Topher's Thoughts

The super hero meme

2008-08-17T18:41:00.007-07:00

One of the big problems with our (and other) cultures, in my opinion, is the deeply ingrained "super hero" mythos / meme. We can see this exemplified in the huge popularity of super hero films (Batman, Spiderman, Superman) and in certain religious figures (Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad). Now I'm not going to delve into whether or not these latter "heroes" were all they are purported to be. My point is that the mindset of "some champion is going to come and save us all from the mess we've made for ourselves" is fundamentally an unhelpful one. When you look at Nature, what do you see? How does change come about? For example, (with the very rare exception) the mountains are not worn down by one big event (i.e. a volcano blowing its top) but by multitudinous individual drops of rain. The message here is that power comes from many acting together, rather than a single super-one acting alone. If we are ever going to dig ourselves out of the hole we're in (pick your favourite current crisis) we will need to do so together.

Probability Travel

2008-08-17T18:02:00.002-07:00

So never mind space or even time travel, what I want is probability travel. We all know what space travel is. Surely by now almost everyone has at least heard of time travel. However almost nobody has heard or even conceived of probability travel. The basic premise is that from any point in time there are not just one but many (infinite?) possible ways the future might unfold. There is a movie that explores this called Sliding Doors. Now wouldn't it be great to be able to surf between different outcomes and see what different realities are like? For a short video describing the theory of higher order dimensions, please follow this link. As always, I welcome your comments.

We are all actors

2008-06-03T20:46:00.003-07:00

So here is my latest idea: We are all actors. What do I mean by this? Well think about it, what defines who you are:

Your name
Your gender
Your race
Your generation (year of birth)
Your home town (where you were born and raised)
Your family (parents and siblings)
Your culture
Your genetics (hair colour, eye colour, skin colour, height, personality)

How many of these did you pick? Exactly. So this must mean that we are all just playing a role as defined by the above. Further, once you have made a few decisions in life, other things fall outside of your control:

Your children's personality and friends
Your spouse's / partner's friends and family
Your co-workers
Your church / club members

As a final thought, on most people's grave stone you will find:

The person's name
The person's date of birth
The person's date of death

For the majority of people, none of these are self determined. Something to think about.

My theory on how life works

2008-04-20T13:57:00.004-07:00

So there are many different analogies for life. One of my favourites is the game of Plinko as seen on The Price is Right. Let's watch a game and then I'll give my commentary.

As I see things, these are the parallels to life that can be gleaned from this simple game:

Life is a series of choices
Chance plays a large part in these decisions (more than you might think)
As life progresses, the number of possibilities decreases
You may get stuck and need some help
You may not always like the rules
The distance between success and failure may be very small
Who knows, maybe you get a few tries at life

Let me know what you think. Are there other things you see? Is there another analogy to life that you like better?

New Urbanism

2008-02-24T18:15:00.001-08:00

There is a website dedicated to the idea of a new kind of urbanism. From the site:

Giving people many choices for living in more sustainable, convenient and comfortable places, while providing the solutions to global warming, climate change, and peak oil

NewUrbanism.org was started in 1998, and has since grown to become a leading and well respected informational website promoting walkable urbanism, transit oriented development, trains and sustainability.

See here for the website.

Our Society is Making us Crazy

2008-02-16T00:46:00.000-08:00

The Story of Stuff

2007-12-04T22:57:00.000-08:00

For the full story, please see here.

Free Will Anyone?

2007-11-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

Two birds with one stone

2007-10-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Two of the main afflictions of modern society are widespread depression and environmental breakdown. A family in New York City does an experiment in simplified living and finds that both are conquered with one lifestyle change.

[W]ithout all the mod[ern] con[venience]s to distract us, we spend more time with each other, our friends and our neighbors and actually feel happier.

So what if, as a society, we worried less about a booming economy which drains the planet of its resources? If, as the positive psychologists suggest, having more stuff isn�t going to make us happier, shouldn�t we worry more about things like building a culture that emphasizes personal connection and community?

If the results of [my] experiment are anything to go by, not only is that an approach that would help cure our environmental crisis, but it would also help cure our unhappiness.

Here's the story.

Going Car-Free

2007-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

For a while now we've been toying with the idea of going car-free. Since we both take public transit to work, we only use our car on the weekends. Today I read an inspiring story of a family who did it and are much better off both financially and physically. From the article:

Within two months they paid off two credit cards. No car meant no car bills. It also meant no quick trips to Taco Bell. No morning jolt of Starbucks. No impulse buys of jeans or toys at Target.

Shopping on a bike, says Erick, prompts the question: "Do we really need an extra box of Crunch 'n Munch?"

One day Jess had a strange complaint: too much money in her wallet and no place to put it. Erick figured out they were recouping more than a third of their income.

"It's as if your boss came in," he says, "and asked if you wanted a 35 percent raise."

See here for the full article.

We are waves, not particles

2007-06-28T01:01:00.001-07:00

Richard Dawkins quoting Steve Grand "Matter flows from place to place and momentarily comes together to be you. Whatever you are, therefore, you are not the stuff of which you are made."

Don't say you weren't warned...

2007-06-27T23:52:00.000-07:00

The bad news...

The Bank for International Settlements, the world's most prestigious financial body, has warned that years of loose monetary policy has fuelled a dangerous credit bubble, leaving the global economy more vulnerable to another 1930s-style slump than generally understood.

The BIS, the ultimate bank of central bankers, pointed to a confluence a worrying signs, citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system.

See the full article here.

But wait, there's more....

It is not a matter of �if� the dollar will collapse, but �when� it will collapse. At Gold Stock Bull, we think the dollar could fall below 80 cents before year end. Once that support gives, it is anyone�s guess how low it could drop. The U.S. dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt.

At a UN Headquarters press conference, launching the 2007 World Economic Situation and Prospects Report, mid-year update, Rob Vos, the Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), told reporters that, "The United States debt, which has now deepened to well over $3 trillion, might turn out to be unsustainable in the rest of 2007 or next, putting further downward pressure on the United States dollar." He also pointed out that since its peak in 2002, the dollar had depreciated vis-a -vis the major currencies by some 35 percent and by 25 percent against a broader range of other currencies.

See here for the whole story.

And finally:

The M3 data that shows how much money the Fed prints as well as how much is in circulation, etc, just last year, they announced, 'No one is really interested in these numbers and they are too hard to compile.' Like a drunken, gambling spouse declaring there is no need to balance the check books or look into the bank accounts, so it is here. Many people yelled about the M3 numbers being suppressed but to no avail, of course.

See here for more.

We're raping our own mother

2007-06-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

What's the worst crime you can think of? Surely violently abusing the one who bore and nurtures us would be near the top. Well that is exactly what we are doing to our mother earth. Why are we doing this? How did we get to this state? What can we do to stop? Even if we did, how long would it take for the earth to recover? As is often the case, the answer is easy to state but more difficult to practise: "Live Lightly":

Own less - Share more
Consume less - Enjoy more
Waste less - Recycle more

Let's take better care of our mother before she can't bear us anymore...

Laughter Yoga is no joke

2007-04-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I saw this video on YouTube and thought it was a joke. Some time later I heard that a group at my work did a "Laughter Yoga" session and I became interested. Well last month I got a chance to go to one of these sessions myself and let me tell you, it was a blast! I had such a great time, I decided to set up a monthly Laughter Club (that's what they're called) at my workplace. This form of Yoga is very easy to do, good for you, and a lot of fun. I highly recommend you give it a try. Here are a few links about it:

The Conference Bike

2007-03-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

I want to work for a company that has these...

The Man Who Planted Trees

2007-03-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

An inspiring and heartwarming film:

The L-Curve: The U.S. Income Distribution

2007-03-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

Life as a Series of Choices

2007-03-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

xkcd is one of the best online comics I know.

Modern Life

2007-02-05T01:20:00.000-08:00

This has to be one of the best songs and videos I've ever come across:

Here's another version of the tune.

Understanding Exponential Growth

2006-12-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

Very important video. Please take the time to let it load and watch it. You will thank me. (You will need the Real video player)

Launch in external player

What to say...? (Revisited)

2006-06-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post, I commented on how I had abandoned the religion of my youth. While this is not entirely true (I still "talk to God" � a.k.a. praying in religion-speak), I have for the most part rejected the doctrines and practices of Christianity. I really feel that organized religions are not the avenue to spirituality that work for me anymore. Having said that, I do realize that there is more to life than the material world and that I need some form of "practice" to feed my spirit. This was reiterated today on the CBC program Tapestry, one of the things I do as a part of my aforementioned "practice". On today�s program, there was an interview with Oriah Mountain Dreamer (a flaky name to be sure but: books, covers and all that). In the interview, she quotes a saying:

It�s too late to dig a well when your house is on fire.

The meaning here of course is that you need to have an well developed spiritual practice in place before disaster strikes so that you have something to help carry you through. While agree with this in one respect, I also think that anything that you do on a regular basis can turn into an empty ritual. So I guess the trick is to have a habitual spiritual practice yet somehow keep it fresh and meaningful. What are your thoughts on how to do this?

Tall Grass Bakery

2006-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today on the Vinyl Cafe, Stuart McLean talked about an amazing enterprise called the Tall Grass Bakery. Here are two quotes from the segment that really stood out for Michelle and I:

You can't get rich when you pay fair wages to both farmers and staff but you can make a decent living.

And:

If something's too cheap, that means someone's paying the cost somewhere along the line. Maybe it's the environment, or maybe it's someone else.

Here is the segment of the show where he talks about this wonderful bakery. We were really inspired by this and hope that you are too.

Lose the tie!

2006-06-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

So enough doom and gloom. Here is some good news:

Japan kicked off its summer "Cool Biz" casual clothing campaign Thursday with politicians ditching their suits and ties to encourage the nation to use less air-conditioning.

In 2005, the first Cool Biz drive helped cut carbon dioxide emissions by 460,000 tonnes -- equivalent to the combined emissions from one million Japanese households per month, the government said.

How cool is that? LOL

See here for the full article.

For more stories like this, check out the great news network.

The Human Parasite

2006-04-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sustainable Economics

The idea that the Earth is a living system or organic being has been called the Gaia hypothesis. Gaia is the Greek name for the Earth Goddess. Some believe that our mother Earth as a living organism will adapt herself to changes that threaten her life. From the Earth's viewpoint humans are a parasite on her body; if those parasites threaten her health, she may find ways to make them change their behavior or possibly even eliminate them.

Mad-cow disease, avian flu, and other diseases may cause epidemics so that humans will reduce their eating of other animals. One aspect of this megacrisis is that humans in their spiritual evolution may be learning not to kill other animals, especially those that are more evolved such as fellow mammals. Eating the meat of mammals is less healthy than consuming fish and fowl and much less healthy than living on vegetables, nuts, and fruit. As society takes on the responsibility of making sure that everyone has good health care, those personal actions that tend to cause one's health to deteriorate may be discouraged by taxing them in such a way as to pay for the health care costs they cause. In this way the freedom of each individual to choose those less healthy behaviors is still preserved, but they are held accountable by having to pay the true costs for their choice. Another example is taxing tobacco and other harmful drugs.

Update:

It looks like we have VHEMT to the rescue!

Update 2:

Here's a movie that sums it up.

Take the challenge

2006-03-14T22:53:00.000-08:00

While browsing Wikipedia I came across an article about a great idea someone had a while ago called TV Turnoff week. I was quite familiar with this event from the many AdBusters magazines I have read. What was news to me from the article and which is a natural follow-on to the original event is PC Turnoff week. Now this is fairly current in my mind because my parents (now on a fixed income, like many retirees) recently had to get major work done on their car. As you can imagine, this made finances a little tight. Now what should happen next but their main (for like most first-world folks, they have more than one) TV died on them. What to do? Go out immediately and buy a new (and coincidently better) one of course!

Now please don't get me wrong, I am not slamming my parents! They are no different than the rest of us. (As a point of fact, go into even the poorest of homes and while you may indeed not find much for food, you will almost certainly find a TV.) And I think this is the point I am trying to make. We all have addictions in our lives, whether we realize it or not. Don't have any additions, you say? Can quit whenever you want, you say? No problem I say -- try it! The only way you will truly ever get the slightest notion of just how dependent you are on a certain behaviour is to attempt to go without it (voluntarily) for a period of time (say one week).

I know this works because I have done it. Twice now when I found that I was having health problems due to over consumption of sugar (my all time record was 5 doughnuts, 1 muffin and sundry cookies in one day!), I went without sweets for a week. The first time I did this it was hard. Surprisingly hard. But I did it. A test of the will. The second time I did it I figured: well I've done this before so I should have no problem this time. HA! I was positively shocked as to how hard it was. I was severely tested and almost didn't make it. I couldn't believe it.

So, my challenge to you (assuming anybody has actually made it this far in the post) is to pick something that you do everyday (or nearly so) that you suspect may be an addiction, and try to stop for a week. Just one week. How hard can that be? Are you up for it?