There is a lot of discussion of the term ‘sustainability’ and numerous definitions of the term. I’m not going to delve into a comparative exploration of these in this post. I’d like, instead, to explore a notion common to a number of definitions of sustainability: that we need to pass on to future generations a World fit to live in (I include examples of such definitions at the end of the post). Read more…
It was a French neurologist at the Salpetriere in Paris, Jean Martin Charcot, who first described multiple sclerosis in 1868. He noted the accumulation of inflammatory cells in a perivascular distribution within the brain and spinal cord white matter of patients with intermittent episodes of neurologic dysfunction. This led to the term ‘sclerose en plaque disseminees’, or Multiple Sclerosis (MS) [12].
In 1933, Thomas Rivers at the Rockefeller Institute demonstrated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an autoimmune demyelinating disease in mammals. He achieved this with the repeated injection of rabbit brain and spinal cord into primates. This has led to the generally accepted hypothesis that multiple sclerosis is secondary to an autoimmune response to self antigens in a host [12]. Read more…
Oh, let’s take the jargon ‘model essay writer’ out of the way to start with and tell you what I really did. I aided and abetted students who wanted to get a qualification without actually doing the boring academic stuff that goes along with it. In short, I helped them to cheat…. Read more…
Come along to the Blind Poet at 7pm for a music event with George Wilson followed by live music from Sukh:
A 90- minute introduction to jazz, nothing too heavy.
Delivered by a non-professional, non-musician, this short event involves listening to some music on CD, with a little light discussion, for people with a bit of curiosity but little or no understanding of jazz. Hopefully we’ll have coffee available – bring your newspaper if you want, this is meant to be relaxed! Read more…
Come along to the Blind Poet at 7pm for a music event with George Wilson followed by live music from Sukh:
Doctor by day, musician by night, the young Mancunian songwriter Sukh self released his debut album in 2013 and has been quietly working away behind the scenes since. Acclaimed for his chamber folk tinged numbers (particularly breakthrough single ‘Kings’), Sukh employs an orchestral element that sounds big enough to uplift and reverb around a space 300 feet high, balanced by gentle comfortable strumming and lupine vocals. Read more…
In this brief article, I want to share some thoughts and memories from my Doctoral studies into the psychology of music piracy. Above all, I want to engage readers in a wider debate about research methodology, directing curious readers to resources which will satisfy further reading into the topic area. Food for thought…
Starter
Music piracy is one of those things that is difficult to talk about, because people get very emotional. It’s a real thing, something people are engaged in.Read more…
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources. It involves the analysis of literary texts, written records, where they have come from, who wrote them, and what meaning they hold. The philological community has differing beliefs as to many aspects of the history of language, and often these differences have given rise to heated debates. The history of language can also be viewed as involving a debate about the meaning of things which have been written that have shaped whole cultures and ultimately the way we have come to behave in certain contexts. Read more…
The British Library holds a copy of the Buddhist text known commonly as the Diamond Sutra (a more accurate translation of the Sanskrit title might be, the Vajra Cutter Sutra). It is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom (prajna-paramita) genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. A copy found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century, is, in the words of the British Library “the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book.” Read more…
This article is the first of a series which proposes a thesis and hypothesis on the cause of Multiple Sclerosis and potential avenues of therapy. It has been written as a contribution to the public domain to be critiqued, compared and peer reviewed by people who have an interest in multiple sclerosis, medicine, the sciences and thinking in general. It is an experiment in open online digital peer review and discussion. Too few people are being included in the communities which get to make meaning, and too great a number are excluded from the conventions which help us to collectively work towards greater understandings.
This is, of course, a reference to science and scientific method. Never before in history has so much information been available to so many people. Niether has there ever been a period with so many having access to the stuffs and materials of science. The endeavour of humanity is held back when a relatively small group of select people decide for all the world that they are the sole paladins of knowledge and what gets included in discussions about matters which concern us all. This has become the danger as society opens its debates only to those who have had the good fortune to be born in the right place and the right time. True knowledge is of a deeper character, fortunately, and is available to all. Read more…
