Month: September 2021

Wonder Wednesday

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A little over two weeks ago, I was supremely privileged to get to walk on hallowed ground… and in no way could I contain my excitement!

Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.  Yes, I totally squeed.  There is so much history from this pad:  Apollo, Skylab, Shuttle, F9, FH, and now Crew Dragon.  Amazing.  And while the technical bits are exciting, above all I am always moved to tears witnessing and being present to the great heights we can accomplish when we work together towards a lofty goal.

After the visit came time to watch the launch from the most prime of locations, atop OSB-2!

Needless to say, it was a grand time, 100% exhilarating and wonderful.  After the lifetime of never seeing a launch in person, twice now within a year.  And I’m very much down for more.

Philosophy Tuesday

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We are quite familiar with the idea of, and the distinction between, a physical trainer and a physical therapist.

When it comes to the realm of being and the art of living, however, that same complementary duo isn’t nearly as present or as familiar.  Therapy is most of what inhabits that realm, and while the stigma around therapy is (fortunately) reducing, it nonetheless gets conflated with the “treating injury” or “fixing something” context of physical therapy.  (Which itself reinforces the existing subtext that we shouldn’t need any training and should somehow be fully adjusted and ready from the moment we’re squeezed out into the world.)

There could be much to be gained in furthering the same duo in this realm as well.

Architecture Monday

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Ah, here’s another cool project (this one for a small coffee shop in Japan) that inhabits the space underneath a railroad bridge/trestle.  Nestled under one of its many repeating arches, it’s exactly what it says on the tin.  Patinaed concrete, rich exposed brick, and a double curve of the arched ceiling and concave back wall.

Nifty, and a nice complement to the Arches Project and to the Vans complex (both in the UK) which also inhabit under-rail spaces.

Blue Bottle Coffee Chiyoda City by Schemata Architects

Philosophy Tuesday

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“… a lot of people think or believe or know they are being – but that’s thinking or believing or knowing, not being… almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to be.  Why?  Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you are being a lot of other people,  but the moment you are being, you’re nobody-but-yourself.”

—  e.e. cummings

#cdnpoli

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Hello my fellow Canadians!  As I contemplate my absentee ballot, I’d like to share my experience as a current expat and provide some perspective about our choice.  Living in the USA for numerous years, I have seen firsthand the results of conservative/republican governments and the policies they champion.  They have not, and do not, create good and desirable outcomes.  They do not create equity, harmony, or prosperity for the country or the majority of its citizens, and are instead heavily titled towards the select few at the expense of the many.  And when it comes to solving the real issues of our time, they’d rather pretend they didn’t exist, blame others, or drum up irrelevant false outrage instead of being courageous and doing the hard work.  There is no leadership.

Therefore, I strongly recommend you not to vote for the Conservative Party of Canada in this upcoming election.  (And please do vote!)

Now, the CPC and its leader especially are trying to paint themselves as a “kindler, more gentle” conservative party.  Except that their policies still crib heavily from the Republican playbook.  One only has to look at how Doug Ford has run things in Ontario to know what’s at the heart of the modern Canadian conservative mindset.  (Even the promise of one dollar beer for everyone was a bogus boondoggle.)  Or how Conservative senator Don Plett stated, out loud, “We can all hope that the right side will win [the US election], and we will all send President Trump our congratulations when they do.”  Or how their environmental plan is to roll back targets, set pricing that will be ineffective, and then to enact a reimbursement scheme that manages to be both a pain to set up, crazily restrictive, and will benefit the wealthiest the most.  Or how its shadow cabinet members voted against banning the practicing of the harmful application of conversion (and I hate using the following word, for it is anything but a therapy) therapy.

And the like.  They try to dress themselves up and couch themselves in accommodating terms, but they are anything but.  They do not have the vision, nor the policies, to grow Canada to what it could be for itself, its people, and the world at large.  I have seen what this mindset and the Republican policies create, and it is not what they claim.  The results are deleterious, compounding even more more so for the future.  (And if you fondly remember the Progressive Conservatives… these are not them.  They have long been pushed out of the party by the Reform/Republican mindset.)

Therefore, again, I strongly recommend that you do indeed vote (voting is important!) and that you do not cast that vote for the Conservative Party of Canada.

Philosophy Tuesday

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We have many ways of determining, and testing, “what is real.”  Or, more fully, “what is reality.”  We use these, mostly unconscious, tests to shape our world view.  Which in turn shapes who we are being and even how we experience life, leading to our behaviours and reactions.

One of these tests, and perhaps one of the most hidden of them all, is the one of agreement reality.

As social creatures, we are very much in tune with what’s being expressed around us by our current groups, and how people respond to what we profess and do.  Get acceptance and agreement, and that reinforces our reality.  Find dissonance or disagreement, and it creates impetus to review, re-evaluate, and shift.  So the more agreement we get to our reality and how we express it, the more real it becomes.

This is why the common concept of an echo chamber is such an insidious thing.  The circular yes-ing and concurring between those within creates a massive agreement reality that can become all encompassing, especially given enough time.

And then… enter the internet.  One of the wonders of the ‘net is that we can find and connect with all sorts of people of all stripes from all over, almost all to easily.  The problem and pitfall of the ‘net is that we can find and connect with all sorts of people of all stripes from all over, and in this case, it really is all to easy.  Anyone who has a particular view (and reality) can find at least a few more who share that view.  Therefore incomplete, inaccurate, harmful, malice driven, and similar views can easily gain agreement reality traction.

Worse, this is further aided by the underlying website algorithms that are designed solely to drive us towards that which it thinks we will engage with.*  It does not know, nor care, whether what it’s bringing together is bountiful or baneful.  It just sends everyone that way.**  Which means those with the thinnest of realities can be brought together to form an agreement reality.

There isn’t really a conclusion here; this is more of a jumping off point.  To becoming aware, and mindful, about this reality test both in ourselves and in others.  To exploring it as lens on our disunity and of our isolation.  And as a foundation a of how we engage, of what we press for, and of how we can break cycles.

 

* This is even to the level that a search engine will, even if you visit it in private mode so you are a blank slate, use your IP address to pre-determine what it thinks you will want to see.  It is pre-shaping the agreement reality for you….

** And, worse, in the interest of engagement (and therefore our revenue-generating attention) it increases the intensity of the content it is directing towards.