Finally FINALLY fall is upon us, but you can't put it past Madrid to turn on the oven for a couple of days even in October.  No matter what, Taproom has a drink for you (well, as long as they aren't surprise-closed).  Sharp ales and cold Aquarius for warm days, cozy stouts and fruity beers for the colder ones.  Those of you who know me know I will drink a 10% pastry stout on a 39ºC day, but I don't claim to be representative.

How much do we want to focus on monstrosities abroad?  There are a few to examine, should we choose.  We could also take a break from horrible, horrible reality and delve into the glorious arts and the past.  Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

See you at Taproom!

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

This will be a pretty unstructured discussion, an exchange of impressions, if you will.  This particular meditation of Donne's has been with me for a long time, and it resonates and mesmerizes, in spite of...practically everything.

Anyone else with feelings about Meditation 17 or Donne in general, feel free to come and share.

The particular text, for reference: https://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/meditation17.php

Not the whole thing, but who doesn't love Orson Welles, if you prefer an audio version.  It has the most famous part, anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDbCgoWfvRY

I'm not recommending any other videos, but if you want to do some research for yourself, knock yourself out.  I might share one or two in-discussion, just so I won't have to remember too many details at once.

No One Is An Island

Here are the videos and discussion questions for this hangout:
https://buddytree.org/topic/fear-confidence

Please remember to watch at least a few videos before you arrive since we’ll be discussing them when we begin.

Once the hangout begins, everyone will introduce each other and then take turns asking the provided questions in order to keep the discussion on topic.

Hangouts typically last 90 minutes, and once the hangout is over you will have the opportunity to add people to your buddytree to organize private hangouts and develop friendships.

As always, these hangouts provide the opportunity for a thoughtful, respectful and engaging discussion in a safe space where disrespectful behaviour is not tolerated.

Fear & Confidence

Video:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnUu_xjPIUo (2:37)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9khjT4dnFY (16:52)

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QAV6TlVA9Q (8:05)

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLiSLMQZzhg (28:25)

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WKxc-RxaA8 (28:30)

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gse0Su-iXmo (15:17)

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luU9athBZWs (4:37)


Reading (Optional): 


1. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-ukraine-russia-peace/683907/

2. https://www.economist.com/international/2025/08/26/the-wrong-way-to-end-a-war

3. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/opinion/ukraine-war-negotiations-trump.html


Spanish (Optional):

1. https://elpais.com/opinion/2025-08-22/ucrania-en-la-cuerda-floja.html

2. https://elpais.com/opinion/2024-08-26/como-acabara-la-guerra-de-ucrania.html

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJMbvTcYm60 (2:37)

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECR4XHxBNMA (19:09)


Italian (Optional):

1. https://www.fattinostri.it/la-guerra-in-ucraina-come-finira/

2. https://www.rsi.ch/info/mondo/Come-finir%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99incursione-ucraina--2230536.html

3. https://www.youtube.com/live/kZ_fk_UPMck (20:54)

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymZEDV-vi4Q (14:17)



Questions:

Put yourself in President Trump's shoes.

1. Would you continue to be involved in seeking a resolution for this crisis, or would you cease all or most U.S. involved?

2. Would you continue supplying weapons and munitions to Ukraine, even if paid for by the Europeans?

3. Would you impose restrictions on how those weapons are used?

4. Would you impose economic sanctions or tariffs on Russia's trade partners if it continued to refuse to engage in peace negotiations?

5. If there were peace negotiations, would you force Ukraine to give up any of its territory?

6. Would you give it security guarantees in return?

7. Would the guarantees include peacekeepers on the ground and, if yes, from what countries?

Additional questions

1. How would you provide economic support to Ukraine, considering potential long-term implications?

2. How would you involve NATO in the conflict, considering potential risks and benefits?

3. How would you maintain U.S. public support for involvement in the conflict, considering potential domestic political challenges?

                                                                                         Discussion questions by courtesy of Steve Srecko Bartl


What would you do about the war in Ukraine if you were POTUS?

Study upon study makes us doubt the connection between what we see and what others see, and often even the reality of what we think we see.  For the most part, we think we agree with others about what reality is, what our senses perceive, and differences are a matter of preference not of substance.  However, even preferences can be contentious, and not every possibility of perception comes together for everybody.
https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/psychology-research-perception-muller-lyer-illusion.html

https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/brain/optical-illusions-and-how-they-work

https://slate.com/technology/2017/04/heres-why-people-saw-the-dress-differently.html

Even something as simple as color is not universally agreed on.  Excepting the colorblind, we all see the same shades on the color scale, but we do not group them in the same way.  Some people misunderstand that to mean that certain colors are "invisible" to people from other cultures or other times.  The hell, really?
https://blog.duolingo.com/color-words-around-the-world/

https://onlys.ky/why-did-the-color-violet-go-viral-after-1863/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omPGq_cu58Y

How much do you trust your perception of the world?  What makes you change your mind?  What do you dismiss as irrelevant or trickery?  Can the universe itself gaslight us?

Perception

Here are the videos and discussion questions for this hangout:
https://buddytree.org/topic/the-music-that-moves-us

Please remember to watch at least a few videos before you arrive since we’ll be discussing them when we begin.

Once the hangout begins, everyone will introduce each other and then take turns asking the provided questions in order to keep the discussion on topic.

Hangouts typically last 90 minutes, and once the hangout is over you will have the opportunity to add people to your buddytree to organize private hangouts and develop friendships.

As always, these hangouts provide the opportunity for a thoughtful, respectful and engaging discussion in a safe space where disrespectful behaviour is not tolerated.

The Music that Moves Us

This is for those who have attended a Goal-Setting Session* in Buddytree and would like to join an accountability group that meets at intervals during the year (the frequency is whatever the group wants but so far it's approximately every 4 weeks). The intention for these sessions is to support each other with making progress with our goals. 

These sessions will include:

1- some time to review your goals, adjust if needed, and ask any questions on the goal-setting process
2- sharing/exchanging tips for success on achieving goals throughout the session 
3- sharing how we are doing with our goals with the group
4- declaring what we will do by the next meeting   

Discussion may include:
a) where you've made progress and what helped you progress
b) where you hoped to make progress (but didn't) and what got in the way 
c) support if you wish to share/explore what's getting in your way and how to work around that
d) sharing what you want to commit to achieve by the next meeting

These sessions are open to anyone who has done a Buddytree goal-setting session. First-timers are welcome! 
*If you would like to do (or re-do) a goal-setting session, please indicate in the comments. I can schedule another one if a few people are interested. 

It will be held on Zoom so we have a chat feature and can share our screens if we wish. Please check the comments before the session to get the Zoom link. 

Hope to see you there! 

Accountability Group for Goal Setters

Accountability Group for 3-month Goal-Setters

So much for summer, the equinox is rapidly approaching.  Of course, so is Oktoberfest.  Always a silver lining, right?

There might be interruptions and distractions at Taproom, but we do have all week to think about topics.  Changing perspectives, created words, inspiring performers?  Can we refocus after suffering slings and arrows?

At least we know Taproom offers wide variety and normally enough chairs to accommodate us.

Nothing wrong with clinging to some certainty, is there?

Here are the videos and discussion questions for this hangout:
https://buddytree.org/topic/the-art-of-letting-go

Please remember to watch at least a few videos before you arrive since we’ll be discussing them when we begin.

Once the hangout begins, everyone will introduce each other and then take turns asking the provided questions in order to keep the discussion on topic.

Hangouts typically last 90 minutes, and once the hangout is over you will have the opportunity to add people to your buddytree to organize private hangouts and develop friendships.

As always, these hangouts provide the opportunity for a thoughtful, respectful and engaging discussion in a safe space where disrespectful behaviour is not tolerated.

The Art of Letting Go

Humans have always wanted to live in a perfect world, that's why we created religion.  Most of us don't really want to struggle each and every day.  We would all like things to just fall into place and run without a hitch and sail smoothly into the sunset.  Unfortunately, it never works out, at least not for very long.  We don't stop dreaming, though, and many groups have tried a practical experiment with perfect society, only to see it disappoint: https://www.ic.org/paradisenow/

Speaking of religion, theologians have long pondered the nature of perfection and the distance humanity is from it, generally concluding that the world simply can't be perfect and our best hope is the afterlife.  Very displeased with existence and reality, these people: https://catholicinsight.com/2024/06/25/the-uselessness-of-utopias/

Even those who put their trust in logic can be swayed to attempt their own brand of utopia.  Well, maybe it isn't quite logic, but some kind of instinctive correct behavior that government meddles with and blinds us to.  Needless to say, that also ends in failure, and at least in this case in tragedy: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/08/30/libertarians-took-control-of-this-small-town-it-didnt-end-well/

Is this just another example of paradox in our thinking?  Something like not tolerating intolerance?  Is the perfect world always hiding hell under its glossy surface?

Utopian Thinking

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSTzcX0BFM (12:53) Rebecca Watson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5Su2Mc5io (7:57) Mr Deity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeIxHqtB_B8 (3:27) Leo Susskind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Zz4hYuGdw&amp;t  (10:20) Leo Igwe

https://youtu.be/oQ1TJ7oUMHg (15:35) Atheist no longer humanist

https://youtu.be/aIscGATGnJc (7:54) Atheist vs Humanist

https://youtu.be/jnBGeoJsFOk (13:48) Atheism plus

https://youtu.be/Ai_1Dx8E0l0 (14:41) Richard Carrier (fragment)

Questions:
1. How do you define these terms: agnostic; atheist; humanist.

2. Do the terms agnostic and atheist deserve to have any moral value, or should they be limited to the amount of certainty one has regarding lack of deities?

3. Do you agree that the secular society offers more protection of religious freedom than a religious society?

4. What is your opinion of "Movement Atheism" - the Four Horsemen (Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett, Harris), Atheism Plus, etc.?  Do nonbelievers need an organization akin to a church or house of worship?

5. Is it possible for believers to be humanists?  How can they reconcile their faith with the admission that one can be good without gods?

6. What has been your experience with agnostics vs. atheists vs. believers in terms of open-mindedness?  Have you noticed differences in civic engagement?

7. Where do you put yourself on the diagram of belief?

Agnostic Atheist Secular Humanist

Amazingly, we are at the end of August.  Yes, another summer has flown by while we were all having fun.  Is it time to get serious again, time to have deep, dark talks of philosophy and import?  Did we ever stop?

We examined behavior and manners last time, and that always has more to give, but maybe another angle.  We could take refuge in the arts, a profile in literature or music.  We could wallow in terror with whatever mess is unfolding in the news.  We could wander the cold halls of science.  Options are practically endless.

Whatever we decide, we'll have good drink and possibly snacks before us, opening the doors to our best decisions.  Or at least the most entertaining ones.

See you at Taproom!

Videos:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t44-uHyzvCw&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;t=161s   (11:04)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BAYWCXgSrE  (6:52)

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcqE-Ez1Lg   (2:37)

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDeMzg31T2I&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;t=61s  (5:36)

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyHLLzmNje0  (5:54)

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouDdiJ0ey00 (18:29)

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2au0B5j6ji8 (11:31)

8. https://www.pbs.org/video/high-tech-dystopia-and-utopia-d5nvyg/ (27:11)


Reading: 

1. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/08/when-utopia-looked-real/373460/

2. https://www.economist.com/prospero/2016/12/29/500-years-on-are-we-living-in-thomas-mores-utopia

3. https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/07/21/latin-american-politicians-yearn-for-utopia


Spanish (Optional):

1. https://elpais.com/eps/2022-06-25/ubicacion-exacta-de-la-utopia.html

2. https://elpais.com/cultura/2024-11-05/steven-pinker-entender-que-la-utopia-es-imposible-es-lo-que-permite-que-haya-tolerancia-y-democracia.html


Italian (Optional):

1. https://www.internazionale.it/notizie/h-g-wells/2024/01/22/wells-intervista-lenin

2. https://www.internazionale.it/reportage/drago-jancar/2021/08/30/fine-jugoslavia-slovenia



Questions:


1. How can we balance individual freedom with the need for social welfare and economic security?

2. How can we create a more inclusive and equitable society for marginalized communities?

3. How can we transition to a more sustainable and renewable energy-based economy?

4. What role can individual actions and collective movements play in promoting environmental sustainability.

5.  How can we ensure that technological advancements serve the public interest and promote social good?

6.  What would a Utopian society look like in practice, and how can we work towards achieving it?


In Collaboration with Ceit Hustedde (Longtime Member of Buddytree)

Achieving Utopia

Do you have some things you like to change or make progress with over the next 3 months?  That's September, October, November. Please join us for a goal-setting session where we will go through a process of setting personal goals using a semi-structured, flexible process. It is designed for those who have never done goal-setting before, as well as those who have. 

Here's how it will look: 

Before the session, I will send you some reflective questions to help you prepare. This will include questions like what you want to change, what your vision of success is, etc. This pre-session work is to help you gain more clarity about what you want for yourself over the next 12 weeks. It will be in the form of a Word document that you keep for yourself. You'll refer to this document (privately) during our online session. There is no expectation that you share your answers.

In our online session, I will:
- Review the questions in the pre-session document and share examples to help them be clear. 
-Support you to make goals that are for a relatively short duration (3 months) even if they are linked to a bigger goal. 
- Give you time to review and modify the answers you wrote in the pre-session document.  

By the end of the session, you will have a draft of your goals, including why they are important, how they align with your bigger goals or hopes, what success looks like, and activities to make progress. 
 
If you wish you join an accountability group that meets roughly every 4 weeks on a Monday evening or a weekday at 10am (both Vancouver time), you can. These accountability sessions are to share how you are doing with your goals and get group support.  The intention is a judgement-free session where we share tips, encouragement and support. 

I will use Zoom, so please check back for the Zoom link in the comments.
 
Please add any questions in the comments below and hope to see you there!

Make Progress on Personal Goals in the Next 3 Months

Set Personal Goals for the next 3 Months

You better like metros, they're the best!  Ok, some are less useful than others, but Metro de Madrid is supremely useful, and full of weirdnesses.  You might expect a certain number of ghost stories or tales of mismanagement, but the details are always shocking and surprising.

This is also a slideshow and storytime, and I defy you to make another metro look better than this one!

You can eat and drink on the metro (although it's a little rude), but no smoking!  There are good reasons for this that you will hear about.

The bus might be more scenic, but the metro is an experience you can't miss!

Hey! Do You Like Metros/Subways?

How clear are you on your personal values? Are you living in alignment with your values? 

This session is designed to help you become more clear on your personal values and to explore the degree to which you are living in alignment with them. After signing up, participants will receive some pre-session work with three reflective exercises to complete individually prior to the session. In the Buddytree session, we will review and discuss the exercises as a group and also in pairs, sharing some of our answers (to the degree that you are comfortable). We will spend time reflecting and noting how we are living in a way that is aligned with our personal values, and how we can each increase our alignment. At the end of the session, participants will have greater clarity on their personal values and some ideas on how to increase their alignment further. The session will be between 90-120 minutes long. 

We will use Zoom for the session, so please see the comments for the Zoom link a day or two prior to the session. If any questions, please post them in the comments, or reach out to me privately through the Buddytree app.  I hope to see you there! 


Clarify and Align with your Personal Values

It's still the season for hiding from the sun in a (hopefully) cooled environment.  Bee Beer has its good points, but it does let a little bit of stabby sun come a certain hour.  Taproom, in the other hand, has a protected atmosphere, unless you sit outside, and then it's more a matter of pigeons than solar radiation.  

So, in our comfortable space, we can have a relaxing conversation and many open points of inquiry.  There are lots of serious things to consider, and lots of distractions from excess seriousness.  Plus, a good drink to cool you off after almost melting in the street.

Do you feel scientific, artistic, moralistic?  Let's decide where to go next Sunday!

See you at Taproom!

Here are the videos and discussion questions for this hangout:
https://buddytree.org/topic/meaning-purpose-passion

Please remember to watch at least a few videos before you arrive since we’ll be discussing them when we begin.

Once the hangout begins, everyone will introduce each other and then take turns asking the provided questions in order to keep the discussion on topic.

Hangouts typically last 90 minutes, and once the hangout is over you will have the opportunity to add people to your buddytree to organize private hangouts and develop friendships.

As always, these hangouts provide the opportunity for a thoughtful, respectful and engaging discussion in a safe space where disrespectful behaviour is not tolerated.

Meaning, Purpose & Passion

Can't make it to Madrid any time soon?  Not sure if you want to go?  Sure, you want to go!  But we don't always have to opportunity to do everything we want whenever we want.

Let me take you on a tour!  A cultural and gastronomic tour!  Of course, this is online so it's BYOB.  Sorry, but again, we make the best of what we have.

You get a slideshow and more information than you ever knew existed about beer in Madrid, and if you're still thirsty  - for knowledge! - at the end, ask whatever questions might remain.  Go on, just try and stump Dr. Beer!

Hey! Do you like (Beer) Tourism? 

What would you like to achieve over the next 12 weeks? That's early November. 
 
This session is to walk you through a process to create goals for yourself for the next 12 weeks. This is done through a semi-structured, flexible process. It is designed for everyone: those who have never done goal-setting before, as well as those who have. 

Here's how it will look: 

Before the session, I will send you some reflective questions to help you prepare. This will include questions about your values, what's important to you, etc. This pre-session work is to help you gain more clarity about what's important to you and what you want for yourself over the next 12 weeks. It will be in the form of a Word document that you keep for yourself. You'll likely want to refer to this document (privately) during our online session. There is no expectation that you share your answers.

In our online session, I will:
- ask some questions related to what you want, why you want it, what's important about it, etc.  
- I'll share some examples to help the questions be clear. 
- After each question, you'll have some time to type or journal your answers privately for yourself. 
- At certain intervals, I may put the larger group into small breakout groups of 2 or 3 so you can share if you wish and/or have a sounding board as you think something through. 

By the end of the session, you will have a draft of your goals, how they link to bigger goals or hopes, and activities to make progress. 
 
If you wish you join an accountability group that meets roughly every 4 weeks on a Monday evening or a weekday at 10am (both Vancouver time), you can. These accountability sessions are to share how you are doing with your goals and get group support.  The intention is a judgement-free session where we share tips, encouragement and support. 

I will use Zoom, so please check back for the Zoom link in the comments.
 
Please add any questions in the comments below and hope to see you there!


Goal-Setting Session: Setting goals for the next 12 weeks

Well, I think everybody got some feelings off their chest yesterday, with honesty and feeling.  It seems that we are fundamentally good people.  No revenge here.  Or maybe we're cowards?  Nah, let's be positive, there's plenty of opportunity for negativity in the future.

Speaking of the future, there are topics pending to decide on.  Euphemisms from the right wing?  Euphemisms in general, that's always fun for language nerds!  Should we indulge our human need to judge?  Discuss the future of sex (assuming there is one)?  The future of political candidacy, in terms of what promises they better make to drum up the votes they need?  There is always another possibility to consider, so we need to organize our priorities.  Come have a drink and sit down to organize!

See you at Taproom!

Here are the videos and discussion questions for this hangout:
https://buddytree.org/topic/The-Wealth-Gap

Please remember to watch at least a few videos before you arrive since we’ll be discussing them when we begin.

Once the hangout begins, everyone will introduce each other and then take turns asking the provided questions in order to keep the discussion on topic.

Hangouts typically last 90 minutes, and once the hangout is over you will have the opportunity to add people to your buddytree to organize private hangouts and develop friendships.

As always, these hangouts provide the opportunity for a thoughtful, respectful and engaging discussion in a safe space where disrespectful behaviour is not tolerated.

The Wealth Gap

2-part podcast:
https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/lexicat1

https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/lexicat2

Videos:
Animal grammar playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc4s09N3L2h2lYeVD6pmax3f7qiHxyq3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FY5kL_zXU (4:54)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYWSXRUGxDQ (7:42)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8LepYR8v9A (3:37)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIgM1qN4Lo (3:51)

Theory of Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTt-8QpWfJ4 (6:22)

Questions:
1. How would you define animal communication?  What distinguishes it from human communication?

2. How complex does a form of communication need to be before we can consider it a language?

3. Can animals understand human words with nuance and feeling?

4. Should it be easier for humans to learn simpler animal communication strategies than for animals to learn human vocabulary and, we imagine, syntax?  Is the use of sign language, word boards and speech human centered privilege that actually prevents us from understanding animals better?

5. Is Theory of Mind necessary for language?

6. Do you think the experiments with apes were useful, or do they seem unethical to you?  If they are unethical, are there any ways to ethically do experiments with animals?

7. Are there any animals, individuals or species, that you wish you could communicate with?  What kind of conversations do you wish you could have? 

Join An Upcoming Hangout

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

No One Is An Island

Fear & Confidence

What would you do about the war in Ukraine if you were POTUS?

Recent Hangouts

Perception

The Music that Moves Us

Accountability Group for Goal Setters

Accountability Group for 3-month Goal-Setters

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

The Art of Letting Go

Utopian Thinking

Agnostic Atheist Secular Humanist

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

Achieving Utopia

Make Progress on Personal Goals in the Next 3 Months

Hey! Do You Like Metros/Subways?

Clarify and Align with your Personal Values

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

Meaning, Purpose & Passion

Hey! Do you like (Beer) Tourism?

Goal-Setting Session: Setting goals for the next 12 weeks

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

The Wealth Gap

Animal Communication

Some of our members

Join An Upcoming Hangout

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

No One Is An Island

Fear & Confidence

What would you do about the war in Ukraine if you were POTUS?

Recent Hangouts

Perception

The Music that Moves Us

Accountability Group for Goal Setters

Accountability Group for 3-month Goal-Setters

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

The Art of Letting Go

Utopian Thinking

Agnostic Atheist Secular Humanist

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

Achieving Utopia

Make Progress on Personal Goals in the Next 3 Months

Hey! Do You Like Metros/Subways?

Clarify and Align with your Personal Values

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

Meaning, Purpose & Passion

Hey! Do you like (Beer) Tourism?

Goal-Setting Session: Setting goals for the next 12 weeks

Sunday Drinks - Planning Session

The Wealth Gap

Animal Communication

Some of our members