http://www.flourish.org/blog Personal accounts of interesting things that I'm seeing or doing. Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:47:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Travelling by car back from relatives yesterday, a woman’s voice, inside a box as small as my hand, knew exactly where we were at all times, and gave my mother detailed directions at every turn. Earlier this year, a multinational corporation simulated a brain the size of a mouse’s on a ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=173 Some people complain that all the activism, campaigning, trying to change the world for the better never has any affect. In the last year I can think of 4 major victories, all in campaigns I’ve had a small involvement in. Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill - I posted about this boring ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=170 Three weeks ago my friend and colleague Chris Lightfoot committed suicide. He’d been taking anti-depressants for a long time. My mind flips like a necker cube between loving anger and complete compassion. Anger with anyone for deliberately leaving the privilege of being in this beautiful world. Compassion for the extreme ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=169 The unusual short film competition with board games which I was at two weeks ago was fantastic fun. Again, Mark has a bit to say about it. There’s also loads on the Really Restrictive Shorts blog which I wrote some of. Click the “1, 2, 3, 4… next… last…” links ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=168 I’m in Wales, helping out at a most unusual short film competition, with boardgames. I can’t do better than my flatmate Mark at explaining it, so if you want to know what we’re doing read his post on the subject. Also since writing here last, I’ve spent a while in North ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=167 So, I just bought a return flight from London Heathrow to Boston (Massachusetts, not Lincolnshire, cheap short haul flights haven’t got that crazy yet!), leaving the day after tomorrow. This cost a mere £308, which is very cheap. Today is the day the Stern Review came out, which means it ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=166 For three years now I’ve subscribed irregularly to a box of fruit and vegetables from Cambridge Organic Food Co. On Sunday or Monday, If I’m going to be at home enough later in the week, I leave them an answer phone message. Then on Wednesday afternoon there’s a knock ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=165 I have a rule, implied in the text at the top of this page, not just to post links to other stories and websites in this blog. But these crazy American artists are too much fun not to. “This summer we are building rafts and floating down the Mississippi River. ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=164 China has a new great wall, which blocks parts of the Internet from its citizens. This is partly done by absolute blocks, for example banning the BBC because it has a Chinese language news site. But it is also done by more subtle means - letting the companies who ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=162 (For background, read my posts Chinese family history and Child of the atom bomb first) In Shanghai, Rosemary and I went to a few more places related to our family history. Shanghai has undergone massive development, knocking down of whole areas, building of new skyscrapers. Amazingly, everywhere we went was ... http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=150