Rugby Union

Having watched the Six Nations, anybody else feel that the game is in danger of turning into a sort of team sumo-wrestling contest?  It all seems to depend on which side can push the other backwards furthest and more often.  One looks in vain lately for flair and guile.

Is it in yet?

Whilst on the subject of Newton's laws of motion. the third law says that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction.  Apparently this will make sex in zero gravity somewhat problematical!

Whose law is it anyway?

Newton's first law of motion - which says a body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity in a straight line unless acted upon by a force - was published in 1687.  So?  Well, although it is known throughout the world as Newton's First Law, the self-same rule had been published some forty years earlier in a book by René Decartes (he of the "I think, therefore I am" fame - see post dated 6/9/10).

What a mistake-a to make-a!

I know he got a generally lukewarm press back then, but I personally liked George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and thought he would have made a very good long-term replacement for Sean Connery as James Bond and was rather disappointed when he was replaced after only the one film.  I now learn that in fact he was offered a contract to do a further six films as James Bond, but was talked out of it by his agent, who convinced him that there was no future in secret agent films.

The Doomsday Rule

This rule says that the following dates - 

January 3rd (or 4th in a leap year)

Last day in February

April 4th (4/4)

June 6th (6/6)

August 8th (8/8)

October 10th (10/10)

December 12th (12/12)

will always fall on the same day of the week.  This is a very simplified version - the full rule also covers the odd-numbered months, but even this stripped-down version will enable you to calculate the day of the week any given date will fall on, provided you know the key day for the year.  The rule also tells you how to find this out, but it's a bit long-winded to explain.  Suffice to say that for this year - 2019 - the key day is Thursday.  So, try it out.  Today is the 4th of March. We know that the last day in February was a Thursday, so four days on means today must be Monday.  Well, what do you know?

Whatever next - mixed keepie-uppie?

Breakdancing at the Olympics?  Say it isn't so!  I've posted about this before, but I would ban any so-called "sport" which relies on scores given by some sort of expert jury.  So out would go gymnastics, out would go diving, out would go ice-dancing and so on.  Let these activities have their own competitions, and good luck to them, but let's have the Olympics decided on the empirical bases of citius, altius, fortius as it was always meant to be. 

Size does matter

Just had sardines on toast for lunch - lovely. But did you know that there's no recognised definition of a sardine?  It's just a small member of the herring family, and what makes it a sardine, is its size.  Here in the UK, if it's less than around 6" it's classed as a sardine, and if it's longer than that, it's a pilchard.  So if it stays in the ocean, it will eventually grow from a sardine into a pilchard - same fish, and also nice on toast.

Whither now?

Lots of calls for some time to "take a no-deal Brexit off the table".  But how do you do that?  It always strikes me as like trying to prove a negative.  But then, I think the problem is that there are two types of a no-deal exit - what I have labelled an accidental no-deal exit and a deliberate no-deal exit.  If we leave on March 29th (which by the way I think is definitely an "if") and we haven't managed to strike a deal, then that would be an accidental no-deal exit.  On the other hand, there are those - and always have been - who simply want to leave, and are not interested in whether or not there is any deal.  Leaving on their terms would be a deliberate no-deal exit.  And I think it is this latter scenario which can be "taken off the table".  In other words, we can set our face against intentionally leaving with no deal, but leaving having tried and failed to strike a deal is - Parliament having rejected the only deal available - outside our control.

R.I.P.

Gordon Banks (the first Banksey).  A great goalkeeper and a great human being.

Hello there

Sorry for the hiatus - my computer threw its teddies out of the pram, and it's taken a long time to get it functioning again.  I have to say that the break has not been all bad news - I've really enjoyed not having to scrabble about every day finding something to post about, so in future I think I shall not post unless it's really something I think is worth saying.  So don't expect daily posts from now on.  Anyway - I'm back!