Nothing organised or refined here - just a quote dump because I am supposed to be doing other things (I am always supposed to be doing other things!). tl;dr - timing matters, there are deeper tides than we realise (just read about Camatte's idea of speciosis-ontosis - not sure it adds much, but it's intriguing... Continue Reading →
Of gray goo, paperclips and Habsburg AI: the fears we have of new technologies
Yesterday I came across a new reason(as if I needed more!) not to make long term plans. It's "Model Autophagy Disorder" - basically, the AI slop vacuum cleaners/generators might start to feed on what they've already spat out. As I put on Bluesky - "I'm old enough to remember when "MAD" meant Yanks and Russians... Continue Reading →
October 22nd’s Private Eye rejects – Trumpbot, Reform hack, Spooks warning
I think I will do three submissions per issue until the end of the year, then call it a day.
More rejected Private Eye submissions
I've been fascinated by Private Eye since late 1995, when my late friend Dev Cropper introduced me to it (or explained it better than I was currently understanding). Yes, it is not perfect, but - other than me of course - what is? Anyway, I've started pitching satire to them. Yet to be successful. You... Continue Reading →
Poetry for the Fafocene
There are Things I Have to Do. I went for a yomp to feed moorhens and swans (and shed lard - I go out with a weighted jacket - ten kilos of 1 and 2 pence coins and also, latterly, a backpack with a few bricks) to map out some of these TIHD, and avoid... Continue Reading →
War, war, what’s it good for? Well, since you ask…
This, from a chapter in "The Cambridge History of Violence" (2020) is rather good. The chapter is by Professor Peter H Wilson. The key advantage of regular troops was that their tighter discipline allowed them to fight in close-order formations designed to maximise the potential of the available weaponry. Discipline had several roots and its... Continue Reading →
Handmaids, Leopards and Cory Doctorow
The set-up in The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is that the Bad People have managed to end women’s economic independence at the tap of a few keys on a keyboard. You had to take those pieces of paper with you when you went shopping, though by the time I was nine or ten most... Continue Reading →
Ovid’s Metamorphoses #091/111: “Glaucus”
What this project is about. This one is from Book 13. Bartholomeus Spranger (1546–1611), Glaucus and Scylla (1580-82), oil on canvas, 110 × 81 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons. How long it took to read this (aloud): 4 mins 30s What it’s “about”: Scylla on the beach, ‘wooed’ by Glaucus unsuccessfully. Changing Stories:... Continue Reading →
Ovid’s Metamorphoses #090/111: “Galatea and Polyphemus” (aka “the one-eyed monster runs amok”)
What this project is about. This one is from Book 13. Polyphemus and Galatea — Institute for the Study of the Ancient World How long it took to read this (aloud): 12 mins 57s What it’s “about”: Cyclops as incel/’unsuccessful’ suitor. Compare that Onion story “Romantic Comedy Behavior Gets Real-Life Man Arrested” April 7, 1999.... Continue Reading →
Ovid’s Metamorphoses #089/111: “Aeneas”
What this project is about. This one is from Book 13. Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), Aeneas Fleeing from Troy (1753), oil on canvas, 76.7 × 97 cm, Galleria Sabauda, Turin, Italy. Wikimedia Commons. How long it took to read this (aloud): 8 mins 41s What it’s “about”: Aeneas - the Roman knock-off of Ulysses (as per... Continue Reading →
