OVER the years, I've come to know various governments like people, some friendly, some not so; some balanced, some not so; some greedy; some not so. Reflecting on our United States of America, I would have to characterize us as prickly, individualistic, not so balanced, and, with money seeming to be the new god and business the new religion, greedy without limit. But it's more than just that. It's easy to say that money and business under our capitalistic (ever increasing profit) approach res...

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IN my Amazon genre bestselling book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859 — I lay the foundations for my “Philosophia Psychís Empeiría” which I expand in the upcoming sequel PROPHECY, which is nearing completion. In essence, the “soul” is the sum total of one’s life experiences, and acts as the “guide” to the next universe. Not simply another world in space/time, but an entirely different universe of worlds, each accord...

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Raymond Gaynor is the pen name of reclusive, multi-award-winning thriller author and actor-artist-photographer-videographer, Daniel S. Janik. Under this pen name, Janik most recently authored the Amazon-genre-bestseller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) --  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859 -- currently available in printed, digital and audiobook formats, the latter read by renown voice actor Peter Pollock. 

He has previously co-authored with William Maltese the naughty Tripler and Clark...

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WHAT exactly is it with “entertainment” and gratuitous violence? While it may be partially or even mostly the case that viewers today want and are willing to pay for more violence and more “authenticity” surrounding violence. as an author and actor, I believe it’s not as simple an equation as that. As evidence, I present a recent BBC article entitled, “1923 and the violent TV universe that has electrified the US” — https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221213-1923-and-the-rise...

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COMING-OF-AGE is never easy, irrespective of how easily or not it happens. And, the first one, adolescence, is a doozy for everyone. Looking back, I’m impressed with how every approximate decade of my life brought with it another coming-of-age, for me, mostly related to my work, my “job” being to figure out what message my work had for me about…well…me.

My decades were adolescence, college/university life, physician, author, artist, medical computing analyst, corporate official, mi...

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LET’S face it: The split in politics that strongly divides us is being reflected in government, foreign affairs, legislation, health care, transportation and, yes, education. But what’s with the extreme splitting at the expense of the quality of our lives? I’m going to take a big leap and say it’s not really politics (the “pop” explanation) or COVID (the shot across the bow) as so many claim, but simply lack of an effective future infrastructure from which to develop. This is, in ...

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IT’S officially the hurricane season in the Pacific and what’s brewing at this moment is hurricane Frank. Hawaii hurricanes typically begin off Baha California, traveling West-Northwest along with tons of tourists, the hurricane slowly weakening on its way. This year’s hurricane forecast for Hawaii, I’m told, is low both in numbers and intensities, much like income projections for US citizens. Then again, in terms of weather and economics, anything can happen along the way.

If you be...

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BLOODSPORT is the term for events of spectacle involving violence to the point of bloodletting. While violence and bloodletting are probably as old as humanity, they are said to have became a spectacle with the ancient pre-Roman Etruscans in or around 600 BCE — https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi7673 and http://thespectaclesofapuleius.weebly.com/gladiatorial-combats.html#.YrSwcy-B3Fc — and later the Greek Olympics begun in 770 BCE — https://olympics.com/ioc/faq/history-and-or...

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SOME say that revenge is sweet, but I fear that whether sweet or not, it simply continues the cycle of violence into which today’s world seems trapped. It takes faith, trust, empathy, courage and strength to not respond to violence with violence. And re-cover-y, an odd word suggesting that the ultimate goal of recovery is to re-cover an act of violence. Sweep it under the rug, so to speak. But it’s not like that at all.

If every perpetrator of violence had to pay for the victim’s recov...

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META, a reincarnation of Facebook (?), is gaining quite a bit of attention in the news these days, given that I, for one, have little idea of what it’s supposed to be. This despite engineering the first apparent META-VR sexual assault — https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61573661. Not something I personally would be proud of. In fact, it doesn’t make me all that interested in that particular META (multiverse?). There’s far too much assault and battery in the “real” world.

But th...

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A doctor of philosophy degree wherein one knows more and more about less and less. The key is the word philosophy, meaning “love of wisdom,” whereas doctorate simply implies the highest degree (of). But seriously, what is wisdom? Or knowledge (shouldn’t all degreed individuals possess knowledge)? And where do information and data fit in?

In my experience, the lowest form of education involves the memorization of data. Having a storehouse of data at one’s fingertips used to be a major...

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COMFORTING to know that people looked after you, having your best interests rather than theirs at heart. Usta, and, still is true but rarely on occasion rather than something you could count on. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Human interactions especially where money are concerned, these days seem to more reflect the “Pirates of the Caribbean” than Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz:” “Take everything; give nothing back,” “I’m dishonest, and a dishonest ...

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I’VE been wondering lately what is it that makes morality so important, perhaps even essential, to humans, but not as far as we know, to other animals? It’s always been my opinion that morality is a sort of mental barbed-wire fence to keep what I consider the eighth deadly sin, hubris, in check, though hubris is commonly regarded as synonymous the first deadly sin, pride. Personally and as an author, I make a distinction between the two, pride being about about unnatural self-aggrandizeme...

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Now there's a question worthy of asking. It's not hard to agree that education today is "in trouble." But how could one begin to "fix" it?

Well, I hate to have to suggest it, but "Read my book!" -- UNLOCK THE GENIUS WITHIN (Rowman and Littlefield Education 2015). It's not about more money, or better equipment, or harder tests. It's about critically examining the very foundations of education today. For example, distance learning was always a sign of a second class college or university, or wor...
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The fourth of July is when everyone American celebrates the birth of the United States of America, right? Maybe. But I've always believed that it's the day when the world celebrates MY birthday, replete with fireworks. Like Yankee Doodle Dandy, I've always been a firecracker, and I guess I will be until I pass from this crazy world. In the meantime, I bring that energy into "thinking outside the box" in everything I do. 


Take education, for instance. A university professor for over 40 years, I...
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Most people don't think of warm, sunny, Honolulu, Hawaii, when they think of pumpkins or Halloween, which, in my mind is a travesty. We actually do grow pumpkins here. Really! This time of year, one can cruise the island and grab a plump pumpkin from a variety of pumpkin patches. 

And we actually do celebrate Halloween here, and we celebrate it big time in Waikiki. Walking along either side of Ala Moana Boulevard as it courses through the heart of Waikiki, one can observe and even have thei...

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