Bad lessons
“Webinar” is a horrible word, it’s the term for an online seminar, which is hopefully a much more interactive activity than those I have experienced thus far. Following a sixteen week online mathematics course has meant a once monthly webinar to look at particular aspects of the course. An image of the screen of the seminar leader’s laptop fills the … [continue reading …]
The power of the mind
The RTÉ website carries news of a man who lost 4 stone in 12 weeks, by buying blue crockery. Apparently, because the blue is not the colour of any popular foodstuff, it has the effect of suppressing the appetite. Certainly, the man has mastered his weight problems, but one suspects that the power of his own mind was more significant … [continue reading …]
Get it over
The Brexit debate has become wearisome, the same arguments are rehearsed, the same faces appear on the news, the hard Right and hard Left remain determined on severing Britain from the European Union. It has reached a point where there is only noise. Strangely, George Orwell’s 1931 essay A Hanging surfaced in the mind. Orwell describes an execution in Burma, … [continue reading …]
TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE ,
This was spammed by Google. It is very amateurish. Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd 39 Cornhill London EC3V 3ND United Kingdom tel: +44 70 8646 8527 Fax:+447043071539 Dear Esteemed Customer, TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE. We are hereby officially notify you concerning your fund Telegraphic Transfer through our bank, Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd United Kingdom, to your bank account, which has been officially … [continue reading …]
Glastonbury romance
The walls of a circular room at the county museum in Taunton are inscribed with comments on Somerset and its people. Quotes from famous writers include words that are pejorative as well as ones more complimentary, words from unexpected sources appear, among them a comment from John Steinbeck, who stayed in the east Somerset town of Bruton in 1959: The … [continue reading …]
Sunday thoughts for 17th June 2018
One of the most challenging things about the teaching of Jesus is not its complexity, but its simplicity. Too often, people have taken things that were straightforward and made them incredibly complicated. Perhaps complex things are more easy to avoid, it can be said that they are hard to understand, it can be said there is disagreement about their meaning, … [continue reading …]
Computer calculated death
Fictional, of course, but the story raised an intriguing question. Artificial intelligence is rooted in scientific calculations, in rational behaviour, it works on the basis of logic and reason. The story raised the question of where logic, rationality and cold science might lead us. A car was being driven with a reckless disregard for the lives of other road users, … [continue reading …]
Home town pride
Elvis Costello and the Attractions topped the bill at the first concert I ever attended. It was in September 1978 at Brockwell Park in Brixton and was a free gig in support of the Anti-Nazi League. Not having seen him perform live in the forty years since that day of autumn sunshine in London, there came a chance to see … [continue reading …]
Flash fiction II
The box contained an odd miscellany: schoolbooks, comic annuals, football programmes. From between two glossy souvenirs of visits to Wembley Stadium, a grey wallet fell to the floor, a corner of paper projected from it. Stooping to pick it up, he pondered what the wallet might reveal. He hoped for a postal order, or an old pound note, or some … [continue reading …]