Craig Sawyers

Wow! Really glad you are all safe. Our only brush with destruction on that scale in the UK was the hurricane that supposedly wasn't. On the BBC weather forecaster called Michael Fish said: "A few hours before the Great Storm of 1987 broke, on 15 October 1987, Fish said during a televised weather forecast: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!" When it hit, the severity of the storm, which was in fact the worst to hit South East England for three centuries, caused record damage and killed 19 people. From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fish

Yes I know. But it is nonetheless exceptionally persuasive. There is a time oddity though. The AI Feynman talks about dark matter (which was around as a measured thing well before he died) and Dark Energy, which postdated his death. I'd clearly forgotten that Feynman died aged 69 (from cancer). Reputedly his last words were "This dying is boring"

Here's a fascinating (at least to me) series of lectures by one of my heroes - Richard Feynman. These are all about an hour long, and I was enjoying his engaging talks about diverse topics. For example, below. You get a flash at the beginning that I missed. But at the bottom it is Feynman Reborn, an AI Feynman, along with unmistakably his voice. There is a list of publications at the bottom (for example the Feynman Lectures on Physics). There is a series of these, and the only real hint that something is up is if you look at the background. I think that the authors of the AI Feynman left a really weird background to give a sense of the unreality of the superb AI Feynman.

I can't believe I'm going to bore you all about Newton. Although English, he wrote Principia and Optiks in Latin. An that is a real problem - translating back into English is a tickly thing, particularly the more fundamental stuff which is to do with what we learn as Newtons laws of motion at school. What is the precise translation of momentum for example? After that the translators have an easier job. Newton derived all his proofs in his long book Principia geometrically, step by step. He finishes off by meticulous measurements of the motion of the planets etc. At one stage he says that a chunk of the measurements was lost, but he can recall the basic idea behind the measurement. By "lost" he actually meant that his dog ate some of the sheets, or knocked a candle over and set fire to some sheets. Accounts vary. As professor at Cambridge University, his lecture course was so unpopular that no students attended. But part of his job was to give lectures. So he'd turn up and give the lecture to an empty theatre. In later life he spent most of his time studying alchemy. I'll shut up now

Sam Neill RIP. Aged 78 BBC NewsSam Neill, Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders actor, dies a...The New Zealand actor, who was born in Northern Ireland, died in Sydney. He had recovered from cancer and "the loss was sudden and unexpected", his family says.

Ex conservative politician, recently defected to Farage's party dictatorship Reform, Ann Widdecombe, 78, was murdered in her own home a few days ago. A 28 year old white male has been arrested. Not extremist, not political - so it is currently unknown why he did it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Widdecombe RIP

That is a great loss. RIP David Hockney.

The Russia/Ukraine war just passed a milestone of running for longer than WW1

The glorious Natural History Museum in London. And like all museums in the UK, totally free entry.

And a happy belated from me too!

Can't see it. Imgur are still blocking content to those in the UK. All I see is a blue screen with "Content not viewable in your region" in it. Yeah, I know I could stump up for a VPN account to get around that. But I'm darned if I'll kowtow to Imgur's fit of pique against UK citizens.

My very grown up kids (41 and 37) describe me as the old fart who shouts at clouds. I tell them that I once was a young fart who still shouted at clouds.

This contrast between a person and the music is often true. Wagner was a truly awful person, an antisemite, racist and overall shit. He put it about that Brahms' music was based on the screams of birds that he shot with "A Tyrolean bow". An outright lie just to discredit a rival composer. Somewhat interestingly he was a cross-dresser; even the usually staid and formal Wagner Society accepts this. He was also Hiter's favourite composer. 'Nuff said. If you could bring him back from the mid 1800's and interview him today, I'm sure he would be found to be an abominable person in many ways. In spite of all that, Wagners music, particularly the operas, is utterly marvellous. In addition to the epic 15 hour Ring Cycle (took him 25 years to complete it), there is Die Meistersingers, Tristan und Isolde, Tanhauser, Lohengrin just for starters. Seen them all. Awesome.

It closed as a hotel in the 1930's, and was essentially derelict. It came perilously close to being demolished, but after a massive campaign in the 60's it was saved. Alhough it was only in the early 2000's it was restored to the tune of £800m. The station behind it is the Eurostar London Terminus. It is quite an experience getting on a train at St Pancras and getting off at Gare du Nord in Paris. The superb front of Euston station even after massive protest - demolished and now a bland and functional frontage and appearance. Euston demolition https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/nov/07/euston-arch-rail-london-demolished-1961 What it looks like now

Great photos. Is that St Pancras station?

On you tube, full set. We were bang in the middle of the front row of a crammed 10000 seat venue. From there the whole experience was immersive.

I took my daughter to see Jean-Michel Jarre maybe 12 years ago in Birmingham (UK). I got us tickets in the middle of the front row. Now I've seen Jarre before, so I warned Liz of a spectacular entry. Sure enough, fan of light and then a fist comes through it. Once it really starts, Liz says "wow - he's cute"; so I told her that he was 7 years older than me - and he'd had a bit of work done to keep the cuteness factor. It was, it has to be said, a totally awsome Jarre experience. Ancient synths, laser harp - the full beans.

Hey - have a truly great one!

In the UK we get hardly any fossil fuels from Iraq, <1%. The the thing that hits global oil prices, and hence fuel prices - is the cost per barrel of Brent Crude. So it hits everyone globally - including the US. Most energy supply companies hedge by buying ahead, usually at least 6 months and up to a year. So there is a lot of intertia in the price of fuel and gas. The fuel taps don't just turn off overnight.

Woah - how did I miss this? Very happy belated Nate!

Thanks everyone! We were away for a long weekend of eating and drinking. Our son lives in the NE of the UK, so we spent a couple of days with him. Then we spent two days at The Black Swan at Olstead https://www.blackswanoldstead.co.uk/ , a two michelin star restaurant. That was quite an experience. 7 courses in the tasting menu with a glass of matching wines with each course. This is really in the middle of nowhere down a single track road. As it got narrower and narrower we honestly wondered if we were on the right road. Got back a few hours ago - and I feel as if I've put on quite a bit of weight! Cheers all!

Happy Birthday, Dan

A very happy Birthday Steve - hope it is an awesome one

Carr has had a number of comeuppances over his early years. Now 53 he seems to be past this shady past. Who can ever forget the late great Sean Locke in Carrot in the Box on 9 out of 20 cats does Countdown

That is a small cat - our moggie is a chunky but lean 7kg (15.5lb). If that photographer has tripped over our cat he would have been flat on his face.