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Ruminations on Shopping Malls
We ended up taking the kids to the mall yesterday. Simon sat and ate a piece of pizza in the food court while Helen and Calvin ran some errands. It took him along time to finish his food, so it gave me time to sit and think about how malls have changed over the years ( Read more... ) -
Smaller Town, More Equality
As I've gotten older, I've really come to realize how much more social and economic equality there can be in small towns than large cities. San Francisco is a classic example. The divide between rich and poor there is so extreme. The town is dominated by millionaires and homeless people, and not a whole lot in between. The neighborhoods are ( Read more... ) -
Being on the "Right Side" of History
Something you hear a lot of people say today, is that they really care a lot about being on the "right side of history". Maybe their view isn't the most popular now, but some day, history will prove them right ( Read more... ) -
Essay on Science
I think what a lot of laypeople mean when they use the word "science" is, "things that seem like magic to me, but that smart people say are actually real." This is why when most people use the word "science", they conjure up pictures of laser beams, dinosaurs, black holes, rocket ships, holograms, atoms, test tubes, etc. They also envision its ( Read more... ) -
Bad Logic
Today I stumbled on a Washington Post article by an author who is convinced that Jesus never existed: https://www.washingtonpost. ( Read more... ) -
Why we value some things...
Have you noticed how many of us rarely take things at face value ( Read more... ) -
The Most Divisive Music?
When I discover someone is something of a music aficianado, I have a tendency to want to talk about music with them. I'm a fan of a large number of styles of music, but what I've discovered is that the most divisive style of all might well be "dance music" (aka, "electronica", "techno", "club music", "rave music", etc.) The world seems to be ( Read more... ) -
Weird Theology
If you ask me, this is where a lot of really weird theology comes from, in a nutshell:
* The Bible commands "X".
* To me, "Y" seems like a good explanation for the Biblical command "X".
* Therefore, the Bible also commands "Y".
By the way, it seems like all of us can be tempted into this trap if we're not careful! -
Where have all the jazzy gone?
Popular music definitely goes in waves for what's trendy and what's not. Something I've begun to notice over the last few years is how "jazz" influences in popular music are most definitely not very trendy right now. Certainly not compared to the 1990's and early 2000's, when everyone from hip hop artists, to indie bands, to rave DJs, to punk ( Read more... ) -
Generational Attitudes Towards Cars
I keep hearing about how the current generation of young people are less and less interested in cars, and I've noticed it to be true myself. It got me thinking about how the different generations of people over time have interacted with cars differently. Using the list of generations as defined by Wikipedia, here's my own non-scientific ( Read more... )