philosophy Archives - Paul Mackenzie Ross

No More Disruptors Please

November 5, 2022October 22, 2022 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

It’s been funny over the past decade or so where the word “disruptor” has been used. disruptor /d?s?r?pt?/ noun a person or thing that interrupts an event, activity, or process by causing a disturbance or problem. “the film follows his evolution from Hollywood star to political disruptor” One classic example has been in the fad … Read more

There Wouldn’t Be a Cost of Living Crisis if We Had Better Management

February 4, 2025February 17, 2022 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

Things go up. Things go down. When this happens along a historical timeline you can see that it’s cyclical. Stock market sentiment, share prices, inflation, interest rates and economic activity in general are all examples of systems that are subject to ebbs and flows in fortunes. Ultimately economies are just rather large businesses, made up … Read more

Superhero, Jab Number Two and a Pulitzer Prize

January 31, 2025June 14, 2021 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

After last week’s epic post, I have some more trumpet blowing to do, both personal and for the family. The first is after my Managing Director at Clever Marketing let me know why my ears were burning. In a quick email he let me know that a company client, a financial services firm, had emailed … Read more

Incremental Gains, Web Dev and Being the Best

September 4, 2021June 9, 2021 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

Taking Stock of the Successes from Incremental Gains For over twenty years now I’ve worked my arse off to get to where I am today. I’ve humbly and modestly kept my head down, diving into my work with such drive and determination that I often forget to stop, take stock, and see how far I’ve … Read more

Data-Driven Decisions

January 23, 2025February 19, 2021 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

If there’s one thing Boris Johnson has gotten right it’s his latest statement on data-driven decisions. Yesterday, in answer to calls to end lockdown, the Prime Minister said the approach to easing would be based upon “data not dates”. The PM’s stance is encouraging on many levels, and also draws parallels with the business and … Read more

Doing vs Thinking: A Work Theory

March 30, 2020March 5, 2020 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

Working at a digital marketing agency, I spend a lot of time analysing not just the campaign data of the SEO and PPC work we do, but also the workflow and the processes. Granted, we are so busy that there’s not always time to analyse and philosophise, but when we do it has to be … Read more

I Love Bad Data

October 16, 2017July 13, 2017 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

As a digital marketer and copywriter, I love bad data… NOT. When I have to look at web traffic, organic visits, pay per click, social media… I look at the data. When I write a report… I look at and present the data. Writing a blog post or news article? You have to look at … Read more

Another Alternative to Amazon

May 8, 2013May 8, 2013 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

With the threat of our beloved and run-down pub, the Tumbledown Dick, being turned into a McDonald’s restaurant somebody pointed me in the direction of a very interesting book – The McDonaldization of Society.

The book, first published in 1993, is written by sociologist George Ritzer and looks at the increasing rationalisation of the world as conducted by big bureaucratic organisations such as McDonald’s. The processes used by the fast food giant streamline the production and delivery of burgers & fries, impose the division of labour, force a formal manifesto and make the company’s “character” impersonal and technocratic…

Beetroot Books

May 8, 2013May 4, 2013 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

The Money-less Man - A Year of Freeconomic Living - from Beetroot Books In my quest to find alternatives to Amazon, my latest discovery has been an interesting one.

A couple of weekends ago I made a brief trip to Avebury in Wiltshire, a picturesque little English village and home to an impressive neolithic henge monument.

Once I was home that same Sunday evening I had a sudden flash of inspiration and wondered what Britain’s leading Druid, Philip Carr-Gomm, was up to these days…

Alternatives to Amazon: First Book Order Through the Hive

May 4, 2013February 6, 2013 by Paul Mackenzie Ross

A recent conversation on one of the comments sections of the Friends of the Tumble Down Dick website got me thinking:

“Are there any alternatives to Amazon?”

For many years now I’ve been an Amazon affiliate and earned a few pennies here and there from my web and blog posts. In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve ever had a cheque from Amazon, but one day I’ll probably earn that £25 threshold payout from linking to obscure Haynes Manuals for the Opel Manta.

When the opportunity came up to make some pennies for the Tumbledown campaign, I set up an Amazon affiliate account. I haven’t looked yet, but I don’t expect it’s earned very much at all. (Update: I just looked – Zero pence)