Hanging out in the gorge
I've known the gorge on the Hill of Screen Burn since my twenties, but it's not a place I visit often. It's not, in itself, a spectacular gorge: short, narrow, and with a lot of trees which make it difficult to walk through, and although there is a waterfall at the upper end it's not a very big one.
I went up there in September of last year with a party of friends, and found that the gorge had changed in a significant and, to me, very exciting way: a mature oak tree had fallen into the gorge and ended up wedged across it, much broken but still living, about two and a half metres above the deep pool at the foot of the waterfall.
On representative democracy, and citizens' assemblies
This is not one of my finest essays; it's a response to an email on a local climate group which objected to Extinction Rebellion's proposal for a citizen's assembly on climate policy saying, in part:
I find the thought of randomly selecting people from the general population and giving them what amounts to legislative power quite frightening. Given the level to which ßthe UK is dumbed down, the poor standards of education, general ignorance of science etc etc, I can't see how the majority of the members of a Citizens' Assembly would be in any way competent to be given the powers that XR proposes to give them.
Challenged on this (not by me), the original poster went on to quote Churchill:
What's so good about Kenshi?
What's so good about Kenshi?
I've been writing for literally fifteen years about the game I'd like to build, but assumed I couldn't because one person can't possibly build all the systems and assets required for a full scale open world game. And while I have been messing about and producing literally only tiny scraps of code, one person — Chris Hunt — has actually done it.
The game he has created — largely working alone — has many of the features, and much of the richness, of the game I've been writing about. The difference is, his is finished, it works, and it's being played.
Cycle parking for Auchencairn
Cycle parking for Auchencairn
The current situation
Auchencairn — despite its hills — has over the past four years become a village where many people cycle; increasingly, people cycle on routine, utilitarian journeys, like going to the shop, or to events in the village hall.
The bike I don't love
The bike I don't love
I've reviewed a lot of bikes on this blog, both bikes of my own and bikes I've borrowed. And most of those reviews are pretty enthusiastic. They're bikes I've loved. What I'm writing about today is the bike I don't love. The bike which, even when I chose it, even before I bought it, I knew I wouldn't love. And yet, it was a sensible bike to buy, and I don't regret the decision.
