The Fool on the Hill

The Fool on the Hill

Mad software

By Simon Brooke || 23 January 2019

HAL's unblinking red eye, from '2001: A Space Odyssey'

I was listening to Eric Normand's podcast this morning, as I was making breakfast and tidying my room; he was talking about semantics and data. It started a train of thought which I shall try to unroll.

I have blogged a lot in the past about madness and about software, but I don't think I've ever blogged about madness and software in the same essay. But the reasons I'm mad and the reasons I'm (sometimes) very good at software are related; both have their roots in autism and dyslexia, or, to put it differently, how my brain is wired.

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Flodden Field, revisited

By Simon Brooke || 2 January 2019

Nicola Sturgeon

Scotland has history of meddling in English affairs in the interests of continental friends. It doesn't end well.

In 1513, James IV, quite possibly the best governor Scotland has ever had, tried by diplomacy to persuade England's Henry VIII to make peace with his ally France; and failed. So, he sent his navy to France in support of the French, and invaded the north of Northumberland, taking three castles but not much land.

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Roads to independence

By Simon Brooke || 3 December 2018

All Under One Banner — Edinburgh

With the Brexit process nearing its decisive point, I've been reading good analyses of the potential future paths by Chris Grey and Jon Worth — for the UK as a whole. I haven't seen an analysis of the future paths for Scotland which seem as good to me, although the Politics Scotland blog has had a go. I'm not saying my analysis is better or is better informed, but for what it's worth here it is.

No-deal Brexit is probable

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The inflections in the path

By Simon Brooke || 19 November 2018

Zoe, aged one, with her mother

I was Zoe’s wicked uncle; and I want to frame the arc of Zoe's life that lead us here, to this place; to try to share with you my understanding of it, to explain to you why I cannot mourn this death, but only the life that lead up to it.

It was a life marked by four deaths: four inflections in the path.

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The Standingstone Model

By Simon Brooke || 27 October 2018

The old feed store, with Alice's parrots. All photographs in this post are from  Standingstone.

The conspiracy

It's no secret that I live at Standingstone. In fact, if you check at Companies House, you'll see that I am the chair of Standingstone Farm Limited. So what is Standingstone?

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