Can information technology help us “in the real world”, as students and scholars? Marc Hudson attends a link-heavy lecture and comes away inspired and a bit overwhelmed. The startling factoids come thick and fast in Professor Derek France’s talk; Over 90 percent of students have a smart phone or mobile device, The average number of... Continue Reading →
On the Stepper: 13th January: Climate reports, Stockholm syndrome and Green Bans
On an "Australian science/politics in the 70s and onwards" binge at mo' (trying to be more systematic in my PhD reading). Garratt, JR, Webb, EK and McCarthy, S. (2011) Charles Henry Brian Priestley. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 57, 349-278. Didn't read all of this, but the bits that relate to his... Continue Reading →
Writing goals Week 2, 2015 (Jan 12th to Jan 18th)
Directly relevant to PhD a) 2500 words on the coming of climate change awareness in Australia (1987 to 1990) – who, how, why; and the response from coal interests. Indirectly relevant to PhD b) 10 “All Our Yesterdays” posts allouryesterdays.net “Don't get it write, get it written.” From week 1: 2500 words on “capsule biographies”... Continue Reading →
On the stepper 11th January 2015: Wind power romance, past warnings, science hacks, climate histories
Trying to form a new habit – typing up what I read “as I go”. And connected to that, giving an account of what I read while on the stepper for 90ish minutes a day (mostly). The habit is not “fully bedded in” as a habit yet, but I refuse to use that as an... Continue Reading →
Let’s airbrush the black people out of the narrative, eh?
It’s easy to spot when the “right” is distorting the past for the purpose of shaping the present and future. It’s easy to denounce their focus on kings and queens and Great Men, and the technologies of innovation that create a “whiggish” narrative of white power (in every sense). It’s easy to get outraged by... Continue Reading →
Writing goals Week 1, 2015 (Jan 5th to Jan 11th)
Directly relevant to PhD 2500 words on “capsule biographies” of lobby groups“proxies” in the (Australian) coal wars - BCA, MCA, ACA (defunct), IPA, CIS, Lavoisier, Galileo etc ACF, TWS, Green Party, Greenpeace, Australia Institute, Climate Institute etc Indirectly relevant to PhD 2500 words on “the Road to Toronto” - state, corporate and public responses to/awareness... Continue Reading →
The Joy of … Big Numbers; the Simpsons, Hype Cycles and George Monbiot
Here's 3 quotations about energy provision. They're from 1973, 2001 and 2010. Skim, don't ponder. I've put the relevant bits in bold. The tl;dr is that politicians like Big Numbers (duh). “Project Independence was an initiative announced by U.S. President Richard Nixon on November 7, 1973, in reaction to the OPEC oil embargo and the... Continue Reading →
Boundary Objects and good advice.
You know the old joke - "I'm a sex object. I ask for sex, and people object"? No, well, now you do... Boundary objects are, according to wikipedia - "In sociology, a boundary object is information, such as specimens, field notes, and maps, used in different ways by different communities. Boundary object are plastic, interpreted... Continue Reading →
Planes, Claims and Automobiles – #masculinity, #cars and #advertising
Two adverts have been on the idiot's lantern at the gym (I am one of those tremendous bores who doesn't have a television and lets you know at every opportunity) Briefly, the plots; In one, a generically handsome (quietly athletic, mid-30s, stubbly; basically the male equivalent of the beige cheeky-boney woman you see in the... Continue Reading →
Book Review: “Innovation For A Low Carbon Economy”
Foxon, T, Kohler, J. and Oughton, C. (2008) Innovation For A Low Carbon Economy Economic, Institutional and Management Approaches Cheltenham: Edward Elgar This one is a corker, if you like that sort of thing. There are nine chapters, including the introduction, and every single one of them is worth some or a LOT of attention. ... Continue Reading →
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