tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78657989955209302622024-03-22T03:16:55.081+00:00Teddy's PicnicA rug, a few tasty items and some people to talk toAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-6312222079891364612013-07-11T14:18:00.002+01:002013-07-11T14:18:45.181+01:00How to get rid of whitespace (non-political)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtw2J9ZFhrRYnmZWnzI1SiBc_gyVeNQGKrLpkN9CZOXhLmJ-uW7V-ChvGDBp-E15cKiGY1Tr5EQ697Ipk1fPva4dzpsNn0VMtsol28F5FFZIFD3pUk3_0bjBOi61CuATxOUZmkv0T4EA/s1600/whitespace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtw2J9ZFhrRYnmZWnzI1SiBc_gyVeNQGKrLpkN9CZOXhLmJ-uW7V-ChvGDBp-E15cKiGY1Tr5EQ697Ipk1fPva4dzpsNn0VMtsol28F5FFZIFD3pUk3_0bjBOi61CuATxOUZmkv0T4EA/s320/whitespace.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Something fantastic has happened and I need to bring it to your attention.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I get so annoyed trying to read pdfs that have lots of space around the text. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Maybe you feel the same.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Zooming in and out every page is such a faff. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Well, it turns out you can crop pdfs really easily using the mac pdf viewer! </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Just select the appropriate rectangle (tools>>rectangular selection),</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
then enable thumbnail view (view>>thumbnails),</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
select all (cmnd-a) and finally</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
press cmnd-k.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I'm so happy right now.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-21065196965680928252013-06-21T11:51:00.000+01:002013-06-21T11:51:12.898+01:00Sport sadness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/12/09/1225968/029326-ricky-ponting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/12/09/1225968/029326-ricky-ponting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
So <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/22992059" target="_blank">apparently</a> while I was away from the internet Ricky Ponting announced that he is retiring. I thought he was great.<br />
<br />
As a fielder and captain his plump cheeks and underdog expression were adorable, especially as he was often feeling hard done by, having grown up in an era when Australia had better bowlers than everyone else by far but been captain at a time when they didn't.<br />
<br />
As a batsman he wasn't exactly elegant but he had this way of getting on with everything correctishly, unfussily and emotionlessly. Together these features turned him into a kind of psychological mirror. Whenever he was batting all the attention and pressure somehow seemed to divert away from him and towards the bowler. The fact that he had clear weaknesses (by general consensus his technique only became viable when his incredible hand-eye coordination kicked in after about half an hour of batting, and even then often got him into trouble against properly excellent bowling) emphasised the effect. If the other team wasn't getting him out, it always seemed to be because <i>they</i> weren't quite special enough when it mattered.<br />
<br />
To illustrate here is a clip of Shoaib Acktar battling with his Ponting-reflection:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/VsAL3TB_qUA/0.jpg" height="360" width="450"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/VsAL3TB_qUA&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="450" height="360" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/VsAL3TB_qUA&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-89590817563153623212013-05-20T15:20:00.002+01:002013-05-20T15:20:49.092+01:00Perhaps the quality of tv jingles is declining<div>
</div>
<div>
You might be bothered by that possibility shortly before you start learning how to teach a maths class in 1966:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/48768091" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<br />
I'm nearly finished reading a book - `<a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0VPw11kP-1-VDJDLTNTWWM0Rjg/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Patterns of Plausible Inference</a>' - by the teacher, George Polya. It makes several tricky topics easy to understand, contains lots of fascinating and quirky examples and is beautifully written. There are also interesting lines of influence and comparison with the philosophers Jaynes and Carnap.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Polya.html" target="_blank">Biographical details</a>: Polya was a pacifist, enjoyed playing football and didn't like maths at school.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-36481361763465009062012-06-14T10:36:00.002+01:002012-06-14T10:36:35.460+01:00Schoolboy issues on my mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://splinteredsunrise.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/hari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://splinteredsunrise.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/hari.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
(i) My childhood newspaper hero Johann Hari (it went Robert Fisk, Johann Hari, Howard Jacobsen and then I started reading the internet instead) always used to go on about how it was really awful to claim (and many political horserace type journalists and people with radical politics did and still do) that there is no significant difference between the mainstream political parties when one party's focus is eliminating child poverty while the other's is cutting rich peoples' taxes.<br />
<br />
Today I read that this was borne out in results: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/12/labours-effort-cut-child-poverty-exceptional?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">Labour reduced child poverty</a> by nearly two-million compared to how high it would have been if they hadn't spent loads of money on it, while the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/01/child-poverty-target-changes-coalition" target="_blank">Conservative party is dropping Labour's child poverty target</a> on the grounds that, er, current measures of poverty aren't tracking wellbeing or something and anyway shouldn't we be forcing poor people to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/12/jobseekers-work-unpaid-lose-benefits" target="_blank">work for no pay</a> rather than giving them stuff? Meanwhile child poverty is rising rapidly due to their policies and income tax for rich people has just gone down. Also according this <a href="http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep587.pdf" target="_blank">literature review</a> into housing benefit by the government department for work and pensions there is "no consistent evidence of cultures of worklessness in deprived areas." Basically this shows that Johann Hari was right: it is really bad to ignore the difference between different kinds of mainstream politics.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.tactools.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/4149421b86.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.tactools.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/4149421b86.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
(ii) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jrldv" target="_blank">In Our Time </a>was about Ulysses today and it was ok and made me maybe want to read it again. One of the panellists said it was like the Odyssey in being a 'great novel of peace'. I think that is fair in the 'not war' sense of 'peace' but it would probably be better to say or 'hospitality' or 'domesticity' or 'peacetime' or 'not-exceptional-in-the-grand-sweep-of-history times' or something like that as both books have loads of non-war conflict. I have these things to add: (a) it is the best thing ever for self-importance and not coincidentally (b) I agree with James Joyce about politics almost 100%.<br />
<br />
(iii) <a href="http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/06/11/france-1-1-england-france-dominate-possession-but-creativity-stifled-by-england-sitting-deep/" target="_blank">Loads</a> of stuff <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/14/tottenham-hotspur-harry-redknapp-leave-club" target="_blank">going on</a> in football at the moment. If things go right I might even get passionate about Spurs again in a year or so.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-9567190608317205952012-05-20T16:49:00.000+01:002012-05-20T16:49:35.515+01:00politics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://therelativeabsolute.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/600full-karl-popper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://therelativeabsolute.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/600full-karl-popper.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
<br />
Here is roughly my position on what I consider the most important issue, as articulated by Karl Popper in <a href="http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/WS06/pmo/eng/Popper-OpenSociety.pdf" target="_blank">The Open Society and its Enemies</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The existence of social evils, that is to say, of social conditions under which many men are suffering, can be comparatively well established. Those who suffer can judge for themselves, and the others can hardly deny that they would not like to change places. It is infinitely more difficult to reason about an ideal society. Social life is so complicated that few men, or none at all, could judge a blueprint for social engineering on the grand scale; whether it be practicable; whether it would result in a real improvement; what kind of suffering it may involve; and what may be the means for its realization. As opposed to this, blueprints for piecemeal engineering are comparatively simple. They are blueprints for single institutions, for health and unemployed insurance, for instance, or arbitration courts, or anti-depression budgeting, or educational reform. If they go wrong, the damage is not very great, and a re-adjustment not very difficult.</span></span></blockquote>
Let's have an argument!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-77539073648132991402012-05-13T15:38:00.000+01:002012-05-13T15:38:01.820+01:00baby animals in danger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lions.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
If you are wondering what to watch at the moment, and are fond of reality tv and fluffy baby animals, then please consider <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qj06z/episodes/guide" target="_blank">Planet Earth Live</a>.<br />
<br />
It's a really good concept for a wildlife programme: basically following a bunch of imperilled mammal families with adorable but vulnerable offspring around the world for a month and seeing which ones die. The reality twist is that everything is live: if baby macaque Gremlin gets eaten, we'll know about it before she has finished being digested!<br />
<br />
They make it even better by anthropomorphising in a heartstring-tugging way that I don't think I've seen before, making the young animals' survival seem to depend on their parents' personalities or which side of the tracks they were born on. While the privileged lion cubs play with each other, we follow hungry Moja and his exiled mum, who have to roam the savanna on their own, scrapping with hyenas for whatever they can get and steer the pride. Meanwhile we hope that Canadian black bear Juliet isn't too inexperienced a mother to keep her cubs safe from the wolves and snow, and fret about bereaved giant otters Sofia and Diablo letting their desire for revenge cloud their judgement. In the ocean, a grey whale and her daughter are trying to reach Alaska through patrols of killer whales, a situation which the presenter plots on a map just like the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggiejones/4173060095/lightbox/" target="_blank">Battle of Britain</a>. This quote from episode two is typical:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I guess if you're living on a lake that's jam packed with caimen who want to eat you, you have to grow up pretty fast"</blockquote>
There is plenty that is annoying - Julia Bradbury has the habit of calling children "little ones" (I think this is a contender for <i>the</i> most annoying habit), and Richard Hammond is obviously incredibly irritating - but overall I think it's really well done. It's a new dynamic to me to follow individual animals' everyday lives rather than just seeing a whistlestop tour of the most exciting things a particular species does, a bit like watching the whole match rather than just the highlights.<br />
<br />
Also, <a href="http://www.lyricsdepot.com/joni-mitchell/coyote.html" target="_blank">for Joni Mitchell fans</a>, in episode two you get to look a coyote right in the face in a place that could conceivably be near the road to Baljennie.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-28858296599494484822012-04-27T15:31:00.000+01:002012-04-27T15:35:29.724+01:00mermaids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.matthewroberts.co.uk/images/20080722/ER_000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="367" src="http://www.matthewroberts.co.uk/images/20080722/ER_000.jpg" width="550" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
First here is a question: why is it that mermaids are scaly like fish but have vertical facing tails like dolphins?<br />
<br />
Possible explanations:<br />
<ol>
<li>At the distance where early modern sailors are likely to mistake dolphins or manatees or seals or whatever for mermaids, scaliness can't be discerned but swimming technique can.</li>
<li>The sailors didn't know about the animals in question not being scaly. </li>
<li>The people who actually witnessed mermaids didn't attribute scales to them, but that detail got lost somewhere between them and Hans Christian Anderson.</li>
<li>Mermaids exist.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Second, here is a really nice poem called 'The Field of Mirrors' by Andrew Motion. It is about Orford Ness (the beautiful and desolate place in the photo) and a merperson. The buildings look like pagodas because <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orford_Ness#History" target="_blank">apparently</a> that is a good shape for surviving/dissipating massive explosions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<div class="body " style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4; outline: none; text-align: left;">
<div style="outline: none;">
THE VILLAGE of Orford, five miles south of Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, survived for centuries as a fishing port; now it is separated from the sea by the river Alde, and by a strip of land known as the Ness. The Ness is ten miles long, stretching from Slaughden to North Wear Point. It is overlooked by a 12th-century castle, and is also known as the Spit and the Island.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
All this is true;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
what else can I tell you?</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
During the First World War, the Armament Experiment Flight of the Central Flying School was stationed on the Ness, which became a site for parachute testing and, later, a firing <span style="line-height: 1.4;">and bombing range. In the late 1930s, Orford Research Programme was founded, and the Ness became a Listening Post and a centre for experimental work on Radar. In 1946 it was taken over by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, which closed down in 1971. The Ness was then cleared by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit. It was sold to the National Trust in 1993.</span></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<span style="line-height: 1.4;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
This is also true;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
what else can I tell you?</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
In the reign of King Henry II, when the village still faced the sea, a local historian recorded the capture of the Orford Merman. This Merman was kept in the castle, where whether he would or could not, he would not talk, although oft-times hung up by his feet and harshly tortured. Eventually he was released into the harbour.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
This is also true;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
why should I lie to you?</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
In the late eleven-fifties</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
when the river and the sea</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
were still in one another's arms</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and lived in harmony</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there came a summer day so hot</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the sea seemed hardly wet,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and the fishermen remained at home</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
until the sun had set,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
had set and rustled up a breeze</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and high tide at the full,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
so just like that their sails were out</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
beyond the harbour wall.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
A mile offshore, before the shape</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
of home had slipped away,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they hushed, and cast their clever nets</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
like grain into the bay.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
One hour passed. Another hour.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
The house lights on the land</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
began to jitter and go out;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the dark to deepen and expand,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and silence in a steady flood</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
rushed round them silkily</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and even filtered through their nets</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
to calm the rocking sea.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
No iron-filing shoal of fish</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
criss-crossed the rock-strewn floor,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
no oyster winked, no battling crab</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
stuck out an angry claw,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the clear-cut worlds which make the world</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
lost all their difference,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the sea was sky, deep down was high,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and nonsense seemed like sense.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Enough like sense, at least, to mean</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
that in the red-eyed dawn,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
with courses set and sails poised</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
to catch the first wind home,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
it seemed the sort of miracle</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
that no one thought was rare</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
for one of them to haul on board</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
his streaming net and there</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
to find a merman large as life -</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a merman] - half death pale,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
half silver as a new-made coin</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and fretted like chain-mail.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
For a million years one life simply turns into the next -</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the spider hangs between driftwood and sea holly,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the kestrel balances exactly over a shrew,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the hare sits bolt upright and urgent, all ears:</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there is no reason why any of this should change.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
But a new thought arrives and the island is invaded -</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a radio mast stands up and starts cleaning its whiskers,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a field of mirrors learns to see clear beyond the Alps,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a set of ordinary headphones discovers the gift of tongues:</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there is no reason why any of this should change.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Work goes ahead smoothly but no one breathes a word -</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a slim needle is sensibly embarrassed by the red,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a pressure gauge puffs out its cheeks but is always steady,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a bird-walk of mathematics knows just where it is going:</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there is no reason why any of this should change.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Not rare? Not like a miracle?</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
No, not until he spoke,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
when feebly as a rotten thread</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the spell that held them broke</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and every clear-cut bit of world</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
snapped back into its place:</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the sea was sea, the sky was sky</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the merman's face his face,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
which slid between its salty lips</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
an eel-dance of a tongue,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a tongue which could not fix or shape</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the words it splashed among.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
This made the fishermen afraid;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
it told them they had caught</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a devil deaf to every law</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
their own religion taught,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
or else, perhaps, a different god</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they could not understand</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
but had to honour and obey</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
when they returned to land.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
To create an explosion is the point of all this,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
an explosion neither too soon nor too late,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
an explosion precisely where it needs to be</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
over the head of an enemy. Not yet.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Scientists arrive to test triggers for the explosion,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
triggers which must boil like hell and also be frozen,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
triggers which must shake themselves silly and still work,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
still know how to create a vacuum. Not yet.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Weird laboratories spring up for these triggers,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Chinese pagoda-roofs which will protect the triggers</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and which in the case of an accident with the triggers</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
will collapse and bury everything. Not yet.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
But it turns out that the vacuum cannot wait to be born,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the vacuum feeds itself on the very idea of discovery,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
wants to swallow the whole village and show</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the explosion might as well already be over. Not yet.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
They made their choice; they froze their hearts;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they bound the merman's wrists</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and wound him tightly in their net</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
with clumsy turns and twists;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
then turned towards the shore again,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and just as sunlight came</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
above the crescent harbour wall</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they brought their trophy home.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Wives and children crowded round,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
mouths gaping with surprise,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and gaping back the merman cried</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
baleful, senseless cries,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
cried tears as well as sighs and sobs,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
cried gulps, cried gasps, cried blood,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
cried out what sounded like his soul</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
but never cried a word.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
This made the fishermen afraid</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
again, it made them guess</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the merman might have come to them</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
to put them through a test</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and they, by cruelly catching him,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
marooning him in pain,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and putting him on show like this</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
had blundered into sin.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the triggers are ready, they neither boil</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
nor freeze, they spin at any speed you please,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and are carried off like gifts in velvet boxes.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the bomb disposal men pick to and fro</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
with their heads down, each one carefully alone</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and quiet, like pioneers prospecting for gold.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the radio masts die, their keen whispers</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and high songs go, their delicate necks bow,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and voices fill up the air without being heard.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the field of mirrors folds too, its flat glare</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
shatters and shuts up, cannot recall the highest Alp</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
or anything except types of cloud, come to that.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the waves work up a big rage against roof tiles</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and breeze blocks, against doors, ventilation shafts, clocks,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and moon-faced instrument panels no one needs any more.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the wind gets to work. It breaks into laboratories</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and clapboard sheds, it rubs out everything everyone said,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
clenching its fingers round door jambs and window frames.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Then the gulls come to visit, shuffling noisily</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
into any old scrapmetal mess, settling on this for a nest,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and pinning their bright eyes on bare sky overhead.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
And in due season flocks of beautiful shy avocets -</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they also come back, white wings scissored with black,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
calling their wild call as though they felt human grief.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
They wound a rope around his net</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and dragged him through the square,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
up the looming castle keep</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
then down the castle stair</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and down and down and down and down</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
through wet-root-smelling air</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
into a room more cave than room</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and hung him there.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Not hung him up until he died,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
but hung him by his tail,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
which shone like silver once</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and crinkled like chain-mail,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
then built a fire beneath his head</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
to see if he could learn</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the language that he still refused,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
plain words like scare, like burn,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and other words like agony,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
like hatred, and like death,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
though hour by hour not one of these</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
weighed down the merman's breath.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
This made the fishermen afraid</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
once more; it made them see</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
that somehow they the torturers</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
had set their victim free.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
The waves think their hardest task</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
is to work each stone into a perfect O;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the marram thinks all it must do</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
is hold tight and not trouble to grow.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
There is no story, never a point of view,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there's nothing here that's trustworthy or true.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Each grain of salt thinks it is able to see</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
over the highest Alp with its pure white eye;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the sea holly thinks it alone</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
can support the whole weight of the sky.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
There's no clue, never a word in your ear;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there is nothing here that is justified or clear.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
Winter storms think they will bring</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the worst news anyone can bear to be told;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the east wind thinks it can certainly blow</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
colder than the coldest possible cold.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
There is no code, never an easy cure;</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
there is nothing here that is definite or sure.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
* * *</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="outline: none;">
They cut him down. They hauled him up</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
the whirlpool of the stair,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they dragged him past their wives and children</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
gawping in the square,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and silently, as though the words</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they used to know before</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
were all dead now, they carried him</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
down to the shingle shore.</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
They slid him tail-first in the sea</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and washed the bitter drops</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
of blood-crust from his finger ends</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and salt-spit from his lips,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and all the while, still silently,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
they watched the tide bring in</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
a brittle, dimpled, breaking flood</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
of silver through his skin,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
then open up his glistening eyes</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
in which they saw their fear</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
rise up to greet them one last time</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and fade, and disappear,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
disappear while they stood back</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
like mourners round a grave,</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
and watched his life ebb out of theirs</div>
<div style="outline: none;">
wave by wave by wave.</div>
</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-33657478905403964772012-04-16T11:12:00.001+01:002012-04-16T11:12:59.544+01:00Unhealthy Obsession<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Someone told me this blog is ok but there aren't enough Joni Mitchell videos:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cDsqbtIv2tg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7YGPv3xeNY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/A6XCbNp3SzE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-40534391795679220372012-04-12T22:01:00.000+01:002012-04-12T22:01:26.420+01:00I've said it before and I'll say it again<br />
<a href="http://www.thehighhat.com/Nitrate/002/alfredo_garcia.html" target="_blank">Phil Nugent knows how to write about films</a>.<br />
<br />
Here is his favourite Easter film, <i>Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia</i>:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3NCooyAhu7g?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
Also, here is the Monty Python sketch that the article references:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/M1-NpyaOWV0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-48939196428174629112012-03-01T11:37:00.000+00:002012-03-01T11:37:19.995+00:00Best Guitar Solo Ever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dOmRm0-acJw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
If you disagree then consider this a challenge: link to a better one in the comments!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-36442073935788561922012-02-06T18:57:00.000+00:002012-02-06T18:57:39.219+00:00Sentence of the Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWoDDkzlcCcv2P-ZV-xJa178_aQGI76Q2lW_j6fDdp5msbzpzv4hzO7ke1m5uBccvNKjNlXDFObgxTVLRpYjUFA7cqhShNNaAc9lpGltl5sWnzgIrJyqWmPjUhaJ02ZPNbNjWzPuOQNYSU/s400/tyler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWoDDkzlcCcv2P-ZV-xJa178_aQGI76Q2lW_j6fDdp5msbzpzv4hzO7ke1m5uBccvNKjNlXDFObgxTVLRpYjUFA7cqhShNNaAc9lpGltl5sWnzgIrJyqWmPjUhaJ02ZPNbNjWzPuOQNYSU/s320/tyler.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If one spends too much time knocking down and polemicizing against weak arguments, sooner or later all opposing arguments start looking weak."</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Here is the full version of <a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/02/why-old-keynesianism-is-looking-worse-these-days-and-other-thoughts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29&utm_content=Google+Reader" target="_blank">Tyler Cowen's biting rebuttal</a> to <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/the-great-anti-keynesian-flip-out/" target="_blank">Paul Krugman's needless nastiness</a>.<br />
<br />
For background here is <a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/01/krugmans-response-to-alex.html" target="_blank">another post</a> where Cowen explains why he is generally disappointed with Krugman, who he thinks is spurning his chance to be a truly great public intellectual by not being charitable to opposing positions. Krugman responds <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/the-mendacity-of-dopes/" target="_blank">here</a>, arguing that being polemical increases his power in the grand intellectual battle he sees himself as fighting. Here is what someone articulate from the Marginal Revolution comments makes of the situation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yes, he definitely targets weak arguments, but that’s because he’s conducting a war, not a debate. Krugman believes (or at least he’s said so on many occasions) that his opponents — Republicans and “right-wing” (his term) economists — are either themselves malicious or dupes of malicious people, who (consciously or not) are pursuing goals that will result in massive negative results, on the order of trillions of dollars of loss, hardship and death. He believes he needs to win this battle on the stage of national opinion (and for better or worse, he is on it), or these terrible things will happen. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Picayune details like whether or not specific little arguments are right or wrong are irrelevant, and that’s why he reacts so rudely to you — as an average person might to the argument that “at least the trains ran on time.” He thinks that if he grants any ground to you or any other “right-wing” footsoldiers, he may lose the war, and then the truly evil (again, his words) will use that as ammunition to enact policies that will harm billions of people. I imagine that’s why he rarely repeats all the free trade stuff that he wrote in the 90′s — that position has been overrun by the enemy. He no doubt continues to believe those words then to be true, but talking about them today doesn’t serve the greater purpose. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I don’t want to armchair psychologize or demonize Krugman, because I feel everyone tends to think like that: when you’re opposing something that is truly wrong, no one goes out of their way to analyze their arguments, or take care to ensure they’re addressing only the strongest points of the apologists. I feel like he’s taken a form of Pascal’s wager: when the risk is so great, can he afford to let any doubts fester?<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote>
It is cool to see such a widely-read economics debate take a turn towards philosophy. The question of whether people do better by picturing their intellectual interactions as group play or as wars is quite a deep one I think, but not so deep that it isn't totally obvious who is right in this case!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-40248237625515084342012-02-03T00:15:00.001+00:002012-02-03T00:15:26.056+00:00Songtime<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Staples" target="_blank">Mavis Staples</a>: True Religion</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/53_cDOzv4LQ/0.jpg" height="300" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/53_cDOzv4LQ&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="400" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/53_cDOzv4LQ&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lovelites" target="_blank">The Lovelites</a>: Get It Off My Conscience</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/kKFNRvejm6A?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"Watch out! Watch out!"</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I found the second song by watching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TbEuq54FcBg" target="_blank">this incredible documentary</a> about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Casino" target="_blank">Wigan Casino</a>, where in the 1970s/80s young northern people congregated to dance through the night to obscure soul music. It has interviews with a reveller, a record-seller, the proprietor and an old couple who tell you about the price of cigarettes in the 1910s. Watch it!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-60767432119872481502012-02-01T21:19:00.002+00:002012-02-01T21:30:07.145+00:00The BBC does not take complaints seriously, part 851<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/shock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/shock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
I read <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16771304">an article</a> mischaracterising GPs' views about the government's healthcare bill and wrote the following complaint to the BBC:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The BBC news website today ran a prominent story featuring </span><span style="font-family: arial;">claims by some lobbyists that many GPs support the government's NHS </span><span style="font-family: arial;">bill.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The results of a recent survey according to which 90% GPs would support </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the </span><span style="font-family: arial;">RCGP in calling for the NHS bill to be withdrawn can be found here </span><a href="http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/press_releases_and_statements/health_bill_su" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/press_releases_and_statements/health_bill_survey_results.aspx</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">This shows unambiguously that the quoted lobbyists' views are highly </span><span style="font-family: arial;">unrepresentative of those of GPs as a whole.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Since it does not mention this important information, the BBC story </span><span style="font-family: arial;">gives </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the impression that GPs support the NHS bill, when in fact the opposite </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is </span><span style="font-family: arial;">true.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">Please change the story so as to mention the survey results.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Today this response came back (quoted in full except some irrelevant links):<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Many thanks for your message, and interest in the site. The story does </span><span style="font-family: arial;">reference the fact that the Royal College of GPs is opposed to the </span><span style="font-family: arial;">government reforms.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Our extensive coverage of the reforms over many months has given a lot </span><span style="font-family: arial;">of prominence to the opposition of many of the leading professional </span><span style="font-family: arial;">groups (see examples below).</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">In this instance we felt it was newsworthy that a group of doctors had </span><span style="font-family: arial;">come out in favour of the reforms, partly because this is not an </span><span style="font-family: arial;">organised voice from which we have heard much.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial;">We strive for balance in our news coverage at all times, and while it </span><span style="font-family: arial;">may be true to say that the majority of doctors have deep concerns about </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the reforms, this is not a universal view.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
What I wrote back:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
Thank you for your prompt reply, which I find deeply unsatisfactory.</div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">(i) </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">As far as I or cntrl-f can see, neither the phrase "Royal College of GPs" nor any other information about GPs' overall opinions appears in the article in question. Your claim that</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> "</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The story does </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">reference the fact that the Royal College of GPs is opposed to the </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">government reforms" is therefore incorrect. I am astonished that you have made such an incompetent error.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">(ii) Whether or not your coverage has "given a lot of prominence to the opposition of the leading professional groups" is irrelevant to my complaint, which was that your article gives a misleading impression of GPs' opinions.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">(iii) Your account makes your standards of newsworthiness seem bizarre and arbitrary. Needless to say there are many other unrepresentative groups whose organised voices rarely feature on the front page of your website.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">(iv) I do not understand what you mean by 'balance' in this context. I struggle to think of an interpretation of the word that would override the duty</span>, which your article strikingly neglects, to give the public an accurate impression of the distribution of GPs' views about healthcare reform.</div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I repeat, please update your article to make it less misleading, using <a href="http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/press_releases_and_statements/health_bill_survey_results.aspx" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">the information I have provided</a>.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Not even exaggerating about the astonishment: is there not some kind of procedure to ensure that complaint responses are not false?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-52760142861438984582012-01-20T15:46:00.000+00:002012-01-20T15:46:54.694+00:00Reminder: top of the pops was sometimes goodNo time for posts too busy bedroom-dancing:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pmpoAWuHL70?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonique_(musician)#Biography">She is such a cool person it's insane</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-90491823642349091682012-01-06T09:23:00.000+00:002012-01-06T09:27:26.751+00:00how to protest awesomely<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A masterclass by a marching band in Wisconsin.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/UNWWG_YzF_I/0.jpg" height="416" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UNWWG_YzF_I&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="500" height="416" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UNWWG_YzF_I&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
At 1:05 they stop in front of the union-busting governor, whip out some incredible choreography and play this song:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='500' height='416' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9AGQgk4fFR4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Meanwhile the commentators discuss how many degrees the next turn in the road has: 105, apparently.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Found on <a href="http://www.newappsblog.com/2012/01/political-music-rose-bowl-parade.html">NewAPPS</a>, an excellent philosophy blog that also has good music on it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-51670204082411694472012-01-05T14:17:00.000+00:002012-01-05T14:17:28.904+00:00Racism part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blog.thesis911.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/racism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://blog.thesis911.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/racism.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
Dianne Abbott said "white people love playing divide and rule". The question is, does that show that she is a racist?</div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
I think one reason why arguments about this question are on the whole fruitless is that different people mean different things when they talk about "racism" and "racists", so in this post and some more coming soon I am going to try to make sense of the situation. First here are what I consider the two main definitions:</div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<blockquote>
<b>Racism1</b>: A state of affairs where members of some races are systematically disadvantaged compared to members of other races </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Racism2</b>: The claim that there are true race-based generalisations </blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Racist1</b>: Someone who promotes Racism1 </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Racist2</b>: Someone who believes in Racism2 </blockquote>
<br />
These definitions fit the Dianne Abbott situation pretty well. There is ample evidence, all things considered, that Dianne Abbott is not a Racist1: for one thing, she has spent most of her professional life trying to reduce the systematic disadvantage that black people face in Britain. On the other hand, her tweet suggests strongly that she is a Racist2.<br />
<br />
This isn't yet satisfactory: there are several questions that still need to be answered. Specifically:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(i) Is it bad to be a Racist2?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(ii) If the answer is "sometimes" (clue: I think it is), then when? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(iii) Is there a connection between the two kinds of racism? If so, what is it? </blockquote>
I want to think about these a bit and then write some more. In the meantime, is this a good rational reconstruction so far? Are there forms of racism that these definitions don't capture or do they label things as racism incorrectly? Also any good articles on this subject would be appreciated.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-29184033347794525482012-01-04T22:50:00.001+00:002012-01-04T22:50:32.840+00:00Publicising Medical Information Humourously<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">First here is Vinnie Jones keeping us up to date about what is the best song to think about while administering CPR.</span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/JR0aZX1_TD8/0.jpg" height="416" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JR0aZX1_TD8&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="500" height="416" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JR0aZX1_TD8&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Second, here is a poem from the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (which is really good and was compiled by Philip Larkin. And y</span></span><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">es I'm blogging about what I read on the toilet again). Key quatrain: "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So do not wait for aches and pains/ </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To have a surgeon mend your drains/ </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If he says “cancer” you’re a dunce/ </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Unless you have it out at once</span><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"</span><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. The writer, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane" style="font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">J.B.S. Haldane</a><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, was a fairly awesome biologist/statistician/Marxist and you should definitely check out his wikipedia page.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Cancer’s a Funny Thing</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I wish I had the voice of Homer</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To sing of rectal carcinoma,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Which kills a lot more chaps, in fact,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked.</span></span> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Yet, thanks to modern surgeon’s skills,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It can be killed before it kills</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Upon a scientific basis</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In nineteen out of twenty cases.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I noticed I was passing blood</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">(Only a few drops, not a flood).</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So pausing on my homeward way</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From Tallahassee to Bombay</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I asked a doctor, now my friend,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To peer into my hinder end,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To prove or to disprove the rumour</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">That I had a malignant tumour.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They pumped in BaS04.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Till I could really stand no more,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And, when sufficient had been pressed in,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They photographed my large intestine,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In order to decide the issue</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They next scraped out some bits of tissue.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">(Before they did so, some good pal</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Had knocked me out with pentothal,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Whose action is extremely quick,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And does not leave me feeling sick.)</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The microscope returned the answer</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">That I had certainly got cancer,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So I was wheeled into the theatre</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Where holes were made to make me better.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">One set is in my perineurn</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Where I can feel, but can’t yet see ‘em.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Another made me like a kipper</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Or female prey of Jack the Ripper,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Through this incision, I don’t doubt,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The neoplasm was taken out,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Along with colon, and lymph nodes</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Where cancer cells might find abodes.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A third much smaller hole is meant</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To function as a ventral vent:</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So now I am like two-faced Janus</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The only* god who sees his anus.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’ll swear, without the risk of perjury,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It was a snappy bit of surgery.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My rectum is a serious loss to me,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But I’ve a very neat colostomy,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And hope, as soon as I am able,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To make it keep a fixed time-table.</span></span> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So do not wait for aches and pains</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To have a surgeon mend your drains;</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If he says “cancer” you’re a dunce</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Unless you have it out at once,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For if you wait it’s sure to swell,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And may have progeny as well.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My final word, before I’m done,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Is “Cancer can be rather fun”.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Thanks to the nurses and Nye Bevan</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The NHS is quite like heaven</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Provided one confronts the tumour</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With a sufficient sense of humour.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I know that cancer often kills,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But so do cars and sleeping pills;</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And it can hurt one till one sweats,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So can bad teeth and unpaid debts.</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A spot of laughter, I am sure,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Often accelerates one’s cure;</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So let us patients do our bit</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To help the surgeons make us fit</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">*In India there are several more</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With extra faces, up to four,</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But both in Brahma and in Shiva</span><br style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #000033; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I own myself an unbeliever.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-22381777164882448352011-12-28T00:09:00.000+00:002011-12-28T00:11:28.363+00:00new cat power videoFeaturing renowned boxer Manny Pacquiao hitting a ball rhythmically and with focus. It's fairly mesmerising. Thank you, <a href="http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/14712949375/cat-power-king-rides-by-video-as-promised">twentyfourbit.com</a>!<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XGMaEvhQj1E" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
The song is called 'king rides by': <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjOzJaqEoh0">here is the original version</a> from 1996. Sad words!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-66979905088431412562011-12-21T15:20:00.000+00:002011-12-21T15:20:49.460+00:00Good Golly!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/B1bF_6G3QSQ/0.jpg" height="44" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B1bF_6G3QSQ&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="550" height="458" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B1bF_6G3QSQ&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Richard#Conversion_to_Christianity:_1957.E2.80.931962">Why Little Richard became a born-again christian</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
In early October 1957, on the fifth date of a two-week tour of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Australia">Australia</a>, Penniman was flying from Melbourne to appear in front of 40,000 fans in concert in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Sydney">Sydney</a>. Shocked by the red hot appearance of the engines against the night sky, he envisioned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Angel">angels</a> holding up the plane. Then, while he performed at the stadium, he was shaken by the sight of a ball of fire that he watched streak across the sky overhead. He took what was actually the launching of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Sputnik 1">Sputnik 1</a>, the first human-made object to orbit the earth, as another sign to quit show business and follow God. The following day he departed Sydney on a ferry and threw his $8,000 ring in the water to show his band members that he was serious about quitting. The plane that he was originally scheduled to fly back home on ended up crashing in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Pacific Ocean">Pacific Ocean</a>, which he took as confirmation that he was doing what God wanted him to do.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-whitep91-92_57-0" style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Richard#cite_note-whitep91-92-57" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[58]</a></sup></div>
</blockquote>
Fairly understandable!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-90255848093067653152011-12-20T20:37:00.000+00:002011-12-20T20:37:11.784+00:00The Werewolf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Angela_Carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Angela_Carter.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
By <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Carter">Angela Carter</a>, which I read while having a poo the other day and quite liked:</div>
<blockquote>
<br />It is a northern country; they have cold weather, they have cold hearts. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Cold; tempest; wild beasts in the forest. It is a hard life. Their houses are built of logs, dark and smoky within. There will be a crude icon of the virgin behind a guttering candle, the leg of a pig hung up to cure, a string of drying mushrooms. A bed, a stool, a table. Harsh, brief, poor lives. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
To these upland woodsmen, the Devil is as real as you or I. More so; they have not seen us nor even know that we exist, but the Devil they glimpse often in the graveyards, those bleak and touching townships of the dead where the graves are marked with portraits of the deceased in the naif style and there are no flowers to put in front of them, no flowers grow there, so they put out small, votive offerings, little loaves, sometimes a cake that the bears come lumbering from the margins of the forest to snatch away. At midnight, especially on Walpurgisnacht, the Devil holds picnics in the graveyards and invites the witches; then they dig up fresh corpses, and eat them. Anyone will tell you that. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Wreaths of garlic on the doors keep out the vampires. A blue-eyed child born feet first on the night of St John's Eve will have second sight. When they discover a witch--some old woman whose cheeses ripen when her neighbours' do not, another old woman whose black cat, oh, sinister! _follows her about all the time_, they strip the crone, search for her marks, for the supernumerary nipple her familiar sucks. They soon find it. Then they stone her to death. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Winter and cold weather. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Go and visit grandmother, who has been sick. Take her the oatcakes I've baked for her on the hearthstone and a little pot of butter.The good child does as her mother bids--five miles' trudge through the forest; do not leave the path because of the bears, the wild boar, the starving wolves. Here, take your father's hunting knife; you know how to use it. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The child had a scabby coat of sheepskin to keep out the cold, she knew the forest too well to fear it but she must always be on her guard. When she heard that freezing howl of a wolf, she dropped her gifts, seized her knife and turned on the beast. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
It was a huge one, with red eyes and running, grizzled chops; any but a mountaineer's child would have died of fright at the sight of it. It went for her throat, as wolves do, but she made a great swipe at it with her father's knife and slashed off its right forepaw. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The wolf let out a gulp, almost a sob, when it saw what had happened to it; wolves are less brave than they seem. It went lolloping off disconsolately between the trees as well as it could on three legs, leaving a trail of blood behind it. The child wiped the blade of her knife clean on her apron, wrapped up the wolf's paw in the cloth in which her mother had packed the oatcakes and went on towards her grandmother's house. Soon it came on to snow so thickly that the path and any footsteps, track or spoor that might have been upon it were obscured. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
She found her grandmother was so sick she had taken to her bed and fallen into a fretful sleep, moaning and shaking so that the child guessed she had a fever. She felt the forehead, it burned. She shook out the cloth from her basket, to use it to make the old woman a cold compress, and the wolf's paw fell to the floor. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
But it was no longer a wolf's paw. It was a hand, chopped off at the wrist, a hand toughened with work and freckled with old age. There was a wedding ring on the third finger and a wart on the index finger. By the wart, she knew it for her grandmother's hand. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
She pulled back the sheet but the old woman woke up, at that, and began to struggle, squawking and shrieking like a thing possessed. But the child was strong, and armed with her father's hunting knife; she managed to hold her grandmother down long enough to see the cause of her fever. There was a bloody stump where her right hand should have been, festering already. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The child crossed herself and cried out so loud the neighbours heard her and come rushing in. They knew the wart on the hand at once for a witch's nipple; they drove the old woman, in her shift as she was, out into the snow with sticks, beating her old carcass as far as the edge of the forest, and pelted her with stones until she fell down dead. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Now the child lived in her grandmother's house; she prospered.</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-60572416197114837982011-12-19T12:52:00.002+00:002011-12-19T12:57:23.108+00:00Christmas Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://rortybomb.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://rortybomb.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/me.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
This is a good time I think to recommend <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/">Rortybomb</a>, my favourite American politics blog.<br />
<br />
It is a superhumanly comprehensive yet accessible account of a collection of complicated but important issues - credit card charges, <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/testimony-concerning-assembly-bill-935-the-california-foreclosure-fee/">home foreclosures</a>, <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/why-mass-incarceration-matters-by-heather-ann-thompson/">mass incarceration</a>, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/796070">bankruptcy laws</a>, <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/what-is-the-real-unemployment-rate-and-how-could-we-tell/">unemployment</a> - that dominate ordinary peoples' lives in the USA but are quite hard to get a handle on conceptually.<br />
<br />
The author, cartoonised above, is former 'financial engineer' turned left-wing blogger/activist thingy <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/about/">Mike Konczal</a>.<br />
<br />
His blog goes right down to the details of festering foreclosed swimming <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/national-day-of-action-the-actual-hygiene-and-safety-crisis-with-foreclosed-homes/">pools causing disease outbreaks</a> in Fern County California, and right up to the big historical picture of a country that suffers from an inherited Victorian/feudal <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/halloween-costumes-foreclosures-creditors-bargains-and-how-the-1-view-our-laws-on-debt/">prejudice against debtors</a>, with plenty of in-between interestingness as well.<br />
<br />
Konczal has the good habit of picturing economics, and academic theorising generally, as a useful explanatory tool rather than a deep underlying truth, which makes the blog pleasingly intellectually cosmopolitan and also less confrontationally evangelical, despite its decidedly radical political stance, than say Paul Krugman, Kevin Drum etc.<br />
<br />
Perhaps connectedly, Rortybomb also does really well at playing the <a href="http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2011/06/the_ideological.html">ideological Turing test</a> game (perfected by Tyler Cowen <a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/12/the-moral-superiority-of-the-germans.html">here</a>), where you try as convincingly as you can to defend the position of someone you disagree with. This <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/guest-post-the-deep-roots-of-conservative-radicalism/">long post about the roots of conservative radicalism </a> is by a guest but is typical. <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/a-creditors-playland-or-cato-on-housing-policy/">Here</a> is an understanding the other side post by the main man. Here is another one asking <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/towards-a-theory-of-corporate-and-financial-sector-solidarity/">why non-financial firms aren't pushing for bank reforms</a>.<br />
<br />
Why the blog is called "Rortybomb" is a mystery to me. It sounds kind of computery.<br />
<br />
Finally, here is <a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/for-respecting-contracts-and-not-respecting-contracts-in-the-foreclosure-fraud-crisis/">yet another excellent post</a> featuring the line "there is no foreclosure Batman"(no comma).<br />
<br />
Enjoy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-71950487227943230972011-12-15T11:04:00.001+00:002011-12-15T11:05:01.088+00:00Here am I, Daniel Dennett, suspended in a bubbling fluid, being stared at by my own eyes!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Thanks be to Sarah Costrell, here is something that is both mental and philosophicalarious:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/U_8yo5hacKM/0.jpg" height="458" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U_8yo5hacKM&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="550" height="458" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U_8yo5hacKM&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-4834585700711142202011-12-13T19:41:00.001+00:002011-12-13T19:44:33.452+00:00facebook is funner with folk musicIf you <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheCoral">like The Coral</a> on facebook they send you really cool eclectic music videos such as this one:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='590' height='350' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-hYiY1vOOVw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<a href="http://songsofjonathanwilson.com/music">Here</a> are more Jonathan Wilson songs.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-29007495461904542322011-12-09T19:35:00.001+00:002011-12-19T16:35:19.108+00:00Hate: in my opinion it is bad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdcPRkmcckZZ8p7G9ArmAzA8oNjKk0HKXWvx2DWr-v86v8thezq_sP5_AwOuqv87LxEzWI4uoiyMBIOyRzWJbQCEFnOi_Y04HEwS006RtAMfV7ki6TLA3Olr2JddvA6lqi_GX2qjKfk/s1600/LOFI-HATERS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdcPRkmcckZZ8p7G9ArmAzA8oNjKk0HKXWvx2DWr-v86v8thezq_sP5_AwOuqv87LxEzWI4uoiyMBIOyRzWJbQCEFnOi_Y04HEwS006RtAMfV7ki6TLA3Olr2JddvA6lqi_GX2qjKfk/s320/LOFI-HATERS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
It strikes me that well-meaning people with committed heterodox political views who invest a lot of their energy and personal identity in politics tend to indulge quite a lot in words like 'despicable', 'pathetic', 'vile sewer rat' 'Maggie Maggie Maggie, die die die' etc. See <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nimKFXUo_ij_JdDpsgcwwTpywy0FvAQDnItuZMw828Y/edit">this blog</a> for plenty of examples. These are words that people use when they want to encourage hate. I don't think this is a good idea.<br />
<br />
First a qualification. While I generally tend to think that puzzle-solving is a much better metaphor for world-improvement than fighting/struggling/resisting etc, there are doubtless a lot of hate-worthy people out there, and hate-fostering can certainly be a useful tool in some circumstances. Still, I think it should probably be done less for the following reasons:<br />
<br />
<b>1) It often has the wrong effect</b>. Personal attacks generally bring everyone down, causing witnesses to lower their opinion of both the bully and the bullied party. I think there is research into US political adverts that backs this point up and will link to it if find it. Worse, hated people often become afraid of the people who hate them. This is bad on two levels: broadly, groups of frightened people often develop strong group identity, making their members less likely to change sides; narrowly, people are way more likely to be violent when they are afraid. Sometimes you want to be disliked and for people you disagree with to bond and become violent, but more often I think you don't.<br />
<br />
<b>2) It can be misleading.</b> There is a part of most people that wants to solve problems by asking themselves the question 'where are the bastards and how can I hurt them?' even when asking other questions is a better idea. Maybe it is because of zero-sum game situations featuring quite a lot in our evolutionary history or something. If you spend your whole day talking about what bastards some other people are and how <a href="http://libcom.org/blog/it-time-my-class-declare-war-08122011">it's time to fucking declare war man</a>, even if this is a good idea in terms of its effects on other people, it is likely to encourage your inner warrior and bias your thinking, making you worse at world-improvement.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Non-activism reasons. </b>There are reasons to do things other than world-improvement considerations, and I think these overwhelmingly favour a presumption against hate-fostering. It is really ugly, arbitrarily limits the range of people you can interact with, causes depression and paranoia, reduces your and others' ability to think independently and most importantly is wildly inaccurate, in the sense that genuine hate-worthiness is rare and really hard to gauge. Things which make people inaccurate, non-autonomous, unhappy, isolated and ugly are best avoided.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865798995520930262.post-7457383908541866722011-12-07T11:42:00.001+00:002011-12-07T11:58:56.624+00:00good to have her backFrom now on every political speech you see/hear will be disappointing in a whole new bunch of ways:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='550' height='458' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LSF53bp6aC8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
No drums, no "<i>is-there-so-much-Hate-for-the-ones-we-Love?</i>", no choreography, no Terry Wogan introduction, no frizzy-haired well-moustached balalaikists, no archery...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Downhill from now on, basically</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03770384471435236641noreply@blogger.com0