Cartoon greatness!

Click the image to see it in its entirety.

I hope that Anne - the creator... nay, CREATOR - of this cartoon doesn't mind that I am recreating her works here, but there goes. If you want some witty entertainment you can't go far wrong than keep an eye out for Anne Pritchard's work. Often culturally poignant always intricate and well drawn. She can be found at two locations.

1) The Replicated Type-o - http://www.replicatedtypo.com/

A perfect example of further cartoonship is found at this link which also demonstrates the slightly impenetrable linguistic discussion that go on at this site.

2) The Demise of Humanity - http://www.demiseofhumanity.com/

From which the link above is found, which as far as I can tell at this stage is an atheist blog for peope who like to moan thoughtfully. I.e. a great place to intellectually troll (at least thats what I'm probably going to attempt)!

Cider Making

Cider Making. Something my Family has partaken of for generations (4 years) making finely crafted (HA! Just look at the production process) and exceptionally refined (well try and drink 2 year old cider and then you KNOW what refined is) vintages from our orchards (5 twisted old trees).

Here is a short blog of images which covers the production of cider so you at home could do it yourself! Its EASY!

First you need APPLES. Lots of them. Make sure they are not too mouldy or rotten, but don't be too picky. Some dirt will get washed off and consider worms a seasoning.

Next. Smash and mash and bash and bosh them all into a mushy mess. We use a big heavy wooden post which we lift and drop repeatedly on the apples within a big plastic wooden barrel (with the top cut off). Works pretty well, but is very tiring and demanding on 'The Bosher' so you may need to take turns.

The next bit is the press. Here we scoop up all the mashed up apples and put them into a material lining within the press. As the press is slowly squeezing the apples, the material will keep the apple bits in but let the juice out. Interestingly, because the press we use is wooden the first press is always light as the wood soaks up a certain amount of the juice that is produced. Say hello to my father everyone.

The final stage of this process is the apple juice itself. We pour it all into (via the press) a 6 gallon tub. Apparently, the bigger the tub the better the cider so this one is pretty big, though we do have a few twice the size. Here we fill the cider up as high as possible to let as little air into the barrel before we seal it, but not too much so the it overflows during fermentation; this would ruin who lot, DISASTER!

Ingredients are kept to a minimum. This time around we have experimented with Damsons for no other reason than they were to hand... And to tell the truth the result looks disgusting. But yes, ingredients to a minimum. We add yeast and sugar but only grudgingly to help the fermentation process. We want our cider to be as pure as possible(even if it is disgusting)!

Comedy holding a grain of truth ...?

I don't normally find the cartoons on Guido Fawkes's blog that amusing, but today's is an exception...

Embryonic Management Idea

Looks like my 'Adventures in Edinburgh' plan didn't work out... That is the writing up and posting mildly entertaining and informative blogs about it part. Oh well. I can report back, at the very least, that I had a fine time. With much in the way of enjoyment and beer.

So, yes. This post. Well It's on a massively alternative topic that I may try and work on in the future. It is 'Embryonic', in so far as I haven't thought about it too much but I thought it would be nice to write it down and see if that clears things up in my head a little. It may have done this. The aim? To try and develop a holistic empowering management style; empowering for all, workers, management, organisations, sector and society.

Not exactly a small order really... Oh well.

-----

Just idling thinking about structures earlier and I may have created an interesting one associated with management. It’s a tree. And it’s probably something that someone else has thought up in more erudite ways and with more eloquent language and to a greater extent than my idling mind can compete with... Either way, here goes.

One of the clear difficulties I see in business... I guess possibly a cultural matter within the UK... Is our inability to internalise the structures of management. That is old view of hierarchy but also of interpersonal relations and networks of power. That is there is a rejection of the first (“Stick it to the MAN!”), a achievement of extremitus with the second (various forms of favouritism or distaste, and other general forms of unprofessionalism) and a total lack of cultural knowledge of the third (we just don’t work together).

I may need to go into more detail of the three I suppose at some point. But to be honest it is only the second which is interesting in a wider way. The idea that our power; our potential achievements, our acceptance and support of another is vital in a management structure. Foucault looks into power as a network in the sense that even (to the greatest political extreme) a Sovereign and ‘Divine Right’ style of Monarchy is ultimately supported by individuals accepting the Monarch’s position in one way or other. The same can be said in business, and is vital in business. Because this opening up of an additional layer of understanding within work and the power processes that enact within work ultimately conceptualises things in a very satisfying and positive way.

One of the first things I am going to do is one thing that Foucault warns not to do... Which is commoditise power. This is lazy for me (I need to re-read Society Must Be Defended asap.) and a good illustrative short hand for people.

20+ 5

|

6+4 6+4

| |

2+1 2+1 2+1 2+1

| | | |

11 11 11 11

As you can see, management levels and structures are supported and develop in themselves not so much through individuals at this levels adding to the overall commodity of work, but by the utilisation and development of the work done previously. In such an organisation, where the flow is clear and positive the Managers are able to resolve issues with a higher level of skill and support. It is a message for all individuals within a structure, that each bit of work, each individual, has a part to play for the positive accomplishment of the organisation, or indeed, otherwise.

Edinburgh Fringe

Hello!

Well this hasn't happened for a while. But I did say that I may have a look and write a new blog about my 6 days in Edinburgh for the fringe so here goes.

I'm exceedingly hungover. Not exactly something that is unusual for me. But that is the case, so I may fail a words. Just so you know.

The excuse for this little excursion to the north is the Edinburgh fringe. That is a mass of flyering, crowds, bizarre people standing exceedingly still.... and seagulls.

No wait, its all about the ARTS!

Lots of comedy, plays, and other such activities by people exceedingly more talented than me. So far - and this list is as full as my memory allows - Babba Brinkmans' Rap Guide to Human Nature... Which was very good, though he did seem to have a fixation on ovulation. Political Animal by Andy Zaltzman... Late night (started at midnight) comedy with multiple comedians with a supposed political spin. I say supposed, as it seemed like only Andy Zaltzman as compare had any truly political material. A rendition from a group of far-too-pretty actors of 'A Clockwork Orange'. And finally (in this incomplete list) Adam Vincent, a very entertaining comedian... Only problem being that in the small room that the performance was contained it was too hot, and his voice too... relaxing to result in any amount of excessive laughter.

Right, this is going to be much shorter than I had planned. I seem to be crashing on this couch and need less coffee and more sleep... :-/

Will try and get back on here for more [DEEP DRAMATIC VOICE] Adventures in Edinburgh!!

How Many of me....?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

The Future?

"With 2001 long gone and 2010 here, their namesake movies now appear insanely optimistic about where we’d be in space by those dates. I guess war and making money was more important than advancing science, exploration and all that stuff we used to do."

From an article on 'The future of NASA' but could work with far too many areas... Social Services, Education... even politics itself. Bah.
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/25/the-future-of-nasa/