Nov

2016

Put More Bubbles in your Life

There was a time, wasn’t there, when the World series took place in September? Before the NHL started up? When baseball was a game of summer, football of fall, and hockey of winter? Now they’re all on at once. No wonder I’m confused about the seasons.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: bubbles, life

6

Nov

2016

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Author: Jim Taylor

Two days from now, the United States will elect a new government. The U.S. may still be the world’s most powerful nation. In budget, weaponry, and personnel, America has roughly the military power of all the rest of the world combined. But I doubt if it is still the most influential nation. The recent electoral campaign has knocked it off that lofty pedestal, perhaps forever. But there's no doubt that the coming change in government will have profound implications for all other nations. As the voting date draws closer -- somehow, the saying about the light at the end of the tunnel being an onrushing freight train comes to mind -- political pundits seem to agree that the nation is deeply divided. They also seem agreed that, no matter who wins the White House, the country will remain deeply divided.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: unintended consequences

2

Nov

2016

The marvelous mysteries of our minds

Author: Jim Taylor

While giving a talk, a while ago. I became aware of how many levels of thought can be going on at once in my mind.
At one level, of course, I’m thinking about the words I’m saying at that moment. But I’m also thinking ahead to the words I’m going to say, the way these words will lead into the next point.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: mysteries, minds

30

Oct

2016

Treating a mass murder as a mystery novel

Author: Jim Taylor

A Canadian nurse has been charged with murdering eight seniors in care homes over a seven-year period. The victims’ families are in shock, of course. So is the community of Woodstock, ON, where seven of the murders took place. But the details are sketchy. We know the name of the alleged murderer -- 49-year-old Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer. We know the deaths occurred between August 2007 and August 2014. We know the names and ages of the victims. We know that seven of them received a fatal dose of a drug. The drug may have been insulin. As a nurse Wettlaufer would have had access to supplies of insulin. Even so, the choice of drug is actually irrelevant -- any drug, no matter how valuable for health, can be administered as a fatal dose. But the facts available, up to the time I wrote this column, tell almost nothing about why Wettlaufer might have done what she’s accused of.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: mass murder, mystery novel

26

Oct

2016

The rising pace of extinctions

Author: Jim Taylor

Algae, insects, and Bengal tigers are not the only things threatened with extinction.
You may have heard already that Canada’s premier newsmagazine, Macleans, will become a monthly publication in January. Its owner, Rogers Media, has decided to scale down its print offerings. Chatelaine and Today’s Parent are cut back to six times a year. Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business will be available only as digital versions.

Comments (0) Number of views (1278)

Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: extinctions

Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

Put More Bubbles in your Life

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The marvelous mysteries of our minds

Treating a mass murder as a mystery novel

The rising pace of extinctions

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