The conclusion from working on my second chapter is that I have read too much general background material and not enough on my case studies. I am fairly well covered on POPs, since I have done research on them before. Naturally, adding a few more sources would be nice, though there are not really a great many out there. I am also quite well covered on current events relating to climate change, because there has been such a raft of coverage and discussion. While my intention has never been to write a blow-by-blow account of either (how could I possibly do so in 30,000 words?), it is certainly necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the history, before any important and valid analysis can be done.
As such, I need to fill in my knowledge on recent developments pertaining to POPs, which should not be hugely difficult. Then, I need to shore up my section on the early history of the climate change debate. Aside from the mandatory OUSSG dinner and talk tonight, I suspect this will fill the next 32 hours. Naturally, I am interpreting my promise to Dr. Hurrell of having a second chapter dropped off at Nuffield by Wednesday as having that chapter dropped off, by my own hand, in time for him to read it on Thursday morning.
I’m glad to see that the mad dash for product completion is a shared approach at all places and levels of education.
Belief and knowledge—a plea about language
“For most people a belief is an article of faith, a hypothesis or a theory is not much different from a guess, and as for knowledge—well, that is not very different from a belief, except that most people are much more certain of what they believe than of what they know. Another usage of belief, as in “I believe he is coming at 5:00pm,” has no sense of faith—in fact, quite the contrary. It contains an implicit “but I’m not really sure.” When a person hears “scientists believe,” he or she may hear it as a statement of faith or a suggestion of uncertainty. Neither is what we intend.”
I’m glad to see that the mad dash for product completion is a shared approach at all places and levels of education.
But of course. One develops a kind of insane confidence in one’s ability to pull off something good, during the short space of time in which sheer desperation is at its most powerful.