Below is a comment I posted in response to Richard Alcock’s article in the Guardian, here.

“Have those Rights which were so hard-fought-for against Fascism in the 1940’s really changed to the degree that we now need to abandon, and re-write them in a way which differentiates ourselves from our European brothers?

I doubt it.

Cameron has begun to dismantle our position alongside and in the centre of Europe even before his administration has entered office, in the ill-informed friendships he has made in the European Parliament. Is he going to take Britain to an even further level of isolation in rejecting our common Human Rights with Europe?

I suspect so.”

Whilst on one of my well-deserved breaks from PhD monotony yesterday I stumbled across this cool online game called Pandemic 2. The aim is to create a virus, infect the entire planet and kill every human being. Grim stuff eh!? You have to choose which mutations the virus, bacterium or parasite goes through in order to outwit the poor humans and help it on it’s journey to global domination.

I played the game five or six times until I finally defeated those pesky Homo sapiens in less than a year of game time. I scored 43744, which is pretty dismal compared to the all-time High Score of over 900′000. Enjoy!

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Fixed vs. Hermeneutic Roadmaps, Reliability, and Replicability.

For all of you who attended the BArch Research Skills Lecture on 13th October, the link to the presentation and notes can be found HERE.

Please acknowledge my work if reproduced elsewhere. Copyright Liam Sharratt 2009.

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I am currently in Germany at the Modelling Spaces, Modifying Society Conference hosted by the ‘Topologies of Technology’ Graduate School at the TU Darmstadt. The conference is trying to bring together researchers from a wide variety of subject areas, who are trying to understand how the models they work with are shaping society and visa versa.

My talk is on the topic of Models as Mediators of Design: The case of BREEAM. This follows closely with my PhD research into the models used in architectural decision-making, with BREEAM being my chosen case. These models are embedded within architectural decision-making to such an extent that it’s important to understand how, if at all, they are shaping the decisions they are trying to support. BREEAM is an example of an Environmental Assessment Method, with LEED and Green Star being others.

You can download a PDF version of my presentation HERE.

Please acknowledge my work if reproduced elsewhere. This is a work in progress. Copyright Liam Sharratt 2009.

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After waiting what seemed like eternity, Season 3 of The Big Bang Theory has arrived! I re-watched Season’s 1 and 2 in anticipation (sad yet true) and watched last night’s episode today.

Spoiler Alert!

In ‘The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation’ the guys arrive back from their expedition to the Arctic and Sheldon believes that he discovered evidence of Monopoles and has finally proven String Theory correct. However, the guys falsified the evidence by turning their Electric Can Opener on and off repeatedly after working with a Sheldon desperate for a Nobel Prize was beginning to get a little too much!

Sheldon is gutted after prematurely announcing his discovery to the whole University and flees to Texas to stay with his Christian mother and ‘teach evolution to the creationists’, forcing the guys to follow him and threatening Leonard’s hopes for a romantic encounter with Penny!

I don’t think I can wait for next week’s episode. Maybe I could borrow the guys’ life-size replica of the time machine from H.G. Well’s ‘Time Machine’!

Enjoy!

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Whilst on a pre-Semester field trip to the Lake District, I was wandering along Keswick High Street whilst waiting for my undergraduates to finish a task I had given them and spotted this. There were other related toys such as wind up figures and music boxes, but these were the most striking. If I’d have more time I would have asked the store-keeper why they thought it was OK to sell items like these, which obviously carry such heavy connotations.

Lets hope its another 20 years before I see anything similar.

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On 1st September 1939, Europe and subsequently the rest of the world was forced into a bitter and protracted war which would see the mobilisation of over 100 million military personnel, and claim over 70 million lives. Britain, France and the Dominions declared war on Germany after vowing to protect Poland from Hitler’s greed for space and the unification of the German race, which had already seen the annexation of Austria and the Czech homeland.

It is now 70 years since the beginning of World War II and the prospect of total war in Europe is a distant memory, thanks in part to the 450′000 British servicemen who lost their lives along with those from other Allied countries.

However, 70 years is not such a long time to forget why these millions of brave men and women fought and died. They did so to protect liberal democracy from brutal fascist dictatorships, under which more than 6 million Jewish people and 27 million Soviet civilians perished.

I therefore think it necessary to contemplate the resurgence of fascist sentiment onto the British political scene. I have previously written about the re-invention and gentrification of fascism in Britain through the new-look British National Party (Two Wrong’s Definitely Don’t Make A Right – May 2009). The BNP is once again in the spotlight after the BBC issued a statement suggesting that the BNP would be invited onto the BBC’s flagship politics programme, Question Time.

This once again raises the question of whether or not it’s right and sensible to share a platform with a party that goes against everything that being British stands for. I’m of the opinion that not only is it right to share a platform with the BNP, but entirely necessary to in order that logical and rational thought can win against the bigoted and ignorant mouthpiece that the BNP sends to the BBC to speak for them. I only hope that the other political parties send spokespeople who speak from the heart and don’t just read from pre-prepared statements, afraid to drift too far away from the party line. The BBC obviously needs to act in an impartial way, but also needs to use sensitivity and acumen when selecting the show’s guests.

If the majority of sensible people in this great country can see the BNP for what they really are, not only racist bigots but actually a bunch of cowboys who just happen to be wearing suits and ties, then the BNP will quickly revert back to political obscurity, exactly where they belong!

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Those of you who take notice may have seen that my Blog posts usually consist of rantings on a number of politically-oriented subjects, reviews of books I’ve been reading and only occasionally, stuff to do with me, myself and I. I intend to alter this balance (somewhat). I’m going to try a little experiment into posting more personal entries once in a little while, which will hopefully link into what’s occurring on my Twitter and Facebook feeds. We shall see how it works out.

So, keep your eyes open.

XO XO

Queer was written by Burroughs in the years 1951-53, but not published until 1985 due to the sensitivities of the time in regard to homosexual experiences.

Written in the years immediately after Junky, Queer follows in it’s predecessor’s quasi-autobiographical vein. The main character, ‘Lee’ finds himself in Mexico City after accidentally shooting his wife. The story follows Lee is his cycle of abusing Junk and sex. From early in the story, Lee lands his eye upon a young and straight American called Allerton, who he quickly becomes infatuated with. Allerton finds himself as Lee’s travelling companion and paid-for lover on their trip to South America with the eventual aim of tracking down the elusive hallucinogen, Yage. The story ends with Lee unsuccessful in his search for Yage and indeed fulfilment through his use of Junk and Allerton.

Queer is a definite must-read for those who found themselves strangely wanting more after the end of Junky.

Burroughs’ Junky (1953) is a quasi-autobiographical work, which helped to define the Gonzo genre and lead to the legendary status of the ‘Beats’, along with the help of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, among others. The story follows the main character, Bill’s interaction with ‘Junk’ or Heroin from experimental and blissful flirtation to dark and painful dependency. Moving from city to city in search and escape of and from the needs and aches of Junk, Bill tells his story in a mixture of ways – ranging from beautiful and florid prose to simple and utilitarian descriptions of people, places and events.

It’s sometimes difficult to understand and identify with Bill, as throughout the text he speaks in colourful tone on the subject of African-Americans and Homosexuals, even though he himself is a practising homosexual. This narrative is extended in a later text, Queer (1985). I would recommend this text to lovers of the ‘Beats’ genre, but suggest that readers uninitiated with Burroughs to begin with Naked Lunch (1959).

Enjoy!