A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 11: Perfection

| December 31, 2014

To speak of the Warrior Path is to conjure images of life and death. Of strife and struggle. Of blades and guns and martial skill directed toward a goal of death and destruction. But as the Warrior walks the Path, it will soon become clear that if his reason for being there is to subjugate […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 6: The Woodsman’s Song

| December 26, 2014

2014 is coming to its conclusion in a whirlwind of blood and hate that shows every likelihood of staining much of the world for some time to come. Of course, this doesn’t make 2014 particularly unique because there has never been a time in recorded history during which you couldn’t find, at any given moment, […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2014 – Day 3: Perspectives on Acquisition

| December 23, 2014

“I figure that we are hard-wired to be hunter and gatherers, and somewhere, that whole shopaholic thing expresses some kind of visceral need to acquire and store items. Once upon a time, we might have been out finding acorns and tucking them away or putting a turnip away for winter. Now, we are buying an […]

The Ecology of Space Exploration: Second Look – Same Conclusion

| December 6, 2014

While the first landing on the surface of the Moon was motivated by international rivalries and political agendas, in its development, the fallout of space exploration has given us a host of technologies we take for granted and rely on every day. It was beneficial to society at large, and its legacy incalculable. Mars One, […]

Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 18: Privacy, Secrets, and the Sliding Scale

| October 18, 2014

If there is one very dark pit modern society is hell bent on careening headlong into, it’s the dangerous, dangerous, and I emphasize really fucking dangerous idea that demanding privacy is somehow suspicious, and tantamount to an open admission that you – indeed anyone who wishes to have it – must have “something to hide”. […]

The Forest of Truth

| July 19, 2014

I am favoured in that I have the honour of knowing a precious few who live their lives on the Warrior Path. Some of those would be surprised to learn that I view them that way. To speak of the Warrior Path is to conjure images of life and death. Of strife and struggle. Of […]

If You’re Going to Play, Play. Don’t Play.

| April 22, 2014

Today’s title is taken from the vast body of sage advice that flows from the mind, pen, and lips of Hanshi Stephen F. Kaufman; a treasured Friend to whom I have referred here on many occasions, and will again. I invite you to peruse and reflect on these representative pieces from the LFM Archives that […]

From the Mouths of Babes

| February 22, 2014

I’ve mentioned my Esteemed Friend and Fellow Fiend Jim Keating more than a few times here, and no doubt will again because he persists in provoking me. His daily updated MAAJAK World (pronounced “MAGIC World”) ezine (MAAJAK = Master At Arms James Albert Keating) has been a daily morning stopping point for me since I […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2013 – Day 9: Books and the Art of Socialization

| December 29, 2013

“I am a product […of] endless books. My father bought all the books he read and never got rid of any of them. There were books in the study, books in the drawing room, books in the cloakroom, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2013 – Day 6: A Winter Lesson in Community

| December 26, 2013

Nova Scotians complaining about the state of the province’s roads in the wake of Sunday’s winter storm should be careful how much they grumble. An old law still on the province’s books can order “all physically fit male persons” between 16 and 60 years of age to shovel out highways made impassable by snow. At […]