Roffa liked the rain, she like the way the drops fell from the sky so she could catch them on her tongue, she liked the way that the drops bounced on the pavement and the plants, she loved the smell of the world in the rain. Most of all she liked getting her fur wet.Continue reading “The Rainy Day, an adventure of Roffa, the excellent dog”
Author Archives: radiobeartime
Slight Return
No sooner had I pressed [Submit] on the last blog post than this happens… My immediate response to this blog post was a sense of recognition. And not just in the sense that it reads a lot like a Hacker News comment. Stripped of the rhetoric, hyperbole, and political bias much of what is inContinue reading “Slight Return”
Woefully Unprepared
The Guardian has a piece today under the headline “Civil service told it is ‘woefully unprepared’ for Cummings’ reforms“ It is based on a report in The Daily Telegraph but as there is not enough money in the world to make me read the Telegraph we will have to settle for The Guardian’s coverage. TheContinue reading “Woefully Unprepared”
Disclosure
January 1st, 2020 and one of the many NDAs I have been bound by has now expired. So I can tell you about one of the odder projects I have been involved in. As I have said many times, above a certain size and complexity organisations embrace mediocrity as the only way to hold themselvesContinue reading “Disclosure”
Elections (Accuracy and Good Order) Bill
Contents Controls on Social Media During Elections A BILL to Ensure that disinformation and deliberate attempts to subvert the democratic process at election time are not further enabled by social media networks. BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,Continue reading “Elections (Accuracy and Good Order) Bill”
Things Fall Apart
Today a Civil Servant resigned. That happens. It’s not unusual. I myself quit 2 years ago to save my sanity in the face of unsustainable cognitive dissonance. But it is unusual when a Civil Servant resigns stating, “I am also at a stage in life where I would prefer to do something more rewarding withContinue reading “Things Fall Apart”
The Price of Survival
I have spent a lot of this weekend playing Destiny1. In Destiny your character is one of the last defenders of humanity in the face of monstrous alien enemies. You do not fight alone, as well as the human defenders there are the Warminds. The Warminds are AIs, built by humanity and then self-evolving toContinue reading “The Price of Survival”
Impermanent Secretary
The Labour Party have decided that the biggest barrier to the successful delivery of their political agenda are the Permanent Secretaries who run government departments. This is sometimes known as the “Grand Vizier” theory of organisational inertia. I worked for many different Perm Secs in my time and they were as mixed a bag asContinue reading “Impermanent Secretary”
The Joy of Uselessness
I have a confession. I am useless at Destiny 2. For those who have never played it, Destiny 2 is a game where you run around the solar system fighting aliens, finding new weapons and armour, and falling off of the scenery. The first two are core to the game, the third is my ownContinue reading “The Joy of Uselessness”
Primum non nocere at the end of the world
Climate change is the largest, most complex problem we as a species face. So we are addressing it in the classic human manner through a mixture of displacement activities, making things worse and hiding our heads in the sand. The sand left by the melted glaciers and vanished ice caps. This is understandable. The problemContinue reading “Primum non nocere at the end of the world”
Mark O'Neill 