I’ve just reread Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World. Aside from Sagan being my all time favourite personality in the world of science education Demon Haunted World is a great read about the dangers of scientific illiteracy.
"As an example of skeptical thinking, Sagan offers a story concerning a fire-breathing dragon that lives in his garage. When he persuades a rational, open-minded visitor to meet the dragon, the visitor remarks that they are unable to see the creature. Sagan replies that he "neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon". The visitor suggests spreading flour on the floor so that the creature's footprints might be seen, which Sagan says is a good idea, "but this dragon floats in the air". When the visitor considers using an infra-red camera to view the creature's invisible fire, Sagan explains that the fire is heatless. He continues to counter every proposed physical test with a reason why the test will not work.
Sagan concludes by asking: "Now what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true."
Maybe not, but most science, like most of the other ways of understanding the world/universe, begins with observation – that much at least is in common đ
If there were anything fixed in nature, if there were truths, all of this would, of course, be wrong. But fortunately, all truths are erroneous. This is the very essence of the dialectical process: today’s truths become errors tomorrow; there is no final number.
This truth (the only one) is for the strong alone. Weak-nerved minds insist on a finite universe, a last number; they need, in Nietzsche’s words, ‘the crutches of certainty’. The weak-nerved lack the strength to include themselves in the dialectic syllogism. True, this is difficult. But it is the very thing that Einstein succeeded in doing: he managed to remember that he, Einstein, observing motion with a watch in hand, was also moving; he succeeded at looking at the motion of the earth from outside.
On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters
"Such experiences we ascribe to the action of suggestion and the imagination—the cloud "that's almost in shape like a camel," or "like a weasel," or "like a whale." But throughout our visual experiences there runs this double strain, now mainly outward and now mainly inward, from the simplest excitements of the retina up to the realms where fancy soars freed from the confines of sense, and the objective finds its occupation gone."
Try Figure 16 – took me a while to see the upward-pointing blocks (does that make me a pessimist?); unfocussing my eyes helped.
Intuition is critical, but be careful.
A bat and a ball cost £1.10 in total. The bat costs a pound more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? (Intuitive answer 10 pence).
If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? (Intuitive answer 100 minutes).
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake? (Intuitive answer 24 days)
For some reaon I particularly like this one:
If you’re running a race and you pass the person in second place, what place are you in? (Intuitive answer 1st)
And these are downright cruel!
Emily’s father had three daughters. The first two are named April and May. What is the third daughter’s name? (Intuitive answer June)
How many cubic feet of dirt are there in a hole that 3’ deep x 3’ wide x 3’ long? (Intuitive answer 27)
You go to bed at eight. You set your old analogue alarm clock to wake you up at nine. How many hours of sleep will you get? (Intuitive answer 13 h)
"Maybe not, but most science, like most of the other ways of understanding the world/universe, begins with observation – that much at least is in common"
True, but the issue here is what happens when one person can observe a phenomena more easily than another. The question for me isn't whether Sagan has a dragon in his basement, it's what makes him think it's there. Maybe he can perceive something I cannot, and that science cannot.
Twinned with observation is experience and how one makes sense of those things. And what Robert is saying about being the observer.
There is an almost unlimited number of things that current science cannot perceive, let alone analyse. Yet that number is smaller than it was 100 years ago, or yesterday.
For me, the issue is not so much what 'science' or (certain) individuals can and cannot perceive, but rather the belief that there are some things that can (and should) never be understood via scientific investigation. It may well be true that some phenomena (including mental/thought and even non-corporeal phenomena) that will resist observation, and scientific analysis of their nature, unto the end of time. I just prefer to believe that's not the case, even though I'm likely wrong in this (hopeful?) belief.
"I have a friend who's an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don't agree with very well. He'll hold up a flower and say "look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree. Then he says "I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing," and I think that he's kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is … I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it's not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there's also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts." – Richard P. Feynman
I think they're both doing the same thing. Each one believes they have the superior view and are missing what happens when one can do both.
I understand the attraction of believing that science can eventually understand all things. I'm more ok with the mystery and uncertainty and the value in that (or maybe I think it doesn't matter whether we don't know because we can't or because science hasn't gotten there yet). Either way, it doesn't help us so much with the dragon in the basement, which seems the most exciting thing to think about. Dragons!
I'd like to think that most good scientists were/are OK with uncertainty, even dragons, but I'd probably be disappointed. Same with theologians.
I’m unsure about the inferiority/superiority of the scientific view compare to alternatives – it’s simply the view I understand best.
“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives [Dragons!]. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.” – Richard Feynman
that's pretty much how I feel and I do think lots but not all sciencey people are like that.
I was meaning uncertainly about whether science can eventually understand anything it comes up against. I'm ok if that's not true. Don’t most science people believe it is true, that science will eventually explain all (or theoretically can)?
I would like it to be true, perhaps even believe it to be true, but I don't know that it's true. Recognised or not, uncertainty is an element of all belief đ
Whether you’re right or wrong depends on the definition of science, where it draws the borders and what its limitations are.
I certainly agree that science ads to life.
What makes science science? What sets it apart from other belief systems (or ideologies rather)? Is it the so-called scientific method? Is it that theories have to be predictive and testable by experiments? If so, this would run into some fundamental problems, e.g. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-08-29/string-theory-explainer-what-is-the-universe-made-of/11428656. Feyerabend came to the conclusion that there is or should be no such thing as the scientific method; whatever progresses science and our collective knowledge and understanding of the world is as good as anything (“anything goes”).
Popper’s criterion for falsification has failed itself to be a good or useful benchmark. Probabilistic theories, such as climate change and quantum mechanics, fail to meet this criterion. Interestingly, I saw this recently being held as a judgement against CC somewhere and that CC was not (based on) true science because it could not be falsified (can’t find the link now).
Mainstream science has now fully accepted uncertainty and probabilistic theories, I believe. It is ok if evidence is not or cannot be absolutely conclusive.
A hypothesis (e.g. about a dragon) does not necessarily have to be true or false. Just like Schrödinger's cat, it can exist in two or neither state until an observer collapses the superposition. This shifts the question to how useful the hypothesis is in the larger framework. Something that is and remains abstract belongs to realm of mathematics and will remain there unless or until it finds an application in science đ
Science is a collective endeavour and scientific consensus and convention are the criteria. In this sense, science is as much a human construct as any other and merely a way or attempt to interpret the world we live in rather than an interpretation in its own right.
Is it possible that we can come to see science as posturing or the advanced curiosity of a grown feckless child? Could it be that we will decide to stop seeking further information about some things, and allow that endless poking and prying into them is counter-productive for a balanced, society that has accepted some humility about its misuse of novel findings, and some historical ones?
Spring Show for Auckland Horticultural Council today. Straight across from the road at Western Springs that takes you to the zoo. Displays, garden geeks, plants/bulbs for sale. Would be all over it but family coming to visit, will try drag them there…
The Joyful Ballad is essentially a catalogue of curses that the poet wished upon taverners who diluted their wine. Although its author is unknown, it has long been associated with François Villon (c. 1431–after 1463), one of the most renowned French poets of the late Middle Ages, but also a murderer, thief and vagabond. Here is a translated stanza in order to give you a taste of the poem:
'Let some great gunshot blow their heads off sheer;
Let thunders catch them in the market-place;
Let rend their limbs and cast them far and near,
For dogs to batten on their bodies base;
Or let the lightning-stroke their sight efface.
Frost, hail and snow let still upon them bite;
Strip off their clothes and leave them naked quite,
For rain to drench them in the open air;
Lard them with knives and poniards and then bear
Their carrion forth and soak it in the Rhine;
Break all their bones with mauls and do not spare
The vintners [or ‘taverners’] that put water into our wine.'
[translation from John Payne, The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (London, 1892), p. 137].
In the first picture in joe90’s comment at #6 the hammered dulcimer player played a bum note by the look of the harp player and the pipe and tambour player are giving him. I know that look……..
I was an upright bass player in a country string band, and stood at the back of the group so that the other players could get their timing from the bass. Whenever especially the fiddle player played a bum note he'd look around at the bass player, who of course had no one he could turn around and so accuse. (Politics and the art of dead cat distraction works the same way.)
I'm reading a Commissario Guido Brunetti novel at the moment. His literary professor wife Paola noted that interactions between men are all about power. Even a band of five musicians had its politics and power games. Today's news contained an article on the games still played in the Rolling Stones, after fifty years or more. True now as it was in medieval times, it seems.
The New York Times' Mike Isaak says… "my new social network is an email newsletter. Every week or so, I blast it out to a few thousand people who have signed up to read my musings. Some of them email back, occasionally leading to a thoughtful conversation. It’s still early in the experiment, but I think I love it."…
So what exactly does Substack do?
"We just make it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter," Hamish McKenzie said.
"We say 'newsletter' because that's simple but really it's like a personal media empire where a writer can have a blog that's attached to a mailing list. And they can also, if they want, distribute podcasts and host host discussion threads," he said.
Substack has thousands of newsletters with more than 50,000 paying subscribers. The minimum price for a sub is $US5 a month.
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prevention and intervention. Following Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s post-Cabinet press conference we are encouraged to see the acknowledgement of the mistakes made and the need to address this. The five points outlined in the action plan, which ...
A surge in teen vaping rates and a series of deaths being linked to vaping has resulted in a number of bans on the sales of flavoured Vape juice products in the United States. Though it is widely acknowledged that vaping is far less harmful than smoking tobacco, ...
The governments’ new environmental proposals will further accentuate the move of good, productive farmland into forestry according to environmental lobby group 50 Shades of Green. ...
17 September 2019: New Zealanders are acutely aware of the impact food production processes have on our planet according to new research released today by the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust. ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL is awarding three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
On 14 September 2017, the pipeline that brings diesel, petrol, and jet fuel from Marsden Point Oil Refinery into Auckland ruptured. It leaked jet fuel into rural properties and stopped the transmission of fuels into Auckland for 10 days. The rupture ...
Victims Advocate Louise Nicholas - Labour should have brought in “specialist support” “When there is a complaint especially a serious complaint of sexual assault, the first thing that should have happened was specialist support brought in to ensure ...
Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says New Zealand is ‘not close’ to bringing in oil reserves after the attack on Saudi fields. “We would have to see prices rise by about $20 per barrel in order for some of those strategic reserves ...
New Zealand's new fresh water regulation rules will have no major impacts on the national economy, according to an independent report just out. The report by independent economic consultancy New Zealand Institute of Economic Research shows that dairying ...
Fish & Game New Zealand has welcomed the findings of a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report, which rejects claims the Government’s freshwater proposals will have a significant economic impact. ...
The Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the Government should take its proposed firearms legislation to the people with a touring Select Committee, as it just has with the Zero Carbon bill. ...
Water reforms and the long term sustainability of water will be a key focus at the Water New Zealand conference and expo this week (18-20 September) in Hamilton. ...
“Kiwi ex-smokers are mobilising against the Government’s plans to drastically limit vaping flavours. Flavours have been key to them quitting tobacco and they now just want other smokers to have the same chance,” says Jonathan Devery, co-owner ...
Oil company Tamarind Resources has reportedly halted drilling at its Tui oil field off the Taranaki coast after the first of the three planned wells came up dry and bad weather caused delays. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the left-wing campaign group “ActionStation” to front up and be transparent about how much taxpayer funding it takes from the Government to underwrite its activism activities. Earlier in the month, the Taxpayers’ ...
The ‘ Unplanned ’ movie is here and Family First has secured one of the first screenings in New Zealand tonight. ‘Unplanned’ brings an eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate. All ...
James Renwick claim that NZ is failing on climate change is valid, and since James has been receiving widespread media coverage that we outline most of it again here now as we gear up for the ‘Global climate change conference’ beginning next week. ...
Protestors will be outside the venue of the fourth hearing for Operation Burnham Inquiry on Monday morning from 8.30am to give a message to former and current military officers as they arrive to speak about the ongoing coverup of the 2010 attack on ...
The long-running campaign against purported Chinese “interference” in New Zealand’s political system intensified in the past week following a five-day visit to Beijing by opposition National Party leader Simon Bridges. ...
National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett spent the week claiming a serious cover-up in the Prime Minister's office. She used parliamentary privilege to name three of the Prime Minister's closest advisors who, she says, knew about the sexual assault ...
Six months on from the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history, Simon Shepherd asked Al Noor Mosque spokesperson Anthony Green how the Christchurch Muslim is community faring. ...
“The Game Animal Council is concerned that the Government’s second tranche of firearms legislation released today may contain unreasonable provisions that will unfairly impact hunters,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
Government policy work on the Carbon Zero bill highlights connections between climate change, carbon sequestration and agriculture. Water quality and allocation are also topical with the release of the Draft Policy Statement for Freshwater Management ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming this afternoon’s announcement that consultation on Essential Freshwater has been extended by two weeks - but is calling on the Minister to go further. ...
DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle is calling on the Government to move swiftly to extend the six-week timeframe of the Essential Freshwater consultation. ...
Immigration New Zealand could really benefit from an large investment of money, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the immigration sector. “Instead of spending $25m ...
In recent times there has been no shortage of commentary regarding whistleblowers, with the proposed amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act 2000. These are aimed at strengthening the protection available to whistleblowers in New Zealand. That ...
Gun Control NZ strongly welcomes the comprehensive gun law reform bill and calls on all political parties to support it. Gun Control NZ encourages New Zealanders to let their MPs know they support this Bill, submit to the Select Committee, and ...
Federated Farmers agrees with most of the steps by government to protect people from illegal or irresponsible firearms use. But concerns about pest control and the effectiveness of a register remain. ...
Today at Parliament the NZ Drug Foundation released Taking control of cannabis: A model for responsible regulation, a new report that shows how we can take back control of cannabis from organised crime. ...
It was another wild week in our favourite island paradise, as our remaining celebrities continued their quest to win cash for charity. Tara Ward power ranks. The bells of change have rung on Celebrity Treasure Island, and we’re now knee deep in an individual game of trickery, ping-pongery, and Tim-Tammery. The two ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Arthur Sinodinos will soon leave the Senate, and early next year take up the position of Australian ambassador in Washington. A former staffer and one-time public servant as well as a former minister, in this ...
The fishing industry is fighting back against claims its ad campaign is 'spin', saying protecting the Māui dolphin shouldn’t come at the expense of commercial fishers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melanie Walters, PhD candidate in music, University of Adelaide Review: XXX Neon Sign, composed by Dan Thorpe, Rumpus Theatre More than perhaps any other instrument, the grand piano symbolises the classical music canon and its rigid traditions. Placing such an instrument centre-stage ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Leuzinger, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Conway, Senior Lecturer – Games and Interactivity, Swinburne University of Technology Two of the biggest tech companies in the world, Apple and Google, are launching cloud-based gaming services this year. Apple Arcade, due for release in two days, will ultimately go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Marks, Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Strategy and Policy, Western Sydney University “How good is Gladys Berejiklian?” Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked a jubilant crowd of Liberal supporters on the evening of her March 23 2019 state election win. Only as good as her ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Charlson, Conjoint NHMRC Early Career Fellow, The University of Queensland This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) recently declared ...
Life insurance companies have been taken to task for being too slow to improve their culture and conduct by regulators, which appears set to lead to tougher regulation. ...
In this extract from a chapter called ‘Deep Time’ in Rebecca Priestley’s new memoir, Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica, Rebecca remembers her peculiar, legume-heavy, art-saturated childhood in Wellington. (And a note from the author: if anyone has a painting from Ruth Priestley’s Antarctic Dream series, Rebecca would love to hear from ...
The government is introducing a new employer-led work visa that it says will help plug shortages, reduce exploitation, and improve conditions for New Zealand workers. ...
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. In the fifth episode, Toby sits down with comic artist Ben Stenbeck. Two Sketches returns with another leisurely draw and a chat hosted by award-winning illustrator Toby Morris. In this episode, Toby chats with ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
New Netflix movie The Tall Girl was roundly mocked before it even came out. Josie Adams, a tall girl herself, reviews it.“You know that really, really, really tall girl you go to school with? The one that people call LeBron, Skyscraper, Patty long legs?”That’s Jodi, the 6-foot-1 protagonist of The ...
A spate of court cases around the world has highlighted a new kind of risk for carbon emitters, and the big investors that support them - expensive litigation. ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and heat – but the impact is already felt across every specialty of medicine. ...
Most KiwiSaver funds are managed by one of the big Australian banks, which create returns through investments in fossil fuels, human rights violations, tobacco and weaponry. With attitudes shifting towards sustainability, what can ordinary investors do?This month 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg completed a journey across the Atlantic in a ...
A swathe of gloomy global headlines appear to have further dampened consumers' outlook about the economy but they are feeling more upbeat about their own personal finances. ...
Covering Climate Now: From CFCs to nuclear weapons, history has shown that the first step to eliminating a threat is to ban it, argues Thomas Nash.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to the contributions of Spinoff Members. Join The Spinoff Members to help us do ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Labour Party sexual assault allegations Richard Harman (Politik): Goodbye Labour – Hello Brand Jacinda Barry ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has "called time" on opposing claims over sexual assault allegations against a Labour Party staffer being contested in public. ...
ByRNZ Pacific Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has said she “regrets and strongly condemns” the Solomon Islands’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with China. The Solomons cabinet made the decision yesterday after which Taiwan terminated its 36-year relationship with the Pacific country. Tsai said China’s promises of financial assistance ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Josie Adams assesses the bastion of progressive virtue that is Dunedin/Ōtepoti.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Dunedin, or Ōtepoti, is also known as “the ...
The Commerce Commission has been accused of miscalculating how much money the country's biggest fuel retailer Z Energy is making, in its initial report on competition in the sector. ...
A Canterbury startup is exposing medical equipment manufacturers’ deliberate one-use design tricks and proving that hospitals can reuse and recycle. There has been a lot of hype about the phasing out of plastic bags at supermarkets. But what about far more expensive items which only ever get used once and are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Wilkes, Senior Research Geophysicist, CSIRO At some point in recent weeks, a once-in-a-lifetime event happened for people at Greenwich in the United Kingdom. Magnetic compasses at the historic London area, known as the home of the Prime Meridian, were said to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison McEwen, Head of Discipline of Genetic Counselling, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Why are some twins identical and some not? – Chloe, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc Hudson, Researcher, University of Manchester Paddy Manning’s excellent account of the Australian Greens will not be the last word on Australia’s most successful third party, but will doubtless remain important and influential for many years to come. Manning’s exhaustive (but never ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abby Mellick Lopes, Senior Lecturer in Design, Western Sydney University This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. A recent report by the Greater Sydney Commission ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eve Vincent, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University “This is a bit controversial, we know that,” deputy prime minister Michael McCormick told the National Party’s federal council, which on the weekend voted for a national roll-out of cashless debit cards for anyone younger than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pat Ranald, Research fellow, University of Sydney The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has been touted as the best hope for keeping world trade flowing after the attacks on the World Trade Organisation. The WTO isn’t dead yet, but in a two-pronged attack, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University In 1955, an enormous photographic exhibition, The Family of Man, challenged the world as to what it meant to be human. The curator, Edward Steichen, assembled 503 photographs by 273 photographers from ...
Weekend social 31/08/19 
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever.
A short and incredibly powerful speech from a young lesbian woman. No one is born in the wrong body. ...6 hours ago
Back in June, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that that country's continued arms sales to Saudi Arabia were unlawful. So you'd expect that the UK government stopped approving them, right?Of course not:The government has apologised for breaching a court ruling against the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that ...7 hours ago
14 hours ago
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...14 hours ago
1 day ago
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...1 day ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...1 day ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...1 day ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...2 days ago
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...4 days ago
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...4 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...4 days ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...5 days ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...5 days ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...6 days ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...6 days ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 6 days ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...7 days ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...1 week ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...1 week ago
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...1 week ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...1 week ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...1 week ago
Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...1 week ago
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...1 week ago
Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...2 weeks ago
Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...2 weeks ago
Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...2 weeks ago
Anti-fluoride activists have some wealthy backers – they are erecting billboards misrepresenting the Canadian study on many New Zealand cities – and local authorities are ordering their removal because of their scaremongering. Many New Zealanders ... 2 weeks ago
Following publication of this article, the Ministry has requested it to be noted that this supplied image is not necessarily representative of what the final house will look like, and it “probably won’t be that nice.” As part of today’s long-anticipated reset of the Government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy, Housing Minister ...2 weeks ago
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...2 hours ago
A former member of the Philippines strongman's Cabinet explains why she joined - and why the world must hold him to account. ...1 hour ago
It was another wild week in our favourite island paradise, as our remaining celebrities continued their quest to win cash for charity. Tara Ward power ranks. The bells of change have rung on Celebrity Treasure Island, and we’re now knee deep in an individual game of trickery, ping-pongery, and Tim-Tammery. The two ...1 hour ago
The Auditor General will be investigating the effectiveness of the firearm buy-back scheme. ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Arthur Sinodinos will soon leave the Senate, and early next year take up the position of Australian ambassador in Washington. A former staffer and one-time public servant as well as a former minister, in this ...2 hours ago
A national conversation about population planning is not easy, but it's one we need to have, writes Laura Walters. ...4 hours ago
Two years ago, the Prime Minister says climate action was barely discussed at international summits - now, it's top of the agenda. ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melanie Walters, PhD candidate in music, University of Adelaide Review: XXX Neon Sign, composed by Dan Thorpe, Rumpus Theatre More than perhaps any other instrument, the grand piano symbolises the classical music canon and its rigid traditions. Placing such an instrument centre-stage ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Leuzinger, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Conway, Senior Lecturer – Games and Interactivity, Swinburne University of Technology Two of the biggest tech companies in the world, Apple and Google, are launching cloud-based gaming services this year. Apple Arcade, due for release in two days, will ultimately go ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Charlson, Conjoint NHMRC Early Career Fellow, The University of Queensland This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) recently declared ...7 hours ago
Life insurance companies have been taken to task for being too slow to improve their culture and conduct by regulators, which appears set to lead to tougher regulation. ...7 hours ago
The New Zealand dollar remains the 10th most traded currency globally, according to a new survey. ...7 hours ago
In this extract from a chapter called ‘Deep Time’ in Rebecca Priestley’s new memoir, Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica, Rebecca remembers her peculiar, legume-heavy, art-saturated childhood in Wellington. (And a note from the author: if anyone has a painting from Ruth Priestley’s Antarctic Dream series, Rebecca would love to hear from ...8 hours ago
After nine months and much consultation, the Government has unveiled its overhauled migrant worker scheme, to much industry acclaim. ...8 hours ago
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. In the fifth episode, Toby sits down with comic artist Ben Stenbeck. Two Sketches returns with another leisurely draw and a chat hosted by award-winning illustrator Toby Morris. In this episode, Toby chats with ...8 hours ago
Surprise, surprise. The waving of a wet bus ticket did little to encourage New Zealand's life insurers to behave better. ...9 hours ago
The government's proposed clean up of waterways will not harm New Zealand's overall economy, a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has suggested. ...9 hours ago
New Netflix movie The Tall Girl was roundly mocked before it even came out. Josie Adams, a tall girl herself, reviews it.“You know that really, really, really tall girl you go to school with? The one that people call LeBron, Skyscraper, Patty long legs?”That’s Jodi, the 6-foot-1 protagonist of The ...9 hours ago
A spate of court cases around the world has highlighted a new kind of risk for carbon emitters, and the big investors that support them - expensive litigation. ...9 hours ago
Performance poet Ben Fagan continues his investigation into just what exactly the term Pākehā means in contemporary New Zealand life. ...10 hours ago
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are the most at risk from extreme weather and heat – but the impact is already felt across every specialty of medicine. ...10 hours ago
Most KiwiSaver funds are managed by one of the big Australian banks, which create returns through investments in fossil fuels, human rights violations, tobacco and weaponry. With attitudes shifting towards sustainability, what can ordinary investors do?This month 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg completed a journey across the Atlantic in a ...10 hours ago
A swathe of gloomy global headlines appear to have further dampened consumers' outlook about the economy but they are feeling more upbeat about their own personal finances. ...11 hours ago
The head of the Marsden Point oil refinery operator has resigned to lead the country's biggest energy company. ...11 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: From CFCs to nuclear weapons, history has shown that the first step to eliminating a threat is to ban it, argues Thomas Nash.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to the contributions of Spinoff Members. Join The Spinoff Members to help us do ...11 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has said she “regrets and strongly condemns” the Solomon Islands’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with China. The Solomons cabinet made the decision yesterday after which Taiwan terminated its 36-year relationship with the Pacific country. Tsai said China’s promises of financial assistance ...12 hours ago
The value of New Zealand's primary industry exports is expected to dip fractionally next year. ...12 hours ago
The Commerce Commission has been accused of miscalculating how much money the country's biggest fuel retailer Z Energy is making, in its initial report on competition in the sector. ...12 hours ago
A Canterbury startup is exposing medical equipment manufacturers’ deliberate one-use design tricks and proving that hospitals can reuse and recycle. There has been a lot of hype about the phasing out of plastic bags at supermarkets. But what about far more expensive items which only ever get used once and are ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Wilkes, Senior Research Geophysicist, CSIRO At some point in recent weeks, a once-in-a-lifetime event happened for people at Greenwich in the United Kingdom. Magnetic compasses at the historic London area, known as the home of the Prime Meridian, were said to ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Australia’s attempts to secure the release of an Australian national and two with joint UK-Australian citizenship from an Iranian prison have become vastly more complicated following the brazen attacks on Saudi oil ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison McEwen, Head of Discipline of Genetic Counselling, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. Why are some twins identical and some not? – Chloe, ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Professorial fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne In this age of rapidly melting glaciers, terrifying megafires and ever more puissant hurricanes, of acidifying and rising oceans, it is hard to believe that any further prod to climate action ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc Hudson, Researcher, University of Manchester Paddy Manning’s excellent account of the Australian Greens will not be the last word on Australia’s most successful third party, but will doubtless remain important and influential for many years to come. Manning’s exhaustive (but never ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abby Mellick Lopes, Senior Lecturer in Design, Western Sydney University This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. A recent report by the Greater Sydney Commission ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eve Vincent, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University “This is a bit controversial, we know that,” deputy prime minister Michael McCormick told the National Party’s federal council, which on the weekend voted for a national roll-out of cashless debit cards for anyone younger than ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University In 1955, an enormous photographic exhibition, The Family of Man, challenged the world as to what it meant to be human. The curator, Edward Steichen, assembled 503 photographs by 273 photographers from ...13 hours ago
I’ve just reread Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World. Aside from Sagan being my all time favourite personality in the world of science education Demon Haunted World is a great read about the dangers of scientific illiteracy.
In Wellington I am going to a pop-up wool show for knitters, crocheters, weavers(?)- https://www.facebook.com/events/2048073735228421/
But would you trust him?
"As an example of skeptical thinking, Sagan offers a story concerning a fire-breathing dragon that lives in his garage. When he persuades a rational, open-minded visitor to meet the dragon, the visitor remarks that they are unable to see the creature. Sagan replies that he "neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon". The visitor suggests spreading flour on the floor so that the creature's footprints might be seen, which Sagan says is a good idea, "but this dragon floats in the air". When the visitor considers using an infra-red camera to view the creature's invisible fire, Sagan explains that the fire is heatless. He continues to counter every proposed physical test with a reason why the test will not work.
Sagan concludes by asking: "Now what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true."
thankfully science isn't the only way to understand the world đ
Maybe not, but most science, like most of the other ways of understanding the world/universe, begins with observation – that much at least is in common đ
The really useful ones question, not what is observed, but what it means to be the observer.
The useful ones are Heretics.
A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin,
If there were anything fixed in nature, if there were truths, all of this would, of course, be wrong. But fortunately, all truths are erroneous. This is the very essence of the dialectical process: today’s truths become errors tomorrow; there is no final number.
This truth (the only one) is for the strong alone. Weak-nerved minds insist on a finite universe, a last number; they need, in Nietzsche’s words, ‘the crutches of certainty’. The weak-nerved lack the strength to include themselves in the dialectic syllogism. True, this is difficult. But it is the very thing that Einstein succeeded in doing: he managed to remember that he, Einstein, observing motion with a watch in hand, was also moving; he succeeded at looking at the motion of the earth from outside.
On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters
https://iamyouasheisme.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/zamyatin_essay.pdf
Interesting. I wonder what Zamyatin thought of Gödel who was another fine example of thinking about a system from outside the system.
Well observed đ
Just for fun.
Try Figure 16 – took me a while to see the upward-pointing blocks (does that make me a pessimist?); unfocussing my eyes helped.
Intuition is critical, but be careful.
"Maybe not, but most science, like most of the other ways of understanding the world/universe, begins with observation – that much at least is in common"
True, but the issue here is what happens when one person can observe a phenomena more easily than another. The question for me isn't whether Sagan has a dragon in his basement, it's what makes him think it's there. Maybe he can perceive something I cannot, and that science cannot.
Twinned with observation is experience and how one makes sense of those things. And what Robert is saying about being the observer.
There is an almost unlimited number of things that current science cannot perceive, let alone analyse. Yet that number is smaller than it was 100 years ago, or yesterday.
For me, the issue is not so much what 'science' or (certain) individuals can and cannot perceive, but rather the belief that there are some things that can (and should) never be understood via scientific investigation. It may well be true that some phenomena (including mental/thought and even non-corporeal phenomena) that will resist observation, and scientific analysis of their nature, unto the end of time. I just prefer to believe that's not the case, even though I'm likely wrong in this (hopeful?) belief.
I think they're both doing the same thing. Each one believes they have the superior view and are missing what happens when one can do both.
I understand the attraction of believing that science can eventually understand all things. I'm more ok with the mystery and uncertainty and the value in that (or maybe I think it doesn't matter whether we don't know because we can't or because science hasn't gotten there yet). Either way, it doesn't help us so much with the dragon in the basement, which seems the most exciting thing to think about. Dragons!
I'd like to think that most good scientists were/are OK with uncertainty, even dragons, but I'd probably be disappointed. Same with theologians.
I’m unsure about the inferiority/superiority of the scientific view compare to alternatives – it’s simply the view I understand best.
that's pretty much how I feel and I do think lots but not all sciencey people are like that.
I was meaning uncertainly about whether science can eventually understand anything it comes up against. I'm ok if that's not true. Don’t most science people believe it is true, that science will eventually explain all (or theoretically can)?
I would like it to be true, perhaps even believe it to be true, but I don't know that it's true. Recognised or not, uncertainty is an element of all belief đ
Nice discussion thread!
Whether you’re right or wrong depends on the definition of science, where it draws the borders and what its limitations are.
I certainly agree that science ads to life.
What makes science science? What sets it apart from other belief systems (or ideologies rather)? Is it the so-called scientific method? Is it that theories have to be predictive and testable by experiments? If so, this would run into some fundamental problems, e.g. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-08-29/string-theory-explainer-what-is-the-universe-made-of/11428656. Feyerabend came to the conclusion that there is or should be no such thing as the scientific method; whatever progresses science and our collective knowledge and understanding of the world is as good as anything (“anything goes”).
Popper’s criterion for falsification has failed itself to be a good or useful benchmark. Probabilistic theories, such as climate change and quantum mechanics, fail to meet this criterion. Interestingly, I saw this recently being held as a judgement against CC somewhere and that CC was not (based on) true science because it could not be falsified (can’t find the link now).
Mainstream science has now fully accepted uncertainty and probabilistic theories, I believe. It is ok if evidence is not or cannot be absolutely conclusive.
A hypothesis (e.g. about a dragon) does not necessarily have to be true or false. Just like Schrödinger's cat, it can exist in two or neither state until an observer collapses the superposition. This shifts the question to how useful the hypothesis is in the larger framework. Something that is and remains abstract belongs to realm of mathematics and will remain there unless or until it finds an application in science đ
Science is a collective endeavour and scientific consensus and convention are the criteria. In this sense, science is as much a human construct as any other and merely a way or attempt to interpret the world we live in rather than an interpretation in its own right.
thankfully science isn't the only way to understand the world
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." To which we could add, some are more useful than others.
Aye true, and that applies to non-science ways of knowing as much as science.
Is it possible that we can come to see science as posturing or the advanced curiosity of a grown feckless child? Could it be that we will decide to stop seeking further information about some things, and allow that endless poking and prying into them is counter-productive for a balanced, society that has accepted some humility about its misuse of novel findings, and some historical ones?
New Zealand Random Acts of Kindness day tomorrow đ Sept 1st
It costs nothing and is easy as saying a few nice words or helping someone. Cool huh?
Get onboard…. more info here…..
https://rak.co.nz/
Heh, just in time for Fathers Day.
Spring Show for Auckland Horticultural Council today. Straight across from the road at Western Springs that takes you to the zoo. Displays, garden geeks, plants/bulbs for sale. Would be all over it but family coming to visit, will try drag them there…
Nothing new under the sun.
The Joyful Ballad is essentially a catalogue of curses that the poet wished upon taverners who diluted their wine. Although its author is unknown, it has long been associated with François Villon (c. 1431–after 1463), one of the most renowned French poets of the late Middle Ages, but also a murderer, thief and vagabond. Here is a translated stanza in order to give you a taste of the poem:
'Let some great gunshot blow their heads off sheer;
Let thunders catch them in the market-place;
Let rend their limbs and cast them far and near,
For dogs to batten on their bodies base;
Or let the lightning-stroke their sight efface.
Frost, hail and snow let still upon them bite;
Strip off their clothes and leave them naked quite,
For rain to drench them in the open air;
Lard them with knives and poniards and then bear
Their carrion forth and soak it in the Rhine;
Break all their bones with mauls and do not spare
The vintners [or ‘taverners’] that put water into our wine.'
[translation from John Payne, The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (London, 1892), p. 137].
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2019/08/the-joyful-ballad-of-the-taverners.html
Tweets by BLMedieval
In the first picture in joe90’s comment at #6 the hammered dulcimer player played a bum note by the look of the harp player and the pipe and tambour player are giving him. I know that look……..
I was an upright bass player in a country string band, and stood at the back of the group so that the other players could get their timing from the bass. Whenever especially the fiddle player played a bum note he'd look around at the bass player, who of course had no one he could turn around and so accuse. (Politics and the art of dead cat distraction works the same way.)
I'm reading a Commissario Guido Brunetti novel at the moment. His literary professor wife Paola noted that interactions between men are all about power. Even a band of five musicians had its politics and power games. Today's news contained an article on the games still played in the Rolling Stones, after fifty years or more. True now as it was in medieval times, it seems.
Did anyone get along to the Other's Way in K Road yesty?
I had tickets but a mate let me down last minute and I couldn't afford the drive up to Auckland.
I bought the tickets on the strength of Blam Blam Blam.
Small consolation, RNZ had the Blams in live playing on Friday arvo.
I would love to hear how they went and Straitjacket Fits.
Was great to see Karangahape pumping deep into the night.
The Chills were nowhere near as sharp as they needed to be.
Blam Blam Blam put out massive conceptual complexity for just three musicians.
Everyone sang hard to There is No Depression …
Robertson was given a shoutout in the audience.
Lots of dispersed venues made for lots of difficult choices.
Still, I don't expect to hear any of them again in my lifetime, so, no complaints.
Hey hey, thanks again, Ad.
Luxury length is in my top 10 albums and my favourite debut LP (tied with Headless Chickens Stunt Clown).
I foolishly spent the best part of 6 weeks anticipating The Others Way.
Great idea – venues cooperating.
P.S. did you hear how Straitjacket Fits went?
Straitjacket Fits haf their couple of hits and we all sang along. Shane Carter seems ageless.
After that we retreated through the thronging street to our hotel.
Chur.
a useful link..
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/20/20-best-music-documentaries-ranked-rock-pop
I would add Muscle Shoals and I'll be me (Glen Campbell doco) to that list.
So many of em ( doco's)
But when I'm sad?… I ssssslide…..!!!
Dunno why I felt like sharing this, just popped into me head in a whimsical moment. Happy Sliding !
I slid a lot when I loved this as a kid during the 1970's.. I'll bet some of you did too đ
Marc Bolan & T.Rex – The Slider
This sounds like a promising idea from Radionz today.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018711115/substack-an-ad-free-social-media-network
The New York Times' Mike Isaak says… "my new social network is an email newsletter. Every week or so, I blast it out to a few thousand people who have signed up to read my musings. Some of them email back, occasionally leading to a thoughtful conversation. It’s still early in the experiment, but I think I love it."…
So what exactly does Substack do?
"We just make it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter," Hamish McKenzie said.
"We say 'newsletter' because that's simple but really it's like a personal media empire where a writer can have a blog that's attached to a mailing list. And they can also, if they want, distribute podcasts and host host discussion threads," he said.
Substack has thousands of newsletters with more than 50,000 paying subscribers. The minimum price for a sub is $US5 a month.