Matthew's Blog
Reading the Little Books for the Big Books
Some books, such as Chalmers’ Philosophy of Mind, are big books, rich and complex, with difficult conceptual terrain that requires months to navigate. For these big books, little books, such as Kind’s Philosophy of Mind, can make excellent pre-reading as a theory...
The Spiritual Value of Going to Space
Many people criticize the efforts by various commercial enterprises developing different approaches for going into space. They say these are just the ego fulfillment of the “billionaire boys club”—a clear demonstration of equity imbalance. If you see these efforts...
Starting a New Photography Class!
This week I have started a new photography class through a local college: Phone Photography Composition. It’s a two-hour-a-week Zoom class, with extensive use of a Flickr Group (in which we discuss and post our photos and have discussions with the instructor and the...
Black, White, and Grey
Like the photo above, most creative decisions aren’t black and white. Most creative decisions are complex, nuanced, and grey. But the decision to commit to a project, to work hard, and to ship? That decision needs to be a yes or a no, black or white. A grey decision...
The Bonsai Museum: This Week’s Artist Date
For the past several years, one technique I have used to expand my creativity is to go out on what Julia Cameron refers to as an “Artist Date.” I’ve used various names for it (see my post from 2018: Going Out on an Innovation Date). Roughly, it’s going at once a week...
Digital Rabbit Holes
I’m quite selective in giving businesses and organizations the ability to reach out to me digitally, whether it be by phone number or email. (This isn't an easy task, and one's guard must be up at all times. For example, it’s hard to go to any larger retail store...
The Ugly Tree Haiku
Ugly, twisted tree, Branches knotted, cysts on trunk But the bugs love you!
Blueberry Row
Blueberry bushes Complexity and order Man’s stamp on Nature.
Dirty Moon Haiku
Dirty Moon, breaks through Illuminating night clouds No shimmering here