What Happens in the Arctic, Doesn’t Stay in the Arctic
There are more and more signs of climate change about to pull a number on us, but we still won’t listen. We’ve got ammonia in our atmosphere and a spike…
human nature
What Happens in the Arctic, Doesn’t Stay in the Arctic
There are more and more signs of climate change about to pull a number on us, but we still won’t listen. We’ve got ammonia in our atmosphere and a spike…
Is This the Sixth Estate?
The “Fourth Estate” is an antiquated term for unofficial social and political forces, primarily the media. Use of the term recognized, over two centuries ago, that the media affect social…
On Being Useful: a Necessary Shift in Radicalism
“Oh, what can we do in a case like that? Nothing to do but sit on your hat, or your toothbrush, or your grandmother, or anything else that’s useless.“ Those…
On Missing the Girls
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen (Everyone’s using that bit today,…
On the Nature of Gifts and Help
Being helped so much by so many has led me to thinking about the idea of help and of gifts and Derrida’s idea that gifts are impossible in that, in…
Our Paradoxical Species
Anyone who reads this blog regularly probably knows that I am something of a cynic when it comes to our species. Sure, there are many exceptions, but as a whole,…
Our Paradoxical Species
Anyone who reads this blog regularly probably knows that I am something of a cynic when it comes to our species. Sure, there are many exceptions, but as a whole,…
On Command F: a Bittersweet Function
I tell my students of the magic of "command F" on Macs and "control F" on PCs. This F function key, that can find a word or phrase anywhere in…
On Population Control and Freedom at Any Cost
China has officially ended its one-child policy, and the New York Times argues against any similar policy ever existing again. The Chinese government’s decision to end its draconian one-child policy…
A few thoughts on empathy in human beings, and other living creatures
Empathy is natural in human beings, as Jeremy Rifkin has pointed out – and with strong backing by recent scientific findings. Some human beings have more and some less; and…
On So Much Anger
Anger may be defined as an impulse, accompanied by pain, to a conspicuous revenge for a conspicuous slight directed without justification towards what concerns oneself or towards what concerns one’s…
On ASD and Labels and Being Weird
I wrote about this two years ago, and coming across this site on autism stories inspired me to revisit why labels can sometimes be helpful. Sort of. Here’s the relevant…
On Acting Nice
I’ve been watching lots of movies and thinking about this bit from Aristotle: “But we get the virtues by having first performed the energies, as is the case also in…
On Glorifying Psychopaths
Murray Dobbin wrote a very provocative article relating our TV viewing of psychopaths to our politics. Owen explored the glorification of psychopaths in a post discussing the article, and I…
On That List of Excuses for Not Having Sex Floating Around the Interweb
I wanted to chime in on a facebook discussion about that list (a man made a spreadsheet of his wife’s excuses for refusing sex), but it wasn’t started by an…
A Christmas Thought
While I was not going to post anything today, I offer the following brief thought: During this season and throughout 2014, may our hearts be attuned to those who can…
Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten
H/t Catherin Bradbury ‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—Why look’st thou so?’—With my cross-bowI shot the ALBATROSS. -excerpted from The Rime of The Ancient Mariner,…
Something Different
…to counteract the cynicism we can’t help but feel following the political beat: Recommend this Post
On Categorization of Behaviours and Abilities
People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will change everything. There is no single magic bullet. – Temple Grandin Some people are quite upset about the recent…