Ever since I had learnt that I could drop the leading ‘e’ in the word ‘extreme’ and get away with it, I knew that I was one of society’s thrill seekers. It started in the workplace with ‘xtreme programming’ but it wasn’t long before I had taken my adrenalin addiction home with me and I … Continue reading
Author Archives: John Ridgway
How Governments Think About Public Safety
The current COVID-19 crisis has focused many people’s attention on the question of risk and how governments go about ensuring public safety. I have no epidemiological experience that enables me to comment knowledgably upon the UK government’s strategies, and if I did claim to have any I am sure there would be someone out … Continue reading
A Tale of Two Complexities
Since the dawn of time mankind has been faced with two brute facts: Nothing is straightforward and entropy is a bitch. To address the former, and in apparent defiance of the latter, our species has benefitted from two developments that have broadly co-evolved: Complex brains and complex societies. So much has been written about these … Continue reading
A Little Essay For You
Here you find me, sitting in my study, surrounded by the same collection of Waterstones Smart Thinking books that Dominic Cummings uses to run the country, trying desperately to self-isolate for my wife’s benefit, because I swear to God, if the virus doesn’t kill her, I will. And then I look at the calendar and … Continue reading
Books to Die For
It’s looking very much like an awful lot of us are destined to have lot of time on our hands. So I thought it might be helpful if I were to heartily recommend a number of books that you could buy to wile away the time (assuming Amazon stays up, of course). If you have … Continue reading
A Brief Primer on Causation
So much of the debate surrounding climate change seems to hinge on questions of causation. In particular, the two principal causation questions of interest are: Is the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide the cause of global warming? Is the global warming the cause of the current incidence of extreme or environmentally damaging weather-related events? The … Continue reading
The World Weather Attribution Report for the 2019 Australian Bushfires – First Impressions
Following a brief reading of the World Weather Attribution report regarding the 2019 Australian bushfires, I felt the following extracts were worthy of comment: “The study reveals the complexity of the 2019/20 bushfire event, with some, but not all drivers showing an imprint of anthropogenic climate change.” That seems fair enough. But, of course, … Continue reading
Strange Tendenko and No Tsunami
It was Boxing Day, 2004, and hundreds of holiday makers were celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ by worshipping the Sun gods on the beaches of Phuket. Amongst them was a little ten year old girl from Oxshott, Surrey, who had been blessed with one of those charmingly genteel names one would expect of a … Continue reading
The Groper Contract Parts 5 – 10
Part 5 – The New Laws of Probability “You’re making a big mistake,” threatened Damian as Harry tightened the rope around his wrists. Unfortunately, Damian’s threats now carried the menace of a generator salesman, not a mad dog. Harry seemed unconcerned. “Oh yeh? So what are you going to do about it? Refuse me discounts … Continue reading
The Groper Contract Part 4 – Damian’s Final Offer
Having at last solved the hire car assistant puzzle, I suddenly found myself confronted instead by several more mysteries of a somewhat more pressing nature. For example, if our smoky bandit wasn’t dropping off a hire car, then what was he doing? Why did he think Damian and I were part of his dastardly … Continue reading
