The bang was big. In 16 July 1945, humans got to start using the power of the sun. First to fry people, but then – and this is not understood enough – with the hope (okay, maybe it was a bit of a fig-leaf) of the “peaceful use of nuclear explosions”. What's this, you say?... Continue Reading →
Beating nukes into plowshares
I thought I was cynical enough. Nope, not by a gazillion miles. Turns out both the US and the Russians were keen on using nukes for peace. Some of this I knew, but I didn't realise it was quite so extensive... "Project Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to... Continue Reading →
The line from Stalin to Putin
This from the Big issue in the North 16-22 May Charlotte Hobson, author of The Vanishing Futurist was asked "Can you draw a line between Stalin and Putin? And she replied Varlam Shalamov, the great chronicler of Stalin's gulag observed that it was the mindset of the common criminals that dominated the camps - and... Continue Reading →
Thrashing thrashing
Ah, we have so many ways of distracting ourselves. Most of us do, anyway. I quite like this (though a brain is not a computer!) It is the same with a computer cache: there will be a hierarchy - from super-fast memory in the microprocessor itself all the way down to a hard drive (slow)... Continue Reading →
Video: What is absorptive capacity?
And here is the script that I more or less stumbled through. So, what is absorptive capacity? According to the seminal 1990 article by Cohen and Levinthal it's "a firm's ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends" Extending this, Zahra and George (2002) say it is... Continue Reading →
Concept fetishism and leather skirts
So a fetish is a god we create and then forget that we created and get down to serious worshipping of. There's a rather good Doctor Who story from 1976, that was going to be called "The Day God Went Mad" but ended up being called "The Face of Evil" that outlines this with added... Continue Reading →
Trolling Esso for the shits and giggles.
Oil companies. Doncha just love them? And they spend a lot of time trying to shape the public debate, shape the public mind. BP isn't doing arts sponsorship because they're a charity you know. Shell have been brilliant at their advertising for decades (see this post and this post). Esso (aka Exxon) have some new... Continue Reading →
“Stay safe”?! White Privilege, #brexit and WTAF
I know a young Malaysian woman. We bumped into each other this evening, me three pints in. There was of course only one possible topic of conversation. As we parted, I said "stay safe". WTAF, that I have to say that? I have a hijabi friend who is going to be living in London, and... Continue Reading →
Here we go again. Can I sit this one out? Prob not.
Shit just gets realer and realer, doesn't it? Utter uncertainty about pretty much everything political (the environment stuff - especially carbon emissions and sea level rise - are locked in now). Who will lead the Tories? Who will lead Labour? Will they even exist a year from now? Will we actually leave the EU? Under... Continue Reading →
Brexit and climate – is the world too complex for our political institutions?
The British people have narrowly voted to leave the European Union. Britain's elites are in a state of bewilderment and fear not seen since the Global Financial Crisis hit in September 2008. Already the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will step down, and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also being challenged. ... Continue Reading →
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