I’ve been thinking about the landscape of fear quite a bit lately. It’s like a map of risk—you fear being killed, so you map out those hotspots in your head so you know to avoid them. Like when you were a kid and tried to avoid that bully that always stood on the corner by... Continue Reading →

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I’ve been given the advice to fake it till I make it many times in my life. Through both successes and failures, that advice has been given to me again and again. But I find with each success, I worry it was a mistake that I did succeed. And with every failure, it was just... Continue Reading →

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Have you ever been presented with this philosophical question? Philosophy would take us on a quest to show the absurdity of reality, and ultimately the answer to the question becomes “if there is no one around, there’s no tree to fall over.” Watch this quick video for an explanation; Scientifically, we can assume that trees... Continue Reading →

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Semiotics is the study of signs, specifically how meaning is made by signs and symbols. Some symbols make sense, like a drawing of a tree. But you can have different drawings of trees, and yet it still conveys the meaning “tree.” Alphabets themselves also act in this same way. By arranging these symbols that we... Continue Reading →

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What do you think about when you hear the term colonialism? The Oxford dictionary defines colonialism as The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. It’s a system that humanity has used for millennia: aggressor conquers and then exploits the country’s... Continue Reading →

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Do you get your groceries at 2am? Excluding shift workers, for most of us, that’s a time of day when our heads are comfortably resting on our pillows. But if there were some danger during the daylight hours, we’d likely shift our activity patterns to the nighttime to avoid that danger. It turns out that... Continue Reading →

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Back in December, I gave a lecture to a group of local middle schoolers on conservation. It was a great experience and the kids were really curious about the subject, and had lots of great questions. But one student asked me a question that really stood out, Why should it matter to me about that... Continue Reading →

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When you think of a cougar, do you picture it in a vista like this? We think of them in natural landscapes, far away from our cities. They’re in the “great wilderness” (read that like the movie trailer voice), and for those that want to catch a glimpse, you either need to hike out to the... Continue Reading →

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Last week I was given the opportunity to attend a social media preview of Egypt: The Time of Pharaohs at the Royal BC Museum. It’s a great exhibit, and I highly recommend you go and visit before it’s last day on December 31, 2018. If you’d like to see some of my favourite items from... Continue Reading →

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When you’re having breakfast does Tony the Tiger ever stare you in the face and  tell you that “they’re great”? And how often do you see the MGM Lion at the start of a movie? There are lots of examples of using iconic animals in popular media and in advertising, but beyond just creating brand... Continue Reading →

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