category: Announcements
Some birthdays this week. My sister, the lovely Citizen S, the reverend Jim Jones, Andrew Eldritch, Dante Alighieri, Tim Roth, Thomas Gainsborough and both Paul Thompson and Brian Eno of Roxy Music. Happy birthday one and all! (with the possible exception of Jim Jones).
Apologies for the unannounced absence. I upgraded to WordPress 2.7 and although I don’t appear to have lost any data, and the front-end of the site wasn’t affected, I couldn’t log into the admin area. I think the password got corrupted in the database… but that’s really weird as nothing else seems to have been affected. Anyways, I eventually had to resort to some hand-written SQL to rebuild parts of the database. But that had to be embedded in some PHP code. And while I’m pretty good with the ol’ SQL, my PHP skills aren’t up to much (more of a Coldfusion person). So it took a while.
Anyways, all seems to be well now and I must say that the new WordPress admin is really quite shiny.
So it looks like I’m back up and running just in time for my Christmas holiday.
PS: Happy Solstice!
Hopefully I should be back to proper blogging tomorrow. The worst of this lurgey has passed (christ I was feeling shit yesterday, but am a good deal better today). As an aside, how come cold medication is no fun anymore? Yeah, yeah, it’s probably more effective at suppressing the symptoms… but while medicine may well have advanced in that area, there’s been some serious back-tracking in the whole “makes you feel jolly spaced-out” area.
I want my “may cause drowsiness” back!
Anyways, while I’m still a little under the weather, why not check out some stuff on other websites (alternatively you could go read a book I suppose, but who does that, eh?)
First up, head on over to Merrick’s place for some thoughts on the Plane Stupid action at Stansted. Climate Justice Cometh, says Merrick. My thoughts on it? “Yay!”
The Curmudgeon also reflects on the action and considers it Plane Irresponsible!
Justin at Chicken Yoghurt has a couple of good pieces (Fighting over the scraps and Avoiding, evading, dodging the issue) on the tendency of mainstream politics to demonise the poor and disenfranchised. After all, they make far less troublesome scapegoats given the fact that can’t really — by definition — stand up and fight back. Part of me always thinks this is a dangerous strategy in what is, ostensibly, a democracy given that far more of us lurk near the lower end of society than have scaled the heights. But then I remember just how easily people can be indoctrinated, just how unimaginative indoctrinated people can be, and just how often the unimaginative will vote for whoever the media tells them to. And I don’t even consider myself a cynic. How cynical is that!
Gyrus, meanwhile, recently reflected on Hazel Henderson’s notion of economics as brain damage. I was recently asked for “advice and perspective” on the current economic crisis by someone rather high up in one of the world’s foremost financial institutions (that mere fact should goose the hell out of you, as it certainly did me). I’ll post something about the day I spent with him in the near future. By and large the guy seemed to have an open mind to many of my ideas, but when I quoted Henderson’s famous line at him, I think he was a tad affronted.
Oh and check out Michael Greenwell‘s Extraordinary post. Succinct and well worth the read.
Harry Hutton doesn’t post nearly as often as I’d like. As a result I’ve gotten out of the habit of checking his site. So I missed him Liveblogging the American Election. Excellent stuff.
Along with Harry’s blog, one of the most consistently funny sites (even after all these years) is The Onion. The latest video news item is a good’un… New Portable Sewing Machine Lets Sweatshop Employees Work On The Go.
OK, that’s your lot for now. I’m off down the chemist to ask for a bottle of “Do not operate heavy machinery”…
Via John B comes the news that the splendid Douglas Adams and John Lloyd collaboration, The Meaning of Liff, can be browsed online.
Glorious stuff. Every time I flick through The Meaning of Liff I resolve to start incorporating some of the words into everyday conversation. After a couple of decades, however, I’ve still only ever used ‘Kentucky‘ and ‘Epworth‘ more than once, though the observation made in the definition of ‘Aberbeeg‘ is one I’ve often mentioned to others.
I’d like to also take this opportunity to recommend Last Chance To See. In my view this is probably the best book Douglas Adams wrote (and I say that as a big fan of both the Hitch-Hiker’s series and the Dirk Gently books, of which I wish there’d been more). If you haven’t read Last Chance To See, then please, please, please grab yourself a copy (it’ll hardly break the bank). It’s as sad as it is funny. And it is very very funny indeed.
Just a quickie, this, but I’d like to share a bit of good news with you, dear reader.
From what I can gather, the decision on whether or not to “pass” my thesis is taken by three people. There’s the course supervisor, a second internal examiner and an external examiner. Leastways, I think that’s how it works.
Anyways, I’ve just got word from the internal examiner that he considers my thesis “excellent”. Other phrases used include, “well written”, “well researched” and “actually original”. He also wrote that, “it is publishable and would encourage you to think about that”. While he is careful to make it very clear that his is just one opinion and is not enough on its own to guarantee a pass, he suspects that it will “pass with flying colours”.
I’m not counting any unhatched chickens though. The external examiner could well have a significant difference of opinion, and the very fact that my thesis is being described as “original” might not work in my favour in that respect. Nonetheless, given that I happen to know the internal examiner (though I didn’t know he was the examiner up until now) and have a great deal of respect for his opinion, I’m feeling pretty darn good tonight.
I’m finished my thesis.
It’s done. It’s printing as I type.
Yeah, you heard me right… it’s done.
Holy crap.
The last two words are “epistemological lunacy”. How cool is that?
YES!!!! It’s DONE!!!
That’s all for now.
… it’s the least you can do. He probably saved your life.
Via Chicken Yoghurt.
Hey y’all.
I’ve received a couple of emails (both within minutes of one another, oddly enough) from people wondering what’s happening with me and this blog. Have I given up on this place? Have I jumped off a building in response to the hideousness of everything?
Well no.
I’m still alive and well and I still intend to keep this place going. Thing is though, it’s now less than 3 weeks until my thesis deadline and when I sit down at this desk, I’m really not thinking about much else.
Expect a triumphant return soon(ish). Until then, check out my blogroll if you’re after something to read. It’s all good stuff. Alternatively get hold of Gregory Bateson’s Steps To An Ecology of Mind if you fancy visiting the weird and wonderful headspace I’m currently occupying.
Cheers for now………
Just a bit of web-tech administrivia for those of you interested in such things. Having always displayed a “Valid XHTML” button discretely on this site, I’ve just discovered that YouTube has been making a liar out of me ever since I started embedding their videos.
I’m sure there must be a way of sorting it out, but I really can’t be arsed right now. Until I look into it though, I’ve removed the “Valid XHTML” tag.
Other YouTube embedders beware!
Busy busy busy. All the same, I do have a few minutes spare with which to plug Nuclear Reaction. This Greenpeace blog is run by Justin of Chicken Yoghurt fame, which means that as well as exposing the lies, insanity and sheer stupidity that characterise the pro-nuke lobby, it will also be rather well-written.
Check it out.