“If you’re going to tell people the truth, make it funny or people will kill you.” – Billy Wilder I just watched a series of videos (65 minutes if you watch them all in one go) by Innuendo
Continue readingTag: Psychology
A Puff of Absurdity: In the Realm of Terrifying
CBC has a brief (7 min.) podcast up about the rise in anxiety in the population being reported by psychologists over the past couple of years due to climate change. One of the climate scientists, when asked how he feels about it, suggested the title of this post. This is
Continue readingScripturient: The Slow Path to Happiness
If 15 minutes of stillness change the 23 hours and 45 minutes left in your day, including your sleep and your human relations, it seems to be worthwhile. So said Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk who has spent the last 45 years in the Himalayas pursuing the goal of mindfulness.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Chris Mooney takes a look at the positive side of social influences on behaviour, as new research shows a correlation between spending time with neighbours and an interest in the environmental issues which affect us all. But Adam Stoneman documents how another form
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: John Hari on Addiction – Isolating Addicts is not the Answer
This is taken from the interview titled: Does Capitalism Cause Drug Addiction? The piece that I am going to excerpt is about how we view addiction in society. If we are to believe Hari, it isn’t about a failure in moral rectitude or falling into a drug laden trap of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How to Hate Women
So, it turns out that if you and some of your single girl friends lament the lack of quality men in Vancouver, you may get attacked by anonymous men and women in the comments section of the Georgia Straight. Go figure. Whether that is “true” or not, people sure like
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Fishy Thoughts
Canadians, the headline reads, now have shorter attention span than goldfish thanks to portable devices. The story in today’s National Post underscores a growing problem that is fuelled by technology: our dwindling attention spans. The Microsoft study of 2,000 Canadians found our collective attention span has dwindled to a mere
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How Do YOU Fight for Workplace Justice?
How do YOU define determination? One of them gave birth the day before the vote. As soon as her baby was nursing properly and her bloodwork came back okay, she made the trip to the hotel to vote. via Inside a union drive at The Trump Hotel | Toronto Star.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: 5 Things You Must Know About the Internet and Social Entrepreneurs
No one knows for sure what a social entrepreneur is, or supposed to be, or whether it’s altruistic or a PR meme. “Disruption” is very trendy now, in terms of how to smash around organizations to make them better [or weaker, depending on your purpose]. No one reads anything on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How You May Be Able to Be a Better Feminist
I don’t need to add anything here. If you like/hate what you read, click the link and get up to speed on the rest of it! White feminists: this is a call for you to get your shit together. The point of equality isn’t to claw your way to the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Being a Better Ally: #IWD
Click me; it’s good for you! International Women’s Day is a check-in point for me: I try to take stock of what has improved or worsened since last year. Doing so helps me be a better ally. Our soul as a nation has suffered this past year. It has suffered
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Garfield Mahood and Brian Iler discuss the challenge facing charities as compared to the special treatment of businesses in trying to advocate as to public policy: (T)he solutions to many of society’s problems do not need more research and the criticism-free public education
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Pink Washing: Does This Pink Shirt Really Say Enough?
By Emily Griffiths Pink Shirt Day is almost upon us. The annual campaign to raise money and “awareness” on the issue of “bullying” takes place on February 25. As this date approaches, I’m sure you’ve noticed an inundation of bright pink. Even at this very moment, I am sipping my
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: 23 Questions About the SHOCKING New Renee and Uma
Who IS this anyway? Stop the presses. Two women who used to look a certain way, now look different. Renee Zellweger had the audacity to change her look. Now, Uma Thurman has done so! CTV put it this way: “Uma Thurman has Zellwegered her face.” And if you follow the
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Happy Talk
A recent study proved an old notion – the Pollyanna Hypothesis – that there is a “universal human tendency to ‘look on and talk about the bright side of life’” according to a team of scientists at the University of Vermont. The story was reported on Science Daily recently. Reading through newspapers,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why TV Keeps Almost Being Good
There was once a show called Revolution. And another called Scorpion. Each had a great premise: a world after electricity, and what happens when you have a bunch of geniuses trying to work together on cool projects. Each failed miserably [as art] almost immediately. Why? Nothing new here. Network TV isn’t
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Saskatchewan residents should be able to count on secure housing, rather than being shunted into stopgap social housing by the Wall government. For further reading…– The provincial government’s announcement that affordable housing in Saskatchewan is no more can be found here. And the NDP’s response is here.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Does YOUR Favorite Corporate Exploit Tragedy for Sales?
It’s not like capitalists deserve your pity when they accidentally offend people while they try to embrace their communities to build spirit. And profit. It is partly because corporations are pretend human beings, with no emotions, no social conscience [beyond PR gains] and no capacity for human empathy, which is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Sam Pizzigati interviews Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett about the fight against inequality and the next piece of the puzzle to be put in place: [Pickett:]…In The Spirit Level, we have all these correlations between inequality and social problems, and we have
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A Whale Kisses the Bottom of YOUR Boat!
I haven’t been able to get this image out of my head for days. It keeps coming back. It keeps asking me why we all feel so disconnected from nature all the time, in the bubble of our cars, smart phones and wifi lives. Ecology is in the corner of
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