Scientific research has two roads: curiosity-driven and problem-solving. In the first, you get to ask: “Gee, what would happen if?” In the second, you’re asking: “How can we invent a COVID vaccine?” What’s amazing is how so much curiosity-driven research ends up solving all kinds of problems. So I urge you to exercise your curiosity […]
Time to stretch the parts of you that other days don’t. Read More »
“Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed.” That’s the subhead of last week’s New Yorker article by Torontonian Stephen Marche. This is not just a big claim; it’s a stupendous and even preposterous one But the headline explains why it’s happening, and ultra-fast: “The computers are getting
Wayne LaPierre is under fire. The head of the National Rifle Association used to lead America’s most powerful and well-funded lobby group. He still does, despite using the NRA as his ‘personal piggy bank’, which forced New York’s Attorney General to move to dissolve the NRA, and for it to declare bankruptcy in January. Oh,
Hemingway would weep Read More »
Welcome to this weekend’s edition of Ramsay Writes, designed to divert our gaze from the dull and the usual, and remind us how odd and lovely life can be. 1. Tax the rich! Where you don’t expect to hear that from is the rich. But Resource Movement is a group of “children of privilege” bent
Big ideas in small packages Read More »
Why do arts groups argue for more funds from governments and corporate sponsors by using their second-best argument for that money? It goes like this: “The arts produce huge economic benefits: restaurants, hotels, neighbourhoods, even cities can create a Bilbao Effect, where one big attraction can transform an entire region. They also produce gobs of
Feed the Arts. Grow the Nation. Read More »
My friend in the music business told me their staff were sent an artist profile whenever the company signed a new rising star. In the bottom right-hand corner was a little box with the letters “DQ.” This stood for “Diva Quotient”, with the number 1 being “a treat to work with,” and 10, “run for your
My enormous inner child needs constant feeding and watering. Yours should too. Not with other kids. Just the two of you because only you know what nourishes the kid in you because…well, you were that kid a very long time ago. You may be a grownup now, but you’re just as curious, thrill-seeking and weirdo
Playtime for Grownups Read More »
The Washington Post ran a contest long ago for the most boring headline of the year. The winner was “Canadian initiative launched.” The word that won it for us was “Canadian” because what could be duller or less newsworthy in Washington than anything Canadian? Even “Belgian,” or “Aussie” felt more exotic. So I was surprised on
Can a ward heeler be a real healer? Read More »
The world’s best con man, Bernie Madoff, died last week in a North Carolina prison, where he was 11 years into his 150-year sentence for bilking thousands of investors out of $65 billion in the most devastating Ponzi scheme in history. In February of 2020, he asked for early release because he was in the
Where are the clients’ yachts? Read More »
People are either foxes, who know many things, or hedgehogs, who know one big thing. That 2,700 year-old idea comes from the Greek poet Archilochus. He’s wrong. People are foxes and hedgehogs, especially on the weekend when our foxes emerge and when the Ramsay Writes blog isn’t about one thing, but a lot of them.
This blog post is for your fox, not your hedgehog. Read More »
My favourite cartoon shows two European intellectuals (berets, cigarettes) at a sidewalk café. One says to the other: “Do you not be happy with me as the translator of the books of you?” The joke, of course, is that no one would ever hire this man to translate their book. But the tragic joke is
Department of Corections Read More »
What’s the one thing we all remember about the 94-page bill passed by the State of Georgia last week to “comprehensively revise elections and voting?” Exactly: It’s now illegal to give someone food and water when they’re standing in line to vote. As Line 1813 of the Act says: “nor shall any person give, offer
Gifting water and grifting politicians Read More »
