Sick note

Okay, I'm not disoriented, I just don't know what day it is.

All day yesterday, I kept thinking it was Sunday. I've lost a day somewhere - which is a good thing. It means there's one less day to go until I have surgery. Not that I'm looking forward to being operated on, but it will be a blessed relief to be rid of this gall bladder of mine.

I get to meet the surgeon (again) in about two weeks time and then, hopefully, I'll get a date for the op. I'm not holding my breath - the hospital has had to close a number of wards due to an outbreak of Norovirus and a lot of operations have had to be postponed. I know someone who was due to have a heart bypass just before Christmas - he's still waiting to go in. So, like I said, I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, I'm maxed out on painkillers. Unfortunately, they're not working so good anymore - either because I've built up a tolerance (I haven't been able to take a day off them for a while) or because my condition is worsening. In any case, I'm one sick animal.

Posting might be lighter than usual for a while.

Family life

A while back, the Big Fella took it upon himself to start baking bread on a Sunday afternoon. It's good bread and much appreciated, but this Sunday, he's decided to make pizza instead. I'm looking forward to it - I tasted some of the pizza he made in Food Tech and it was spot on.

Pardon me for twittering on about it, but it's really nice when your thirteen year-old decides he's going to cook the family dinner. It makes me think we raised him right.

Of course, nobody's perfect - the Big Fella wants to be a barrister when he grows up. But we're not responsible for that. I blame one of Mac's old friends - he sets too good an example. Taking him as a guide, you'd be inclined to overrate the whole profession.

Going loopy

"Smolin? Oh, is he that young guy with those crazy ideas? He may not be wrong!"- Murray Gell-Mann

I haven't posted much the last couple of days. I got sidetracked by a paper on loop quantum gravity by Lee Smolin (author of "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity").

Smolin's "An invitation to loop quantum gravity" is available in pdf at arXiv.org. From the abstract:-

We describe the basic assumptions and key results of loop quantum gravity, which is a background independent approach to quantum gravity. The emphasis is on the basic physical principles and how one deduces predictions from them, at a level suitable for physicists in other areas such as string theory, cosmology, particle physics, astrophysics and condensed matter physics. No details are given, but references are provided to guide the interested reader to the literature.

Smolin is also the originator of the fecund universes theory. And he has an admirable view of quantum mechanics:-

I am convinced that quantum mechanics is not a final theory. I believe this because I have never encountered an interpretation of the present formulation of quantum mechanics that makes sense to me. I have studied most of them in depth and thought hard about them, and in the end I still can't make real sense of quantum theory as it stands.

More on Lee Smolin's thinking from The Third Culture via Edge.

Weston-super-Mare

One of Mac's Italian colleagues recently took a trip to the nearby town of Weston-super-Mare thinking it would be nice to visit the British seaside. He came away describing it as "one of the worse or maybe the worse sea place where I've been".

This image from e-vlad says it all, really.


According to Mac: "Weston-super-Mare is actually an elaborate joke that we like to play on foreigners."

Speaking on behalf of foreigners, I have to say, it's not funny.

Benson the unbeliever

Reading this interview with Ophelia Benson in Free Thinker magazine, I was surprised to see Ophelia say she doesn't really have a personal philosophy:-

FT: How would you describe your personal philosophy?

OB: I’m not sure I really have anything as grand as a personal philosophy – I think I have more of a methodology. It could be boiled down to not wanting to be taken for a sucker, or in more philosophical language, to a dislike of bullshit. I hate dishonest manipulative language of all sorts, and I spend a lot of time sniffing it out and then making fun of it.

But on the affirmative side, I am in favour or a lot of things, if that adds up to a philosophy. It might be more what the philosopher Rebecca Goldstein in her novel The Mind-body Problem called a mattering map. Freedom and autonomy matter to me, as do rights. So do poetry, music, starry nights. Like Richard Rorty trying to unite Trotsky and wild orchids, I’m not sure how to connect the two – so I just put them on the mattering map.

Hmmm. The "mattering map" sounds like a cute idea but maybe I'd need to read Goldstein's novel and some Rorty to really understand what Ophelia is talking about. I mean, doesn't everything matter? At least in some way or other.

If you don't have a personal philosophy, how can you make judgements about what should and shouldn't be on your mattering map? And if you do decide something belongs on the map (such as Trotsky or wild orchids), how do you decide what size to make it and where to position it in relation to everything else?

I know I sometimes take things too seriously - Ophelia's metaphor for instance - but it seems to me that everyone has a personal philosophy, at least in so far as the phrase is commonly understood. I appreciate most people don't spend much time thinking about such things but Ophelia is associate editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine, so I imagine she's given the subject more than a passing thought.

Still, like I said, I probably need to read Goldstein and Rorty to get a better idea of Ophelia's thinking. I just wish she'd been a bit more explicit.

[Via Faith in Honest Doubt]

Friday roundabout

Oliver Kamm on Labour's Landscape after the Crewe by-election.

Clive Davis: Friday evening interlude - "Wanted Man" by Johnny Cash.

New horizons, new perspectives and a new design at Cobb's place.

Sunny at Pickled Politics highlights the case of two UK academics arrested for studying terrorism at Nottingham University.

Donald Sensing says Honda's new "zero-emission" Clarity is "the worst car on the planet" in terms of global warming.

And finally,

[Via Scribbles] At the Daily Mash: "Do you need us to call you a cab? Britain asks Brown".

Hezbollah’s Lebanon

Michael Totten in Commentary magazine:-

Lebanon’s “March 14” majority coalition in parliament managed to hammer out a temporary agreement with the Hezbollah-led opposition in Doha, Qatar, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to raise a toast to the new peace in Beirut just yet. The streets are quiet and normal again for the most part, but none of Lebanon’s most serious problems have been resolved. While diplomats from Washington to Riyadh are pretending, for form’s sake, that this is a terrific breakthrough for stability and national unity, Charles Malik put it more bluntly and honestly at the Lebanese Political Journal. “The Doha negotiations were never meant to solve everything,” he wrote. “They were meant to stall the violence until after the summer tourist season is over.”

After Crewe

After Labour's widely predicted defeat in the Crewe by-election, Labour hack Sunder Katwala, writing in the Guardian, thinks this is a hiccup rather than a disaster and believes Gordon Brown is the party's best bet in the general election:-

Nothing in the challenge of message, strategy and policy - how to define the choice at the next election which could see off the call of "time for a change" - would be solved by having a different personality in charge.
[...]
A bolder Brown remains the Labour figure best placed to reassert his party's claim to be the party of fairness. This is what he came into politics to do. It is also now the agenda on which his and his party's political future depends.

Few commenters seem to agree. Gordon Brown is widely regarded as an electoral liability - he's not a likable character, he may be highly intelligent but he comes across as a bit of a dullard and, quite frankly, people don't trust him.

To a large extent this may reflect the means by which Brown became leader. It seems people don't like having an unelected prime minister foisted upon them. The "gentleman's agreement" with Tony Blair which resulted in Brown's rise to power was a grubby piece of politics. And, after the 10p tax debacle (amongst other things), many ordinary working people seem to have decided Labour is not for them.

It's all very well talking about rebuilding the broad coalition that brought New Labour to power in the first place, but it was Blair, not Brown, who built that coalition and without him the New Labour project looks dead in the water.

Three Cliffs Bay

The boys are on half-term holiday next week. If the weather's good, we'll probably spend a couple of days in the Gower - most likely at Three Cliffs Bay.

Against free speech

Via Clive Davis, I learn that Sean Dodson at the Guardian is unhappy that people who have opinions he doesn't agree with are being given a public platform by the Daily Telegraph:-

A cursory glance (at the Telegraph's website) reveals that while it has some powerful and well-written blogs, My Telegraph is also inhabited by some very unsavoury characters, including a minority of active members of the far right, anti-abortionists, europhobes and members of an anti-feminist "men's movement". Such comments appear on all websites, the Guardian included. The difference with My Telegraph and similar sites overseas is that the newspaper is providing the platform for others to start the debate. On most comment sites, bloggers sanctioned by the newspaper group typically do so.

Shane Richmond at the Telegraph provides a robust response:-

Part of our definition of a "respectable newspaper" is one that doesn't try to tell its readers what to think. Our readers are entitled to their opinions and, within the scope of the law, they're entitled to publish them on My Telegraph.

I'm with Richmond on this issue. I don't read the Telegraph's readers' blogs but I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd find plenty to disagree with and maybe even some things I'd consider offensive. Nevertheless, the Guardian telling another newspaper what it should and shouldn't publish is completely beyond the pale.

Clutching at straws

In the immediate aftermath of an explosion in a restaurant in Exeter yesterday, a number of news reports suggested the incident might be the work of animal rights activists. I think a lot of people were hoping that was the case, I certainly was.

Unfortunately, as with the recent series of controlled explosions in Bristol, the person arrested in connection with the incident is said by police to be a recent convert to Islam:-

Deputy chief constable Tony Melville said: "Witnesses described how a male entered a toilet in the restaurant shortly before an explosion was heard."

He said police and other emergency services went to the scene and the man was arrested in connection with the explosion.

"This male, who we now know is called Nicky Reilly, suffered serious facial injuries but these are not life threatening. He is currently in police custody undergoing treatment at a hospital."

Melville said police investigations had indicated Reilly, who had a history of mental illness, had adopted the Islamic faith and "was preyed upon and radicalised".

Busy busy busy

There's been so much going on today, I just haven't had the time to post anything. And this evening, Mac and I are going to take some time, share a bottle of wine and watch the latest episode of "Heroes" on TV (the second season just got underway here).

So, this is all you're getting from me today. See you tomorrow.

Wednesday roundabout

"Iraq War To Be Lost By End Of 2008": David Price at Dean's World anticipates the media's line on Iraq.

Pajamas Media has the latest on Mark Steyn versus the Canadian Human Rights Council. It's a three-ring circus. [Via IP]

"Birth cry of a supernova" at Bad Astronomy - astronomers catch sight of a star as it starts to explode.

Something I didn't know: Eddie Campbell once drew Iron Man (and Captain America).

The Policeman's Blog has some questions about the government's proposed database of all UK phone calls, e-mails and internet activity.

And finally,

Pootergeek has the transcript of Barry's Oprah interview.

Heidegger update

Alongside Heidegger's "Being and Time", I'm reading commentary on Heidegger's work by Brad Elliott Stone including the highly recommended "Curiosity as the Thief of Wonder: An Essay on Heidegger’s Critique of the Ordinary Conception of Time" (pdf).

I'm eagerly awaiting his paper "Being and Time for the Average Da-sein". A draft version was up on his website for a while but I missed it and he's now taken it down prior to publication.

Still, it's something to look forward to.

Castle in the clouds

Talking of fairytale castles, here's a real one.


Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria [Image from WallpaperMe]

Disney Time

Lileks in Disneyland:-

Building a gigantic fairytale castle and putting it on TV on Sunday night in color might have been the smartest PR move in the history of marketing.

It’s impossible to look at the thing without feeling like you’re ten, sitting in front of the First Color Set your family had, happy it was Sunday night, hoping it was a cartoon tonight instead one of those nature shows. They were okay, I guess, but you would prefer a Chip and Dale to learning about beavers.

Ah yes, I remember it well.

Unfortunately, they're not memories my kids will share. A great gulf separates me from my children - the boys hate Disney. I mean it, they really hate Disney - the saccharine story lines, schmaltzy songs, bloated merchandising and Disney stores full of overpriced plastic junk.

I guess I hate all that too. But the commercial excesses of Disney Corp, while they color my judgement, don't cloud my memory. And, like Lileks, when I see that fairytale castle, it takes me back to happy times.

Ray, Bear and Chuck

Lucy Mangan at the Guardian's tv & radio blog asks: Who's harder Ray Mears or Bear Grylls?

We're all big fans of Ray Mears in this house, so it's nice to see most commenters plumping for him, though one reckons Chuck Norris has them both beat - he even presents a series of propositions in support of that contention (I've heard a bunch of these from the boys):-

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.

Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.

Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

Tuesday roundabout

Zoe Brain: "Putting the New in Neurology" with a selection of items about brains.

David T at Harry's Place: "What the UK Islamists are Planning Next".

Dale at Faith in Honest Doubt on God-belief and happiness.

Kings of War looks at "Al Qaeda’s ‘War Amongst the People’".

Jay at Savage Minds rounds up some online anthropology.

And finally,

"Gay scientists isolate Christianity gene" - Science Punk has the video.

Afar from above

From NASA's Earth Observatory:-

"In eastern Africa, in the Afar region of Ethiopia, a nearly barren rockscape marks the location of the meeting place of three separate pieces of the Earth’s crust. This meeting place is known to geologists as the Afar Triple Junction"

[Click picture for full-size high definition image]

Public privacy

Florida Court: It’s OK to Look up a Woman’s Skirt with a Mirror, as Long as It’s a Public Place

Evidently, the case turned on the defense attorney's submission that, under Florida law, the victim "didn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place".

Glenn Sacks at Dean's World has the details and links to commentary. Not surprisingly, a whole lot of people are up in arms about this. And rightly so.