Hello my friends – here’s the latest episode of “Hard Truth and a Big Hug”. It’s a small part of a book that I haven’t yet got around to publishing – but I thought the big ideas and the final take-away were
Whenever I have a regular gig, I like to find a nice spot to go for a lunch break nearby – no matter how much one might like one’s workmates, getting away for a bit is a huge mental-health booster for any
In years gone by, it was an annual tradition for some engineering students from the nearby University of Toronto to paint the balls of King Edward VII’s horse bright red every spring as part of a no-doubt dumb and dangerous ritual. I
There are a few different reasons that about 50% of my reading list at any given time is out of print. One of them is that I figure anything insanely popular has already attracted it’s sustaining audience – which is to say
I mentioned recently how delighted I was to see boarding tech reaching the sweet levels of practicality and refinement that it’s attained of late (that spring of compliance on the long-boards – zowie!). This group really made me smile because not only
I want to begin sketching out some important themes today, discussions which I’ve promised to myself, and to my friends and readers. To hear anyone declare that they are going after empirical “truth” outright is an instant alarm-bell for most sensibly-skeptical people
If you’re into music, you’re probably aware that the reason commercial radio suddenly began to suck a few years ago and has never recovered, has to do with Clear Channel and their approach of programming music based upon a mathematical analysis, rather
Noam Chomsky has a lot of wonderfully productive phrases – “The threat of a good example” is one of my very favourites, because it describes something that all of us have seen, and sometimes found hard to describe to others. I remember
I’ve got a strange pantheon of heroes, not just scientists and science-fiction writers – but also poets, mad-philosophers, artistes and engineers – but HG Welles has been right up near the top for me from very early days – not only because
So much for the American state making any social progress advancement for awhile – back to rebel-mode for every subculture that was feeling rare hope. Which means it is now a time for all of us to stand up for our friends,
As mentioned in my last post about the demise of the Brunny – there is good news on Bloor as well. This building, the former Hungarian Palace, was empty and abandoned not for years, but for decades. When I was a small
Nada and I saw an extraordinary show today at the Ryerson image centre – which (I repeat) is free and awesome, so if you don’t go, you stink! (so there) Their latest exhibition (on ’till Apr 9th) – contains optimal black-history energy
Again we have a large foreign corporation doing to us comfortable Canadians on a relatively small (but still incredibly infuriating) scale, the same sort of things that Canadian corporations have been doing overseas in poor countries where the people have way less
Anatole France (1844–1924), one of the most brilliant French men of letters, who had the heart of Zola and the wit of Wilde, said, “In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges…” His point, of
If you’ve been following me awhile, you’ve probably noticed Buckminster Fuller (Bucky) is one of my favourite and most frequent referents – there is a very particular reason for this – and it’s not what he’s best known for. As a designer,
Winston Churchill, like JFK, is one of those characters that you end up liking and disliking ever more intensely as you study them. What no one (I’ve heard) ever questions, is that Britain was lucky to have him when they needed him.
This is one of my favourite buildings on the old U of T campus for several reasons. I’d rank it second only to the lovely Massey hall as a Toronto venue – not quite such immaculate concert acoustics (though still commendable) but