…or maybe not quite that many
Due to the incredibly poor nature of youtube video compression, the video slideshow of January 25 looked awful, so here are the photos in their original quality (click the image to view a larger version).
Peace and power
I have felt rather puzzled by things, of late. Not just because I spent much of this morning attempting to understand the concept of flux linkage for my IB Physics Mock Exam. No, in fact part of my puzzlement comes from the UK Government’s decision to build more nuclear power stations. The thing is, I would probably be more inclined to consider the viability of nuclear power if it was clear that there was no possibility that we could meet global warming emissions targets through green energy and efficiency alone. In any case, according to someone who I heard speaking on the radio, the plants will not even be ready in time to provide energy before the point in the next few decades when it would be too late to reverse climate change anyway, making their contribution irrelevant. And we should sit back and think, for a moment, about the long-term issues at stake (granted, I have given up expecting that from a New Labour government, but it would be a nice surprise). According to my rough calculations (and consultation of that most reliable of repositories of knowledge: Wikipedia), the waste produced would have to be stored in a safe and stable environment for several times longer than there has been civilisation on the face of the Earth. Don’t get me wrong, I do have some faith in the Human Race, but we do seem to have an exceptional ability to turn stability into instability, and with remarkable regularity.
Which leads me to another thing that has perplexed me this week. I seem to remember that the first post I ever wrote involved Tony Blair’s intention to be a Middle East peace envoy. Well, it turns out Tony is too busy advising invest bank JP Morgan (in return, purportedly, for a cool million bucks), so the conflict riven region is stuck with his boss, the Conflict-creator-in-chief, George W. Bush. Apparently his plan to solve the complex problems surrounding Israel and Palestine is to tell everyone that they really should stop fighting because he said so. Perhaps, though, I should be less cynical, since peace is in everyone’s interests. Or, perhaps George Bush’s foreign policy, up till now, has been a huge, costly and grossly misunderstood post-modern ironic gag. But, in that case, why has it taken him this long to realise that no-one is laughing? It seems much more likely that cynicism is, indeed, in order, it being Bush’s final year in office. I suspect that almost everyone will remember Bush’s presidency. Though not for the reasons that he might wish them to.
I have now moved my blog to wordpress.com. This means that all new posts can be found at the following address: http://jacobbutler.wordpress.com.
"This negativity just makes me stronger, we will not retreat, this band is unstoppable."
Before we begin – another quick notice. I have a new (extra) blog, located at http://balcoragate.wordpress.com. It’s called Gateway and it’s a place for me to post shorter, more “single-subject-orientated” (which is certainly not a word) posts. Right. On with the post (which is short today, due to the necessity of mock exam revision).
Whilst the title of this blog is Refuge, the URL is “retreatretreat.blogspot.com”. When I started the blog I never mentioned why the sub-domain is “retreatretreat”. So that’s what I shall do now. It refers to a song named Retreat! Retreat! by Sheffield-based group 65daysofstatic (who I believe I have mentioned before). (In my opinion) its quite an incredible piece of music, though it my not appear so on the first listen, expecially for those not familiar with 65daysofstatic. In a way, it is even something of a departure for them. When set against some of their other work, the main theme which runs throughout the piece is remarkably simple, yet never boring. I once had the opportunity to see them perform live, which was both a loud experience and also very cool. Their web-site, which also functions as their blog, has audio and video clips which can be viewed free. The video for Retreat! Retreat! can be found at: http://www.65daysofstatic.com/video.php?u=retreat_retreat.flv&name=Retreat!%20Retreat!. The song which plays automatically when the homepage of their site loads (obscurely titled Install a Beak in the Heart That Clucks Time in Arabic) is also rather brilliant.
