I am back safely, having seen many rocks and having them explained to me. I also have seen many sheep, who need little explanation. I have sent myself notes which will be turned into posts. For example "sweet poison" will be about finding it difficult to forgive, and "bully beef wrought iron" is about the Italian Chapel. "Orkney Farmer" is tagged to go into this year's Christmas letter.
But it will take a while.
I figured I should do at least one. I should be getting home again about now. We will only be on the Mainland and South Ronaldsay. We may take a ferry out to see the Old Man of Hoy and the birds there.
The idea was if there was going to be an independent Scotland, Orkney might prefer to become part of Norway instead. The did used to be part of it, and even spoke a Scandinavian dialect called Norn, which went extinct around 1700. Orkney had a referendum a few years ago about rejoining Norway after 300 years.
Are you a guy? Dave Barry has a test to let you find out.
1. Alien beings from a highly advanced society visit the Earth, and you are the first human they encounter. As a token of intergalactic friendship, they present you with a small but incredibly sophisticated device that is capable of curing all disease, providing an infinite supply of clean energy, wiping out hunger and poverty, and permanently eliminating oppression and violence all over the entire Earth. You decide to:
a. Present it to the president of the United States.
b. Present it to the secretary general of the United Nations.
c. Take it apart to see how it works
Drug decriminalisation increases deaths. The research is still mixed, but points strongly in this direction
The Flattening of Time Ethan Strauss on how some news isn't new - including things he wrote years ago that have gone viral again.
And everybody hates the Jews* Guess the song before you look
Two from Works in Progress, which seems to prefer controversy
Flock cameras can be used abusively. Is that a reason not to have them?
Just Bury Your Trash. What if everything we know about recycling is wrong? Well, it would still be a religious acts. There's that.
*Hint: Tom Lehrer
Human Extinction. Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution discusses whether artificial intelligence might be the end of the human race, and whether that is an altogether bad thing. I am struck by how the discussion is a little dated even eleven years later.
Paranoia Clearinghouse. Part One. Part Two Still applicable. With comments
Fibbing About Your Autobiography Interesting in view of the recent Jason Arday scandal. I regard it as a big deal, but is it really?
False Kindness Kills With Europeans as an example
Liberation GKC points out that it is our truisms that are untrue, and Bernie Sanders provides and example. I was fond of pointing out at the time that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders had the same top two issues - restricting immigration and taxing billionaires, but presented them in culturally opposite packages.
We Have No 'Right to Happiness' An essay by CS Lewis
This looks like you could take it a lot of places in American and fit right in.
Here's a lot more, if you'd like it.
