Observations on the world and its inhabitants
For some time it has been on my mind how ‘people’ have a problem answering a question that obviously requires a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. The exchange between Jeremy Paxman and Michael Howard on BBC Newsnight in 1997 has become a defining example of what occurs when a straightforward question meets an elusive answer. During ...
Chess is not most people’s cup o’ tea: it is simply too hard because it requires deep thought and lots of energy. So do I give a flying flamingo if nobody reads this? I do NOT! This means war! On 5th September 2022 Magnus Carlsen suddenly quite from a tournament when he was up against ...
Oh well, here we go again. Another social media conversation ending with me being called arrogant. The outline is below. So it made me wonder again what is the definition of ‘arrogant’ – and by extension condescending. There’s a wide open information superhighway where anyone can find the dictionary meaning. Google is your friend. Ahhh.. ...
This is not an academic exploration of what manipulation means. Read that again. You don’t get a ‘balanced perspective’. You get unbalanced originality. If you don’t like that bugger off now! The trouble with words is that people want perfect definitions. The reality is that, it is rare for words like manipulation to have a ...
As usual, it is some discussion in the background that motivates me to think deeply about these things. But I draw on my experience of how people approach problems in general. I’ve been trying to extract some broad themes across a range of ‘problems’. So, I’m not focusing on mathematical, IT or housing problems etc. ...
I continue to despair for the human race. They seem incapable of distinguishing what is fact from what is inference. Yes – of course that is a generalisation. I can’t deal with each human – some 6 Billion of them! Get real. If Joe says that Jane says – does it mean that Jane said ...
Over the last year I’ve become amused by some responses I’ve had when I send e-content by email to others. The content could be links to videos or webpages. A typical list of responses: I’m in a conference in Australia. I’m on the beach. I’m out shopping. Will read it later. Will check it later. ...
The more I look at and think about so-called ‘social media’ the more I come to some very different perspectives (in general – meaning exceptions excepted as you might expect). 1. Social media is more about prying on what other people are doing. 2. People comparing themselves with other people. 3. Living in separate worlds ...
I’m often amused by human nature, in particular the silly games people play. I often wonder why these games are played and to what end. So what’s this all about now? You’ll have to hang on or go bathe that dog and return or just bugger off completely – innit? For sometime I’ve been observing ...
Well, well… what’s this all about now. I’m afraid you’ll have to read on. And if your dog needs a bath (and I don’t know if you who reads this has a dog and I couldn’t care less), then go bathe the dog! What do people not get? Better jobs Better lives Better partners Better ...
I often hear things of that nature from people e.g. “I’m not a computer person”, or “I’m not a driven by money sort of person”, or “I’m not a Nigela Lawson fan”, or “I’m not a Paxman person”, or “I’m not a Russell Brand person” or “I don’t like Tory philosophy whatever that is.” The ...
‘The Edge’ – is a film screened in 1997. No – I’m not about to do a film review, so calm down. I had completely missed this film and only viewed last night on Lovefilm which is now ‘Amazon Prime’. Recently I’ve become rather saddened that most Sci-Fi films these days have lost the plot ...
Google has many options in its maps. Most people never find these options because they’re scared of trying out new options or because they don’t have time to find ways of using features, or in common British parlance, they “..haven’t been told how to do it”. Some know of my longstanding gripe about “being told”. ...
The following is a conversation with someone online. At the heart of this is that I only need a simple yes or no answer to very straight forward question. I felt like Jeremy Paxman The question is: “Is TxxxRxxx regulated by a financial authority of some sort?” As you will see below I had to ...
Well, I don’t know what to call this post. I mean it could be ‘Idiocy 29.0’ – I don’t care! This is about a phenomenon among the humans where if you say to them on such and such a date “Don’t do [this] ever”, the human then agrees. But then something happens with the passage ...
I’ve had it – I’m sick of people trying to be helpful! Why? It’s repeatedly the case that I ask someone or the other ( – and it doesn’t matter who) for a simple piece of information by email e.g. “Am I at venue X on Mon, Tues and Wednesday?” (because I need certainty to ...
On the Rock, crawlers there might say, “He t’ink he smart!”. In England they might say, “He’s trying to be clever.” Basically this is about people creating a perception that is not matching up with something. It could range from twisting the truth to telling pure lies. I’m not going to go into detailed examples ...
“I did not know what to do!!! I asked you for help. You did not help me. You are selfish and unhelpful!” – by Captain Walker
Most people know that to err is human. What arises from that is something I explore in outline here. I do not give out my mobile (aka cell phone) number or private email address to loads of people who might think of me as their friend. Why? It is not because I don’t trust them. ...
This is about a kind of mind game where a superficial or simplistic explanation for stupid actions (words/conduct) is proffered in a way that if challenged leads the challenger to appear to be paranoid, obsessed or hostile in the eyes of observers, who won’t know the depths of a situation and therefore fail to see ...
It is really quite simple – if you don’t manage your time, other people and circumstances will mismanage it for you. It’s not money. It’s not love. It’s not food. It’s not even air! Your most valuable asset – the most valuable asset for all sentient human life is ‘time’. All things in your frame ...
I’ve been shouting and screaming about the need to backup all important electronic data, for quite some time. See what happened when Mat Honan, “a senior reporter for Gizmodo, got hacked [and]…lost most of his digital property (photos, emails, documents and so on), and most of his ways of communicating with the outside world. Not ...
I’ve been reflecting on human behaviour for quite some time – 22 years to be precise. In recent months I’ve really been troubled by what I refer to as ‘mind games’. Yes I know Eric Berne has written a book, The Games People Play. I probably read the book over 20 years ago and have ...
The dictionary will tell you that ‘patzer’ means ‘amateur chess player’. However in this piece of reflection, I’ll extend it to mean all idiots and the not so intelligent – outside of the game of chess. I’ve been observing a phenomenon, where in general, the amateur finds some degree of camaraderie with a group of ...
