The Vivarium Blog

Beginning a piece with a quote is sometimes an appeal to an authority lacking in the temerity of the author’s viewpoint, however these quotes too adroitly characterize the times we live in to worry about saving face. Most especially, when you take into consideration one of the infamous sources: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” Adolf Hitler

Please check out my latest article on the bloodiest sport of all! Rant & Reason: Sport Hunting

The Rant & Reason articles give license to vent, curse, lament and generally blow off steam before settling down to address the issues in a cool headed and metrically reasoned way.

Wandering through my newsfeed I discovered this staggering display of ignorance: Bucket list item: To kill a bear in Alaska.

The huntress had this to say:I just shot my DREAM animal eye to eye...watched him come…

Quickie: Jason Silva’s NYC Mindjam

After following Jason Silva’s YouTube channel for some time, I was pleased to see a sit down session with author Douglas Rushkoff in an open forum situation. In the post video glow I thought I would delve into the comments to see who was saying what. And was, I confess, a bit disappointed. There was some relatively harmless discussion about one speaker interrupting another, which to me felt more…

Russell Brand: Speaking the Trews and taking the heat!

We knew it would happen. Eventually, out of the tumult of voices who have been crying out for change a uniquely salient voice would emerge! It would take someone who shatters preconceptions while articulating the churning undercurrents of discontent to gain the focal attention of the masses. Already at a whopping 1 Million youtube subscribers, Russell Brand’s venue for discourse dubbed the Trews(…

Check out the latest article by J.D.McGuire on Vivariumblog.com: Empathy ~ The Mother of All Morality

Empathy.[foot]

Defined by Dictionary.com:

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?

Both empathy and sympathy are feelings concerning other people. Sympathy is literally ‘feeling with’ – compassion for or commiseration with another person. Empathy, by contrast, is literally ‘feeling into’ – the ability to project one’s personality into another person and more fully understand that…

I have moved over to a new location which you can find at: Vivariumblog.com

Check out: The Jelly Bean Analogy

If you estimated your life expectancy based on myriad genetic, ethnic and economic criteria and then portioned out a Jelly Bean for every day you are expected to live, you would have a pile of Jelly Beans representing your life expectancy. If you then took away a Jelly Bean for each day spent doing various tasks you would have the…

Thought Experiment: The Emperor’s New Shoes

Think of as many advertising slogans as you can in 60 seconds…

It is likely that you will be shocked by how many you remember. However, what should surpass shock is the nature of the messages that corporations beam at us through every media orifice presented to them.

Nike is one of the most famous child labor benefactors but not the only one!

If you parse out the affirmations from the jingoistic…

Quickie: Jas. Townsend & Son

A short while ago, I unearthed a rare YouTube treasure! A gem from the 18th century so to speak, which I am now addicted to. I am speaking of 18th Century Cooking with Jas. Townsend and Son, Inc.

While searching for information on traditional building methods involving cob (clay, sand, straw) and or straw bales ~ I noticed an intriguing thumbnail, undertitled by the words, “How to Build an…