Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Pig, especially propitious because it is the year of the Golden Pig, which occurs every six decades. I had not realised that I was born in the year of the Golden Pig six decades ago.
Almost all shops are closed, which is saying something for Singapore, and the next two days are public holidays. The festivities continue for a further fifteen days.
A Happy New Year to my Sangha friends.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Bracing times again
I am always amused by UK journalists "bracing" you for one calamity or another. Last week the poultry industry was bracing itself for a cull of birds, now according to the BBC,
"England is bracing itself for wintry weather with a blanket of snow forecast to fall across much of the country".
Must be in the training dictionary for young reporters. Drive safely!
"England is bracing itself for wintry weather with a blanket of snow forecast to fall across much of the country".
Must be in the training dictionary for young reporters. Drive safely!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Rational ignorance
“The world is large, information about it seems infinite, and even the most capacious minds must stringently limit their acquisition of information to matters that interest them either in the abstract or, more centrally, that they find otherwise useful to have on hand. Beyond this point, information costs are not worth paying, and ignorance is rational."
"Rational ignorance" – my excuse from now on!
From an issue of Critical Review on "The Nature of Belief Systems", (vol 18, no. 1–3, this by P. E. Converse, p. 300, via Shtetl-Optimized.
"Rational ignorance" – my excuse from now on!
From an issue of Critical Review on "The Nature of Belief Systems", (vol 18, no. 1–3, this by P. E. Converse, p. 300, via Shtetl-Optimized.
Bird Flu
Perhaps the problem begins in the Book of Genesis:-
1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The UK outbreak of the Asian strain of the H5N1 flu virus reminds us, if we need reminding, of how we use living creatures for our ends — food making machines. No doubt we have always used animals for food, but now we can do it on an industrial scale unthinkable to our ancestors. Mr Matthews lost 159,000 turkeys, gassed within hours and "rendered" (what a word). But in commenting on the cost to the £400 million UK market, Charles Bourne, chairman of the NFU's poultry board, revealed that we produce 60 million chickens a week in the UK. (Guardian on-line).
The population of the UK in chickens killed each week.
1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The UK outbreak of the Asian strain of the H5N1 flu virus reminds us, if we need reminding, of how we use living creatures for our ends — food making machines. No doubt we have always used animals for food, but now we can do it on an industrial scale unthinkable to our ancestors. Mr Matthews lost 159,000 turkeys, gassed within hours and "rendered" (what a word). But in commenting on the cost to the £400 million UK market, Charles Bourne, chairman of the NFU's poultry board, revealed that we produce 60 million chickens a week in the UK. (Guardian on-line).
The population of the UK in chickens killed each week.
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