Another week over. I have finished reading Ruth Rendell “The waters lovely”. It was a weak outing for her and I longed for an ending which was clever and well constructed, but actually got an ending which was as predictable as the story itself. It passed the time, however, and I am now reading an extremely strange book by Connie Willis “To say nothing of the dog”. I’ll elaborate further as I go. “Dogs” is proving to be a very remarkable read. I will never look at an ethological principle in the same way again. Ray Coppinger comes up with page after page of excellent insight. The paragraph on cheetahs (cats in a dogs book; wtf?), made me sit up and take notice.
I am still waiting for EasyJet to come out with their winter flight schedules. I can then complete my bookings for Switzerland at New Year.
What about the chap who has just had his 112th birthday today – quite brilliant – great little video on the bbc website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7439117.stm
The internet provides far too much opportunity for diversion and I do wonder how some of these bloggers manage to get down quite so much on a daily basis. I even learnt a new descriptive phrase “turdspurt”, in reference to unthoughtful vitriolic postings by unintelligent members of the public and with specifically directed at the BBC’s very own Have Your Say comments. I shall now try to include “turdspurt” somewhere every day.
This has been a very long week at work and is still not quite over. It has, on the whole been a lot less stressful than last week, despite having spent more time here. The work load has been quite sane, although I am looking at a very busy evening consulting period – bring me the pounds please!
The only really “off” moment, was the awkward telephone call I made last night. I spoke to a rather irate client, who lambasted me from a number of angles and made some rather nasty accusations regarding the care of his pet. He was adamant that it was me he had dealt with over this matter, but on looking at the records, I was in Switzerland at the time! Truly surreal to be accused of something which happened when I was nowhere near the building. I do almost hope he takes it to the papers, as he threatened, as I would love to set my legal team onto that one. Hang on!!! I should forgive him; or I am as bad as those idiot fundamentalist nutters I ranted on about above. It’ll take some doing but I’m going to have to get my head round it. I can only claim the high ground if I am prepared to “do the right thing”.
The builders have been trying to get me to press the Structural Engineer to come up with his revisions, and indeed I have engaged in a bit of high diplomacy to see if I can move things faster. This is not easy to keep everyone on-side.
Just booked the cinema tickets for Indiana Jones – I know that this is not my usual high-brow art-house stuff but I love all that corny stuff OK?
One of my staff has just handed in her resignation – we couldn’t fulfil her needs for development and she has looked elsewhere. The real potential benefit of this is that it could improve our short term profitability. That is no bad thing but it is still quite sad to be losing a member of staff. Don’t look back, I say.
Now I am going to have to admit to something rather interesting. I must concede a point to the fundamentalists – a small one, but it’s a point. I am bothered. I am bothered because I wonder on what actual evidence we base some of our scientific “facts”. So much is given to us with the assumption that it is actual truth, but the basis for it may (or may not) be erroneous. We could take, for example, the age of the earth. They love this one because they think it was made in 7 days and is only a few thousand years old. The scientists would have you believe that it is an awful lot older than that. I have never been given any conclusive proof in either direction. This puts both as a statement of faith and you must choose to believe what you wish to believe in.
This is indeed most interesting, as I am sure you will agree. I know that I have a science bias and that I am more likely to take an evidence-based approach, but it doesn’t stop me from being a rational person who can look at the whole picture and appreciate the other sides of the argument. This is something which is sadly lacking from the extreme poles of science and religion. Neither would appear to hold the whole answer. Scientific theory is NOT fact. Holy books are NOT fact. Deal with it.
It also concerns me that some science can be hijacked by those with another agenda to pursue. This is very evident in the area of “health scares” e.g. MMR/autism debate. It would seem that these areas become “crap attractors” drawing in those who seek to side themselves with one camp or another. A whole “industry” then appears to peddle some form of quackery based on ridiculous supposition, the only aim of which is to make money. The losers are of course, those who gain nothing from any of this, those with whatever problem is being fought over.
It also concerns me that “peer review” is all very well but if, as mentioned above, the review is done within the “crap attraction framework”, the review will almost always be favourable, and the inevitable publication of the rather suspect science. This “crap attraction”, is seeing its zenith in the internet, as any old idiot can set up a website and give their opinion, be it right or wrong.
The problem here is that anyone with a personal axe-to-grind can find a like-minded group of individuals within a few minutes and seek comfort in their own little bunker. They will then seek to protect themselves from all forms of attack and the battle lines are drawn. Sadly, all reason is lost in this debate, and truth is thin on the ground.
The number of instances where this occurs are not limited to the sphere of science and religion, you could also add politics, sport (although there is extensive cross referencing to religion there), and anywhere the “unsinkable rubber duck” phenomenon pervades.
As much as I cannot stand entrenched inflexible dogma, I also cannot tolerate those who deliberately seek to offend. The whole “cartoon” fiasco in Northern European newspapers is an excellent example of this. This who are drawing these “cartoons” should grow up and move on and those who react in quite an inappropriately excessive manner should seek to become forgiving. In this way we could start to build a culture of mutual trust, where we could all move forward.
Why have we chosen to take our communities into moral decline? I think this has been a matter of choice. We are seeing an increase in the sexualisation of young girls and as this has been facilitated by our own actions, how can we then declare that paedophiles are the largest menace our children face. Don’t get me wrong here; paedophilia is disgusting and incomprehensible to the normal human mind. These people do require treatment and control. Counter to this would run the argument that we are virtually securing their persistence by exposing our children to an overtly over-sexed culture from a very young age. We are therefore to blame for the position in which we find ourselves. The tools for the improvement of our society are all in our hands, we just need to use them.
I have also had a large amount of fun with the pond. On Friday night I decided that the water level was dropping at a rate that was inconsistent with normal evaporation and concluded that there was a leak. I therefore started to drain and empty the pond. In an ideal world I would have done this at the end of October last year, but this did not happen for lots of reasons. I continued the job on Saturday afternoon and eventually had emptied all the water and plants and sludge from the pond. I found no leak. This was perturbing. I refilled the pond with a large amount of tap water and by this morning 9/6/08 the pond was obviously losing water again. I simply do not know what to do know. I would love to provide a conduit for rainwater from the downspout, but there has been so little rain recently, that this would not have added any significant amount. It still remains the most easily implemented solution and I may have to act on this at the weekend. I have contemplated creating a rainwater deposit tank in the garden to act as a reservoir for this, but the excavation could prove quite onerous. Replacing the liner is out of the question as it runs under the slates at the edge of the pond and I have no desire to empty the pond ever again. I am dreading the water bill at the end of the year as I fear I may have further top-ups to provide.
Euro 2008. My Oh my, is there no topic which is safe from my comment? The French were decidedly poor this evening and with Italy and Holland in their group; one would have to put money on them not progressing beyond the group stage along with Romania. It will be very interesting to see how Capello manages to bring a team on, and perhaps we can avoid the embarrassment of non-qualification for future tournaments.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Builders and nuts
OK – the building inspectors… This story is nearly as farcical as the Fawlty Towers episode “The Hotel Inspectors”. It all started because we needed full building regulations approval on our new extension. This apparently is because we are a commercial business, otherwise we could have made-do with a “building notice”. I only learnt this gem of information out, today. Because we needed the full regulation, we had to employ a structural engineer. He was then instructed to create a design. We then received a large bill. I then wanted to know why we had to use him on such a small project.
What fell out of this is, that the builder had pressed ahead with works, without full approval from the building inspector. We were told that the building inspector was happy with changes to the structural engineers design suggested by the builder in order to save time and money. What the building inspector actually said, was that the structural engineer would have to approve any changes. The builder progressed and the structural engineer had no input.
Because I was looking for answers on the bill, I contacted the architect and from our discussions the whole of the story came out. In order to work out this chain of events I made 4 calls to the structural engineer, another 4 to the building inspector and several face to face discussions with the builder. It was a very long day. This was lengthened by the impromptu bitch Caesar at 7PM in the middle of evening surgery.
Some of the changes have already been made and the structural engineer is busy re-working his design to adapt to the changes made by the builder, whilst leaving the building structurally sound. Parts of his original design are to be done as per plan and hopefully my telephone diplomacy will leave us with everyone (relatively) happy. I still have a large bill to pay and I have no doubt this has just grown with the further involvement of the engineer and the adoption of his original plan (at least in part).
But … Just when you thought it was safe to go near the internet….
The fundamentalists are back…It seems that no-one can run from these guys – I thought I had finished with them for a while but this story from BBC website – today 31/5/08 neatly summarises just what is actually wrong with these idiots. It wont be long before one of their pals over here gets hold of this story and starts protesting outside Starbucks businesses in the UK.
Anger at 'slutty' Starbucks logo
US coffee chain Starbucks has come under fire for a new logo that critics say is offensive and overly graphic.
The Resistance, a US-based Christian group, has called for a national boycott of the coffee-selling giant. It says the chain's new logo has a naked woman on it with her legs "spread like a prostitute... The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks". Starbucks says the image - based on a 16th century Norse design of a mermaid with two-tails - is not inappropriate. Rather, the image is a more conservative version of the original Starbucks design, which hung above the chain's first store when it opened in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971.
'Rubenesque'
It says the image - the longstanding logo for Pike Place bags of coffee - is appearing on some of its cups as part of a promotion, and will remain "for several weeks". Howard Schultz, who bought Starbucks in 1982, described the emblem in his memoirs as "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself". Although its share price has plunged in recent years, Starbucks has 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries worldwide, employing more than 170,000 staff. The chain has just opened its first outlet in Argentina.
Based in San Diego, the Resistance claims to have more than 3,000 members across the US and has gained a reputation for espousing diverse conspiracy theories.
What fell out of this is, that the builder had pressed ahead with works, without full approval from the building inspector. We were told that the building inspector was happy with changes to the structural engineers design suggested by the builder in order to save time and money. What the building inspector actually said, was that the structural engineer would have to approve any changes. The builder progressed and the structural engineer had no input.
Because I was looking for answers on the bill, I contacted the architect and from our discussions the whole of the story came out. In order to work out this chain of events I made 4 calls to the structural engineer, another 4 to the building inspector and several face to face discussions with the builder. It was a very long day. This was lengthened by the impromptu bitch Caesar at 7PM in the middle of evening surgery.
Some of the changes have already been made and the structural engineer is busy re-working his design to adapt to the changes made by the builder, whilst leaving the building structurally sound. Parts of his original design are to be done as per plan and hopefully my telephone diplomacy will leave us with everyone (relatively) happy. I still have a large bill to pay and I have no doubt this has just grown with the further involvement of the engineer and the adoption of his original plan (at least in part).
But … Just when you thought it was safe to go near the internet….
The fundamentalists are back…It seems that no-one can run from these guys – I thought I had finished with them for a while but this story from BBC website – today 31/5/08 neatly summarises just what is actually wrong with these idiots. It wont be long before one of their pals over here gets hold of this story and starts protesting outside Starbucks businesses in the UK.
Anger at 'slutty' Starbucks logo
US coffee chain Starbucks has come under fire for a new logo that critics say is offensive and overly graphic.
The Resistance, a US-based Christian group, has called for a national boycott of the coffee-selling giant. It says the chain's new logo has a naked woman on it with her legs "spread like a prostitute... The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks". Starbucks says the image - based on a 16th century Norse design of a mermaid with two-tails - is not inappropriate. Rather, the image is a more conservative version of the original Starbucks design, which hung above the chain's first store when it opened in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971.
'Rubenesque'
It says the image - the longstanding logo for Pike Place bags of coffee - is appearing on some of its cups as part of a promotion, and will remain "for several weeks". Howard Schultz, who bought Starbucks in 1982, described the emblem in his memoirs as "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself". Although its share price has plunged in recent years, Starbucks has 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries worldwide, employing more than 170,000 staff. The chain has just opened its first outlet in Argentina.
Based in San Diego, the Resistance claims to have more than 3,000 members across the US and has gained a reputation for espousing diverse conspiracy theories.
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