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
We all know that in our personal lives, few things are as infuriating as being told to shut up (or just plain shut-out or ignored by policy) when we have something relevant and important to add, especially when decisions which affect us
I’ve been trying for some time to zero-in on a particular sort of thinking which is both dangerous to compassion, and very widespread right now. Most helpfully, one of my favourite TV intellectuals, Steve Paikin did an episode about the psychology of
Here’s another selection from the extraordinary collection of Canadian news photography recently acquired by the Ryerson Image Centre – the best new free gallery in Toronto in many years, already the vital centre of photo art for the city, as well as
The world is in a state of considerable upheaval, on a great many fronts at once. I am currently fascinated by (obsessed with) thinking about self-definition and mental health, acculturation and role within community (the very obvious and powerful life-meaning that everyone
Preliminary model of the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pavilion – Frank Gehry (top photo) Nobody likes to talk about epistemology anymore – but absolutely everyone should be thinking about it – now, more than ever, because when it goes badly wrong, things like
My atheism is no secret – nor, frankly is the very sad proliferation of betrayals of principle by legions of those who self-proclaim spirituality. No figurehead, nor call to live only peace and love has ever been strong enough to convince even
A friend of mine mentioned Pythagoras recently – as a very powerful very early example of someone who was trying to extrapolate philosophical rigour, from mathematical clarity and principles. Better still, he didn’t just sit around thinking about stuff, like some nervous
Growing up Canadian, with tons of US media input, we notice early that Americans regularly assure each other that many things happen “only in America” which have in fact been common in dozens of other countries for ages, and are often done
I think I’ll put a trigger-warning on this one – if you can’t handle reality, and you’ve actually been in a constant state of ongoing panic for years (quite a common state, and objectively well-founded) – whether or not you acknowledge this
Ancient Roman space-man “proof” (top photo) (Hey cool, that title has nifty meter – up there with “Hemingway hated disco music!” (a favourite, in our house) I’m building up a whole arc of serious history posts – starting from essential considerations of
I’ve always been curious about experimenting with form in every way I can – I also like to try to impart some spirit of play, to go with explanations or explorations – heavy ones especially. It’s well known that brains learn better
Politics did not just become stressful, or a matter of life and death recently – my title comes from “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you” a famous and still chillingly relevant observation from Plato. Like
As I’ve noted before, even a personal-sized slice of the universe is much too complicated for us to be able to perceive it’s true and total reality – therefore it is necessary for us to make up vastly simplified stories to tell
Reductio ad abdurdum is a very old and well-tested method of logical PROOF. It says that if the logic of your ideas inevitably leads you to something ridiculous, then those ideas which brought you there are also ridiculous – this is simply
I mentioned before that I believe in judging people not by my philosophy of life, but by their own. I feel the exact same way about countries. What’s wrong with us as nations is about our betrayal of our best selves. When
One of the biggest problems with politics nowadays, is that it is largely created using debates made out of words. At the best of times, individual perceptions of events, which words best described those perceptions, and the exact meanings of those words,
Visited the Ryerson Image Centre once again – again a wonderful (totally free) show. You’re going soon, right? As previously mentioned, there are four different display areas (sometimes five) all of which have been used well, every time we’ve gone. (And they’re
I have yet to hear or read about any country which does not try to paint it’s own military as courageous self-sacrificing heroes, and any group or country which they oppose, as a bunch of horrible lousy evil bastards – it’s a
Here’s a detail from a local wooden phone-pole, which interested me for a few different reasons. For one thing, it’s still bearing it’s load, cracked as it is, despite the fact that the work crews were replacing the far newer concrete poles
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