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How covid broke our relationship to spending
Recently the news broke that a record 9.2 million British working age adults don’t have a job and don’t want one. 700k more than in 2019. I feel like I kind of get it. Covid was a once in a lifetime emergency stop on everything. With the slamming of those brakes many shifts happened in…
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The games we choose to play
I recently got into Robert Sapolsky lectures on YouTube, after hearing him on The Rest is Politics. The guy has a very lucid way of explaining everything, and a style of speaking that holds my attention for hours. One thing that got me thinking in this lecture on language is: “Language comes from peers –…
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Saltburn’s strange parallel with the refugee crisis
Saltburn is a modern film, of its time in its portrayal of homo-eroticism and a quirky, ‘A24 horror’ vibe. Here’s why I think Saltburn, deliberately or not – may also be finding relevance by resonating with people’s fear of refugees and immigration: The first thing to understand is that Saltburn is not an ‘eat the…
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Why we give up on Dutch
The point of learning any language, Dutch included; is to be able to communicate more clearly with the people around you. Unlike with other languages, trying to learn Dutch is guaranteed to slam the brakes on quality of communication. This half Dutch half American Derek Scott Mitchell has become a total hero by memifying this…
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The Diderot effect
Isn’t it great when you learn a new word and realise you’ve been looking for it for years. Now that its January (new year new me) I started listening to the ‘Atomic Habits’ audiobook. I bought it when my boss recommended it in 2021 and its taken me a while to bring myself to listen…
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Yes it’s a glorified autocomplete, but so are you
Did you know that you can only perceive an object’s colour if you’re looking directly at it, that the human eye does not have ‘rods’ capable of distinguishing colours in peripheral vision. It sounds crazy but it can be demonstrated easily – if someone holds a randomly coloured tennis ball in your peripheral vision you…
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5 thoughts after 6 nights in America
I love the USA, its a Disney masterpiece, it’s a cheesy pop key change. American culture assumes the best in you and rubs off on you. It is however, boring talking about stuff you like, its much more interesting to pick through the confusing, unsatisfying aspects of experience – here are 5 things that stick…
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What Jessie J taught us about money
In 2011, Jessie J waited patiently for Coconut Man, Moonhead and Pea to be ready before she bravely imparted some wisdom onto the world. Money is brilliant and fascinating. Two years after Price Tag came out I remember standing mesmerised in the bathroom, opening the Barclays mobile banking app and seeing my current account balance…
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Ziggy and the worry hole
I don’t really think of myself as having anxiety. I’ve never had medication for it and I’m aware a lot of people do – so I figure I can’t be that bad. However, a massive part of my life consists of hanging around overthinking about the 1 thing on my mind – and it’s always…
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Dr Strange and the Multiverse of your ordinary life
The moment I gave up on the new Dr Strange movie was when they labelled the different universes as ‘Earth-838’ or ‘Earth-616’ – implying strongly that there’s around 1k versions of Earth in the multiverse. I love sci-fi when its in the neighbourhood of feeling plausible (this is why I loved LOST) and I immediately…
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Maybe I don’t want to recycle
What do these two things have in common? In both cases it is implied that an unpleasant task falls on the shoulders of the individual in order to allow space for corporations to maximally thrive. Effectively asking people to take responsibility where its not in their interest to. ‘Privatise the profits, nationalise the debt’ In…
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Truth, lies, good and bad
The war, reading the Guardian, being overwhelmed by ‘takes’ on Twitter, watching Russell Brands videos on it, and having to deal with a Chinese viewpoint at home has got me thinking a lot about right and wrong. In the west we have a belief that open, free, uncensored information will always lead to lies being…