Category: Uncategorized

Just a quickie update.

I’ve pruned the overloaded side-bar – by using a simpler collapsible “previous posts” javascript, and removing a couple of dozen old, redundant or little-used blog-roll links. I’ve also moved the Pirsig / MoQ links to the newer [Pirsig] page, and added additional internal navigation links to that page. The original Psybertron Pirsig Pages are still there, but increasingly being absorbed into the re-organized page, where there is still more work planned. (There is a redirect on one of the old pages which should be invisible to the user … any problems let me know.)

The ongoing re-organization will next affect the [Manifesto] page, where I intend to add an editorial policy and an introduction to the newer projects. Time to move on.

PS – anyone detecting performance issues with the Psybertron site, please let me know. It seems to me that the active PHP & MySQL pages are rendering very slowly ? Still investigating.

Humiliated.

Headless chickens.

Privatisation of profits, socialisation of losses.

Staunching the flow of blood, but not fixing the wound.

A real downer from Robert Peston commenting on the (proposed) US bail-out of the banking industry, and a whole spectrum of comments from his readers. I’m no expert of international banking, but the scale of the numbers, means we need to understand where this might be leading. Since the markets already appear to have taken the bail-out into account, what if Congress rejects the proposal ?

Despite it being an important part of our lives, I suspect this is only the second post in the 7 year history of Psyberton on the subject of football (real football that is, played with the feet). I’m making this posting because this is a wonderful illustration of why objective logic is a useless decision making tool, which is of course a large part of my agenda here.

Circular (strange-loopy) arguments are so much better.

Notwithstanding Sir Alex’s paranoid reasoning, referee Halsey was indeed right to give “serious foul play” as his reason for Terry’s red-card / sending-off last weekend, and wrong to be persuaded to rescind it. It was an absolutely blatant so-called “professional foul” …. no-one at all seems to be arguing with that. It was so blatantly professional that clearly Terry’s and everyone else’s calculations (except Halsey’s) was banking on a yellow-card warning only, based on the “not the last man” defence.

Rules evolve, like everything else. As soon as the last man defence (post-rationlization) becomes part of the reasoning in the decision (a-priori) to actually make the “professional foul”, it moves on from simply being part of the rationale; onto a meta-level, another cycle of a strange-loop, to become part of the foul itself. It excludes itself from application of the new/old rule. The reasoning for applying the more lenient view arose in the days before the offenders had that objective rule available to them in making their cynical calculating rule-breaking decision, before that strange-loop had happened. Once it has happened, game over … and remember evolving psychology really is a game, just like football is a game … effectively the new (now old) rule has a new(er) interpretation / manifestation in real life, beyond the sterile realm of pure objective logic.

Rules are for the guidance of wise men, and the enslavement of fools. (Douglas Bader ?)

Wisdom comes from going round a few loops. Well done Mr Halsey; stand by your own gut feel, and help evolve the human species out of this mess.

I agree with Sir Robert Winston here. The Royal Society has miscalculated if it thinks denying opportunities to even respond to questions about whacky alternatives does anything for the understanding and credibility of science.

Turbulent times for global finances, but interesting take here from the BBC’s Robert Peston.

Talking of accidental shocks to the system. OK, so the wind and water of a hurricane like Ike can cause danger, damage and disruption anywhere it strikes, but why does modern Texas and Houston, have such poor infrastructure that recovery requires a week of city curfews and a month to restore power supplies ?

Just collecting this link to a BBC Story about txt msg style being used to convict. Liked the formal language of the expert; “powerful enough attribution to discriminate”.

A BBC Story.

Keep coming across things I blogged years ago, totally forgotten, usually prompted by cross-hit reports, that seem “good” – if I say so myself.

This is an example from 2004. Nothing new under the sun.

I really MUST do some consolidated writing – from the blog and from discussion-forum contributions.

We weren’t really up for a late night this last Friday after an early evening Mexican meal featuring The Deltones at Madison (Al) Bandito Burrito – ’nuff said – we went into town (Huntsville) ‘cos I had a vague recollection I’d noticed an interesting gig at Crossroads, and I’m glad I hung onto that thought.

Both bands interesting – both different – like, different from much else I’ve seen or heard in a while. The opening band, were a two-guitar four-piece, playing very jazzy million-notes-a-minute arpeggio-picking style, trading licks and complex mixed pace structures, including reggae and calypso grooves – but endlessly changing – too complex to be entertaining without concentrating hard – but accomplished and different. Can’t for the life of me remember their name (Why do bands and venues not leave up recent events ? Damn MySpace – Post Note – sho’nuff – turns out they were local Huntsville band “Sandia”  … yeah, “fusion” sounds about right.)

Main act were Spoonfed Tribe. Wow. Different again, from Texas, and what a mixture. Hawkwind meets Beefheart meets Stomp meets Northern-Soul and eventually morphs into some seriously heavy guitar rock. 5 piece with at least 2 on percussion at all times. Dreadlocked flautist on vocals and PA loop effects, reminding me of Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall, stonking bassist with a huge range of effects, which allowed the masked guitarist to play around with vocals, cow-bells and loops before remembering his guitar. Varied, yes, but never missed a beat, and never lost your attention. A pity so few were there to experience them. Ones to watch.

Saw them again:

• Last Concert Cafe, Houston.
• Trees, Deep Ellum, Dallas.
• The Continental, Houston, where I seem to recall they were playing pool before the gig.

One in a series of many … the reversal of “sticks & stones“.

For every wise old adage there is an equal and opposite adage. Does that mean adages and old-wives tales are worthless – Nope; it means context is everything.