LATE NIGHT MADNESS or Mad Midnight Meanderings

as of September 14, 2024

Please view on a full-screen monitor or laptop.

I decided to create this page more for my own attempts at mental clarity than for anyone else’s possible interest.  I am an obsessive researcher – I’ll research just about anything and everything that crosses my mind.  And when I find something I especially like I will usually take copious notes.  And so over the years I’ve accumulated boxes and bags of these notes – often undated and unidentified and all mixed together regardless of subject matter.  So many notes that it would take me another lifetime to sort through.  Many times I’ve tried to create a system – subject “files” to throw these notes into. But I’m never able to stick with it for more than a day and quickly revert to my chaotic ways.

So when I started to put this website together and began to feel a modicum of control over my clearly ADD brain, I came up with… well, maybe… a kind of solution to my annoying inability to keep up with myself.  And here it is:

I can still keep all of the loose notes, BUT if a subject matter deeply interests me – NEW RULE – it goes on this page.  Not in any detail – only enough words to remind me of why it’s important to me.  That way if I want to expand upon it at any point I can either root around for the notes or just find new sources of them on the net.  It might work… or it might not… but so far it feels good 🙂

So, Dear Dianne, and any Curious Visitors, here are the areas of research, or speculation that have long been or currently are fascinating me, as well as the creations that have inspired or simply entertained me – as of September 14, 2024.  To be updated.

SCIENCE
The Memory of WATER, Fantistic FUNGI, the Secret Life of PLANTS
The Fibonacci  Sequence, The Mandelbrot Set and other miracles of the Natural World
SCRHODINGER’S CAT, Spooky Interactions at a Distance
and other mysteries of the Quantum World

Myth, Theory and Fact
How we try to understand our past – before recorded history.
 Inspired by a Transformative Year  
Teaching Pre-History to 7th Graders. 

SOCIETY

My Dreams of Perfect Community
through
Lifetime Education in Practical Life Skills, 
the Sciences, the Humanities and the Arts 
Sustainable Architecture, Regenerative Agriculture
And Holistic Health Care, 
…nothing too ambitious…

MIND and HEART

IKIGAI – the Japanese Secret to a Joyful Life.  
IKIGAI means literally “reason to live” or “Your Sweet Spot”  
It can be found at the intersection of these 4 circles:
1. what you love
2. what you’re good at
3. what can support you and
4. what the world needs

I am a teacher who came of age around the time that Woody Allen told us:
Those who can’t do, teach.  And those who can’t teach, teach gym.
 So I was delighted to come across IKIGAI which reminded me that
As a teacher I have been precisely at this intersection for most of my life. 

 Some of my favourite thinkers:

Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving / Elaine Pagels’ The Gnostic Gospels 

Edward de Bono’s The Six Thinking Hats / Lewis Hyde’s Trickster Makes the World
“This is Why You Dream” by Rahul Jandial / M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled
Donald Hoffman’s theory of Consciousness

 Alain de Bottom on “why you will marry the wrong person”
Robert Sapolsky on “why we don’t have free will”, Frederico Faggin on why we do
and Bernado Kastrup on why the dispute makes no sense!

and finally Everything by Yuval Noah Harari (Historian)
Liz Greene (Jungian Astrologer) & Naomi Klein (political analyst)

 SHOUT-OUTS TO ALL THOSE
WHO MAKE LEARNING ENTERTAINING, VISUAL AND ACCESSIBLE

ALAIN DE BOTTOM’S “SCHOOL OF LIFE” SERIES: 
Animated humorous shorts of 5 minutes or less which open the door to understanding the many 
challenges to our emotional health and how we can get a handle on them without shame or blame.

ANDREW GENTILE’S “THE WHY FILES” SERIES
For closet conspiracy theorists, this wickedly funny, well-documented and graphically brilliant series delves into the many unexplained
mysteries of existence, attempting to sort myth from fact and theory, while remaining neutral in its conclusions.

MARK WOODLING’S “AFTER SKOOL” SERIES
Brilliant artist asking life’s biggest questions.  
This talented draftsman/cartoonist/animator uses his talents to animate content he believes the world needs to think about. 
In his informative and entertaining documentaries he collaborates with scientists, philosophers, psychologists –
anyone with something to say that humanity – the world – can benefit from knowing.

THE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT
This project inspired by its first animated film “The Story of Stuff” continues its expose of the many threats to our
environmental and social well-being, along with inventive solutions for combating these threats. 

POETS, PLAYWRIGHTS, and STORIES TELLERS that I especially LOVE

The Short Stories of KATHERINE MANSFIELD
The Novels and Poetry of THOMAS HARDY’
The Plays of ARTHUR MILLER
The Plays of OSCAR WILDE
The Poetry of TED HUGHES
Kazui Ishiguro’s REMAINS OF THE DAY
E. M. Forster’s A PASSAGE TO INDIA and A ROOM WITH A VIEW
John Irvirng’s A PRAYER FOR OWNEN MEANY
Henry James’s A PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Charles Dickens’s HARD TIMES
Kahlil Gibran’s THE PROPHET
Lewis Carroll’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND
A. A. Milne’s WINNIE-THE-POOH

MUSIC, MUSICALS and FILMS I LOVE to come.