Posts by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
(DIR) Post #APZ0pdPYscPaiDJjfc by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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How rude of me - I haven't introduced myself. I have been Tom all my life - sometimes, as a GP, Dr. Tom (remote rural places and occasionally really remote - Antarctica and the Falkland Is.) Love all kinds of #music but especially "classical", #poetry and am fascinated by playing with words. Play the tenor and baritone sax for my own pleasure (from Bach to Piazzolla). #Green, #lefty, #photography, #psychology and #art. Rebuilding my life and learning to be myself. Alone. Love this place.
(DIR) Post #Aj5JhZgxi5LbWMYGNU by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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"“Is society healthy, that an individual should return to it? Has not society itself helped to make the individual unhealthy? Of course, the unhealthy must be made healthy, that goes without saying; but why should the individual adjust himself to an unhealthy society? If he is healthy, he will not be a part of it. Without first questioning the health of society, what is the good of helping misfits to conform to society?”Krishnamurti, "Commentaries on Living, Series 3” (1960)
(DIR) Post #B4HaNVAW8oHuyBfL9M by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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@dangillmor This:"Remember all of this the next time you hear a politician tell you there’s not enough money for this social safety program or that one.It’s never that there’s not enough money.It’s that they don’t want to spend it here to help people.Spending money on war and border security is a choice."Time and again we destroy rather than build a decent society for all. It is not just a possibility - it is a necessity, and wars are not.
(DIR) Post #B4RThGH8T1SmTLpsTA by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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When the BBC reports this morning that over 3000 people have been killed in Iran "since the war started", the use of the passive tense makes it sound as though the war just arose spontaneously. It didn't just start, it was unforgivably initiated by the US and their proxy Israel even as negotiations appeared to be on track to succeed.
(DIR) Post #B4VgvtnmNhIL9VFpVQ by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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A few weeks ago Yuri, my little calico friend, developed a rapidly spreading black patch on her face, losing the hair in the process. The vet and I both thought it was an aggressive melanoma. Biopsy showed only a severe dermatitis and on steroids (fun and games, I keep finding the ones I thought she had swallowed spat out when I'm not looking) she looks much better. Tailing off the steroids now, so an end to the fights is in sight. Will her fur grow back? TBH I'm just glad it wasn't worse...
(DIR) Post #B4gjeRQ35j7Knr54l6 by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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It is generally acknowledged that GDP is an imperfect measure of economic activity. The journal "Nature" looks at the drawbacks and at alternatives. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00884-3
(DIR) Post #B569c5hqItkgdswSQK by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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LLMs are poisoning the knowledge base that has been painstakingly accumulated over the course of human history. We will, if this is allowed to continue, find that we have "destroyed the Library of Alexandria" once again. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=4b50fd2341-nature-briefing-daily-20260408&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-49717696
(DIR) Post #B5DzBVz732aw32O7UW by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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So let me see if I have this right: The Strait of Hormuz is open to all shipping. The US unilaterally starts a war against IranIran closes the strait, charging those vessels it permits transit. Negotiations to reopen the Strait fail at the first hurdle (Why would you let Vance negotiate anyway?).The US will blockade the Strait now and intercept and charge vessels that have transited said Strait.No - that can't be right...
(DIR) Post #B5HqiWHaq42rZcXE6S by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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Ginger biscuits made, windows to wash. Mood to lift (perhaps that last will be beyond me today despite the wall-to-wall blue skies and sunshine). But the cherry (Lapin/Cherokee) is in full bloom as are the two mirabelles. And a towering Magnolia Stellata.
(DIR) Post #B5V7XBMgUkITmvZiN6 by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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I do not, and will probably never, believe that individuals and organisations that donate money to politicians and their parties do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They expect (and get) something in return. Being able to "buy" politicians like that runs completely counter to the principles of democracy. It has to end.
(DIR) Post #B7TAOKYtxz3OOIsFaS by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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"... nor should [Scotland] accept a story in which higher public spending is used to erase every legitimate criticism of the United Kingdom. Fiscal transfers are not a substitute for economic democracy. The real issue is not whether Scotland receives more than the East of England. The real issue is why the United Kingdom has become so dependent on London, so unequal between places, and so willing to treat ordinary working households as an afterthought."https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/06/18/scotland-is-not-cossetted-britain-is-centralised/
(DIR) Post #B8jJyidmM6A2e00Q4W by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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Someone correct me if I am wrong. Increasingly I am hearing that we can simply aim for "Net Zero" as though as long as we stop emitting greenhouse gases everything will be fine. As I see it, the first problem with this is that climate forcing will continue for centuries with the CO2 already there - it doesn't simply stop. The second it that when a chaotic system like global weather is perturbed it will settle into a different stable state even if the perturbation is removed. 1/2
(DIR) Post #B8jJyjZCua69W6sHaK by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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There is no going back to the status quo ante - the glaciers and ice caps won't refreeze, the ocean circulation will be different, weather systems will bring rain where there was drought and deserts where there was rain. We are only just at the beginning of seeing the consequences of our actions. 2/2
(DIR) Post #B9OnRuulPlQS4GoSEy by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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After a coffee and cheese scone, a walk (more of a scramble in places) upstream on the Findhorn river from the little church at Ardclach. Time to sit on a rock and watch the swirls and eddies of the peat-brown water as it flows around the rocks and submerged obstructions. On the path, sloes, rowan berries, and all manner of wild flowers. And not another soul to be seen (or heard).
(DIR) Post #BAe6I6EzrORQhX5pVg by tompearce49@mastodon.scot
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This is unprecedented and scares the sh1t out of me. We, the planet and all that live on it, are headed into the unknown. And STILL politicians, fossil fuel companies, and economists pursue the shibboleth of "growth" at all costs. This (Northern Hemisphere) winter is going to be disastrous if past El Ninos are any indication. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/21/super-el-nino-temperature-record