School of Life Shop and #6 Humanism

Alain's Shop in London

In one of the series of (the original) BBC TV Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin there was a period of success where Reggie had an empire called 'Grot' selling useless things.
Now I'm a big fan of what Alain de Botton is doing/has done with his books, lectures shows and of course the shop (see left). The shop has been going around 4 years so the assistant there told me on Friday when I made a pilgrimage to it. Stock is somewhat limited (I bought the last copy of  What to do about Everything - as I liked the title and thought I should show some sort of support).
It reminded me of Grot in the concept and it gives me some pleasure for it to be so.
Much of what we buy today is concept over content, and very much brand over product, if there was a slimming cube as an alternative to sugar it would fly off the shelves. Customer expectation is so high but when purchasing we know we will be disappointed and much as slimmers will always be on a diet or going on to another (better) diet so when we buy are goods the realisation as we unwrap our goodies is that it is not enough means we're perpetual consumers. So now the idea that we can buy the good life does not seem so far fetched - it's another choice we make, were not the shallow ones who spend all their money on holidays/cars/works of art - no we're deeper than that. Take a look at Keri Smith site for another view on advertising and other great but perhaps slightly subversive stuff .

And now Number 6 Humanism

Humanism these days is often tethered to Atheism/Agnosticism but has roots back to the big 3 (Socrates,Plato and  Aristotle) who had placed the 'human' centrre stage in their philosophising.
Later from the 1500's as the Scientific revolution gathered pace their was a belief that human reason could discover the workings of everything.


On in the background/foreground listening to Vinyl- Excellent Birds by Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel

Telco Bills and #5 Aristoteliansim

So the cost of Telecoms for the home in the UK is dropping and let me give you a gentle nudge to check what you pay..

Then:


1) I've used BT for phone and Broadband for some time (the last 15 years at least since we got back to the UK).
2) Internet access used to be expensive and choice for fixed line services was limited.
3) BT was the strongest provider in terms of service and support.

Now:

1) Switching has been made easier  look at services like Uswitch to help you see the offers.
2) Internet access is available from many providers - some bundle it with TV and mobile here's Talk Talk as an example (they do mobile too).
3) Sky amongst others have a good service ethos - BT is not the only show in town.


Having spent some money and time improving the broadband connectivity at home I became aware that we were only getting around 3.0 Mbps - looking on BT's own site it became apparent I should be getting something like 10.0 Mbsp - BT's site indicated that this would cost me around £13.00 per month and for transferring customers the deal waswith a  free 6 moths too. (line rental was on top of this but I could get 12 months line rental fixed at £129.00).

Cheap but good switch

I called BT to find out how I could get a faster service at a better price
Result from the call with a very helpful lady was that from spending £67.00 per month I will now be spending around £25.00 per month for a better (faster) broadband service.
Now I understand that this might not be good news for BT but they still have me as a customer (presumably making a profit on this) and they might be able to up-sell to me in the future.
There is  a question on when I get the improved speed and how BT can continue to make  good profits and invest for the future.

I will be providing some thought around mobile deals shortly! (here's a taster/warning).

Powerline Adapter

By the way improving my broadband was purchase of another Powerline adapter and an ethernet switch cost  less than £25.00 (total) with pretty much next day delivery (postage was included in that £25.00) via Amazon and Ebay purchases, all worked out of the box - amazing.




Big Idea  Number 5 Aristoteliansim


Aristotle was a pupil of Plato who favoured reasoning he was around from 384 BC and lived to be around 62 years of age.
Islamic scholars preserved records of his ideas during the 'dark ages'.
As you can see below he looks like the other guys with  a beard  and messy hair (as do so many engineers nowadays but this might be because of the lack of readily available digital cameras and a few overworked sculptors).
Aristotle emphasised deduction  and investigation of  both concrete and particular things and situations.

Bond Skyfall and #4 Plato's Cave

Following reports that the latest 007 was a must-see on Thursday we visited Odeon Richmond to carry out the assignment.
Very much worth the trip £9.70 (I think) seems fantastic value, I think that new equipment must have been fitted and the digital quality really was a revelation - much better than the home experience of watching a film nad also now able to take a decent cup of coffee in (from Costa) which was good and part of a trend?
Enough of the strategically placed advertising (of which there was far less in the film than I had feared) - wow the film was very very good for a 'Bond' movie. Daniel Craig may be the best Bond he certainly shines in this action packed account of MI6 falling apart.
Lots of clever post modern referencing and generally quite knowing, but what we'd expect from a great director like Sam Mendes.
Not sure what was CGI and what wasn't but some great action sequences in London and Turkey - if you've not seen the film I think you should (theme tune is super as well).

Number 4 -Plato's Cave

This entry about Palto's Cave seems slightly heavier and is characterised by  one of Plato's dialogues within the republic  that is concerned with defining the human condition as seeing only shadows (whilst in a cave) - rather than the full picture - Philosophers do see more and recongise the limits of the shadows that are observed and considered to be the full picture (for those not in the know).
The device also covers the fact that even such definitions as we have are problematic and shifting.
[Update 30/01/14 here's a sort of lecture on the subject (written)  from a series by Dr Tom Kerns which provides a Philosophy 101 for free].

NEW BBC DG and #3 Platonism

So Tony Hall will (re) join the BBC in March as the DG, he is seen by many as a steady pair of hands with some good external experience (running/sorting out the Royal Opera House at present).
Hall Actually (Lord Hall) lost out to Mark Thompson during the recruitment for the post in 1999 and is a cultured man with a strong Public service ethos, time will tell if he is able to bring beneficial change to the UK's primary cultural body.

more on the really big ideas...



Number 3 Platonism

Plato is a seminal figure who recorded his dialogues with his teacher Socrates - it is not known how much he 'adjusted' the Socrates element.

The dialogues favour 'Ideas' over 'Experience' and the most influential dialogue is  considered to be The Republic - you can take a look at it here or try a  summary here.
Plato was born around 428 BC lived to age of about 80 which seems a ripe old age - his achievements in life included the founding of the Academy - in later life he was involved with Politics (nobody's perfect).