Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

The BBC did a report recently about how Russia is evading the sanctions intended to punish its invasion of Ukraine.  Apparently, UK law allows that country to import refined petroleum products without regard to where the crude came from. This creates a neat loophole.  India (whose foreign policy is at best ambivalent on the subject of the war in Ukraine) imports the crude, refines it, and sells it to the UK.   The BBC credits the Centre for Reseach o Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for the key research here.  CREA's Europe-Russia policy analyst, Isaac Levi, is quoted saying, "The issue with this loophole is that it increases the demand for Russian crude and enables higher sales in terms of volume and pushing up their price as well, which increases the funds sent to the Kremlin's war chest." Russian oil getting into UK via refinery loophole, reports claim (bbc.com)

People worry about the social media -- it is a creator of conformism and deadening consensus, it is a scene of bullying, it is a distraction from productive activity, it is a weapon for spies, both foreign and domestic. And so forth. All of those concerns may have weight. But it has to be said: social media can get great things accomplished. I'll just leave the link below here, after having taken it from the BBC website. Three young men saved by a hashtag. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53463685

In another month or so, I'll be composing (for another blog) a list of the top five big Music-related stories of 2012. Five is a good number for this, because my entries for JustSheetMusic tend to be around 1,000 words each, and it is difficult to say anything worthwhile about any one such story in less than 200 words. Perhaps I will get out of the way, through some sort of unlisted mention, the fact that the BBC has been torn by a sex scandal around the activities of the late TV host Jimmy Savile. This is a "music" story only because of the nature of the program that made Savile famous, Top of the Pops.   That isn't enough for my list. The actual stories may be listed from fun to somber, thus: 1. The Ravinia Festival this year teamed up Patti LuPone with Patricia Racette. 2. Rihannas new album,  Unapologetic , which seems to have incited polarized reactions. Legends, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Bruce Sp., also gave us new albums. 3. Fiona Apple is ba...