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Jan 22

The Fairy Tale of Obama’s Inauguration

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Foolishness, Political Opinion
When Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States yesterday, I was and still am amazed over all the pomp, circumstance, and glitter that accompanies the presidential rite of passage. It’s a spectacle that stands in stark contrast to Canada’s celebration of a new political leader. New prime ministers are simply sworn into office with little more than a low-key ceremony with the Governor General at Rideau Hall, attended by a handful of dignitaries and family members. Inauguration day of the U.S. President is a grand affair, with the swearing-in at the majestic Capitol, an inspirational speech to kick off the new presidency, a packed parade to the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue and then a series of star-studded dusk-to-dawn balls. With such a grand, awe-inspiring celebration, I would expect to see a king being crowned. Yet the United States went to war with Britain to dispose of the monarchy and the entitlement of royalty. It is just pure irony that Americans celebrate and treat their President and the First Family like fairy tale royalty. And just like the fairy tale kings of old, Obama’s rise to the top is a real fairy tale in the making. For […]

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Jan 17

Ultima Storyline FAQ

by Chris Billows in Hobby Heedings 0 comments tags: Comprehensive Analysis, Games Analysis
I have decided to resurrect an old document for the sake of posterity. It is the Ultima Storyline FAQ, which is an old computer game series that ran in at least thirteen installments, helped launch the CRPG niche, and was the basis of the first Mass Multiplayer Online Game, Ultima Online which is currently running. I started the FAQ by posting it to the rpg newsgroup. It was my first attempt at Retroactive Continuity and was one of those points that gave me some excitement relating to world construction which has influenced me in my work with Promaginy. Ultima Storyline FAQ by Chris Paul Billows Final Version 1.5 10/30/95 This FAQ is in no way affiliated with Origin. All information within this FAQ is from the author, contributors or from books. Since this is the final version of the FAQ I will no longer be accepting any comments pertaining to it. Thank you. The purpose of this FAQ is to ask and answer some the questions that come up when one plays any of the Ultima game. These questions do not pertain so much to how to solve the game in particular but is more to try to make sense […]

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Jan 05

Book Review: Small is Beautiful by E.F.Schumacher

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Foolishness, Free Enterprise, Human Condition
It remains painfully obvious that this book is written by a crank. Only a crank would tell us that we need to rethink our consumption patterns, how we manage our economy, and our relationship with our environment. Going against conventional thinking is pretty fashionable today, but to do so in 1973 and still be so relevant is testimony of a crank who knew what he was talking about. E.F. Schumacher wrote this book in response to what he saw as the quickening and centralizing nature of modern society. He saw governments and businesses getting bigger and losing their essential and natural sense of scale, which is human friendly or simply “small”. Thus prompting the title of the book. It was through this book that Schumacher is credited with influencing green economic thinking from the 70s and afterward. He articulated the fundamental question about growth: “How much further growth will be possible, since infinite growth in a fine environment is an obvious impossibility”. Such thinking was radical, yet not socialist. Instead his thinking was the basis of humanistic, or human-centred economics. This book helped shift the tired and largely irrelevant debate of Left wing vs Right wing economic politics or big […]

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Dec 23

Ideology: Scourge of the Modern World

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Foolishness, Human Condition, Human History
The Economist posted an article, Why Wars Happen, explaining that the cause of most conflicts in the world during 2008 is due to ideological differences. This reinforces my conviction and past blog posts, Ideology vs Philosophy and Confessions of a Recovering Ideologue. that ideology in all of its forms is the scourge of the modern world. The research about world conflict was conducted by the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, and has some pretty amazing information there. Does my criticism of ideology mean I am anti-thinking? No, I would instead argue that ideological thinking is an oxymoron. Ideology is a mental disorder that afflicts politics, religion, culture (political correctness), and business. To be ideological means to not think and to abdicate one’s rational powers. To truly be a thinking person one must be philosophical and open to new information.

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Dec 14

A Voters & Democracy Mismatch

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Change of Mind, Political Opinion, Poltical Party Corruption
The problem we just had in Ottawa is more than just lying and ambitious politicians. It also has to do with our democratic system. Polls (if you believe them, I personally am skeptical) say that Canadians want to elect their governments. They do not agree with the Liberal-NDP-BQ coalition taking power from the Conservatives despite having more seats and more votes. Huh? That hardly makes sense. More Canadians voted for non-Conservative parties than the Conservatives. You would think that they would be happy with the coalition. Yet, I read that Canadians believe they should elect their governments and not have them formed by politicians. The problem is that Canadians are fully ignorant about their democratic institutions. They have never voted for governments. They vote for individuals who belong to a political party who may be able to form the government. Its kind of like how Americans vote for their president – they actually vote for Electors who in turn vote for the President. There is an added layer of democratic administration in both situations. When we vote for any MP, MLA, or City Counsellor, they are just a piece in the puzzle. They are not the government. That question is […]

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Dec 09

Psychology Cagematch – Maslow vs Frankl

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 1 comments tags: Comprehensive Analysis, Human Condition
I was talking with a colleague who is a trained psychologist about different views concerning the human condition. The two views we contrasted were Abaraham Maslow and Victor Frankl, both Jewish, both European, and both having similar philosophies about human purpose, yet really having fundamentally different conclusions about what drives that purpose. Abaraham Maslow believed that humans are only ready to act upon their growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met. Once met, the person then moves onto the next stage of need to be met. The theory has eight stages where we progressively move from physical, bodily needs to more metaphysical and spiritual needs. There were 8 stages: 1 ) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.; 2 ) Safety/security: out of danger; 3 ) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and 4 ) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition. 5 ) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and exlore; 6 ) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty; 7 ) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential; and 8 ) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential. Courtesy of https://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html The […]
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