So, I’m in the middle of resurrecting my computer after it suffered a fatal bout of Windowsitis, and while letting off steam to my dad have some unexpected insights based on an IT metaphor. I was testing three operating systems (OpenSuse, Kubuntu, Vista) and a virtualisation tool. It was glitching at the multiboot setup – …
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Category:1 Perspective
Has economics reached its sell-by date?
A note by Richard and Stella, voicing frustrations many of us feel in the imploding Irish economy. How far will things have to disintegrate before we cop on that we cannot continue to do things in the same way? At the moment, issues of the economy are determining political decisions, and consequently, are affecting decisions …
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The Economist on Drugs
Is this what we really want?
Is this what we really want? That’s the thought that keeps popping in to my head as the wind tears at the roof and the water digs a gully as it runs down the drive. I have found media reported events over the past months (year?) to be particularly concerning. There seems to be no …
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Virtual shopping extinguishes community.
I like shopping on-line – it’s quick, easy and cost effective. And I’ve tried the self-service checkout, when the teller queue is long or slow. But the push by big grocers to move exclusively to self-service is another nail in the coffin of communities. Most of us prefer to buy food from a person, we …
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Many walls still need to be brought down.
An open world is the solution to many of the problems humanity has created for itself, from economic instability to ecological instability, from hunger to pollution, from torture to poverty. On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, JP Lehmann reflects on the many challenges we must all face up to today: The …
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Our future. You choose.
This photo is not a scare tactic. It is a picture of the biosphere in human form … today. That big head is the rich world, the body is everyone else. We can change our future. The girl in the picture can not. It is up to you to change. To recognise your fears, breathe …
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Do you want to live without trees?
An article in today’s news suggests that we can turn back the tide of carbon by installing thousands of artificial carbon capture trees. OK, it might help. But it’s just the wrong kind of thinking and a tremendous waste of materials. It is real trees that we need. Building steel structures with solar panels and …
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Why don’t we change our behaviour?
Even people who know things are bad for them, like too many sweets, find it hard to change their behaviour. It is easier to change if the result of changing behaviour is immediate, tangible and measureable – that’s evidenced by the labour market – somebody will do anything at a price. But it is more …
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Terry Pratchett on death.
From the UK’s Mail on Sunday. Assisted suicide has been in the headlines because the law incriminating those who assist suicide is under review. Sir Terry has alzheimer’s and has written about death for over three decades. I’ll die before the endgame, says Terry Pratchett in call for law to allow assisted suicides in UK …
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