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1 . Of Rituals and Of Rest
For the Grateful Living poem/prompt of the month: Tea — I am finding that life with two little children can come at you fast; a constant battle for space, attention and clarity of thought. On any given day it is a struggle to prevent the almost five year old from plunging headfirst down the stairs… Continue reading
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10,000 Hundred Friends
“Extreme” Reading, Cartoonised with Gemini I may be biased, but I am increasingly convinced that the most apt turns of phrase come from those who are yet to have the strictures of grammar and punctuation drilled into them. The most recent case in point was a conversation with L the Elder in which – walking… Continue reading
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Spring-ish
Out and about.. — It is perhaps something between wildly optimistic and foolhardy to call it for spring in the first week of March, but given the many days of sustained highs with temperatures north of 14C and nary a cloud in sight, one can be forgiven for snatching at these first nascent signs of… Continue reading
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Why I Write.. Revisited
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash — As is the wont of everyone who writes – online or otherwise – there comes a time when the Why I Write question must be faced head on. I am as guilty as the next person in trying my hand at this most indulgent of navel gazing activities, previously trying my hand… Continue reading
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On Being a Specialist in a World of Generalists…
Photo by Oliver Roos on Unsplash — One of the enduring memories of the past twenty years and some of work is getting hauled into my Supervisor’s office for a career chat. At the time I was twenty three, fresh off a year of national service , quite literally in the middle of nowhere, and two weeks into my first proper job.… Continue reading
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On the Tyranny of Measures
Image Source: Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash | Previously published on Substack One of the (admittedly dubious) benefits of having worked for the better part of twenty years in one industry is that my work has now taken in arguably the two largest companies in my industry. At the first one, I was a green-around-the-ears graduate engineer, fresh out… Continue reading
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Thinking About Thinking
Photo by jaikishan patel on Unsplash | Previously published on Substack An excess of 6,000 thoughts wend their way each day through the average individual’s mind, just under one every 10 seconds by my approximation if we assume the average– if he/she exists – is otherwise asleep for eight hours. By comparison, we breathe about 20,000 times a day and our hearts beat over… Continue reading
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On Data and the Death of Expertise
Previously published on Substack in December 2021 — It seems to me that one of the defining trends of the past few years has been the death of expertise, occasioned by a deep distrust of experts and what they have come to represent, the entrenched gatekeepers (of knowledge in this case). Like all other such… Continue reading
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The Best of Times… The Worst of Times
Photo by Bram Naus on Unsplash — Time and time again, I find Charles Dicken’s well worn opening to A Tale of Two Cities, the most apt way to summarise my year(s); the best and the worst inextricably mixed in my days. Whilst I have switched to wrapping my year around my birthday, most recently… Continue reading
A Geek's Life 