Author Archives: John Swinburn

Time is spinning out of control, as if a relentless rogue clock has taken the universe hostage. The timepiece is flaunting its unchecked power by accelerating the passage of days and weeks and months, causing them to rush past in … Continue reading →

Permanent global totalitarianism. Dystopian evolutionary scenarios. Anthropogenic existential risks. Extinction of Earth-originating intelligent life. Permanent, drastic, irreversible destruction of humanity’s potential for desirable future development. Those terms/concepts appear throughout academic papers dealing with existential risks to to the human population. … Continue reading →

Last year on this date, June 28, I wrote about waking to an odd sensation, as if my body was vibrating. The year before, on the same day—my late wife’s birthday—I expressed confidence she would have been happy for me … Continue reading →

The world can become too much. Too intense, too hard, too harsh, too unforgiving. Compromise is brushed aside by the force of inertia. Entreaties fall on deaf ears. Or, rather, pleas go unspoken. Because nothing is to be gained by … Continue reading →

I have an obligation to myself to write at least one blog post every day. Sometimes, though, I do not meet my obligation. I fail, in other words, to fulfill my promise to myself. Today, I began writing a post, … Continue reading →

I’m just starting on my second cup of coffee, more than an hour and a half after I awoke. Promises I made to myself notwithstanding, I spent that time pouring over news stories on cnn.com, apnews.com, npr.org, and bbc.com. Whether … Continue reading →

The social fabric is thinning. Fraying and threadbare, tensions on crucial fibers cause rips and tears. Critical seams split, revealing naked bigotry, aggression, hatred, and unchecked fury beneath the cloth. Efforts to mend the damaged protective material repeatedly fail. The … Continue reading →

Rebellion. Expressions of individuality. Fitting in to a coveted social group. Pronouncements of (or attempts to declare) leadership of a coveted social group. The reasons for youthful (and not-so-youthful) bodily adornment and deformation are numerous. And they take many forms: … Continue reading →

Enormous oak trees—supported by spine, maples, hickories, and hawthorns—stand guard over the forest floor. Most people assume trees do not have thoughts or emotions, but people’s assumptions may be informed entirely by their innate limitations. Humans probably cannot comprehend the … Continue reading →

Downsizing. Minimizing. Trimming. Whatever the name, the act of reducing the number and volume of one’s physical possessions is appealing. Simultaneously, though, it is anathema to one’s obligations to preserve important components of the past. My mother’s set of beautiful … Continue reading →

  Curses and maledictions! Big damns and little damns!  Before I go overboard, I should allow the assessment to play out. I should chill. Take time to permit the universe to adjust itself. Give circumstances a chance to shrug off … Continue reading →

The Texas Rangers is the only Major League Baseball (MB) team that is not hosting a Pride Night celebration this season. Given Texas’ deepening bigotry and hate-fueled culture, that is not surprising. But, wait. Is criticizing the sin of silence … Continue reading →

Shortly after 1 a.m., brilliant flashes of lightning and extraordinarily loud, earth-shaking cracks of thunder roused me from deep sleep. Just as I awoke, the NOAA weather radio’s alarm screamed, followed by its almost indecipherable, crackling voice, warning of a … Continue reading →

I quickly skimmed an online, paid click-bait article this morning; it claimed many “historical” figures may not have been real. Jesus. William Shakespeare. Robin Hood. Confucius. Sun Tzu. Odysseus. Pythagoras. Moses. Muhammad. Etc. Etc. Etc. The brevity of my review … Continue reading →

Nothing comes to mind. Nothing compels me to write. I cannot grab hold of a topic to trigger this morning’s blog post. I tried the news, but it was either dull or disturbing; not a single topic lit an ember … Continue reading →

Temperatures in Tampere, Finland—roughly 180km (112 miles) north of Helsinki—had been forecast to reach 30°C (86°F) today, according to an online report in the Helsinki Times. That temperature compares to “normal” highs in June of 18°C (65°F); the normal high … Continue reading →

There was a time, no so long ago, when self-identification as a Democrat or Republican announced a person’s philosophical position on issues surrounding a party’s political platform. Claiming adherence to one party’s philosophies did not equate with loathing people whose … Continue reading →

I feed my imagination by subscribing to Family Handyman magazine. When I flip through the pages of the magazine, I dream of producing a wooden sauna or laying a winding, flower-lined brick walkway or building a cavernous workshop filled with … Continue reading →

Planet Earth is a dangerous place. Its dangers are both natural and unnatural. Temporary and eternal. Shying away from danger is understandable, but timidity carries with it unexpected perils. The choices between fear and bravery sometimes blend into indistinguishable options—not … Continue reading →

The bold headline on CNN.com this morning grabbed my attention: One of the most dangerous hours in America is now 11 o’clock on Sunday morning. The story (littered with typos…but that’s another story…) addressed how lay and religious leaders are … Continue reading →

Four Columbian children were found yesterday, forty days after they survived a plane crash that killed their mother and two others. The fierce, unimaginable trauma visited upon those children during their ordeal may one day be revealed in their own … Continue reading →

An inverse relationship exists between the power of the individual and the population of the planet. In other words, as Earth’s population increases, the influence of the individual naturally shrinks. That reduction in individuals’ ability to exercise control or command … Continue reading →

Today is mi novia’s birthday, which of course calls for celebration. The nature of one’s birthday changes over the years. As a child, birthdays are exciting milestones on what seems like an endless march toward adulthood—which is impossibly far away. … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s lunch was excellent; lobster ravioli alongside baked carrot strips, strips of red bell pepper, green beans, and onion. That should have been sufficiently nutritious and satisfying to last the rest of the day. But, no, I had a rather … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon, we protected ourselves from the blazing heat by sitting under the fan on the deck. Temperatures hovered around 87°F, but the covered deck and the breeze of the fan made the oppressive heat barely tolerable. Late in the … Continue reading →