I can say brilliant because it wasn't me. Recently I posted a quote by John Kenneth Galbraith And a friend I respect (have never met - this is the 21st century) replied with a typical (for this person) succinct and incisive comment. So spot-on it hurts. Although not as much as modern “Conservatism” does. Key... Continue Reading →
A few years ago I did a gushing review (this is unusual for me) of an academic book (see previous brackets, only more so). It was a book about "Energy Fables" and how power relations are buried in the assumptions of various "common sense" phrases like "low-hanging fruit" and the "energy trilemma." I don't think... Continue Reading →
I absolutely loved The Parable of the Sower - need to read the sequel... “Choose your leaderswith wisdom and forethought.To be led by a cowardis to be controlledby all that the coward fears.To be led by a foolis to be ledby the opportunistswho control the fool.To be led by a thiefis to offer upyour most... Continue Reading →
When everyone is trying to make periodisations (Anthropocene, Trumpocene, Capitlocene, Chthulocene, Whatsmycene) It is surely the Ceneocene? Sadly, it does seem someone has beaten me to the punch. But wait! There’s more! The Cenes I’ve detailed are but a few of the many Cenes that have percolated to the surface of the junction between science,... Continue Reading →
The Winter’s Tale Year written: 1610 Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): xx Plot in a paragraph: King Leontes accuses his pregnant wife Hermione of cheating with his old friend, King of Bohemia Polixenes. The Delphic Oracle tells Leontes he is wrong, but it’s only the death of their... Continue Reading →
John Kenneth Galbraith, succinct. “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” IT IS A PARAPHRASE. See below... (Also, it's worth your time listening to Heather Cox Richardson, the American historian, and her "Letters from an American." She... Continue Reading →
I am on a National Archives binge. Occasionally you come up against "retained under section 3.4" It's this. Never hurts to submit a FOI, I guess.
We are pack animals, tribal. That's entirely sensible in predictable environments. Those who are "outside the norm" are more likely to get eaten by passing leopards etc. For millennia, doing what the tribe said you should do was very sensible. The trouble starts as systems become more complex, and the tribe's way of life -... Continue Reading →
We are so fubarred. It is bad enough that people believe what they read on the Internet (other than this site, which should obviously be worshipped unthinkingly). But now people have got so idle/credulous that they accept AI slop, without even looking at any actual pages...
It still shocks me. You have to have a grudging admiration (1) for a system of control that is able to turn ANYTHING into an opportunity to do the most important thing in the modern world - to Sell More Stuff. There's an advert for Ribena on Youtube. There's the usual graphics of Sweet Innocent... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 