The Imaginary Integer

One vote. One nation. One dream. One spirit. One soul. Except — when, as a person, you’re only worth three-fifths. Who chooses the fraction? Who creates the integral definition of one human life over another based on decimals, point schemes, and not on whole numbers? We like to believe the world is as fair, and as ordered, as our parents promised us it would be. Two arrives after one. The opposite of amber is divinity. The soul of humankind is undisturbed, except by the precepts of intentional evil clinging to the moon to cleave the star. We live in a numeric world, where measurements are predictable, dreams are quantified, and dissolved in commandments, and end games are more than simple crucifixions.

Continue reading → The Imaginary Integer

Case of the Half-Boiled Toad

I’m sure you know the fable of the slow-boiled frog. If you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water, the frog will leap out to escape the heat. If, however, you place a frog in a pot of lukewarm water, and then slowly bring the pot to boil, the frog won’t sense the slow temperature change and will stay in the pot of rising, boiling water, until the frog is cooked, and dead.

Continue reading → Case of the Half-Boiled Toad

Best Bedroom Amp Review: Orange Rocker 15 and Henriksen Bud

It’s been awhile since I posted a “Boles Blues” review of guitars, guitar amps and other musical gear. Two things were conspiring against me over that time. One, I injured my left wrist. That’s my “fretting” hand, so playing was difficult. The second conspiracy came in two parts, a couple of years apart: Floods! The first flood that hit my apartment came from three flights above and ruined half of my guitar collection. The second flood, two years later, arrived from the same burst pipe in the same apartment on the third floor, and ruined every single guitar amp I owned. The water damage ruined my musical collection and — because I pay for my own gear — I knew it was going to take awhile to get musically re-established.


Continue reading → Best Bedroom Amp Review: Orange Rocker 15 and Henriksen Bud

The Wild and Woolly Wim Hof Method

Wim Hof is a wonder. He has a wonderful program of healing and regeneration that can heal you, make you stronger, and change who you are as a person. The “Wim Hof Method” is a $200.00 USD series of 10 weekly video instructions that will lead you into a better well-being. Wim concentrates on breathing to cleanse the toxins from your body, cold water therapy (using regular showers and ice baths) to shock your system back into responding to your environment, and some yoga positions that will help challenge, and focus, your daily breath.

Continue reading → The Wild and Woolly Wim Hof Method

The Kiss Each Other Clean Review

Music evolves over time — a musician or band will not write the same kind of music when they start playing as they will be playing a decade later, or two decades later. It’s interesting to look at bands from the past and examine their growth over time and see how they change from album to album. Many times, however, when you are living through those changes it can come as a bit of a surprise and it takes getting used to. This happened to me most recently with the new Iron & Wine album, “Kiss Each Other Clean.”

Continue reading → The Kiss Each Other Clean Review

Android Actors Remove the Soul from Live Theatre

We attend live theatre performances because we love and appreciate watching the human body in motion.  We never know what will happen.  We risk danger and mistakes and anxiety in creating and witnessing the live performer — as the preplanned sometimes implodes into ingenuity, compunction and disaster.

Continue reading → Android Actors Remove the Soul from Live Theatre

Religion and Psychiatry

If you have $200.00USD to spare, there’s a book you need to buy — “Religion and PsychiatryBeyond Boundaries” — and if you don’t have that much scratch, I’ll try to fill you in on a bit of what you’re missing.

Continue reading → Religion and Psychiatry