Ed Dowding

Month: April 2009

Future

Time & Space

Time and space stretch out before you And the universe implores you To take your place Amongst all things And to see what the morning brings To your own self be true There’s nothing more to do You are young and the world is open So many words you’ve never spoken Don’t be afraid to ...

Ed Dowding, Independent MEP candidate

Who should you vote for in the EU elections

Here’s a handy 30 question survey which will tell you which of the main parties you are most allied to: http://euprofiler.eu

EBookers redefines "total"

The total price is £102.13. But if you want to pay the total price, you have to use a card. All cards carry a fee of £8.09. So.. that’s not really the total fee then, is it?

Pipped at the post to be an independent MEP … this time

At midnight last night, the voting closed on my – our – 14 day long bid to make me your independent MEP for the South West. We made it to second place on the ballot, with some 460 votes (in the fury of urgent texting I forgot the actual number, but will find out on ...

ElectEd.in introductory speech

The transcript of the introductory video at www.elected.in, as requested by a few folks: Hello. My name’s Ed Dowding and I’m running to be an independent MEP, because I’m bored of politics. I’m bored of the short term thinking, I’m bored of the arguments about people and not about issues, and I’m bored by the ...

TED is coming local!

It you don’t already know the amazing phenomenon that is the TED event (Technology, Education, Design) you’re in for a two treats. Firstly TED ranks up there with Skype as one of the best things to happen for communication of ideas across the world. Secondly, it’s supporting local events, too. What happens at a TEDx ...

6 Reasons never to give up your biometric data or DNA

1. It permits lazy policing If you have someone’s record on file, you’re more likely to assume he’s a criminal. And if that DNA matches a sample which has been discovered during the investigation… well it’s jolly tempting to think that you might have your man. A connected spate of lazy policing happened recently. Having ...

Susan Boyle: the organic carrot of entertainment

A friend was recently saying he was “puzzled by this Susan Boyle thing. Why all the hoo ha? She can sing but is not young and attractive? It’s just patronising.” On the one hand it is patronising. The look on Piers Morgans face had prejudiced moron written all over it. And what he said at ...

"Own it!!" day — make this YOUR cause

Only THREE days left to vote! After about a week of your support, we’re currently 8th in the whole of the UK! If I was standing in most of the rest of the country we’d be winning by a long way. But in the South West, we’re currently 3rd. Bronze? BRONZE?! No! You deserve GOLD, ...

DNA databases require so much regulation that abuse is inevitable.

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine – the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code. But those are not the whole story. The rise of epigenetics in the past decade has drawn attention to a fifth nucleotide, […]. And now there’s a ...

At last, Europe has become interesting

We are at one of those moments in history when the challenges are international and the only means of dealing with them is at least on a regional level. […] [R]egions can and must supply the answers to all sorts of issues from the environment to the economy. If the world is to recover, then ...

We are six years away from an energy crisis

The good news for Britain’s energy supply is that the sheer scale of the recession has cut our electricity demand and carbon emissions. An impending energy security crunch has been postponed.The bad news is that the recession will almost certainly delay investment in Britain’s energy infrastructure and encourage complacency. […] For the past two decades ...

Sacrifices on the alter of efficiency

“I discovered a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works. ” Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, 23 October 2008 I do love that quote. It’s to brilliantly demonstrative of the problem: “I thought the world worked like this. I was ...

Better models: cars

There are a lot of curious inefficiencies in modern life. We end up owning an awful lot of things which we don’t use very much, but we have them because when we want when we really want them. Lawnmowers, tools for small jobs around the house, washing machines, and cars are just a few things ...

We're small, lost, and could use some cheering up.

Some links for you to put your worries in perspective, give you hope, and brighten up your day. Via @olibarret, @alices, and a reminder from James G.

For everyone reading this by RSS

I am currently running to be an MEP candidate. Please take a few moments to read more at www.ElectEd.in, and text EDDOW01 to 86837 to vote for me! Voting closes in 10 days! Anyone can vote, so please encourage everyone with you now and later today to do the same! Write ‘EDDOW01 to 86837’ on ...

Einstein

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Disraeli

“This is no place to stop – half way between ape and angel” Benjamin Disraeli.

China suggests a new currency

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, has suggested creating a “super-sovereign reserve currency” to replace the dollar over the long run. […] These are the first big proposals for international monetary reform from China or indeed any emerging market economy and deserve to be taken seriously for that reason alone. Several other Asian countries, ...