Born Again

Crab

Merry Christmas 2011

Tex at Trinity Church

Watering Can

Doorstep Toyism part 2

Breaking the Habits of a Lifetime

The Natural Filter

It my seem a bit ripe of me to comment but having done a little surfing it has to be said that the quality of information in the digital age does not match the quantity. When I was younger I wanted to have a book published. I also was quite lazy. If I had had the money I may have got some rubbish self published. If I had done this I think I would regret it. There are a few great books, 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' was one, that are submitted to many publishers and rejected before somebody picks up on it. Indeed these would be a great loss. More often than not each rejection forces the writer to further hone thier work until it is worthy of being published. Now I would not choose self publishing unless in an extreme case. I would not some embarrassing ill concieved representation of me out there. This blog should be taken at face value; there are good moments and bad. I usually write things out and post them to test the water. Often, with hindsight I see the weaknesses. The better ideas may get used in real projects. My blog is a sketchbook. A collection of rough notes.

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Nietzsche and Freud agree, we are ignorant of ourselves. The idea became commonplace in the 20th century. It still is but it is changing shape. It used to be thought that the things we didn't know about ourselves were dark, emotionally fetid, sexually charged. This was supposed to be why we were ignorant of them; we couldn't face them so we repressed them. The deep explanation of our astonishing ability to be unaware of our true motives and to what was really good for us, lay in our hidden hang ups.
These days the bulk of the explanation is done by something else; the 'dual process' model of the brain. We no know that we apprehend the world in two radically opposed ways, employing two fundamentally different modes of thought; 'system 1' and 'system 2'. System 1 is fast, it's intuitive, associative, metaphorical, automatic , impressionistic and it can't be switched off. It's operations involve no sense of intentional control, but it is 'the secret author of many of the choices and judgements you make' and it is the hero of Daniel Kahnemans alarming, intelectually aerobic book.
System 2 is slow, deliberate, effortful. Its operations require attention. It takes over when things get too difficult. Its 'the conscious being called 'I'', and one of Khanemans main points is that this is a mistake. You are wrong to identify with system 2 for you are also and equally system 1. System 2 is slothful and tires easily, (a process called ego depletion) so it usually accepts what system 1 tells it. It is mostly right to do so as system 1 is pretty good at what it does; its highly sensitive to subtle environmental cues, asigns of danger and so on. It kept our remote ancesstors alive. It does, however, pay a high price for speed. It loves to simplify, to assume 'what you see is all there is' even as it gossips, embroiders and confabulates. Its hopelessly bad at the kind of statistical thinking often required for good decisions, it jumps wildly to conclusions and is subject to a fantastic suite of irrational biases and interference effects (the 'halo' effect, the 'florida' effect, framing effects, anchoring effects, the confirmation bias, outcome bias, the focusing solution and so on)
The general point about our self deception extends beyond the details of systems 1 and 2. We're astonishingly suseptable to being influenced by features of our surroundings. We don't know who we are or what we're really like, we don't know what we are doing or why we are doing it. That is system 1 exagewration yet true. Judges may think they make considered decisions based strictly on the facts of the case. It turns out that it is their blood sugar levels really acting in judgement. If you force your face in to a smile you'll find a joke funnier than if you force a frown. One great book on this is 'Strangers to ourselves' by Timothy D Wilson.
We hugely underestimate the role of chance in our lives. Analysis of the performance of fund managers over the longer term proves conclusively that you'd do just as well deciding on the roll of a dice. There is a tremendously powerful illusion that sustains managers in thier belief their results, when good, are down to skill. The fact remains that performance bonuses are awarded for luck, not skill.
In an experiment to test the 'anchoring effect' highly experienced judges were given a description of a shop lifting offence. They were then 'anchored' to different numbers by being asked to roll a pair of dice that had been secretly loaded to produce only two totals, three or nine. Finally, they were asked whether the prison sentence for the shop lifting offence should be greater or fewer months than the total shown on the dice. Normally the judges would have made very similar judgements, but those who had just rolled nine proposed an average of eight months while those who had rolled three proposed an average of only five months. All were unaware of the anchoring effect.
The same goes for all of us, we think we're smart. We're wrong. We're hopelessly subject to the 'focusing illusion' which can be conveyed in one sentence; 'nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it'.

Materialism

I have often wondered why I was attracted to a materialist occupation like furniture making. I wonder if it is a rejection of the spiritual, these words are from a failed suicide bomber, 'The power of the spirit pulls us upward while the power of material things pulls us downwards, someone bent on martyrdom becomes immune to the pull of the material.'
 There is no such thing as religious extremism only religion. You can only believe or not believe, you can't believe in an extreme way. There is no hierarchy within religion, no extremism or moderation, only faith or no faith. Faith is bad precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument.

Replicaters

Just as lifeforms can be seen as vehicles for genes to replicate through, so too can viruses be seen as equally important self replicators, at last to themselves. Ideas or philosophies, past on and down can be seen as replicators interested only in their survival. Often ideas that are wrong replicate and perpetuate themselves. In your own field it is easy to tell which ideas are incorrect self replicators. The obsession with timber movement perpetuated in furniture colleges; certain old jointing systems go unquestioned and are still taught. The focus of learning is on the wrong areas. Up until the 1960s furniture makers were taught in an apprentice trade manner as I was. Since the 1970s craft revival where middle class university class people took an interest a new type of teaching developed. At colleges students were taught a strange trade college hybrid, they wouldn't have been allocated space there if the qualifications were trade based like city and gilds so degrees in designer making, an odd hybrid if ever there was one evolved. There is still a refusal from many who feel themselves above trade on class grounds to accept the tradesman. Often I see better craftsmen on shop fitting projects than on awkward furniture. Further, and this is of interest is how some ideas are passed on badly. We may describe the two types of learning as analogue learning and digital learning. These titles are not literal but serve well. Teaching someone how to use a hammer can be done through demonstration. If the student looks at the principle, not the process they will achieve the desired result. Bang the nail repeatedly until the nail head is flush, that is analogue learning. Bang the nail 7 times, as the tutor did may leave the head proud, digital copying. I submit that mistaking digital learning for analogue learning and vise versa has led to a knot in the tree of developement.

Cold Turkey

I was told recently that cold turkey reffered to goose pimples that withdrawing heroin addicts suffered from. I always thought it referred to the boxing day come down. Cold turkey the day after the christmas party.

Sorry

The changing face of memory

There are few photos of me growing up, 3 at most. I have a few more from my teens. Each time I see them reminds me not of when they were taken, this has long faded, but of when I last saw them. There is a rush of memory felt when someone has a photo of you that you have never seen before but once your photo virginity is broken it can never be reclaimed. The photos power is lost, well weakened. A process somewhat like what happens when we take a photocopy of a photocopy then photocopy that photocopy, continued. Or tape recording something, recording that recording including background noises, continue. The end product loses all semblance of the original. 

I have more photos of my dog than there are photos of my childhood. Chilfren growing up today are photographed and filmed bty parents, the CCTV footage stream of our lives follows us. These kids will have unparalelled histories of themselves. Living longer suplemented with vast digital histories these kids will not be like us.

I spoke to a 20 year old girl at a party a year or two ago and her voice came from some postmodern nightmare. There was a nostalgia for a world she had never seen. She spoke of days gone by whren youth culture was something in constant evolution. How could we have imagined punk before punk? it was new. Now, she said, they can choose from all the youth cults like revellers at the fancy dress party at the end of the universe yet these costumes could never hold a deeper authenticity that people of my generation were party to. Perhaps she was taking pity on an old mans confusion with the 'new' yet I think there was something in it. There is a sense in which pop culture history has become like a cultural snowdrift. Each film, each piece of music we hear is immediately compared to a vast back catalogue. It isn't only in getting old that all new things seem to be less original, it is also true. Memory is changing. We are less dependent on it. With You Tube we have already trawled our childhoods for all nostalgia. We can't get a retro buzz off 0s TV anymore. The digital age is bringing everytime in to immediate focus. The timeline is no longer so strong. Time itself is changing in to a pool from which we can select rather than the conventional traintrack where events had to happen in sequence to make sense. To a degree this deprives culture of depth. Punk came out of a specific window that will never be open again. No one now can see how opressive disco and prog rock had become. Rotten swearing on the telly has no power stripped of its context. 

This is huge change. I wish there were films of my childhood. I just wish that I hadn't seen them till now.

I wanna be a Toys-r-us kid

The advertising campaign for Iceland featured a minor celebrity who had done her time in the jungle feeding on miniature food, it further encouraged us to 'party like a celebrity'. Feeding on miniature food is but one feature of the Toyist manifesto. Gullivars Travels was an early anti Toyist political treaty that has much to tell us today with current liliputian trends. Some lose all sense of proportion, I have lost my sense of scale.

Gruff Rhys-Post Apocalypse Christmas

A very merry Christmas to everyone!

Fresh start

Alain De Boton says forgiveness of others begins with being suspicious of oneself, with having a good grasp of our own insanities.

Dalai lama says with inner strength or mental stability we can endure all kinds of adversity.

This has been easily the most difficult time of my life. At some point I will write about it but for now it is too raw, too recent to see clearly. I am glad to be alive.

This Is England '88

Christmas television is something that died out by the late 80's so Shane Meadows latest installment of his tragisoap was a treat. Some of the shots in This is England are deeply moving; cumulo nimbus float past concrete maisonettes in images that at times trump George Shaw. The only problem with the whole project is that being so close to greatness all errors are blinding, each flaw sticks in the craw. Being of the age of the characters and from a Northern city similar to the films settings one developes a sense of ownership with no rights. The weaknesses in the story threads are many. What was the point of the Shaun and Smell fallouts and infidelities? perhaps these threads will play out in the promised This is England '90. These flaws are covered by acting of a quality rarely seen outside theatre. Woodys scrambled fight in the precinct with Milky had the chaos of truth. The fumbled lines, the missed punches. Lol, whose parental rape scenes from '86 had put many off the project continued in the only way she could if respect is to be paid to victims of such aberations .  Her study in extreme depression was believable to a level seldom seen. Tackling these issues using characters we have come to know and love is troubling and many turn away. This could only be permissable if balanced with a warmth and humour that may be dark but feels real.

Some critics suggested that the middle classes were only penciled in as unatainable girls or embarassing parents hence removing any escape for the main characters leaving them trapped to their world. This attitude reveals an arrogance. As if the sole aspiration of the working class is social mobility. The true fear isn't that there is no upward mobility but that it isn't of much interest or reward if attained. Such views seem to belittle what is a wonder of narrative developement. It isn't helpful or right to project such simplistic values on to these characters.  Sadly, with the lottery, prize money game shows, X Factor style talent shows it seems that escape is the only option anyone considers. With little flow of wealth it is wiser and more socially conscious to   work toward improving our own not running away.

Toyism

Gary Neville, ex Manchester United player and TV football pundit caused a stir recently when he became Toyist aware. In describing the performance of a player he said it was as if they were being controlled by a child on playstation. Neville should be aware that these observations can bring on attention from those who would have Britain a toyist state. Their tactics involve the use of mental health 'experts' to surpress people like myself who work tirelessly to prevent toyism.

Snails

Harry from One Direction

It is with the greatest of respect that I hear that Harry from One Direction has more than a million followers on Twitter. This must mean his wisdom is great. It is becoming clear that his pearls of wisdom, along with wiki have rendered university education all but obsolete.

The Curator is the new DJ

Paul Morley, a journalist and critic that all Northerners feel a subtle twinge of embarrassment when they hear speek made the comment, 'the curator is the artist'. This is certainly a trend. We see many exhibitions now that are for the better and hugely more coherent for having a creative mind at the helm. Indeed the random selections at commercial galleries often make no sense. In my old field, designer made furniture, many shows make no sense as exhibitors are allowed to apply and show any work they want. Cheltenham for example may have good work on show but as a whole the exhibition is incoherent. The reason I curated 'Private Parts' was an attempt to have a furniture show that made sense as a whole.

In the late 1980s when Superstar DJs began to be recognised it became clear that having a vision or the abillity to string a series of tunes together to create a journey or a greater whole was indeed an art. Now, with the advent of Facebook we see people whos pages are marvels of self expression. Blogs too that filter and select from the sheer mass of information are fast becoming the great art of the day. Information is vast, we have access to film and music stretching back till film began at the touch of a button. This is quite over welming and can intimidate to the point of paralisis. The very best sites, blogs, pages are the swiftest way of streaming ideas. 

Computers are great for creating a level playing field for the untalented. Architectural and Engineering drawings were beyond the skill of many, now anyone can aproximate a decent drawing given some learning. Knowledge will suffice where there is no skill. It still remains only the highly skilled who can make great drawings  and the very best I have seen are hand drawn but this leveller that I type on now frees us all up. The blog can be your very own newspaper. The trouble with self publishing is anything can get through. There is no editor maintaining quality. As with self published books, most are crap. This freedom has pitfalls. There are those who have blind respect for the printed word. It is only with the knowledge that most of what you will read on blogs, websites etc. is liable to be wrong that we may procede. 

Doorstep Toyism

Christopher Hitchins RIP

Regular Skreeworld followers will know how highly we regarded the scourge of idle thinking. Many times his reasoning came to differ from mine yet he always kept my attention, always taught me to buck my ideas up. The Canadian debate with Tony Blair 'Is Religion a Force for Good?'   is still there on You Tube and should be required viewing for anyone interested in the God debate. Indeed it should be watched by anyone interested in debating. It wasn't so much that he wiped the floor with Blair intelectualy that I found so impressive, it was how he respected Blairs points, how even whilst suffering from terminal cancer his mental strength shone through. At the end, when asked which of Blairs arguments he found most convincing he proceeded to inform Blair of better arguments for his case. 

After this debate it was common knowledge that Hitchins was facing the last stage of his life. His memoir of the year before reads like a premonition as he begins with a mistaken programme comment on his death. Jeremy Paxmans last interview with Hitchins finds Paxman in unusually humble mode. One suspects that this is out of intelectual respect saved only for the very smart rather than any consideration for his terminal decline. Arrogant religious bigots offered to pray on his behalf, others claimed that cancer was nemesis for his blasphemy and wondered if he would repent on his deathbed. The horror of hearing this appalled me yet I feel is reflective on how Hitchins reasoning undermined their faith.

What seems to have inspired feelings in so many over his death is a consensus that Hitchins was of a different time and that the world is a far emptier place for his passing. In times where people comment on Darwin, Freud, Einstein, Marx without ever having read their work. In a time where reading about these great writers work is deemed sufficient to comment, these days of google and wikipedia, the loss of Hitchins and his ilk is serious for us all. We may not have commentators so steeped in reading, so embroyled in intelectual history. To read what he did and wrote will never convey the depth of the place from which he spoke.

Truth is the ultimate strength and you can aim for no better than that.

Tracy Emins appointment as Professor of Drawing at the Royal Achademy

I hid away from commenting on this one. In debates on art I tend to side on the open being a fan of contemporary art. This is however ludicrous to anyone who can see. Seeing is crucial to this as this is an appointment connected to this ability that is out of fashion in art where thought is all. Tracy Emin may well be a great artist, I can not say. Drawing, however, is not a skill she excels in. This, the oldest art school in England should have the bravery to see above fashion and common delusion. 

Atheism

Some fail to grasp the true nature of the conflict. It is not about evolution versus creationism, the real battle is between rationalism and superstition. Science is but one form of rationalism but religion is the most common form of superstition.

I have wondered long and hard why Dawkins gets up peoples noses, more so for me than Hitchins. In my case this may be due to approaching Hitchins writings from a political angle and Dawknis from a scientific one. The answer seems more to lie in where you start from. I was brought up an atheist, taught to reason, in our house the debate was already settled. Once I left home I had to learn that not all believers are stupid, some just have a blind spot. See, I start to sound as provocative as Dawkins. He is right but one wonders why someone that intelligent would spend so much time argueing his point. With Hitchins it is clear that the turning point was when the death sentence was put upon his close freind Salman Rushdie. He didn't run to Rushdie to promote his views but felt forced to defend a close freind as I hope I would in his position. There will be no long piece of rational on Skreeworld to uphold reality but it does scare me when political leaders such as George Bush and Osama Bin Laden murder people due to superstitions they hold. It is up to the rational to live as if the question is answered.

In The God Delusion Dawkins does raise some good points that I hadn't considered. Evolution moves from simple to complex. The self aware entity able to design happens a long way down the line and certainly would not have been there at the bog bang or whatever point creationists think he made the universe at. Also, the idea that the magisteria of science and religion do not overlap. The idea that we may have no proof of God but having a gut feeling suggests that we think with our stomachs which leads me to think that the expression of such thought is liable to come from the arse.

No moon time

The time of no moon seems somehow appropriate to be thinking with the fresh or refreshed mind I currently have. These last few months have been hellish but necessary. Most of us find it difficult, this increases with age, to see themselves engaged in new areas of endeavour. If life becomes untenable for whatever reason, be it a relationship or a job that brings nothing but unhappiness the pattern can be not to recognise the problem. To see others around you managing and think if they can do it then the problem must lie elsewhere. People force themselves to continue doing stressful jobs they are wholly unsuited to rather than change. They will do so even if this requires taking drugs either prescribed or not, drinking heavily, they will do it if it drives them to premature death. They will die rather than change. You can see this in others but not in yourself.
Once I thought I would be working on the Cutty Sark immediately after Christmas I allowed myself a period of time to be off work knowing I could pull things round. Now this won't be happening, at least not straight away and a huge gap appears. I now think this is for the best. My reaction to disafection with the mainstay of my work was to look to the second most familiar thing I do. My mind blotted out the negatives and fed me a rosy, innacurate memory.
No moon time, no future planned out. These days have a feeling of beginning.

Ian Duncan Smith Riots

IDS's comments that X Factor and Premier League footballers wages were responsible for the behaviour of this summers rioters is not as daft as it appears. Where he is wrong though is crucial. Where teenagers living in poverty see no other ways out than the fickle hand of fate delivering a genetic predisposition to be able to sing or kick a ball he sees not a society depriving the poor of opportunity but cultural mistakes, not political ones. Rather  than blaming forces largely outside his control he ought to do what he can and work toward a society with an equal playing field.

Amir Khan loses his belts

Amir Khan lost his titles to Lamont Peterson in a great fight last might. The challenger looked like he was invigorated by his home town crowd and overturned the odds. It was innevitable that Khans technique would undo him at some point. Khan manages to keep opponents at such a distance the best option is for them to get inside and force a short range battle. Peterson did just this and was rewarded by the judges for being the greater aggressor as is the way in the States. This forces Amir to push his opponents away. For this he was deducted two points that swung the decision Petersons way. No one could really despute the decision too far as even Khan fans saw a draw. That may have been right and some would argue that a decision on a draw should go the way of the champ. Khan had opted for a no rematch clause in the contract though Peterson said after the fight he would be happy to do it again. Whatever happens it is unlikely that this will be the end for the likeable lad from Bolton. By his own estimates he has never spoken of himself as more than a work in process and he certainly did enough to warrant a rematch. After Manny Pacquaios' controversial third win over Marquez it may be questioned whether fighters trained by Freddy Roach fight in a way that some judges do not favour. Khan threw the best shots but was not the agressor. Perhaps some favour attack over defense.

The Fall - Greenway

New Fall

Amir Khan vs. Tim Bradley (HBO)

Looking forward to tonights fight between Amir Khan and Peterson. Much is being made of Petersons upbringing and him fighting in his home town but I'm going for Khan in the 5th or 6th. Clearly Bradley Khan would be the one the fans want. I doubt it will happen. Neither can afford to lose just yet.

Wikileaks good and bad

It is right that Wikileaks bring phone hacking to attention. Indeed often I am in support of them. Recently, though they published the names of the seven remaining jews in Baghdad putting thier lives at risk. The once thriving community has already been driven underground and all but wiped out. The Anglican church in Baghdad had been trying to help them but Wikileaks has made this impossible. Alan Yentob has documented the exodus of jews from Baghdad. For 2600 years Mesopotania had a thriving Jewish community. By the end of the first world war a third of the population of Baghdad was Jewish. The Second World War saw many forced to leave, in one day 180 were killed. The great crisis came with the creation of Israel in 1948. Iraq sent an army to fight in Palastine and the government denounced the Jews living in Iraq as Zionists and traitors. Over the next 2 years 90% left. By the 1960s about 6000 remained but suffered harsh discrimination. During the 1967 Arab Israeli war they were again attacked as potential spies. Those who went to Israel were overshadowed by European Jews but those who came west did remarkably well, the Saatchi brothers being a well known example.

Hope 11

Hope 13

Local Toyist tag

Hope 7

Hope 4

Hope 2

Hope 3

Toyist evidence

In case anyone didn't believe that there has been a recent increase in toyism may think again when they see that this was found scuttling about in a nearby gutter. Many small robotic toys can be seen out of the corner of the eye if one looks quickly before they get chance to hide down drains etc. Unfortunately for this little blighter realists were too quick. Our respects go out to whoever destroyed this toyist aberation.

Clarkson

I don't have much time for Top Gear at the best of times. Parading fast driving and petrolism to young boys is  terrible. Clarkson last week overstepped the mark saying Public Sector strikers should be shot in front of thier families can not be an acceptable joke. This has passed by the British public but Germans I have spoken to can not understand how these comments could pass unchecked on the BBC. I feel Clarkson should go. The man is deeply ignorant and offensive.

Warp

After a stint where reality, or at least ones perception of reality has flexed so dramatically, and these recent months have been amongst the worst so of my life, it is hard to start again. Lookily some things have remained real and have stood like concrete pillars in a shifting sea of intangibles. A lot just doesn't fit anymore. Huge assumptions I had, fixings I attached long chains of reasoning to have proved to be no more solid than sand. For some issues I have to reach back decades to find a mouring from which to negotiate from. It is terrifying. The consolation is that I now see more accurately. There is an air of rebirth. I could have continued living the narrative I had written, the false story of my existence, many do just this. I see them struggling to wear the selves they have created as increasingly warped rational is required to perpetuate there own myth just as I did. The confusion that follows these bouts, even after the chaotic thought blizzard has died down can devalue everything. Once the realisation comes that any belief is temporary it becomes hard to believe in anything, enough to post it down anyway. If last weeks thoughts were folly how can I know this weeks are any better? This has paralised all creative production in recent months. At least my body is now under control; no more seizures, no spastic jitters, no wandering the streets all night dispensing excess adrenalin. Even so, focus can still take several seconds, when spoken to the speakers face settles in to view through fog, reading text disolves in to word mush. Though the purely halucinatory has ceased the volume on everything is still cranked up. The severity of each occurence has no measure. The significance of information none either. Obsession is easy. Interactions are difficult. People become grotesque parodies of themselves. Meat puppets dancing to the hand of some dread cosmitition.

Dave

In 'The Book of Dave', and the exact same thing has happened to me, Dave sees a sign for a 'Giant Golf Sale'. As I am sure all would feel inclined to do, both of us were intrigued and headed toward the 'Giant Golf Sale'. Unfortunately on arrival we were met by display cabinets and shelves filled with miniature golf clubs and other tiny golfing tackle. Anyone could understand the disappointment in being duped by toyist falsity. Mos of my adult life has been a largely futile hunt for authenticity. Seldom have I found it. Indeed, my initial interest in furniture was sparked not by the antique or a nostalgia for times when things weren't so scary nor by any study of the topography of the living room. Yes, in recent years, in attempts to negotiate expeditions around  the house I have drawn up complex maps which I study before my journeys begin. These adventures in to the wilderness can take many weeks, often having to make camp under the dining table or hold up in the wardrobe, sitting out carpet dust storms and other freak domestic meteorological conditions. The detritus left from these journeys, like the Everest mountaineers garbage mountain is often mistaken for fly tipping, an activity few condone. No, neither history nor geography was my inspiration. I saw in the early work of designer makers an almost superhuman attention to detail. Often the works only became clear in the flesh, so well executed they seemed without flaws. All previous furniture I had seen had either signs of entropy in flaking polish or peeling veneers or in lower quality work , splits or unmet joints, even glue marks. These all give the game away. Tell tale signs that they are made. Signs of fakiery. Signs of toyism. Just as the action man sized doll I had as a child that caught the likeness of Lee Majors was not the real six million dollar man but a mere likeness, an efigy, a false idol, a toy. The best of the work was close to the truth found in trees, animals, almost authentic. In recent months I have noticed an increase in plasticity, an increase in toyism. I went a whole day where all I heard were cover versions of songs churned out by the X factory, none of them real, all toyist constructs. In these days of increased toyism I find it helpful to carry protective tools to assess the quality of ones surroundings and the objects one encounters. A block plane is handy to remove the outer layer of flat surfaces revealing the core substrate or truth within. Paint is the invisibility cloak of the toyist, it hides a multitude of sins.
For two months, three weeks and four days I have been stuck in my encampment. The stairs alone took several days to ascend. Carpet had been tacked down with steel pins to a timber core. The overhang of each tread presented a gravity problem for a climber like me with only basic skills. Fortunately I found that at either side of the carpet covering each riser fibres could be pulled and unravelled from the main body of the weave providing ropes for purchase. These should prove handy for my descent where I plan to abseil.

Gary Speed RIP

Haven't been near the computer for days but felt utterly winded by the terribly sad news that Gary Speed has taken his own life. His playing career included over 500 premier league games, his days at Leeds United are particularly fondly remembered. The midfield trio of Speed, Strachan and MacCaliester were formidable. Winning the old first division title in its' last year as one of the greatest Leeds sides. What makes it all the more shocking is his career as a manager and pundit has been successful. Many footballers struggle to find purpose after they stop playing leading to later life problems. Speed, though, is Wales manager and was in command of a great generation of players, the best Wales side seen in my lifetime. Yesterday he was a guest on BBC 1s' Football Focus and appeared completely normal. Other guests and friends who saw him there say he was talking of the future, his boys football skills and thier future. It all seems impossible. An intelligent man, universally liked, with beautiful wife, children, wealth and security, purpose, a successful career. Deeply upset here at Skreeworld. Sincere thoughts go out to his family.

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_6660-2011-season-review-in-lego.html

http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_6660-2011-season-review-in-lego.html

27

Perhaps it is just me but major change is afoot. Finding that Skreeworld itself is built on false information has caused a rethink on all areas of activity. Out in the real world western liberal democratic capitalism is proving to be flawed; all the wealth has risen to the top and we have hit stasis. Occupy are unlike any other recent protest movement. They are right to try bring faults in the system that those in positions of power are oblivious to in to the spotlight, even if St Pauls and the Christian religion aren't the target of the protests. David Camerons government are clueless as are Labour in how to tackle the economic situation. Both keep holding up sustainable growth as being the objective to aspire to. Clearly this is an impossibillity with finite resources; no mainstream politician dare accept reality. With our leaders in such transparent denial it is up to us to attempt to present them with the truth. They may not have the strength or even the intelect to consider alternatives but they will be obsolete once the delayed inevitable transpires.

The search for the Higgs looks to be coming to a close. All but the last few bucketfulls of possibility have been drawn from the swimming pool and still no Higgs to give mass to hold everything together. Our reality doesn't stick together, at least through the lens of quantum mechanics. Meanwhile Einstein appears to be wrong, time isn't what we thought. Neutrinos travel back through it. The retests taking place as I type so far confirm the story that barely made page 6 in the broadsheets.

It seems we don't know what is going on. Exciting times.

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24

23

22

21

20

19

Leaf

Breakdown 4

Breakdown 2

Breakdown 1

Roof

Logs

Cyber Trash

One thing I have enjoyed about Skreeworld has been looking back to see where I was a year ago. There may well no biography but the mass of postings will float about in cyberspace for eternity. In the distant future, cyber archeologists may discover Skreeworld and wonder just what the fall of liberal capitalist democracy was like. How people lived way back in the twenty noughties and teens will be researched. This is only if the cyber trawlers sent in to cyberspace to clear up all the debris pass over the jewels left by Skreeworld mistaking it for cyber trash. If you a cyber archeologist reading this for the first time I would like to say hello. Please don't take it all too seriously and enjoy.


PS. If you have worked out how to reanimate people with your special future computer skills please feel free to bring me back. I'd love to know how things worked out for mankind. It all seems quite worrying with our polar icecaps melting. We've only made our first steps in to space exploration and as yet haven't met any lifeforms from other planets. It isn't all bad though so don't think I'll be moaning about owt. If you are getting this and can send messages backwards through time please send me a message. It seems we haven't got time understood yet, still clinging to the old Einstein theory largely but there is some research suggesting that is all wrong. It isn't that long ago we thought the Earth was flat. Anyway, its good to talk and see you soon,

all the best

Skree x

Egg on Toast

Beginning to regain perspective

Tex