Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Why is a crooked letter and can't be straightened

Our forebears are not as silly as we are often tempted to think . My mother in law 's old saying is right on the ball .
Sometimes you and I need to be perfectly honest and accurate about talking science - we need to say, like her, that "we haven't got time to discuss it properly right now". For those who don't know the expression . My wife would ask the good question as a child "why? " and "why mum why? " of her mother and get the above answer  .Lateral thinking - gloriously non greek stuff
The point is , I don't mind why and where you have to go to get there ...with such questions - the reality is that lots of people ( most) are not prepared to take the journey , so their jumping ship is plain annoying and time wasting for us scientists  ( honest engagement is the key).
Take the way journos as a whole fail to recognise like psychologists do that we all have  a religious bent ( may not  talk about it but ) Thoughtful reactionaries TR's and Aethists are right to be concerned about the dangerousness of religion - They are, like us,   impatient with where our society is heading but TR's  don't analyse the context well  enough to recognise whats good and bad ( that it motivates people and that's needed) about what we both  rightly see as "explosive stuff."  Reactionaries  miss the whole point of course  because they dismiss their own history -they don't see that freedom of religion out of the Bible is freedom to think for yourself  . many of course can't see that but the image of God portrayed there is clear in  setting those boundaries and maintaining them right through.  
Jon Feine and Tony Jones will pretend they have time sometime to talk through things ,  but I try to avoid listening because like most scientists and geo scientists like myself,  they only allow a limited conversation to occur on their favourite controversial subject and solution - and one which may well just suits their prejudice as non scientists quoting select science ( mere description ) .As presenters they jump ship when it suits them - not the audience ( any objective survey would pick this up ) They call the move - "moving on!:"
Point is , only scientists  these days seem  have time to discuss science .
If only the long suffering public would switch off too when the investigating jounalist has only 6 /   minutes of problem solving time in his consultation .
What these dummy gurus don't know yet is like my mother in law wisely recognised - it probably wouldn't have mattered how good her explanation was if she gave one - the child looking for incharge wouldn't be getting what they wanted out of the story sharing exercise anyway - she saved time . How wise can you be --. saving time.
What the dummy advisory panels  in the ABC and the political heavies have yet to realise is that talk is fine-- if you have time to waste  . The shit will really hit the fan when the patient tries to implement the idea  (MPCCC)  You heard it first on blogger on 23rd June 2011

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

We know



Remember that great moment on Fawlty Towers when Sybil is saying to her friend on the phone while both are propped up in bed " I know . I know , I know " . Your listening but you are not really listening . Too much

Loved Red's reflection today on 774 on lack of humility by the 2 who "knew all about the moon "- 


A constant driver for a very high view of one's own knowledge ( and the pedantry that is part theme here ) has been the very  human tendency to presume on one's own knowledge  .
I have come to believe  that God gives us children to remind us just how bad that disease can really be ----quite close to home.
 :"I know ": they say : "Do you have to go on ": "oh Dad .....not again "  . I mean the only reason you keep annoying them ( is not because you enjoy being a pain to your children ) but simply because you care that they don't stumble ......the truth clearly hasn't sunken in yet ...going on the rhetoric .
And it doesn't go away - "to tell you the truth" ( how do we treat all the've said before )....." how do know a man is lying.... his lips are moving" .
In the face of all the things we don't know and that stumbling stupidity we all seem to have , Truth is often out the door .  How come Jesus could  make that most amazing claim that He was" the way, The Truth and the Life "- he would have to be a megloomaniac or addressing one of the biggest diseases and maladaptive drivers of mankind  ..head on  - OUR pretence about what we know and what we think we know.