Afterimages
There was a local patch of scrubland, just a large pit on the side of a hill in my local suburb. Some summers, before I was of school age, a small travelling show of sorts would appear, unannounced. What we …
25th January 2016 AfterimagesThere was a local patch of scrubland, just a large pit on the side of a hill in my local suburb. Some summers, before I was of school age, a small travelling show of sorts would appear, unannounced. What we …
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28th September 2015 Cringes of conscienceAt 55, I’m not aware that my life is about to end suddenly, so this is not any kind of deathbed confession. I have, so far, done lots of things which could be considered wrong…like lying in court or physically …
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13th January 2015 Antitrust(This was my entry to a New Scientist screen writing competition January 2015) A man wakes up next to a woman he doesn’t recognise: exactly as usual. His face-blindness no longer perturbs him, since he has strategies for checking people …
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24th July 2014 Several sigmas from the meanI was asked by the ‘development’ (ie fundraising) staff at my old college to write something about my unusual career for their alumni blog. I’m guessing the request was made because I’m such an outlier from the bulk of their …
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8th April 2014 Le MansI don’t know why I love this film so much. It’s essentially a documentary
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9th November 2013 Creativity in researchThis is a note sent to several UK research funding bodies in connection with my concerns that we are now just going through the motions , rather than driving really breathtaking research. I’ve seen this described recently as the difference …
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6th October 2012 Off-messageI was brought up in a culture where individuals felt honour-bound to point out other people’s errors, character flaws and factual shortcomings. Diplomacy was considered sinful; a form of deception. This brutal honesty has never made my life straightforward, nor …
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29th July 2012 Desire engineeringDesign is about making the Future fit better -for everyone. I particularly love it because Design offers a real-world superpower: to make products and processes which really work (both aesthetically and functionally) so that they become desired, not just utilitarian. As a …
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3rd July 2012 RIP LMALorna was the least selfish person I ever met. She was hardworking and stoic. Although she certainly deserved much better treatment, Mum’s approach was to ‘make the best of a bad job’. She could be stubborn and strict but she was …
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Development and alumniGovernments of every political persuasion in the UK (ie both sides of the class war) are cutting back on funding for institutions such as Schools and Universities. These organisations are now looking across the Atlantic for an example of how …
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