Archive for August, 2017

Source: CBRM http://www.cbrm.ns.ca/waste-water.html

Wastewater Treatment: Are We Ready for 2020?

August 30, 2017 at 12:10 pm

Today, we’re going to talk about the Canadian federal government’s Wastewater System Effluent Regulations (WSER), soon to be a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. (That’s not true but it gave you hope for a moment, didn’t it? You thought, “Great, I’ll just wait for the movie.”Read More

St. Augustine, painting by Antonello da Messina c. 1472, Italy.

Summer Reading: Vacationing with Saint Augustine

August 30, 2017 at 12:08 pm

  t. Augustine’s Confessions do not repeat DO NOT make for light summer reading but there are times when one must do what one must do, so the Confessions have been on my agenda for the past while. It all started with Stephen Greenblatt’s article in the June 19/2017 issueRead More

Journalism 101: First, Minimize Harm

Journalism 101: First, Minimize Harm

August 30, 2017 at 12:06 pm

I can’t stop thinking about that photo that appeared on the front page of the print edition of last Friday’s Cape Breton Post. It showed a young man standing outside the guardrail on the Sydney-Whitney Pier overpass, head in hands, under the watchful eye of a Cape Breton Regional PoliceRead More

Springhill, 1956, Draegermen entering pithead. (Source: Nova Scotia Archives https://archives.novascotia.ca/)

A Short History of Blame: The Doctrine of Progress

August 30, 2017 at 12:04 pm

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of essays by Susan Dodd on Nova Scotia’s history of blaming coal mining accidents on the miners themselves — a history that finally changed in the wake of the Westray disaster. You can read the first and second essays here. ThisRead More

Miners at Dominion #6 Colliery, Cape Breton, 1920. (Source: Beaton Institute https://beatoninstitute.com/dominion-13)

Letter to the Editor: ‘Getting Out the Coal’

August 30, 2017 at 12:00 pm

Editor’s Note: The following letter was received in response to Part One and Part Two of Susan Dodd’s “A Short History of Blame” series. There is no doubt mining was a dangerous occupation, particularly where gas was close to the operating surfaces and loose stone led to cave-ins. A goodRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

August 25, 2017 at 8:30 am

Mission creep This was the front page of Wednesday’s Cape Breton Post: “Wow” I thought. “They sure are creepy — I wonder who caught them?” Only it turns out the people lurking in the shrubbery in the skull balaclavas and sunglasses are not the creeps — they’re the creep catchers.Read More

‘Visioning for what exactly?’

‘Visioning for what exactly?’

August 23, 2017 at 11:53 am

I have been wading through pages of documents related to the CBRM and Business Cape Breton (BCB) and the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) searching for answers to questions about economic development funding and Glace Bay revitalization and the role of our economic development “entity.” While I still haveRead More

Civic Centre, CBRM

Economic Development: Who’s In Charge Here?

August 23, 2017 at 11:51 am

Why am I so interested in Business Cape Breton, the CBRM’s economic development “entity?” Because I just can’t get a grip on what it’s supposed to be — it’s neither flesh, nor fowl nor good, publicly accountable municipal body. It’s a non-profit society with a board made up of localRead More

Bean There: Cold Calls & Hot Potatoes

Bean There: Cold Calls & Hot Potatoes

August 23, 2017 at 11:49 am

Really, this was my fault. Stephanie hadn’t wanted to do it this way at all. She thought it would be better for one of us to fly to St John’s, rent a car, and visit farmers in the surrounding area. With only six days to work with, it was aRead More

A Short History of Blame:  Reckless, Imprudent Miners

A Short History of Blame: Reckless, Imprudent Miners

August 23, 2017 at 11:47 am

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of essays by Susan Dodd on Nova Scotia’s history of blaming coal mining accidents on the miners themselves — a history that finally changed in the wake of the Westray disaster. You can read the first, third and fourth essays by clicking theRead More