Communications – Page 105 – Fooyah

January 12 2012January 12 2012

France 1

Our first holiday together in France. We had spent the day across the channel before this but we joined some close friends for a holiday in Normandy. It is a holiday to remember because we discovered that son #1 was on the way.

19 July 2008 to 26 July 2008
We stayed in a gite not far from Carrouges in Normandy.

View Larger Map

Places we visited:

Le Mans Circuit, including driving (twice) around the road section of the 24 Hours course.
Mont St. Michel
Omaha Beach and cemetery
Bayeaux and the Bayeaux Tapestry
Chateau d’Carrouges
Viewpoint in Parc Naturel régional de Normandie-Maine

January 9 2012January 10 2012

The Big Bad Mouse

Now I’ll admit that picking on a children’s book and film is pretty poor but then perhaps the producers of these should make sure that their science is consistent. I am happy for books and tv shows to make changes to a rule of physics and then follow the consequences. For instance, The Octonauts seem to have no need of decompression when they do their deep dives, they also have open water in the Octopod which means the whole pod is pressurised, this, technologically is possible but very hard.
For some reason, the story of the Gruffalo’s Child has really piqued my criticism micro-chip. I’m happy for a creature called the gruffalo and I’m happy with talking animals and I can cope with an intelligent mouse. One, tiny scene has really bugged me though. Towards the end of the Gruffalo’s Child, SPOILER ALERT, the mouse climbs a tree and uses his huge shadow from the moonlight to scare the gruffalo child into thinking that there is a huge mouse who eats gruffalo. This size of shadow is impossible. The moon is so far away that any shadow on the ground will be, effectively, lifesize and so the size of the actual mouse. Perhaps, if the gruffalo child understood some basic physics it would have stayed in the wood and eaten the cocky mouse.

The diagram shows how the distance of the object from light source and the distance to the image are important in determining the size of the image. The mouse is so far from the moon’s light it will not be able to make a bigger shadow.

The above diagram shows that if the light source (A) is far from and object (circle BC) then the shadow thrown (circle DE) is small. Whereas, if the light source (A1) is close the object (circle B1C1) then the shadow is large (circle D1F). My original drawing is below:

I have since had some criticism from the USA about this post and I have included the text of the email here:

Dear Sir
I refer to your fooyah posting of January 9th, concerning the shadow-casting abilities of an intelligent mouse. I wish to point out that shadow up-scaling would be possible if the light rays reflected by the moon were partially obscured or reflected (perhaps by some dense foliage) thereby creating a quasi point source of illumination. The point source’s proximity to the subject mouse could then produce an enlarged, not to say terrifying, shadow.
Just saying.

I have to agree and I replied saying that before I wrote this post I had thought about water droplets focusing the moon’s light to create a light source close to the mouse. I’d then forgotten this side of the argument. In fact a frozen, pure, droplet that had grown in size with succesive layers of water freezing on it without boundary layers (one continuous freeze whilst growing) could create a lens that would allow for the size of the mouse’s shadow. Diagram to follow if I can be bothered.

January 9 2012January 9 2012

BBC Headline #4

Headline from the weekend on the iPhone app:

Fast rail link ‘to be approved’

This headline is showing signs and symptoms of:

Quotation in Headline
Not Being News Yet

Quotation in Headline
As long as I can find a crazy person and get them to say something or even take a quotation from another magazine or news source I can write pretty much whatever I want as long as it has quotation marks. What this does not do is actually mean that it is true. Someone’s opinion does not make fact. “Earth to reverse rotation” in a headline isn’t true but as long as some idiot said it to a reporter it could be in a headline. Standards at the Beeb have definitely slipped in this age of 24 hour reporting. Quick, get the story, even if it’s wrong!

Not Being News Yet
Unless the BBC have found the institutionalised corruption in the upper echelons of society that blights our individual and societal gains for the riches of the few then this is a headline about an event that hasn’t happened. Now, I don’t want to get picky (yes I do) but, shouldn’t news be about things that have happened? If the BBC had uncovered fraud and bribes then this would be news but I doubt the headline would be as they wrote it.

January 6 2012

BBC Headline #3

Today’s (this isn’t going to be daily) rubbish BBC Headline taken from the iPhone app is:

Labour ‘should alter cuts stance’

This headline suffers the following afflictions:

Quotation in Headline
Wrong Story Implied

Quotation in Headline
As said before, you can write anything you want in a headline if someone has said it! Just ask a chiropractor about curing colic!

Wrong Story Implied
When you go and read the story you find that it’s actually a quotation from a shadow minister attacking his leadership about their stance on attacking the government (which is the job of the opposition). The real story is probably about the breaking ranks of the shadow cabinet and that a senior member of the Labour Party has spoken “off message”.

January 5 2012January 5 2012

BBC Headline #2

My second example of a poor headline from BBC News. This time it’s from their website rather than the iPhone app.

US spaceplane ‘spying on China’

This headline is poor in the following categories:

Quotation in Headline
No Shit Sherlock
Secondary Source

Quotation in Headline
You can write anything in a headline if you put it in quotes. Just ask any old nutter or naturopath what they think about something.

No Shit Sherlock
Is this really news? Are we to assume that the USA does not spy on other world powers? The only interesting thing is the existence of a super-spy-plane, but given rumour and speculation on the web this isn’t a surprise either. The USA have always had secret stuff. Are they going to some out and deny it? No, because that would mean guilt in many people’s eyes. Are they going to confirm it? No!

Using a Secondary Source
The text below the headline shows the article is essentially lifted from another publication which means the BBC can print anything in the original article as it counts as a source. Have they independently confirmed any of this? I doubt it.

January 4 2012January 5 2012

BBC Headlines

This is, hopefully, going to be a semi-regular blog post topic. I’ve decided now is the time to give this website some meaning other than my vanity project! It’s taken a while to think about and find my area of “expertise” but this is it:

Rubbish headlines on the BBC News website

It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel! I used to have an image of the website here but have decided it was a copyright infringement. All headlines will be linked to the original stories.

Spiderman web ‘closer to reality’

Headline taken from the BBC News iPhone app. As a first example this is a goody. We have two main headline issues:

Unreasonable extrapolation
Quotation in the headline

Unreasonable Extrapolation
Take a science paper and then make the most extreme possible prediction based very loosely on the science. As an example, lemon juice killing cancer cells in a petri dish does not lead to drinking lemon juice curing cancer in a human.

Quotation in Headline
Anyone could be asked for a quotation and then that used in a headline. Quotations need to be in context so the reader can decide their validity. For example a peddler of quackery might insist (incorrectly) that there is plenty of evidence for the efficacy of homoeopathic products but that does not mean that should be in a headline. People rely on headlines being true.

Spiderman web “closer to reality”

I don’t think anyone would be taken in by this headline. Get the credit card out! I want a wrist ejaculator now so I can fly from building to building.

January 4 2012January 4 2012

My previous iPhone backgrounds

This ought to even it up a bit.

Main screen:

Lock screen:

January 4 2012January 4 2012

My latest iPhone backgrounds

Not really interesting but just my latest iPhone backgrounds.
Normal background:

Lock screen:

December 31 2011December 31 2011

How to light a fire

Photos to be included soon.

When I was a lad we didn’t have any fancy central heating and radiators, oh no. Coal fire in the front room and a Rayburn (think cheap Aga) in the dining room. The Rayburn was always on and in winter we would move the tv into the dining room so there was only one room to heat. As soon as you got out of bed or the bath you’d run to the dining room as quick as you could.
The only winter day in the lounge was Christmas day. We’d move the tv back for the day and the tree and presents would be in there. It was my job to start the coal fire in the lounge. It was nice to have the responsibility.
I’m worried that starting a fire is a dying skill. Mind you it’s just not really needed anymore. Central heating and all that! Unlike, say, changing a wheel, surely all people can and have done this for practice but people I’ve spoken to have no idea about this. I will be doing this for fun with my sons when they are older.
So the easiest way to get a fire going requires a little time to set up but you save time in the long run having to start again.
Take some news paper, lay it flat and then gather up along the fold line so it’s bow shaped and then fold in half and put these pieces under the grate (these are the bits you light).
Now take more newspaper and lay it flat. Then roll into a pipe about 2cm in diameter along a diagonal of the rectangle. Now take your tube and tie it in a loose knot and even out the circle. Place these on top of the grate to cover the surface. These will light the kindling.
The kindling should be places in a check pattern on top of the paper circles. A couple of layers should be enough.
Lastly get some coal, without too much dust, and place a layer evenly on the kindling. The kindling should be placed so no lumps of coal can fall onto the paper circles. That’s it!
Get a match and light the paper under the grate in a few places and your fire will start beautifully.

December 21 2011January 4 2012

Still doing well

But I am wasting a lot of time playing. Normally when I am trapped by a sleeping child.

December 17 2011December 17 2011

Just Funny

Sorry Andreas, it is a funny name. Even when it’s pronounced Vank.

Picture courtesy of Eurosport. Does that get me off legal infringements?

December 16 2011July 22 2014

Annual Camp

So, for many years I was involved with the Air Cadets. I joined the band of 309 (Sawbridgeworth) Sqn when I was twelve and a half and then joined the squadron properly when I was thirteen and a half. I left when I went to university when I was 19, although I did two stints as a Civilian Instructor. I look back fondly on my time in the cadets and had so many great experiences that I think it really changed my outlook on life during my formative years. I’ll do another more comprehensive post about my cadet career another time but this post is just to list the official annual camps I attended.

1986 RAF Coltishall
1987 RAF Brize Norton
1988 RAF Coningsby
1989 RAF Swanton Morley
1991 RAF Waddington
1993 RAF Manston (attended as a CI)

Also in 1988 I attended a two week camp at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

December 15 2011December 15 2011

Toys of the Son Part 4

Toy #1 took to nursery.

December 15 2011

A Conversation

No, this is not my classic 1994 poem “A Conversation with Myself” this is a text conversation I had over a few days with a friend.

With you on that. Thinking of getting 2 or 3 classical CDs. For when I’m marking books. Any ideas?

Carmina Burana (omen). Planets suite (am I evil). Ride of the valkerys (apocalypse now). There is cd call heavy classics which is not bad.

There’s a particularly ominous jingle played on freethought radio that I’m humming to people to work out what it is. Got Planets already, how is it I am evil?

The opening of am I evil is Mars from the planets done on guitars. Other good ones: night on Bear Mountain and Danse Macabre.

What! How did I not know that? Over 20 years of listening to it and only now I find out it’s clever!

Haha! I read it somewhere and then it clicked!

Fuck me. Just done the same. Utter brilliance. Btw have you heard S&M by Metallica?

S&M? I’ve heard some: didn’t like it. I can see how the two could complement each other, but not how they had done it The strings seemed too high pitched and detracted from the deep guitars. Sounded like a gimmick and a throw back to 70s prog rock! Also a lot of was new stuff that is crap!

Agree. I heard snippets and thought it was shit. Also, not impressed with Metallica as possibly cancelling tour next summer because of currency worries! Wankers.

How far have they gone from being alternative? And Megadeth getting all religous? And Slayer apparently. Seems only Anthrax remain unchanged from the big 4.

You have to change to survive if you don’t have tons of money. We work to survive. It’s politicians who need to act on principles for the better of all. We are shall cogs! They have the chance to change things but won’t because of compromise.

Capitalism is dying?

Politicians are only there to look after their own and them selves. Look at them on Question Time! Full of shit and we vote for them. Don’t see a decent one there. Is capitalism dying? No, it’s evolving. I expect companies to take over from countries as the next step.

Interesting idea about companies. I hope not. Companies responsible to shareholders are essentially immoral. Maybe Jamie not voting is right? Should always be able to vote for “none of the above”. Mind you Belgium has coped without a government. Civil service just keeps grinding on. Perhaps I should invent moral economics. Governments as proper partnerships like John Lewis?

I agree with companies not being moral, but then through funding they control politics anyway. I think there should be a new politics, less weasel words. Or at least someone with vision. Your idea sounds good though.

Revolution time then? I’ll get my flag out. Perhaps the next wars will be over economics (or have they all been that recently anyway?). Quite like the aims of UK Uncut. Secrecy is a big factor in wealth. Perhaps we should have politicians who go after that. Going to need a beer in a bit! Blood pressure going up and my rant might last days! Can start influencing the next generation at work.

This economic crisis will change things. And I think for the worse. Companies and the rich will escape while the rest suffer. If only China really believed in socialism!

Agree with you there, and on pretty much everything else. Mind you we are establishment so how do we kick start the “evolving” process? Perhaps the youth will kick off as unemployment gets worse.

On a brighter side: are you going to see Dragon Tattoo?

Want to see Dragon Tattoo: David Fincher and Trent Reznor?! Of course. But don’t think I’ll get the chance.

December 12 2011

It’s dark

Many recent blog posts means lots of time? Wrong!
I’m sitting in the dark making sure son #2 doesn’t roll off the bed. Both sons are asleep and we’ll get them up in a bit but #2 is on the bed and I don’t want him to crash to the floor. It is nice and quiet at the moment but #1 is stirring and that’ll be the end of “time I can’t do anything useful and I’m bored of Angry Birds so I’ll jot some posts”.
The kids are great but I sometimes miss the routine of the same thing every day. We now spend our time wondering whether to wake them up, feed them, play with them, let them watch tv, bathe them, put them to bed, drive them to sleep, get the colouring pens out, go shopping, see the animals, do some throwing in the air, tickle them or sleep ourselves. It’s brilliant and exciting.

December 12 2011

Twitter and buses

Twitter followers are like buses. You don’t get any for ages and then along come two old friends all at once.
Nice to hear from you Pom – going to be a regular tweeter?
Good to get Daffyd following me. Perhaps my website will get more views.
Now I just need about a million more and I’ll be just like Stephen Fry, although without the tv career, writing abilities, height and coolness.

December 12 2011

Range Rover

So, too much to write about recently and not enough time. Anyway here’s a long sorry short: been trying to buy a nicely coloured Range Rover model for a gift. Gold, dark blue or black would suit. Good news: Play.com have gold RR for sale and reduced in price. Order it. Check it after arrival and it’s red and a mid 90s model. Organise the return because picture on Play.com website was gold. Order another RR from Amazon.co.uk and although full price it says Range Rover Sport Gold Edition with a picture of a gold RR newer edition. It arrives and upon checking it’s red. So now going to return that one for a refund. I get the feeling that they don’t actually check the products and pictures because the red Range Rover is from the Gold Collection of the model company.
Poor work Internet shopping companies. Going to head to a Range Rover dealer and buy one from them!