Category: Uncategorized

[Post Note – This is the news item that sparked this debate.]

In all the debates about energy policy there has been a tendency to consider nuclear fuel as practically limitless for foreseeable needs – with all the downsides of the nuclear option concerned with the costs (capital and energy) in the investment and the safety / security therafter.

Sam pointed out a thread on “The Oil Drum” where the available resources of Uranium & Thorium fuel are being debated in much the same way as the peak-oil / end-of-oil. I commented on a number of the posts. My main missing piece is to understand where the “breeder reactor” idea fits into this energy accounting.

[Post Note : several good responses to my questions led me to re-read the original article – my summary so far is here. And finally my conclusion for now.]

Tom Hanks is not sure if Charlie Wilson’s War will be a success.

We saw it the night before last, and have to say it was excellent. The Aaron Sorkin / West Wing style works really well with Hanks and Seymour-Hoffman bouncing the Washington one-liners and press-statements off each other and the close-combat camera. And some great cinematography too – in scenes like the Peshawar refugee camps. The in-your-face “let’s kill some Russians” undercurrent (if that’s not an oxymoron) seems strange, but is already a sign of the pre-fall-of-Berlin-wall times.

Some tongue-in-cheek license with the characters and the plot detail I’m sure in the “based-on-a-true-story” style, but really well done.

Glorious …. but we fucked-up the end game.

Nuff said. It occurred to me whilst I was watching it that I was in Pakistan (Baluchistan province) near the Afghan border during the latter period of the film – early / mid 80’s – must check the dates. The Pashtun refugees and the local Bughtis at the tribal checkpoints were all proudly brandishing their Kalashnikovs, booty from the Soviet-Afhgan war, but it had never occurred to me that the Russian weapons had been supplied to the Afghans by the US via Israeli and Egyptian intermediaries. Believable.

Followed the link to this Dave Snowden post from Johnnie Moore … on the face of it because “we” (in the sense Dave puts it) are recognising that the fragmentory (but interconnected) nature of blog-like technologies is much closer to “real human knowledge” than more formally structured forms. Also that “we” also therefore have a responsibility to manage the wider social transition just as any one form of media replaces another (written over oral, say) because the new disruption can appear (quite unnecessarily) threatening to the old … following on the reaction to Doris Lessing earlier.

So far so good. Even better though, Dave concludes with

Balance and memory have to go with progress and we need to start to challenge the assumption that whatever is the most popular is necessarily right, or for that matter sustainable.

This is two of my ongoing agenda items in one.

The democracy-needs-elitism imperative … a strictly popular vote is not the best arbiter of (real) value – which is an unpopular opinion to hold, but inescapable. (I need to find a better word than “elite” if I am to avoid offending those of a nervous disposition.)

And

The best memes are often the least attractive. Some memes are popular simply because they are easy to like / share / understand, not because they are good / right / true / valuable.

[Post Note : on re-reading, I see Dave’s post also includes a quote on the human “generational” nature of technological evolution (of knowledge) – I added my comment concerning my 3-Generations view of Kondratiev Waves or (Kuhnian) Techno-Economic-Paradigms. Small convergent world. Actually, there is a fourth connection here too … the teleological one … Dave’s post is entitled “The illusion that where we are is where we were meant to be”. Anthropic principles here we come.]

Out west with Sylvia, Tom and Robbie … Vegas, Death Valley, Sierras, Tahoe, San Francisco, Sequoia, Flagstaff, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Vegas.

Highlight for me was Monument Valley (at 12F) and Sequoia for a white Christmas day – oh, and the pleasure of meeting Alice and Family. Surreal moment, eating dinner outdoors on the balcony at Olives with 6 hours to kill before our return red-eye from Vegas – recommended fountain-entertainment-and-food value even at The Bellagio prices.

More later when I’ve sorted the pictures, and dealt with the e-mail backlog.

A “WiserEarth” presentation by Paul Hawken – on the power of ecodiversity to preserve humanity’s interests through naturally evolving collaboration. (via Mark Federman at McLuhan’s Next Message). Possibly overly optimistic, like Jeffery Sachs global economic message, but thought provoking and worthy of consideration.

A series of interviews by Matt Frei with journalists. bloggers and the YouTube team of under-21 Billionaires, and others across the US. The agenda is about the place of professional journalism in this media revolution … don’t worry Matt, there still is one.

One interesting discussion – a traditional journalist expressing the concern with blogging / social networking communities tending to be self-selecting amongst people who already agree / re-inforce their pre-conceived perspectives. Actually I don’t believe that is true. How to put this … I’m sure the “less intellectual” select their mainstream media channels to satisfy their prejudices too, and the media re-inforce that by pandering to their audience tastes. The more intellectually / experientially curious will always seek more channels of input – where different equals interesting. I’d suggest that’s true whatever the media, the difference is choice is simply easier with the bottom-up channels.

Again, third time today, 99% of blogging and social media content is crap, and 99% of mainstream media content is crap too because, repeat after me …. 99% of anything is crap. (If the idea of 99% crap offends, insert your own preferred interpretation of the 80/20 rule, the Pareto principle. Despite the odds, the point is to treat the 1% nuggets as a “cup half full” – something to work with and build on.)

(Interestingly, the YouTube video parodying the YouTube business success story to the tune of “We Didn’t Start The Fire” is off the air …

“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by a third party.”

(Billy Joel’s music publisher presumably, not YouTube itself. Pity, it was an excellent piece of work.)

Interestingly ironic thread with Dave Snowden on Euan Semple’s Obvious about this Doris Lessing comment.

Referring a few posts ago, to Johnnie Moore commenting on the persistent inanity of most of what the evolving web technologies are used for.

Lest we forget, 99% of the internet is inane crap, because 99% of everything is crap. The important thing is knowing how to pan for the nuggets … peer-to-peer connections, context, etc …

Doubly ironic is Euan’s slightly later post on Gartner appearing to rubbish the investment value in Web2.0 … given Dave Pollard dubbing KM2.0 as KM0.0 (also reported by David Gurteen.) Interconnected enough for you ?

Did this back in 2003.

Sam picked up on it recently, and I was prompted to re-do and see how my outlook has changed.

Latest Result

	1.	Aquinas   (100%)  Information link
	2.	Aristotle   (94%)  Information link
	3.	Jeremy Bentham   (72%)  Information link
	4.	Plato   (71%)  Information link
	5.	John Stuart Mill   (55%)  Information link
	6.	St. Augustine   (53%)  Information link
	7.	Epicureans   (52%)  Information link
	8.	Spinoza   (51%)  Information link
	9.	Jean-Paul Sartre   (50%)  Information link
	10.	Ayn Rand   (46%)  Information link
	11.	Thomas Hobbes   (40%)  Information link
	12.	Stoics   (40%)  Information link
	13.	Nel Noddings   (38%)  Information link
	14.	David Hume   (38%)  Information link
	15.	Nietzsche   (37%)  Information link
	16.	Cynics   (29%)  Information link
	17.	Ockham   (14%)  Information link
	18.	Kant   (11%)  Information link
	19.	Prescriptivism   (3%)  Information link

Previous Result

1. Spinoza (100%)
2. Aquinas (89%)
3. Stoics (89%)
4. Aristotle (86%)
5. Nietzsche (85%)
6. Jeremy Bentham (70%)
7. Epicureans (68%)
8. Jean-Paul Sartre (68%)
9. Nel Noddings (65%)
10. Plato (64%)

Significant differences … the survey itself seems modified behind the scenes, certainly the reporting has.

Aquinas, Aristotle and Plato all up, Spinoza down, Nietzsche well down. Weird ? Re-reading Nietzsche and reading Spinoza both at the moment. Not sure if this is meaningful at all. Clearly there is a level of interpretation in the survey relationships to the specific philosophers introduced by whomever created it.

Shortly after Vonnegut’s death I came across this interview from June 06, but didn’t blog a link. Rectified that.

WTF. As a loyal fan of the Beeb, I have to call them out on this one.

Censoring the word “faggot” out of The Pogues and Kirsty McColl’s Fairy Tale of New York. Surely the very best of that dodgy genre of Christmas singles.

Response to the vote on censorship, and the “Have Your Say” comment thread is over 96% against, and over 115 pages of responses so far … all with the same message so far as  can see. Censorship does have a legitimate place in a society built on freedom of speech, but this isn’t one of them.

It’s pure poetry … a scene of an old married couple at Christmas, a time of family stress, and alcohol-fueled emotions, taking stock as one year ends and another looms  … throwing insults at each other only to discover how much they really are in love with each others dreams. A truly uplifting piece of work

The word “faggot” may have homophobic uses, but absolutely not in this context, the redeeming power of real love. So much more offensive language exists in other songs with misanthropic intent; it’s a travesty that Shane McGowan’s poetry should come in for this abuse.

Rectify your glaring mistake Auntie.

[Post Note : Oh wow they just did.
The power of the people. Well done Auntie Beeb.

Peter Tatchell I have a lot of respect for his brave stands on freedoms, not just gay rights, but I have to say he’s wrong on this one. Context matters.]

[Post Post Note – 2030 (!) comments on the “have your say” thread in under two days.]