January 2012
1 post
December 2011
1 post
October 2011
2 posts
2 tags
How not to be a dogmatic fundamentalist →
3 tags
I am on a mission from God
September 2011
9 posts
Nietzsche in dot to dot
‘And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.’
Nietzsche
3 tags
hold on to what you believe
2 tags
2 tags
Hinksey Sidings
3 tags
the boy & the dog
3 tags
'Please do not leave children unattended. Any...
2 tags
“Larger animals live longer; but they also metabolize slower, as manifested in...”
– http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/09/01/ten-things-everyone-should-know-about-time/
2 tags
1 tag
the birth of a star
August 2011
20 posts
2 tags
Flip flopping →
‘One feels sympathy for both sides – and perhaps simultaneously a plague on both their houses – because Dawkins seems so bullishly literal, and Williams so softly evasive. Contra Dawkins, God should be allowed some metaphorical space; but contra Williams, God’s presence in the world, God’s intervention, should not surely be only metaphorical. God is not just a metaphor.’
4 tags
“I think the most important thing you can do for your children is sit down to...”
– Ruth Reichl tells Terry Gross why she stopped being a restaurant critic: she wanted to spend more time with her son. [complete interview here] (via nprfreshair)
2 tags
Fiction and self-improvement →
‘Through a series of studies they established that fiction isn’t just enjoyable; it enhances your ability to empathise with others and understand life’
3 tags
5 tags
3 tags
2 tags
"passive overconsumption" →
2 tags
“A druid leader who claims to be the incarnation of a legendary British king has...”
– Meanwhile, in the UK. (via motherjones)
Only in England.
4 tags
“History has come to a stage when the moral man, the complete man, is more and more giving way, almost without knowing it, to make room for the … commercial man, the man of limited purpose. This process, aided by the wonderful progress in science, is assuming gigantic proportion and power, causing the upset of man’s moral balance, obscuring his human side under the shadow of...
6 tags
“It was almost as if there was a secret world of pronouns that existed outside...”
– There are hidden messages in everything you write or say, according to James Pennebaker, chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.
He spoke recently with Scientific American’s Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook about how we use “I,” “we,” and “who” reveals more about...
1 tag
2 tags
Just a perfect day You made me forget myself I thought I was a someone else Someone good
Perfect Day
1 tag
Misinformation
‘The alleged failure by the IPCC to provide Duggan’s family and the local community with reliable information in the aftermath of his death was part of the reason the relatives protested outside the police station on Saturday.
The peaceful demonstration later descended into rioting and looting that, within days, had inspired “copycat” disorder across England.’
...
Botton's modern view of parenting →
1 tag
I’ve cancelled the milk
1 tag
Public decency
Here’s a conundrum. Can a woman be charged with offending public decency without similar charges being laid against her accomplice?
Priceless comments in the local paper.
2 tags
Man Arrested After Trying To Build Nuclear Reactor... →
Perfect. Armageddon will be brought about by amateurs.
July 2011
2 posts
1 tag
“‘In the run up to the commissioning of the LHC, Walter L. Wagner (an...”
– We may actually disappear down a black hole.
Wikipedia
March 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Oscar finds reality
Oscar: you know in some films they say 'anything is possible'
Dude: yes
Oscar: well somethings aren't possible
Dude: (a moments self-reflection) you are right
“‘The autonomic nervous system … acts as a control system...”
– Wikipedia
In the bag
Oscar: Ryan says that you can't live if you haven't got a bum
Phoebe: (giggles)
Dude: I can see it would be difficult.
Ma: [long discourse on colostomy bags]
January 2011
4 posts
Aliens & Vinegar
Oscar (aged 6): if you get taken somewhere by someone with a zip in their head
Dude: a zip?
Oscar: yes . . . if you get taken, you need to make sure you go somewhere near a fish & chip shop.
Dude: because?
Oscar: because those type of aliens do not like vinegar
Dude: (pause) I'll bear that in mind
Faith, Luck & Murder
Oscar: I didn't cry when I was christened.
Dude: No. We were impressed.
Oscar: that means I won't die on my birthday
Dude: Erm . . . . how do you work that out?
Oscar: Well . . . (Pause) Hold on. March is an unlucky month.
Dude: Unlucky?
Oscar: Yep. Julius Caeser was murdered in March.
Dude: (frowns)
Things done and not done
Oscar (aged 6): Dude?
Dude: yes?
Oscar: have you ever peed in a swimming pool?
Dude: Erm . . . . I may have done when I was young.
[Beat]
Dude: What do you want for breakfast?
Bones to pick
Oscar: Phoeb
Phoeb: Yes?
Oscar: you are so going to regret calling me a Paleontologist
December 2010
3 posts
Family reading
Me: what are you reading?
Child 1: it's called 'The Sorcerer's Mum'
Child 2: no it's not
Mum: (laughs)
Child 3; it's called, 'Your mum, the Sorcerer'
Me: No way
Child 1: what are you reading?
Me: 'The Decline of Pleasure' by Walter Kerr
(Pause)
(Hilarious laughter)
Me: I am SO different from you guys
“I genuinely think that you can get a lot more out of reading Anna Karenina than...”
– Ella Berthoud via Prospect
“If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the...”
– William James
November 2010
1 post
Ken Clarke on Justice
The answer to every problem is not a new law, and the answer to every risk is a not new restriction. We must be vigilant against laws becoming too numerous, or intruding too deeply and needlessly into our private lives.
Amen to that.
October 2010
1 post
Paranoia is becoming normative.
September 2010
1 post
August 2010
7 posts
“It’s a long time since I drank champagne”
– Chekhov’s last words (via The Guardian)
“Goethe studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768. He detested learning age-old...”
– Wikipedia