Smugness

Well that's the weekend break well and truly out of the way.

Smugness is not an endearing trait, but it is self-validation, a reassurance to one's self that one is correct, logical, forethinking or such like. A short while ago I started my preparation for the presentations I was to give on a new topic. I was given the company party line to present on this development. I understood the logic of the company party line and presented it as I was expected to. What I also did was identify the flaws with the party line, criticised those flaws and made a prediction: that the party line would change. And it did, despite my presentations not being to any of the team who were to decide the party line. What this does, as well as breed the smugness, is reaffirm my position within the heirachy on the basis of my logic, my intellect, my reasoning (or argumentative criticisms if you prefer).

I was quite smugly entertained by a news story today. For a while now one of the local bus companies has been advertising itself on the basis that whilst petrol prices are rising, bus fares are not. At the time I questionned (in my own head) the logic behind this. By all means argue that your prices, say per mile, are less expensive, but do not ever suggest your prices are not rising. Inflation says otherwise. Today, of course, the said bus company had to raise its fares. Due to fuel prices. So now that previous advertising is not just wrong, but directly contradictory and self-demonising.

Finally, I have been re-watching This Life from a long time ago. Aside from issues regarding rubbish writing, basic plot lines and one-dimensional characters, one of the most entertaining things to look out for is the degree of change. From simple things like cola or cornflake packet labels to things like the Millennium Bridge not having even been built, the changes may seem very aesthetic and superfluous but realistically they are huge massive changes striking at the very heart of technology.

And that's before you even start to analyse the fashions...