as the unique work of “Blake Whiting.” This is not plagiarism in the old-fashioned sense, in which a few sentences or paragraphs are lifted from a previously published work. This is word-laundering on a truly industrial scale, aided and abetted by one of the world’s largest corporations. Using AI tools and a pseudonym, unknown culprits are now profiting from my work and that of my colleagues."

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 12)

    It is a chilly morning out here in Courtenay, B.C., so I will attempt to post a short post about an astronaut who was born in London and is now safely back on earth.

JEREMY HANSEN
  There has been plenty of local news about Hansen, but here is an article about him from an American source.  And to add even more CANCON, the piece is written by Mike Neufeld, an Albertan.

“Jeremy R. Hansen: First Canadian In Deep Space."
  From a blog post "Smithsonian Voices” linked in the Smithsonian Magazine, March 31, 2026.
   "Born in 1976 in London, Ontario, Jeremy Hansen cannot remember a time when he did not dream of being an astronaut. And now, as member of the crew of Artemis 2, he will see the far side of the Moon as they loop around it.
   During Hansen’s youth, it became increasingly possible to imagine a Canadian doing such a thing. Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space in 1984, when he flew on STS-41G as a payload specialist. NASA had made that seat available because the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) provided the Canadarm Remote Manipulator System for the Space Shuttle. Garneau flew two more missions as a mission specialist after NASA allowed non-Americans to join new astronaut classes. Other Canadians served on Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) crews, most memorably when Chris Hadfield commanded the station in 2013. For that program, CSA contributed Canadarm2, a more advanced, double-ended remote manipulator system with a mobile base.
   Hansen followed a classic path to the astronaut corps—he became a fighter pilot.  Growing up on a farm near the mid-size city of London, Ontario, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets at age 12. He earned his glider wings at age 16 and his pilot license at 17, which set his path to becoming an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (he is now a colonel). His eyes still set on space exploration, he graduated in 1999 from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, Canada’s primary service academy, with a bachelor of science in space science. He added an master of science in physics there in 2000, with a thesis on satellite tracking. After completing jet training on the CF-18 (a Canadian version of the McDonnell-Douglas F-18 Hornet), Hansen served from 2004-2009 in squadrons in Cold Lake, Alberta, that were part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)....
   When NASA asked CSA to nominate someone for the Canadian seat, Jeremy Hansen was the obvious and logical candidate. (Jenni Gibbons, from my hometown of Calgary, is his backup.) He will be not only the first Canadian to fly into deep space, but he will also be the first from any nation other than the United States. No human has left low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. If all goes well, he will enjoy a spectacular view and help pioneer the human return to the Moon. It’s a fitting assignment for someone who has dreamed of going there since he was a small boy."

   The author of the piece above is also worth noting. There is a Wikipedia entry about him, from which the following was borrowed. 
   "Neufeld was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1951. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1976 with his thesis "He who will not work, neither shall he eat": German social democratic attitudes to labor, 1890-1914. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1984 with the dissertation "From artisans to workers: the transformation of the skilled metalworkers of Nuremberg, 1835-1905....."
Since the 1990s, Neufeld has written several works about Wernher von Braun.
  For the rationale for these London snippets see the first one: 
London's Bicentennial (1826-2026)

The Bonus:
  Here are some remarks from the astronauts after they returned: 

  Ms. Koch talked about what the word “crew” meant to her now — “a group that is in it all the time, no matter what” — and about how, when she looked at Earth from the neighborhood of the moon, it “was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe.”

She concluded, “There’s one new thing I know, and that is: Planet Earth, you are a crew.”

Mr. Hansen said that, if people liked how the Artemis II astronauts worked together, that joy was something everyone could share.

   “I would suggest to you that, when you look up here, you’re not looking at us,” he said. “We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper.”

from:

"Artemis II Crew Reunites With Families and Fellow NASA Astronauts: The four astronauts made an emotional return to Houston a day after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their 10-day lunar journey," Kenneth Chang, April 11, 2026, New York Times. 

London Bicentennial (Snippet 11)

   I am currently travelling and don't have time for one of my thoughtful and deep philosophical posts. So, as a substitute, another snippet is provided about London, which is 200 this year.

The Oldest Baseball Park
   Is not in the United States. It is Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario. The colonizers started playing baseball here in 1877, just a little over fifty years after the trees were cut down and the ground broken along the Thames River.  Since I live in London and know one of the people responsible for the authentication of this historical fact, and since the people here in London know and brag about this 'first', I will simply supply the sources you need for validation.
  You can begin with the Wikipedia entry, "Labatt Park."  The park pictured above has its own website: "Labatt Memorial Park."
   The photo provided above is from Aimee Grace and it is found in an article by Thomas Vesey which is in the Mar. 27, 2026 issue of the Western Gazette. (The Gazette is a student publication at Western University in London.) Here's more:
"Inside the World's Oldest Baseball Grounds".
   "It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball, especially at Labatt Memorial Park, the oldest continually used ballpark in the world, which first opened in 1877...."
   "The London Tecumsehs, a former men’s professional baseball team, first built the field, then known as Tecumseh Park. The Tecumsehs were one of the oldest professional baseball teams in Canada and helped bring organized baseball to Ontario. 
   Robert Barney is a sports historian specializing in the Olympics and 19th-century baseball. He has studied Labatt Park and has helped prove the authenticity of its history during his time at Western University.
   “Labatt Park is the oldest baseball grounds in history. No other baseball grounds in the world are older than Labatt Park, and so the authentication of that has been my biggest episode because it had a challenger,” says Barney. 
   The challenger Barney references is Fuller Field in Clinton, Massachusetts. Fuller Field was built and began operations in 1878, one year after Labatt Park....
   The London Majors — who play in the Canadian Baseball League — and Western Mustangs baseball teams have called the park home since 1925 and 2006, respectively.  
   Now, nearly 150 years after its first games were played, Labatt Memorial Park continues to serve as it did in 1877, bringing people together through community and baseball."

   It is fitting that "Labatt" is a brewer, which began in London in 1847. It does not appear that the hot dog was invented here, however, and I am not sure when one was first served in Labatt Park. 
   I just thought to check the ultimate arbiter these days and when asked, "Where is the oldest baseball field?" AI responded, "Labattt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, Canada".

London Bicentennial (Snippet 10)

 Jack Johnson Jailed in London - 1909

That article is from the Daily Alaskan, Skagway, Aug. 7,1909.

   The story also appeared in the New York Times on Aug. 7, 1909: "Jack" Johnson Fined: Was Charged With Running Down Automobile With His Machine."

   LONDON, Ontario, Aug. 6.-Jack Johnson, the negro pugilist, was arrested here this morning on the strength of a telegram from the Chief of Police at Woodstock, Ontario.

   Johnson is alleged to have gone through Woodstock at an excessive rate of speed in his automobile and to have run down another autoist, smashing his machine.

  He took his arrest quietly and wanted to pay his fine, whatever it might be. It was arranged by telephone that Police Magistrate Love of London should try the case. Johnson was fined $55 and continued on his way to Chicago."

   The car may have been this one:

  The "Galveston Giant" was often in trouble with the law, particularly when he was with white women, three of whom were his wives. There is plenty written about him and there is a Ken Burn's documentary. The Wikipedia entry will keep you busy for the rest of the day. 
   Johnson was in the news more recently. President Trump pardoned him during his first term. Here is what was said in the Oval Office: "Remarks by President Trump at Pardoning of John Arthur “Jack” Johnson" May 24, 2018.

Periodical Ramblings (18) (And Much More)

    This is one in a series about serials and I have likely written a similar sentence in one of the other seventeen posts related to magazines. The periodicals covered range from Arizona Highways to the Village Voice, and include lesser known literary publications like The Sewanee Review and Prairie Schooner. The last one was about The Farmers' Almanac, which ceased publication and The Old Farmer's Almanac which is still going strong.

WIRED
    If you are vaguely aware of Wired and are thinking that, a magazine covering technology started over 30 years ago, back in the last century, is one you are not much interested in, you might want to have another look. Like The Old Farmer's Almanac, it is doing well and lately it has been doing much better.
    One reason it is doing much better is that it now covers much more than technology and it appears that Wired has gone off-topic largely because of a new energetic editor. She  is a Canadian, who travelled from Calgary to a bigger stage and has nimbly moved through some rather tough publications as a writer and executive. Along the way, she probably had to fetch a few coffees for the guys, but she was well prepared. She credits her stint at Tim Hortons when she was in high school: "It taught 16-year-old me that I like chaos, I like a fast pace, and I like to do something demanding." She has tattoos.
   

   I will not write much about Wired. Go to Wired.com and have a look for yourself. I just did, which is unfortunate since I really can't subscribe to another magazine, even though you will know that I just cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post. The illustration next to this, is one iteration of the cover of Wired, which was also pasted on various billboards in some major cities in the U.S..

Katie Drummond: A Real Golden Gael
   The newish editor at Wired is Katie Drummond, who continued her education after Tim Hortons and went to Queen's. (As someone who went to and worked at a rival institution, I will say only that Queen's is ranked higher than Tims. Those associated with Queen's are known as the "Golden Gaels".) I know much of this because I still have a subscription to the New York Times. In it, there was recently a good article about Ms. Drummond and Wired and I will supply for free, some of the information it contains, since you are likely to trust more, the information for which I have paid. 

   As the title implies, Ms. Drummond can be direct. When asked if Wired "has strayed too far from its techno-optimism roots with its hard-hitting coverage of the Trump administration and skeptical eye on billionaire tech bros?," her reply: “If you still don’t understand why Wired covers politics,” she said in an interview, “you are either willfully ignorant or a complete idiot.”
   Ms. Drummond was hired as editorial director in August 2023 and "she immediately focused on getting scoops and speeding up the pace of publishing. On her second day, she decided she needed a politics team. She rehired a former executive editor, Brian Barrett, to run day-to-day operations and built up a social video team to increase the number of vertical videos shared on social media. She shook up the staff and made hires; revamped newsletters, launching five new ones for paying subscribers; and started podcasts that placed a greater spotlight on Wired’s journalists and their work...."
   “She’s gone after stories the publication has normally avoided and avoided ones the publication has normally gone for. Wired is never boring to read.”

    "But Ms. Drummond’s approach appears to be working. Condé Nast does not disclose profits or losses for its publications, but Ms. Drummond said Wired had added more than 200,000 new paying subscribers in the past year, and subscription revenue increased 24 percent last year in the United States. Wired currently has more than 500,000 paid subscribers. It has a newsroom of around 80 people with plans to hire up to a dozen more this year, and was recently named a finalist for general excellence in the National Magazine Awards."

   At a time when many periodicals are struggling, it is good to see that Wired is doing well. Ms. Drummond is also apparently doing well and can be spotted running in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and daughter. If she needs advice, she should run over to Greenwich Village and chat with another Canadian expat who had great success at Condé Nast - Graydon Carter. 

Sources:
  The New York Times article is by Katie Robertson and appears in the March 17, 2026 issue. 
   That Ms. Drummond valued her time at Tim Hortons is reported by Jeff Pappone, in Queen's Alumni Review, Feb. 2, 2025.
   "After Exiting Vice, Katie Drummond Joins Wired as Top Editor,"Todd Spangler, Variety, Aug. 10, 2023.

   "Drummond’s background in online media spans hard news, technology and lifestyle coverage. At Vice, as SVP of global news and entertainment, she led the expansion of Vice News across Latin America, Europe and Asia, and oversaw all Vice digital brands including Noisey, Munchies, Rec Room, Motherboard and Waypoint. She also led efforts to create opportunities for the editorial brands across Vice TV and Vice Studios.

   Prior to Vice, Drummond was deputy editor at Medium, where she oversaw editorial content across politics, wellness, science and technology, and ran the audience development team for Medium’s subscription program. Drummond began her career as a reporter, writing for outlets including the New Republic, New York Magazine, Popular Science, Marie Claire and Wired, where she covered military research and medicine for Wired’s Danger Room blog. She then served in a managing editor role at the Verge and as a deputy editor for Bloomberg News, before taking on executive editor appointments at The Outline and Gizmodo Media Group, where she was editor in chief of Gizmodo."

   "Katie Drummond: ‘Democracy in the US is Under Threat. And That Threat is Facilitated by Technology and the Makers of that Technology’," Ana Vidal Egea, El Pais, July 5, 2025.

    "Since 2023, this Canadian philosophy graduate has directed the most influential publication in the field of tech. She was a pioneer in understanding what is now obvious: the inseparable connection between technology and power. Since Donald Trump won the elections, ‘Wired’ has also been covering US political news, and subscriptions have skyrocketed." 

The Bonus:
  For an enjoyable read about the career of the other Canadian at Condé Nast who went to Carleton see: When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines, by Graydon Carter. 

 

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 9)

 A Train Wreck - 1902

   Someone made a mistake near Wanstead, which was close to Watford, which is not too far from here. The piece above is from the Akron Daily Democrat, Dec. 27,1902
   A search revealed more: "Wanstead began in 1858 with a hotel, post office a few businesses and a sawmill. In 1887 a fire destroyed the entire town. The people here rebuilt it and were instrumental in helping the survivors of a horrific train crash December 26, 1902 here until help came. The 'Chicago Flyer' slammed into the rear of a frieght train in the middle of the night during a violent blizzard. Thirty-eight died [other reports 31 died 35 injured] as the frieght train didn't reach the siding tracks in time to get out of the way. Wanstead was named after suburban village of London, England and dates back to the time of the Saxons and mean's "Woden's Place." Wanstead, Ontario Train Collision, Dec 27 1902. 

The Happiness Rankings

 Not Happy
  Folks up here were really unhappy recently when Canada lost both the Olympic Men's and Women's Hockey matches against the U.S. teams and then lost again to the U.S. in the Paralympic gold medal match. The boasting about the "Gold Medal Hat Trick" could be heard far beyond the border. 
   Searching for something about which we could gloat, I remembered that the World Happiness Report has just been released. Surely the citizens south of here have to be sadder than we are. Thinking that we must beat the Yanks at something, I went looking for the rankings.

We Lost Again
   The Americans are higher in the rankings than we are.


   I thought that maybe they are happier because they are warmer. That does not appear to be the reason since Finland, Iceland and Denmark are 1-2 and 3. 

     I hoped that maybe the rankings are American and rigged. But, the World Happiness Report is published by the University of Oxford, in the country where our King lives.

   It helps a little that we used to outrank the Americans and were happier. 

  Now, even the Israelis are much happier than we are. At least we beat Botswana and Zimbabwe, so the American President cannot call us a "shithole country."

   Two of the six names appearing in the Executive Summary are even Canadian, John F. Helliwell at UBC and Lara B. Aknin at Simon Fraser. Perhaps they did not fight hard enough for our team, since they are out in B.C., and may be sadder than the rest of us since they are worried about their property rights.

For a look at the report and rankings see: World Happiness Report. 

The Washington Post

 Bezos Begging

    At the end of February I cancelled my subscription to WaPo and Bezosbub probably didn't notice.  The remaining people who work at the Post did and for them I feel sorry. Here are the two latest offers I have received via email. For American readers, the CA$2 is about US$1.45.

Early Offer:

Later Offer:

A Solution: 
  In a Post "Post Mortem" a former employee notes:
"When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013 and promised to find inventive ways to make journalism profitable in the digital age, he seemed like a godsend. He wasn’t...."

   The Post is again in the market for a new publisher, but saving this splendid national treasure requires more than that. The real need now is for a new owner, or a big endowment that would allow it to carry on as a nonprofit public service. Do we know anyone who could spare a billion or two to fund such a noble cause and assure his or her place in American history?"
  
   I do! While Bezos has been boating, his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott has been giving. She has been generous with gifts and grants to a variety of institutions, but has only given away $26 billion of her $40 billion fortune. Giving well could be the best revenge if she gave a portion of her wealth to support the paper Bezos abandoned. 
(The quote is from "Post Mortem" by Robert G. Kaiser, NYRB, March 26, 2026.)
(Analogy alert: One definition of "Beelzebub" - "a fallen angel in Milton's Paradise Lost ranking next to Satan".)