I love a good mystery. Who were the Goths? Where did they come from? How did they manage to sack Rome and defeat the most powerful empire the world had ever seen? What is their true cultural, mythological, spiritual, philosophical and ideological history? (Genetic history means little, since we
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Covid-1984: The Worst Of Both Worlds
With covid-1984, which is a virus that is statistically as dangerous as the common flu, we have taken extreme, draconian, authoritarian measures. In short, we have dangerously and vastly over-reacted, and in doing so, we have combined the worst of both worlds: medieval and modern. If we’re going to go
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Bridge of Montaigne; and The Roots of Our 21st Century Crisis
What a delightful bridge Montaigne has been, and is: not only between the present modern world and the Renaissance, which is stupendous treasure enough, but also, in another short span, to the ancients. And he takes us over the bridge with such immediacy that in an instant we are there!
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Importance of Having Expert Teachers and Advice
Learning a new skill. Learn from an experienced teacher or professional as they really help you avoid the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is oversimplified, you don’t know how bad you are until you know how bad you are. Or perhaps end up like this, an individual who believes they have a
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Demoscene Added to UNESCO Cultural Heritage
Here’s something you probably didn’t expect to hear this week form Finland: they’ve added Demoscene to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural artifacts. According the Finnish Heritage Agency Demoscene is “an international community focused on making demos, real-time audiovisual performances that creatively combine programming, graphics and sound.” Finland beat everyone
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Rules For Good Communication – Both In Writing, and Verbally, and In The Arts (Along with core points on the philosophy of language, knowledge, perception, consciousness, ontology and epistemology, and the nature of being and reality – and lessons on how not to be long-winded!)
Here are a few thoughts on writing and verbal communication, and all forms of communication. As an author, writer, reader, lover of books, and philosopher, I believe I have some potentially helpful thoughts to share on the subject, though my own communications are not without faults themselves. I am no
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Violence and Misogyny That is Transactivism – Targeting Abuse and Threats to the Staff of Vancouver’s Rape Relief & Women’s Centre
Medium took the article down, but I’ve reproduced it here to demonstrate the misogyny and violence that is inherent in transactivism. This article drips with virulent hate toward women daring to defend their boundaries and spaces. Read the oh so progressive transactivists and their goals. Transphobic Fear-Mongering Under The
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Efficiency Versus Resilience
One of the many calculations going on in the background within varied historical contexts is the relationship between efficiency and resilience. Consider arch construction from Roman times and now. The Roman arch has a distinct set of design principles that focus on the utilitarian principles of usefulness and longevity in
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Reading History And Social Theory As If People, The Planet, Or The Future Mattered
A Review of Stephen Toulmin’s Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda Of Modernity, and, A Reading List For Thoughtful People Slow to get going, then increasingly fascinating, Toulmin’s Cosmopolis is a genuine must-read. As a history of culture and consciousness it is stellar. I’d give it four out of five stars,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: On Loneliness – In a Nutshell
I think it is important now to revisit this topic as the world is now in the grips of a Pandemic. Please watch, and arm yourself to the best of your ability against the potential social isolation and loneliness that could be experienced in the days and months to come.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A Response to a Lefty Friend Who Is Afraid Criticize Gender Identity Ideology and Politics – Priya Reddy
“A response to my Leftie friend who agrees with my criticisms of gender identity ideology & politics but is too afraid to say so openly for fear of losing his “woke” Leftie and transgender friends. – By Priya Reddy Thanks for sharing your concerns as one of the few leftie
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Renewed Effort to Get Bill C-16 Repealed – Go Canada!
We need to get the word out and get C-16 repealed. Protect Canadian Women (adult human females). Bill C-16 GBA Denied Justin Trudeau refuses to release the Gender Based Analysis for Bill C-16 When Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, he promised to do a Gender-Based Analysis (GBA) before
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: It’s A Hot Dog…
So much summation in three short comic strips. Thanks Sinfest.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: For Trans Liberation — Jane Clare Jones
Ahead of the discussion on The Moral Maze tonight I did a little digging around into the people who will be representing the TRA position. Up against Graham and Kiri will be Jane Fae and Torr Robinson, a person with they/them pronouns who is the Trans Officer for London Young
Continue readingScripturient: Big G and Me
One of my fondest childhood memories is sitting between my parents on a warm summer night, on the front seat of the family car, watching a movie through the windshield, above the dashboard. A single, metal-wrapped speaker hung from the glass of the half-opened window on the driver’s side. A
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Decade of Playing Left-Wing: Sports Heroes of the 2010s
Sports journalism is not immune from the year-end “listicle”, the clickbait content that dominates the Web every December. While I admit to being a sucker for these “best of” exercises, as a decade came to a close the stakes were high but the “Athletes of the 2010s” lists were so
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Transactivism in a Nutshell – Douglas Murray
This is what it looks like to take a stand for decency, transparency and democratic values in society. Douglas Murray offers his services to defend one of his intellectual foes, because her safety and freedom are being placed in jeopardy by violent males (see trans activists). “To Todd’s
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright
This lecture, which I attended at the University of Alberta, and later read the book was one of the cornerstones of the awakening of my intellectual curiosity about the world and how human societies work. Each time history repeats itself, so it’s said, the price goes up. The 20th century
Continue readingScripturient: Decades, centuries and millennia
January 1 is NOT the start of a new decade. To the CBC and the other arithmetically-challenged media who insist otherwise: it isn’t. You just don’t understand how to count to 10. No matter how you spin it, 9 years is not 10. And even if it was, starting or
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Most Schooling Is Training for Stupidity And Conformity
Going against the dominant expectations as a teacher, as Chomsky says, is a dangerously fine line. Those who do, please keep up the great work.
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