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
Researching the philosophical foundations of systems theory to understand the meanings of “causal texture, contextualism, contextural” from the Tavistock legacy led to philosopher Stephen C. Pepper. The philosophical lineage and contributions of Pepper were the focus for the January online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario. A deep reading of Pepper’s work (over a month!) was […]
The first Systems Thinking Ontario session for 2023 is scheduled for January 9, on “Root Metaphors and World Hypotheses”. This is philosophical content, for which a guided tour and discussion will be better than attempting a solo reading of the World Hypotheses wiki on the Open Learning Commons. Upon announcing the session on social media, […]
The October online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario presented an opportunity for an update on progress made by the Systems Changes Learning Circle by 2022. A slide deck had been prepared an in-person seminar at the Universitat de Barcelona Graduate Programmes in Business, organized by Ryan C. Armstrong, one week earlier. Our regular monthly meeting, […]
Just before starting a trip to Spain, I received an invitation from Ryan C. Armstrong at the Universitat de Barcelona Business School to give some lectures. The students in the bachelor’s programme in international business had a short mention of systems thinking in the first lecture of the operationa management class. With that brief entry, […]
While the adaptive cycle and panarchical connections reflect the possiblity of movement from one stable state to another, it’s possible to get “stuck” in a disfavoured trap. Social ecological systems involve both natural systems and human systems. After widespread recognition of the 2002 Panarchy book, reflections in 2010 revealed further development of the theory and […]
In order to appreciate the influence of resilience science and panarchy on ongoing research into systems changes, revisiting foundational works sometimes resurfaces insights. In the 2002 Panarchy book, Chapter 15 provides a summary of findings. In the course of the project hat led to this volume, we identified twelve conclusions (Table 15-1) in our search for […]
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
In web conference, #HermanDaly says #EcologicalEconomics used to get attacked from the right, now it's from the left. Panel @revkin @jon_d_erickson @ktkish @sophiesanniti #TimCrowshaw #KatieHorner livestreamed #sustainwhat .Read more ›
Complementing the idea of a @longnow , @nfergus provokes the challenge of a #shortthen as the online social media platforms distract the larger perspectives on history.Read more ›
An online version of a special issue of Paunch (1980) on "Root Metaphor: The Live Thought of Stephen C. Pepper" has been preserved on the internet Archive
Attributed to Hippocrates is the use of the term kairos in observational methodology, and the presentation of significant findings. Just to be scholarly, Hippocrates is generally reported as a institution, rather than a person. Although Hippocrates is generally accepted as the father of medicine, few have recognized, or even realized, the extent to which he […]
Autopoiesis, as coined by Humberto Maturana, is in the contextualist root metaphor of Stephen C. Pepper, rather than the organismic root metaphor, say #HowardMancing and #JenniferMarstonWilliam .
