Difficult to Read

We have an Act of Parliament -- the Consumer Protection Act -- which in Section 22 requires that companies use "plain English". Yesterday a company asked me to fill in / out some forms -- which I sent straight to computer analysis. They scored, in part, well below 50 on the Flesch scale, which means very difficult to read. In fact I am not sure that I could understand those forms myself: "Funds may borrow to pay client disinvestments and may engage in scrip lending," and so on. Sign "I agree." That kind of writing does not comply with Section 22's "plain English". OBSERVATION: With very-difficult-to-read forms, one may well exclude the simple folks from aspects of the economy. In fact one wonders how many people who sign "I agree" really know what they are agreeing to. How many dishonest forms is the company sitting with?

Spanish Article

I had an article published today by the leading Spanish philosophy magazine: La brecha de Pascal. What is special about this is that I do not know any Spanish. I used AI for everything. This included finding the magazine, translating my writing, and corresponding with the editor. I enjoyed that! It was much more interesting than just ... writing. OBSERVATION: It shows we are entering a new era. One can write to the highest standard in a language one doesn't know.

Hout Bay Devastation

I visited Hout Bay harbour today, south of Cape Town, for the first time in ten years or more. The devastation at the southern end of the harbour is unbelievable. The photo shows what were, ten years ago, thriving fish factories and shops. To say the harbour is in a state of disrepair would be an understatement. OBSERVATION: This has happened to many places in South Africa. You may click on the photo to enlarge.

Computer Analysis

I now ran my Annual Philosophy Lecture for Malta through grammar and style checkers (see one on the right). I then acted on recommendations. The result is a lecture which may be understood above Grade 7, and has 56% strength of style. OBSERVATION: Mostly, philosophy scores 0% for strength of style! The strongest philosophical writing I know of is Ludwig Wittgenstein at 11%

POSTSCRIPT: Unique words stand at a very high 18%.

Cabichi, Anyone?

I live in a suburb of Cape Town where there may sometimes seem to be more foreigners than locals. This photo, taken of a corner store, is a classic: CABICHI, anyone? Beg pardon, CAbbage. And callots. 

Royal Dynasty

My son M did a DNA test, which turned up something interesting. My late wife Mirjam was descended of the House of Hohenzollern, a royal dynasty. I don't think that she herself knew that. With hindsight, one might have guessed it. The dynasty may be traced back to 1061, and disintegrated as a royal dynasty in World War I. 

Synopsis in Eight Languages

A short while ago, the Philosophy Sharing Foundation of Malta put up a synopsis of my forthcoming Annual Philosophy Lecture of 2025. One may now listen to the synopsis in any one of eight languages on my author page. Click here to be routed through to a selection of the following languages: Synopsis. 

• Maltese
• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Chinese
• Hindi
• Arabic 

Language Skills

A while back, I submitted a philosophy article in Spanish to a magazine based in Central America. It was accepted today. It is scheduled for publication on Thursday. What is significant here is that I know no Spanish. I did it entirely with artificial intelligence (AI), including a survey of Spanish publications, and correspondence with the editor. OBSERVATION: It is the leading philosophy magazine in Spanish. It shows that we are entering a new era, where one can both correspond and submit in an unknown language. I have not heard of anyone who tried this before.

Nearly One-Million Views

I see that, if my blog will continue to receive as many views as it receives at present, it is two months away from one-million views. Over all of its life, most of its readers were situated in (the top five countries, in this order) France, the USA, South Africa, Russia, and Germany. The most popular ministry post is Mature Post. My most popular sermon is Chronicles Part XI. OBSERVATION: Life outside the blog has not been uneventful!

Modern Superstition

I took this photo in a Cape Town hospital. Notice that floor 13 is missing. This means that superstition is strong enough to deny the existence of a floor. Here, it's the doctors' rooms which are unluckily numbered 14. OBSERVATION: I checked if there was a hidden floor. There wasn't.

Baffling Opposition

Here's something which, until this day, I have not revealed beyond a few meetings. Our Church (our members) decided to put some pews into storage, and at the same time re-mount some memorial plaques -- in the interests of creating what we called a "fellowship area" as one entered the Church. This brought us into direct conflict with the state, who threatened to enter the property and attach assets. There were two members who might have got us into trouble, as they were the only two who openly opposed the decision. I approached one of them. She said, No Thomas, it's not one of us. I'll tell you who is responsible for this. OBSERVATION: I shall say only that she named someone well known to me, not a member of the Church. I wrote to the state and said, We have a problem here with an individual. They immediately dropped their opposition to the Church. 

Polyanna Pastor

An office secretary once said to me, "You're a real Pollyanna! You don't see the negative! Always the positive!" I needed to look up "Pollyanna" -- a 1913 fictional character who "found something to be glad about in every situation". I explained my attitude something like this: the Church is about what the Lord is doing, and the Lord never makes mistakes, never does anything that disappoints. The photo shows me leading a small service last year.

Middelplaas Congregational Church

Here's a photo of the interior of the Congregational Church in Middelplaas near the town of De Rust. Middelplaas is an unusual community -- it's not a village, yet there are many houses scattered across the valley. I have no further information on this Church. OBSERVATION: The Church is small, and could not accommodate a crowd which turned up for a funeral service. I took this super-wide-angle photo by pressing my camera through the crowd at the door. 

Ambulance (Not)

This post is not for sensitive souls. A young cousin of wife E took ill one evening this week, with a heart ailment, which had her vomiting. While the hospital was just 1½ km away, she was too ill to get there. The family called the hospital. The hospital said that they didn't have an ambulance, but they were dispatching one from a town 50 km away. Hour after hour, the family waited for the ambulance -- which ultimately didn't turn up. By the morning, E's cousin was a little better, and the family got her to the hospital, where they put her on a drip. OBSERVATION: This kind of situation is not unusual. Here's a news item about a king -- in fact a distant relative of wife E -- who couldn't get an ambulance: Death of a Xhosa King. 

POSTSCRIPT: The situation with ambulances is very bad -- particularly in more distant places, i.e. distant from cities. I would guess that most people are unaware of the seriousness of the situation. I am in the privileged position of living in two worlds.

Assessing Progress

It's difficult to assess how efficiently one is progressing, when writing a book or compiling a lecture. It's not like a university semester or an academic thesis, where one has waymarkers. Two of the ways I try to assess how efficiently I am progressing: 

1. How much energy have I used up? One's "weariness meter" says a lot.

2. How much quality writing have I produced? That's how I am faring.