It is a joke that we cannot relate to the people we are related too, but it is a very common occurrence. Somehow we believe that the saying ‘black sheep of the family has some relevance. Actually it is a pretty appalling and ignorant saying which presupposes that there is some standard to which we…
Month: October 2010
Learning Curves
It is a fascinating question: why are we all different? What choices are involved in the different things we all choose to learn, and what lack of choice is there in the things we have no choice but to learn. And when are those choices made? Locke thought we were born with nothing imprinted on…
Childhood
Childhood is a pleasant invention. I recall reading about Elizabethans dressing their children like miniature adults and on one occasion a four year old boy crying for its mother as it was hanged on the scaffold for stealing bread. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when we gained an idea of childhood, for as late…
Electronic Wars
I was fascinated recently to read how the Iranian nuclear reactor complex was ‘attacked’ by a highly targeted virus in their computer systems. It reminds me of the Kosovo conflict when NATO revealed some of their command posts were receiving similar attempts to upset their command-and-control structures. Now if like me, you have an anti-virus…
Ways To Measure Poverty
We could look at the amount of money people have relative to each other, which is the main way we measure poverty between countries. We could look at the opportunities afforded citizens in different countries and mark those with easier health care, better education, healthier foods. We could look at the politics and the life…
Brasidas
In the great days of the war between Athens and Sparta purposely precipitated by the Athenians who like all the Greeks were under the military thumb of the Spartans, it was generally agreed (and still is by scholars of the time) that the Athenians had the upper hand when it came to oratory. In fact…
The Possession Of Justice
The greatest possessions a human being may ever have are those for which we pay no money. They are not the only possessions worth having: it is good to have a safe and warm home, it is healthier and we live longer because of it; it is pleasurable to have the ability to move around…
It Is Interesting
I joined Linked-In to commune with the social networking business community and I have been interested to see how many posts are to do with the 7 things you should/should not do, the 10 most important things for your business, the 5 this and the 8 that. And I see that this way of thinking…
Package This
I remember just after the Gorbachev era, or maybe in the middle of it, Western good in their bright packages hit the shops of Russia and people bought the bright, polished goods and found, to their horror, the bread and the alcohol were not as tasty as their own, dully-wrapped traditional fare. They learned a…
Autumn
This morning is very bright and sunny, chilly to the skin and the leaves are all massed along the sides of the road and strewn across the fields. The grass is so wet it is more like paddling than walking but the sun was just at the right angle for me to catch the spider…