The personal blog of Alexander McColl
Another philosophy of life
Yesterday, my most loved and respected living philosopher re-posted to his blog a concise summary of how he approaches life, the social world and his place and role in it. He draws on two American myths that may not speak directly to an international audience, but I hope that we can all understand his basic assumptions and logical conclusions and include them more in our own lives.
September seemed to fly by and already we’re a third of the way through October. I didn’t listen to all that much new music last month and was extremely busy immersing myself in cryptocurrency markets and planning two upcoming trips abroad. I will be strongly endeavouring to post more often this autumn. I have countless drafts between 60 and 90% completed and just need the time and focus to get down to the task and finish them off. Anyway, on with the music, which includes as ever a number of trap and future bass tracks, and a couple of albums I’ve thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering.
Post Malone – Congratulations (PRMDS Remix)
It was really difficult to decide on which song should have pride of place at the top of the post this month. I heard some absolutely fantastic tunes. In the end it had to be TrexytII’s Best of August future house mix, a 38 minute compilation which led me to discover at least three grade-A tracks.
TREXYTII – Mix #123 Best of August Future House
At the start of July I was in London for a couple of days for a conference on a research project. Naturally I booked a seat on a coach arriving stupidly early in the morning (6:15AM) and took my camera. I spent about three hours wandering a circuitous route from Victoria to the conference hall in Millbank, just behind Parliament, via Battersea on the south side of the Thames. Fortunately, it turned out to be a pretty gorgeous morning. Here are the best of the photos I took.
I went into town at the weekend to look for a new cycling jacket. Waiting for the bus home I was struck by something terrible in front of me – a backlit, high resolution display. It rotated through five advertisements:
This post is just a quick recommendation to listen to an audiobook currently available on the BBC Radio iPlayer. It’s called The Hungry Empire, by British food historian Lizzie Collingham, and in five 15-minute episodes charts the history of the British Empire, from the 1500s to the 1960s through the lens of food. It turns out that the history of food in the Empire has some really important things to tell us about how ordinary life was lived in that period and how it has shaped much of our modern world.
My philosophy of life
Andy Weir is the author of the acclaimed book and film The Martian. Like I’m sure many authors, he has written a number of short stories. Unlike most, however, he has published them openly on his website for our appreciation.
I recommend first reading the short story The Egg, which can be found on Weir’s website here, mulling over what you understand from it, then returning to read my comments.
“For the third time in a few months,” the BBC reported on Sunday, “white nationalists descended on the small, liberal city of Charlottesville in the southern state of Virginia, to protest against the planned removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.”
This is a short post recommending a BBC Four documentary – Accidental Anarchist: Life Without Government.
I agree wholeheartedly with Carne Ross’ mistrust of the state and deeply sceptical view of the structure of international relations. Unlike him, however, I’m less hopeful about of our ability to make any meaningful changes to either.
This month’s first photo album comes courtesy of a trip home in June. Mum’s garden is in fact in even fuller bloom now, but in the late afternoon light that day I got some nice shots. Summer really is a relentlessly green month, so I’ve been more creative with the colour correction in these to try and accentuate different shades and moods.
