Category: Musings

Now is the Summer of Our Disconnect

Daily life / Musings / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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I was reminded this morning of Henry David Thoreau, who wrote about his bean field in Walden, his famous journal of contemplations about living on his own in a rustic cabin, about Concord, about democracy, about his neighbours. Somewhat like Michel de Montaigne, albeit writing three centuries later, Thoreau seemed to find something to write about in every aspect of his two-year sojourn in the woods, no matter how mundane. And one of those things he wrote about was beans. Yes: beans. The more you eat… What triggered my memory of that chapter — I have not read Walden for … click below for more ↓

Safety Razors and Shaving Again

Daily life / Musings / Personal Reminiscences3 Comments

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It’s been a few years since I last posted about my excursions into shaving with a safety razor (double-edged blades). In my last post on the subject, dated almost exactly six years ago, I had just purchased a Wilkinson twist-to-open (TTO) or butterfly head razor. Well, quite a few years have passed without new purchases until this past weekend, when two new razors arrived. Photo on the right: Bambaw (left) and Charman. More on these two, below. Both are inexpensive models, bought on Amazon (I know, I know: I try to avoid using Amazon and always buy locally where I … click below for more ↓

Richard Dawkins and “Cultural Christianity”

Christianity / Critical Thinking / Faith / MusingsLeave a comment

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Richard Dawkins is no stranger to shaking the cultural tree to see what falls out. In 2024, Dawkins was interviewed by Rachel Johnson on British TV. He noted in that interview that he was a “cultural Christian.” And did that statement ever create a ruckus among both the faithful and nonbelievers. Some even went so far as to claim Dawkins had converted from his lifelong atheism. Piffle.* The Christian Concern website asked “Is ‘Cultural Christianity’ good news?” and said no in response. The site noted that “cultural Christians… want some of the ‘fruit’ of Christianity without the ‘root’.” No “cultural … click below for more ↓

Harold Hill and the Apostle Paul

Christianity / Film & Reviews / MusingsOne Comment

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As I was watching the musical, The Music Man, recently, it struck me that there were obvious parallels between the plot of the musical and the story of the Apostle Paul and the origins of Christianity as Paul grew it from an obscure apocalyptic sect into a widespread religion. Are these similarities deliberate? Or merely coincidental? I don’t know, but the musical sure seemed to me an allegorical and maybe even satirical take on how the apostle Paul (aka Saul) created and spread Christianity. Let me explain.* In the musical, “Professor” Harold Hill (played brilliantly by Robert Preston) is the … click below for more ↓

Goodbye to an Old Friend

Daily life / Musings / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

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Some days there are moments that make you stop and ask yourself how you ever got to this time and place. You stare at the clouds, unfocused, remembering, the past and wondering how you ever got this old. I had one of those days, recently, when I learned that my oldest friend had died some months ago and I had no idea of his passing. I only discovered it when a letter I had sent to him in late 2024 was returned, unopened, 18 months later. I was puzzled, but worried. Clearly, something had happened. I did an internet search … click below for more ↓

The Thousand and One Nights Again

Books & Reviews / Classics / Musings / What I'm Reading Now2 Comments

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Humans have always been storytellers. From the time when humans first developed language around 100,000 years ago, we have been telling one another stories. Long before we could write, we left records of our stories in cave paintings, carvings, and rock art (petroglyphs). Almost 70,000 years ago, humans painted with their hands on rocks. The Chauvet Cave in France has similar visual records painted by humans more than 30,000 years ago. The Lascaux cave contains more than 600 paintings of nearly 6,000 figures on the walls and ceilings, made around 20,000 years ago. We cannot know today what those stories … click below for more ↓

The Age of Doubt

Cults / Musings / Politics / Social media issues / What I'm Reading Now3 Comments

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of scientific advancement; it was the age of flat-earthers and chemtrail fanatics. It was the age of medical discoveries; it was the age of anti-vaxxers and homeopaths. It was the age of information; it was the age of Qanon conspiracies and creationists. It was the age of liberal democracies; it was the age of rising fascism. It was the age of technology; it was the age of 5G paranoia. It was the age of reason; it was the age of fundamentalist religions. It was … click below for more ↓

Back on the Open (World) Range

Culture / Games & Gaming / Musings2 Comments

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This week, after 300 hours of play, I came to the end of the Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla game. During those hours, I spent my time as a Viking, pillaging and looting, building my settlement, raiding enemy camps, and exploring across a massive map of England, with side trips to Norway, the Isle of Skye, Francia (France), Ireland, Asgard, and Vinland (North America). I hunted game, fished, upgraded gear, went on quests, sailed a longship; boxed opponents; trades insults in flyting contests, assassinated enemies (hence the name…), solved puzzles, delved into underground labyrinths and dungeons, battled monsters, went into … click below for more ↓

Tubes to Transistors to Today’s Chip Crisis

Family history / Musings / Science & Technology / Technology & Gadgets2 Comments

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When I was a young lad, in the latter part of the 1950s (not long after the Stone Age ended…), one of my self-taught technical skills was to be able to replace the tubes in our radios and TV set. I was maybe 10 years old when I started doing this. No training, of course: I figured it out on my own, probably from watching my father do it at home, but maybe from something I read in the public library (there were no YouTube videos to teach such skills, of course). Letting children play with live-voltage electrical devices didn’t … click below for more ↓

Thomas More’s Words Are Still Appropriate Today

MAGA cultists / Musings / Politics / ShakespeareLeave a comment

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I can always find something in Shakespeare’s works to console, inform, delight, or move me, and more often than not, something that is remarkably relevant to current issues and events. His wit and wisdom are timeless. Of course, one often has to see them as euphemisms, allegories, or metaphors and overlook their relevance to events contemporary to the Bard. But sometimes they transcend history and stand on their own in modern times. Such is a speech found in Sir Thomas More, a play that, while not canon, Shakespeare is believed by most experts to have contributed to the revision thereof. … click below for more ↓

The Moreness of Everything

Books & Reviews / Media / Musings / Psychology & Sociology4 Comments

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The title of this post comes from a subhead in Thomas De Zengotita’s book, Mediated: How the Media Shape the World Around You (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005) in which the author writes about choices, and “how much the screen of human consciousness can register at a given moment.” This is an important question for today, with so many people (younger people, especially) glued to their phones, always online, always engaged, always scrolling, clicking, texting. And scrolling past the headlines, not reading the whole story, getting only a few words before scrolling on to the next headline or jumping to another source … click below for more ↓

Musings on Colour vs B&W

Culture / Film & Reviews / Musings / TVLeave a comment

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I grew up in the technological end of the black-and-white era. In the 1950s and early ’60s, our TV was black and white (technically called monochrome). So was everyone else’s, as were all TV broadcasts for the first decade. I watched everything in greyscale, and the day ended with a test pattern. Movies at the theatre were sometimes in colour, sure, but a lot were still in B&W. Colour filming was a more expensive and complicated process, and ballooning budgets mattered enough to keep many producers using B&W. I remember going to a drive-in theatre with my parents in the … click below for more ↓

Thoughts on (Re)Reading Fowler’s

Books & Reviews / Musings / Style & usage / What I'm Reading Now5 Comments

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I had all but forgotten how delightful it can be reading Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. It gives me the same sort of pleasure as reading at random through Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary. Although I have had a copy of Fowler’s book on my self since the 1970s, I only returned to it recently, while musing on the dog’s breakfast of the town’s recent communications about its boil-water advisory. I was going to write a post about the event, offering whatever sage advice I still had about how to create effective, far-reaching, and immediate notification during an emergency (and … click below for more ↓

Knee Recovery Final, and Doomscrolling, 28

Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Politics / Surgery & MedicineLeave a comment

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So it ended today, Thursday. My physio sessions are over after seven weeks. I achieved 119° knee bend and, with a push from the therapist, got to 120°, the magic number to which patients are directed to aspire, and which usually mark their graduation from therapy. There was no ceremony, simply goodbyes. They should have a bell for people to ring when they finish their course, like radiation departments have for cancer patients who finish their course. From now on, I am on my own: I am expected to continue to exercise three times a day until at least late … click below for more ↓

Recovering Knee and Doomscrolling, 27

Daily life / Memes; Internet & Social / Musings / Politics / Surgery & MedicineLeave a comment

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Tuesday morning, not long after I finished my morning knee exercises, I drove to Barrie for my annual visit to my urologist — and the surgeon who removed my cancer-riddled prostate, back in 2020. You can read more about my journey with prostate cancer here. I also visit my oncologist once a year, usually in the spring. Both visits involve a prior PSA blood test to check if I have any of that hormone showing. And I don’t. Haven’t had a positive PSA result since my surgery. What matters for me about today’s visit is that I drove there and … click below for more ↓

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