I am like Diamond Geezer, I hate shopping for clothes. Fashion is probably the 13th worst idea in the history of the world.
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The Gadget Lovers
I know that at times I’m in danger of falling into this trap, but please don’t let me lose my mind like this… Besides, I simply can’t afford an Apple iPhone, even if it were to be the threshold to a totally new experience. And, when push comes to shove, it’s just another gadget that I don’t need.Leave a comment
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The Alchemist
The Alchemist is the title of an article about Grant Achatz, chef at the Chicago restaurant Alinea. Trouble is, when I see a title like that, part of me thinks "yup, another charlatan designing the Emperor’s new clothes". I think of El Bulli, which is supposed to be one of the great culinary experiences of the world, but which I fear is just shock tactics executed on jaded, satiated palates, whose owners wouldn’t recognise good food even if it snuck up their anuses, crawled through their intestines and exploded in their stomaches. Er, I digress. But the point remains. Is this good food, or pretentiousness for the chattering classes? Andy, what do you think?2 responses to “The Alchemist”
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I have not eaten at this restaurant, so it is hard for me to pass judgement. I have eaten at many of the so-called "moecular gastronly" and experimental places, such as El Bulli, the Fat Duck, Marc Veyrat and l’Arnsbourg. I have no problem with people trying out new technqiues; after all, this is how cooking develops. Unfortunately many of these places seem to be experimenting for the sake of experimenting, to get articles written in foodie magazines rathar than remembering that the idea is to produce pleasing food for customers. There is an interesting contrast here between (say) Veryat and l’Arnsbourg, where the chefs have not lost touch with the basic principles of cooking, and El Bulli and its ilk, which to me have lost the plot. A key is that high quality ingrediens are essential to successful cooking, and I recall a perfect lake fish, caught that morning, at Veyrat, which was so fresh it needed no elaboration, and received none other than seasoning: it was perfectly cooked and had beautiful flavour. Veyrat was happy to mix in unusual flavours in dishes, but generally respected taste combinations and used top quality, fresh ingredients. By and large, his dishes worked very well. l’Arnsbourg in Alsace also cooks terrific ingredients in interesting combinatons, yet the dishes aare actually a pleasure to eat, which surely is the point.
By contrast El Bulli uses some pretty cheap and by no means universally high grade ingredients, and seems to have a desire to shock merely for the sake of shocking. You bite into a chocolate with your coffee and discover it is an olive. Yes this is a surprise, but an unpleasant one: chocolate does not work as a flavour with olive, and the olive was not even that good. Having an otherwise pleasing dessert smothered in basil foam, as happened to me at the Vineyard in Stock Cross, is simply an unnecsssary way to disrupt what would otherwise have been an enjoyable dish. Chefs should feel free to experiment e.g. the sous vide technique works well on certain fish, but not on others, and should not be employed willy nilly, whether or not the ingredient suits the technique.
I really worry about much food journalism, which never seems to question whether the latest fad is actually good, since I guess it is easier to write headlines about some wacky flavour combination than it is to write about simply cooked, beautiful ingredients. You should always be asking yourself the questoin: "was this a pleasurable, enjoyable experience?", and if the answer is no then you should not be afraid to say so and challenge the latest fads. If i want to be shocked then I can go to a horror film; I don’t have to pay large sums of money for my dinner to do it for me.
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Thanks, Andy. I knew you’d have an opinion!
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Human Diversity
There’s another very good presentation from the TED conference of 2003 is now posted. It’s by Wade Davis, talking about his experiences amongst a wide variety of idigenous peoples of the earth. Worth watching.Leave a comment
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Time and Love
Another story, this time a universe away from Delany’s. This time an altogether gentler, elagiac love story involving a woman and a traveller who might be a man. First, read the appreciation of the story here, and then follow the link to read the story itself.Leave a comment
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The Mad Man
The Mad Man is the title of a dark and disturbing book by Samuel R. Delany. I bought it in hardcover when it was first published in 1994, but I’ve never been able to read more than a few chapters, so disturbing did I find it.One response to “The Mad Man”
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[…] by this review, it is a book that, like The Mad Man, simultaneously repels and […]
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Synthetic Controversy
Not Saussure has an excellent entry discussing the recent Gay Rights vs Religious Rights issue that’s arisen in the UK over new laws to ban discrimination against gay people. His point is that some of the objections to the law seem fantastical in the extreme, usually a sure sign that a synthetic controversy is being whipped up.I found it interesting that some of the objections that had been raised had already been dismissed in a previous debate in the House of Lords, and yet they are still circulating in the media (even popping up on the BBC TV News last night) as though they were valid. Obviously, you can’t keep a good meme down.In the event, the attempt to derail the bill was defeated in the Lords by a majority of three to one, so sanity has prevailed. It’s good to see that the UK has now reached a point (in banning discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation) that the Netherlands reached in 1983. Better late than never, I suppose.One response to “Synthetic Controversy”
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I’m not sure I agree with a total ban. Certainly in terms of employment, chain hotels and gay adoption, or any public enterprise. But in the case of someone running a B&B out of their own home, they have a right to turn away whom they don’t want. Perhaps if they were enjoined, and allowed, to advertise that, it may make them think twice, but I won’t argue with their right to choose. In any case, the religious freedom argument is bogus, it’s all down to their "ick" factor. Jesus supped with sinners, he didn’t turn them away. How many of these establishments get ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ for the weekend, and how are they going to monitor the straight couples who check in and then indulge in buggery or oral sex or golden showers, or anything else that offends them? Is a child better off with a same-sex couple that wants to live family values or in care? Ruth Kelly has every right to send her child to private school, and given the state of education in the UK she’s wise to, but she needs to get her little Catholic head wrapped round these issues as well.
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The Life-expectancy of Pessimists
Vaughan, over at the Mind Hacks blog, draws our attention to studies that appear to show that pessimists are more likely to die earlier than optimists. Bugger, that’s me done for, then. However, the entry does point out one interesting chicken-or-egg aspect of this:…one of the difficulties with these sorts of studies is determining causality.Does being pessimistic make you more likely to have poor health, or does having poor health make you more likely to be pessimistic, or might it be a combination of both, perhaps working as a self-reinforcing cycle?Iinteresting questions. And I take some comfort from the fact that I enjoy good health – I’m just a pessimist by nature…Leave a comment
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Dangerous Historian Apprehended
The American Historical Association has been holding its annual conference in Atlanta. During the conference, Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto committed the heinous crime of jaywalking. For this, the former Oxford don was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and kept in a cell for eight hours while the authorities decided what to do about him. Watch the interview with this urbane man here, and marvel at the subtle policing that citizens and visitors to Atlanta can experience.Leave a comment
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Ballard Conference
I see that there’s going to be an international conference on the life and works of J. G. Ballard: From Shanghai to Shepperton. It’ll be held in May at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. I doubt whether I’ll get there, but I do hope that the papers will be published for the wider audience.(hat tip to J. Carter Wood, over at Obscene Desserts, who will be presenting one of the papers)Leave a comment
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12 Bad Ideas
Fred Halliday posts his list of candidates for the world’s twelve worst ideas. He hits the target pretty well, I’d say.(hat tip to Ophelia, over at Butterflies and Wheels)Leave a comment
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Dancing Waters
When I was a boy, I remember going to the local theatre for a variety show, and one of the acts was simply billed as Dancing Waters. It turned out to be real water fountains on the stage that changed shape and size, with coloured lighting, in time to music. I was entranced. I had never seen anything like it.I’ve always loved fountains. They stand as a metaphor for life. Their shape holds even as the water flows through them, just as humanity endures as we each have our moment in the stream.In later years, I came across others, such as the Font Majica (Magic Fountain) in Barcelona. I was also in Las Vegas at the time when they were testing the fountains in front of the Bellagio.Here’s an example of the current peak of what can be done with this ancient artform. It’s also the Bellagio fountains. True, it’s a teaser advert for a competition, but still, this is well worth watching. I almost wish I had been there to see it in person. Dancing Waters – my, how you’ve grown!Leave a comment
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Guess Who?
Chris Clarke, over at Creek Running North, sets a quiz. Go and see if you can guess who he is talking about. I confess I didn’t know the answer. Oh well, Chris has given me another recommendation to be added to the list of books that I still have to read.4 responses to “Guess Who?”
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Silly Geoff, the answer was right next to it all along. I got it from the bay named for him.
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Yes, I know I’m not very observant. My only excuse is that I first read the entry in my RSS reader, which doesn’t display sidebar graphics, so I didn’t see the answer until I checked out my posting…
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Never mind, you have me with an RSS Reader, whatever that is. Sounds like something we had at junior school.
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It’s a way of being alerted to new information appearing on web sites automatically, without the need to manually click around all sites in the hope of finding something new… I couldn’t keep up without it… See here for more info…
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Windows Home Server
I see that Bill Gates announced this week that there would be a Windows Home Server product available later this year. It’s a computer without screen, mouse or keyboard that runs a stripped down version of the Windows Server software. The idea is that it gets put in a cupboard somewhere, and it acts as the data and backup hub for your home network. It will have a web-based administration interface that’s supposed to be simple enough for anyone to master.I currently have a computer running Windows XP that acts as my backup hub, but it needs a lot of looking after. There are some features in Windows Home Server to simplify these sorts of tasks that make it interesting enough to consider. But really, what I would need to feel really safe is offsite data backup. These days of using servers to store music, video and photos makes that a rather tiresome proposition involving hundred of DVDs. I’m not sure that Windows Home Server does much to simplify that…2 responses to “Windows Home Server”
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[…] on February 20, 2007 by Geoff Coupe I mentioned the forthcoming Windows Home Server product last month. It’s currently in beta test, and Microsoft have recently widened the scope of testing. […]
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[…] I mentioned that I’m currently testing the beta software of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server. In that last posting I mentioned that I had a showstopper of an issue – Windows Vista would not start when the Windows Home Server Connector software was installed. […]
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And Yet Another Dose…
It just keeps coming, doesn’t it? Another fine example of woo is Intelligent Design, and today’s Guardian has an article that claims Intelligent Design is science, and not faith. The article is written by Richard Buggs who apparently sits on the scientific panel of Truth in Science – the lobbying body in the UK for Intelligent Design. "Truth in Science" – another fine example of Unspeak – a phrase that suggests the complete opposite of what, in fact, that body is engaged in.Buggs’ article is already being nicely dissected by the commenters and shown to be rubbish, but I can’t help adding a couple of observations of my own.His opening two paragraphs already contain a fine example of Unspeak in themselves. He starts by quoting James Randerson on Darwin:"It is true that complex things in nature look as if they have been designed. Darwin knew this. But the sublime truth about his theory is that it explains how complex things can come about without design."But then in his second paragraph, his paraphrase of that quote effectively shifts the goalposts:"But despite the brilliance of Darwin’s work, it is overoptimistic to claim that his theory explains the origin of all living things".Note the phrase: the origin of all living things. He’s clearly implying "origin of life", and he knows full well that Darwin’s theory of evolution has absolutely nothing to do with origins – it’s about how complex things can come about without design – as Randerson correctly states. This sleight of hand is typical of Buggs, it seems to me. For example, one of the famous arguments of those supporting Intelligent Design is to quote the example of the bacterial flagellum. They claim that the development of the flagellum cannot be explained by evolution, it must have been "intelligently designed". Here’s Buggs, in a letter to the Times of 18 October 2006:"I do not know of a good evolutionary pathway for the development of the bacterial flagellum. In his latest book, Professor Richard Dawkins identifies a single possible intermediate step. This hardly constitutes a pathway".Buggs is either being disingenuous or he is a liar. The evolutionary pathway was proposed back in 2003, and has been further refined since then. Thus far, the hypothesis holds up. While there are discussions in the scientific community about the precise details of the pathway, these will be settled by scientific experiments and data – and not by a version of "Goddidit" as Buggs prefers to do.Leave a comment
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Another Dose of Woo
The telly was in severe danger of being broken last night. I came very close to hurling something at it. As it was, the dog was treated to some fairly colourful language. The cause of all this was a programme on BBC Two called "Trust Me, I’m a Healer". It was about a so-called shaman, Peter Aziz, who claims to heal patients with the help of dragons, tree spirits and hallucinogenic drugs. Yeah, right. At one point, with a completely straight face, he said:The emotions are actually stored in the cells of the body. In every single molecule of DNA in the body, there’s a crystal which forms, storing that emotion. And it’s these crystals that form in the DNA which affect the function of the body. And so only when you release those emotions that are stored does the body then heal.Excuse me while I just count to ten. No, sorry, Peter, that’s just crap. And for this you charge 40 quid an hour? There’s plenty more where that came from on his web site, which has practically broken my woo-meter.What really got me fuming during the film was the way he gives false hope to those poor unfortunates who are gullible enough to believe him. The film followed two such people. One was Margo, who had cancer of the colon. A lovely woman, but completely taken in by Aziz’s hokum. She has, of course, died. I think the nadir of the film was when Aziz almost (but not quite – he was obviously canny enough to realise the danger) said that his treatments for Margo would have been successful if she hadn’t have gone and had chemotherapy.The film was made by Jason Massot, who I think was clearly too easy on Aziz, but then again, perhaps that was what enabled Aziz to give free reign to his nonsensical claims, and condemn himself out of his own mouth. Had I been in Massot’s shoes, I would have found it difficult to keep filming. I would have wanted to stop the camera and shake Aziz warmly by the throat every few minutes.Leave a comment
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Another Dog on the Internet
Richard Clayton, over at the Light Blue Touchpaper blog, has discovered that the European Human Rights Centre is not what it seems… Another example of "on the Internet, no-one knows you’re a dog".Leave a comment
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Dark Matter
The BBC reports on a new astronomical study of the "dark matter" in the Universe. For more detail of what the study is about and its findings, read what the Bad Astronomer has to say about it.Leave a comment
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The Geostationary Banana
There’s an art project to put a geostationary banana in orbit over Texas. I suppose it makes about as much sense as some of the other things that hail from that State. It seems appropriate that it’s a banana, as well.(hat tip to BLDBLOG)2 responses to “The Geostationary Banana”
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I’m compelled to comment here. There’s no defense for this, but I had to weigh in nonetheless.
I was initially disappointed that this wasn’t a REAL banana, but a framed mockup. Then I saw the pictures of the scale, and it made more sense.
We do have our share of idling rocket scientists around NASA, don’t we…. -
Hi, Mike – all the best to you and yours for 2007. Hope that you’ll be able to see Heston Blumenthal’s TV series. It will make more sense than the banana…
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Dizzying Madness
Another fine rant today from Mr. Brooker. And like all the best rants, it contains the grit of truth at the heart of its black, shimmering pearl.Leave a comment
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