Monthly Archives: April 2012

Eating Flipper?! Nothing to smile about

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

This from “Social Movements” by Suzanne Staggenborg (Oxford University Press 2008) is worth a think about. Many environmental groups used the image of the dolphin as a very sympathetic sea mammal to get the public to boycott tuna so they … Continue reading →

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Jevons Paradox in the Financial Times

Posted on April 29, 2012 by

The FT does special reports – usually 8 pages of reportage and adverts – about lots of different issues.  On Tuesday April 24th it was the turn of “Sustainable Business” to get the treatment. In an article entitled Companies try … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, Financial Times | Tagged , | 2 Comments

50 not out

Posted on April 28, 2012 by

My parents’ 50th wedding anniversary today.  God. Knows. How.  But there you have it… Congrats to them both. Normal dwighting resumes tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeping in this petty pace).

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Pre-occupied with morbid symptoms

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

Attention Conservation Notice: a few hundred words on a hecture (hectoring lecture – see what I did there?) that I turned up late for (good move) and finally left (good move). Of interest to people who were there, or have … Continue reading →

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Losing my bike crash virginity

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

Let’s keep a perspective.  I didn’t land on my head. I didn’t get squashed by oncoming traffic. And best of all, I got to use my one-day bus ticket some more.  There are worse results after being side-swiped by a … Continue reading →

Posted in a little self-knowledge, competence, death, fear, narcissism | Tagged | 5 Comments

How to “crowd enforce” the two-sentence-question rule

Posted on April 22, 2012 by

Inspired by this article, a recent meat-space event and this awesome blog post about group dynamics in meetings and “collective incompetence”, I wrote this yesterday on a train journey. I am self-censoring bits, but they aren’t “mission critical”… Why the … Continue reading →

Posted in a little self-knowledge, activism | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

If I were (still) a union steward, I know what my advice would be

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

Last week I turned up 24 hours early for a meeting. Today an hour early.  So, you might call it progress. Except that it signals, if I choose to acknowledge it properly, that things can’t go on like this. All … Continue reading →

Posted in a little self-knowledge, competence | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

I remember Warsaw

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

Thanks to On this Deity I was reminded about Marek Edelman, an extraordinary human being. And it reminded me of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, one of the most extraordinary places I’ve ever been.  Fucking Nazis. Fucking Stalinists. Gah.  Horror, courage, … Continue reading →

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White male scientist in “blind to privilege” shocker

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

So, after the three white male panelists have done their five minute spiels (and kept to their time, bless ‘em), the chair asks the audience – probably about two thirds male, almost all white – if there are questions. Only … Continue reading →

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The corrosive mask

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

“The novelist John Updike once wrote that “Celebrity is a mask that corrodes the face”, and while certain kinds of celebrities – singers, comedians, writers too – get to wear the mask unto death, politicians have it torn from them … Continue reading →

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