tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20402741618916627592024-03-28T14:17:34.631+00:00Ianto's Blog (Ian West)Searching for the <i> Essential Simplicity </i> that underlies complex subjects. Total 'hits' to date: 128,650. (My currently popular posts are automatically listed in the right hand column. For a 'round-up' see: http://cawstein.co.uk/)
Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.comBlogger289125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-44769137629963892242024-03-07T23:01:00.005+00:002024-03-07T23:10:05.783+00:00Awake Awake: A Wake The bar was full of strangers dressed in black. I looked at the barmaid. Was she also new? Or familiar? (I had been away six weeks and my jet lag was yet to wear off.) I looked at her full in the face, from quite close up, which combined to render her face almost featureless, and completely unfamiliar. Mind you, that was always a problem Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-61523799039021225702024-02-07T21:41:00.017+00:002024-02-13T18:19:21.337+00:00Street sounds in our Colonia Street sounds in our ColoniaEach time I hear a new noise I am tempted to look out of the window to see if I can identify the source. It might be a wheezy whistle, or a clear warble, a distant trumpet, or a marimba played with 4 hammers, or distant but uplifting snatches of brass band music; or, as yesterday and today, the unrelenting and shattering sound of nearby road works. So Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-87389033582864428222024-01-25T21:26:00.005+00:002024-02-13T18:54:55.330+00:00Cost of carbon capture as timberCost of carbon capture as timber People are pushing the idea of saving the world from overheating by capturing atmospheric CO2. But need that be an industrial process? It happens naturally; in photosynthesis. The world has been through many cycles of high and low levels of atmospheric CO2. I want to know if we can encourage carbon capture by fostering the growth of plants: Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-81904368984616385052024-01-20T18:20:00.006+00:002024-02-06T17:45:20.158+00:00Impressions of MexicoSome early impressions from my latest visit to Mexico. It is my tenth visit to Mexico since 2015, but in the first 24 hours of this latest visit I already have three rather terrible stories to record. I have often been told tales of kidnappings in the City, and drug-related murders in the country, and learned the shocking word 'feminicidio'; but until now I was always able to waive that Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-55212048676897979752024-01-02T10:38:00.009+00:002024-01-03T20:19:29.263+00:00Separating Inflation and GrowthSeparating Inflation and Growth I am glad to have discovered this 2016 article by Steve Drew, Phil Lewis and Craig McLaren [2], describing "chain-linking methods used in the U.K. national accounts". I am finally able to clear up some questions that have been bothering me since 2009. It is a complex subject, and it may be that they handle the complexities well. But I wish they Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-25061744541760554112023-12-05T17:57:00.008+00:002023-12-29T22:47:19.004+00:00Emotion versus Reason Emotion versus ReasonStimulated by some words in Meeting on Sunday, I recalled that I preferred sorting disputes by recourse to reason, rather than emotion. This strong preference of mine emerged during the period around the break-up of my marriage. In many soliloquies I had silently verbalised my preference thus: suppose one party wants this and the other party wants that, how can they&Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-62585089874517501412023-12-03T16:56:00.001+00:002023-12-03T16:58:07.952+00:00Life after Death Life after Death I think there is some truth in claiming that Christianity's great success, the feature that allowed it to become the world's 'biggest religion, was by promising 'Life after Death'. (A feature it shares with Islam, the 'second biggest religion'.) The idea that something, (the soul or core or essence of a person) could survive death seems to be basic to the human psyche and Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-88754753656956679172023-12-01T10:43:00.007+00:002023-12-01T16:40:17.138+00:00Palestine could lease land to IsraelPalestine could lease land to Israel.Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal. (The Palestinian West Bank is land taken by Israel by force in the war of 1967, and the Israeli presence is thus against International law. )Israel covets that land.(There are many Israelis who want to live in Arab land with such a fierce craving that they break the laws of normal civilised life in Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-5552841296848504592023-11-20T17:26:00.001+00:002023-11-20T17:26:59.275+00:00Is happiness elusive because mostly in the mind? To a pen-friend I was fated never to meet.I think of myself as searching for a happiness which seems destined always to evade me. I wonder if that is because the happiness I seek is imaginary. In our heads we can piece together imaginary animals which can be thought of, but which could never exist; like centaurs with the body and legs of a horse. Similarly we can imagine a day of sunnyIan Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-64250113565938216302023-11-17T12:18:00.009+00:002023-11-21T20:56:22.251+00:00Standing Charges for Energy Dear OFGEM, You ask for feedback on the question of Standing Charges, (to the email address StandingCharges@ofgem.gov.uk.) I have been against Standing Charges for a long time, both in regard to energy and water. There is, of course, a certain cost involved in connecting a house to the grid and in providing a meter, even when energy is not used. And some charge for those services is Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-63066975376682107062023-10-30T11:31:00.010+00:002023-11-08T10:22:33.351+00:00TerrorismTerrorismMy Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1973) defines Terrorism as:"Terrorism (te.roriz'm). 1795. A system of terror. 1. Government by intimidation; the system of the 'Terror' (1793-4); see prec. 2. gen. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the fact of terrorizing or condition of being terrorized 1798." The term was invented by the French, Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-5370094915814041082023-10-20T13:14:00.002+01:002023-10-20T13:15:33.208+01:00Failure to Understand the Benefits of Taxation Further to my post of 21 June 2023, which I hoped the Times would publish, I redrafted and sent the following to Professor William Davies who had just published an article on Inflation and Interest Rates in the London Review of Books. Dear William Davies, The rather rapid rise in interest rates in recent months is certainly putting a great strain on many young house-buyers. And Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-82256663825448227102023-10-17T13:06:00.021+01:002023-11-21T21:12:17.721+00:00The Evolving English Language The Evolving English Language I know, of course, that language evolves; and that it is by this evolution that we have reached the present state of English as it is spoken today. I also know that English is spoken differently by the English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Yankees, Canadians, Indians, the Hong Kong Chinese, etc., not to mention the myriad Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-53122885228205501372023-08-21T09:50:00.010+01:002023-08-22T10:37:36.979+01:00I audition at the Tree Café, Taipei City I audition at the Tree Café, Taipei City汐止夢想藝術村 That was an interesting evening, in mid-January 2003. Let me tell you. According to an advertisement posted in Taiwan's English Language newspaper, the Tree Café at Xizhi wanted 'foreigners' for bar work and to play music. I was interested in the latter. I had said on the phone to Amy Tsai that I would be at Xizhi at 7pm. She had Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-2767509736655786682023-07-31T10:56:00.012+01:002023-10-26T14:33:01.375+01:00How solid are the concepts of 'fairness' and 'moral equality'? (This post was prompted by hearing Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss "Rawls' Theory of Justice".) [1] Should laws be fair? What, then, is 'fairness'? It is clear that laws are useful, if only to regulate society. And it is clear that they are only useful if they are obeyed by a majority of citizens (a 'consensus'). We can believe, without extensive research, Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-81655660012141585592023-07-27T21:42:00.006+01:002023-11-14T21:53:19.739+00:00 The Importance of Other People's hard Work The Importance of Other People's hard Work I noticed an article in The Daily Telegraph (Miss Chang, 22 July 20230) pointing out that the USA is getting relatively richer while the UK is getting relatively poorer, dropping from the worlds richest country (GDP per head) to the 5th. I wondered if the British knew just as well as the Americans how hard they wanted to work, andIan Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-5968114775341892732023-06-22T20:33:00.004+01:002023-06-23T17:14:00.094+01:00Raise Income Tax!The Editor, The Times, London; 21 June 2023.Dear Sir, It seems to me that considerable money was created and spent into the economy during the COVID emergency, for the benefit of all. Either we recall it, or we let inflation adjust the value of the pound. Inflation is a sneaky and unfair 'tax'; it erodes the value of cash savings, and penalises those on Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-85601489085899787102023-05-31T12:38:00.010+01:002023-08-15T23:13:20.388+01:00TAX: good or bad TAX: GOOD OR BAD FOR THE AVERAGE TAXPAYER? Of course taxes lower our take-home pay; no question. But, equally obviously, taxes fund the many services that central government provides. Are taxes, then, a good thing or a bad thing? And why did all the candidates for the post of Tory party leader promise to degrade further our public services? The better-off pay more tax than the Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-84284395567563467212023-05-28T15:40:00.019+01:002023-08-11T00:32:47.800+01:00Time to ThinkTime to think
Oh! How I love having time to think! And how glad I am that I can still catch and entertain those ethereal, disembodied spirits that float into the mind, linger and vanish!
My time has largely run its course, and I am slowing down. Not only do I get less done in a day than once I did; but time grows more treasured as it becomes more scarce. There is no part of my Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-37490177324614797642023-05-27T11:55:00.005+01:002023-07-27T21:47:40.847+01:00Auto-regulation and its breakdownAuto-regulation and its breakdown(s)Regarding auto-regulation of cerebral blood-flow, there are several aspects to consider. The ones that occur to me off the top of my had are: the nature of the signal (perhaps cerebral [CO2] or [O2]), detection of the signal, release of the messenger, detection of the messenger by a target tissue, effect of messenger on target tissue (perhaps vascular dilation)Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-20153529265534533412023-05-23T12:02:00.012+01:002023-10-10T15:00:05.018+01:00Putin's Point of viewPutin's Point of View I recently discovered, more-or-less by accident, Putin's recent (July 2021) essay, on Ukraine-Russian relations; lengthy but honest and personal; his view of the relations that he thinks should subsist between Russia and Ukraine. I realised (by extrapolation) that there must be a very large number of people in the English-speaking world who do not yet know of this important Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-9896994733459617692023-05-16T17:35:00.008+01:002023-05-20T23:30:07.630+01:00The Minsk Agreements The Minsk Agreements(We, in the West, and certainly we in Britain, should know more about the Minsk Agreements. The Minsk Protocol (Minsk 1) of 5th September 2014 was barely heeded, and by January 2015 was dead. The revised Minsk Agreement (Minsk 2) of 12 February 2015 was signed by the combatants plus Swiss and Russian diplomats. The Russian text is available at [1], and in Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-87551157155440009932023-05-12T17:38:00.020+01:002023-07-31T15:45:00.680+01:00KickingKicking
A man (in a green pullover) by the bus stop is watching his two children playing on the grass some twenty yards away; and I watch all three. My mind wanders.
"Robbie! No kicking!", and the slight, weary, lift in his voice suggests that this is not the first time he has said those words.
I look more carefully at the children; the boy, a sturdy four-year-old, the girl considerably Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-77626753809080061452023-04-19T14:31:00.016+01:002023-07-31T15:45:51.421+01:00Kyiv4Kyiv and Ukraine: 1764-1918
As mentioned in my earlier post, the 'heart' of Ukraine existed from 1654 to 1764 as an independent 'Hetmanate' in the Russian State. (Polish 'Hetman', or 'Warlord', from the German 'Hauptmann'). That status ended in 1764 when Catherine II (the Great) abolished the post and rôle of Hetman.
Catherine, born Sophie in 1729, the German wife of tsar Peter III, Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2040274161891662759.post-65062968851392618302023-04-15T22:14:00.012+01:002023-04-21T11:00:07.587+01:00Alexei Razumovsky Alexei Razumovsky(I think this story will interest lovers of chamber music) In November 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna Romanova was 32 years old, active, vivacious, beautiful and intelligent, but she was poorly educated and still unmarried. She strongly resembled her father Peter I (Peter the Great) of Russia, and felt herself to be her father's natural successor. Somehow, Ian Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11114198240241657138noreply@blogger.com0