Retired scientist, I read a lot, fiction and non-fiction, on a wide range of subjects, though science, politics, philosophy, law, science fiction and historical detective stories are favourites.
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Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named Desiderata who had a good …
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
She hated everything that predestined people, , that fooled them, that made them slightly less than human.
— Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, Book 12) (Page 239)
Granny Weatherwaxes views on the Destiny vs Free Will debate.
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
Mrs Gogol could feel them among the trees. The homeless. The hungry. The silent people. Those forsaken by men and gods. The people of the mists and the mud, whose only strength was somewhere on the other side of weakness, whose beliefs were and rickety and home made as their homes. And the people from the city - not the ones who lived in big white houses and went to balls in fine coaches, but the other ones. They were that ones that stories are never about. Stories are not, on the whole, interested in swineherds who remain swineherds and poor and humble shoemakers whose destiny is to die slightly poorer and much humbler. These people were the ones who made the magical kingdom work, who cooked its meals and swept its floors and carted its night soil and were its faces in the crowd and whose wishes and dreams, undemanding as they were, were of no consequence. The invisibles.
— Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, Book 12) (Page 236)
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
The hut in the forest on little legs could be a reference to the Hut of Baba Yaga
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
Magrat: 'I wonder if we did the right thing? I'm sure it was a job for a handsome prince' 'Hah' said Granny (Weatherwax), 'And what good would that be? Cutting your way through a piece of bramble is how you can tell he's going to be a good husband is it? That's fairy godmotherly thinking, that is! Goin' round inflicting happy endings on people whether they wants them or not, eh' 'There's nothing wrong with happy endings' said Magrat hotly. 'Listen, happy endings is fine if they turn out happy' said Granny, 'but you can't make 'em happy for other people.' ... 'You can't make happiness ... all you can do is make an ending'
— Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, Book 12) (Page 118)
Granny Weatherwax has just woken a Sleeping Beauty, and Magrat is worried this will deprive the girl of a Happy Ending. In contrast to Happiness where the main characters experience of happiness is personal and hard won, much of Witches Abroad is about Happy Ever After imposed from outside. Many Dystopias , real and fictional stem from a desire to impose a perfect society on other people. Under Pol Pot almost a quarter of the population died, due to an attempt to create his vision of an ideal society.
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
Granny Weatherwax paused. She'd been pondering for some while. She wasn't at all certain about the meaning of the word 'decadent'. She'd dismissed the possibility that it meant 'having ten teeth' in the same sense that Nanny Ogg, for example, was unident.
— Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, Book 12) (Page 96)
Terry Pratchett loves to play with words in a way which reminds me of the 'Uxbridge English Dictionary' from the radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
The small grey froglike creature is a reference to Gollum, who Bilbo encounters in The Hobbit.
Be careful what you wish for...Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named …
'So a thousand heroes have stolen fire from the gods...' I suspect this is a reference to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Myths - and new ways of looking at them are a common Pratchett theme
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
Attila, explaining to Jean why her attempt to bring a scientific viewpoint to the subject of urban foxes had not gone well, in comparison to the simplistic solution proposed by the Mayor - based around the three words Urban, Disease, Destruction. 'The trick of politicians is to know what those are and appear to be addressing the concerns they raise, if only by making sure they repeat them often engough. The public likes to be indulged, and there are those happy to do so in the interests of their career or ambitions. But you would not indulge the listeners of the radio show. You spoke plainly, it is your job as scientist to deal with facts and it is also your nature. You treated the listeners like adults.' This reminded me of Transactional Analysis. The politician speaks in a comforting Parent-Child mode, but Jean tries to speak adult-adults, which …
Attila, explaining to Jean why her attempt to bring a scientific viewpoint to the subject of urban foxes had not gone well, in comparison to the simplistic solution proposed by the Mayor - based around the three words Urban, Disease, Destruction. 'The trick of politicians is to know what those are and appear to be addressing the concerns they raise, if only by making sure they repeat them often engough. The public likes to be indulged, and there are those happy to do so in the interests of their career or ambitions. But you would not indulge the listeners of the radio show. You spoke plainly, it is your job as scientist to deal with facts and it is also your nature. You treated the listeners like adults.' This reminded me of Transactional Analysis. The politician speaks in a comforting Parent-Child mode, but Jean tries to speak adult-adults, which is rejected.
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
Jean wonders what causes humans to want to form relationships with wild animals. I suspect this is the same ancestral drive that led to domestication of wolves into dogs, the taming of wild horses and cattle and the evolution from hunter/gatherers to farmers.
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
In discussing whether trauma might not always result in permanent negative effects Attila is describing the possibility of Survivorship bias
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
My daughter, when she was a child, collected those, this is one she gave me. I keep it because she gave it to me and because it reminds me of what I do. This is how most people want to live They want to be safe, they want to be comfortable. They want to believe that they are in control of their lives and they want that thing that we call freedom. It comes at a price, but don't you dare mention that. People want choices without consequences. And we give it to them, fools that we are. We are the "somebody" people who have no bloody intention of doing anything mean when they say that somebody must do something. I blame books, films, all that nonsense. There's always a bloody hero who makes it all good. At least in Shakespeare the whole lot die in the end. Lear is great for that. It's the reward you get for suffering through it. That's why there is always so much applause.
Quell
— Happiness by Aminatta Forna (Page 206 - 207)
Quell had spent his career as a crisis negotiator.
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
Paraphrasing Attila - In Government they are taught to treat the electorate like six year olds. If you ask them a question on any subject most of them can only come up with 3 words we identify with that thing. The words depend on what our concerns are or what the newspapers tell us our concerns are.
I believe social media is replacing newspapers as the main source. News consumption in the UK: 2024
This is a risk as it is less trustworthy - due to having fewer checks and reduced traceability.
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
In Attila's view free will was a circus horse you had to stay astride, it took every every muscle in your body and every moment of your concentration.
it was interesting to encounter, in a book with themes, amongst others, of migration both for people and for foxes, coyotes and wolves - a connection to Determined which also shows the deep connections between humans and other animals.
A fox makes its way across London's Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to …
Expert witnesses duty is to the court, rather than whichever side pays them, and their payment can not be contingent on supporting a particular position
