Friday, May 11, 2007
Three pint wisdom
Is a wonderful thing, especially when the pints in question are the very reliable Newcastle Brown. An acceptable if rather strong alternative to real beer, supply of which is, sadly, diminishing.
The wisdom went as follows. You have a twenty year old person who cannot stop himself (or herself) stealing. This might be because of a faulty gene, alcoholic father, single mother, grotty upbringing or whatever. But for reasons which are not said twenty year old's fault. There was nothing he could have done about any of these things. Problem 1: we have an unpleasant but no fault person. Is he allowed into heaven? With or without extra prayers? Problem 2: are we allowed to lock him up for our own protection - assuming that no more sophisticated remedy is available. Problem 2 is to me a no brainer. The fact that there is no fault does not mean that the rest of the community is not allowed to protect itself. Property rights are basic to the sort of complex society that we live in. One might be a bit sorry about having to take drastic action - as one might be about an elephant which was rampaging through one's village - but there it is. One cannot sit back and let the thing wreck one's life. However, I quite failed to make the case in TB. Part of the argument against seemed to be that it was OK for a poor man with a starving family to steal from a rich man (or from the government or an insurance company). Episode 2 will follow after further intake of liquid wisdom.
Just planted a dozen or so Jack O'Lantern pumpkin seeds outside in a bowl from one of those washing kits one used to have on a washing stand (proper ones with marble tops) in one's bedroom before they invented running water and bathrooms. Also described as pumpkin Maxima. From Italy via Holland. We will see how they get on. Also started hardening off the indoor Mammoth pumpkin plants in the shed, with a view to getting them in the ground in the next few days - about three weeks after planting. It will be odd if the maximum pumpkin really is the biggest as its seeds were a good deal smaller than the Mammoths.
Along with the bowl, also got some second hand pine boards from Gosport with a view to making a new bookcase - a mere ten years after our large supply of small bookcases was broken up in favour of one large one. Book turnover discipline held for that long but we now seem to be down to bedrock: nothing else I can bring myself to recycle to make way for new. The boards are very impressive being around an inch thick and maybe 20 inches wide. Taken from two chests: each about 40 inches long by 20 by 20; two small drawers above and one large below. The whole thing very stoutly made with serious handles at each end and looked to be able to stand some serious handling. Perhaps they were sea chests: things for seamen to keep all their wordly wealth in while they cruised the oceans at Her Majesty's pleasure. In which case rather a pity to have smashed them both up - although they were both a bit battered and would have been heavy and awkward to move around in one peice.
We also have the loan of a naval service record - with twenty years service being completed in the 1920's - for someone who, as it happened, was born in nearby Worcester Park. One titbit so far. In among the papers was a wound record - something like a page from the accident book which you might get on a modern building site - to be filled in for every wound. One of the tick boxes was used to indicate whether the subject was drunk or sober at the time and one of the empty boxes was for the completer to enter an approximate age - it presumably being assumed that neither the completer nor the subject would necessarily know the exact age of the subject. Or maybe this was a way to hide the employment of under age seamen. Black economy even then.
The wisdom went as follows. You have a twenty year old person who cannot stop himself (or herself) stealing. This might be because of a faulty gene, alcoholic father, single mother, grotty upbringing or whatever. But for reasons which are not said twenty year old's fault. There was nothing he could have done about any of these things. Problem 1: we have an unpleasant but no fault person. Is he allowed into heaven? With or without extra prayers? Problem 2: are we allowed to lock him up for our own protection - assuming that no more sophisticated remedy is available. Problem 2 is to me a no brainer. The fact that there is no fault does not mean that the rest of the community is not allowed to protect itself. Property rights are basic to the sort of complex society that we live in. One might be a bit sorry about having to take drastic action - as one might be about an elephant which was rampaging through one's village - but there it is. One cannot sit back and let the thing wreck one's life. However, I quite failed to make the case in TB. Part of the argument against seemed to be that it was OK for a poor man with a starving family to steal from a rich man (or from the government or an insurance company). Episode 2 will follow after further intake of liquid wisdom.
Just planted a dozen or so Jack O'Lantern pumpkin seeds outside in a bowl from one of those washing kits one used to have on a washing stand (proper ones with marble tops) in one's bedroom before they invented running water and bathrooms. Also described as pumpkin Maxima. From Italy via Holland. We will see how they get on. Also started hardening off the indoor Mammoth pumpkin plants in the shed, with a view to getting them in the ground in the next few days - about three weeks after planting. It will be odd if the maximum pumpkin really is the biggest as its seeds were a good deal smaller than the Mammoths.
Along with the bowl, also got some second hand pine boards from Gosport with a view to making a new bookcase - a mere ten years after our large supply of small bookcases was broken up in favour of one large one. Book turnover discipline held for that long but we now seem to be down to bedrock: nothing else I can bring myself to recycle to make way for new. The boards are very impressive being around an inch thick and maybe 20 inches wide. Taken from two chests: each about 40 inches long by 20 by 20; two small drawers above and one large below. The whole thing very stoutly made with serious handles at each end and looked to be able to stand some serious handling. Perhaps they were sea chests: things for seamen to keep all their wordly wealth in while they cruised the oceans at Her Majesty's pleasure. In which case rather a pity to have smashed them both up - although they were both a bit battered and would have been heavy and awkward to move around in one peice.
We also have the loan of a naval service record - with twenty years service being completed in the 1920's - for someone who, as it happened, was born in nearby Worcester Park. One titbit so far. In among the papers was a wound record - something like a page from the accident book which you might get on a modern building site - to be filled in for every wound. One of the tick boxes was used to indicate whether the subject was drunk or sober at the time and one of the empty boxes was for the completer to enter an approximate age - it presumably being assumed that neither the completer nor the subject would necessarily know the exact age of the subject. Or maybe this was a way to hide the employment of under age seamen. Black economy even then.
# posted by Jim @ 6:24 AM 
