The Deep North

Fringe Party A few years ago, I was interviewed for a movie about the smaller political parties in Canada. The movie was called 'Fringe Party'. The movie was shown at a couple of film festivals, but I did not hear much about it. It was made available about six years ago now. The text and links below are a cut and paste from an old Facebook post I made. The person who interviewed me for this was personable, friendly, and fair. He pitched what I felt were softball questions designed to generally get my opinion. I'm thankful that I and others were given a small voice. Note: This is mostly here as a reference for myself. It was not all that long ago, but I look much older now. It's nice to see the younger man here. Bob Trower For people interested, here are the few small clips with me in them: One of the challenges that small parties face is financing. I actually did a review of the finances involved in a federal election and found that usually the person who spent the mo...

Reckless by Design: Why “Industry Norms” Fail the Public Fraud today isn’t just about criminals breaking in — it’s about banks and network providers running fragile systems by design, then shifting the fallout onto customers. With AI supercharging attack speed, scale, and personalization, the old “trust your provider” mindset is dangerous. Be suspicious, double-check everything, and never assume the system has your back. Abstract This brief argues that recurring security failures across finance and telecommunications are not isolated mistakes but the predictable outcome of systems designed with structural fragility and incentives that externalize risk. Institutions frequently meet minimal “industry norms” while maintaining controls known to be ineffective against common threats (ACM Queue, 2020; ITU, 2019). The pattern is evident in documented cases of large-scale consumer harm and market manipulation (CFPB, 2016...

In recent years I have repeatedly told friends and family that online security is fundamentally compromised and that their providers have nothing effective in place to protect people. Everybody should be demanding a much more affirmative posture from authorities and providers. At this point, a major system not proactively using AI for defense is near guaranteed to be hacked and its users compromised. As of now, the response of vendors is to blame their users, and even in the case of gross negligence to make users whole. 🛡️ The AI Defense Imperative — Revisited (2025–2026) 1️⃣ Why AI‑on‑AI defense is now essential Cyber attacks now evolve in real time—policymakers at a June 2025 Axios event warned that AI is rapidly changing the cybersecurity landscape ([source](https://www.axios.com/2025/07/03/axios-event-policy-cyber-defense-ai)) :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}. 2️⃣ Why human/static defenses lag behind Static, rule-based defenses are brittle against adaptive...

A derringer featured in some show I was watching and I was curious about what ended being "Micro Compact" Handguns -- what was a modern update to a Derringer? Here's a link: https://gundigest.com/handguns/concealed-carry/best-micro-9mm-handguns .  I was curious as to metrics on these things and a long discussion with ChatGPT about factors like particular firearms, ammunition, and best practice in the context of 'self-defense' (a common context within which these are discussed. What I finally ended up with were conclusions on the topic as practical considerations. These things would be more relevant to people in the United States. Here in Canada we are a bit more sober about Firearms and rightly so. Here's a poster for this: ⚠️ Practical Advice on Handguns for Civilian Self-Defense Simple, evidence-based guidance for anyone considering a firearm 1️⃣ Guns Are Dangerous for the Owner Firearms increase the risk of accidental injury or death i...