Author: publius

Fools! I will destroy you all!!

ASFO 2024–11–16

In which my motivations for reading selections from an annotated version of the Treaty of Versailles are, perhaps, revealed, and the vexed question of German War Guilt is examined ; along with an attempt to introduce some of the basic concepts of banking and currency, with the intention of eventually explaining the various things that might be meant by a person referring to “the gold standard”, and the contexts in which these meanings arise.

ASFO 2024–11–09

What is good in life? (wrong answers only) — oaths of fealty, and the question of how far self–interest actually predicts human motivations — immigration, and what it has to do with Don Quixote. And the Preamble and Chapter I of the Charter of the United Nations, for those requiring a refresher.

Supplementary Show

  • 2024–11–12 Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen ; the Preamble and Chapter I of the Charter of the United Nations ; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ; and some material from a US Government publication entitled The Treaty of Versailles and After, including the resolution of 18 April 1946 for the dissolution of the League of Nations.
  • 2024–11–15 More from the annotated Treaty of Versailles, specifically the Covenant of the League of Nations.

ASFO 2024–11–02

Mail Call! A plea to my fellow Americans — “Iowasolation” — a reassurance for those who hope to escape to the last place uncontaminated by capitalism — and the problem of argot and specialized symbology.

Supplementary Show

  • 2024–11–05 Three editorials from Analog magazine — from Ben Bova, who strove to carry on the provoking and insightful tradition of John W Campbell. “The Mystic West” on the supposed conflict between the empirical sciences and the humanities, and the role and character of mythology in the modern world (1972 June) ; “Life Cycles” on astrobiology and urban renewal (1972 May) ; and “Man in Space”, 1972 December, which I did not quite get to the end of.
  • 2024–11–08 What Supports Apollo? by Ben Bova and photographer J Russel Seitz, from the 1970 January Analog magazine ; most of a John W Campbell editorial from the same issue, on “Racial” Tensions ; and at the beginning, some poetry to express my frustration with the state of the world and reaffirm my belief in the inherent nobility of mankind, which is sorely tested at the moment.

ASFO 2024–10–26

Too much of my attention lately is on mundane politics. Alas, it is a topic which has a direct effect on how I live and what I am able to do, and on the shape of the future that it is feasible to build. Also, Mail Call! leads me to speculate on the resemblance between Chinese Hell Money and the securities markets.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–10–29 Skylab (part 1 of 2) by Joseph Green, science–fact article from the 1972 March Analog magazine. Did not archive properly.
  • 2024–11–01 Skylab (part 2 of 2), Analog magazine, 1972 April.

ASFO 2024–10–19

Chicago! Stacker of wheat, butcher of hogs, et cetera, and also one of the most nuclear–powered places in the USA. Incidentally it is also the place where I arrived in the USA from Iceland after my sea voyage, and where I will board my train home to Texas. This show was phoned in from a hotel room.

ASFO 2024–10–05

An abbreviated show as I set out on my travels back to the USA. Listen for an effusion on the joys of tourist visits to power plants, and alas, a long list of nuclear power plants I had hoped to visit but did not get to. I also missed out on the Swedish one, in the event, because I spent most of my time in Gothenburg resting. Listen for a discussion of the successor currencies of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, gripes about the Euro coinage, and aspersions on the idea of border controls.

ASFO 2024–09–21

Report from Berlin, and missed opportunities on my part — Three Mile Island, excuse me, Crane Clean Energy Center, and MicroSoft — “net zero by 2030”, gas for Australia, “thirty million acres” of photovoltaics for the USA, and no sign of an actual energy policy anywhere… A little technical trouble at the outset, unfortunately.

ASFO 2024–09–14

What are these popping noises coming from my submersible? or, socially useful functions of plutocrats. Also, a report on my outing to Eurometropolis Strassbourg, where I spent a chunk of the afternoon chatting with folks from French citizen pro nuclear group Voix du Nucleaire. (More photos here.)

ASFO 2024–09–07

The triumphant (?) return to Earth of the Boeing CST–100 “Starliner” ; a long discussion of British energy policy and the implications of the “Contract for Difference” mechanism ; and benefits afforded to my Patreon supporters, in the form of postcards from unusual and even unique post offices. All while I eat an ice–cream cone!

Supplementary Show

2024–09–10 After occupying the first quarter of the hour with something else, we hear from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and a recently published report on “Technology Monitoring of Nuclear Energy”. This is officially part of the “Energy Strategy 2050”, which calls for Switzerland to decarbonize its whole energy supply while withdrawing from nuclear power, which currently supplies more than a third of Swiss electricity. Recent decisions by the Federal Council will hopefully lead to a reconsideration of this “Strategy”.