Hiroshima, Writings, Work, and Ralph Knight
Today, seventy-five years ago, the atomic bomb was used against the civilian population of Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki. The two bombings killed around 175,000 people and came on the back of a massive firebombing campaign against almost seventy Japanese cities, killing around 550,000 people. In the 1980s, as the threat of nuclear war was often present, these were days of commemoration and protest; "protest and survive" as historian E. P. Thompson quipped, combining a call to political action with the existential risk. With the possibility of a global war more remote now than it was in those days, and indeed the relative level of peace between and within nations higher than it has been for many years, I wonder if there is sufficient realisation that in some regards at least, that these are in fact better times. The problem being, of course, they are only better because of of the dedication of political activists over the decades. Never forget that if you leave politics just to the goodwill of who seek to attain power then they will be prone to corruption, warmongering, and oppression. If you aren't involved in politics, politics will be done to you.
With some of this in mind, I penned a few words today about the possibility of an AU-EU Society, like similar cultural and sometimes vaguely political associations. Apart from some strong cultural ties that Australia has with the continent, there is also some political equivalents as well; an interest in a welfare state, civil and democratic rights, etc. Apart from that I've continued powering away with various writings including the "Philosophy, Project Management and Anxiety" essay, the "Esperanto for Anarchists" book, teaching material on parallel programming, and on a complete tangent, a small piece of local history, "Willsmere and Cricket", along with some initial notes on a meta-review of various incarnations of The War of the Worlds.
My workplace, the University of Melbourne, has decided to make some 450 staff redundant, citing falling international student numbers. Given the capital works and balance sheet, it is hard to see why this is entirely necessary. As the union says, "Cutting jobs should be the absolute last option, yet it is clearly the first impulse of university management". Unsurprisingly, the union has also initiated a petition calling for greater financial transparency, and is holding an all-staff meeting (virtually) in a few days. Last I hear our group, Research Computing Services, is doing sufficiently well that we probably won't be affected, and as for my own position, I certainly can't say that the pandemic seems to have reduced my workload at all, despite spending a good portion of my time in teaching-related activities.
A couple of days ago one of my old friends from the Melbourne Unitarian Church had died. Ralph Knight had looked after their radio show for many years on 3CR (where he had been a founding member) along with a swing music show and Steam Radio, of music and humour from the pre-electronic and pre-radio era. Whilst his health has always been less than optimal for some twenty years that I had known him, he had the inverse in his knowledge, displaying an extremely solid knowledge of a variety of physical and biological sciences, but also of human psychology. The combination of which led him to have little respect for nonsense which conflicted the former, and a very wry sense of humour coming from the latter. All our lives must end; but it is a terrible tragedy of our species that some great minds that are still in excellent state must depart with a body that no longer works.
With some of this in mind, I penned a few words today about the possibility of an AU-EU Society, like similar cultural and sometimes vaguely political associations. Apart from some strong cultural ties that Australia has with the continent, there is also some political equivalents as well; an interest in a welfare state, civil and democratic rights, etc. Apart from that I've continued powering away with various writings including the "Philosophy, Project Management and Anxiety" essay, the "Esperanto for Anarchists" book, teaching material on parallel programming, and on a complete tangent, a small piece of local history, "Willsmere and Cricket", along with some initial notes on a meta-review of various incarnations of The War of the Worlds.
My workplace, the University of Melbourne, has decided to make some 450 staff redundant, citing falling international student numbers. Given the capital works and balance sheet, it is hard to see why this is entirely necessary. As the union says, "Cutting jobs should be the absolute last option, yet it is clearly the first impulse of university management". Unsurprisingly, the union has also initiated a petition calling for greater financial transparency, and is holding an all-staff meeting (virtually) in a few days. Last I hear our group, Research Computing Services, is doing sufficiently well that we probably won't be affected, and as for my own position, I certainly can't say that the pandemic seems to have reduced my workload at all, despite spending a good portion of my time in teaching-related activities.
A couple of days ago one of my old friends from the Melbourne Unitarian Church had died. Ralph Knight had looked after their radio show for many years on 3CR (where he had been a founding member) along with a swing music show and Steam Radio, of music and humour from the pre-electronic and pre-radio era. Whilst his health has always been less than optimal for some twenty years that I had known him, he had the inverse in his knowledge, displaying an extremely solid knowledge of a variety of physical and biological sciences, but also of human psychology. The combination of which led him to have little respect for nonsense which conflicted the former, and a very wry sense of humour coming from the latter. All our lives must end; but it is a terrible tragedy of our species that some great minds that are still in excellent state must depart with a body that no longer works.