Ed Dowding

Month: December 2012

Should I be afraid of the future?

Simple Critical Infrastructure Maps

Simple Critical Infrastructure Maps

Is global warming real?

I don’t think you’ll have any doubt, dear reader, but just in case you know friends or relatives who do:

Building on allotments

@SaveFarmTerrace tweeted me yesterday: @eddowding Our mayor wants to sell our fab beautiful allotments in Watford UK to developers to build more houses on. Pls follow and rt us! — Sara jane trebar (@SaveFarmTerrace) December 26, 2012 So I’ve written a letter to the Mayor. Right now the comment is held in moderation so I’m ...

The Quantity Theory of Insanity.

The commuter traffic jam is the peak of man’s unhappiness. It’s a situation outside of your control, probably on the way to a location you don’t want to be at, at a time you didn’t choose. It is noisy, shamefully inefficient, encourages mis-directed frustration at one’s fellows, and you have absolutely zero ability to remove ...

Hashtag

I love the grammatical convenience of a hash tag. Language lacked its facility before. I consider it a useful and significant improvement, albeit ill-fitting and poorly rendered at this stage of its life.

The power of pure imagination

If you want to view paradise Simply look around and view it Anything you want to, do it Wanta change the world? There’s nothing To it From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Apologising to Wonga

For the ‘personal growth’ diaries: —- Dear xxxx I was having a chat with xxxx today who brought it to my attention that I’d been a little rude to you during the mentors evening, ripping on you as hard as I did about your decision to work with Wonga. I apologise unreservedly for making you ...

Dark Skies

This is cool. I didn’t know this even existed! Exmoor National Park has been designated the first International Dark Sky Reserve in Europe! A view of the stars is a view of our natural heritage and a spectacular quality of Exmoor’s night time landscape. Dark night skies are a declining resource, threatened by development and ...

Debt forgiveness. For everyone. For ever.

Still no idea why this wouldn’t work if you think big enough. One could slash private debt by 100pc of GDP, boost growth, stabilize prices, and dethrone bankers all at the same time. It could be done cleanly and painlessly, by legislative command, far more quickly than anybody imagined. The conjuring trick is to replace ...

The Righteous Mind

I’m currently listening to The Righteous Mind by by Jonathan Haidt whilst on a long car journey from Salisbury to La Plagne and back in 4 days. It kept me captivated for 8 solid hours yesterday, which is pretty darned impressive, but also par for the course since his last book, The Happiness Hypothesis did the same, twice. I’ve ...

Please watch these two films.

Overview OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo. http://www.overviewthemovie.com/ Chasing Ice This is the trailer – there are UK screenings happening now. http://www.chasingice.co.uk

I hope the Mayans were right. The “end of the world as we know it” seems like a bloody good idea.

PS. I’m not proud of the tone of voice this is written in, and really I should have waited a few days, edited, and posted up a version which speaks to love and beauty and connections. But this blog serves a number of purposes: it’s a place to share thoughts, it’s a personal diary of ...