Kevin J. Harrang

“Philosophers distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental goals. An instrumental goal is one pursued of the sake of some other goal. An intrinsic goal, in contrast, is one pursued for its own sake.” —from Why? The Purpose of the Universe, by Philip Goff (2023) I suppose driving my car is an

When so many things seem to be going wrong, it’s easy to forget how many things are actually going right. Or, when worrying about the “big things,” to overlook the simple joy of the little things. Just maybe, things are not going to be okay, rather they are already okay

ChallengeKevin and Ann leave-from-home e-bike overnight trip with almost no gear. TripRide round trip Kirkland to Salish Lodge & Spa in Snoqualmie, on trails 95%. Details

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have [been] altered.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom After skiing in Hokkaido and touring the sights of Tokyo and Kyoto, we head south to Miyazaki where my friend Margaret

[Advisory: post may contain excessively lengthy prose, skip to photo gallery here.] Required ReadingIt was less than 24 hours after arriving Japan that I was totally naked in the company of complete strangers. More on this in a moment, but first, there are lots of helpful books about visiting Japan,

ContentsPart 1: Skiing HokkaidoPart 2: First Time Tourist in Tokyo (coming soon)Part 3: Home Stay in Miyazaki (coming soon) Skiing HokkaidoAfter last year’s epic sail and ski out of Tromsø, Norway with Malena (long overdue trip report still pending), it was almost difficult to think of how to top that.

Every so often a new book crystalizes an important issue that everyone knows is a problem, but no one has quite yet put their finger on. Such a book has just arrived from social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about what we’ve done to our children with smartphones and social media. Highly

I would like to refer regular readers of this website (as if there are any…) to a “sister” publication, except that it’s actually a “daughter” publication. I’m somewhat worried, however, that my imaginary readers will see that Malena’s site is way more interesting than mine, and stop not-reading mine, but