COVID 19 and Pascal
Kevin Patterson at The Walrus has a great piece on the coronavirus. It’s different than the flu, faster, and our high-density living spaces aren’t helping contain it: “Famine and war…
Marie Snyder
A Bit about Cancel Culture and Academic Freedom
I’ve written before about how I support free speech but don’t support giving platforms to “White Nationalists” or neo-Nazis or any other racist group who could use the venue to…
Slowing Climate Change Doesn’t Have to be so Confusing!!
Some people insist that we can’t put it on individuals to make the changes necessary to affect climate; we have to change industry and vote differently and all that jazz.…
Getting My Head Around Privilege and Protest
This is a bit of a round up on this issue, just of opposing positions floating around social media. First let’s look at Andrew Scheer’s comments: On “ideologically motivated protestors”:…
On Resisting Decadence
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.” – Oscar Wilde Ross Douthat explores our trajectory that has led us to decadence, which…
Let’s Talk about Population! (ducking projectiles)
Back in November, 11,000 scientists declared that we need to stabilize or gradually reduce the global population. Since then, I’ve bumped into a few people, online and in real life,…
But Thinking is So Much Work!
Misinformation and misunderstanding and misreporting are going to be the death of us. From news sources reporting who was in the plane with Kobe Bryant before details were released to…
On Martin Luther King Jr.
Chomsky praises him, saying he was vilified, but he was crucial to making change. Two years ago, the New York Times published an excellent transcript of his final sermon, annotated…
Chomsky’s Optimism: On Climate Change, Nuclear War, and Activism
Truthdig‘s Scheer Intelligence series, hosted by Robert Scheer, recently posted a 3 hour podcast in two parts. I’ve summarized the gist of what Chomsky says below, in about a 15…
How to Be a Good Citizen
This is a Twitter thread, but I want to save it, so I’m putting it here. It’s by Elle Maruska. (Here’s her Patreon and Ko-Fi, whatever that is.) “Here are…
Age of Oblivion, Part 2
Chomsky has said, over and over, that the two things we should be worried about are climate change and nuclear war. We’re doing well at exacerbating both! Our obliviousness to…
Age of Oblivion: Another End of Decade Rant
Of course calendars are a construct and don’t mean anything, but the end of the year and, even more so, the end of the decade are useful times to take…
The Game Changers: A Bit about Persuasion and Reason and Eating Your Vegetables
I’ve come to believe that determining the very best diet is as individual as figuring out the best course of action to treat anxiety or depression. We are each our…
Pre-COP25 Panel of Speakers
A headache kept me home from work today, so I got some fresh air and checked out the climate strike. It was great timing for the strike, on Black Friday,…
The Greatest Propaganda Machine in History
Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G. and Borat, among others) won an award from the Anti-Defamation League. Here’s his 25 minute acceptance speech. It’s in writing, abridged a bit, below…
Gen Z for Zero, Net Zero
Mia Rabson reports, “A baby born in Canada today will never know a time in which his or her health isn’t at risk from a warming planet . . .…
On Developing a Consistent Self
In a New York Times article, “What do teens learn online today?“, Elizabeth Weil suggests that kids are on the right track when they stream every inch of their anguish…
Paul Gorski on Education and Inequity
For the first time in 28 years of teaching, I approve of the new guru being brought to the masses from on high. Immediately, from just the first few seconds…
Kyle Whyte on Wilderness
I saw Dr. Kyle Whyte present at the University of Waterloo on Thursday night on climate change, traditional knowledge, and environmental justice. It was similar to what he said in…
Cycling Rant
If cycling is part of your life, it looks like the NDP comes way ahead in terms of addressing cycling concerns. Extinction Rebellion is clear about the need for car-free…