“Physicians swear a Hippocratic Oath whose central vow is ‘do no harm’. I wonder–how many other professions might do well to set that goal above all others?” Excellent question. “Look, see this broken plastic wheel? Part of a cheap toy, circa 1970. Giveaway prize in some fast food outlet’s promotional kiddie meal. Seventy grams of …
Category: uncategorized
Mar 17
Capernaum – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Capernaum (movie) currently on netflix.ca – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED It will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Aug 17
Gwynne Dyer (along with half the species) misses an obvious point
I highly recommend Gwynne Dyer’s Climate Wars, but I must say he misses an obvious point, especially evident when he says “There are almost seven billion of us, and it is almost impossible to imagine a way that we can stop the growth before there are eight and a half billion” (p.268) — because it’s …
Jun 20
Opinions, Judges, and Juries
Why is it that a prerequisite for being a jury member is that you have no opinion about the case—in particular or in general. Those “who may have strong prejudices about the … issues involved in the case, typically will be excused” (uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/JuryService). Only airheads need apply. I don’t believe there are such prerequisites for …
May 30
Comedown (a short short story)
Millions of us watched, eyes glued to the nearest television. At school, at play, at work. Everywhere. We held our breath. “Coming down nicely… Picking up some dust…” They had less than 30 seconds of fuel left. “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” The Eagle has landed! We did it! We landed on …
Dec 18
Oh the horror
On yet another occasion during which I was stunned by one of my neighbour’s stupidity and ignorance, it suddenly occurred to me that the person I was speaking with probably hadn’t read a book since high school. (Yes, it then occurred to me that s/he probably hadn’t read a book during high school either.) Then …
Dec 11
Why is honesty rude?
If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. What? Why is honesty rude? What kind of society considers honesty, truth, to be less important than—what? Social cohesion? And that assumes that people will be offended by the truth. If the truth is about them, I suppose that’s an accurate assumption. But what …
Dec 04
The Dialogue – by chris wind
The Dialogue, by Chris Wind (from Deare Sister) Lasthenia, your beard is slipping. Why thank you. Did you get the mathematics done? No. And I tried so hard, Axio, after you left last night. I worked at it for another two hours. It’s just not clear at all. Can you help me again tonight? …
May 28
What’s Wrong with Power (a few preliminary thoughts)
The thing about power (power over others, that is, not power over oneself) is that it can interfere with the other’s freedom of choice. But it does so only if they use that power, you may wish to clarify. So people should simply not use their power over others; they should not even show they …
Apr 14
The Mr. America Pageant (a short film script)
The Mr. America Pageant, Peg Tittle (hoping there are some people out there looking for short feminist scripts!) This is a parody of the Miss America Beauty Pageants. Basically, it’s a freeform collage of scenes (of indeterminate length – five minutes might suffice) similar to those one would see during the pageant, but all featuring …
fiction
