An extract from an article Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Although there is a strong agreement among scientists that human activity has pushed the earth out of the stable patterns of the Holocene, debate is far from settled about whether this constitutes a new geological epoch and, if so, where to plant the golden spike … Continue reading Planting the Anthropocene’s golden spike
The bearable lightness of Social Medialessness
Doing away with not only white noise (with apologies to Milan Kundera) An extract... Way back in 2017 I read a Guardian article by Carole Cadwalladr. Cambridge Analytica was drawn to my attention. Cadwalladr wrote of a time in 2013 (still less than 10 years ago) when employees at Cambridge described the now infamous entity … Continue reading The bearable lightness of Social Medialessness
More from TWO ROADS
From Pulpit Rock 1965 David Evans This one walked towards us with the bow-legged gait of a horseman and sat astride some rocky protrusion. I knew that walk; Uncle Philip on Dad's side walked like that. Uncle Phillip managed a horse stud. My name's David Evans. I'm named David for my father and his father … Continue reading More from TWO ROADS
Another ‘Two Roads’ extract
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TZS1G9X A novel and a novella The police car comes out of nowhere. Takes out his front wheel. Frank flies up and over the bars, thinking this is going to hurt, and it does. The ground hits him hard, he feels his shirt tear as he slides along, gravel working its way in. But before … Continue reading Another ‘Two Roads’ extract
Extract from TWO ROADS
A novel and novella Two roads is a novella (Pulpit Rock) and short novel (Malleable) of ~85,000 words. The extract below comes from the novel, Malleable. It deals with... Front cover ...And Norman has wondered, would I have the strength and will to walk with those black protesters? Would I face rotten eggs and muck … Continue reading Extract from TWO ROADS
Regarding statistics, floods and the public nuisance that social media can be
The Guardian asks: "Are eastern Australia’s catastrophic floods really a one-in-1,000 year event? Describing a flood as a one-in-1,000-year event doesn’t mean we won’t see another one until the year 3000. Photograph: Bradley Richardson/Australian Defence Force/AFP/Getty Images Scientists say describing floods as ‘one-in-1,000-year’ events can mislead the public about the probability of such disasters recurring" On … Continue reading Regarding statistics, floods and the public nuisance that social media can be
Extract from: The Big Fat YES Debate[s]
Given the times and events it seems worth popping an extract in from my non-fiction book for upper primary students. War Hmmnn? YES to ‘that the world would be better if we only had peace’ Who'd have thought there would be people who say NO to peace? From a debating point of view, it’s certainly … Continue reading Extract from: The Big Fat YES Debate[s]
The reader as passenger
I am reading Dan O’Brien’s excellent The Contract Surgeon and making the odd note as I go along. Not in the book, I should add (it is not mine) but in a notepad. On page 23 this rather excellent little cameo is made by a female character – ‘an old woman’ who is tending a … Continue reading The reader as passenger
Vaccine mandates
In keeping with my occasional passion (note the oxymoron) for quick commentary on the current let us go to the idea of vaccine mandates and alleged government dictatorial behaviour or autocracy. I note that Austria may mandate restrictions for the unvaccinated depending on ICU case numbers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/23/austrian-chancellor-says-unvaccinated-may-face-restrictions-if-covid-cases-rise. This is the way the world is going; … Continue reading Vaccine mandates
Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
Ch 2: A Haves and Have Nots World A much greater hunger In 1800, the world’s population was about 1.36 billion. If we are to believe statistical analysis, most people lived, in income terms, relatively similar lives. According to Gapminder statistical analysis (admittedly conjectural, given that data before 1900 is ‘highly uncertain’) the world’s poorest … Continue reading Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
Inkstained fingers 