2012 — 29 August: Wednesday
Well, it's a grey start with a promise of rain later this morning1 — doesn't matter, as I wasn't planning any expotitions. I thought I'd spend some time contemplating the ineffable whichness of the why, but have settled for a cuppa instead.
I love the ...
... phrase I heard in the news bulletin: "despite increasing business pressure". (Link.) It's quite beautiful in its self-serving but utter meaninglessness.
Pace Big Bro's life-long dedication to the (air)field, quite how the best interests of the country are served by another runway at Heathrow, let alone the best interests of the planet, is a fun question. (And, yes, I did hear Dame Ann Dowling talking about noiseless aircraft yesterday. Though I somehow doubt she's ever lived under the flightpath... I have.) As noted in yesterday's fun little quote from "New Scientist" humans2 are more than capable of reasoning deductively in a logical but totally erroneous fashion.
That wonderful observer Ron Cobb did a drawing that nailed at least one aspect of the issue back in 1976:
For tribal man space was the uncontrollable mystery. For technological man it is time that occupies the same rôle.
I was going to mention a neat little essay...
[Airlines] know that they are dealing with a ridiculous situation: hundreds of people trapped in a flimsy metal hull, surrounded by thousands of gallons of explosive air fuel. They know that, like overcrowded rats, passengers would probably go mad and run amok if they were fully cognisant of their condition and of its unnaturalness. They know that their main business is to take our minds off imminent destruction by unremitting distraction.
... but got distracted, as usual, by items on author Glyn Moody's cracking "Open" blog regarding Sibelius music notation software (which began life on the Acorn platform, of course) and a draft European standard for guvmints to use when snooping into my Google Mail. Charmless prats. Plus — get this — doubtless fragrant Home Secretary Theresa May apparently describes critics of the latter as "conspiracy theorists". Hah!
It's almost enough to turn me into a conspiracy theorist :-)
Better get some breakfast inside me.
Somewhat later, I'm...
... back from Soton, happy to have re-animated my mobile phone. The pretty young thing in Carphone Warehouse was unfamiliar with the robotic message about having no credit, and puzzled having discovered there was (as I already knew) £14-95 credit still in the thing. I know she sorted it out though because, by the time I'd walked back as far as John Lewis, I'd already received and deleted three text messages asking me to assess the quality of my recent experience. Very tedious.
Somewhat later still, after...
... lunch, and while looking for the title on the left, I also discovered — a few inches further along the same shelf — the Paul Bailey book I'd mentioned a couple of days ago...
I was looking for "Who's had who"3 to see how closely, if at all, it mirrored the new (also non-fiction) title I'd picked up by Craig Brown, who more usually plies his trade in fields of very skilful parody.
Meanwhile, I would certainly have bought the David Bellos book as a gift for Christa and will be happy to read it (as it were) on her behalf. Finally, as I still had last Sunday's virtual tenner burning a virtual hole in my pocket, I opted for the pair of Gillian Welch CDs. Bob Harris always raved about her on his late-night radio show, but these are my first "toe in the water" to test.
Having now watched...
... season #1 of Aaron Sorkin's "Newsroom", what shall I follow it with, I wonder? Not much will match it, that's for sure. But I expect I'll unearth something.