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June 30, 2005
The view from this side.
The jet lag has passed and I am waking up to a very sobering reality.
The British and European news is dominated by two subjects. Global warming and the plight of world poverty.
The G8 conference takes place this weekend in Gleneagles in Scotland and the public pressure being exerted in the participatory leaders is huge, focused by the Live 8 concerts taking place around the world this weekend to coincide with the talks. The mass poulation of Europe is demanding effective and immediate action.
Global warming is also on everyone's lips, from the pubs to the busses. It seems to have precipitated to a crisis point with ordinary people genuinely distressed by the news and figures we are now getting. From all corners of the world the story and figures tell the same story... we are starting to see real indications that the predictions of the scientists of the 80's and 90's are now becoming a terrifying reality, and that we must take a concerted and immediate worldwide effort to turn things around. Some accounts suggest that on some fronts it may already be too late.
There is a common thread to both of these issues. People in Europe are asking "where is America?"
They are confused and angry that the richest country in the world that has gained so much wealth and power from the benefits of cheap labour and raw materials, and contributes a disproportionately large amount of both consumption and pollution is represented only by its deafening silence on these two dire subjects.
We are, of course, under the rule of the mullahs of the Christian jihad. Fundamental Baptists rich from fossil fuels who ironically don't believe in evolution. These are not the Americans I know and love.
I believe that American people are among the most caring and generous people in the world, and if we are given the data needed to assemble a global view we rise to meet the challenge, as with the Asian tsunami disaster.
We however have a media that is driven to entertain, not inform. They will get more viewers and therefore more revenue from covering the titillations of Michael Jackson than leaving us sleepless with worry over doomsday issues. I also tell them that for such a large country, it is a very insular place. The average American citizen has a myopic worldview, again because of the shortfalls of the American TV and press, extending at best to stories of specific U.S. involvement and relegating world news to a few short paragraphs on page twelve...maybe. As Bob Dylan said "money doesn't talk, it swears."
Posted by Andrew at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
Enfield 1st IX versus Bacup visitors IX.
Its a quintessentially limey thing, and one of those thing that makes me miss home.
Its like a familiar taste of home cooking, or the feel of a well-worn jacket. Many call it boring, but they miss the point... the tedium is the best bit!
Fair enough, you don't get to paint your face, wear red and white wigs and wrap yourself in flags. You don't get to scream, shout and leap around - unless you're the bowler appealing for a lbw (leg before wicket).
Where else do we get the luxury of a lazy day in the sun. The crack of willow bat against leather ball marking the moments of the afternoon like the slowest tick of a clock. The ladies in the pavilion making tea and cakes, old men reminisce about nothing in particular, and your mind drifts to watch a bumblebee visiting clover blossoms. Every so often... something happens, and a ripple of quiet clapping breaks the hush. Eventually, you wend your way around the ground for a pint (or two) and catch up on enough village gossip and goings-on to write a kiss-and-tell blockbuster.
Five and half-hours later we had lost. By four runs for and five wickets before the visitors declaring for 149 runs (if you are really counting)...but so what.
It is said, that one has to grow up with cricket to make any true sense of its unfoldings, but for my American friends and family this is the classic explanation of the rules.
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.
When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!
Posted by Andrew at 11:28 AM | Comments (3)
June 24, 2005
Its a gas, gas, gas.
Ok my Yanky pals. I know we are all pissing and moaning about the price of gas in California, but here is a reality check.
The price of a litre of petrol (thats 'gas' to you) here in England is 86.9pence.
1USgal = 3.785litres
87 x 3.785 = 3.30 (pounds/USgal)
3.30 x 1.85 (dollar/pounds)
$6.10 / gal !!!!!
Think about that the next time you "fill her up".
Posted by Andrew at 08:09 AM | Comments (4)
Wait a minute...is that rain?
Some wise sage once said the 'Britain does not have a climate, it just has weather'. Well the climate was pissing down today and I feel more at home already.
In just 24hours, we went from 95degrees of sunshine, to thunderstorms and 5ft. of flooding at the Glastonbury festival. Marvellous!
My father served on the water board when he was a local politician, and assures me that 10 consecutive days without rain in Britain constitutes an official drought.
But then it would not be so bloody lovely.
Posted by Andrew at 08:03 AM | Comments (1)
June 23, 2005
...This demi eden, a precious stone set in a silver sea.
So... what about the weather?
I arrived on the solstice to a Britain bathed in sunshine. NO REALLY!
Today was in the nineties. I hardly recognise the place, as I am usually looking at it form under the hood of a raincoat. Wimbledon is in full force, and there is more talk of the clear skies than of the tennis.
I took a walk down to the town this morning and enjoyed taking in the feeling of England in full blush.
Here is the river Hyndburn this morning, one of my childhood haunts.
Posted by Andrew at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
Heavy stuff first.
I am in England again, just six months after my last visit.
I wish I could say that my Father is no worse, but sadly I cant. Even the slightest movement, like sitting up, leaves him breathless and a trip to the bathroom takes an hour to plan. If you smoke, and are having trouble stopping, I suggest taking care of a chronic pulmonary disease patient for a few days, watching them drowning in fresh air and see how those cigarettes taste afterwards.
While I am on a rant, let me also say a few words about medical marijuana.
In the past three days, my dad has eaten one bowl of porridge, a cheese sandwich and a slice of quiche. He is a bag of bones. What he needs is to get his appetite in gear so that he can get some nourishment. It is no business of any government to interfere with this, and we will do what ever we need to do to help him. It is an issue of basic humanity and I beg you to support any organisation and vote for any legislation that works to this end.
Im sorry if this blog entry is a downer. I will lighten things up soon, but these are a few things that I needed to get off my chest.
Thanks.
Posted by Andrew at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2005
Strange stuff indeed!
Look at the center cross for a while, and the pink dots will disappear, to be replaced by a single green dot.(the pink dots are winking out in sequence, and there is no green at all).
I found this while I was doing some research for a lecture I just gave on color theory at Berkeley.
A few things are going on here like the effect of peripheral information hitting the fovea (blind spot) on the retina, but the most interesting effect is a good example of Itten's rule of simultaneous contrast, where "for any given color, the eye requires a complement and if it not present, the eye/brain will generate it spontaneously."
It still freaks me out though.
Posted by Andrew at 10:50 PM | Comments (6)