tardy

just a few weeks ago there was a review of a book that discussed the concept of time. essentially it was saying that time was a made up thing and that it is not the same in different parts of the world, galaxy, universe, cosmos whatever.
well at least that is what i thought the reviewer was saying was the author's  argument.

now i can't say anything about the mathematical and scientific proofs that may have been used by the author to prove this argument because i have enough trouble doing percentages and this sort of thing is several levels above percentages.
however i would argue that we all know that time is relative.

how can that be you cry. easy i say. we have all had those days at work where no matter how many times we look at the clock - it has barely moved since the last time we looked. yet when it comes to finishing that last job before you go home then the hands of the clock whizz at blinding speed and you quickly discover you are working unpaid overtime. a job that should have only taken five 'regular' minutes has become an accelerated hour or two.

why am i mentioning such big brain concepts? two reasons really. last time i looked at the clock i had plenty of time todo my stuff and get to where i am going in plenty of time. except when i look now i am later than late. where did the time go? who knows? (well i guess doctor who does know- but i am not invoking him/her - it is just a phrase).

secondly to those who know me and remark on my propensity to be late; i would just like to point out that you are operating on the wrong time. you are all working to greenwich mean time. really you should all be on  pmt, or as it is commonly known as pat mean time, this is a highly flexible and useful system.

so next time you think i am late, just remember with pmt i am on time; you are early.

computers

you have to love computers. let's be honest we have no choice. if we didn't love (or at least think they were ok) we would go mad in the modern world, where little remains untouched by the silicon kiss of the computer. more and more we are ensnared by the internet of things.

right now i am having my own little love hate battle with technology. of course i am losing.

the last few years have seen me move to mobile computing as a necessity rather than a choice (and shamefully i have to admit that this is because of my own personal failings and not something i can blame on a central processing unit). of course with using laptops and tablets there are inherent problems - such loss, theft, breakage and system failure.

so the tablet i have been using as decided to die - and from what i can make out it is the little bit that connects the outside world of reality to the inside world of circuits. (oddly this is always the bit that goes on my external hard drives - yes those things you are supposed to be able to carry around with you break at that bit that connects them to stuff you can use).
with the decline of one bit of kit comes the arrival of a new bit of kit. joy.
then when the excitement dies down you remember you have to set up all the links you need to websites and such like.
it is then you remember just how stupid you have been in relying on the computer to do its job and have stored all the passwords in it and not committed them to a piece of paper...

after many hours of trawling through emails i have found some passwords. more to be rescued. none of this helped by having to use a sluggish-not-my-own-laptop that seems to sometimes work and sometimes not, or it could be the internet connection that is at fault. the problem being is you are never quite sure what is causing the problem because click as you might on the button nothing works is it the physical laptop is having a problem? is there a lag in the connection? is the website not working? something else? a combination? who knows? but it does cause you to spit feathers and cry in frustration.

maybe lesson learnt: write them down.
we'll see at the next system failure, because i know there will be one.

sport

not sure when it happened but i fell out of love with sport a ways back.
sure i am still interested in (some) sports.
sure there are some athletes who i take joy in seeing them win, though there are probably more that i find more pleasure in seeing them lose.

most sports stars are over paid prima donnas who seem to have no understanding of just how lucky they are. 'oh woe is me i have to play three games a week', is a bit hard to take seriously when you are working a 40 plus hour week.
or the old favourite it is not about the money it is about the winning - but none of them take a pay cut to play.
or their total self importance - the team has to match my ambition, yet they never put their money on the line, or no stake in the team. or, the even worse, we deserve to be supported in our personal dream because we made sacrifices.
then there are the clubs who just want to buy success with little or no attempts to develope their own players - so much easier to buy them in.
then there are the fans who just want success - but don't want change. they want money pumped into the clubs but they can't accept that money comes with strings.

but what can you expect when sport organisations such as fifa or the ioc appear to be no more than profit making organisations rife with corruption?

then there are the constant calls that these performers to be role models. yes i don't want them to cheat, yes i don't want to see them use drugs - but beyond that i don't expect them to be any different from the rest of us. why should putting on a kit suddenly make you a paragon of virtue?

the problem is we have invested too much importance in sport and its stars, and along with celebrity culture, it harks back to a bread and circus mentality.

we would be better off celebrating the extraordinary, but hidden, scientists, architects, inventors, academics, teachers, explorers  (oh and hairy bloggers) who populate our culture. but we won't.

will i ever fall in love with sport again?
probably not - but i will always have the world wrestling entertainment, at least there is humour and honesty in its pretence.

hope

the thing about elections is the hope.
the hope that your party will win.
the hope that your views and values will carry the day and for the next few years the country will be run more or less in line with your desires and expectations.

come the day you tick that box that aligns closest to your views.
at that moment you believe you have the power to change the world. change it for the best.
hope fills you.

come the end of the day that hope can be battered out of you.

as it stands the news implies that we are heading for a hung parliament.
the worst of all worlds.

hope deflated.

again

been awhile.
not quite an oatesian 'i may be some time' but still far too long.

there has been a practical reason for the break - couldn't remember my password to get on (new laptop and tablet), thus proving that passwords are the bane of modern life

there is also an existential reason - for the last year or so i really just haven't cared or given a toss. have barely paid attention to the election, not really worked up about trump, even worse i have no idea who is the wwe any more.

(but regardless of my ennui for the political sphere - don't forget to go vote and don't forget to vote labour - you know it makes sense, well more sense than voting for the conservatives.)

about the only thing that excites me these days is the madness of the truth movement and the alternative news media - and trying to weave some sense in what they say (it is a fruitless task as their villains keep shifting and they don't really have a solution beyond slogans and harking back to a time that only existed in the fairy tales of their grand parents).

but with the possible, faint chance i admit, shock of a labour win and the fact that i have suddenly realised that we are in june already and the sum total of my achievements of this year can be summed up in managing to get some eye drops actually into my eye and not everywhere else on my face in an act of medical bukkake. while i may give a whoop and holler at such success in the great scheme of things it really is small beer.

so time to rouse myself and see if i can get this thing back on the road again.