Busy social calendar of summer family gatherings and local festivals, interspersed with otherwise invisible journal article writing.
Toronto, Ontario; Orillia, Ontario
Ontario Place Cinesphere: Exited IMAX theatre at dusk, after enjoying Top Gun Maverick in a sold-out show. This cinema was the first permanent 70mm projector in 1971 when I saw “North of Superior”, compared to seeing my first commercial film here, tonight. We left home early to drive to the venue, not anticipating the crowd at the east gate going to see Young Money and Drake, as we crossed over to the west gate. (Ontario Place Cinesphere, Lake Shore Boulevard West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220806Chef 88 Oriental Cuisine: Full table of 10, with family dinner coordinated with arrivals from the south. Previous day travel from Woodstock NY by sister and husband via automobile, and son #4 via airplane. Catching up on news, maybe another opportunity later in the week. (Chef 88 Oriental Cuisine, Kennedy Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220807Dim Sum King: Summer Systems Conferences Debriefings planned outdoors for Grange Park were driven inside due to rain. Round table was a good configuration for comments and questions, but food arriving and active acoustics were distracting. Inclined to return to online meeting for next month. (Dim Sum King, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220808Port of Orillia: Tourism stop #LawrenceBoyer (2016) Weirs Story Pole depicts indigenous fisherman above, with fish getting tangled up in the threads below. Sister who actually lived in this city, early in her career, remarked how much the waterfront had changed. We gather in Toronto every few years, so trips north have a frequency approaching decades (Port of Orillia, Centennial Drive, Orillia, Ontario) 20220810Pizzeria Via Mercanti: Wood-fired Napoletana pizzas in a relaxed Kensington Market vibe a nice change from a week of Cantonese cuisine. Downtown evening with sister and brother-in-law, who moved away from downtown Toronto (and uptown Richmond Hill), and haven’t seen how much the city has changed. After-dark stroll across College Street and down Spadina Avenue, alongside viewing new condo apartments of sons now residing on the west side of town. (Pizzeria Via Mercanti, Augusta Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220810Centre for Social Innovation Spadina: Laneway BBQ of burgers south of @csiTO coworking space, combined with Salad Club providing greens while invitees contribute toppings and dressings. Brief pause for speeches to recognize the sponsors, who were also manning the grills. A mix of members from the Spadina building + Bathurst Annex + virtual members with online privileges, enjoying mocktails and cocktails under perfect weather conditions. (Centre for Social Innovation, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220811Bentway Studio: Street furniture #MichaelLeePoy (2022) Moko Jumbie design has a mandoria of two intersecting congruent circles, representing eyeballs. Practice of balancing on stilts for the West African masquerade (mas) tradition in Afro-Caribbean communities calls for stepped tiers that afford seating, mounting and training. Further west are apartment towers of the CityPlace planned neighbourhood, filling over over the past 10 years. (Bentway Studio, Fort York Boulevard, CityPlace, Toronto, Ontario) 20220813Canoe Landing Park: Four times normal life size @DougCoupland (2009) Tom Thomson’s Canoe is at southwest corner of park, elevated above the height of the elevated Gardiner Expressway to the south. The bright red sculpture outer structure rests on concrete, made of steel and resin sufficiently durable for children to climb on top. A wall of condominium towers partitions the city from Toronto Harbour beyond. (Canoe Landing Park, Gardiner Expressway, CityPlace, Toronto, Ontario) 20220813Union Station: Outdoor stage @kazdouramusic Sunday evening @smallworldnotes series. Modern western electric guitar, keyboard synth and drum kit, yet vocals in Arabic understood by only a fraction of the audience. Lady at the next table was animated in recognition of songs, eventually sufficiently moved to stand up with belly dancing thrusts. (Union Station, Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220814Centre for Social Innovation Annex: Panel discussion after @csiTO Cinema #FoodForTheRestOfUs @CarolineCoxFilm presented by @FoodSecureCAN @TYFPC . Documentary about leaders in 4 marginalized communities returning to the land, hands-on. Post-movie commentary relating programs in the region that provide opportunities and education for youth otherwise disadvantaged. (Centre for Social Innovation Annex, Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20220816Ontario Place West Channel: Bike riding westbound at dusk, the daylight is getting shorter past mid-summer. The Toronto Windshare turbine was turning slowly, generating electricity. To the south, I could the Toronto Summer Live Muisc Festival playing in Trillium Park, while bright lights of the Canadian National Exhibition were to the north. (Ontario Place West Channel, Martin Goodman Trail, Toronto, Ontario) 20220819Spadina Avenue at Dundas Street: Slow martial arts performance bearing staffs, on north stage of Chinatown Festival, while singing on south stage. Audience maybe half non-Asian, the other half Asian but not exclusively Chinese. Southbound Spadina Avenue closed to traffic for two blocks, while northbound traffic seems notably unimpeded. (Dundas Street at Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220821Roncesvallles Avenue: Thankful to an honest anonymous Torontonian who turned in my lost wallet at a bank branch, cross town. I only noticed the missing item on Sunday night, after biking back from Spadina Chinatown, home. Teller phoned me after tracing a credit card. I have already requested replacements, and gotten temporary ID issued. (RBC Royal Bank, Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220824Edward Gardens: Annual tradition of revisiting the fountain and renewing our vows, with a rare occasion to have all four sons in town at the same time, with grandfather. Reversed order to have dinner earlier, and then stroll around the gardens before dusk. Noted that we will lose our photographer from the past few years, as an official marriage means she should be included in future years. (Edward Gardens, Lawrence Avenue East, Don Mills, Ontario) 20220824
Centenary Hospital: Half dome mirror shows waiting in corridor outside CT Scan room in Diagnostic Imaging departrment. Urgent case prioritized appointment early in morning, waiting room filled up, and gurneys were staged in the hallway. Time in machine is only 5 minutes, but total includes drinking liquid, changing into gown, and inserting IV, for about 2 hours. (Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220830
Toronto, Ontario; Markham, Ontario; Scarborough, Ontario; Orillia, Ontario; Shanghai, PR China; Helsinki, Finland.
Chinese Visa Center: Mural of historical figures and stories of China’s five thousand years of civilization includes: 1. Houyi, Shooting Suns; 2. Shennong, the Ancient Herbalist; … 5. Hua Tuo, the Ancient Divine Chinese Medical Practitioner; 6. Sun Wu, the Great Military Theorist; 7. Qu Yuan, the Famous Poet; … 11. Confucius, the Great Chinese Philosopher; … 17. Mulan, the Chinese Girl-warrior; 18. Genghis Khan, the Great Conqueror; 24 Marco Polo, and The Travels of Marco Polo; … 27. Koxinga, the National Hero. Waiting in queue to drop off visa application folder, wondering about the process of choosing the 27. (Chinese Visa Application Service Center, University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20171102Cascon 2017: Clustering sticky notes in Strategic Foresight Workshop after discussions over lunch and ideation. After years of lecture layouts, ballroom is arranged with round tables to encourage sharing and capturing amongst participants. Many drawn away from collective activity towards posters at kiosks around the room, so maybe next time reducing options for distraction will lead to stronger inputs. (Cascon 2017, Hilton Suites, Warden Avenue, Markham, Ontario) 20171106Cascon 2017: Presentation #cascon on Cognitive Blockchain @DonnaExplorer, IBM Fellow. Clear demonstrations of pilots on cross-border supply chain traceability, Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for diamonds, IBM Verifier scanner to validate sources, Walmart Food Safety provenance. Digest at https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/2017-11-07-1015-donna-dillenberger-cognitive-blockchain-cascon/Highland Farms: Ontario grown Flemish Beauty pears on destination shopping, later in the season that I had expected. This heritage variety grows locally, not as popular as Barlett, Anjou or Bosc. Childhood memories of the tree by my grandparents’ house on the southeast corner of Beverley Street and Cecil Street in the 1960s, gone by the 1980s. I’m appreciative of a smaller grocery store that supports local growers. (Highland Farms, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20171107Delicious Paradise Kitchen: Father’s choice for Chinese fast food lunch. When I saw the serving of rice pulled on the plate, I said “too much”, and the server put half back into the pot. Dad says one serving is enough to serve two seniors. (Delicious Paradise Kitchen, Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough, Ontario) 20171109Port of Orillia: Off season for boat cruise on Lake Couchiching, on the Orillia waterfront. Quick business trip driving north on overcast early afternoon, followed by southbound trip starting before dusk and then ending in rainy dark. Radio reports subsequently declared winter snow, relatively early for the season. (Port of Orillia, Centennial Drive, Orillia, Ontario) 20171109
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 […]
What might a non-anthropocentric view of sustainability look like? This would probably include regeneration of species alongside others in the ecosystem. With some recent presentations, an idea that resonates with audiences is the “The Second Life of Trees”, credited by Tim Ingold (2002) to John Knight (1998). Ingold sees continuity of life not only of […]
Towards a general theory of living systems, we should be looking beyond the singletons of a hierarchical level, i.e. (i) cell, (ii) organ, (iii) organism, (iv) group, (v) organization, (vi) community, (vii) society, and (viii) supranational level. In a scientific approach, James Grier Miller created a list of hypotheses. In the 1100+ page book, the […]
When exploring the meaning of Living Systems, it’s pretty hard to ignore the major works of James Grier Miller (1916–2002) with a book thus titled. In addition to the 1978 book Living Systems (of 1168 pages!) some additions were published in 1992 in Behavioral Science, the Journal of the Society for General Systems Research. Miller […]
For their community of systems practitioners, Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) UK invited a presentation at their Virtual Open Meeting in July. Presenting in a 45-minute slot, the slides at http://coevolving.com/commons/2022-07-11-doing-thinking-making-systems-changes were covered in 38 minutes, leaving time for a few questions and comments. The agenda mainly focused on “Doing”, with “Thinking” and “Making” […]
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 ›
Towards a non-anthropocentric view of aesthetics, we explore the legacy of work in the aesthetics of nature. The collection of essays in The Aesthetics of Natural Environments (2004), edited by Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant, illuminates some of the issues and debates on this perspective. In the Acknowledgements for the 2004 book is a trail […]
In the history of science of systems thinking, Debora Hammond related the backgrounds and connections of the founder of the Society for General Systems Research, that is now the International Society for the Systems Sciences. Boulding (1956) plays a large role in framing two orientations towards “general systems theory”. Kenneth Boulding used to distinguish between […]
Geoffrey Vickers saw human systems as different, with moral character distinguishing from natural and manmade systems. Gregory Bateson, in a more general view of systems, saw morality as entering in systems processes.
In this review of a philosophical work written in Chinese, a comparison is made between Chinese philosophy centering on the body, in comparison to Western philosopy centered on the mind. (I found a reference to this book, tracing back from Keekok Lee (2017) Chapter 9, footnote 8.
The translation from English "systems thinking" to French "la pensée systémique" misses meaning. "Approche systémique" has lineage to "Conférences Macy", "General System Theory (Bertalanffy)" and "Gregory Bateson"
