Nature has an unrivalled ability to still the depressing chorus of affronts to our intelligence by politics, and to the English language by those who bring the transgressions to our attention. It also gifts us metaphors for humanity’s foibles.… Read the rest
Trying to cut through and parse the rhetorical bedlam of current U.S. politics can be taxing to the point of painful. A useful tool is the advice a dear departed friend, who read voraciously and talked volubly, proffered whenever I lost track of what she was on about: “Listen to what I mean, not to what I say.”… Read the rest
The evidence of growing inadequacy and an ongoing slippage of human intelligence, on both macro and micro levels, is enough to make even a sceptic like me re-consider the risk-versus-rewards of AI.… Read the rest
When Joni Mitchell sang “You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone”, she was referring to love and the beauty of Nature. Having recently lost – temporarily and not drastically – visual acuity in one eye, I can add a few more things to her list, and they’re not all bad.… Read the rest
A poem from which many of my generation drew perceived wisdom includes the line: “And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”.To my deep chagrin, I find it is not clear, and I sincerely hope there’s a course correction in the unfolding bit, starting with the way we’re being kept up to date with the process.… Read the rest
In the introduction to his hugely popular 1950s radio series “This I Believe”, CBS News broadcaster Edward R Murrow said:“We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion - a lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair or even a quivering portion of hysteria.… Read the rest
The metaphorical beating of breasts and rending of garments over CNNs’ “town hall” with Donald Trump is a salient lesson that providing live air time for proven liars and dissemblers, noted for a proclivity to control the narrative, is the equivalent of allowing them to write the script, and there’s enough of that done by flaks and sycophants without adding to the pool.… Read the rest
The outpouring of punditry, comments and editorial cartoons in the U.S. media and on social networks, expressing everything from bemusement to criticism and derision over the coronation of King Charles III, has led me to ponder what it is about the American psyche, or at least that of a significant portion of the population, that I don’t understand.… Read the rest
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough”. Health concerns aside, Mark Twain’s aphorism is an apt way to measure the reporting booze-up of the Trump arraignment. Too much of nothing happening on air for too long distilled the live coverage into a vintage more akin to a cheap blend than a fine single malt.… Read the rest
The mid-term elections having defied predictions and avoided catastrophe, it would be a wise decision for the U.S. and a welcome relief for the rest of the world, if Americans heed an observation from one of their most trenchant homespun philosophers, Mark Twain: “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”… Read the rest