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Monday 13 July 2009

Percolating

I haven't seen a coffee percolator for years. They seem to have been replaced by alternative forms of coffee making. Indeed there is now a generation for whom the sound, "plerrrp, plerrrp, ffttt..... aahhhh" means nothing. But there is much to be said for the process of percolation, going round and round on something and letting it filter and change into something else.

You may have noticed I have not been posting for while. I have had other things on my mind (see below May 22nd) but I have also been lurking and percolating on a few things.

The changes in the learning industry precipitated by the current recession and alternative methods made possible through networks are being amply covered by Tony and Jay at their upcoming event on the Future of Learning as a Business. But they also make me think about the increasing virtualisation of life and relationships and individualisation of life. Margaret Thatcher said back in 1987 that "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families". But this was largely in rejection to the "large state" idea. It is possible that her remark was prescient as well as political.

I am not sure where this percolation of ideas is taking me but the future looks quite lonely.

3 comments:

Philo Soph said...

You'll like this.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3148674515022831957&hl=en

Philo Soph said...

http://video.google.co.uk/
videoplay?docid=-314867451
5022831957&ei=43F4StuvCJGF
-Qa14PC_CQ&q=naqoyqatsi

TABS!

Julie Calder said...

Quite spookily I was making just that percolating noise to one of our CSC's the other day as I explained how coffee percolaters used to be much more fashionable than they are now and how far instant coffee had come....llegedly. (I was back to the floor for the day, which was a joy!).

Sadly they are still the most annoying contraptions which spend more time trying to burn you than actually making coffee.

On the bright side, a client brought in one of these new fangled expresso machines and generally it lies messy and dormant, so much hassle for such a small amount of coffee.

Thankfully we remain traditional about our coffee and so you can hear that sound every morning in the Gherkin and it's for real!