We watched "It's a Sin" the other day, all five episodes. It's the best stuff I have seen of Russell T. Davies, with many of the really cringe-inducing elements of his oeuvre gone. It's fabulously acted too - a worthy UK equivalent to the movie "Long-time Companion." It covers the period 1981 to 1991, from... Continue Reading →
Hudson’s law of nugatory plenaries
Plenary, n. meeting or session attended by all participants at a conference or assembly. ("working parties would report back to the plenary with recommendations") Nugatory adj. of no value or importance. Let's say, for the sake of a making a seemingly robust argument (i.e. one with numbers and percentages) that the likelihood of you getting... Continue Reading →
Sit back and relax – greedy technokiddies will save us all
Getting quite sick of going to events about The Future where three unexamined myths get tossed around. In no particular order these absurd myths are a) "There's a new generation of eco-aware kids rising up who will fix things." This one gets reheated periodically. Um, all those kids who grew up worried about the ozone... Continue Reading →
Fiction: At the autopsy
Coroner: (holding scalpel) 52-year-old Caucasian male. 191 cm. BMI in high 20s. Recent covid infection. What’s the CoD? Student: (nervous) MI? CVA? Coroner: Good guesses. But it was DCI. Student: Er? Coroner: (mock sighs) What do Universities teach anymore, besides wokeness? Domestic Cat Incident. Student: (scribbles in notebook of acronyms) It clawed him to death... Continue Reading →
“Soz, Virginia, there is no Sanity Clause” (given that it’s almost Atheistmas)
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.Some of my little friends say there is no Sanity Clause,and therefore humans are going to destroy the conditions for their continued existence before they can stop themselves. And that I will die young.Papa says, ‘If you see someone say "WE ARE DUN" it’s so.’Please tell me the truth;... Continue Reading →
“Give it to me straight, doc”
As the cliche goes... "how long have I got?" And docs tend to be overly-optimistic about this, apparently. It's always a tough call, and when it comes to our "civilisation", well a) it's complicated (or, rather, complex) b) we are (too) in love with narratives of an abrupt end. There's a song by Midnight Oil... Continue Reading →
Of ritualised climate “activism” on a doomed planet, going through the (e)motions. Of Ridley Scott, Lennie Cohen etc…
There's a Ridley Scott film (I know I might lose some folks, but stick with it, it will be worth it, I promise (1).) It's called "White Squall" and it came out in 1996. It stars the ever-watchable Jeff Bridges as a sailor and general dude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6WvayGd64 Anyway (and SPOILERS), there's a storm (a white... Continue Reading →
Whoop! Four ball asynchronous fountains are a thing!
So, I am "teaching myself" to juggle. The quote marks are because nobody does this stuff alone - I've had encouragement from various people (plus passive-aggressive criticism from one person, but that is their issue, not mine) AND I am drawing upon the excellent videos you can find online (waves at Taylor, Lauri, Nils). I... Continue Reading →
Fiction: “A Few Bad Men” (At the Hague in 2029, with the PR industry in the dock for ecocide…)
It's the late 2020s. After the Great Rese... nsitisation of 2024, when El Nino led to a magical step change in public understanding of the enormous danger the human species faced, many things happened all at once. Enormous programmes to accelerate the replacement of fossil fuels with renewables began. Everyone radically reduced or ceased their... Continue Reading →
COP27 and the fantasies of salvation, colliding with reality
First thing to say is that it isn't the people on the sharp end of climate change who have been indulging in fantasy. They are not to blame for this. They did what they could, they did not "allow" this, they were simply outspent, outfought, outmanoeuvred. The small island states knew that rising sea levels... Continue Reading →
