I and my public understand each other very well: it does not hear what I say, and I don’t say what it wants to hear. (Karl Kraus (28 April 1874 – 12 June 1936), Austrian journalist, satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet). Epicurus was an intelligent man. He would have appreciated Herr Kraus’s clever aphorism, …
Continue reading ‘Being comfortable with your own philosophy of life’ »
The third and last excerpt from McCall Smith’s article on what he would do if he ruled the world: I’m afraid that art colleges face some scrutiny. It is difficult for young artists to get training in drawing and painting, because these subjects have been treated with derision by those on favour of conceptual art. …
Below is a second set of comments from the writer, Alexander McCall Smith’s, in his funny article in the June 2015 edition of “Prospect” magazine, the British magazine designed for those who think and who have a sense of humour, under the title “If I ruled the World”. Teachers too would have their authority returned …
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I would like to share with you part of the writer, Alexander McCall Smith’s, article in the June 2015 edition of “Prospect” magazine, under the title “If I Ruled the World”: Education is a good thing. You might think that this hardly needs to be said, but there are plenty of people who view education …
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Boys with sisters are approximately 13% less likely to do the dishes than boys with brothers. (The Atlantic, 28 June 2013) What’s the point of having a sister if you have to do the dishes? Epicureans believe that everyone should do what they are best at. (Joke! Joke! Don’t get excited)
Millionaire households in the US raked in $80 million in unemployment benefit during the economic downturn, due to lack of means testing in federal aid programs. (Bloomberg 5th April 2013). Which is why they are millionaires. Epicurus believed you should live modestly, but enjoy life. Money matters less than love, friends, a sense of humor, …
The spotlight effect describes how we exaggerate the amount of attention is fixed upon us in any gathering of people. A study showed that, for instance, a person entering a room wearing an embarrassing T-shirt imagines everyone is looking at him. The people carrying out the research assumed, before they did it, that half the …
ALEC, the anti-democratic and secretive organisation funded by big business to cement the primacy of profit over the interests of citizens and taxpayers has been proposing to penalize homeowners who install solar panels. This is part of an offensive against renewable energy on behalf electricity generators. ALEC aims to block all efforts to promote wind …
There is quite a serious movement in Sardinia to get the Italian government to sell the island to Switzerland. Why? because the Sardinians think that rule from Rome is a disaster, and that the infamous Italian bureaucracy is stifling life and keeping the island in the 19th Century. A poll in Switzerland shows that 93% …
Who makes the worst company chairman: a cokehead or a blockhead? Some will say the two go hand in hand – if you’re on drugs your command of the facts is likely to be hazy. Coke can also make people irritable, unpredictable and paranoid. “None of that is desirable, but it’s still better than being …
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3.3 million. That is the population of Uruguay. And yet England, with a population of 60 million and able to cosset and train players to international standards, cannot beat Uruguay at soccer! Pathetic. England invented the game, dammit! Epicurus might have advised the English soccer fat-cats to pay the players 500 pounds retainer each year, …
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Once, children brought in an apple for teacher. Now, at private schools, Hermès handbags, diamond necklaces and even wads of cash are the order of the day. According to the magazine Tatler, rich parents are giving such “inappropriately extravagant” gifts to their children’s teachers that some schools have imposed “ceilings”, amid fears that they could …
The objective of the medical profession should be to prolong life, not to prolong death. The preoccupation among doctors with keeping alive those who will be on life support indefinitely is perverse. Indeed, it is cruel. We should all have the right to end our lives when we want to and sign a piece of …
One of the political issues in Britain at the moment is the allegation that government education policy had led to the the axing of parts of schools’ curriculums, poor governance, homophobia, segregation of the sexes, a bar on sex education, and unsuitable religious speakers at assemblies. This is all about Islamism, mainly in Birmingham, and …
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US law curiously states that the air above our heads is public above 500 feet and that individuals own the air space above their homes up to 83 feet. So who owns the space between the 83 feet and the 500 feet? The Federal Aviation Administration is currently regulating it in the cause of public …
Continue reading ‘Dogfights in the sky: the future of drone delivery’ »
