Category Archives: life
Three new reads
this post also features in offguardian Today’s selection is on the face of it an eclectic mix, taking in the non-dualism of Indian sage Ramana Maharshi, the vast storehouse of treasure – and potential for WW3 – below Greenland’s melting … Read More »
Sarin in Syria: chemistry, and cui bono?
This post also features in OffGuardian The exchange below took place a few days ago, below the line of an OffGuardian piece on the corruption of the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as shown in its … Read More »
Bad arguments for good causes
I should make the above the recurring header for a regular column … Spotted today on FB: George Orwell, of whom I have a few criticisms and not all of them minor, could also be right on the nail. In … Read More »
Boris rich? Jezza’s twice the man!
Saw this on FB the other day. I doubt Corbyn is ‘worth’ $4 million, though it’s possible he’s a millionaire on paper. Owning a two bedroom flat in some parts of London will put you in that category, and I … Read More »
The man who planted trees
Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees tells of a shepherd’s single-handed effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the Alpine foothills of Provence in the early 20th century. If you haven’t read it, and lingered over illustrator Michael McCurdy’s … Read More »
About as much use as …
… a chocolate spanner. Caisse à outils, spied last month through a plate glass window in Perigueux, France.
Bob Dylan – one killer of a poet
When people tell me they can’t stand Dylan, I get it. Really I do. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea. (I know women – white, black, of diverse age – who love Dylan, man and music. None qualify as twenty-four … Read More »
Muhammad nailed it
On crying wolf and confirmation bias
I’ve written about this before: circulation on social media of information which is false – as in this piece on gun control and homophobia – or incorrectly understood – as in this on Syria – to prop up views I … Read More »