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And so maybe someone else can explain it to me. I love the team down at Catalyst. For as long as I’ve known about them, they have been fighting the good fight in the face of overwhelming bureaucracy and mediocrity from government. Catalyst succeed in spite of government, not because of it. But…. Related posts: … Continue reading “Some things I don’t understand about the Knowledge Economy Report”
And so maybe someone else can explain it to me.
I love the team down at Catalyst. For as long as I’ve known about them, they have been fighting the good fight in the face of overwhelming bureaucracy and mediocrity from government. Catalyst succeed in spite of government, not because of it.
But….
Oil is a naturally occurring liquid found within rock formations. Oil has been used for over 5000 years by humans but only where it was easily accessible. The growing energy demands of humans were met previously by wood, coal and whale oil. In the 1850s, the world saw the first successful use of a ‘modern’ … Continue reading “The End of the Oil Age”
Oil is a naturally occurring liquid found within rock formations. Oil has been used for over 5000 years by humans but only where it was easily accessible. The growing energy demands of humans were met previously by wood, coal and whale oil.
In the 1850s, the world saw the first successful use of a ‘modern’ drilling rig on a well drilled specifically to produce oil. If it weren’t for this, there probably wouldn’t be any whales left in the world. We would have massacred every one to light our homes. And that’s where the benevolence of the ‘oil industry’ starts and stops.
In the 1980s, I first heard of the term ‘peak oil’. It was the idea that the mining and refining of oil would get to the point where it could become uneconomical to produce petroleum products. As it happened, government subsidies and vast increases in price meant that peak oil was met, passed and reclassified. We would just pay more for fossil fuel; we were fossil fuel addicts.
Modern oil drilling only started in the late 1850s on continental North America. Now, 160 years later, we can see the end of the “oil age”. You only have to look at the pumps here in the UK – rising more than 30% in less than 5 years.
I would encourage everyone to look at lower consumption technology – not just transport and heating but also computing. Solar panels have dropped more than 80% in cost in the last five years (per Watt). A house can be cheaply kitted out with solar panels and a wind turbine to provide the majority of a household energy needs (storage is an issue, but distribution is not). Solutions for storage will evolve.
Some friends might feel offended by this but this is my thoughts and I’ll do my best to explain them. I’m not criticising people, but behaviours. Someone recently said that they’d pray for me. We had shared a few conversations about my recent past and my current path. And I appreciate the intent. It’s explained … Continue reading “On Prayer”
Someone recently said that they’d pray for me. We had shared a few conversations about my recent past and my current path. And I appreciate the intent. It’s explained to me that someone saying they will pray is really just them saying “good luck with that” or “I hope it works out”. And that’s a lot better. Or it sits better in this atheists craw.
But really I don’t want prayer. Or hope.
Last week at an albergue in Grañón I attended a “meditation” session where there was a little bit of God talk but we were asked why we were doing the Camino. I gave my answers.
I’m still the “walking wounded” even after nearly three years. I sacrificed myself “for the best” and I regret it every day. There’s no peace in my heart and mind as a result. I don’t think for a second that 500 miles of blisters and tendonitis will resolve this so it’s not really for resolution that I walk. It might be for something else. Paul says that the Camino will put something in my way for the best. And sometimes I wish I had his faith.
The Camino itself might look like a holiday but its hours of walking on hot gravel, lying in a bed in the afternoon feeling shooting pains from the bone bruises in your feet, trying to sleep while the room filled with snorers attempts to cause the roof to fall in and being endlessly patient with other humans when sometimes all you want is silence and solitude. We bear it all with a smile because these annoying humans we walk with are actually just as wounded as we. And as a Humanist I think humans are wonderful anyway so, I guess maybe that has to rub off. In the middle of the night I may swear under my breath at the snorers but I’d give them my portion of bread and water the very next day. Such is life.
But back on the subject of prayer.
Don’t pray for me. Or hope for me. When I’ve been at my lowest ebb, people have generally avoided me. Not reached out. Not done anything practical. And some took the opportunity to kick me further.
If you really wanted to help, you’d help. Not just stand around offering hopes. If you bleed, I’ll get out my first aid kit. If thirsty my water. Hungry my bread. Cold? Have my blanket. Phone running low? Have a battery. Lost a cable? Borrow my spare. Pack too heavy? I’ll carry it.
This is my Camino. To do my best for my fellow humans.
Those closest to me know what I want more than anything. I’m bleeding and they pray. My burden’s too heavy, so they hope.
This is my Camino. To endure what has been put before me.
I don’t expect anyone to change. Or do anything more than hope and pray. And even if they did, it’s too late. Three years is too long. And a lot of water has passed under that bridge. But I dream of what could happen if they acted rather than hoped. If they did something other than pray.
This is my Camino. To expect less of others.
My pack is heavy, my feet sore. My brow furrowed, my arms and neck brown. My hat is soaked with sweat, my shoulders cramped. 
[Read the article] Of course, some of us have been saying this for years. Remember when the Segway debuted? There was a reported conversation that everyone derided. Apparently Steve Jobs, on viewing the prototype Segway with Dean Kamen, said that we would design cities around this thing. It was backed publicly and financially by Jeff … Continue reading “Don’t ban scooters. Redesign streets.”
Of course, some of us have been saying this for years.
Remember when the Segway debuted? There was a reported conversation that everyone derided. Apparently Steve Jobs, on viewing the prototype Segway with Dean Kamen, said that we would design cities around this thing. It was backed publicly and financially by Jeff Bezos.
How the media laughed.
And now the media are calling for us to redesign cities to cope with new PEV (personal electric vehicles) designs. Of course, all of this is a little moot for the UK as the Tory government failed to deliver an election promise on licensing for LEVs and PEVs and of course, our government couldn’t do it because we don’t have one.*
But watch this space because things are afoot. They’ve extended the bus lanes on one of the busiest roads in Belfast. They’re introducing a new bus called the Glider which will, like this recently multi-million investment in dumb ticketing machines at major stops, will be utterly underwhelming. They’re going to close the area around Belfast City Hall to private traffic. They’re going to invest massively in the Westlink-M2 exchange yet not actually address the cause of queues in the morning. But that’s because …. I don’t know. I’m sure they have great reasons.
*and do you ever notice that when change is needed, politicians decide on whether it’s a devolved matter or not depending on how close it is to lunchtime.
I really dislike fossil fuel vehicles. A couple of years ago, the price of petrol and diesel took a small fall, pushing it to around a pound a litre. Some people, wedded to their cars, swore to me this was the death of Electric vehicles. It seemed to me it was an anti-fracking price way … Continue reading “Today it costs more to compute.”
I really dislike fossil fuel vehicles.
A couple of years ago, the price of petrol and diesel took a small fall, pushing it to around a pound a litre. Some people, wedded to their cars, swore to me this was the death of Electric vehicles. It seemed to me it was an anti-fracking price way between the US and the Saudis. US pumps were working harder than they had in the previous 30 years. Suffice to say the madness ended and the price shot back up to £1.20 a litre.
A 20% increase.
Imagine if your computer usage pricing went up by 20%. Or if I increased my prices 20% just because I fancied more money.
But because it’s crazy we let them get away with it.
Some links for me to remember… Short of the Week Films Short The Smalls Film Festival DepicT 90 Second Shorts Related posts: Jonathan Gems on the abolition of the UKFC Digital Circle going independent and my thoughts on the Future QFT’s Short Shorts Aide Memoire
Some links for me to remember…
The idea is produce 12 short movies in 12 months. They’ll vary immensely in content, in depth. The first of my 12×12. It’s a little ‘abstract’ so be forgiving…based on a poem I wrote. Related posts: The Broadband Blueprint (re DETI Telecoms Consultation) Careers Digital Circle going independent and my thoughts on the Future What … Continue reading “12×12: I Wish I’d Met You Now”
The idea is produce 12 short movies in 12 months. They’ll vary immensely in content, in depth.
The first of my 12×12. It’s a little ‘abstract’ so be forgiving…based on a poem I wrote.
John Gruber wrote these words regarding Steve Jobs. That’s probably the most concise thing I could use to describe how I approach life and especially technology. I think it’s how every rationalist should approach life. Be strong in your opinions and be prepared to defend them. But when you’re not winning or you’ve just been … Continue reading “Strong Opinions, Loosely Held”
John Gruber wrote these words regarding Steve Jobs.
That’s probably the most concise thing I could use to describe how I approach life and especially technology. I think it’s how every rationalist should approach life. Be strong in your opinions and be prepared to defend them. But when you’re not winning or you’ve just been proved wrong, apologise, adapt to the new information and move on.
I remember being told that I needed to apologise more by a person who, in my entire time of knowing them, never once apologised for anything. But I persevered because sometimes it’s important never to sweat the little details and every person you meet helps shape you into the person you’re becoming. I do apologise, especially when given the chance. I try and adapt to the new information or the new status quo, and I try and cope with the aftermaths. This is how we handle change. It was Charles Darwin who said:
In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.
And so interpersonal relationships and the ability to maintain and repair them must be important.
I hear a lot of people talking about Steve Jobs as if he was a monster. But that wasn’t my impression. I met him once at Apple Expo and he was warm and welcoming (as you might not imagine a powerful CEO with a reputation as a mercurial monser meeting a tiny, inconsequential customer to be). I conversed with him over email in September 2001 to explain that it was important not to let terrorists dictate the future (Lessons learned from Northern Ireland!) and his reply was one of the deepest concern for the safety of his employees and customers. Much more human than could be imagined. And so I’m left with the impression that Steve was human, that he loved and disliked like any human, but most importantly that he was loved – not just by his family or the whirlpool of blind hordes but by colleagues, peers and co-workers.
After a day of working with performance and intolerance (actually a performance of intolerance inspired by Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed), I am moved to think of the microaggressions that plague us. Whether that’s disparaging a man you never met, or refusing to hear out someone who’s trying to apologise; the effect is the same. Boal wrote:
“Dialogue is defined as to freely exchange with others, as a person and as a group, to participate in human society as equal, to respect differences and to be respected.”
I’ve been ruminating on these words.
One of my favourite movies, Serendipity, has a powerful quote which inspires the remainder of the Heros Journey. I doubt there is any evidence to the veracity of it, but it rings true for me at least.
“You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?”
Well? Do you?
I do.
John Wesley wrote:
“When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.”
And whoooo-boy that’s true.
When I burned, everyone turned up with marshmallows. And really I don’t blame them. There was immense entertainment in watching someone engulfed, I’m sure. The same sort of hecklers who gloated that Steve struggled with his personal beliefs on clean living before succumbing to his cancer. The same sort of lovely people, many of whom would be fine, upstanding pillars of the community, who rejoiced when Christopher Hitchens was succumbing to his own cancer, wondering loudly what he would do after a lifetime of denying God. Crikey, 2011 was a sucky year for my heroes.
So, in short, be kind, forgive, be passionate about your ideas but hold them loosely.
Wind and solar not being reliable? Oh boy. *rolls sleeves up* If we invested subsidies in green power the way we subsidise fossil fuels, then yeah, it would be 110% reliable. If you stop shipping coal from a hole in the ground somewhere and stop burning it, coal plants stop being reliable too, and their … Continue reading “Apparently Wind and Solar are not 100% reliable”
Wind and solar not being reliable? Oh boy.
*rolls sleeves up*
If we invested subsidies in green power the way we subsidise fossil fuels, then yeah, it would be 110% reliable.
If you stop shipping coal from a hole in the ground somewhere and stop burning it, coal plants stop being reliable too, and their reliability, even when supplied with plenty of fuel, is not 100% either.
If we didn’t have NIMBYs complaining about a passive, silent, harmless solar farm on fallow land (as happened near Kelly a few years ago) then yeah, it would be 100% reliable.
If we track the rising price of fossil fuels with the plummeting price of solar, then it would seem that renewable energy is 100% reliable for people on low incomes.
If we consider that Northern Ireland has the highest percentage of the population in the entire British Isles (including Ireland) afflicted with fuel poverty, then a transition to distributed micro generation could prove to be 100% effective in removing fuel poverty.
If we look at crazy ideas like putting a solar panel on every roof, we would see that the energy savings across the entire population would be 100% effective in improving the local economy, because the money saved would be spent locally and not squirrelled away in the Cayman Islands.
If we spent 100% of the money we wasted on RHI, a flawed scheme in every sense, on solar generation, we could have outfitted every social housing development with solar panels, cutting fuel poverty to a small percentage and improving the lives of about half a million people.
As the Air Quality around Stockman’s Lane and the Westlink is now ILLEGALLY POOR, a shift away from coal as well as a shift towards electrically propelled vehicles could make a sea change in the quality of lives and substantially reduce respiratory diseases. If won’t save 100% of people but if it saved one person, that’s a good enough percentage for me.
Over Christmas I bought my daughter an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. She cried, she was so happy. A 256GB model in Gold. I bought the larger capacity because it reduces the need to manage space. Or more accurately it puts off the problem. She’s been able to put together some stunning art using Procreate … Continue reading “Get Pro”
Over Christmas I bought my daughter an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. She cried, she was so happy. A 256GB model in Gold. I bought the larger capacity because it reduces the need to manage space. Or more accurately it puts off the problem. She’s been able to put together some stunning art using Procreate (which you can see on my Instagram).
Today I picked up one for myself.
It’s only a 64GB model, but this is a piece of engineering. It’s solid but light. The screen is simply amazing. The sound that comes out of the speakers is simply awe-inspiring and much much better than my MacBook Pro. It’s crisp and loud. Benchmarks say it’s close to the performance of MacBooks (my MBP is a late 2012 model with i7 processors, 16GB of RAM).
The device simply has to be experienced. I can’t wait to fire up Final Draft.