Foothills of Catastrophe

There is a worrying heat wave in Europe. Hugh Montgomery, professor of intensive care medicine at University College London, says, “This isn’t the new norm at all; this is the foothills of absolute catastrophe.” Unfortunately, I think he is quite right. OBSERVATION: And yet, I think that our approach to this problem is still reactive. We don't yet have the understanding to correct it on this or that philosophical principle.

POSTSCRIPT: The "father of environmental ethics", Holmes Rolston III, rightly saw that "the epistemic crisis is as troubling as the environmental crisis, and one must be fixed before the other can."

Two New Designs

Just when you think you are all washed up ... I am pleased to see that two of my electronic designs are published in the July 2026 Silicon Chip Magazine: 

1. Random Traffic Lights, and 

2. A Proximity Sensor. 

They both have special features. At the push of a button, the Traffic Lights randomly fail (a nice South African touch), and the Proximity Sensor is diode-based: by using reversed diodes for a potential divider, an op-amp input becomes very sensitive to the nearness of a human body. I took the photo of South African traffic lights in Thembalethu.

Cape Town Hotel School

It's just a pretty picture today -- a photo of wife E at a function at the Cape Town Hotel School last week. As a guest there, one is in fact a guinea pig. Yet they offer first class service and food.

Nearly 10,000 Reads

It's been a busy day. But I see, at the end of the day, that nearly 10,000 people have read my blog today. It mystifies me, sometimes. I just "write what I like", as the late Steve Biko once said. Compare this to reaching, say, 100 people through a sermon, or a few dozen through a lecture. OBSERVATION: Then again, sermons and lectures are a lot weightier than blog posts!

Cyborg Soloist

OK, this is interesting. Two years ago, I wrote on this blog, "During a concert, one hears the physical effects that performers have on musical instruments -- and of course their voices. However, one does not highlight any physical effects besides. One might think of jumping on stage, moving a microphone, even such actions as a performer moving their eyebrows or turning their wrists." Today there is a video on CNN of someone who has now done just this, titled Cyborg Soloist: https://edition.cnn.com/world/video/uk-cyborgpianist-transformers-hnk-spc OBSERVATION: You saw it first on this blog! Which would suggest: this was indeed a good (mental) invention. I think my inventions (almost) all are good ones, on this blog.

In the Name of Mercy

It's not dead, it's ... alive! I am the editor of Pi Gamma, the successor to Pi Beta, of which I was an editor. That reached no. 7 among philosophy publications in the UK. Pi Gamma has a far more modest boast, with less than 150,000 page-views. Anyway, there is now a new poem up on Pi Gamma, by the renowned author Yahia Lababidi, In the Name of Mercy: https://philosophical-investigations-mirror.blogspot.com/2026/06/in-name-of-mercy.html

Christmas Lunch

This one's just a pretty picture: Christmas lunch in the townships -- not yet fully loaded up. A chop still came on top of this. The meat is typically barbecued outside. Beans are always popular in a township meal. A classic is samp and beans. 

New Chromebook

Alas, one-third of my computer screen blew out -- a Chromebook which ran (mainly) Chrome and Linux operating systems. It was time for a new computer. So I bought a new Chromebook (the Chromebook has impressed me). I powered up my new computer, and it requested my e-mail address and password, and ... up popped my old computer! I was astonished. Where did it get that? Now I just needed to copy my files across -- which was zippy. However, I needed to recreate the Linux section of the computer -- but that was easy. OBSERVATION: It's all very well for Google to have such magic powers over my computer -- and millions like it -- but what if somebody somewhere turned malevolent?

Single Mothers: My Experience

There is, in our Black and Coloured communities in particular, a very big problem with single parenthood. For instance, over 40% of mothers are single parents. This often has a degrading effect on both mothers and children -- and makes life hard for the mothers. From this point of view, it has been interesting to see 15 years of development now in my wife's community. A child of, say, 5 years old is now 20 years old ... I can think of one who got married. A few fell pregnant, then married their lovers -- which is the next best option. A few fell pregnant and stayed with their lovers. A few fell pregnant and suffered the degradation I speak about. Some had close shaves -- for example, one was expelled from school. And a few kept themselves pure. OBSERVATION: It is a very big clan.

Race Relations

I last visited the USA 20 years ago. I found race relations there to be awkward, even strained. Back here in South Africa, where race relations a generation ago were disastrous, I now find joy in race relations every day. I find a happy harmony, and a celebration of diversity. Of course, it will not be like that everywhere.

Potato Patch

Son M lives in a Church manse in Switzerland, which he sub-lets to refugees. Across the road, he has a garden, which he regularly tends. This is his potato patch. The house is seen in the background. In fact wife E planted the potatoes last year.

40 Days a Week

Next semester, I am working as a seminary lecturer full-time. Full-time = three courses or more. That might not seem like much, but consider the following. One lecture is 90 minutes. In seminary, they generally say that one minute of sermon = one hour of preparation. Say, 20 hours for 20 minutes. I shall be teaching 90 x 3 = 270 minutes a week, so that makes ... 270 hours, which is nearly 40 working days a week -- at university level. OBSERVATION: That is theoretically impossible. So for the lecturer, the question is: how to make it possible. I have a professor friend who says, you are not just teaching a course. You are conveying you. That makes one feel rather vulnerable -- but it is part of the secret.

Greeting in the Pews

A worship leader invited us yesterday to greet people in the pews. I turned to the person behind me, and the conversation ran like this:

Me: "I know you! I don't need to greet you!"

Answer: "They didn't say you must know me. You must greet me!"

Me: "But then again, do I really know you?"

Answer: "That's impossible. I don't even know myself."

Me: "Don't even know yourself? Isn't that strange?"

Answer: "The Bible says that all of humanity is strange."

Then the worship leader called everyone to order. OBSERVATION: Of course, it is quite true that we don't even know ourselves. It is rather a problem, how little we do.

Aspirant Intruder

An aspirant intruder this week tried to enter my e-mail account. They typed in my correct e-mail address and password -- nevertheless, Google stopped them. I double-checked: does Google stop people with the correct e-mail address and password? Google says: "Google actively stops hackers from accessing accounts, even if they type the correct email address and password". OBSERVATION: This raises some obvious questions. How did someone obtain my correct e-mail address and password, and what did they want?

POSTSCRIPT: There was a second attempt, again with my correct e-mail address and password, and again Google stopped the aspirant intruder. I have since changed my password.

Chance Meeting

I was in a Church pew today, and greeted the couple in front of me -- and recalled that I had taken a photo of them years ago (not knowing them by name). They are now a married couple. I took the photo when they were first an item -- I think in 2019. OBSERVATION: It took a search and a half to find the photo, which I sent to them.