April 2005 Blog Posts
There's a fun little test you can do over at Political Compass that will plot you on a political landscape. It uses two dimensions: Left/Right and Authoritarian/Libertarian (I never knew it was the French National Assembly of 1789 that came up with the Left/Right categories).
I came out smack in the middle of the Left Libertarian quandrant right next to Gandhi, Ralph Nader and the Green Party. No surprise there. Fifteen years ago I would have been much further Right.
There's some guy running around out there using our address to take out insurance on his mobile phone. I don't understand why someone would do this since we just get the policy mail and then notify the company that he doesn't live here. I hope it's not a scam since it could plunge our credit rating. Has this happened to anyone else?
A massive study by the UN co-ordinated 1360 scientiest across 95 countries to take a global inventory of the state of our ecosystems and quantify the effect that human activities are having on them. After four years, they recently published their findings.
It makes grim reading. You can read summaries from either the BBC or the Guardian or read the original report.
It makes it very, very clear we're living beyond our means. But we knew that, right? In a very interesting turn of phrase, the report talks about the "services of nature". It's a clever but apt "nature as business" metaphor. Two-thirds of these services provided by nature are being degraded by human pressure. Nature is going out of business and it's stock is falling quickly.
Three important messages from the report are worth repeating:
1) Protection of nature's services is unlikely to be a priority as long as they are perceived to be free and limitless by those using them - effective policies will be those that require natural costs to be taken into account for all economic decisions.
2) Local communities are far more likely to act in ways that conserve natural resources if they have real influence in the decisions on how they are used - and if they end up with a fairer share of the benefits.
3) Natural assets will receive far better protection if their importance is recognized in the central decision-making of governments and businesses, rather than leaving policies associated with ecosystems to relatively weak environment departments.
Well of course that's all well and good. But we're left with the fundamental problem of how we will ever make "radical changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making". To make radical changes, we all need to give up priveleges that we've taken for granted for a long time.
Today marks two years since my last day of employment. It doesn't feel like two years. Time still rushes by even when one isn't caught up in a career.
I sometimes feel a little guilty that I haven't accomplished a whole lot in two years. Then I remind myself that the whole make-something-of-yourself, self-improvement, get-ahead, consume-more mindset is an ingrained product of middle class rat race culture. My subscription to that has pretty much run out. How should one measure self-worth?
I haven't been inspired to take a dramatic leap into a new career. I was half hoping something inspirational would just happen. Nope! I plan to stick with computers as a way of eventually earning an income again. In fact, I finally wrote up my CV and applied for a short IT contract with the idea of dipping my toe into contracting work. No one called back. Oh well, with Jenny now back at school full-time, I'm in no hurry.
The UK elections are ten days away but I haven't been following it too closely.
Whatever policies Labour comes up with, I won't vote for Tony Blair. I'm disgusted with how he pandered to George Bush and took the UK to war. It was a stupid move for Blair to stand again. If Gordon Brown was leading the party, I might have voted Labour.
An excellent programme recently aired on Channel 4 called "Elections Unspun, Why Politicians Can't Tell The Truth". It described the current post-democracy where the political elite have evolved into a new kind of marketing machine using sophisticated software to identify and target swing voters with bland sound-bite policies. Stagecraft and PR is highly refined, controlled and restricted. Debate is minimal with "me too" messages. There's almost no ideological difference. Big uncomfortable issues with difficult solutions are ignored. Everyone is clustered in the center with personalities and credibility being promoted and attacked rather than anything substantial. How can anyone get excited by it?
It's ironic that only parties guaranteed to lose can afford brave policies and a long term vision.
Jenny started school today. Here's a picture of her in her uniform.
A couple of days ago some kids passing our house found this friendly squirrel running all over the road. The kids caught him (or maybe the squirrel just wouldn't get off them) and they gave him to me since I was outside at the time. He really is very friendly. Climbs all over you. Doesn't bite. Not skittish and quite docile. Also pretty clumsy and not very well balanced. I figure he must be about three months old.
We thought he might have suffered a fall so we kept him inside in a box and fed him for a couple of days but he hasn't changed. That's just his nature. He loves bread and cucumber (cucumber sandwiches?). Oats and seeds are welcome. Not too keen on carrots and green beans. Generally squirrels eat whatever they can get their paws on.
The law says you can't keep squirrels. There's also a law which says you can't release them into the wild. Catch-22! There's also a law about abandoning animals that can't survive by themselves.The advice from wildlife rescue societies was "if he's not hurt, let him go where you found him". Basically, he's cute vermin.
So I built him a little box which he easily took to and today put him out in our backyard on the picnic table so I can watch out for him. I've tried to make it hard for predators to get him in his box but I think the odds are against his survival. There's already another grey squirrel that owns our neighbourhood and there are a few cats about. He's also perfect owl bait. I'm going to feel dreadful if something gets him.
A simple and biting film about two soldiers, one Serb and one Bosnian, trapped together in a trench between each other's lines. The situation gets complicated and the UN and media are soon drawn into it. Some may view it as a farce and a comedy but any laughter is pretty subdued when you know the violence, cruelty and bureaucratic games ring true. Intense and well recommended.
Jenny and I arrived at a pub this afternoon for a nice quiet lunch only to discover smoke billowing from the engine of my car. My first reaction was "engine fire!" but it eventually turned out to be on oil leak. The oil was burning when it dripped on the muffler. In fact with the engine running, oil would gush out and a 993 has a lot of oil! I'm sorry to say it got all over the pub car park. Luckily the breakdown service didn't take long to come but they quickly gave up and called for a recovery truck.
I spent the rest of the day at a garage while they tried to diagnose it. It's not the oil filter or any of the sensors. The current theory is that an engine seal has blown which is quite unusual. It's still at the garage and chances are it's gong to be a non-trivial repair. Groan!
Each year we drop by the
British Agricultural College Open Weekend. It's always a good day out with the kids. It's the typical country affair with animals, various demonstrations, stalls, tractor and horse rides and that kind of low key country stuff. Jenny sold her baked goods at the WI stall so she was up there both Saturday and Sunday. The kids even had a chance to try brick laying. My favourite attraction is the pen where you can see ewes giving birth to lambs. Then you can be sure it really is Spring. The alpacas were very cute.
Jenny and I sometimes chew over owning our very hobby farm but we both soon sober up knowing how much work that would be! Maybe just some chickens and an orchard would be nice. And a dog and a bunch of cats. Maybe a pig and a goat. A couple of ducks on a pond...
Finished reading the second book of His Dark Materials while off sailing. It suffers from the typical problem of being the middle book of a triology. It elaborates and progresses the main plot but doesn't stand well on it's own. However, it serves its purpose as I can't wait to read the third book. First I need to check a few things in the Genesis chapter of the Bible.
I'm away next week sailing out of Gibraltar doing my RYA Day Skipper Practical with
Allabroad Sailing. I'll be on a 46' yacht with four other students. Check out the
one week itinerary. I'm a little worried about the weather but the forecasts seem to be either sunny or partly cloudy. Temperatures should be 20C during the day dropping to 10C at night. I expect it could get very windy; one forecast I found predicted a force 7 in the Alboran on Monday. Gulp. Glad I don't get sea sick...
Northern Lights is the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy. After this trilogy came third in The Big Read last year I knew I would have to read it at some point so I finally finished this first book over this last holiday. Only took me two days because I became thoroughly engrossed in the storyline.
I'm not yet convinced it deserves to come in third place (beating Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy no less) but I'll reserve judging too much until I've finished the other two books. On it's own, it's a well written fantasy set in a parallel universe. The other books takes the parallel universes theme further; I'm looking forward to how it develops.
As an aside, I remember seeing the northen lights on just a few occasions while living in Victoria, Canada. It's one of the most beautiful phenomena I've ever seen and it's something I'd really like to show Jenny and the kids one day. When and where is the best place to see it?
We're away in Dorset for five days exploring the
Jurrasic Coast. Hoping to find some fossils with the kids.
A few weeks ago, I went to a track day put on by put on by Motorsport Events Limited. Rather than use the big race circuits, these guys primarily use airfields. This particular one was at RAF Upper Heyford near Bicester. It was called the Heyford Academy Day since it was structured as a series of exercises that concentrated on car control and balance rather than just buzzing around a circuit.
There was a good cross-section of cars. Lots of Caterhams and Elises but also Porsches, TVR's, Impreza's, BMW M3's and others. I have a neighbour down the road who also drives a 993 so he came along with me to the event. At the event, I ran into a fellow I had first met at a drifting day - Nigel in a fabulous old M3. Nice to have company but petrolheads are a friendly bunch anyway.
These particular events are especially good for Caterhams. They're fabulous at tight cornering. The Mojo (above) looked like a nice little kit and moved really well. You can read about it at MyMojo including a write-up of this event. The kit is from Sylva.
My favourite exercise was simply a high speed left and right-hand corner where the goal was to see just how fast you could take it. I span out a couple of times trying to find that sweet spot where there car is drifting but you're still in control. A progressive slalom exercise was also really good for getting to know how the car reacts. The bottom line is that you really need to do a lot of this kind of practising to develop any consistent skill.
Unfortunately, the day was very hard on the tyres. I had to later buy a new set for the rear. My clutch was also on its last legs at the event; it would slip quite a bit on hard accelleration. The good news is I now have a brand new clutch and a set of Michelin Pilot Sports (no more Pirelli's). Ready for another track day!
It's a clever animation with lots of style. I'll give it that. Visually delightful and it's got many funny bits. A laugh for the kids. But the story is the bland "follow your dream and be true to yourself" variety. The dialogue is nothing better than a Saturday morning cartoon. It's also very, very American. I also saw "Shark Tale" a few weeks ago and it was similiar. Lots of style and in-jokes but lacking substance.
This got me wondering. Wouldn't it be fantastic to see this kind of clever computer animation done by an all-Indian or all-Chinese production company? I want to see their mythology and culture brought to life in the same way. Has it been done? Why not? It's great seeing how different the Japanese approach animated movies (e.g. Spirited Away). I'd like to see how other cultures would too.
While I'm not religious, I still have a lot of respect for the office of the Pope. The Pope still has a huge and unique role to assert moral authourity in the West. No other institution can stake that claim. It's more than just leading Catholics. It's promoting humanity. I don't agree with all papal social policies but I do hope the new Pope engages the political community and provides a loud voice for global justice.
Today was D-Day for Jenny. Decision Time. Last day to apply. She's chosen to embark on a Cordon Bleu Intensive Diploma. She's not sure where she'll go with it but it's a great way to furthering her culinary skills. The course starts April 18th and is structured as two 10 week terms. She'll finish this November.
The irony is that with her out of the house from 8 to 6 every day, I'll be doing a lot more cooking. I wonder how long it will take the kids to get tired of spaghetti bolognaise? Baked beans on toast?