Cicero's Songs

For some time public figures have received threats. Rarely do they take them seriously, and in fact only very occasionally are they serious. However in recent years the political discourse has grown very ugly. Although neo-Fascists and populists have fanned the flames of popular hatred, in fact the crisis of "civility" goes back a pretty long way.  After forming a coalition with the Conservatives in the UK, the Liberal Democrat leader faced significant abuse: dog shit through the letter box and all the rest of it. This routine and increasingly extreme abuse against MPs has now become simply an occupational hazard. In the 1950s MPs were generally respected, which is why the profumo scandal was so impactful, but now they are pretty universally denigrated and derided. In fact I believe that the majority of MPs are decent and honourable people who by-and-large deserve our respect, there are very few prepared to express that point of view.  However, it is fair to say that those ...

The average Human brain consists of at least 86 billion neurons and perhaps ten times more glyial cells. Yet each neuron, through synapses, can connect to as many as ten thousand other cells. The estimated number of neural connections is thus in the order of trillions: in fact an estimated 0.15 quadrillion connections . Brain specialists believe that each Human Brain may be capable of processing as much as 2.5 petabytes of information through these synapse connections. This is about seven times larger than the entire library of congress .  Incidentally, to build a computer of similar power on current technology would require the power of a small city to run it. For the brain i t is not the total number of cells, but the connections between them that makes its processing ability so powerful.  As for the Brain so for other systems. In information systems, the value of an individual computer, no matter how fast its processing power or how large its memory, is as nothing compa...

The Burmese junta is one of the nastiest governments on the world. Down there with Mugabe and King Jong Il it has conducted the impoverishment and oppression of an ancient and dignified culture. From having been the wealthiest country in Asia upon gaining independence in 1948, the dictatorship that seized power in 1962 has pursued a catastrophic economic mismanagement of the country. For example, replacing all the kyat notes divisible by ten with notes only divisible by nine- a more"auspicious" number, then moving the capital from Rangoon to an isolated clearing in the jungle called Naypyidaw . In 1988 the Burmese people rebelled, and chose Aung San Suu Kyi as their leader in free elections. However the kooks in the regime are also utterly ruthless, and massacres of thousands took place before the revolution was stilled and the cruel, corrupt and rapacious tyranny was resumed. Now, once again, the Burmese are openly struggling for their rights and defying the junta. Rumours ...