I read a short passage from Joel Salatin’s “The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs” this morning. Just because we have been blessed with natural resources or other kinds of resources, does it mean we have to consume them utterly? Have we not heard of the hydrological cycle, the carbon cycle, etc? All solar-powered, of course! This […]
One or two short paragraphs today. When people say that Afghanistan is the “graveyard of empires”, what do they mean? If backward barbarians like the Mongols under Mongke Khan were able to effectively crush the Assassins in Afghanistan, how is it that more modern, presumably better-led and overall better armies could not? Know someone for […]
I happened to pick up a poor, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young person this morning. I say “poor” because I was the one who happened to pick her up, but I hope I didn’t scare her too much. She had been working in an “operations” role for just over a month, so I thought I’d poke […]
This portion is about how it is far easier to concentrate power rather than to concentrate knowledge, and it is knowledge, what lies between people’s ears, that will bring you economic prosperity. Contact me if you want more!
“Good work and good works” is an essay by CS Lewis written probably before 1959 but was published before Christmas of that year in the Catholic Arts Quarterly, according to what I read in “The Imaginative Conservative.” I came across the essay while listening to something else online and immediately sought to purchase an ebook […]
I came across this essay by CS Lewis while listening to something else online and determined immediately to get a copy in print. Well, electronic print, that is. I discovered that this essay, “Good work and good works” was available together with the ebook version of “Screwtape proposes a toast” and purchased a copy. I […]
I embed a video of a conversation between Peter Robinson and Victor Davis Hanson here. If I could add a title in the midst of VDH’s name, I would add “Diligent” to “Davis”. How he managed to be a Professor and farm at the same time is beyond me. All I can say is that […]
A very short read today. I would like to buy the book on “Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan” which is edited by KAORU (KAY) UEDA, or should I say, by Dr Kay Ueda, which is the name by which I got to know about her and her work, but I hesitate because I […]
This morning we read a small portion of “The Empire Strikes Back” of Claire Berlinski’s “There is no alternative”, which is a book about Margaret Thatcher. I first encountered this book some years ago when I was watching a conversation between Peter Robinson and Claire Berlinski on his show “Uncommon Knowledge” on YouTube. I have […]
I read today George Friedman’s article “The New Reality in the Ukraine War.” This is free on the Geopolitical Futures website and can be accessed here: https://geopoliticalfutures.com/the-new-reality-in-the-ukraine-war/ If you need Read Aloud practice, and you do, try to read more than mere basic stuff. Read something that will challenge the way you think, or maybe […]
Today I read a small portion of Thomas Sowell’s “Wealth, poverty and politics.” I highly recommend that you get the book and read it for yourself. I have no financial arrangements with any publisher for helping to publicize books that I happen to like. Contact me if you could do with Read Aloud practice, or […]
I read this morning a short passage from Jack Weatherford’s “Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world”. It was taken from Chapter 3 and was about some aspects of Mongol Law, especially about how the rulers themselves were subject to it. Did you think the Mongols under Genghis Khan were savage, bloodthirsty brutes […]
This is today’s reading of a short passage taken from Thomas Sowell’s “Wealth, Poverty and Politics” which I have enjoyed immensely. It is from Chapter 8 of the same, and I trust you will enjoy it enough to get your own copy of the book for yourself. If you’d like help in reading it, or […]
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. A lack of honouring those in leadership does. This is because we become disrespectful if we don’t honour others, not just those in leadership, and disrespect slides into contempt and all the rest of it. Familiarity needs to be careful to avoid the “Practice Makes Perfect” or “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect” […]
I was introduced to the work of Dr Nicholas Eberstadt in Sep 2022, via Peter Robinson’s “Uncommon Knowledge.” Dr Nicholas Eberstadt is a political economist and holds the Henry Wendt chair in political economy at the American Enterprise Institute. I found the conversation on “Uncommon Knowledge” very insightful and have watched quite a few other […]
I must confess that the lorikeet wasn’t the one who told me that. But think abut it. If your economy is doing wonderfully great in its own ownderful way, why do you need to look frantically elsewhere for good projects so that you can reap the fruits of your bountifully astute investments? By the way, […]
The definition of a deepfake can actually be found in the Bible. I quote it below. (Pro 11:22)Â As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. The key word here is “Discretion.” The CharacterFirst! operational definition is quoted below. A deepfake is trying to be […]
The Cambridge Dictionary definitions of academia and rigor mortis, according to the Internet, are as seen below. The definitions of the strange terms used in the title of this post are, according to yours truly: Rigordemia: Rigorous pursuit of the truth, and the presentation thereof, concerning any given subject, topic or branch of knowledge without […]
When the ball of continuously-dividing human cells called a blastocyst starts to form our alimentary canal or digestive system, the anus is first formed, then the mouth. We do not know at this time why this is so. I have often heard anecdotally that one of the signs of impending death is when people state […]
I do glance occasionally at what’s going on in the world, and this RAND article caught my eye this morning. You can read it for yourself. The screenshot is linked to the article. There are two conditions which must be enforced and lived by if “reconstruction and recovery” are to have any sense at all. […]
I have heard Dr Stephen Kotkin say on more than one occasion that Josef Stalin had the luxury of mobilizing his collectivized farmers as and when he felt the need for more cannon fodder, the term “cannon fodder” being an embellishment of my own. Leaders, both civilian and military, have used expressions similar to “I […]
I have been blessed with being able to access the works, analyses and so forth of Dr Steven E Koonin, author of “Unsettled. What climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters.” I was introduced to his work on climate science when listening to a conversation he had with the Hon John […]
News of the “miraculous” evacuation of all passengers and crew of the Japan Airlines aircraft which caught fire on the runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on 2 Jan 2024 are everywhere. Tragically, 5 of the 6 crew on board the Coast Guard aircraft perished in the incident. The Coast Guard aircraft was supposed to […]
I am about halfway through “The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs” by Joel Salatin. I bought the ebook because it costs less and I don’t have space for libraries in my apartment here in Singapore. I could read the book much faster, I suppose, but I am savouring each chapter as I read. I strongly recommend […]
Portions of two commentaries on Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” come to my mind frequently. When Wu Ch’i fought against Ch’in, there was an officer who before battle was joined was unable to control his ardour. He advanced and took a pair of heads and returned. Wu Ch’i ordered him beheaded. The Army Commissioner […]
I like articles from Geopolitical Futures because they are level-headed and based on facts. The analysis is good but of course not perfect. There are no perfect forecasts. The whole idea of the Read Aloud Program is not for you to hear how I read, but for you to get practice in Reading Aloud with […]
As part of the Read Aloud Program, this video is embedded below. If you would like to come on board the Read Aloud Program, do contact me for details. You can also refer to the Read Aloud Program page here. If you would like to participate with others, the maximum group size is three. Contact […]
I’m sharing a quick thought or two on what I have taken away from watching this discussion, which occurred on 26 Sep 2023 and featured Christian Brose, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. It was moderated by Stephen Kotkin, director of the Hoover History Lab. I have listened to the discussion a few times […]
The hashtag #MEFIRST is an eyesore because it means that people love having such messages popping up in front of them every too often. The media is full of such messages, and don’t blame the media because the media is giving people what people want to read, hear and watch. One such article caught my […]
I consider myself blessed to have had much opportunity to read as much as I liked. I would often sit at the crook of the staircase at home, taking two hours to finish my lunch while reading some book or other that I had borrowed from the National Library. I did go out to play […]
We see lots of news articles, debates and conversations about having small government. We also see more and more cries for more government interventions, taking care of the poor and downtrodden, “redistributing” wealth and income, making sure the planet doesn’t fry us and so forth. Now, let’s be clear. Small government, meaning government that does […]
I read a curious book several years ago as a young child. It was called “Devil’s Guard” and was supposed to be a sort of verbal history of a battalion of the French Foreign Legion operating in Vietnam during the time when the French were fighting the Viet Minh – forerunner of the Vietcong. The […]
I’ve never made or managed any “Investments” worthy of the term, as people in the investment world would view them. I’ve dabbled in trying to sell retail investments but never really liked it. The world of investments, finance, stocks, futures, money, crypto and so forth doesn’t interest me very much. It ranks alongside entertainment, drugs, […]
I share here my takeaways from this YouTube conversation between the Hon John Anderson and Dr James Orr. I had already embedded the conversation in my previous post “AR. Absconding Responsibility?“, but I embed it here again for easy reference. I usually recommend that you watch the entire episode, not just skim and listen to […]
What emerged out of the Singapore Conference On AI, or SCAI, aparently held from 4 to 6 Dec 2023, were 12 concerns that AI poses for mankind. I’m not going to list them here, do look them up on your own, whether on the Straits Times or elsewhere if that takes your fancy. I just […]
Dr Condoleezza Rice, the current Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution, says quite frequently that “It doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you’re going”. Immigration is one of the expressions of a truly free market economy. Refugees are a pernicious political problem. This is true at all levels, nationally […]
I was chatting with someone working for a global company and here for work, meetings and so forth. She was in charge of marketing, surprise, surprise, had had a full day of meetings but was still cheery. I asked her what she loved most about her job and she instantly enthused “I have a really […]
Henry Kissinger has died at age 100. Many will remember him as the most well-connected person on the face of the earth. George Friedman of Geopolitical Futures and Niall Ferguson, author of “The Square and the Tower” seem to think so. Henry Kissinger’s attractiveness was his ability to get you access to power and influence […]
Stopped at a traffic light, I observed a couple with their pet dog waiting to cross. The dog had caught my eye because it looked like a cross between a Greyhound, a Whippet and maybe something else, but also that most of its fur was like a small attempt at looking like the fur of […]
I refer of course to the Second World War American General George S Patton. I’m grateful to the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Dr Victor Davis Hanson for providing such illuminating insights into the life and times, worldviews and humanity of Lieutenant-General George S Patton. I have never paid much […]
Most of you reading this will have come across AR, for “Augmented Reality”. This is where AI is used to help you to “see” and perhaps later “hear”, “taste” and “feel” what you might be able to perceive should your environment be altered. For example, a furniture store might include AR to help you visualize […]
“How would you know unless you have been taught?” echoed hollowly in my memory as I recalled what some supposedly senior person had intoned from a supposedly high place. Yes, of course. I would also ask a question such as “How old are you?” and if you gave me an answer, say, “Sixty-five”, I would […]
Here are five posters. Feel free to improve on them and use them as you like. Make some of your own, too! You’re welcome! Subscribe with your email address at top right if you like this, and get your colleagues to subscribe as well. Subscription to posts is free. It’s the membership, tutorials and discussions […]
I grew up in the 60s and 70s, when it seemed that the Stylistics were “falsetto-ing” their way through suburban streets and shopping centres almost every day. I like the title of this song, and I embed it here from YouTube. It’s like singing about someone being a breath of fresh air. Recently, I’ve been […]
The title of this post is taken from Chapter 9 of Jack Weatherford’s “Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world”. It relates how the Mongol Khans often fought with each other but would pause long enough for each other’s commercial interests, which for one Khan often lay in the other Khan’s territory, to […]
Yesterday, I listened in grim dismay to two people who were obviously engaged in the schooling of young persons talking about how a few of their “better-performing” students had written essays where the introductions had definitely been “memorized”. They seemed to have embraced that poisonous idea that rote learning has become “passe”, although they did […]
We’ve all probably heard that we have grown from “Character OR Competence” to “Character AND Competence”. Simple but far too simplistic. Yes, there are times when great depth of meaning is conveyed by a simple four-character Chinese poem, and there are times when you need a PhD plus applied working experience to fully grasp what […]
Hearing someone trying to defend his views that the best thing which parents can give to their children is a good education and observing him flailing about helplessly trying to answer the question of what, actually, providing a good education means, brought a distant tune and phrase to my mind, “…when doves cry…” Hearing him […]
It is always refreshing to talk to people who actually seem to know what they’re talking about. So distinct from people just shooting their mouths off or running with the first slogan that feeds their deepest fears. A computer scientist was telling me that AI as in Artificial Intelligence was merely a tool and not […]
In Frank Herbert’s Dune series, it was said of Thufir Hawat, the mentat (Basically a human computer) of House Atreides, that he “…sees assassins in every shadow…”, meaning of course that he was perpetually paranoid about the safety, security and continued flourishing of House Atreides. Dr Condoleezza Rice, Director of the Hoover Institution, said in […]
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