In a gratuitous attempt at positive thinking, I thought it would be useful (to me) to document a few of my 2013 activities that turned out to be good ones. So, without further adieu, here is a list, in no particular order, of 2013 activities that I generally consider improvements upon my life.
1. From the Ground Up! I changed the style of shoes I wear and it has made a huge difference. I now believe that we have been duped into thinking that we need “arch Continue reading
Here’s one of the best Shakespeare quotations ever! And my, how it applies to our modern hearsay/Facebook culture!
“Merrily posteth the Fool, yet vetteth not, that which he wast but told I had said.”
Shakespeare
~ Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 1
There is, to me, no house so cold as one that needs no fireplace. The building and tending of fire has become for me such a primal instinct as to leave me feeling incomplete when it is not needed. In my unapologetic opinion, one might as well build a house without inhabitants in mind as to build one without a fireplace in mind.
This fireplace is all I need. And a dog. Continue reading
I have coined the term Sole Reform Fallacy (or Sole Remedy Fallacy) to name a cognitive error I have seen frequently in play with regard to politics and religion. Here is its definition.
Sole Reform Fallacy—the error of judgment by which a proposed act of reform that is both needful and useful is shunned because it alone will not solve the entirety of what is perceived to be wrong.
Here are three examples of this cognitive error in play. Continue reading
The following article was written with these goals in mind:
This list is a work in progress. In no particular order (at this time):
Phenomenon
George Malley (John Travolta) mysteriously finds himself with new mental energy for Type 2 cognitive processes. He realizes many of his previous cognitive errors, invents many things, comes up with loads of questions, and has an insatiable curiosity. The community in which he lives find all this to be freakish. Continue reading
Ralph: You know, they say that Brother Billy is really popular. He has preached over a thousand funerals in this county!
Dale: That guy’s not really that popular; I think his reputation comes mostly from poor communication. Continue reading
So where did we ever come up with the idea that the ideal achievement in knowledge is to become a specialist?
I live my life under the constant frustration that things of fundamental and preeminent importance must so frequently take a back seat to the practical business of being a worker/consumer cog in the prevailing economic machine. And the machine does not care one iota for grand ideas such as reality, authenticity, and self correction. Rather, it does considerable and deliberate work to the detriment of these principles.
Philosophy in general, and societal reform in particular, are not pursuits well suited for those who lack the means for leisure. This is because Continue reading
Of all the millions of products, services, ideas, and causes that some salesman would deliberately try to sell you, how many of them are actually GOOD for you?
And how many are actually BAD for you?
How many would actually HARM you, and the salesman simply doesn’t care because all he wants is your money? Continue reading
