A Visit to the Museum 2067

It was going to be special day. Dad was going to take Timmy, 10 years old, to the Museum of Technological History. Dad had been talking about this visit for weeks now. He was a mechanical engineer with a deep fascination for the evolution of technology – and its influence on human behaviour.

You are known by your face

Recently in the province of Quebec  a law has been passed banning face coverings in certain situations. This has raised quite a flurry of commentaries. Here below is my contribution, plus some comments on my comments.

The Massacre in Las Vegas

When I first heard the news of the massacre at Las Vegas, I screamed out – “You idiots, ban automatic rifles!” This was also the visceral reaction on the international news outlets – but not in the USA. It was instead, “thoughts and prayers for the victims” and “this is not the time to raise political issues”. A great silence descended on the issue of gun control, at precisely the time when this issue should have been raised to the fore.

How Canada's 1 per cent is pulling ahead [The Globe and Mail (BC edition, 9 Oct 2017)]

"New census data provided to The Globe show the biggest pay raises have gone to the country's highest earners, along with significant regional and gender differences. A look at how the numbers break down."

-- Rachelle Younglai Murat Yukselir

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-bc-edition/20171009/281642485388035

People on the ground often know better than the experts

I am presently reading Jane Jacob’s “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”. Jane Jacobs understood cities from the bottom up. She skipped a formal university education and instead learned how cities worked from careful observation, while she herself lived in the city. Her writings and actions have become classic in our understanding about the life in cities.

Spiritual Reflections While Meditating

As we sit in an un-programmed Quaker worship meeting, we are supposed to be meditating. What a variety of thoughts and insights must be passing thorough the minds of all who are present! This last Sunday, this is what occupied my mind and spirit.

I sit here. I stare through the window looking up at the sky. It is so clear. It is so blue. Based on the evidence of my senses alone, I could honestly say that there is nothing there – just a vast expanse of blueness.

But we know that there are myriad mysteries out there, hidden from my naked eyes.

Reflections on “Convictions

I have just finished reading the book, “Convictions: How I learned What Matters Most” by Marcus Borg. This is labelled as ‘A manifesto for progressive Christians’. There is much that is commendable here. As the book cover shows, Borg goes back into Christianity’s roots so that he can better garner the outgoing fruits that should emerge. This is a call for the prophetic role of Christianity in its struggle for social justice. It is also a reminder of Christianity’s initial stance of non-violent resistance and confrontation of the world’s many evils.

When Tradition Meets the Environment

Here in Canada we are celebrating 150 years of nationhood. The native indigenous people are not too thrilled with the celebrations. For them it was 150 years of land expropriation, exploitation and cultural genocide in ‘residential schools’ that were set up for ‘Indian’ children who were taken from their parents to receive a Western education. The goal was to take the ‘Indian’ out of the child and to make them good Canadians. Unfortunately, various kinds of abuse often accompanied this education. These schools were most often administered by Christian churches, using methods that would have embarrassed Jesus himself.

Fake News

You really have to be on your toes with news these days – and that takes work! We now have a superabundance of news sources. International news is easily accessible. Social media is awash with ‘information’. But how much of it is true? What is biased, exaggerated, cleverly spun, or just plain fabricated?

The world wide web (www) was supposed to join us together – and I suppose that means, unify us. However, if anything the world seems to have become more divisive. Opposing groups are accusing each other of broadcasting ‘fake news’.

Basic Income Guarantee (BIG)

What would the world be like if all low income people were given a guaranteed cash income for survival (c.$17,000) with no strings attached? How about if this plan included an incentive to work to increase their minimum income? What would they do with this money? What would be the social consequences of this? This concept will soon have some trial runs in Ontario, Canada. It is called the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG).

Into the mind of a billionaire

I have just finished reading “Brazillionaires; Wealth, Power, Decadence and Hope in an American Country” by Alex Cuadros. Brazil is a country known for its widespread corruption, its wealthy billionaires and its large poor population. It has one of the highest rates of financial inequality in the world. Brazillioniares reveals the lives and activities of some of Brazil’s billionaires (Eike Batista, Esteves, ---) and the role of some of its more recent politicians (Lula, Dilma, etc…). I read this book to try and understand the inner workings of the minds of the superrich. This is a topic that has intrigued me from an early age.

Who perpetrated the nerve gas attack in Syria?

When presented with conflicting stories about important events, I resort to the following:

- I prefer credible reports on the ground rather than those of visiting outsiders.

- I like to listen to multiple sources, even conflicting ones, rather that relying on single sources that may be dominated by ideology.

- I put more trust in verifiable facts rather than opinions. Here are some facts about Syria:

1. The rebels have no air force. It is well documented that hospitals and schools have been systematically bombed. Who might have done that?

2. In 2015 Assad’s regime was about to collapse due to widespread opposition victories. Russia than stepped in with a massive bombing campaign on Syria’s behalf.

3. Syria is obviously a strategically placed country. Gulf oil could be shipped through it to Europe and beyond. It is Russia’s sole exit point to the Mediterranean Sea.

4. During the Obama time, Syria promised to get rid of gas weapons. This was a tacit admission that they had these weapons.

5. After over six years of dreadful warfare in which all kinds of war crimes have been committed, I think the best news sources are the people on the ground who have suffered through all of this and know the results first hand.

Now with regard to the recent nerve gas attack and the US response, I have seen Paul Jay’s interview with Lawrence Wilkerson, and I have read the reports that a rebel nerve gas factory or holding station has been bombed.  On the other hand, I have been following the situation carefully in Syria over many months. My primary source is Al Jazeera news (AJ). They have Arabic speakers on the ground. They have developed a reputation for objectivity. They have offended many Arabic countries (i.e. Egypt, Syria etc.) and their journalists have been harassed by countries who do not like their reporting. I also look at other news sources, BBC, RT, PBS, CBC. CNN.

Bombardier executives increase their multi-million dollar salaries while they lay of thousands of employees

The unbridled greed of the super rich continues to infuriate. Here in Canada, in 2016 five executives with Bombardier corporation managed to haul in $32.6 million, thus raising their salaries by 50%. During the same time period they fired thousands of employees and received well over one billion dollars in government subsidies.

It is an outrage! There was no real increase in productivity yet they increased their obscene salaries. They say that these salaries are necessary to attract “competent people”. It is a lie. They are themselves voted into power by fellow cronies on a board of directors. It is a system gone rotten at the top.

Where are we going?

The World we live in

It is not unusual for people to analyze the state of the world in their generation – and to find it in a state of troubling change. The difference today is that the change is happening faster than ever before in human history.

Where are we going?

The World we live in

It is not unusual for people to analyze the state of the world in their generation – and to find it in a state of troubling change. The difference today is that the change is happening faster than ever before in human history.

First of all, what is happening?

The Obesity Explosion

I went to the hospital today. I needed a pre-op meeting for my upcoming prostate operation. As I sat in the waiting room I was surrounded by people who were either overweight (BMI >25) or obese (BMI >30). I felt like such a skinny twerp sitting there.

Then on came the hospital staff. Fully half of them were also either overweight or obese. Fortunately, the other half of the staff seemed to be able to control their weight. They were mostly the young ones. May they persevere in their good habits.

Pondering this, I felt so sorry for the surgeons who would have to operate on these people. This surely must make their work more difficult – and more disagreeable.

As noted in another blog article, all of this foretells an oncoming health services disaster – maybe even a total societal collapse, unless the growing obesity epidemic is brought under control.

What to do about an unbalanced president? Post script

As usual, it is not enough to rail against the ills of the world. In addition, we need to point to possible solutions. The following has been suggested to me by a colleague.

What to do with an unbalanced president?

The evidence is so overwhelming that we are becoming inured to it. President Trump’s erratic behaviour is becoming the new normal. We poor souls, bewildered by it all, hardly know how to react anymore.

He lies and he flip flops on his story about Russia. First he knew nothing about Russia. Later he knows Russia well. Then he has never met Putin. Then later he admits that he did meet him (at a beauty pageant in Russia). This behaviour is all captured on video. However, all of this recorded evidence does not seem to phase Donald Trump, nor his ardent followers.

He has made outlandish claims about himself, and he has done it so often that we hardly know how to respond.

The hazards of learning a new language

Learning a new language can be a wonderful experience. It refreshes and challenges the mind. With perseverance it eventually can be a gateway to meeting new friends. Finally, after much effort, it enables one to enter the deep thinking of another culture. As Charlemagne is reputed to have said, “Avoir une autre langue, c’est posséder une deuxième âme”. (To have another language is to possess a second soul.)

How can one practice non-violence?

In 1965 when I was studying Humanities at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Martin Luther King came to speak to the student body. The civil rights movement was then at its height in the southern United States. There was not a room big enough to hold the student crowd, so King spoke to thousands of students in an open air meeting.

At the end of his talk King made a call for volunteers to go to work in the south, doing civil rights activities. About 25 of us responded. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), founded by Martin Luther King, was a non violent movement. We volunteers received two days of training in non violent resistance methods. We were told that if attacked we should not fight back, but instead we should adopt a non violent position. In the worst case scenario, we were to curl up and take up a fetal position and refuse to fight back.

Child Soldiers Can Teach Us Something

Here in Canada we have two child soldiers in our midst. Both have written up their stories in books; “If My life as a Child Soldier Could Be Told “by Junior Nzita and “War Child; A Child Soldier’s Story” by Emmanuel Jal.

Junior Nzita (left) and Emmanuel Jal

Both of these young men have undergone horrific experiences in their youth. They were forcefully taken from their home settings and given a choice – “Learn to kill others or you yourself will be killed!” Their recorded stories tell of unimaginable atrocities. They lived through horrors that no child should ever experience.  Emmanuel’s experience began at the age of seven years old in South Sudan and Junior’s at the age of 12 years old in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Your Google searches are being filtered and altered

Two people can put the same word in a Google search and get very different responses.

To find our why, Google “Beware online filter bubbles”. You will then be able to see a very interesting 9-minute TED talk from Eli Pariser.

The consequences of this are troubling. This could contribute to a more divided society.

$300 million for a painting

Take a moment to peruse a photographical listing of the world’s most expensive paintings.

After seeing a similar list, my friend said “Not quite sure what to make of these paintings. Perhaps you can make more sense of them”. Now nothing gets me more riled up than the vapid lifestyles of the super rich, so here is my reaction.

Two Memorable Quotes

In front of my desk I have several memorable quotes to guide my way. Perhaps you do too. Let me tell you about two of them.

Money Talks

Some months ago, my wife and I attended a fundraiser after a hurricane had hit Cuba. There were all kinds of efforts to raise money – food and drinks were sold, books and other items were also on sale. All this took place in a church basement. Afterwards, upstairs a variety of volunteer musicians put on a spirited concert. Then there was an appeal for funds to help the stricken Cubans. The total amount raised – about $1,000.

Trump, Democratic Dictator

Africa

I have spent a lot of time in Africa. I have seen dictators at work. They are characterized by:

- They usually take power by a coup d'etat (but not always).

- At the beginning of their reign they make wonderful promises to all.

- With time these dictators surround themselves with a group of sycophants. These surrounding henchmen (they are usually all men) share in the power and perks of office. They also make it difficult to remove the dictator.

The End of Environmental Protection? or, So heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good

It has been a tumultuous beginning to the Trump presidency. Resistance numbers have been greater than his support numbers. Denial has reached new heights with the emergence of “alternative facts”, otherwise known as lies that fly in the face of clear evidence.

Reflections on interview from Davos with Anthony Scaramucci on the US Outlook

I just watched the recent interview from Davos with Anthony Scaramucci on the US Outlook, the new Assistant to President Donald Trump and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The basic question here is, can a wealthy business man come up with a political policy that really benefits a wide swath of the working middle class?

Professor Michael Sandel: Interview from Davos 2017 (patriotism, future of work, etc.)

I highly recommend the Financial Times interview of Harvard Professor Michael Sandel at the 2017 Davos World Economic Forum.

Book Review: BIOCENTRISM - How Life and Consciousness are the keys to understanding the true nature of the universe By Robert Lanza MD and Bob Berman

When I was a young engineering student at the University of Toronto, we all had to take a required philosophy course. In one session the lecturer embarked upon the classical question, “If a tree falls in the forest when no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” I could hardly resist not getting up and leaving the class. Is this the nonsense that philosophers occupy themselves with? If the tree falls, all of our scientific evidence tells us that there will be pressure waves emitted in the air. If a person or other sentient being is there, this will be detected as sound, if not the pressure waves will still be emitted. End of story.

Civil Rights -- Again

Two days ago, John Lewis, an American congressman from Georgia was interviewed on CBC radio here in Canada. Listening to him brought my mind back to an event in August, 1965 which occurred in Americus, Georgia.

A group of six of us, John Lewis, two black friends, a Jewish woman, with my wife and I, tried to enter an all white Baptist church to worship. We were stopped at the door by a group of church deacons and leaders. John Lewis had some words with them.

Mythology: A modern interpretation

I am an engineer. I have also spent five years studying theology. Now about 50 years later I ask myself, what did I learn during those years in seminary? The one thing that I finally grasped is the role of mythology in shaping society.

What is mythology? It is a story that society tells to itself to explain its raison d'être (reason for being). And what are the characteristics of the mythological story?

Solar energy dialogue: A reply to Mr. McGruer [UPDATED]

My dialogue with David McGruer continues... 

Hello David,

Just a few comments.

Never before has humanity been so numerous and so advanced technologically, which means we have never before spewed so much of our waste products into the atmosphere. At the same time an overwhelming number of scientists say we are the main cause of the well documented rise in global temperatures lately. It intrigues me why anyone should so adamantly dispute this.

US Politics: America and guns

This is about the strange phenomenon of gun laws and usage in the United States. As I see it they are trapped by their own history and traditions. In fact, we are all to some extent trapped by the past of our particular group or nation. The USA story goes something like this.

Israel-Palestine: Response to Robert Sibley op-ed

Click the "Read more" link below to view my response to the following opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

Link: "Obama sets the stage for another war in the Middle East" by Robert Sibley

Presumably Barack Obama will return his Nobel Peace Prize now that he’s created the conditions for another Middle East war.

Vietnam Trilogy

During the 60s and early 70s, the war in Vietnam was tearing apart US society. Resistance to this war was also creating a whole generation of anti-war activists. The following three articles reflect my thinking at the time.