2014 — 22 November: Saturday
Grey? Check. Drizzle? Check. Perfect for the anniversary.1
Having recently...
... watched every film in the "Harry Potter" saga (if saga it be) I decided on a whim to read all the books, too. Last night (technically, at about 01:30 this morning) I reached the last of the 1,084,170 words having found the trip surprisingly enjoyable — not to mention increasingly dark. I had only previously read the first two titles, and a portion of the third, before passing them along to Lesley for her kids on permanent loan over a decade ago.
Brian Matthew is doing his usual Saturday "Sounds of the Sixties" thing. [Pause] How he still manages to find stuff I haven't heard is a bit of a puzzler.
Thinks!
I'm utterly delighted to see that Peter Hearty's Platitude of the Day is still going strong. Recent tasty example:
I never did care for cucumber sandwiches. But that reminds me, it's time for a bit of brekkie.
Passwords
Not my favourite topic. But an interesting one. Source and snippet:
"TnsitTpsif" was the password of another friend, a computer scientist who loves wordplay. It stands for "The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false," which in philosophy is called a liar's paradox. For my friend, it was a playful reference to the knots that language can tie.
Which, inevitably, reminds me of Gentle Giant's deceptively simple song "Knots", inspired by RD Laing's 1970 book of that title. You'll find it on their 1972 album "Octopus" (as well as some delicious Roger Dean cover2 art):
I first heard it played on the radio by Derek Jewell, who liked it as much as I do.
We're all going to die
A chap from El Reg has just been sounding off on the BBC's national radio "Money Box" programme about the problems of 'un-turn-offable' (his word) elderly (his adjective) mainframes used by our High Street banks, and the 'arcane' (his adjective) languages in which they are programmed. It seems a critical mass (is there any other kind?) of old techies have been shunted into retirement (at best) or died (at worst) and those now left in support rôles are less able (unable?) to cope. Who would've thunk it?
Aren't bean-counters and their mindless money-saving ploys just, erm, wonderful? :-)
Something old...
... to replace a pair of titles I originally had on LaserDisc and supplement my collection with a classic campus satire from (unbelievably) 1981:
Something new...
... to keep the home (entertainment) fires burning:
Meanwhile, how about...
... "PoMo" defined in a single paragraph (albeit buried in an essay with a rather different thesis)? Source:
Postmodernism — which was smart, stimulating, ridiculous, and objectionable by turn — has left us in the lurch. Having discredited the centrality of the humanistic enterprise, the postmodern ethos of inversion has forced us to acknowledge that culture and all that culture once meant is not a thing apart but simply the semiotic expression of society's need to sustain those in power. So hierarchies had to be dismantled; and onto the leveled playing field came poets who couldn't tell an iamb from an apple, painters who couldn't draw an apple, and conceptual "artists" like Damien Hirst who openly and cynically promote and sell non-art. Sheer frippery for the gullible.
Naturally prompting recall of this little gem:
A cow and calf are cut in half
And placed in separate cases.
To call it art, however smart,
Casts doubt on art's whole basis.
Writing a review called The Eclipse of Art. It brings to mind, perhaps, a faint aroma of performing formaldehyde?
Earlier this year, I watched Robert Reich's "Inequality For All". He's certainly not changed his tune since then. The wealth (and powerful political influence) of the top 0.1% is surely very far beyond a joke. (Link.) Recall John Brunner's SF story "The Totally Rich".
Good God!
I didn't vote for my current MP. Despite that (!) he got in. I've just been skimming through his "positive publication" produced and distributed by his team. He's a leading member of the group Christians in Parliament, which has launched a politically-impartial book "which uses biblical thinking to analyse societal and structural dilemmas in order to help Christians make an informed decision about how to use their vote in May next year". I had no idea3 the bible had any wisdom to offer on UK general elections. It must be quite comforting to get advice from imaginary friends, though I'd thought if you persisted in listening to them as an adult you ran the risk of being 'Sectioned' under an appropriate bit of our Mental Health legislation.