The Electronical Rattle Bag

“And so maybe the way human beings combine these random snippets of information to create something new, maybe the connections we make and the way we remix the things we know and transmit them to others are what gives us the edge over the machines. Maybe our creativity is the real key to our survival. We can take that information and not just reduce it, we can make something new out of it. And the machines can’t do that. Yet.”

— Julian Simpson

June 16, 2013, 10:17am

“When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, it changed the overall balance of power and destabilised every country in the region. The same thing is happening again, except that the impact of the Syrian war is likely to be less easily contained. ”

— Is it the end of Sykes-Picot?

June 15, 2013, 10:17am

“Yes. Please, please support the artists who make the songs and stories and pictures and dance and theatre that move you. If you appreciate their art, and you can afford to do so, please *buy* that art. But even if you can’t afford to buy their work, then talk about it, share it, celebrate it in some fashion that respects and values the artist as well as the art. Give them credit. Say their names.”

— Meredith Yayanos

June 09, 2013, 8:03am

“We had a few non-fiction books at home, but my dad was of the opinion that fiction was a complete and utter waste of time because it wasn’t real - so what was the point of reading it?“ And so as a consequence, I lived down at my local library. I think he was absolutely wrong because I learnt more about people and relating and communicating with other people through fiction books than I ever did though non-fiction.”

— Malorie Blackman

June 09, 2013, 3:25am

“keep drawing, make A LOT of drawings, and don’t worry about making bad drawings.”

— Thoughts on Doodling

May 27, 2013, 10:17am

“I’ve never read a resumé in my life. But if you insist on giving me one, don’t lead with “Photoshop” as a skill. Tell me you know how to combine typefaces and have a solid understanding of color theory. That’s a skill.”

— Welcome, Recent Graduates

May 26, 2013, 6:36pm

“Your successes hold your shoulders high. Your losses pull your chest inward. You hold your sadness in your throat, your anger in your jaw and your fear in your belly. Your happiness rises and falls in your chest. Love rolls in and out on the tides of your breath. It’s all there, all the time.”

— Things I learned from Naked People

May 25, 2013, 8:34pm

“To truly demonstrate defiance in the face of this sad violence, we must be loving and compassionate to one another. Let’s look beyond our superficial and fleeting differences. The murderers want angry patriots to desecrate mosques and perpetuate violence. How futile their actions seem if we instead leave flowers at each other’s places of worship. Let’s reach out in the spirit of love and humanity and connect to one another, perhaps we will then see what is really behind this conflict, this division, this hatred and make that our focus.”

— Woolwich

May 25, 2013, 5:08pm

“I think if we want to take care of the next generation of girls we should reassure them that power, strength and character are more important than beauty and always will be, and that even if they aren’t thin and pretty, they are still worthy of respect. That feeling is the birthright of men everywhere. It’s about time we claimed it for ourselves.”

— I don’t want to be told I’m pretty as I am - I want to live in a world where that’s irrelevant

May 25, 2013, 1:43pm

“DRAW FROM LIFE.  All the time.  Draw naked people.  Draw clothed people.  Draw pets and buildings and teacups and trees and draw all of it all the time.  Put it in a book that you keep in your pocket.  Steal life from the realm of the living so that the worlds you create might also live.”

— The Wizarding Way

May 18, 2013, 8:34pm

“I submit that “creativity” is just as broad, and broadly necessary, to human functioning as the collection of impulses, conditions and skills we’ve labeled love.”

— Against Creativity

May 18, 2013, 5:08pm

“The policies may not work, the ills they seek to combat and the benefits they hope to reap may be illusory. But fear holds Conservatives in its grip and the general election is drawing closer. When pressed, they say that they want to “flag up” their support of marriage, “signal” their dislike of scroungers or “send a message” to illegal immigrants. Our language has been so corrupted by the euphemisms of advertising and public relations that we no longer realise that what they mean is that they intend to lie.”

— Lies, damned lies and Iain Duncan Smith

May 18, 2013, 1:43pm

“This is an example of what happens in a market-based system: any clash between generating profit and protecting the natural world is resolved in favour of business, often with the help of junk science. Only those components of the ecosystem which can be commodified and sold are defended.”

— The Self-Hating State

May 12, 2013, 1:42pm

“He claims that I criticised the new grammar test because there is “no such thing as correct grammar”. No, I criticised it because a) it was brought in without any evidence that it would help children write better, b) that Year 6 is too early to tackle grammar in any useful way, c) the kind of grammar being tested was resulting in it being taught out of context of real speaking, writing and reading, d) questions about grammar are not simply a matter of “right and wrong”.”

— “…Let me explain this slowly”

May 12, 2013, 3:25am

“Getting people to care and want to learn about things that they don’t see as directly impacting their lives can be difficult. I believe that wrapping points and ideas up in pretty or exciting packages is just as valid a tactic as demonstrating in a public place with a sea of people. It’s also just as valid as highly intellectual debates about the small, intricate details of an issue using specialized vocabularies full of obscure words.”

— Art Is Just as Powerful as Protest

May 11, 2013, 8:34pm