Web Collection Of Andy Smithyman: Archive

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Jan 27th

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Jan 26th

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He Not Busy Being Born Is Busy Dying

From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn. Plays wasted words, proves to warn. That he not busy being born is busy dying. (Bob Dylan: It’s Alright Ma) Being born… a continual process.

Jan 26th

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Nothing Is Ever New

The wheel turns, nothing is ever new. (Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal In Belgravia) Sometimes it is good to stop and consider that the ‘new’ always has a link into the ‘past’. It not only helps with battling with the whole self-importance issue, but more important, honours the footprints we find our feet already within.

Jan 24th

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The Mundane And Insignificant

I have often found that the most immaterial aspect of a case can be at the same time its most significant. (Sherlock Holmes: The House of Silk) That’s my main message, really. Don’t think that the things around you don’t count, because they do. (Jarvis Cocker: Guardian 17/10/11) Lesson # The power of the insignificant. Lesson # Never underestimate the mundane.

Jan 24th

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Patience with the 'work-in-progress'.

The unfinished picture would so like to jump off the easel and have a look at itself. (C.S. Lewis: Letters To Malcolm)

Jan 19th

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One Should Be Wary Before Jumping To A Conclusion

It has always struck me that any interpretation of a series of events isn’t possible until all the evidence says otherwise and even then one should be wary before jumping to a conclusion. (Sherlock Holmes: The House of Silk.) Wise words from the old man.

Jan 19th

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A Book That Has Taken A Lifetime To Write

This book is by the one who thought he’d be farther along by now, but he’s not. It is by the inmate who promised the parole board he’d be good, but he wasn’t. It is by the dim-eyed who showed the path to others but kept losing his way. It is by the wet-brained who believed if a little wine is good for their stomach, then a lot is great. It is by the lair, tramp, and...

Jan 12th

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Jan 11th

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Misconceptions →

“Many of us have grown up to believe certain things are true in science, without ever questioning them, And, as this research suggests, scientific misconceptions, once picked up, can stay with us for our whole lives”. (Ian Grant, Managing Director of Encyclopaedia Britannica UK commenting on the science misconceptions, including how a third of people still believe we only use 10...

Jan 7th

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Vested Interests

“You don’t let the guy with the broom control how many elephants are in the parade”. Merlin Mann Wise words about vested interests.

Jan 4th

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Dec 21st

Dec 20th

Just did an interview with UCB about Dickens and the Christmas Carol. Their serialisation of this classic tale on everyday this week at 10.20.

Dec 19th

Control →

The City of London Corporation has lost control of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the high court will hear on Monday, with members of an activist camp “seeing the rules and policing behaviour” in the churchyard. A line that packs weight beyond its words.

Dec 19th

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To Stay Curious

“The world has become a strange and puzzling place that keeps insisting I give up what I thought I knew. I don’t expect to ever again feel secured by intellectual confidence. But I find life much more interesting now living with not knowing, trying to stay curious rather than certain”. (Margaret Wheatley) Love the idea of staying curious… acts like blood rushing...

Dec 15th

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To stand on the edge and delight in the stuff you...

“Science is a continual process of refinement. It’s one of the fields where we want to be proved wrong. The role of the scientist is to stand on the edge and look out on the known and delight in the stuff you don’t know, and then go and explore it”. (Brian Cox) A worthwhile summation of life in general.

Dec 15th

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Dec 15th

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Beauty of craftsmanship

Jony Ive grew up in Chingford, a town on the northeast edge of London. His father was a silversmith who taught at the local college. “He’s a fantastic craftsman”, Ive recalled. “His Christmas gift to me would be one day of his time in his college worship, during the Christmas break when no one else was there, helping me make whatever I dreamed up”. The only...

Nov 18th

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“A gentleman is someone who can play the banjo and doesn’t.”

– Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn

Nov 17th

A perfect summation

An observation that seems to sum up the beauty of our faith. “But what the 1611 translators grasped was that hearing the word of God was a lifelong calling that had to be undertaken in the company of other readers and was never something that left us where we started.” Dr. Rowan Williams Guardian 17th November 2011 : The most ‘high and mightie’ joins Bibles 400th...

Nov 17th

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“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

– Walt Disney (SPJ pg.284)

Nov 16th

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Nov 3rd

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It's at times of stress, when you don't read the... →

Love this challenging quote from the resigned St Paul’s canon, Giles Fraser.

Nov 2nd

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“Either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or...”

– Stephen Colbert: Commenting on living within a ‘Christian nation’.

Nov 1st

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A eulogy that carries depth. →

Oct 31st

“We boast of what we are giving because it hides what we are withholding.”

– Brennan Manning : The Importance Of Being Foolish

Oct 8th

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Oct 6th

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“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be...”

– Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 Steve Jobs

Oct 6th

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“It bugs me when people try to analyse jazz as an intellectual theorem....”

– Bill Evans

Sep 5th

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Sep 2nd

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Aug 31st

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“Stories don’t always end where their authors intended, but there is joy in...”

– Beatrix Potter: Miss Potter (courtesy of my sister-in-law’s Facebook comments of wisdom)

Aug 31st

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“There is certainly untold pleasure in having to contend with overwhelming...”

– George Cadbury: Chocolate Wars

Aug 26th

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Icon Ambulance →

This is up there as one of my favourite Steve Jobs stories. Recounted by Vic Gondotra, senior vice president at Google. A mixture of passion and obsession.

Aug 25th

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Aug 23rd

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Watch

I really appreciate watching people who are passionate about what they do.

Aug 22nd

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“Debt is selling off a piece of your freedom in exchange for gratification right...”

– Adam Baker : Fear.less Magazine July 2011

Aug 22nd

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“I think of art, at its most significant, as a DEW line, a Distant Early Warning...”

– Marshall McLuhan: Understanding Media (1964)

Aug 10th

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Aug 3rd

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“Before we can hear the last word, we must listen to the next-to-last word.”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jul 14th

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Jul 13th

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An enterprise dependent upon the proceeding...

I came across a quote today that seems to capture the honesty and vulnerability of writing. A helpful reminder as I begin shaping the next book. ” There are few activities more cooperative than the writing of history. The author puts his name brashly on the title-page and the reviewers rightly attack him for his errors and misinterpretations; but none knows better than he how much his...

Jul 13th

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