ed's on 'Sabbatical'

I'm on a sort of 'sabbatical' at present.  Leaving behind singaporean affairs and moving on to other matters.

I've always thought that focusing on the aforementioned affairs tends to dumb one down after a bit as it does not provide enough problems and perspectives which can enable the maximal development of one's perspectival potential.  Well, if you focus your intelligence and potentials on to fixing children’s rattles, you’re never going to explore greater realms of inquiry are you.

Well, from hereon, it’s on to that which strains the brain beyond the fetters of the familiar and relatively superficial.  This site will still continue to bang on about British affairs though, as it’s problems are of a more spectral variety,  whilst focusing on general socio-cultural-philosophical affairs that has dogged the interest of the greatest minds in human history....along with continuing my interest in art, photography, music composition, and most recently, building a homemade high-lumens bicycle light;)

It's a 'calling' i suppose.  If you feel inclined to go beyond the familiar and popular, it's your destiny to do so.

ed

The Meaning of Christmas, and A Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas, not, 'Happy Holidays', or 'Happy Break from Work and sleep till noon'.

Christmas & the Art of Gift-Giving

Throughout the year, humans exist largely as ‘employees’.

This means that people generally engage in those characteristics that make us ‘human’, such as listening, acting on, exhibiting interest, exercising imagination, interacting meaningfully and striving aspirationally solely at work. Everything else is generally ‘compensatory’ or ‘recuperative’. That is, they do what they do outside of work not because it is an avenue via which they express themselves – or other aspects of their personas – but simply because it helps them to recuperate from the myriad of maladies they suffer as a consequence of their absorption within the work environment. Hence, social life is reduced to the status of a reservoir from which they drink in order to be rejuvenated for work. In other words, life becomes little more than a means to work as opposed to the inverse.

Legal Music Downloads is Piracy

video: 'How to centre your bicycle torch', by ed

torch: ultrafire 501b 330 lumens.

mount: universal adjustable bike mount,

purchased from: lumenjunkies.co.uk - they do international shipping (no. i'm not in their employ, or receiving commission, in case you're wondering)


ed

art: R 20:3

[click image for larger view]

U.S. Buggers off from Iraq

“The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.
The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops that the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.” - bbc

ed’s comments beneath the excerpted bbc article,

Why ed prefers Cream to Clapton

I prefer Cream to Clapton as the former had the psychedelic spirit, which, in its aesthetic sense, attempt to go beyond the realms of the norm and popular. 

product review: Rido R-Lt bicycle saddle

The Rido R-Lt saddle sure is efficient in design, and sleek and stylish in design, but, unfortunately, it is certainly not really for MTB use despite what the manufacturers have to say about it being for 'serious mountain biking' as well. 

The Rape of Nanjing vs The Rape of China

Squabbles over patents...and how you’re screwed either way

[click top image to go to featured TechCrunch article]

Rather Jesus than...

The increasingly Confucian State of Britain

The survey suggests people are less willing to blame the state for poverty

Britons 'less willing to pay for taxes to help others'

Britons are less willing than ever to pay higher taxes to support the National Health Service, schools or the environment, a new survey suggests.

The National Centre for Social Research's 28th annual British Social Attitudes report also found increasing numbers blaming poverty on "laziness".

The BBC's Home Editor Mark Easton said it was a move towards "more emphasis on individual responsibility" - bbc.

It’s not surprising that a survey has indicated that the Brits are more inclined to blaming the victim, than the state, for poverty.  As V has said quite a few times, ‘this country is becoming more like America....in time, it is going to be just like singapore’. 

eds Backalley Band: The Gangster Trilogy

60s/70s Jazz-Blues-Psychedelic fusion.

composed, performed, produced, by ed