Don Quixote times three

Books & Reviews / Classics / Language & Grammar / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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At roughly the same time Shakespeare was writing and performing King Lear, Measure for Measure, Othello and Macbeth (1604-1605), Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was publishing the first part (52 chapters) of his satiric novel, Don Quixote, or more properly titled (in English), The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha. The second part (another 74 chapters) was published in 1615, roughly two years after Shakespeare’s final play, The Two Noble Kinsmen (co-written with John Fletcher). While it was probably always intended as a single novel, the decade of time between the publication of the two parts has suggested to some ……… click below for more ↓

Cicero, Seneca and Confucius

Books & Reviews / Classics / Confucianism / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophy / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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As I wrote in my last post, I have been reading a lot of the classic philosophers of late, particularly the Stoics. And I’ve been going further afield. My classical readings have included a lot of Seneca and Cicero of late (plus Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius), as well as interpretations of same. While Seneca was a confirmed Stoic, Cicero seems sympathetic if not entirely convinced, and may have had strong sympathies for the Epicureans as well.  My reading also includes what I’ve found is the best single book explaining Confucius and his views: Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials, by Lee ……… click below for more ↓

Travels with Epicurus

Books & Reviews / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I’m sure it’s not just me who feels this way, but these days I find increasing wisdom and solace in the words of the classical authors: Seneca, Cicero, Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius, Horace, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Epictetus, Diogenes, Plato. The writers of classical Greece and Rome mostly attract my attention right now, although I have also read many classical Chinese, Indian, Hebrew and Japanese philosophers and poets. Wisdom can be found everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me how human emotions, perceptions and sensations have not changed over the millennia, almost in opposition to our rapidly and vastly changing technologies. Not merely ……… click below for more ↓

Stalin’s ghostly influence today

Books & Reviews / International politics / Politics / US Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I recently finished reading the second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s magisterial biography of Josef Stalin: About 1,700 pages so far, with another 400 or so in small-type notes. Brilliant stuff, but a lot to absorb and consider. A bit of a slog if you’re not at least somewhat familiar with the history – there are many events, places and people to keep track of. Volume one ran from Stalin’s birth to 1928, the year of the first Soviet show trials and when Stalin had fully established himself as undisputed leader. The second volume in the trilogy picks up there with ……… click below for more ↓

Hegseth, hand washing and social media

Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Health & Medicine / Manners & Civility / Memes; Internet & Social / Political fads / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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Fox News host Pete Hegseth has said on air that he has not washed his hands for 10 years because “germs are not a real thing”. That’s the headline you read on dozens of media sites and shared throughout social media (this one from BBC News). Instant reactions (mine included) were “ewwww…” followed by negative comments on Fox News in general. But when you stop to think about it, could it be true? Can someone actually go a decade without washing his hands? No. Surely he bathes or showers regularly. One can’t believe a TV show host would be so ……… click below for more ↓

Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules

Books & Reviews / Ethics & morality / Philosophy / What I'm Reading Now5 Comments

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I really wanted to read this book objectively, separating it from the media hype and social media torrents of opinion and abuse that often accompany its author, Jordan Peterson. I wanted to consider it in the company of the vast number of already-published self-help or philosophical books, and the historical context in which they exist. Sadly, I was unable to do so for one simple reason: there’s too much Jordan Peterson in it. You have to wade through far too much of him to get to the rules. He meanders quite a bit, mostly to ramble on about himself. The ……… click below for more ↓

GWT treatment a sure cure for NAWHS syndrome

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Critical Thinking / New Age Codswallop / Pseudoscience & QuackeryLeave a comment

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After years of research* and development, I have finally worked out the details for the treatment of the viral NAWHS (New Age Woo Hoo Susceptibility) syndrome: GWT or Gullibility Whack Therapy. And I’m going to found my own institute: The Whack-a-Wacko Institute of Common Sense Therapy. I stand to make millions. It works like this: Every time a client utters a comment about the healing benefits of any flavour of New Age woo hoo including homeopathy, who avoids vaccinations, gluten and GMOs, who quotes Dr. Oz, Dr. Mercola or Gwyneth Paltrow, who confesses to using ear candling, magic crystals, reflexology, ……… click below for more ↓

Local media is letting us down

Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Financial follies / Health & Medicine / Marketing / New Age Codswallop / Pseudoscience & QuackeryLeave a comment

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Rule number one in The Elements of Journalism is: “journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.” Number three is “Its essence is a discipline of verification.” Keep those two in mind as you read this. I recognize that local reporting is not always the same calibre as the investigative journalism we expect from national media, but in my view (and experience as a former reporter and editor), blindly accepting claims about health, wellness or science without questioning, let alone confirming them through a credible source, and then repeating those statements in a story is not responsible reporting. It’s just typing. ……… click below for more ↓

What is science? It’s not this stuff.

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Critical Thinking / Diet Fads / Health & Medicine / New Age Codswallop / Pseudoscience & QuackeryOne Comment

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Recently in a Facebook post, two of us were squabbling in typical Facebook-fashion over “alternative medicine” and related treatments (many of which came into the discussion as links to pseudoscience and/or charlatan’s websites). As is my wont, I continued to debunk these with links to actual medical sites and discussions on the topic from health services, universities and real doctors. The other person posted a link to a piece that had Dr. Nuzum – a naturopath*, not a medical doctor, who promotes himself and his products heavily on YouTube and social media – comment thus on fingernail ridges: “…in oriental medicine, ……… click below for more ↓

WTF is wrong with people these days?

Aging / Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Learning & Education / Memes; Internet & Social / New Age Codswallop / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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Into everyone’s life comes the realization that we are not young and in between the time when we were, the world has changed. Not always for the better, either. In fact, it’s hard not to conclude the whole world has gone to shit since the internet arrived. Aging is not something that, as a culture, we embrace. After all, who wants to be old? Being a senior today is way too often portrayed in the media as being vulnerable, out of touch and cranky, as if we emerged from the chrysalis of middle age into a hunched curmudgeon shuffling along ……… click below for more ↓

The Ten Bulls

Buddhism / Ethics & morality / Faith / PhilosophyLeave a comment

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A series of ten Buddhist drawings make up what are known collectively as the Ten Oxherding Pictures or sometimes just as the Ten Bulls. Each one graphically illustrates a stage along the path to enlightenment or self-realization, but they can also be seen as a metaphor for a wider range of human development and growth. (they are not, as Lifecoach screams ungrammatically but histrionically in its headline, “The 10 Secret ZEN Steps Straight To ENLIGHTENMENT!” There is no secret about them, and they are not steps but metaphors for steps.) I first encountered these illustrations as a section in the ……… click below for more ↓

Collingwood and cannabis stores

Collingwood / Council / Critical Thinking / Local media / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsLeave a comment

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Credit where credit is due: Collingwood council this week voted unanimously to allow a cannabis store to open here. That came as somewhat of a surprise given earlier negative comments from come councillors, but in the end they all agreed to it. It made sense to say yes, given that pot is now legal in Canada. Saying no would have made the community seem both out-of-touch and fusty, and would have reinforced the resolutely-closed-for-business reputation that last council gave our town. But the staff report also shows that there is still a deep prohibition-era thinking in town hall. Take a ……… click below for more ↓

You’re going to die. Again.

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Creationism / Critical Thinking / Memes; Internet & Social / Predictions and propheciesOne Comment

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Yeah, I know: we’re ALL going to die sooner or later. No one gets out of here alive. But that doesn’t stop people from saying the end is nearer than we expect. Right around the corner, in fact. The latest Magical Event being touted online (which event is absolutely not like all those others they predicted in the past…) starts December 21 (apparently “the week of Hanukkah in December 2019” because nothing says Jewish festive occasion and worship like the Christian end of the world…), according to wingnut and serial false predictor David Montaigne. Montaigne has written six books of ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on leadership

Books & Reviews / Management & leadership / Political philosophy / PoliticsLeave a comment

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What makes a good leader? Or a bad one, for that matter? That’s a long-standing debate that reaches back into history.* Of late I’ve been reading about and pondering the characteristics of leadership. Some people are promoted, elected or appointed to positions of authority. This makes them leaders by definition or responsibility, but not always by capability, style or attitude. Simply being in a position of authority or having a title doesn’t necessarily mean these people have leadership qualities. We’ve all had the experience of people who were promoted or appointed beyond their ability; people who became martinets, bullies or ……… click below for more ↓

Goodbye, Information Age

Critical Thinking / Culture / Internet & Social Media / Literature / Media / Social Order & Disorder / US PoliticsLeave a comment

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“Say goodbye to the information age: it’s all about reputation now,” is the headline of an article by Italian philosopher and professor Gloria Origgi, published recently on Aeon Magazine’s website. She writes: …the vastly increased access to information and knowledge we have today does not empower us or make us more cognitively autonomous. Rather, it renders us more dependent on other people’s judgments and evaluations of the information with which we are faced. I no longer need to open a computer, go online and type my questions into Google if I want to know something: I can simply ask it. ……… click below for more ↓

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