Posts by Rob Stowell
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Very sharp Mr Riddley. I like it a lot.
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I wouldn't write Jung off too quickly. He certainly goes well into the wacky (like a lot of folks whose "intuition" is dominant- he spent time building stone walls to compensate) but a lot of his thinking is insightful and resonates. (50:50?)
Just saw Pan's Labyrinth, which very much got me and it taps on many of those archetypal doors. I've got a lot out of Jungian thought (without reading a lot of Jung, I'd have to confess)- but then I've got a lot out of the little behaviourism I've managed to understand too! :-) -
This is very encouraging!
We live with an off-grid system that includes 12 x 80 watt panels, and electricity costs us approx 10 x what you'll pay the power companies. That's partly 'cos we use a lot of petrol or diesel and have to write off generators over 3-5 years; but batteries are also a fairly big cost (approx $20+ a week). It also takes some time to look after them! The inverter was expensive- but hopefully won't cost a lot to replace.
The most encouraging thing I've read about is the possibility of a new generation of capacitors replacing batteries. It's well on the way for electric cars- and the "claim" is that we'll get the same storage as our 16 bulky deep-cycle batteries in a package not much larger than a paperback (perhaps more A Suitable Boy than Mills and Boon :-). There was a bit of a trumpet about this a couple of years ago, which afaik has died down...
But PV "glass" would be terrific- at the same time as putting in double glazing, power the lights! -
Deborah- you're right, it's game theory, not utilitarianism. WRT moraility: utilitarianism is like democracy- flawed and in need of all manner of work- but still better than the other options...
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Ok. If it's going to be an NZ vs Aus or SL final, sentimentally there's no question who I'll be backing!
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Well, it's a theoretical $50! But yeah, they certainly looked great here this summer and while I've only followed intermittantly they haven't really faltered since. I'm a little disappointed about Aussie winning.
And Australia? They didn't exactly play their top team over the summer, but they do seem to be coming together quite nicely. If it's going to be an SL/Aus final, sentimentally I know who I'll be backing. There will be a very loud cheer from somewhere on banks Peninsula if Mr Ponting's wicket goes cheaply! -
The artists' royalty sounds like a great idea. 5% is modest.
But I don't like the 50 years after death proviso- because all copyright/patenting law has gone too far in this regard. Well past the public good, well past the incentive to create more (wasn't there a medium who claimed to be channelling Shakespeare or something? -but works published posthumously still deserve some protection) and seriously into flogging dead horses.
Speaking of which: have to agree with the prognosis for NZ rugby. The All Blacks- and NZ rugby in general- have not yet recovered from/fully adapted to the all-consuming Super 10-12-14 competition. Despite making money out of it myself :-) and enjoying a lot of the great rugby it's produced, it's crammed the season and disrupted the other games and teams in ways that are as easy to identify as they are hard to hard to quantify. -
Despite their capitulation to the Aussies this morning...
I was picking Sri Lanka too- until this morning. I know you're a lot closer to it, but Aussie don't look too rough- and isn't this the first time the two have met for a while? I know it's not a certain indication, but if someone gave me $50 to put on the most likely team, sentiment aside (sentiment should never, in my opinion, colour one's gambling;-), I've have picked SL yesterday, Aussie today...
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television news is a soap opera that serves to reinforce the viewers' understanding of the world
Yeah, but, ahm, it also subtly and not-so-subtly shapes people's worldviews- no? So we all understand it's a very dangerous world out there that we need protection from, in so many ways. And we get the message- often just subtext- that some things are outside the realm of debate - unthinkable.
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In the same vein as Mariane Dreams- a spooky classic that's quite appropriate for adults- is Neil Gaiman's Coraline. In Jungian analysis, houses represent heads/brains/the seat of conciousness, with attics, drawing-rooms and dungeons- and this house is quite haunted: the girl's parents are replaced by eery doll-parents with button eyes, and strange things are going on in the basement. Worth a look.