The Secret Teachings of All Ages
“When confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon…
books
In Ottawa, An Evening with David Suzuki and Jeff Rubin: The ECO Tour
(Edited) by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Jan. 26, 2013: The Eco Tour comes to Ottawa! Join award-winning geneticist and broadcaster David Suzuki and award-winning, bestselling author…
Another Zen tale
Carrying on in the tradition of my last post, here’s another of the stories from Paul Reps’ book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Before I repeat it, consider the story of…
A Zen story
There are all sorts of great stories, great tales of wisdom and enlightenment, to be found in Zen Buddhism. They often have that sort of eternal depth and universal meaning…
10,000 words too many
Been working the last two-and-a-half months on my latest book for Municipal World. A bit of a challenge, actually – trying to combine marketing, branding, advertising, public relations and communications…
Scaramouche
He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. That has to rank among the best opening lines in a novel, up there…
is there such a thing as a neutral education system?
I love it when similar or related ideas appear in several parts of my life at once. There’s been a number of things that come together to make me think…
Albert and the Lion
A recent comment on Facebook – “You just can’t resist poking the bear…”* made me remember a poem by Marriott Edgar that I enjoyed as a child in the 1950s:…
Propaganda, PR and Spin
What is propaganda? The word gets thrown around easily by people who obviously mean “anything we dislike or don’t agree with.” It’s a pejorative often used by a small group…
S.E.C.R.E.T: Canada’s Answer to Fifty Shades of Grey
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 6, 2013: Last year, a still-unpublished erotic Canadian novel created quite a stir at the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair. The Toronto Star…
blogging about blogging
“Writers deserve to get paid for their work” says a popular blogger in defense of putting her blog behind a paywall. The arguments and comments made by her fans and…
Forgery!
Forgery. It’s something that one normally associates with criminals; passing counterfeit bills, scammers, online pirates, people selling fake relics or fake ID. It’s something I would not normally associate with…
Another day on the job in Paradise… chapter one
Mayor Ralph “Bosco” Hearne, whistling softly “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City” under his breath, gazed at the wood-and-polished-brass, 19th-century front doors of town hall and nodded slightly in…
Not the expected blog post, I’m afraid
Sorry to disappoint those readers who expected this to be a blog post on ukuleles, tequila or our beautiful Mexican Sister City, Zihuatanejo (“Zee-hwa” for those in the know). I…
Foolish words that still resonate
Foolosopher. What a wonderful word. Not much in use these days, but it ought to be. It is a portmanteau word, first used in English way back in 1549*, according…
If Dr. Seuss books were titled according to their subtexts
While I might be more likely to pick up a book entitled The Psychological Implications of Holiday-Motivated Materialism, I’m not so sure about a five-year-old. You can check out all…
Cast of Stones: Book Review & Author Interview
A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr is a strangely dark story. I saw it advertised as a “Epic Medieval Saga Fantasy” and that it was published by Bethany…
my thoughts on Paved With Good Intentions: Canada’s development NGOs from idealism to imperialism
I’m getting ready to return the book Paved With Good Intentions: Canada’s development NGOs from idealism to imperialism by Kikolas Barry-Shaw and Dru Oja Jay back to the friend who…
Musings on Game Design
An odd bit of synchronicity. I picked up a few unusual board games* at the discount/remainder store downtown (in the former Shoppers’ Drug Mart building) a couple of weeks back,…
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Published in 1637, The Art of Worldly Wisdom is a collection of 300 aphorisms about life, behaviour, politics, morality, faith, philosophy and society. One comment, on Amazon.ca called it, somewhat…