division6

Category: Observational

  • The Brexit alien insurgency theory

    I’m not much of a political commentator and this post is driven by a need to make sense of what’s going on in the wider world, Brexit and beyond. Plus, y’know, jetlag ‘creativity.’ I’ll also caveat this as a #firstworldproblem; I appreciate that there are other people playing in far less pleasant democracies than I. […]

  • The wrong turn, the right result

    One of the things we’ve missed out in recent busy months is the random wandering across the countryside that you do in the interest of Sunday adventuring. Pick a place that sounds pretty, drive out, and have a walk! Such was the plan this Sunday, and, minor bits of Internet research complete, we headed out… […]

  • House hunting

    It’s important to dream. On our annual jaunt to West Wittering to stay with our infinitely patient and generous friends, we took a walk down the street ‘hunting’ for that dream property (knowing that its a pretty unattainable distance for our income bracket). The vast differences in style – from the uber-modern to the Bilbo-Baggins-esque […]

  • Five rules of debating

    These apply to 1:1 discussions and not if you have an audience. If you have an audience, these rules can more or less reverse (depending on the audience). This list isn’t exhaustive. Confidence by itself generally loses out over evidence when all participants are equally reasonable. Not all people that seek out debate in casual […]

  • What will become of the books?

    A minor lamentation, noted as I read this on Simon Waldman’s blog; as passionate as I am about all things digital, I will miss the sheer physical presence of some of my stuff as it evolves its way off the physical plane. Not DVDs or CDs; the convenience factor of the digital format there is just […]

  • Winter is coming

    When I was a kid I was fascinated by the way breath misted on exhalation when the weather was cool enough. It was a frustration to me that it didn’t happen in Malaysia. Yesterday, for the first time since the Summer proper began, my breath misted. Which doesn’t quite have the same exciting cachet it […]

  • Summer commuting

    Summer commuting has been significantly more tolerable. Whether its because everyone’s on vacation or people are leaving later, the journey into work at least is less crowded, less anti-social, and comes with a guaranteed seat. The journey home is more or less the usual scramble, but when you’re travelling for 2.5 hours per day, you’ve […]

  • This is why I suck at learning lyrics – study on computers and memory

    Read an interesting study on Wired on memory. A small scale study has shown that if you know you have access to data, you’re far less likely to remember it: If you think a fact is conveniently available online, then, you may be less apt to learn it. This is amazingly true. I frequently note […]

  • Another day in paradise

    Wasn’t last Sunday’s sunshine marvellous? Paddling pools and barbecues are wonderful things. Fingers crossed for this weekend. That is all.

  • Talking to traffic

    I’m not mad. I just find it better to vent my frustration at inconsiderate driving by talking at it – well, grumbling at it – rather than letting it work me into a frenzy of internalized stress. It is – very possibly – a trait I’ve picked up from my aunts, who pretty much all […]