Toronto, Ontario.
Almost finished double lobster: Down to the last pieces of shellfish from the double lobster portion of the dinner. Started with peking duck, then shark’s fin soup, whole steamed fish. Grand Ocean Seafood was my father’s choice for a well-executed family (Scarborough, Ontario) 20110801Blood pressure 129 over 84. Had acupuncture to relieve fatigue. Mental and visual acuity restored. Afterwards, Dr. David Lam took my blood pressure, finding it 129/84, which is normal for me. In May, after trip to Las Vegas, blood pressure was low, at 109/84 (Toronto) 20110802Urban forestry on Booth Avenue. Sounds of chain saws across the street, as crew removed tree from back yard. The tree in the front yard is owned by the city, and thus cared for by municipal employees. The tree in the back yard is at the property owner’s prerogative, so it’s not much different than any other plant with a life cycle. (Toronto) 20110804 1640Danforth, east of Chester, Taste of the Danforth. Despite intermittent rains and swampy heats, mobs still flock to Taste of the Danforth late on Sunday afternoon. Our family went to the first and second years’ events, when there was more community participation. Now, it seems to be mostly a local small business event. To avoid crowds and summer heat, we prefer to patronize the businesses for lunch in the dead of winter. (Toronto) 20110807 1740Toronto nightline from Polson Pier. Avoided heat by bicycling at night. Southbound to Portlands, west to Polson Pier. Cool view of downtown Toronto. Steady stream of taxis dropping off clubbers. (Toronto) 20110808 2111Withrow Park evening softball. Rode bike past Withrow Park, where a friendly game of softball was being played on a cool summer evening. On the way uphill to deliver foo jook soup to a friend. (Toronto) 20110810 1950Toronto Necropolis Mary Watson 1869. Grave marker for Mary Watson, died 1869 at age 6 years, 11 months. The oldest legible date that I saw at Toronto Necropolis, originally opened in 1850. A tranquil spot in today’s downtown Toronto that would have been far from the harbour so many years ago. Northeast of Wellesley Street and Parliament Street (Toronto) 20110811 18:05View southwest from Birchmount Road. bridge north of Ellesmere Road. Rail tracks straight shot southwest to downtown Toronto, towers in the distance. From an overpass on Ellesmere Road., which might otherwise be a flat bike ride southbound on a slow slope down to Lake Ontario. for a change of scenery, I rode subway to Kennedy station, then loaded onto front of bus up to Huntingwood Drive. Don fuelled me up with spaghetti and conversation, so I felt so much better on the ride home. (Scarborough, ON) 20110812 2002Pretzel Logic Lakeshore Mardi Gras 2011. Steely Dan cover band plays at a summer community festival in Etobicoke. If the you’re going to play covers, making ridiculously difficult content seem easy is a challenge worth taking. pretzellogic.ca (Toronto) 20110813 1841Torrential downpour at Regent Park. Should have checked the weather radar before going cycling. Rode to other side of Don River before rain started pouring down. Took refuge under big trees for five minutes until rain lightened. My preferred time for exercise coincides with after rush hour, so today’s air may have been cleaner than usual. (Toronto) 20110815 1801Brass Transit at Unionville Bandshell after dark. Sidestage at the Unionville Bandshell to hear Brass Transit covering Chicago, over 2 hours of music. Audience gave standing ovation. Bands in Toronto rearranged, as saw Paul De Long (drums), Don Breithaupt (keyboards) and Bob McAlpine (guitar) with Pretzel Logic playing Steely Dan just 5 days earlier (Unionville, ON) 20110818 20:43Edward Gardens 26th Renewal of Vows. For the 26th consecutive year, DY have returned to renew our vows at the same fountain where we were originally married, at Edward Gardens. The answer was, again, that we’re committed for another year. It pays to reflect on the year past, and look to the year forward on our relationship as a regular event. Forecast for tornado later in the evening didn’t deter us, we can’t remember ever being rained out. (Toronto) 20110824 1815Ryan checking in for YYZ-PEK on Air Canada. Family saw off son #4 to Renmin University of China. Following the pattern of three older brothers, with Noah halfway through his two years in Beijing. Will expect to hear from him on Skype by tomorrow morning our time (Toronto) 20110830 1120
Seicho no Ie temple, Scarborough, Ontario. Striking modernist temple with Japanese touches is Seicho no Ie, the world’s largest New Thought group. Never heard of this religion, had to look up on Wikipedia. In eastern Toronto, on Victoria Park Avenue just north of Danforth Avenue, encountered bicycling south from St. Clair (Scarborough, Ontario) 20110831
The February 2019 Systems Thinking Ontario meeting was an opportunity to bring those unfamiliar with the work of Christopher Alexander on methods revealed in the Eishin School and Multi-Service Centers projects.
The wholeness generated through pattern language may be influenced by stronger foundations from advances in the systems sciences, not just in built environments, but also in other domains.
An invitation to give a talk at IBM Research Almaden presented an opportunity to trace the history of science of pattern language, as it developed inside the company, and with the external community.
An invitation as a keynote presenter at the 2018 International Conference on Smart Cities and Urban Design (SCUD) was initiated on a recommendation by Susu Nousala to the program chair WU Jing. Blending the conference theme with my recent doctoral research, I proposed the topic “Innovation Learning for Sustainability: What’s smarter for urban systems”? For […]
The March 2018 lecture on Architecting for Wicked Messes for the OCAD SFI Understanding Systems and Systemic Design course was influenced having just taught Systems Methods at UToronto, and launching the Open Innovation Learning book.
The idea of managers being proactive only dates back to 1964, as classes of functions described by Abraham Zaleznik: homeostatic, mediative, and proactive. Predispositions may or may not be altered through educational development.
Concerns on #personaldata should be reframed as interpersonal, says @sheldrake , less the nodes and more the edge connections. “I want to take back control” superficial, @hartzog says control doesn’t scale. Agency is about negotiation in the world, more rhizomatic…Read more ›
Doing science should be wayfinding (pathfinding), says #TimIngold , gaining grounding in the art of paying attention, towards research as the pursuit of truth. Truth is more than objective facts, where science and art are embraced with materials, so that we can see the quality inside the natural world as it forms, rather than as […]
We should be more vigourous, says @MazzucatoM , in debating differences between value extraction and value creation, and between profits and rents. Lecture at Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford U., January 2019Read more ›
Most destructive analogy last 100 years @DavidGelernter @econtalker : Post-Turing thinkers decided that brains were organic computers, that computation was a perfect model of what minds do ... and that mind relates to brain as software relates to computer Read more ›
Before judging democratic systems over authoritarian, examine the functioning of governments through its diplomats, where plutocracy has an alternative in meritocracy, says @mahbubani_k @longnow @asiasocietysfx. [1:19:30] … when people compare the American government with the Chinese government, they say: “This…Read more ›
The story of #JosephNeedham by @simonwwriter, about the scholar behind the 27-volume Science and Civilisation in China starting in 1954 and continuing after his death in 1995. Arriving in China in 1942, Needham discovered gunpowder, printing and the magnetic compass…Read more ›
Satire can be an antidote, says Prof. #PaulBabbitt @muleriders , to #bullshit (c.f. rhetoric; hypocrisy; crocodile tears; propaganda; intellectual dishonesty; politeness, etiquette and civility; commonsense and conventional wisdom; symbolic votes; platitudes and valence issues).
If we don’t first know “what is system is”, how do we approach an intervention? #MichaelCJackson OBE and Dr. #LuisGSambo appreciate the difference between “systems thinking” (plural) and “system dynamics” (singular), and suggest expanding theory with Critical #SystemThinking in Health Systems Research. An ignorance of history is, if anything, even more pronounced among those authors […]
In deciphering Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Five Phases) thinking, #Kaptchuk (1983) has a footnote and then an appendix that clarifies the way forward for appreciating foundations of Chinese medicine favouring the former.
The field theory in psychology by #KurtLewin 1943 derives from classical field theory (viz. electromagnetism and gravitation), predating quantum field theory (viz. subatomic particles). For psychology, Lewin wrote in 1943 how history (and a subjective view of the future) matters. It is correct that field theory emphasizes the importance of the fact that any event […]
Many who cite #KurtLewin haven't read the original 1947/1951 writings, say @strategybuild @ToddBridgman @kgbphd with the "refreezing" part of "unfreezing → changing → refreezing" emerging in a subsequent career of an idea that can be traced genealogically and archaeologically.
Human organizations may learn from wolves, with groups of 2 to 6 taking down elk, and cooperative expert groups of 9 to 13+ taking down larger bison. #DanielMacNulty, #AimeeTallian #DanielRStahler #DouglasWSmith (2014).
