And again, Wells on the Political Direction of Science

"Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries experimenting with material things was on the increase, items of knowledge were being won by men, but there was no interrelated advance. The work was done in a detached, furtive, and inglorious manner. A tradition of isolated investigation came into Europe from the Arabs, and a considerable amount of private and secretive research was carried on by the alchemists, for whom modern writers are a little too apt with their contempt. These alchemists were in close touch with the glass and metal workers and with the herbalists and medicine-makers of the times; they pried into many secrets of nature, but they were obsessed by practical ideas; they sought not knowledge, but power; they wanted to find out how to manufacture gold from cheaper materials, how to make men immortal by the elixir of life, and such-like vulgar dreams. Incidentally in their researches they learnt much about poisons, dyes, metallurgy, and the like; they discovered various refractory substances, and worked their way towards clear glass and so to lenses and optical instruments; but as scientific men tell us continually, and as practical men still refuse to learn, it is only when knowledge is sought for her own sake that she gives rich and unexpected gifts in any abundance to her servants. The world of to-day is still much more disposed to spend money on technical research than on pure science. Half the men in our scientific laboratories still dream of patents and secret processes. We live to-day largely in the age of alchemists, for all our sneers at their memory. The business manof to-day still thinks of research as a sort of alchemy."

I Think This Is Why I Hate The Meedja Today

From H. G. Wells' Outline of History:
"The Catholic Church provided what the Roman Republic had lacked, a system of popular teaching, a number of universities and methods of intellectual inter-communication. By this achievement it opened the way to the new possibilities of human government that now become apparent in this Outline, possibilities that are still being apprehended and worked out in the world in which we are living. Hitherto the government of states had been either authoritative, under some uncriticized and unchallenged combination of priest and monarch, or it had been a democracy, uneducated and uninformed, degenerating with any considerable increase of size, as Rome and Athens did, into a mere rule by mob and politician. But by the thirteenth century the first intimations had already dawned of an ideal of government which is still making its way to realization, the modern ideal, the ideal of a world-wide educational government, in which the ordinary man is neither the slave of an absolute monarch nor of a demagogue-ruled state, but an informed, inspired, and consulted part of his community. It is upon the word educational that stress must be laid, and upon the idea that information must precede consultation. It is in the practical realization of this idea that education is a collective function and not a private affair that one essential distinction of the modern state from any of its precursors lies. The modern citizen men are coming to realize, must be informed first and then consulted. Before he can vote he must hear the evidence; before he can decide he must know. It is not by setting up polling booths, but by setting up schools and making literature and knowledge and news universally accessible that the way is opened from servitude and confusion to that willingly co-operative state which is the modern ideal. Votes in themselves are worthless things. Men had votes in Italy in the time of the Gracchi. Their votes did not help them. Until a man has education, a vote is a useless and dangerous thing for him to possess. The ideal community towards which we move is not a community of will simply; it is a community of knowledge and will, replacing a community of faith and obedience. Education is the adapter which will make the nomadic spirit of freedom and self-reliance compatible with the co-operations and wealth and security of civilization."

Vdub in da house :)

Stupid ads for VW from America. Got these through the Inane thoughts and insane ramblings blog which looks interesting.

Dose of Home

Just a quick post to add a couple of photos from my weekend back home in Scotland. Here's me with my mum and sister at a viewpoint overlooking Largs and the Firth of Clyde. Below is the view of Arran we got.

Other news from this weekend was the successful completion of the kilt-fitting!

More volleyball

Went to the open practice session for St Albans Harriers Volleyball Club for the second time last night. The first time I went along was really interesting for me as I've never had any coaching on volleyball techniques. So, it was a bit of a revelation to get shown how to spike and serve 'properly'. Mind you, my legs did ache for days afterwards as I'm not used to jumping so high. Last night focussed on movement on the court i.e. moving into a good position relative to the person on your team who's going to receive the ball. Not something I'd ever thought of before of course. Also, we did some drill on blocking which I can put into practice now :)

Scott's been doing some more writing and has got a series of articles on Hellerwork published on Yoga Bhoga ('Scotland's Yoga Website'). I particularly liked the description of his facial adjustments in 'To Hellerwork & Back, Part 3'.

Stupid Cat Video

OK, so I had to remove the stupid cat video because it was removed from the YouTube website so you'll just have to make do with a compilation of the superb 'Trunk Monkey' series of adverts. I found these on the Funny Commercials blog which has some other daft adverts - enjoy.

[NOTE: Needs Flash v7 and I wouldn't bother over dialup :( ]

Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang

Got the info for Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang's London seminars in mid-April. He's doing the Silk Reeling Energy (Chan Si Jing) & Standing Posture on the 14th & 15th. He's also doing Yin Yang Qigong on the 16th & 17th which I really like the sound of (but can I scrape the cash?). I definitely want to go to the Chan Si Jing. I went to a similar seminar with him on the Standing Posture in Reading a couple of years ago which was fantastic. He's very good. Although it didn't half take it out on your legs standing in one posture for a half hour straight!

Also, got some piccies from Bruce on his trip down under today. This, on top of my visit to the Aussie tourist board's amusing website www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com, has made me very jealous.

Jaundiced

Driving into town today I saw the sign for blood donation at a local school. I've never done this before for the lame reason that I don't like needles. So, I decided to give it a go. Filled in all the forms but discovered that my childhood jaundice means they have to test for Hep. As far as I can remember, I got jaundice through food poisoning (minestrone soup from a restaurant rings a bell). So, my plaster is only for the blood sample for the test; no brownie points for donation just yet :( And no tea & biccy either.

Finally, here's a little plug the really excellent folk at the National Blood Service: http://www.blood.co.uk/.

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