It Takes a Lot of Courage to Be a Contrarian

In a world that rewards conformity, being a contrarian isn't just bold—it's downright heroic. Picture this: You're in a boardroom. An idea is proposed that is clearly off the wall, but to your surprise one by one everyone around the table affirms that this is a good idea, nodding along in agreement. When it's your turn, do you zip it or say, "Wait, this is silly." Or, more tactfully, you suggest that they are pros and cons to everything and you suggest there may be another way to look at this.

Hearts race, eyes narrow. Why? Because challenging the status quo demands courage—the kind that separates visionaries from the herd. 

History is littered with contrarians who reshaped our world. Galileo stared down the Inquisition, insisting the Earth orbited the Sun, not vice versa. He faced house arrest, yet his defiance made a significant contribution to modern astronomy. 

Fast-forward to 2008. Michael Burry, the investor immortalized in The Big Short, bet against the housing market when Wall Street laughed him off. Labeled a lunatic, he profited billions while the economy crumbled. Or consider Rosa Parks, whose simple refusal to move sparked the Civil Rights Movement. These weren't reckless rebels, brave souls who put something on the line to go against tradition.

So, why does contrarianism require such guts? First, the social sting. Humans are wired for belonging. Dissent risks isolation, mockery, or (in our social media age) worse—cancellation. Second, there's a personal toll. Doubt creeps in when you're the lone voice. Self-doubt whispers, "What if I'm wrong?" Or perhaps the more common response, "Is this my line in the sand? Is this an issue I want to be a martyr for?"

It's challenging to stand alone, and sometimes costly. See (or read) Ibsen's An Enemy of the People.

When others are hugging the status quo, being contrarian can be the driving force of innovation. Steve Jobs bucked the trend of button-heavy phones with the iPhone, turning Apple into a trillion-dollar titan. Warren Buffett thrived by zigging when others zag, famously advising to "be fearful when others are greedy."

Being contrarian isn't about being difficult—it's about integrity. It takes courage to question echo chambers, whether in politics, business, or daily life. (Where are the individualist voices in the GOP or Dem parties? What is all this unapologetic party lockstep alignment about?) 

As for courage, yes, it's necessary. Why do we hold back? Someone once said courage is like a muscle that is strengthened with use. And like a virus, it's contagious.

Embrace the discomfort. The world needs more contrarians—not to divide, but to elevate us.  

Illustration: A Gemini 2.5 modified version of one of my doodle drawings.

Copernicus, Galileo, and Free Speech -- There Are Lessons Here

At the Galileo Museum in Florence.

What do you do if you're an outlier, ahead of the curve on a matter of historical or social significance? Or someone who has made a discovery that goes against public opinion?

When Copernicus observed and then proved that the earth went around the sun, and not vice versa, he only published this revelation at the end of his life. Had there been freedom of speech, accompanied by free thought and free inquiry, the "Copernican revolution" may have begun much earlier.

Galileo paid a price for his inquiries into how the universe works. His 1633 imprisonment was primarily due to his support for the heliocentric model of the solar system--that the sun was the center of our solar system--which contradicted the geocentric model endorsed by the Church at the time. Galileo's advocacy for the ideas proposed by Copernicus, challenged the prevailing religious and scientific beliefs of the era. He was found guilty of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church and was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

Today this power to elevate or destroy careers is no longer wielded by the Church. It belongs to the State and the mob. Free speech without repercussions appears to remain an unattainable ideal, like Quixote's impossible dream. 

These "Throwback Thursday" thoughts came to mind as I reflected again on Ibsen's Enemy of the People.

18 Blog Posts about My Adventures in Italy

“Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.”
--Anna Akhmatov

April 2023 I traveled to Italy for the first time in my life. For reasons I can only guess I’ve always felt an inward desire to one day visit this magical place. How marvelous it was when on my 70th birthday I received an all expenses paid trip to Italy from my daughter.

While there I scrawled 40 pages of notes and took what seems like a thousand photos. Upon my return I began processing my experience by writing about it on my Ennyman’s Territory blog. Assembling them here in one place enables me to share them with a single link.

1. Initial Thoughts after my first trip to Italy

2. A Brief Overview of My Italy Adventure

3. 850 Years Old and Still Looking Good: The Battistero di Parma
4. The Galileo Museum in Florence Is Worthwhile Destination

5. Liberation Day: Italy Celebrates Victory Over Fascism, With Expressions of Gratitude to the U.S.

6. 1000 Rooms of Splendor: The Palazzo Pitti
7. Bob Dylan in Italy

8. The Death of Galileo

9. The Scarpelli Mosaici

10. Michelangelo’s David… A Showstopper

11. Daniela Meza Sigala: Florence Artist’s Seriously Whimsical Paintings

12. The Teatro Farnese in Parma

13. The Duomo in Florence: A History, plus Photos

14. One of the Most Famous Paintings in Florence: Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), by Antonio Ciseri

15. The Bargello: Another “Must See” Museum In Florence

16. L’Ippogrifo Stampe d’Arte: Mastery of a Grand Tradition

17. Snapshots from Parma, 2023--A Catalog of Memories
18. The Enigmatic Whisper: Da Vinci’s La Scapigliata

If you've never been, add it to your bucket list.

Can You Identify This Deathbed Painting That I Saw In Florence?

While in Florence I took several photos of this painting which I believed to be based on the death of Galileo. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the nameplate, so I am now unsure about the subject matter as well as the name of the artist. Can you help me?

While organizing my Italy photos I wanted to share that this was a painting of Galileo on his deathbed. I also wanted to be accurate, so I did some searches using Google Bard and Google Images. What I learned from Bard is that "there are no famous deathbed paintings in Florence, Italy. There are a few paintings that depict the death of Jesus, but they are not considered to be deathbed paintings. The most famous painting of the death of Jesus is the Pietà by Michelangelo, which is located in the Vatican City. The Pietà depicts the Virgin Mary mourning the death of her son, Jesus."

Thanks, Bard, but I think you're wrong.

Naturally I found this answer unsatisfactory, since I took these photos of the painting in question while in Florence, and the bearded man on his deathbed looks quite a bit like Galileo. Nevertheless, Bard also had this to say about the matter:

"The reason why there are no famous deathbed paintings in Florence is because the Renaissance artists were more interested in depicting the beauty of life than the ugliness of death. They wanted to create paintings that would inspire and uplift people, not paintings that would remind them of their own mortality."

I guess it makes sense. In short, the painting here is either not famous or not a deathbed scene, though my comeback would be that "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck."

I do like the drama that the artist has captured. And the manner in which the light makes this man's costume to appear to glow.

Maybe we'll find out who painted it and whom this story is all about. And maybe we won't. It's still a masterful piece of work. If you know who painted it, please let us know in the comments. 

Libations at the Library 2016, Another Wonderful Event

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” 
― Jorge Luis Borges

Last night the Duluth Public Library once again hosted its annual Learning & Libations at the Library, an event that combines fundraising with hobnobbing, wine and entertaining educators. By "entertaining educators" I mean local presenters of information on various themes related to our Northland, from the Locally Laid story to Old & New World Wines to the Gardens of Glensheen to Wandering Through September. I myself attended Phil Fitzpatrick's Bob Dylan presentation and Dr. Krista Sue-Lo Twu's Shakespeare presentation related to the First Folio exhibition that is coming to UMD in October.

A table of contents for the event would go something like this: a preface, intro, 2 chapters of your choosing and an epilogue. The preface consisted of drinks, hors d'oeuvres and the commencement of a silent auction. At 6:45 library foundation president Dan D'Allard welcomed us (the introduction) and with a few brief remarks, including acknowledgements, ushered us off to our first presentations in various locations about the library. After two chapters of one hour "lectures" we re-convened around more delights as an epilogue.

I proceeded to the Gold Room for Phil Fitzpatrick's "A Dylan Hour" which proved to be a thoroughly engaging tour through the foggy trail of time regarding one of the mysteries of our Native Son. Mr. Fitzpatrick opined that his efforts to "solve the mystery" failed miserably. Everyone who attended would likely say the antithesis, he succeeded in shining a light on Dylan's not all-that-obscure connections to his roots.

The second presentation I attended dealt with Shakespeare's First Folio which will be on display here during the month of October. Ms. Twu, whose accolades and achievements include studying Shakespeare at Cambridge (one item on a list as long as your arm), was introduced as "smarter than you are." The traveling exhibit First Folio is on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Throughout the month there are daily activities scheduled to make this a truly rewarding opportunity for the community. The Grand Opening is slated for October 6, in the event this is not yet on your event horizon.

2016, for what it's worth, is the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's passing. Christa Twu devoted her time to sharing with us the significance of the historical period in which Shakespeare lived and moved, a transitional time from the Early Modern to Renaissance era. Her insights helped but a context on the life of Shakespeare and will

Here are a few items of note that I gleaned from the presentation. Of the 36 plays in this 1623 volume, 18 had never been printed before, including MacBeth and The Tempest. Approximately 750 copies were printed, but we only know the whereabouts of 233 today.

The reason folio sized books were the size they were was because they were proportional to the lambskin parchment that preceded printed paper books. The sheath of paper is about the size of a skinned lamb. Folding the paper in half and half again produces proportionally smaller sized volumes. Just as language has ancient roots that we're unaware of, so books have their own forgotten histories.

William Shakespeare was born during the reign of Elizabeth I, and later lived during the reign of King James VI. This was a significant time in the history of ideas. In the realm of religion the Protestant Reformation showed people they could have an unmediated relationship with God through the Bible. In order to read the Bible people had to know how to read, so this was a period of increased literacy. People can only be readers as long as they have time to read.

It was during this time that men like Galileo (1564-1642) and Kepler (1571-1630)  showed that the earth was not center of the universe. This was also a time of global exploration and the world was being mapped as it was, not as it was imagined. We learned about the what was taking place in Japan and China, the Middle East and Americas, and how all this was reflected in various ways in the plays of William S.

First Folio cost 20 shillings if you wished to own the works of Shakespeare when it was first produced. That would translate to $200 today.

For four Fridays in October you can see First Folio! the book that gave us Shakespeare at the Duluth Public Library. Look for announcements regarding other events, times and places, taking place throughout that month.

As regards the Phil Fitzpatrick presentation... that deserves a blog post all its own, if not three.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Embrace it.

Infinity

"To infinity, and beyond!" ~Buzz Lightyear

Been thinking about infinity lately. It's easy to see why mathematicians have had such a troubling time with it. Take, for example, this common conundrum.

You have hotel with an infinite number of rooms. An infinite number of people show up one night because of your Vacancy sign. (Maybe it is Grandma's Marathon weekend.) So, you give them all of your infinite number of even numbered rooms, 2,4,6, ad infinitum. They check in all happy and your clerks are impressed because you still have an infinite number of vacancies, in case you get more business.

Well, obviously, infinity throws a wrinkle in things if you treat it like an absolute number.

Here's one I have toyed with lately. Between any two points there are an infinite number of points. If you have a line segment three inches long, and one that is six inches long, why can't you simply say 3 = 6 since both contain the same number of points?

For the Romans, infinity simply meant a very large number. Galileo later suggested that the infinite does not correspond to mathematical rules in the same way as a common integer. Correctamento, Galileo!

When I was young I used to toy with the idea of time being a "duration" like miles of road, and that between two points in time, let's say four o'clock and eight o'clock, there is an infinite amount of time just as in the number of points in a line segment. (I know that waiting can feel that way sometimes, especially when waiting to open Christmas presents or waiting for relief when going through some personal hell.)

And so... if there is an infinity between a few hours, what about a few minutes? Or between two moments? And how long is Now? Is it infinitely small or infinitely something else? Or is Now only an illusion that occurs between the infinite past and infinite future?

This leads naturally into questions about the nature of time itself. Why do some days go fast and others slow when they all have the same number of hours?

What about space? Is outer space infinite? Or does our universe have an "outer wall" or some kind of endpoint? What would the end of the universe look like? How would you know when you got there?

And then, what about inner space? Maybe this is what Blaise Pascal was talking about when he wrote, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus”