Quick post. I am fascinated by the ways groups start with high hopes/expectations (high hopes = hype) and within a few months tend to be all gone, or else fighting like dysfunctional rats in an itchy hessian sack. Seen it so many times. Been one of those rats too, for my sins. This below about... Continue Reading →
“The cure for everything is salt water: sweat, tears, and the sea”
I got this from Liz Jensen's article in the Observer, about the death of her youngest child. It's a quote of Karen Blixen. Seems legit. See also Robert Frost being asked what he had learned about life, and he replied "it goes on." And see also this https://www.salon.com/2014/07/19/why_our_brains_love_the_ocean_science_explains_what_draws_humans_to_the_sea
Nice two sentences about communication. And yet…
,I bought a book in a charity shop (I know, I know). It's called "Managing Difficult People." I hoped it might have some tips for self-management, and it does. So expect New and Improved Marc any day now. Oh yes. The book a slender thing, seven chapters. On page 36 there is the following "The... Continue Reading →
The sociological function of the sponsors’ speeches at academic workshops
Am listening to one now (1). I do wish I had made a buzzword bingo card. Might have made it more tolerable. Obviously if sponsors are sponsoring something, they have to be given their moment in the bully pulpit. But are they ever going to say anything interesting, that people attending the workshop don't already... Continue Reading →
On the “slow” motion privatisation of the NHS and feelings of dread
Twice now, once last year and just now, I've had the experience I am sure millions of others are having. You need something done and rather than it being dealt with "in-house" the NHS is farming it out to private companies. All in the name of "efficiency" don't you know. Never mind the senior politicians... Continue Reading →
Of masochism and learning to walk away (or not even go there).
The Wife has told me a million times. The Wife is - as so frustratingly-often is the case - absolutely right. But still I attended a webinar of a group that claims it is doing things differently (I won't go further than that). And the webinar was about a very very important question, around the... Continue Reading →
Two webinars and a podcast – (#UsualRant abt uselessness of most “intellectual” work “for” social movements)
Stop me if you've heard this one before (pro-tip; you have from me, endlessly). People like the sound of their own voices. People who think (or DO) have a lot to say like to say it. They are remarkably incurious about what their audience (the ego-fodder) might know/have to contribute. The hosts of these events... Continue Reading →
A properly Star-FT brain #02 – Labour factions, Mark Fisher and Gaza
Another blog about the Morning Star and Financial Times, which I get most Saturdays. See first blog here. The Morning Star had some good stuff Kerr, M. 2024. Miliband commits to £8.3bn GB Energy investment strategy. Morning Star, February 17, p.3. McCail, C. 2024. The anti-politics of Starmer's Labour. Morning Star, February 17, p.12-13. (on... Continue Reading →
Ban the word “we” (also, bragging abt exercise)
Sat on an exercise bike before work this morning. In past had read Financial Timeses and Morning Stars, but that gets in the way of really going for it. So I was listening to a podcast (I like to keep up with new trends). I won't mention the name, but it's a well-respected one, with... Continue Reading →
Does Dracula have a bacula? And poor Scott Bakula?!
So, am reading a book about a guy reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica. (See here). And he mentions bacula... Penis bones, or bacula, are found in several groups of mammals—scientists remember them with the mnemonic PRICC (Primates, but not humans; Rodents; Insectivores, like hedgehogs; Carnivores, like dogs and seals; and Chiroptera, bats Which lead me to ponder -... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 