What is truth?

We've seen that when you look at the sun (which you shouldn't do directly) what you are actually seeing is the sun as it was eight minutes or so ago. But this pales into insignificance compared to when you look up at the stars at night. What you are then seeing is the stars as they were hundreds, thousands or even millions of years ago. And yet, if I were to come up behind you and say "Are those stars really there?" you would say "Of course they are - see for yourself". And that's it really - they are there because we can see them, and as nothing (except perhaps tachyons, if they exist) can travel faster than the speed of light, what we see defines reality for us. If I can see it, it exists, because it is impossible for me to know any different. So here's my basic premise - reality (truth) is the sum total of the information available to you. Problems arise when people have access to different information, or incomplete information. More to come.

Mea culpa? Tua culpa?

"Sack the manager" is the knee-jerk reaction to the woeful England performance against Germany in the World Cup. And yet, who really failed? All the manager can do is put the players out on the pitch and tell them how to play, and clearly he did just that. So was it his choice of players that was at fault? Were his tactics to blame? Or was it the players that simply failed to deliver? I've no doubt it was the last of these - maybe we would have lost anyway - the Germans have a pretty formidable side - but there's no doubt that we could and should have played much better than we did. Our defence, which up until now had been the best aspect of our admittedly poor play, just disintegrated, and the first goal was a joke - even our local pub team could have defended against that one. So I don't think Capello should carry the can unless it can be clearly shown that it was his team choice or tactics that caused the defeat. Otherwise let these highly paid professional players explain just why they failed to live up to their billing.

Is the truth really out there?

Consider - you are lying on a beach somewhere sunbathing, and then the sun for some inexplicable reason suddenly blinks out of existence. You would continue to lie there basking in the sun's light and heat for a little over eight minutes more before you became aware of the fact. That's how long it takes light from the sun to travel to Earth. So for eight minutes or so you would be soaking up rays from a sun that wasn't there any more! But as far as you are concerned it would be there - you could see it, you could feel it's heat. Now let's assume there is a manned station on Mercury. Light takes about three minutes to get from the sun to Mercury, so the sun would disappear for them some five minutes before it did for you. For five minutes their truth (the sun has disappeared) would be different from your truth (the sun is still shining). So just what is "truth"? More to come.

Doctor Who.

Well, I've given it every chance - I've persevered throughout the first series, and I still don't like it. Part of the problem is technical - the intrusive background music which at times makes it difficult to hear the dialogue, and the fact that so much of the action seems to take place in the dark or semi-dark, meaning that you not only can't hear what's happening, but you can't see what's happening either! But those are both solvable - the main problem I'm afraid is the writing. The strength of the program since it came back with Christopher Eccleston in 2005 has been that although the basic premise is ridiculous, the individual plots have been logical and believable. But this time round, the plots - with perhaps the one exception of the Vincent Van Gogh episode - have just been confused and silly. I still don't like the way Matt Smith is playing the Doctor, although given the scripts he's having to work with, it's difficult to see how else he could play it. But like I say, overall it's been a big disappointment, and for me not a patch on what has gone before.

Can't cope...!

Sport overload at present. The World Cup is tending to overshadow everything else. The fact that we're tanking the Aussies in the one-day internationals - which would otherwise be headline news - is passing almost unnoticed. And what about that extraordinary match at Wimbledon which went to 70 games to 68 in the final set? Did anybody watch it, or simply hear about it after the event? And then there's a Grand Prix this weekend. We could do with some Sports Supremo to take charge and schedule these things so that they don't clash - my remote control is wearing out as I'm constantly flicking channels to try and keep up with everything!

Toe the line, or....

Discussing his dismissal of General McChrystal for saying rude things about him and his administration in a magazine article, President Obama is quoted as saying “I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division.” Am I right in thinking this means "You are welcome to express your views, provided they agree with mine"? Funny sort of "debate".

Could do better...

Sort of good news for a change. I've posted in the past about the absurdity of doctors being able to prescribe Class A drugs for pain relief, whereas they cannot prescribe cannabis, even when it can be shown to have beneficial effects to, among others, MS sufferers. Well it now appears that a mouthspray has been developed which contains the active ingredients of cannabis, and that it has been approved for use in the UK. Only sort of good news because - you've guessed it - it will not be available on the NHS and those who want it will have to pay something like £10 a day for the privilege. Still it's a step, if only a small step, in the right direction.

Free will - continued.

When I go my morning walk, there comes a point where I have a choice of three ways to get back home. Which one I take depends on various factors - principal among them is the weather and how well, or otherwise, my legs are behaving. But I do have that choice every morning - or at least I think I do. Of course it's possible that which way I go is the way I was always destined to go. But the point is that if I believe I am exercising freedom of choice and I have no reason to think otherwise, does it really matter whether I am or not? It's a bit like that business in "The Matrix" where Neo is given the choice of taking the blue pill or the red one - me, I'd take the blue one every time. Provided I'm content and comfortable with the life I've got - which I am - I'm not really interested in whether it's a sham or not. Of course this raises the question of whether there is such a thing as "the truth" and that's a big big question which perhaps we'll come back to later.

Sorry, you can't say that!

I hadn't realised just what the implications are of certain brands becoming "official partners" of major events. Apparently in South Africa, because Budweiser are the "official" beer of the World Cup, you are not allowed to drink any other make of beer within 1km of any of the stadia. Because Coca-Cola are Fifa's "partner", you cannot take a can of Pepsi into a match. You cannot take anything - like an golf umbrella - into a stadium if it is advertising any name which conflicts with any brand which has paid money to get exclusive rights to the competition. And this isn't just South Africa - it seems we have passed a law - the London Olympics Games and Paralympics Games Act 2006 - which forbids the use of various terms - including would you believe the word "London" - unless you have paid money to be an official sponsor of the Games in 2012. My paternal grandma's maiden name was London - does this mean that if she were alive today, had never married and was wearing a T-shirt with her surname on, she wouldn't be able to get a ticket for the Games? Oh, come on!!

Yes but no but....

Stand by for howls of outrage following tomorrow's budget from those (and that's probably most of us) who will be worse off or disadvantaged as a result. It seems that everybody is agreed that steps must be taken to reduce the deficit, and that this has to result in cuts, but most people take the view that those cuts should fall elsewhere - an approach which I have taken to referring to as ABM - Anybody But Me!

What a load of rubbish!

Family get-together Friday night to watch the England match, and was introduced to "Cheeky Vimto" which is a cocktail of port and Blue WKD - mind you, by half-way through the second half, I needed something much much stronger!

Ha ha.

A man and his wife had a row and as a result were giving each other the "silent treatment". The man realised that the next day he would need his wife to wake him at 5.00 a.m. so he could be sure of getting to work for an important business meeting. Not willing to be the first to break the silence he wrote on a piece of paper "Please wake me at 5.00 a.m." and left it where he knew his wife would see it. The next morning the man woke up to find it was 9.00 a.m. Furious that his wife hadn't woken him, he looked round to see a piece of paper on the bed. It said "It is 5.00 a.m. - wake up".

Non est mea culpa...

So the Spanish goalkeeper got into a mess with his defenders and allowed Switzerland to score because his girlfriend, a TV reporter, was standing close to him on the touchline and "he might have had his mind on other things". Must rank as the excuse of the tournament, and certainly has more style about it than blaming the ball, which is the best that other goalkeepers have managed to come up with.

Free will?

I posted the other day about predestination - the idea that our futures are already written. So, does it matter? Well, yes it does, most fundamentally. When you think about it, the way we live our lives - all of us - is based on the concept of reward and punishment. Throughout our lives we are rewarded for doing the "right" thing (whatever that may be in the circumstances) and punished - if only by not being rewarded - for doing the "wrong" thing. If we're a good child we get lots of hugs and kisses and are bought nice presents - if we're not good we get shouted at and maybe even get a clip round the ear. When we go to school, if we are a good pupil we get good marks and certificates - if we're not we get bad marks and detention. When we go to work, if we do a good job we get pay rises and promotions - if not we get reprimands and maybe even the sack. And this idea continues even beyond the grave - all the world's main religions are based on the premise that there is some sort of existence beyond this one, and that our position or status in that existence depends on whether or not we have lived a "good" life in this one. But all this is predicated on the basis that we can choose whether to do the "right" thing or not. If we can't the whole system falls apart. What is the point of rewarding somebody for doing something they were bound to do? What is the point of punishing somebody for doing something they could not help themselves but do? The whole thing becomes a nonsense. More on this later.

Double standards.

Well hooray for the families of the "Bloody Sunday" victims who are now celebrating "justice" after 38 years. But hang on a minute - what about the scores of innocent civilians murdered over the years by the IRA as part of what is euphemistically called "the troubles". And in particular - just because it happens to be geographically close to me - the families of the 21 people killed in the Birmingham pub bombings. Where is their public inquiry? Where is their closure?? Where is their justice???

Pot and kettle?

More than a touch of hypocrisy in the way America are lambasting BP over the Gulf oil spill, I feel. Remind me - who was it that gave them permission to drill there? Who was the oil supposed to benefit? Drilling for oil is a notoriously risky business, and unless you are prepared to accept at least part of the risk, you shouldn't have set the whole thing in motion in the first place.

Flights of fancy.

Went to the Cosford Air Show yesterday. The weather could have been kinder - a lot kinder in fact, but a good time was had by all, and the Red Arrows were, as ever, AWESOME!!

Hold the front page!

Comes to something when a goalkeeping fumble is the headline news. Sense of perspective please?

Future imperfect.

Just finished watching an American series called "Flashforward" - bit on the silly side, but its basic premise is that of predestination. That's to say that our future is already settled. So is it? Well there are two basic ideas about this - one is that we are simply acting out a script that has already been written by some Supreme Being for some ineffable purpose or other. The other rather more practical one is that what will happen in the next instant is a direct and inevitable result of what is happening now - cause and effect. And then what will happen in the instant following that is the direct and inevitable result of what will happen next, and so on and so on. So we are riding on a railway track as it were - we have to go where the rails take us. So when I think I'm making choices, am I really? Makes you think, doesn't it? Perhaps we'll come back to this later.

Gird your loins!

So are you ready for the World Cup - or couldn't you care less? It seems you have to take one position or the other. Just having a passing interest won't do. Most men fall into the first category, and many women into the second. Of course, if England are eliminated, a lot of men will also lose all interest. It's a fascinating study in human psychology - or tribal allegiance you might call it. The Scots and the Welsh - particularly the Scots - are praying for England to fail spectacularly and preferably in disgrace. Me - I'm just hoping to see some good football. I really don't think this English team is that good, and we'll do well to get as far as the semi-finals, but of course in knock-out football anything can happen. In most of the World Cups I have watched (and the first I remember was in 1954) there has been an outstanding team in terms of skill and often that team has failed to come out as the winner - it just takes one off-day, or one piece of bad luck, and you're out. What was it Kipling said about triumph and disaster...?

Sod's Law?

Isn't it funny that whenever you cut your fingernails, you are almost bound within 24 hours or so to come across a job for which you need long fingernails?

Beware, the time is coming, the end is nigh...

If you're going to have to do something which you know people are not going to like, one well-tried approach is to circulate rumours - or even positive statements - that what's going to happen is much worse than what is actually going to happen, so that when it does happen, people will say "Phew, well that's not as bad as I feared". Was this what the Prime Minister was doing in his latest "doom and gloom" speech the other day? We can only hope so!

Ha ha.

The UN recently conducted a world-wide survey, asking the question -
"Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortages in the rest of the world?"
The survey was a failure for the following reasons -
In Eastern Europe, they didn't know what "honest" meant.
In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortages" meant.
In Africa, they didn't know what "food" meant.
In China, they didn't know what "opinion" meant.
In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.
In South America they didn't know what "please" meant.
And in the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.

Last of Last of....

So the Beeb have finally decided to pension off "Last of the Summer Wine" which has been running since 1973, would you believe. I don't think it ever really recovered from the enforced death of Compo Simmonite (as a result of the real-life death of Bill Owen, who played him), although it made valiant attempts to. And then losing Nora Batty (Kathy Staff) really tore the heart out of it. Question is, where now for that band of aging sit-com actors, who all seemed to gravitate sooner or later to the show. Thank goodness the earlier episodes keep cropping up on the "nostalgia channels" and long may they continue to do so. And I really like the author's description of the show as "Just William in long trousers". Spot on.

The right to stop and search at sea?

My understanding of international law (inasmuch as such a concept exists) is that boarding a vessel by force on the high seas is an act of piracy, unless the two countries involved are at war. Israel has been very careful not to declare war on Gaza because that would mean, among other things, that they would have to comply with the various rules and conventions which govern the conduct of warring parties. So what Israel did was piracy, pure and simple. Why didn't they just wait until the ships were within the twelve mile limit before boarding them? They could then at least have made some sort of a case for saying that they were within Israeli territorial waters. Is this just another example of their macho posturing - "We did it because we could"? And did nine people have to die to prove their point?

BHX = Bloody Hell, X-rated!

I've had occasion in the past to comment on the way that - as I see it - Birmingham Airport have little or no time for those unfortunate enough to have to pass through it. It's just over four years now since my last experience and - however bad it was then - I was gob-smacked to see how things have deteriorated. Firstly, you now have to pay to drop people off or pick them up, secondly going through security is now a nightmare - I reckon it must be something like going to visit a prisoner in a category-A jail and just about as much fun. Thirdly, they no longer call the flights - it's now up to you to watch the boards (of which there seem to be much fewer than there used to be) so as to know which gate to go to and when. And then the final insult, you now have to pay to get a luggage trolley. What a pleasure it was to come back through Arrecife, where they still know how to treat you like a human being.

The wanderer returns

Well, I'm back. It wor 'arf 'ot Mum!! Mid afternoon temperatures in the high 30s - low 40s. Bit too hot for me but the sun-worshiping family loved it. Nice villa in Puerto del Carmen with own pool. I've been there before several times, which was a sort of plus and minus. Plus because I was familiar with the place, minus (sort of) because it was full of memories of happier times. But then, really I think for the first time, I was able to look back on those memories with fondness rather than sadness - just one wobble, when I so wanted to turn to my wife and say "Well, would you look at that - our favourite restaurant has turned into a Tex-Mex!". But on the whole it went well, and I shall certainly go abroad with them again - if asked that is!