Month: September 2024

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbours’, but is an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognised; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private business we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbour if he does what he likes; we do not put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment.

Pericles – Oration to the first dead of the Peloponnesian wars. (431 to 404 BC)

For sure Abraham Lincoln had the words of Pericles in mind when in his famous Gettysburg address he said, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

It’s worth reflecting on the words of Pericles when accessing the state of our present day democracies. Is it government by the people or government by capital and single interest groups? Are our representatives chosen based on merit or are they preselected by biological characteristics, religion, membership of a single interest group, or the size of their bank account? Does a poor person receive equal justice? Do we lead by example or do we follow and imitate what others do?

If interested you can read the full text by following the link below, if you haven’t already read it when at school.

http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/education/thucydides.html

A France 24 report says scientists are confident this year will be the hottest ever. The end of this year’s curve (red) so far is temperature on the 3rd of this month, and 1.63 Celsius above pre-industrial. Twelve out the past thirteen months have been above the 1.5 Celsius increase the 2015 Paris accord set as preferred target. The graph below is daily sea surface and as you can see, average temperatures about flat lined in July and August and are below last year. Hopefully the oceans will continue to be cooler than last year and that drop will cause a drop in surface air temperature, but even still, there is a significant increase overall if you compare this and last year to 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Awesome little kid and very possibly an outstanding future musician and composer. Great that a hero in a US taxpayer funded F35 hasn’t dropped a bomb on his school and blown off his arms. How many outstanding future musicians, artists, mathematicians, engineers, teachers, scientists, writers, and just plain everyday decent human beings, have been slaughtered in Gaza, Ukraine, and the 20 or so other conflicts around the world.

Humans are amazing. For sure Johann Pachelbel is smiling at a little Asian kid improvising on his most famous composition, and on an instrument unimaginable 3 centuries ago.

Bike ride. Checked the ClimateReanalizer site and the red line, this year’s global average temperatures, looks as though it is heading north of last year’s averages. There’s a six day delay between the data being gathered and the chart updated, but it appears last year’s jump was not a blimp. Last Thursday, the 5^th of September, we had 31 Celsius in Sydney and again yesterday, it even feels unnatural. I’m keeping an eye on that red curve because if it continues to track above last year’s we are potentially in serious trouble, and I don’t ride if the ambient temperature is in the mid thirties or above.

I’m going to move art gear onto the yacht so that I can paint if going on long rides in remote places is too risky. Maybe a series of airbrush works based on sketched panels and character studies from my work-in-progress bande dessinee, and maybe even spend money restocking on oil paint and churn out a few ‘proper’ paintings. It’s been a long while since I completed a portrait in oils, or anything else for that matter.