Archive for August, 2007
Easter Island revisited
I’ve been puzzling for a long time over something I read in Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. He tells the story of Easter Island, in the centuries before Europeans’ occasional visits, and of an ecological disaster caused by deforestation. If that is correct it represents a very interesting, and very poignant, problem.
Here’s my picture of what [...]
Using the mote in your eye to obscure the beam in theirs.
Governments and the lobbyists who advise them have a problem. Many of the things done by large corporations are good ways to make money but bad for voters. In a democratic country, with a well informed population, it would be simple: people would insist that their elected representatives pass rules preventing corporations from doing these [...]
The trouble with boys
There’s a dog living across the road from me. It’s a young golden retriever, sweet tempered and extremely friendly. I regularly see it taking its owners for a walk. I’m not exaggerating. The dog strains on the leash and Deborah or Micheal struggle not to be pulled over. Bonnie chooses where to go, and how [...]
