Oct

2023

Communication and isolation at once

Thursday March 9, 2023

Something about technology isolates us from each other.
At a workshop on technology, the theme speaker argued that every technological advance takes a skill once limited to a minority and makes it available to the masses.
Stone masonry, for example. In medieval times, masons who could carve blocks of stone for the great cathedrals of Europe had free passage from country to country. They became “free masons.”

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Categories: Soft Edges

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14

Oct

2023

Making friends – furry and human

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday March 2, 2023

A recent survey says that Canadians like the idea of working from home. “Hybrid workplaces” mean, among other things, that you can attend a Zoom meeting in your pyjamas. You don’t have a daily commute of up to five hours – yes, I’ve known people who spent five hours a day commuting from northern Ontario to their offices in Toronto.
And, of course, you can prevent that new puppy from chewing the legs off your grandmother’s coffee table.
The Covid-19 lockdown apparently resulted in a huge increase of people adopting pets.

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14

Oct

2023

How soon will they shout “Crucify her”?

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday April 2, 2023

Is it pure coincidence, that Canadian Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Christia Freeland should chose to present her 2023 federal budget the same week that Christian churches around the world celebrate Palm Sunday?
I doubt if many churches in Canada – indeed, I doubt if ANY churches in Canada – will choose to preach this special Sunday about the federal budget. They will, rather, focus their attention on the biblical story of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem roughly 2000 years ago.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

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14

Oct

2023

Are your computers spying on you?

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday March 12, 2023

“Hey, Siri,” I said to my cell phone.
“Yes?” my cell phone replied. So did my laptop and my desktop. I had assumed both of them were turned off. Or at least dormant. I was wrong.
Now I wonder how much else those microphones are picking up when I think I’m alone.

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14

Oct

2023

Christian nationalists denounced

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday March 6, 2023

It came as a pleasant surprise to hear that the president of the Missouri Synod had denounced, without equivocation, what he called “Christian nationalists.”
You know who they are. They’re loud. They have guns. And strong opinions. And in defence of those opinions, they will deliberately drive a truck into a crowd of protesters. Or shoot up a mosque-full of Muslims. Or storm the Capitol in Washington.
According to a Religious News Service story, LCMS President Matthew Harrison said he was “shocked to learn recently that a few members of LCMS congregations have been propagating radical and unchristian ‘alt-right’ views via Twitter and other social media.”

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Categories: Sharp Edges

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

Communication and isolation at once

Making friends – furry and human

How soon will they shout “Crucify her”?

Are your computers spying on you?

Christian nationalists denounced

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