2014 — 10 February: Monday
Aah, the classic BBC Radio 4 question posed to flood-threatened residents1 this morning: "Who do you blame?" I gather the Environment Agency is felt to be more culpable than Neptune. Or whichever deity carries the weather portfolio these days. (I lose track.)
The day here is...
... overcast, but the elderly trio is once again gearing up to tackle a few contour lines somewhere in Hampshire. Report to follow, no doubt.
Here we flow again
A few months ago I was tickled by the way some psychology 'academics' had mis-applied a mathematical model derived from nonlinear dynamics, using it to paint a thin veneer of quantitative rigour over a ratio supposedly quantifying human happiness. Now I find news that a Kazakh mathematician is claiming to have solved the Navier-Stokes equations for all circumstances. Even Big Bro may get a kick out of this, which is just one item cited by Michael Brooks in his article in New Statesman.
Just don't tell any psychologists!
Why does even just...
... the suggestion of privatising the UK's state pension service send a cold shiver down my spine? After all, the UK's sociopathic policy of selling off assets I've paid for as a taxpayer (electricity, gas, water, phone, rail, bus, school, health, steel, coal) has in every single case proved a happy, jolly, success. Hasn't it?
Driving back...
... through Bramdean was quite a (floody) adventure. But we encountered only one section of road that was under flowing water on the walk itself, and managed to skirt most of it. Could have done without the half an hour of rain, however. Still, it's supposed to be good for us. I suspect the Minister for Drought has an empty in-tray.
Ridiculous!
My German Blu-ray of "The Big Easy" was delivered while I was out.
It's a lovely, fresh print, well-mastered. Superior in every respect to my NTSC DVD (which is an anamorphic print inside a 4:3 letterbox). There are 12 chapters. The thumbnail shown for chapter 12 is a tiny clip clearly identifying it as precisely the "missing" hospital and proposal scene that sits logically between the boatyard explosion and the post-recovery wedding dance. But that scene is cut, just as it was on my original LaserDisc and then on my DVD. Grrr.
As I was nearing...
... the end of Simon Singh's book "The Simpsons and their mathematical secrets" yesterday (and it seemed to be veering off into "Futurama" territory) I decided to bite the bullet, load up the first DVD2 of Season #1 of "The Simpsons", and find out what — if anything — I've been missing since 1990 or thereabouts. There were several good laughs and, indeed, quite a few visual gags that flickered by almost subliminally. I'm trusting the whole thing to get better as they get into their stride but, on the evidence of the first five episodes, I'm finally prepared to admit I've been missing out.
This second childhood state grows on you!
Coincidence?
The film "12:01" came out in mid-1993 — my DVD of it arrived last month, and I've just finished watching it. The film "Groundhog Day" also came out in mid-1993; I liked it enough to buy a Blu-ray replacement for the original DVD. Compare and contrast their plots.
And (somewhat later) I've just enjoyed "Three to Tango" for the third time since Christa died. It's one of my reliable "feel good" movies.