Category: Observation

Things that have made me go “Hmmm…”

The Singularity Cometh

I was dismayed to learn six years back or so that Google had acquired YouTube. While the media focused almost entirely on the benefits or dangers this would confer to both companies, as well as the dollars involved, there didn’t…

A Matter of Perspective

I read somewhere that the ancient Greeks imagined your past as stretching out before you, while the future surprised you from behind.  Our society imagines it the other way around: our past is behind us and we look forward in…

Daylight Savings Time

I read an article on Daylight Saving Time today which, regardless of how I felt about it, certainly got a lot of commenters worked up.  A health researcher in Britain has proposed eliminating Daylight Saving Time as an ‘easy’ way…

Collateral Murder

I heard about a video (and the WikiLeaks website) on The Current on CBC radio yesterday.  I wasn’t sure at the time if I would have the intestinal fortitude to watch it, but today I decided that I had to…

Meaning

Today in traffic I could see that the vehicle that was three vehicles forward of me had begun signalling to turn left.  I could also see that there was a fair amount of oncoming traffic, so I quickly made a…

The Nature of Waste

Did native North Americans have garbage dumps?  I don’t think so.  I recall learning all about how every part of an antelope or bison was used for something by natives — and nothing at all was wasted.  And why was…

Awakening

I remember a moment of awakening for me about three years ago.  I found myself walking through a Walmart.  I was like anyone else in there — looking around for what I came for, but also scoping for things that…

The Value of Things

I was having a discussion with a friend recently in which he lamented about the number of gifts his children had received for Christmas.  It was January 16th and there were still a few gifts under the tree, not yet…