The Phoneless Journey – LYP@H pt. 1
“What time is it?” The seemingly innocuous question posed by my friend as we sat at our local bar highlighted the social experiment we had embarked upon. Earlier in the evening we had decided to go for a walk, and did what many people would consider the unthinkable; we left our smart phones all alone...
Populism Should Be Popular
Populism is supposed to be popular, right? Andrew Breitbart passed away yesterday for apparent unknown health reasons. Most people know Andrew simply as “the asshole that got Shirley Sherrod fired” and make no mistake, Andrew Breitbart was in fact that asshole. I’m fairly certain he would be proud of such a description. Now to be...
An Open Letter About Destruction
“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” Picasso’s words reflect a universal truth, expressed not only in art, but in religion, science, politics, history, and economics. It is, quite simply, natural. I was recently told, in fact I have been repeatedly told throughout my life, that I am an extremely self-destructive individual. ...
The Sokal Hoax, Post-Modernism and the Left
Every now and then one will unfortunately have the experience of participating in a rather, pleasant and stimulating conversation which is completely derailed by a statement of sheer lunacy. “Oh, so you actually believe in DNA?” “No, don’t you get it….gravity is a social construction.” “The essential nature of Marxism is theological in its paradigmatic...
Repent for your Humanity!
You’re sitting on a train at the station. Another train slowly passes by on the next track over. You feel yourself leaving the station, only to realize – once the other train has passed – that you haven’t moved an inch. While illusions of motion and directionality are most often associated with spatial location (“Am...
This Time It’s Different
Among economists, academics and political scientists there seems to be a debate emerging about the current economic turmoil. The central issue being: does debt matter? The Keynesians don’t seem to think it does. Other people disagree. I think it matters for the following reason: it has mattered for the last 8 centuries, every single time...
Occupy Whose Space?
What follows is the perception of a senior citizen who has been visiting the occupied St. James park in Toronto, listening and talking to people, and who has been disappointed with the media representation of the Occupied movement. Because contrary to complaints, there is a coherent message. The state structure is a kleptocracy and very different...
The Augmentation of the World
I am in Tokyo, on the balcony of my 30th floor hotel room, looking down on the bustling city after dark. I am trapped beneath the black night sky, surrounded by glass skyscrapers, bright neon lights and the endless city. Two hundred and twenty miles above are astronauts aboard the International Space Station, whose night-time...
Pay No Mind to the Man Behind The Curtain
The price of raw cotton is at a 140 year high and one of the unexamined consequences of this phenomenon is that it is becoming more expensive to print US dollars. In 2008 the price of manufacturing a dollar 6.4 cents. A short two years later it jumped to 9.6 cents. I wonder if it’s...
The Left Needs to Grow a Pair – Part II
During the recent Toronto budget debacle, I was down at City Hall for the protest on September 26th. One of those semi-organized leftist temper tantrums. A referendum on Rob Ford’s agenda, so to speak, which in all fairness actually got the Ford brothers to back away from some of their more draconian cuts. If he’s...
Just Doing It with Hyperactive Man
The scene is Tahrir Square during the heart of the Arab Spring: A BBC reporter pulls a celebrating young man aside and asks “What’s next for Egypt? What comes after Mubarak’s government falls?” The man, with a wild gleam in his eye, turns to the reporter and giddily responds that he doesn’t know. The revolution...
A Note From The Future About Facebook