archive ← the digital glebe

After the Gold Rush 4

May

2013

Scottish Islands Renewable Project: Final Report https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scottish-islands-renewable-project-final-report ‘Our study concludes that the costs of deploying renewables on a large scale in the Scottish Islands is high, and that there are a number of technological and environmental challenges. However, onshore wind on the Scottish Islands is cost competitive with several other forms of low carbon generation ...

Keeping Chess Alive

May

2013

As a chess player, probably the biggest hurdle to developing into a ‘better’ combatant is just how much ‘book’ is involved. You may be a very strong tactical player, but when confronted by an opponent who has a deeper knowledge of the many opening variations, you will certainly find it a struggle to achieve a ...

Chess Break

May

2013

Yugoslav chessmen, simply the best. “You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.” Stanley ...

Head in the Clouds 2

May

2013

They call it progress: “Just a year after launching its $50-per-month plan, Adobe has made its Creative Cloud the only way to get the new versions of its full software suite. Customers “overwhelmingly” prefer it.” CNET They must be talking to the wrong customers, as of writing I can’t seem to find a single person ...

Does Fear Still Sell? 8

Apr

2013

I think the ‘bobos’ have had their chips to be honest. If there’s hope, it lies with the proles. “Concern about the environment is legitimate, but catastrophism transforms us into cowering children. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual and collective self–sacrifice to ‘save the planet’ and cultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, ...

Myth of the Flat Earth 7

Apr

2013

Wikipedia is finally catching up at last. Myth of the Flat Earth. “Since the early 20th century, a number of books and articles have documented the flat earth error as one of a number of widespread misconceptions in popular views of the Middle Ages. The misconception has had no currency in historical scholarship since at ...

Peter Lilley MP: the Voice of Sanity 3

Apr

2013

Westminster Hall Thursday 18 April 2013 [Mr Andrew Turner in the Chair] Hansard debate UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ‘Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. One of the early signs of madness is an indulgence in compulsive displacement activity, which could not be a better description of the whole ...

Origins of the Royal Society 3

Apr

2013

The Royal Society’s motto ‘Nullius in verba’ might roughly translate as ‘take nobody’s word for it’, or ‘on the word of no one’, and yet the Royal Society appears to have become increasingly involved in interfacing science with political policy-making. As a result, the Royal Society seems to be tainted, politicised & increasingly involved in ...

Know Thy Enemy 3

Apr

2013

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” John Maynard Keynes Almost to a man, the four main parties in UK politics -Lib Lab Con SNP- all repeat the following mantra with little deviation: “Climate change is the greatest threat faced by humanity and the most important political issue of ...

Boom & Bust 3

Apr

2013

Climate scientists struggle to explain warming slowdown Reuters Apr 16, 2013 article Carbon Falls Most Ever After EU Parliament Rejects Surplus Fix Bloomberg Apr 16, 2013 article Clean Energy Investment Falls 22% as Subsidy Cuts Stall Projects Bloomberg Apr 15, 2013 article Michael Liebreich, Chief of Bloomberg New Energy: “For investment in clean energy to ...