Numerous Narratives 🍁

Atomic essays, mini explorations, and a digital garden of diverse ideas – welcome! This is my space for creative experimentation, a place where fiction and reality collide. You'll find reflections on everything from economics and politics to culture and technology, alongside the development of my novel and nonfiction projects. My tools of choice? I am an advocate for Open Source Software such as ZorinOS Linux on all my personal laptops, Standard Notes, Signal with journalists, Manuskript, and the secure writing environment of theQuill.app. The views shared here are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of my employer or any organizations I am affiliated with. My perspectives may evolve over time as I strive to maintain an open mind. This blog offers a snapshot of my thoughts at specific moments, capturing ideas that resonated with me then. Please note that some older posts may no longer align with my current views. - - -

@GaryArmstrong GaryArmstrong.blog

What Economic Low-Cost Strategy Can Reduce the High Crime Rates in the Rural Areas of Canada?

May 31, 2025•434 words

"Criminality is always the result of poverty." ~ Jacob Zuma "A large part of crime is economics - if people are working and and have a home and family to support, then I believe you can reduce the crime rate." ~ Frank Vincent "With the frenzied pace in our own country, with the degenerating school system, with a crime rate that rises 30% a year, and with politicians that seem more interested in posturing than in governing, it has become more difficult, or should I say challenging, to achieve ...

Enjoying A Live Pro Basketball Game With My Boy

May 31, 2025•226 words

“Watching a live basketball game is like riding a wave of adrenaline. You never know when the tide will turn.” ~ Charles Barkley “The beauty of live basketball is its unpredictability. One shot, one moment, and the whole game changes.” ~ Doc Rivers “In the arena, with the crowd roaring and the game clock ticking, that's where legends are born.” ~ Kobe Bryant For me, going to a professional basketball game can be a calming experience. The precise rules, goals, and concentrated skill on disp...

Ambiguity in Education and Learning

May 30, 2025•356 words

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” ~ Alvin Toffler “One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.” ~ Thomas More “To teach is to make a space where the community of truth is practiced.” ~ Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach The lecture is still fresh in your...

Ambiguity & Leadership

May 29, 2025•408 words

“A leader’s job is not to have all the answers but to be comfortable with ambiguity and to create the space for others to find clarity.” ~ Brené Brown “In times of great uncertainty, leaders must have the courage to act—and the humility to learn.” ~ Roselinde Torres “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald We usually think of ambiguity, or not knowing exactly what...

Ambiguity Quietly Influences Your Life

May 28, 2025•221 words

"Our chronic discomfort with ambiguity - which, ironically, is critical to both our creativity and the richness of our lives - leads us to lock down safe, comfortable, familiar interpretations, even if they are only partial representations of or fully disconnected from reality." ~ Maria Popova "The denial of "self" challenges only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind-not the ordinary sense of ourself as a person distinct from everyone else. The notion of a static self is th...

We Can Learn From Icelandic People's Mindset of InnSaei

May 26, 2025•344 words

"Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for." ~ Immanuel Kant "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." ~ Marcel Proust "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."...

Never Jump to Conclusions; Always Seek Multiple Sources Before Forming an Opinion

May 25, 2025•54 words

Withhold judgment until you've gathered information from diverse, reliable sources. Truth rarely lives in one perspective alone. Always seek understanding, not certainty, consult multiple sources before reaching any conclusion. Where is this information coming from? And why is this information coming from this individual? And is there any reason why this information is expressed? ...

Vitamin D

May 25, 2025•286 words

"It now appears most of us need about 5,000 units a day if we avoid the sun. The government was off by a factor of ten; an 'order-of-magnitude error.' Mistakes of this scale are rare in medicine." - John Cannell, MD, author of Athlete's Edge: Faster, Quicker, Stronger with Vitamin D "It is becoming increasingly clear to researchers in the field that vitamin D is strongly linked to several diseases. Its biological sphere of influence is much broader than we originally thought. The nutritional g...

A Living Canadian Constitution, hmmmm

May 23, 2025•469 words

"I think the court belongs to the Canadian people and it should reflect the Canadian people... The law is an 'organic' entity that grows and transforms in keeping with the evolution of societal views, known as the 'living tree' doctrine." - Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada "Our Constitution is not a static, immutable text. It is a living document, and its meaning must be discerned and applied in light of the evolving values and circumstance...

You Suddenly Acquire Knee Pain

May 22, 2025•434 words

"Guys get injuries and there's a reason why these injuries happen. A lot of time you're going to get your knee injuries and your ankle injuries, but sometimes if a guy's back is hurting it might be because his core isn't balanced with his back." ~ Andre Reed "The knee is a marvel of engineering, and when it fails, it reminds us how much we rely on its intricate mechanics for every simple movement." - Dr. Robert Johnson (Orthopedic Surgeon) "Every step becomes a negotiation when your knees are...

Strikes and Lockouts Generally Benefit Workers and the Economy

May 21, 2025•297 words

“Strikes are the expression of a healthy democracy; they are pressure valves that keep economic injustices from festering.” - Thomas Geoghegan “In the long run, labor disputes help modernize labor relations and force companies to address inefficiencies they would otherwise ignore.” – Richard Freeman, economist “Lockouts and strikes are painful, but they clear the ground for innovation, renegotiation, and a reset of expectations that benefit productivity in the long term.” - Joseph Stiglitz, ...

Over 100 Days in Office and Trump Has Not Stopped the Russian—Ukraine War

May 20, 2025•392 words

“I gave Ukraine anti-tank busters, and Obama gave them blankets.” - Trump “We’re helping Ukraine. Just so you understand, we’re sending them military help and equipment.” - Trump “We’re supporting them with weapons. That’s more than the last administration did.” - Trump “My administration provided lethal aid to Ukraine, while the last one refused to.” - Trump “I’m the one who gave Ukraine the anti-tank weapons. No one else did that.” - Trump “I’m proud to say, for decades, I was the first ...

Africa's Trading Partner is China For a Reason

May 19, 2025•491 words

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." - Dwight D. Eisenhower "A natio...

A Canadian Pragmatic Approach to Managing Trumpism Economic Pressures

May 18, 2025•325 words

"When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will." Frédéric Bastiat "We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war — apparently to protect some special interest — and who expect our trading partners not to retaliate." - Ronald Reagan "We cannot turn back. We cannot close ourselves off from the world. That’s not the way the world works. Our future lies in open economies and open trade." - Barack Obama "Tariffs are simply taxes on consumers, and their burden falls most...

Amass Power by Constructing or Becoming Involved in Grass-Roots and Legal Coalitions

May 17, 2025•233 words

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy." - Montesquieu "We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life." - Jimmy Carter "Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." - Pla...

Constant Vigilance Is Needed For A Democracy

May 16, 2025•246 words

"The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion." ~ Ludwig von Mises "The history of liberty is a history of resistance." ~ Woodrow Wilson "It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a mill...

Greatest Fear Of An Autocratic Oligarch Is Dissent

May 15, 2025•368 words

"It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." ~ Benjamin Franklin "Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth." ~ William Faulkner "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." ~ Howard Zinn "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. "Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speak...

Living Through the Seizure of Power In the Midst of Dissent

May 14, 2025•370 words

I talked about the consolidation of power in the hands of the corporate bureaucracy, as distinct from the stockholders. To this view, I still strongly adhere. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith "What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who will want it most. Obviously, our democratic system tends to give power to those who hunger for it and gives every opportunity to those who don't want power to avoid getting it. Not a very sat...

A MILLENNIAL SAINT The canonization of Carlo Acutis

May 14, 2025•289 words

I came across the article in Harper's magazine about this new canonized Catholic saint. A well-written article, discussing the life of this young devout teenager. His final words to his mother were: Mom, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don't need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in the eternal life. ~ Carlo Acutis So full of faith, and so good to his mother. For a fifteen-year-old boy to d...

Expansion of Trump's Executive Power

May 13, 2025•299 words

"When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner." ~ Baron de Montesquieu "The peculiar danger of executive power is that it executes." ~ Michael Parenti "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, ...

High Tariffs On Products From Asia

May 11, 2025•383 words

It doesn't make any sense to have such high tariffs against Asian countries. You place tariffs on goods coming from Asia, and right away you find prices go up on things that you buy like electronics and clothes. A tariff is a consumer cost which increases inflation which is a higher cost of goods and services without the common person's pay improving or increasing with inflationary costs. To the ordinary consumer in America or Canada, this could mean your weekly shopping food visit will cos...

To My Sons

May 10, 2025•538 words

Every father hopes his children become strong, but to watch you two become the individuals you are, through endless striving and unwavering resolve, has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I trained and coached you boys for 10 years. I witnessed you struggling through pain, self-doubt, and exhaustion, and I witnessed you getting up, time after time. I would dream of such a beautiful life, a life in which my sons would be disciplined in mind, zealous in eyes, and affectionate in relationsh...

Benefits Of Being A Red Shirt

May 9, 2025•114 words

If you're just starting out with your career and desire to have the best time ever, then redshirting could be your worst-kept secret. You have the privilege to rehearse, train, and hone your body, brain, and strategists, minus spending a precious year of eligibility on the shelf. Instead of idle bench sittings and glimpsing mere fleeting actions on game nights, you enjoy a complete season working out in the backburner shadows, twice stronger, faster, and smarter. Yes, being a bench player all...

An American Catholic Pope & Trump

May 8, 2025•427 words

So typical of most American people that have many mix ethnicities, Pope Leo XIV has French, Italian, Spanish, and genealogy of African Creole descent. The chicago-born American is extremely well read, well traveled, and well educated with three University degrees including, a doctorate. To see the least, he's no pushover. You stand at the crossroads of two superpowers, both old in appearance but new in manifestation. To your left is President Trump, the very personification of American politica...

25% - 100% Tariffs On American Software Such As Microsoft or Google or Adobe?

May 7, 2025•623 words

"Free open-source software, by its nature, is unlikely to feature secret back doors that lead directly to Langley, Va." ~ Evgeny Morozov "Open source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement." ~ Richard Stallman "Open source isn't about saving money, it's about doing more stuff, and getting incremental innovation with the finite budget you have." ~ Jim Whitehurst "I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things...

Expect Shortages Soon - Cargo Ships Down By 50%

May 6, 2025•456 words

"We've lost an edge that we used to have in scientific innovation applications to goods to be sold. In many ways, that is also changing in the electronic field. Almost all of the materials that we use now are of advanced technology, I have an iPad and also an iPod, both of which are made in China. Although we have designed them here with Apple, for instance, they are manufactured overseas." ~ Jimmy Carter "You know, if you look back in the 1930s, the money went to infrastructure. The bridges, ...

The Trump Administration's Narrative Understood By Hard Working People

May 6, 2025•470 words

Part of the narrative which is sort of supported by the data is that Trump voters are the least educated, and they're voting for Trump out of white solidarity or out of frustration that they're, quote, unquote, "losing their country". And my concern with that is that it sort of reduces the condition of the Trump voter to one of pure ignorance. And I think it's far more complicated. ~ Marc Lamont Hill The weird thing was that I went to Trump rallies thinking I was going to run into militant, ri...

The Shrinking Middle Class And The Expanding Working Poor In America

May 4, 2025•393 words

If you go to working class, and working poor areas of America, the food sources that are relegated to them are generally limited to unhealthy ones. ~ Anthony Bourdain The working poor are the people suffering out subprime mortgages and fatal loans and more and more of our money - you know, capitalism is operated by extracting money, not so much directly being paid. ~ David Graeber The working poor in the South are often blamed for their reliance on "traditional" Southern food, while in realit...

Initiative Isn’t Given—It’s Taken: How to Own Your Path

May 4, 2025•311 words

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." ~ Earl Nightingale "Sometimes life hits you like a brick in the face. Don't give up." ~ Steve Jobs "If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it." ~ Michael Jordan "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~ Francis of Assisi "It's hard to beat somebody when they don't give up." ~ Babe ...

American Politicians Dislike Teachers Unions—Associations... because they Do Not Value Teachers

May 2, 2025•466 words

"So long as public schools are treated as places that exist to provide guaranteed jobs to members of the teachers' unions, do not be surprised to see American students continuing to score lower on international tests than students in countries that spend a lot less per pupil than we do." ~ Thomas Sowell "Just as members of American teachers unions often send their own children to private schools, so unionized workers at government-run hospitals in Britain have insurance that allows them to go ...