The next step (so to speak) in this rambling exploration of parallel worlds. Hope it is as interesting as the previous volumes.
Year: 2016
Are We Less Smart Than We Think We Are?
I am often intrigued by the type of post that appear on Social Media that ‘shout’ “only the smartest can get this right” or “only people with high intelligence can do this”. My gut feel is that these were simply ‘click-bait’ – trying to draw you in with the promise of proving that you are ‘better’ than many.
Does Reality Matter?
One recurrent theme of my blog entries is the difficulty we each experience separating reality from fiction. I don’t mean that we are consciously deluding ourselves – although I expect that we all do that from time to time – rather that we simply lose track of what is real as against what is “made up”.
Gilead
This was a book that my daughter had to read as part of her university work and she suggested I might like it. It was unlike just about any other book I had read (although perhaps a sort of lightweight “Remembrance of Things Past“. As the story unfolded I did eventually become “hooked”. It was never going to be a real page-turner – but an enjoyable read – and it shone a light on many ‘difficult’ aspects of life – much bigger things, perhaps than the specifics introduced within the story.
Faking It
There is a bit of a furore about the perceived influence of so called fake news on the result of the US election. On the one hand this strikes me as extremely funny – on the other it is rather worrying (on a number of levels).
inSignificant
Not my usual sort of book, I guess – however it was fascinating how the author broke through his own ‘failings’ and found a way to be a great and loved teacher.
The “System” Is Showing Its Limits
It is somewhat ironic that having been in the USA at the time of the EU referendum and, therefore, fielding questions from many Americans about “why” the vote went the way it did I should this morning wake to the news that they now have their very own version of the same type of result. The similarities between the build ups to the two elections and the way in which it eventually played out are eerily similar – albeit driven by two completely different agendas.
On This Day
Claudius met an untimely end; The whirlpool galaxy is discovered; The cornerstone of the “White House” is laid; The Greenwich meridian is set as 0 degrees; Paddington Bear makes his debut. The advent of the world wide web – and specifically wikipedia – enables us to get details of what happened “on this day” in history.
Unexpected Links
A “like” by one of my LInkedIn connections highlighted an “interesting” coming together of an assortment of things that (probably) is only “interesting” (or perhaps significant) to me. The reason that it has made its way into the blog is not so much because of the article itself but because it is such a good illustration of things “coming together” in a specific way, for a specific person.
Grey Areas Everywhere
In two posts last month around the time of the Olympic Games I wrote about the difficulties that are presented when it is necessary to impose some set of rules and regulations to prevent ‘cheating’ – specifically with regard to so-called “performance enhancement”.