Does 'Clown Shoes' Refer to Something Other Than Shoes?

• January 7, 2005
• James Skemp

Listen to Does 'Clown Shoes' Refer to Something Other Than Shoes? (MP3 format) If you’re like me, and I’ll be assuming that you are during this article, then you’ve probably seen a lot more use of ‘clown shoes’ on the Internet. For whatever reason, this is not occurring simply on sites in the industry of ‘all things clown’, but is also occurring on some of the larger, and more popular, web communities.

Read More

Should Doctors Always Tell Patients the Truth?

• December 31, 2004
• James Skemp

Looking through an old philosophy anthology, Biomedical Ethics: Fifth Edition, I found and read On Lying to Patients, by Mack Lipkin. After reading this piece, I was again made to realize how much I dislike ethics. While Lipkin sets out to give us a theory, or method, he leaves us with more questions than answers. For this article, I would like to discuss whether doctors have an ethical obligation to tell the truth to their patients.

Read More

My Recent Experience at Best Buy

• December 29, 2004
• James Skemp

So I had seen the 10th Anniversary DVD Edition of Myst before the holiday rush, and was planning on making a purchase when I thought things would settle down a little bit. I also wanted to pick up a couple of copies of The Beatles, but I wasn’t sure which CDs (until I heard Norwegian Wood on the radio on the way – more about this and my interest in The Beatles in another article).

Read More

Apophysis 2.0: Free Fully Commented Scripts

• December 16, 2004
• James Skemp

I offer the following, fully commented, scripts for use by the Apophysis (2.0) community. Feel free to copy the following scripts into the script editor for Apophysis 2.0 or download the script files from http://strivinglife.net/. Feel free to save the scripts on your own computers, but please do not share these scripts with others; rather, direct them to this article so they can be aware of my other scripts and any enhancements I release. Comments regarding these scripts are welcomed with open arms.

Read More

On the Saying 'Shitcakes'

• December 6, 2004
• James Skemp

The language used in this article is for mature audiences. If you might be offended, please stop reading now. The saying “Shitcakes” is in no way a popular saying[1]. In fact, it’s something of a rarity in the world today. However, since it is a saying that I have heard many a time, and since I wanted to try to understand where this statement may have originated, I decided to try to work through its significance.

Read More

On the Biblical Story of the Fall

• November 17, 2004
• James Skemp

I was at work, doing work, when I suddenly realized that the story of the fall really does have some importance, outside of the religions that teach it. The story of the fall is the story of Eve and Adam dining on the fruit of the tree of knowledge, or wisdom. I’d like to discuss here what I have found to be the true significance of this story. First, there are a few major items, or things, that need to be discussed in any discussion of this story.

Read More

Who is Richard Skemp?

• November 13, 2004
• James Skemp

Checking my referrers, I often ran across the phrase ‘Richard Skemp’ (sometimes with initial caps, often without). Since I like to be able to help people, I figured I would take a look at whom this individual is. The following is what I was able to learn from my foray into the information online. Mathematics is a necessary tool in everyday life. One of the problems, however, that I often find myself thinking about, is how you teach someone math.

Read More

On Humour at Another's Expense

• October 25, 2004
• James Skemp

Have you ever visited Cliff Yablonski Hates You on SomethingAwful.com? For those of you have not, maybe you'll want to take a look, maybe you won't. Google it if you'd like to see it for yourself (or just browse Something Awful), or read on. One of the easiest kinds of humour is the kind at the expense of another. Honestly, it's funny to see someone suffer some kind of hardship or accident.

Read More

Jen

• October 21, 2004
• James Skemp

Jen: I have lived for six moments, each longer than the last.

Read More

What are the futures of those illusions Freud?

• September 26, 2004
• James Skemp

Notes: While primarily based upon The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents may have crept into this discussion. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, seeing as how the latter is a sequel of the former, but if you have not read the latter, some of the ideas here may be new to you. Sigmund Freud tells us, near the end of the work, that “the sole purpose” of The Future of an Illusion is point out the necessity of man surmounting infantilism.

Read More