Friday, June 08, 2007
Pathetic
I was struck by a remark, in passing in a book that I am reading about doubles, that the word pathetic did not used to be a word of abuse. Rather, amongst various related meaning, applied to someone or something which aroused pity (according to OED). Which is not quite the same as saying that the someone or something is a plonker. Ironic that at a time when emotionally deprived nerds are on the point of being made illegal, a word used in connection with aroused sensibilities or sensitivities should have shifted its meaning in this way.
Further amused by the small print of green compost in this area, further to the posting of 13 May. I am told that the about to arrive green compost bins (for those that ask for them) are only intended for garden waste not kitchen waste. This last should still be put in the gray bins the contents of which remain destined for land fill sites. I think the idea is to empty them at equal frequencies so the rationale of greater stink from kitchen compost does not run. Perhaps the people who write the rules don't run compost heaps themselves.
Some time ago we discovered a whole lot of hummocks - maybe 15 inches high and 30 inches across - in the rough grass in and around Hampton Court. It turned out that they were a sort of ancient ant heap. It now seems that I have infant ancient ant heaps in the deer exclosure. The drill seems to be that the ants make a nest at the base of a big grass plant. This involves carrying much powdered soil up into the crown of said grass plant where it accumulates. I fully expect the grass plant to respond by moving up and out a bit upon which the ants push the gear out a bit further, the whole getting larger and larger as time goes on. With the thing being made solid and robust by the cementing action of rain and the continuing presence of the roots of the large grass plant - unlike the large heaps made by wood ants which don't have much reinforcement at all - although, being in the wood, they do have some protection from the weather. And they can get very big, even in this country. Watch this space. But do ants eat the roots of the fruit trees - so making up for the depredations of the now excluded deer - whoose stools no doubt deterred the ants?
And a factlet. One hears, from time to time, the allegation that if one left a herd of monkeys with a bunch of typewriters for long enough, one of them would knock out the works of Shakespeare. It now seems that some bored statistician has been doing some sums and he reckons that it would take a good deal longer than the universe has been around for - this being, say, 5 billion years - to get much beyond Act I scene I of the first play - whatever that was. Something to do with raising quite small numbers to the power of 26 (or so. Depends how many funny charectars you allow for and what you do about capitals). So maybe monkeys would not be a very good investment.
Reverting to 4 pint philosophising, does it really make sense to talk of a length of time which goes beyond our understanding of the physical world, something which is intimately bound up with the whole concept of time?
Further amused by the small print of green compost in this area, further to the posting of 13 May. I am told that the about to arrive green compost bins (for those that ask for them) are only intended for garden waste not kitchen waste. This last should still be put in the gray bins the contents of which remain destined for land fill sites. I think the idea is to empty them at equal frequencies so the rationale of greater stink from kitchen compost does not run. Perhaps the people who write the rules don't run compost heaps themselves.
Some time ago we discovered a whole lot of hummocks - maybe 15 inches high and 30 inches across - in the rough grass in and around Hampton Court. It turned out that they were a sort of ancient ant heap. It now seems that I have infant ancient ant heaps in the deer exclosure. The drill seems to be that the ants make a nest at the base of a big grass plant. This involves carrying much powdered soil up into the crown of said grass plant where it accumulates. I fully expect the grass plant to respond by moving up and out a bit upon which the ants push the gear out a bit further, the whole getting larger and larger as time goes on. With the thing being made solid and robust by the cementing action of rain and the continuing presence of the roots of the large grass plant - unlike the large heaps made by wood ants which don't have much reinforcement at all - although, being in the wood, they do have some protection from the weather. And they can get very big, even in this country. Watch this space. But do ants eat the roots of the fruit trees - so making up for the depredations of the now excluded deer - whoose stools no doubt deterred the ants?
And a factlet. One hears, from time to time, the allegation that if one left a herd of monkeys with a bunch of typewriters for long enough, one of them would knock out the works of Shakespeare. It now seems that some bored statistician has been doing some sums and he reckons that it would take a good deal longer than the universe has been around for - this being, say, 5 billion years - to get much beyond Act I scene I of the first play - whatever that was. Something to do with raising quite small numbers to the power of 26 (or so. Depends how many funny charectars you allow for and what you do about capitals). So maybe monkeys would not be a very good investment.
Reverting to 4 pint philosophising, does it really make sense to talk of a length of time which goes beyond our understanding of the physical world, something which is intimately bound up with the whole concept of time?
# posted by Jim @ 5:48 AM 
