Staring at Infinity



As you can see, I have been uploading images. I still find it amazing that this image is created from a simple equation and it really is simple; just a few lines of actual code in the program. The real work is turning it into a zoomable image. I should really put all the location and zoom information up here but as my program does not yet print that out, you will have to forgive me. You should also imagine some form of Julian Cope style soundtrack though at the moment I am actually listening to Kraftwerk.

I've just been reading some of the Modern Antiquarian site (Link to the book version here). I tried to find the Mousa Broch but there was no entry. I visited it in 1973 or 4 when we were attacked by the Skuas nesting near it. I hope Shetland is as it was. So many places have been ruined by the Heritage business recently. No amount of reconstruction can bring to life anything other than the most recent events. The current crop of middle to late 20th Century "Period Dramas", all re-evaluate the past through a filter of modern day attitudes. All the "Good" people are shown as non-sexist, non-racist etc. All very laudable in the modern age (and there is no irony in that comment) but when it comes to history it jars with me. It's almost as if we have taken the best of the "Liberal Elite" that the Daily Mail is always talking about and sent them back to make the world a better place. Some of the Re-construction shows such as "The 1900 House" or "The 1940s House", got it a bit better but you can't re-construct Typhoid or Blitzkrieg. There is a program on at the moment called "Lad's Army" which re-creates the experience of National Service. I have not watched all of it but it seems to be a hard vision of what the basic training was actually like. I wonder if my dad has been watching? It struck me that I am quite like my dad but that I didn't go through either the National Service initial training or the actual war situation which he did. Would he be more like me if he hadn't and vice versa. A plug for his old Corps - The Royal Engineers all of which makes me sound like a raving Telegraph reader.

I am off the track of what I wanted to talk about today so a pause is required. I am going to bravely split this infinitive whether you like it or not. Pedantry of this sort is something up with which I will not put. (or shall not put?). Winston was always good for a laugh; remember Bessie Braddock? ( This does NOT have that quote which is quite right being as all Bessie Braddock is remembered for is that straight line to Churchill rather than her good works. My old boss used to live in the same road as Bessie Braddock though not at the same time so I don't really know why I bothered to tell you that.

Enough for this morning.

Just one more plug - Love Circus by Lisa Germano.

Bye