A fine conversation over Skype between me, Vince, and John yesterday. A lot of it was about rugby, possibly inspired by her cousin John Hickey appearing at 25 in a list of the 50 hardest Welsh rugby players who ever lived.
From that we ranged to priests who carried on playing rugby under pseudonyms after the arch-bishop forbade it. Hilarious stuff, at least to me.
I had my haircut today. We live in such culturally impoverished time I think it is worth recording God help us.
Marks & Spencer declares caterpillar cake war on AldiMarks & Spencer is taking legal action against Aldi in a bid to to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake. The retailer argues that the German chain's Cuthbert the Caterpillar product infringes its trademark and has lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week. M&S said the similarity of Aldi's product leads consumers to believe they are of the same standard and "ride on the coat-tails" of its reputation. Take a look at the two cakes side by side, which Marks wants Aldi to stop selling. |
Ben came round last night and we went to the Standard. My friends were there. His friends were there. Our friends were there.
Before COVID it would have been Wednesday. Last night it was a blissed-out endorphin high.
How to Plant a Bare Root Climbing Rose from David Austin Roses on Vimeo.
I took PG for his second COVID jab yesterday and then planted a rose in his garden.As life starts to reopen, I think it will be too busy to go to the gym or get my hair cut today, and I am going to the pub on Wednesday so we will be off to a quiet start.
I did see Andy M yesterday though (for the first time since 2017 to my astonishment). I go to PG's every Sunday morning to take him along to his weekly grocery shop. Now that people can meet outside, Hammersmith is mutually convenient, so Andy came along after that and we walked along the Thames Path just chewing the fat like the old friends that we are. I was reminded that I know, and have met, his daughter and son, his brother and his sister, and his mother and his father so I was interested to hear how they were getting on. He got married again during lock down and no-one could go. In normal times I imagine I would have got an invite. I was an usher at his first wedding and I am happy for him; widowed since March 2005.
I popped round to the Hubble late yesterday afternoon to watch the Grand National. Congratulations to Rachael Blackmore on becoming the first female jockey to triumph in the world's most famous steeplechase, with a stirring victory on Minella Times. (Purists may claim that Elizabeth Taylor won it as 12-year-old Velvet Brown on a gelding called The Pie in the 1944 film National Velvet even though in the story she was disqualified on a technicality.)
The main reason I went over though was to taste the biltong that had been dried overnight there. Ollie had put it into her dehydrator at sixty degrees for seven hours.
I bought a rump steak and sliced (or more accurately snipped) it into strips. The marinade was Nature Kitchen Steak Spice (sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic flakes, red bell peppers, green peppercorn, tomato, and chilli powder) plus a little more salt and sugar loosened with cider vinegar.
I left it to marinate in a closed container overnight in the fridge, then open in the fridge for the morning to get most of the moisture out and patting it dry with kitching before patting it dry with kitchen paper and removing the garlic flakes.
Very good it was too, though next time - as a small adjustment - we may dehydrate for an hour less.
Though we are no longer involved it was interesting to see how all the royal online presence was managed yesterday on the death of the Duke of Edinbugh in pretty much the way we devised all those years ago. (Icons passim).
Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means.
I have reached Keynes death in The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, though there are several chapters left. Perhaps they deal with his legacy? I must admit I have found him a very engaging character.
Recently also having finished Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers by Cheryl Misak I have started to become interested in probability, a field in which Keynes and Ramsey both did important work.
An odd beast probability when you think about it. Can it be squared with cause and effect? Radioactive decay for example. How can it proceed at a given rate without being coordinated?
I can't see how you can square it with determinism or a clockwork universe.
What if nature is fundamentally probabilistic, which is surely what quantum mechanics implies? What would that mean?
....... I shall be waiting for you at the bottom of the next page disguised as a footnote.
I haven't previously really paid any attention to Yuval Noah Harari, but John told me an idea of his on the phone yesterday about the insidious route by which technology usurps our self-determination by moving from helper, to agent to master. The terminology may not be his as I am remembering it and can't find a reference online.
John illustrated with routing services (like Google Maps, for example, the one that I use).
They start off as helpers, telling you where, say, Meadowbank Close is when you are visiting someone whose house you haven't been to before.
Next as agents, they guide you along the route adjusting for, perhaps, traffic conditions.
Finally as masters, they compel you to take a route optimized for their own agendas. It isn't science fiction.
Google Maps will start directing drivers to routes it calculates to be the most eco-friendly based on a list of factors.
The search engine said it will highlight journeys that generate the lowest carbon footprint using mainly traffic data and road inclines.
HELPER>AGENT>MASTER
