POSTED BY News, Student Work ON 16 Août 2023 | 0 comments
INAI/IA Artificial Intelligence or Automatic Inability?...
Now there’s another AI for you!! This time last year AI / Chat GPT and all the other derivitives had not been made openly available. They came online in October. Since this date universities have seen a massive rise in work being substantially (and more often than not entirely) produced using thse tools. To your teachers, your Exam Board, your Faculty and your University, it is an ‘Alarme Incendie’ which takes you to the ‘Sortie’: It represents a shortcut… yes… (but not the one you might be thinking of: a shortcut to a time-saving assignment submission; but rather to being instantly and definitively ‘shown the sortie‘ and failing an assignment, a semester, a year and or an entire academic programme [Degree or Master’s] with no offer of a re-sit possibility. Why is this so? Well, I’ll show your teachers’ reasoning as lecturers AND I will also show you that,...
POSTED BY News ON 11 Août 2023 | 0 comments
INLast Rentrée in Mulhouse?...
Well, Last Tango in Paris it isn’t! …But, if plans come together, 23-24 is likely to be my last full year before some kind of retirement… (though already I am being solicited to ‘come back’ to teach certain courses on a vacataire basis). The jury is ‘out’ as to whether I will, and if so for which courses. So it seems, I should put some thoughts together before I launch out into my last full year of teaching / lecturing … so here they are:- From year to year, as teacher, one always seeks to learn, to change, things, to improve: as if there will always be time to do so. But this is the proverbial ‘it‘ – one last chance to be the best I can to offer students the best possible learning opportunity…. so ‘no pressure, then, Tony‘! Please, ‘Meet me in the Middle‘. As a teacher,...
POSTED BY News ON 15 Nov 2022 | 0 comments
INRepair Café. Fonderie Tues 22nd Nov 2022...
Hi Folks! You should have seen the email go out to the effect that we are set to hold our third Repair Café in the Fonderie Hall (en face des gradins) on Tuesday 22nd November. We’ll be setting up around 10.30 to be fully operational by 11.00 and we will be there until 17h. Bring us articles that need repairing! If no parts are required, and a repair is possible then it will be entirely FREE of charge. [If a part is required, you can decide whether you want us to purchase it subject to a monetary limit and go ahead with the repair. We would ask you to pay that sum at the end of the repair and you would be shown the invoice as proof when you collect your repaired article.] The types of things we can repair: small-ish electrical equipment (for example: coffee machines, Hoovers /...
POSTED BY News ON 1 Déc 2021 | 1 comment
INRIP FeeBee
FeeBee (nearest to my shoulder), left us yesterday, 30th November… … after a three-month long battle with Cancer. Though the inexorable illness gradually robbed her of much, it never, ever, stole from her her sense of joy, fun and love. We were with her to the end… when, being FeeBee, she did things her own way and departed even before the vet could come to help ease her on her way. Bless you, Feeb: your love lives on in myriad memories … and in photos like this: We were there the day you arrived, the day you departed and every day in-between… How rich your love made our lives for 12 years. Miss you, Feeb…. OR as our friends Donna and Steve put it: « Run right at the rainbow Feeb!« Dad, Mum, the kids and KatyDog & Julie...
POSTED BY News ON 4 Nov 2021 | 0 comments
INCOP or ‘Cop-Out’?...
Well, COP 26 is (now ‘was’) underway in Glasgow (Nov/Dec 2021). BUT Will it amount to a good COP OR Just another ‘Cop- Out‘ ??? [NB. to ‘Cop-Out‘ of / on something means not to do it justice, to quit on it when you could and should have done more and better] Well, over the first few days of week one heading towards week 2, these are just some of the high(or low)lights. In fact some notable things were happening BEFORE the event even started! Considerable lobbying efforts before the COP events by those (inter alia: Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia) wanting to expunge key phrases etc from scientific reports that had already been written and presented, so that certain countries, companies and commercial interests could avoid having to comply with the CO2 reductions the rest of the world is determined to set in law to keep global...
POSTED BY News ON 17 Oct 2021 | 0 comments
INRelationship?
There are all sorts of relationships in this photo… husband to wife ex-wife to ex-husband parents to children step-father to step-children sister to sister sister-in-law to ex brother-in-law and brother-in-law father to step-father French culture to English culture The (somewhat strange, I’ll admit) connection between the above is that they are all human-to-human relationships and we all get on with each other very well because we all have determined to and bacause we all love and like each other enormously (yes, even the ‘ex-s‘ and the ‘steps and originals’!) The point is that these are human relationships. Living beings relating to other living beings capable of intellectual analysis, prejudice, ratonality (and irrationality!), humanity, feelings, suspicions, mis-readings, mis-interpretations, cosmic judgements, fears, preferences, likes and loves ….. and… The list is pretty much endless. Can anything remotely like this be going on within the context of a commercial situation between a...
POSTED BY News ON 24 Sep 2021 | 0 comments
INPrinting, Planet & Pocket!...
Now, pretty obviously, if you are aiming to attract people into your premises to spend money in your restaurant in the tourism town of Eguisheim, your print quality needs to be pretty good. Q. But here, in your coursework do I really need to have you print on one side of a sheet of paper so that it can handle the density of ink needed to produce ‘Premium-Quality‘ print???? A. NO …. and NO again! Paper. If you are like me then you hate wasting paper with a passion! We all have ‘accidentally printed‘ pages which have one used and one ‘clean‘ side. I am more than happy for you to print your assignments for me on the ‘clean‘ sides of used paper. It is good for your pocket and good for the planet! [If for any reason print quality IS an issue in a particular assignment,...
POSTED BY News ON 25 Mai 2021 | 0 comments
IN‘Thinkpiece’ sur Apprentissage 2020-21...
Optimisation d’Opportunités d’Apprentissage (Pendant/post CoVid). These are my thoughts towards the end of the academic year 2020-2021 concerning the challenges we have had to face in terms of the uncertainties related to CoVid itself and rapidly changing political decisions regarding university attendance and teaching. This is a personal perspective based upon the fact that, on the basis of medical advice, I have not set foot in a physical classroom since March 2020. I believe that we have learned a significant amount about new technologies and their potential value which we may well wish to continue to exploit even when ‘normal’ teaching and learning is restored to us. This is written in French as the people with whom I would like to engage in discussion are native French speakers. Please feel free to use the ‘comments’ form at the bottom of the page if you would like to offer your...
POSTED BY News ON 18 Mai 2021 | 0 comments
INParagraphing, Punctuation & Proofing...
I’ve been saying it for ages: before you hit the final keystroke of your assignment to print or email it (preferably the latter – you know my penchant for trying to save the planet) you need to ‘proof-read‘ it (faire une relecture). Some students do, but it seems to me that most don’t or they haven’t really understood how to do it thoroughly and effectively. I have always advocated reading things out loud – I for one find far more mistakes or improvements I could make by reading out loud as opposed to silently reading on screen with my eyes. Given what I said above, I shouldn’t really say what I am about to say, but I think I find even more to correct or improve if I get off-screen, print a copy (in ‘draft/brouillon’ mode to save ink and to print on the reverse sides of pages...
POSTED BY News ON 11 Mai 2021 | 0 comments
INDo We Take University for Granted?...
Well, it is a valid question….. Here we can express ourselves freely: a luxury not afforded in the state where the author of the poem below lives…. Whether student or teacher, most (if not all) of us are wont to gripe or moan about something in the University experience which is not quite as we might like it to be (in an ideal world which we don’t inhabit, perhaps). A friend kindly gave me a magazine concerning the plight of Afghan childern during the period of war and conflict which has blighted their childhood (and, on a more positive note, what members of a French association are doing to give such young people hope and the chance of a future which might hold all we hope for ourselves). On the back page was a poem translated form the local language into French which I decided I would translate...
POSTED BY News ON 6 Mar 2021 | 0 comments
INGardening ‘Hacks’ / Astuces Jardinage...
Avec quelques amis de notre commune, je suis en train de créer un ‘Potager Partagé’. Il y a beaucoup plus de terrain de chez moi / chez nous, donc on aura besoin de toute idée efficace pour rendre le travail moins laborieux et plus fructueux. Je viens de trouver des ‘hacks’ / tips / tricks / astuces en-ligne qui peuvent nous aider dan cette démarche donc veuillez trouver en dessous des liens aux vidéos courts chacun avec mon petit descriptif. La plupart manque de commentaire – ou c’est en Anglais – mais ni l’un ni l’autre est nécessaire: le vidéo s’explique parfaitement! On bénit YouTube et les YouTubers-Jardiniers! De temps en temps il risque d’avoir un mini-publicité – c’est YouTube pas moi: je ne suis pas sur un régime de paiement par ‘click-through’!! 30 Hacks. Jardinage a l’intérieur. J’essayerai 10 sur le 30! Mary’s : faire pousser...
POSTED BY News ON 5 Mar 2021 | 0 comments
INCC & DD Resources...
CC= Climate Change DD = Devloppement Durable (Sustainability) I now find myself teaching these subjects (on programmes like IES at FSESJ) or using these as important background themes when I am teaching final year Degree or Mater’s level Professional English courses. As a result, I find myself often writing things in 7 or 8 different places. Better then hat I do this more economically: just the once, so I am using this page to host a host of links to materials to which I may refer you. I will try to keep updating it, but it is a massive job given that it is a global subject, as you will appreciate. I will try to do this under meaningful headings, but I suspect certain things may deserve to be under more than one heading! If you come across useful materials, please do send me the links...
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T3 Analysing Power
Your analyses of 'Power' in the context of the list of media representations given to you. You should be thinking back to the T3 set-up page where I gave you a number of sets of criteria to apply under headings like: Nature of Power derived from….. Motivation for the use of Power Impact of exerted power in Heirarchy of Needs terms. The power process Representation That Tianenmen square photograph: by Jeff Widener Vietnam Napalm girl photo Twin Towers Burning video Audi Logo Ukraine limepit WW2. Queen Under Pressure Obama Victory Speech video and folio The Queen The Prince of Wales The CIA Wikileaks Mark Zuckerberg The Cross The Dollar...
RECENT FROM Student Work
AI/IA Artificial Intelligence or Automatic Inability?...
Now there’s another AI for you!! This time last year AI / Chat GPT and all the other derivitives had not been made openly available. They came online in October. Since this date universities have seen a massive rise in work being substantially (and more often than not entirely) produced using thse tools. To your teachers, your Exam Board, your Faculty and your University, it is an ‘Alarme Incendie’ which takes you to the ‘Sortie’: It represents a shortcut… yes… (but not the one you might be thinking of: a shortcut to a time-saving assignment submission; but rather to being instantly and definitively ‘shown the sortie‘ and failing an...
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FB: Personal Profiles Task...
Hi there! Hereunder you will find some important feedback from your exercise presenting yourself to your new employer in the form of a 'Personal Profile'. Please READ this, commit to memory and USE this in your future work/English conversations as soon as you can: once you USE it you OWN it and it will come naturally in future. OK? I WILL go over this in class….. Tutor's observations: I set this up as a professional exercise and was expecting a professional response, yet I think only three people actually produced something using a PC: why? If your boss asked you to produce something for the company magazine or website,...
Visitor Experience Environment Manager...
Job Description + Person Specification Coordinate services across all functions within the museum which can affect / impact upon the visitor experience (including recruitment and selection) financial planning of the budget accorded to visitor services quality Responsible for visitor surveys, market profiling and quality assurance Responsible for the definition of carrying capacity and strategies to manage the site and visitors in times where exceeding site capacity is predictable Responsible for the training of all visitor-facing personnel Envisioning the ‘mise en...
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A Toast to you! Everyone passes! Some feedback for me to extemporise around: MARKS Overall mark range from 12/20 to 18/20 Written Report mark range: 05/20 to 19/20 Presentation: 18/20 Case Studies mark range: 09/20 to 19/20 NB. The final mark = the average of the presentation, the written report contributions and the case studies. [The Team Leaders had to be assesssed differently, as you will appreciate]. CRITIQUE. Be consistent in your role: JI / the consultancy COCI / our client from whom JI received the brief COCI members = the end user Avoid: You… I… We … They… Us… Ours… (on Pg 29 alone in 3 paragraphs there were: 10 x we + 9 x...
Protégé : Intro2Business Ideas 2022...
SCOREs 10 = great 0 = awful IDEA Me/We: Pub Av 7.5 FEAS READY? COMP. SUST ADV RISK RETURN GROWTH 8 9 5 9 7 7 8 IDEA: Dog-Chiller … Human Chiller? 7.7 FEAS READY? COMP. SUST ADV RISK RETURN GROWTH 7 9 5 5 9 9 10 IDEA: Practical school courses serviced by an outside organisation 9 FEAS READY? COMP. SUST ADV RISK RETURN GROWTH 10 10 10 8 8 8 9 IDEA: Neighbourhood services. (See the pub!) FEAS READY? COMP. SUST ADV RISK RETURN GROWTH+ IDEA: UniCar 9.1 FEAS READY? COMP. SUST ADV RISK RETURN GROWTH+ 10 10 8 9 9 10 8 IDEA: Gym Food … Like Comme...
Wohlleben’s Wood Wide Web
Wohlleben’s ‘Wood-Wide-Web’ Tony Jolley 17/09/2022 Got to admit it! Great name for a natural scientist: Mr. Live-Well or Mr. Good-Life: A kind of Caer Caveral the Forestal [If you are Stephen Donaldson-inclined And love his meisterstück: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Unbeliever And IMHO, if you’re not, you should be!] Or an Ent or Huorn If you prefer your Lord of the Rings: Guardians of trees and forests Becoming trees and forests themselves. Mr. Good-Life ‘listens’ to tree language At such long wavelengths And low modulations Anyone else would figure they’re flat: Featureless; Soundless; Speechless; Meaningless; [But to him they’re anything but!] – They seem to represent More collectivity than individuality, More society even than family In temperate...
Not a Blank Piece of Paper
posted on: 24 Sep 2022 | author: tjolley
Not a Blank Piece of Paper Tony Jolley 17/09/2022 “Rest in Peace, Liz”. Would saying that get me arrested in the UK During period of the Lying-in-State Of Queen Elizabeth 2nd? The Police might read my ‘Liz’ As all too unacceptably familiar At a time when the vast majority Is looking for ultimate respect Of the recent Head of the Monarchy. In Oxford, one Symon Hill On his way home from the Sunday Service, Stopped to listen to King Charles III’s Accession Proclamation. At the point Charles was declared: “Our only lawful & rightful Liege Lord” Mr. Hill called out: “Who elected him!” Without much further ado He was handcuffed And bundled into a Police van. None of the officers present Could answer his one critical question: ‘Just what law am I being arrested under’? At the Police Station. At the point of being de-arrested, He was told...
« Wenn Du Mich Siehst »
posted on: 24 Sep 2022 | author: tjolley
“Wenn du mich siehst…” Tony Jolley 04/09/2022 Some people throw stones into rivers To see ripples upon the surface, Some engrave stones in river-bed rocks And cast them into the future As a prophetic warning And sign of human understanding: Empathy across the centuries. The summer of 2022 Has just been declared The hottest in Europe For some 500 years. Lakes shrank. Rivers deep enough to dive in Dropped to levels that Wouldn’t float a little’un’s lilo-bed Let alone a loaded barge. Then this August, On the almost dry bed of the Elbe On the Czech/German border A so-called ‘Hunger Stone’ was found With the chilling, chiselled legend: « Wenn du Mich Siehst, Dann Weiner ». « If you see me: then weep » My first thought was of a vague memory Of Herr Gent, my German Teacher Drumming it into us [Well, into me – I wasn’t good at German] That...
Dirty Water
posted on: 24 Sep 2022 | author: tjolley
‘Dirty’ Water Tony Jolley 04/09/2022 Jackson, Mississippi. 180,000 people Blighted and benighted By the giver and sustainer of life: Water. We’re all used to Periods of drought And lack of water; But what about Floods where excess of it Means there is nothing to drink Or nothing one dare drink: The system’s shot. IF residents are ‘lucky’ enough To have a working tap, The water’s rust or dirt brown: Fit only for flushing, Or, for the foolhardy, For showering mouth firmly shut. Drink only bottled Is the mantra; Blame the name of the game: The water system overhaul Delayed and deferred over decades. General consensus is that places Like Jackson and Flint Have been consistently, overlooked, By-passed, back-burnered and left behind Because of ‘environmental racism’: Priority, clean water budgets Haven’t gone primarily to the poor, To Non-WASP, basically Black Or Native American towns. It’s...
Footprints FLSH
posted on: 13 Sep 2022 | author: tjolley
Footprint Results 22 GEPSAC + Lib Tons of CO2 3 + 10 + 9 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 10 + 8 + 11 + 9 + 9 + 8+ 8 +7 + 9 + 22 +10 + 9 + 12 + 10 + 9 = 197 / 21 = 9.4 Tons Av. Number of Planets 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 3+ 1 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 1.5 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 7 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 3 3.3 Planets Av. Impact as a % of French or UK average? 20% + 105% + 95% + 100% + 84% +60% + 110% + 82% + 115% + 94 % + 99% + 89%+ 92% + 80% + 92 % + 130% + 105% + 95%+ 127 +...
The Big Es
posted on: 23 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
The Big Es Tony Jolley 20/08/2022 At the turn of the 18th-19th Century Malthus wrote his now famous ‘Essay on the Principle of Population’ Postulating that increasing numbers Must eventually produce pressures Upon available resources Such that the size of the population Would inevitably and naturally Fall back to a sustainable limit Perhaps because of: Disease, food shortage And the ultimate form Of aggressive competition: War. Some have sought to ‘debunk’ his concept; For example, on the basis that Human ingenuity and science Have always managed to enable humanity To become so much more Efficient, Effective And Economic [3 of the famous 4Es!] In food and production of necessities, That supply has always run ahead Of the population growth curve. But, in the face of projections Suggesting global population Is heading for nearly 11 billion by 2100 – A 30% increase on today – Will it always work like...
To Heat or to Eat
posted on: 20 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
To Heat or To Eat? Tony Jolley 19/08/2022 If you’ve done a degree In Economics, Psychology Or Business Management, Mention Abraham Maslow And eyes will roll or glaze over. All too familiar territory: Done that. Been there. Bought the proverbial ‘T’ shirt. The base of the pyramid long forgotten As we’re all reaching for the stratosphere, Hunting the Higher Needs and ultimately The highest: ‘Self-Actualisation’. [I’ve often wondered about that – The idea that the apex Is individual not collective]. . BBC News and the ‘Today Programme’ [Today obviously!] And two articles grabbed my attention: . The one suggesting that in some places Money-grabbing, British landlords Are taking unfair advantage of market conditions: [Putting rents up dramatically In the face of shortage of supply As a result of the government’s Policy of ‘Right to Buy’, Such that some tenants are having to pay A good 2/3 of their total...
To the Skin
posted on: 20 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
To the Skin Tony Jolley 18/08/2022 We’ve been taking the simplest things Very much or all too much For granted: Temperate climate, Sun, Rain. . No more, I fear [And I choose the verb advisedly]. . After three, two-week-or-more 40°C+ Heatwaves, almost end to end, I danced on the doorstep in the rain [Well, when I say ‘danced’ … More a case of ‘moved about liberally’ – Think of the pictures conjured up By the youngsters’ term: ‘Dad Dancing’ And you won’t be far off!!’] . That was a storm in a proverbial teacup Compared to last night’s deluge. Spent half an hour in the car Parked outside our home Waiting for it to subside Before daring to risk the 14 steps And as many paces to get to the front door Without need of water wings, A snorkel and the services of a lifeguard! Didn’t work. Didn’t ease...
Under a Luckier Star
posted on: 20 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Under a Luckier Star Tony Jolley 18/08/2022 Late night TV series repeats last night – Inevitably of the Emergency Room variety. French series. ‘Nina’. Mentally-handicapped teenager’s Mum Thinking [no, fearing] What might become of her son Once she’s gone. Got me to remembering…. [When Debbie and I were courting In our teens in the ‘70s] About a visit to Christchurch To see Lou Jeary, a former neighbour, And her Downs Syndrome son, Jonathan [Shamefully, it was termed ‘Mongol’ in those days]. Could see her looking at him, Fast-forwarding twenty years or so And trying to picture Her son’s life after her. What might it be? Would he be safe and secure? Would he be provided for? Would he be loved and cared for? Could he enjoy his life without her? He must be all of 62 or 63 now…. . We don’t know we’re born, do we…? Or...
Roe v Wade Rollback
posted on: 20 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Roe v Wade Rollback Tony Jolley 17/08/2022 Well, it’s happening already: Termination services, well, terminated And the all-too-predictable consequences Spilling out and spiralling out of control. A young woman reported to police For a social media post Which might have suggested She was just thinking of maybe heading out-of-state To find a legally-operating abortion clinic. Others using risky, old-wives-tale Recipes and ‘remedies’ As dangerous DIY solutions With no medical support service in place To address the inevitable, ensuing problems. America had another Puritanical ‘Prohibition’ In the 1920s and early 30s To ban alcohol consumption. . What happened? . It drove the drinking culture underground And straight into the welcoming arms Of the mafia and the criminal underworld. This profiteering got so bad That Prohibition was eventually prohibited And a form of bar-licensing was adopted. Let’s get logical about it: The demand for abortion will remain. The supply of official...
Creature of Habit
posted on: 12 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Creature of Habit Tony Jolley 11/08/2022 This Crow’s a creature of habit. Every morning, to the minute It comes to the top chimney pot On our neighbours’ house And cleans and preens itself With its back to my window: For decency, Obviously. . Then, side-on, first left then right, It spreads each wing, Fluffs its feathers And buries its beak To seek out those itches It can’t otherwise scratch. Facing me; Looking straight at me, It caws and kraas [Apparently that’s what Crows do if they’re not caw-ing]. Four times [Never more – never less] Before falling gracefully into the air And doing what man can only dream of. . … As I write it’s just taken up its post …...
Negative Scenescence, Anyone?
posted on: 10 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Negative Scenescence Anyone? Tony Jolley 10/08/2022 . Cause of Death. We’re all used to that phrase – Almost inoculated against it From thousands of detective novels And forensic medicine programmes. But what exactly IS ‘death’? At one level, of course, It’s the total absence of life: Its discontinuation: Its ‘cul de sac’ Its very ‘dead’ end. . But what is death for? What purpose might it serve? Indeed, do we have to die….? . Some scientists speak of ‘Scenescence’: The ‘Force of Natural Selection’ Weakening to the point at which Life can’t continue to sustain itself Beyond the urge to reproduce. . Does Gravity naturally ‘weaken’ over time? No, it obeys fundamental laws: is immutable. . Does the speed of light lessen With time or distance? Clearly not. . So why should this supposed ‘Force of Natural Selection’ weaken? . Is scenescence, then, nothing more Than a theoretical ‘mise-en-scene’...
Far too Much – Far too Little
posted on: 10 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Far too Much … Far too Little Tony Jolley 10/08/2022 Seoul under water. Sydney too. The Doubs river bed dry as a bone. The Thames’ source Shifted 8km downstream. . In France, stunningly, Over half our water usage Is for the cooling Of our [largely Nuclear] power stations: Three times as much as for tapwater. 23 Départements on High Alert And 68 ‘In Crisis’: [Fitting: we live in Dept. N° 68]. . On the one hand this is really serious, [And I wouldn’t dream of belittling it], But when one hears people complaining That they are now on Water Tanker deliveries Three times per day, I picture kids (mostly girls) & women Walking miles, barefoot, heavy vases on heads To bring life-sustaining water home From 30ft deep holes in river courses That haven’t been damp or wet For season after season: We still don’t know we’re born. . In...
Fire & Water
posted on: 9 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Fire and Water Tony Jolley 07/08/2022 . After ‘All Right Now’ and ‘Wishing Well’, ‘Fire and Water’ Is by far my favourite FREE Song from the Seventies: All Paul Rogers’ raucous vocals & Paul Kossoff’s inimitable, laid-back, lead-guitar-style, … As showcased by my wife [Then Head Girl of the Grammar School] In one Morning Assembly [At almost ‘stadium-worthy’ volume] Which all but cost her her ‘badge’! … . Today I awoke in France to find That Fire and Water Were less romantically and more seriously related: News showed crews facing down multiple firestorms. With what…? . Water. . Just water Plus the immense bravery of the firecrews. . Overdose of fire. Underdose of water. . So we pour on the latter to neutralise the former. . … Which leaves us with ..?...
Ammonia
posted on: 9 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Ammonia Tony Jolley 05/08/2022 In his brilliant book: ‘How the World Really Works’, Vaclav Smil provides incredibly fine detail Of the paddling like hell that is done Well under the ‘waterline’ To keep the beautiful Swan of Life Afloat and moving serenely ahead. . For most of us, Ammonia Is a cleaning product. . For Vaclav it is The single most important element In enabling the world to feed itself. . 80% of global Ammonia production Is indispensable for fertilising our crops. Without it, our yields would dive To an extent that A good proportion of the world’s population Simply wouldn’t survive. So why not use 100%, you might well ask…. A large chunk of the remaining 20% Is used to make rockets and explosives. . [Deliver with a heavy dose of sarcasm] … Can’t possibly sacrifice that …. . In the right hands, it is vital to...
Mostly Harmful
posted on: 9 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
The Whole Ball-Game… AKA Mostly Harmful Tony Jolley 04/08/2022 Robert McNamara, [US Secretary for Defence During the Vietnam War Both pre & post JFK’s assassination,] Bequeathed to the world, History and the future His personal, retrospective perspective, Analysis and evaluation Of how the most powerful nation On the face of the Earth Could get into what was an unwinnable war And not get out of it Without its sorry tail between its legs And the loss of 58,220 American lives [Not to mention the 1,100,000 North Vietnamese who died]. . His book and documentary film lists 11 causes, The vast majority of them Fundamental cultural misunderstandings Of the intentions and motivations Of the ‘Other’: The shifting sands upon which Strategic decisions are repeatedly mis-taken And life-loaded dice are rolled. He called it: The Fog of War. . … Peace can be pretty foggy too …. . I think we’re...
Mad World
posted on: 5 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Mad World Tony Jolley 04/08/2022 Crazy story just in from the US [But then aren’t they all?] . A new company floated On the Market on the 15th July Saw shares initially valued at $7.80 And now, less than a month later, They’re trading at $1679! The company didn’t exist in 2018, Only generated $25m revenues in 2021 And now has a market capitalisation Of $310 Billion! Makes it bigger than CostCo and Shell Only just short of Walmart and Exxon. . No, they haven’t come up with An instant solution To our energy or climate change woes In fact, the company cites No change in its ‘material circumstances’ Since the July IPO. In other words, not even they Have the slightest clue as to the reason. . ‘Experts’ [As if there are any in the realm of the surreal] Seem to be explaining it As a case of...
42, or Life, The Universe and Everything
posted on: 5 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Life, the Universe and Everything Tony Jolley 28/7/2022 Should have just entitled this ‘42’ In homage to Douglas Adams’ ‘Answer to the ultimate question Of Life, the Universe and Everything’ I could otherwise have settled for ‘103’ Another amazing number: The years that James Lovelock lived Until he left us two days ago [With his customary admirable precision], on his birthday, Near our former home, in Abbotsbury. ‘James who?’, you ask, And you’ll be happy you did. He was the originator of the ‘Gaia Hypothesis’ Which views Planet Earth And its living and non-living components As one self-regulating system of systems Which seems to privilege ‘life’ [Whatever ‘life’ is … But don’t look to scientists for that – They still can’t actually define it!]. I suppose that Lovelock was proposing A sort of scientific underpinning To Chief Seattle’s ‘All things are connected’ contention. In his 100th year he...
Fit-to-Float-Noah’s Ark-Weather
posted on: 5 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
Fit-to-Float-Noah’s Ark-Weather Tony Jolley 27/7/2022 Cursed when I discovered We’d had a region-wide Hosepipe ban declared. Cussed again when I learned that, Barring 40 Days and 40 Nights Of fit-to-float-Noah’s Ark-weather, It’ll last until November! So it’s watering cans only Between 8PM and 8AM [and a 1500 Euro fine Between the other 8 and 8!]. I would set my bedside alarm To be sure to be up bright and early, But of course I’ve just Turned off the power block To save electricity! So, I filled a big bucket and watering-can, Lugged them down ‘Concrete Garden’ And watered the tomatoes, leeks, carrots, Parsnips and potatoes on our new ‘potager’. Went quite well but I lost a load of water Refilling the can. Three buckets-full. Not bad. Probably a lot less than the hosepipe. Not so easy on the other side of the house Where there’s two odd-sized, Break-your-neck steps...
« It’s Life. What Can I Tell You? »...
posted on: 5 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
“It’s life. What can I Tell You?” Tony Jolley 26/7/2022 Julie Now imagine the above title Delivered in the immaculate, Dulcet and-ever-so-slightly-Welsh tones Of actor Anthony Hopkins. Actually, you can do better than imagine: Watch the very much-underrated film ‘Meet Joe Black’ And near the end you will hear this line Spoken to Brad Pitt’s character [Joe Black, who is, in fact, Death himself – It is a remake of ‘Death Takes a Holiday’]. “Well, what can I tell you?” Just that [with age – a lot of it!] I’m becoming more sensitive to Life. I noticed [well my wife did first] That our dog, Julie, runs out If ever I go to pick up the fly-swat Even when she is not in the same room. [And no, before you put 2+2 together And make seventeen, No one has ever hit or even brandished This weapon...
In the Air
posted on: 5 Août 2022 | author: tjolley
In the Air Tony Jolley 26/7/2022 There is something ‘in the air’: L’air du temps [and I don’t mean the perfume]. It’s not the sensation you get When you can sense the seasons change By the way the breeze feels Winding its way Through the hairs on your forearm, Or the soft-green growth that signals Spring; But it is like that somehow: The early dawn light of a sort of Subconscious seventh sense; An ‘outlier‘ way beyond the sixth: On the leading edge tightrope, Teetering between impression and imagination. Tsunamis seem to roll in slow-motion. Beautiful. Unusual. But the reality is different: They’re not waves They’re veritable, high-velocity, walls of water And when they make landfall We are all, very literally, at sea. It’s like that. The Future Tsunami Soon to break on the shores of the Present. It’s still over Time’s horizon (just a bit?) But I...