Clear autumn near home in Toronto, extended with a family vacation within Canada to Vancouver, where the Covid rates are more favourable
Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, BC
Chester Hill Lookout: Cool autumn morning shows leaves starting change colours in view northwest towards Beltline Trail and Moore Park. In the foreground, Evergreen Brick Works should be quiet on a weekday, and the Don Valley Parkway is below capacity for morning rush. Overlook had a few clusters of neighbours presumably enjoying the clear weather. (Chester Hill Lookout, Chester Hill Road, Toronto, Ontario) 20201001Grange Park: Grass around #HenryMoore 1966-1969 Two Large Forms, contrasts with the hard sidewalk at the original installation of 1974 on the southwest sidewalk of McCaul Street and Dundas Street. In summer 2017, the sculpture was moved onto the Grange property. To the east, the Sharp Centre for Design at OCADU was first opened in 2004. (Grange Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20201005Former Bayview Avenue onramp from River Street: The entry between Queen Street and King Street descended onto Bayview Avenue before 2011, after which the Flood Protection Landform routed traffic south towards the new Corktown Commons. Parkette seems temporary, with fences and construction machines at the bottom of the slope. The green space should eventually get a name when redevelopment is completed. (River Street, between Queen Street and King Street, Corktown, Toronto, Ontario) 20201017Clarence Square: Cut tree trunk with branch, light showing through hollows in two dimensions, closed on the bottom. In a park by busy streets, did planners or city workers design to leave a small point of interest next to the mature tree? Dog run to the south, many pedestrians with canines happy to see each other. (Clarence Square, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20201021Logan Avenue, south of Queen Street East: Unnamed laneway eastbound to Morse Street, blocked for paving. In parallel, local neighbours promoting Laneway Park-ing project for greening the public street behind commercial buildings leading to residential right-of-ways. We’re on the west side of Logan Avenue, where redevelopment at the end of the street transformed our laneway. (Laneway south of Queen Street East, from Logan Avenue to Morse Street, Riverside, Toronto, Ontario) 20201022Toronto Pearson Airport: Maple Leaf Lounge isn’t the same, in the pandemic. On way to Vancouver, may visit family, if they can bear the social isolation count below 6 in BC. (Maple Leaf Lounge, Domestic, Toronto Pearson Airport, Ontario) 20201023Twin Falls Bridge: The Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge was closed, so we walked further downwards to the fixed crossing to the south. Long wooden stairs down, and boardwalk planks meant steadier balance. No real photo opportunities in the canyon, we followed the paths well above the flowing water below. (Twin Falls Bridge, Lynn Valley Ecology Centre, North Vancouver, BC) 20201025Lighthouse Park: Practically as far west in continental Canada as possible. Hike to the overlook of the Port Atkinson Lighthouse was posted as 10 minutes down, and 25 minutes back up to the parking lot. Pedestrian route through old growth forest, thick trunk hemlock trees with more than 500 rings. (Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver, BC) 20201025Lord Strathcona School: Strolling with Chinatown memories back to the 1960s, remembering the elementary school for KY, TW and DI. Sons getting history of the family, first-hand accounts of growing up in the neighbourhood. Population was practically all Chinese in those days, houses nearby are now gentrified. (Lord Strathcona School, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201025Strathcona: Walked from front of building to the east side, to appreciate the multi-level unit that was home to a family of 9. Decades later, everyone has now moved out of the neighbourhood, most with families of their own. Recalling the places called home, within a few blocks of each other, and the distances walking to school. (718 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC) 20201020Simon K.Y. Lee Senior Care Home: Window visit with DY’s mother, as we aren’t the designated family visitor for the month to the eldercare facility. She recognized us through the glass, and was happy to see us. Helpful staff at the centre said that she knew we were coming from Toronto, as we had phoned ahead to make arrangements. (Simon K.Y. Lee Senior Care Home, Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201026Kitsilano: Reminiscing back to July 1984, when DY moved into my apartment, followed in the next month as an uncommitted girlfriend leaving Vancouver for an uncertain future in Toronto. I had lived in the apartment with the big picture window since November 1982, as a graduate student at UBC. The building looks much the same today, although the West 4th Avenue commercial strip has since densified. (1960 Waterloo Street, Kitsilano, Vancouver, BC) 20201026Vancouver Art Gallery: Alienated by the Euro-Canadian style of the period, #EmilyCarr (1935) “A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth” adopted the expressive power of the forest in a deliberately limited palette of greens and blues. In later reflection, she said that she was interested in the abstraction of #LawrenHarris, but chose to retain her vision of being of nature, rather than next to it. Part of the exhibition of “Rapture, Rhythm and the Tree of Life”. (Vancouver Art Gallery, Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201027Vancouver Art Gallery: Showing “nothing”, #ZhuJinshi (1977) “The Tao of Rice Paper II” sees folds of sheets hanging over bamboo in a floor-to-ceiling installation. The artist sees abstract as really from Western philosophy and aesthetics, not from the Tao of Chinese philosophy. Part of the “Common Language exhibition. (Vancouver Art Gallery, Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201027Richmond Art Gallery: Serigraph #GuXiong 1993 “Cafeteria #3” originally shown in the 1994 exhibition The Basement, reflecting the experience of working as a new immigrant working in the UBC cafeteria. Originally from Chongqing, now a professor of Fine Arts at UBC. Gallery just reopened with show celebrating 40th anniversary. (Richmond Art Gallery, Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC) 20201028Gulf of Georgia Cannery: Just outside the National Historic Site, a working fishing boat maintaining its nets. Inside was a rather complete history of British Columbia canning from pre-European days, through the World Wars, to the 1970s when production ended. Full-scale model of canning production line, with progress demonstrating technological advances. (Gulf of Georgia Cannery National History Site, Fourth Street, Steveston, BC) 20201028UBC Belkin Gallery: Musical score background, with wood-burning fire ring and tripod stools, #TaniaWillard (2018) “Surrounded / Surrounding”. Leather seats have words etched into the leather. The Sounding exhibition is a combination of visual and aural installation, we observed mostly artifacts and social distancing sensibilities. (Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC) 20201029Seymour’s Pub: Trio #WinstonMatsushita, #WynstonMinckler, #ToddStewart in casual north shore venue. Pianist had studied jazz at UToronto, moved back home to Vancouver. Small group of music enthusiasts separated from clientele more interested in big screen sports or socializing. (Seymour’s Pub and Grill, Lillooet Road, North Vancouver, BC) 20201029Tightrope Impro Theatre: Concluding award in Gorilla Theatre show @TightropeImpro, counting bananas over forfeits for directors of each scene. Five performers in protective face masks, our family were front and centre at a table socially distanced from other audience attendees. Walking through Chinatown to arrive at venue revealed the district has become popular with hipsters, filling restaurants both inside, and on outside patios. (Tightrope Impro Theatre, East Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201030Kitsilano Beach: Volleyball courts full on a sunny day, next to English Bay, with the mountains of the north shore as background. Leisurely stroll west to Elsje Point, and then west to Point Grey Park. Bright days like this leads visitors to forget the grey days from November through March. (Kitsilano Beach, Vancouver, BC) 20201031
Civic Tech can be described as projects using technology “for the public good“. Civic Tech may be related to, but different from Gov Tech. For the May 2024 Systems Thinking Onrtario, we had two knowledgeable guests in conversation. Dorothy Eng, executive director of Code for Canada since 2021, related her professional journey from engineering to […]
On my May trip through the UK, I accepted an offer to lead an Expert-Led Session at the University of Hull. I had previously been a Research Fellow of the Centre for Systems Studies, but haven’t travelled to the Hull for some years. As we worked out the arrangements, I found out that the seminar […]
I’ve been checking on the breadth of some personal research on systems thinkers. (The list is incomplete, and may orient more towards systems scientists). Searching on Scopus gives an h-Index that counts scholarly references (with a boost, for the first person on the list who received a Nobel prize in chemistry). The list below is […]
Reading a theorist who espouses the dao (tao) in their systems work? Here’s a challenge: is the writer referring to daojia, or daojiao? Daojiao 道教 is religious daoism, gaining legitimacy only with the Tang dynasty (712-758 CE), after many centuries with the religion of Confucianism as dominant. Classical Chinese philosophy is hard to interpret even […]
As the book on Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 was taking shape in March 2023, I was invited not only to serve as an editor, but also to contribute as an author. The edited volume is the final deliverable for the In4act project centered at the KTU School of Economics and Business in Kaunas, Lithuania […]
Beyond city-building as urban planning is the idea of a Music City. This sees development of cultural life across a wide variety of arts, alongside economic benefits brought to the region. At the 119th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario in March 2024, socio-cultural designer Adam Hogan and musician-designer Ziyan Hossain joined moderator Zaid Khan in conversation. […]
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
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 ›
In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]