I am listening to an extraordinary podcast (see below). First though, a couple of preliminaries for those who don't know. During the Cuban Missile Crisis there was a Soviet submarine with nukes being depth charged by the Americans. Communications with Moscow were lost, the temperature was rising because the air-conditioning was on the blink and... Continue Reading →
Mobile phones as id portals – affordances affording fascism…
I was, to my wife's exasperation, a (very) late adopter of mobile phone technology; I have luddite tendencies, after all. Anyway, this isn't about me (it turns out some things aren't! Who knew). This is about how we think about mobiles. They are sold as wonderboxes that have the world's knowledge at our fingertips. As... Continue Reading →
Juggling: Five ball flashes (unsolicited advice)
As some of you may recall, I have been (for several years, intermittently) learning to juggle. I can do some basic three ball tricks, and am now reasonably adept at 4 balls (various patterns). Over the last few weeks I have been doing the drills that help you get to five (short version - you... Continue Reading →
“So Late in the Day” by Claire Keegan
Beautifully done, but "yikes". This was published in French under the title "Misogynic." Fits. It's one of those "creeps up on you, you know it is going to end very very badly and then it does and you're not surprised or deflated but simply deeply unsettled" stories. Terrifying but in an extremely understated and careful... Continue Reading →
Second (well, further) thoughts on “The Long Walk”
I saw it, I liked it, but I almost certainly won't watch it again. The further thoughts are these - there is a lot of genre play going on here. It's a slasher film but the Jason Voorhees is the state, bumping them off until the Final Girl (but in this case, a Final Boy).... Continue Reading →
“Leaning in” – it’s easier, after all…
There's a new book called Fascist Yoga, which I am probably not going to read, but I am probably glad that it exists. Meanwhile
Two Noble Kinsmen (Bard to the Bone #017)
Year written: 1613 Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): Definitely phoning it in. Working with a young guy called Fletcher. Basically re-tread of Two Gentlemen of Verona, for better or worse. Plot in a paragraph: Bezzies Arcite and Palamon are captured by king Theseus and fall in love at... Continue Reading →
The centrist rally (see also “Love me, I’m a liberal”)
Saw this online and it made me laugh a bit - ymmv. See also Phil Ochs "love me, I'm a liberal". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cdqQ2BdgOA Blah blah "if you're middle of the road you get hit by the traffic in both directions" blah blah.
At last! An accurate/meaningful IQ test!
Some spam just popped up in my gmail inbox (1) and it gives me perverse hope. Here's a screengrab. The test works like this: If you are dumb and desperate enough to click on "See My Complete Analysis" then the test results are definitely in - you are a credulous moron. Congratulations. (2) Blah blah... Continue Reading →
Industrial disease vs additional degrees (Song lyrics spoof)
One of my favourite Dire Straits songs (of many) is "industrial disease" - for its cynicism, its jauntiness and the immortal lyric "sociologists invent words that mean industrial disease". Today on Bluesky I found myself advocating for a reboot of industrial disease with the words "additional degrees". Well, here we are... Industrial diseaseAdditional degreesNow, warning... Continue Reading →
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