Philosopher on Tap

Sunday 5th September 2010

tref — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:09:19 +0000

Today it felt as if we were being given one more summer’s day before the onset of autumn for real and with it the slow and inevitable slide into winter. It was the first day of John’s football season. A good morning to be out in shorts and tee shirt followed by a really fruitful afternoon of ticking things off the jobslist. Apple picking, and a goodly crop it was too, contributed to a sense of well being. Getting the crops in for storage to help us survive the long dark winter.

As I was picking apples I saw Adrian over the back fence, looking through a pair of binoculars. He had spotted a hawk eating a pigeon it had caught. Feathers all over the place and very impressive. It was a fine bird and perhaps explains the occasional pile of feathers in the allotment. I had previously assumed it was the work of a fox.

I’ve lit the fire tonight. I didn’t really need to but it felt right. The best of the day has gone and the wind has picked up outside. It is very cosy sitting in our front room in front of the fire.

With the fire lit and the darkness outside I can imagine being holed up for a long artic winter. not venturing out much, perhaps only to get some more fuel or food from the store. At night I can hear wolves howling in the distance and the wind howling around the eaves directly outside.

The gun is prominent in its place above the fireplace. We are not afraid to use it and it certainly helps us to supplement the fairly boring diet we have all winter when some hapless animal strays in the direction of the cabin. The cabin itself smells permanently of woodsmoke, as do we all but we don’t notice it. It is part of our life.

In the kitchen I hear the dishwasher being emptied and refilled by Anne as she gets ready to go to bed. Outside the occasional Sunday night car drives by and I even hear an aircraft coming in to land, presumably, at nearby RAF Waddington.

Yellow street light reflects off the Jeep in the drive outside. The fire has died down now, its purpose well served and I sit cross legged on the sofa, writing.

sentry I

tref — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:55:54 +0000

The wind beats my cheeks and blows back my hair as I stand on the breakwater gazing out to sea.

sentry I

wind: pummels cheeks
blows hair, unkempt, across face
catching eye, distracting not

as I search the scudding clouds
and foaming waves,
a swirl of whiteness, green and grey,
the cormorant and black guillemot
patrol their beat, cry for my attention,
ignore me and plunge
for their cold fish supper.

after five hundred years of watching
a lone sail sets its course

and now the fishing boats return
men in industrial overalls
Foillan Beg, Lenague, Coral Strand 2^nd
Genesis of Peel, Aleena,
stocky, thick set queenie-catching bottom-dredgers,
The Manx Cat, a “Sutton work boat out of Peel”
with two deck hands and a cargo of crabs
bright red buoys contrast with navy blue,
a swath of rust pours down the side,
dirty green nylon nets hang down.

oily sheen on the water.

Meg’s a swimmer

tref — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:06:36 +0000

Meg’s a swimmer
she swims lengths while she plays on her cello
and while she’s pulling on that bow
I hear from someone in the know
Meg lives in Wiltshire

Holt it right there. What’s going on here? How is Megan supposed to know what that first verse is all about? I mean to say that even her mum and dad might struggle.

Well actually there’s nothing to it really. Absolutely nothing at all! It is one of those jokey meaningless poems that people sometimes spout, at least Tref does.

Ok Megs is actually a swimmer and she really does play the cello, at least she did so last time I did a gig at her place. Whoever heard of someone playing the cello whilst swimming though?! I guess if she had been playing it on a ship and then accidentally fallen overboard without noticing then she might carry on playing it.

More likely she would be using it to help stay afloat – especially if it was in the Atlantic Ocean – have you seen the size of some of those waves? If I was Megsy I’d be using it as a surf board. It would be of great help if she was wearing a wetsuit at the time though some people might find it strange to see a girl playing a cello in neoprene.

Not much chance of big waves in Wiltshire though, which is actually where Megan lives. Happy Birthday Megsy

stella and the duck

tref — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:06:44 +0000

They looked at each other, with a certain degree of suspicion at first. Neither had expected the other to be there. You know how it goes. One minute you’re walking along minding your own business when bang, it happens.

Sometimes it literally does happen with a bang and you bump into each other. In Stella’s case it was metaphoric bang. She had just been ambling along with her mind somewhere else and had stopped by the river bank. There might have been something that had caught her eye but then again there might not.

Anyway there she was and before she realised it there was the duck. They were looking at each other. They actually stood there for some time before either of them made a move. In this case Stella just said “hello duck”. At first the duck said nothing.

Actually Stella hadn’t expected the duck to answer. She was sure that was normal behaviour for ducks. In fact she was sure that normal behaviour was to fly off rapidly in the opposite direction making lots of duck noises, quacks and so forth.

This duck didn’t fly off though. Stella thought it must be a very brave duck, or a bit stupid perhaps. After a while and after, it seemed, giving careful consideration to Stella’s words the duck replied “how do you do?” When it had spoken there was a mischievous lop sided grin on the duck’s face. It knew that Stella would not have expected it to say anything.

Stella’s first thoughts were that this duck was neither brave nor stupid. This must be a very intelligent duck. As intelligent ducks are prone to do though this one didn’t stick around. It took a couple of waddles, flapped its wings and took off for the water. In a second it had joined some of its pals swimming around in the centre of the stream and very quickly Stella realised that she was no longer sure which duck it had been.

“Wow” thought Stella. From that day on whenever she could Stella would go down to the river bank and take a bag of bread with her to feed the ducks. They always came to her and always seemed grateful for the bread. Sometimes she thought she caught one of them looking into her eye with a bit of a lop sided grin on its face, but she was never quite sure and certainly none of the ducks ever spoke to her again…

The Ferry

tref — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:43:21 +0000

The boredom of the long ferry journey
hearkens back to another age.
No internet connectivity,
the flicker of the TV glimmers hope
but it is Sky News -
repetition accentuates tedium.

I imagine we are on a spaceflight to Mars but I already only have one hour of laptop battery left. With two years to get there and two years to come back (you would hope we would be spending some time looking round when we arrive) the question of the moment is what to write in my remaining laptop hour?

the condemned man drug free
draws in deeply the sea air,
wonders at wind-born birdsong
and absorbs the sun’s facial caress.
instant relief,
a care free moment that will end;
the lure of the laptop-reconnected.

pictures of tref

tref — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:29:54 +0000

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The British summer holiday weather

tref — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:29:14 +0000

Today
Weather:
Early rain / drizzle then dry for a time but further rain / showers later. Hill fog, especially early & again later
Wind:
SW veering W or NW, 10 to 18
Visibility:
Good, occasionally moderate. Very poor in hill fog.
Comments:
Slight risk of higher rainfall totals tonight.

Wednesday 4th August
Weather:
Scattered showers. Hill fog patches.
Wind:
W or NW 10 to 18, increasing 18 to 25
Visibility:
Good, occasionally moderate. Very poor in hill fog.
Comments:
Nil.

Thursday 5th August
Weather:
Isolated showers at first, then dry for a time but with rain later. Hill fog patches.
Wind:
W or NW backing S or SW later, 18 to 25, decreasing 5 to 12.
Visibility:
Mainly good, occasionally moderate later. Very poor in hill fog.
Comments:
Nil.

Friday 6th August
Weather:
Occasional rain, giving way to showers. Extensive hill fog associated with rain.
Wind:
S or SW veering W, 5 to 12, increasing 12 to 18.
Visibility:
Good, becoming moderate, occasionally poor in rain. Very poor in hill fog.
Comments:
Nil.

Saturday 7th August
Weather:
Isolated showers.
Wind:
W, veering N or NW, 12 to 18, decreasing 5 to 12.
Visibility:
Mainly good.
Comments:
Nil.

Richard Dawkins and the Cancer of Creationism

Philip — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:42:22 +0000

A Christian’s critic’s critic writes:
For the most part, Richard Dawkin’s “The Greatest Show on Earth” is a beautifully written and well argued piece of work. In it he puts forward many convincing data and explanations which demonstrate categorically that the world is about 4.6 billion years old and that all species on earth can trace their origins back to the dawn of life itself. That is, the creationist view of the earth having existed for less than 10,000 years is dogma of the worst kind; deliberate ignorance and denial of fact to satisfy one’s own, in this case, religious agenda.
Admittedly, Dawkin’s well-documented arrogance surfaces regularly; here, for example, in the form of intellectual snobbery:
“…….reminds me of Peter Medawar’s wickedly astute observation that ‘the spread of secondary and latterly of tertiary educated has created a large population of people, often with well-developed literary and scholarly tastes, who have been educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytical thought’. Isn’t that priceless? It’s the kind of writing that makes me want to rush out into the street to share with somebody – anybody – because it’s too good to keep to oneself”.
Presumably any sharing would not be with one of those at which the viciously snobbish (and false for that matter) gibe is directed, since a punch on the nose might take the gloss off his delight at the writing. Atheists should note that Dawkin’s literary hero makes no distinction between religious and non-religious “dullards” – the atheist acolytes of the good professor who love to snigger knowingly at his barbs and witticisms, get precisely the same treatment as the non-atheists; a sort of intellectual wrinkling of the nose, as if something smells not quite so. Dawkins and his ilk bemoaning the paucity of human intellect among the masses, somewhat bizarrely, brings Tolkien to mind:
“But they were shut out, listening at a door to words not meant for them: ill-mannered children or stupid servants overhearing the elusive discourse of their elders…… “
In another, equally risible passage, Dawkins denies that a fundamental difference exists between the animate and the inanimate:
“Life, the animate, was supposed to have some sort of vibrant, throbbing quality, some vital essence – made to sound yet more mysterious when dropped into French: elan vital……. I’ve always treasured Julian Huxley’s sarcastic deduction that railway trains must be propelled by elan locomotif”.
Why precisely? To take his example, trains are inanimate and only operate under an animate, driver’s control, without whose direction they will never move. So call it what you will, but clearly life, the animate, does possess something that the non-living, inanimate does not.
An even more brazen example of Dawkins’ hubris occurred when questioned by Stephen Hawking (the greatest scientist of the 20th century, barring possibly Einstein himself) in a recent Channel 4 documentary. Hawking poses the eminently reasonable question “One can’t help asking, why are you so obsessed with God?” And Dawkins initial response? “Well, I notice you brought up the question of God and I didn’t”. Rich indeed, from a man who has been banging on negatively about God and religion ad nauseam for so long.
From his writing and pronouncements it is clear that there exists a simple concept apparently beyond Dawkins’ comprehension; that is, for many people their faith (or their “great cop out”, as Dawkins would maintain – one of his more eye-popping claims, according to Francis Collins in “The Language of God”) doesn’t lead them to think any less of the brilliance of Richard Feynman or Albert Einstein or Charles Darwin – why would it? And why would Dawkins assume it did? He is guilty of the very charge he brings against religious adherents (that their religion doesn’t give them the right or freedom to think for themselves) when he assumes that their faith will affect adversely their ability to think logically and analytically.
For all Dawkins’ undesirable personal traits, however, “The Greatest Show on Earth” is a fascinating work and a superb rejection of the creationist movement; a movement so prevalent in the United States and worryingly gaining credence as an alternative to evolution by natural selection here in the UK.
It is not clear where the creationist problem emanates from and why its credibility is rising in this country. Doubtless, a number of factors are involved which all contribute: religious fashion probably plays a part (where the US leads, so the UK follows); the teaching of Scripture as a literal document rather than allegory (Christ speaks in parables throughout the whole of his Ministry, so why insist the Old Testament is a precise historical account?); and sheer, bloody-minded dogma (I have had the misfortune to hear a creationist’s sermon in my church – the preacher spoke of the “lie of evolution” as the source of most of society’s problems).
Of course ignorance is also culpable – because if one is prepared to read and inquire and think and discuss, then the only conclusion a sane individual can reach is that the earth is indeed billions of years old and evolution by natural selection has generated the plethora of life that exists today. It makes complete sense of the diversity of living organisms, the geologic record, embryo development and many other areas of applied science with unrivalled explanatory power. Any other conclusions are just so much hogwash. But in these dog days of lawyers and invertebrate politicians, how can the cancer of creationism be excised, especially from schools where the potential exists for most damage to be done by false teaching?
When religion should be concentrating on social justice, charitable works and all the good it can do, creationism is another juicy own goal, arming the high priests of atheism with further ammunition to mock and deride and turn people off – and once again the victim is religion itself.

The Wicket

tref — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:55:33 +0000

THE CONTRACT

tref — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:21:22 +0000

2010 Royal Air Force Waddington International Air Show

Commercial Participant – Conditions of Entry
The Ministry of Defence cannot accept any responsibility in respect of personal injury, loss or damage to vehicles of property including motor vehicles in the car parks except to the extent that such injury, loss or damage is proved to be caused by M.O.D. negligence.

RAF Waddington reserves the right to carry out such vehicle and personal security checks as it deems necessary, and to refuse entry to vehicles to RAF Waddington and/or divert visitors to off base car parks.

The following items may not under any circumstance be brought on to the showground: explosive substances or materials, pyrotechnics, offensive weapons and firearms (including replica or toy firearms), projectiles and similar devices or any other item which, in the opinion of the Organisers, may cause personal injury or property damage, disruption to the Air Show, public nuisance or inconvenience, offence or distress or security risks.

The Organisers reserve the right at any time to cancel or postpone the event. The Organisers shall not be responsible for any indirect or consequential loss, howsoever arising, including, without limitation, loss of profits or loss of contracts arising from such cancellation, postponement or variation, such as (but not limited to) accommodation or travel expenses.

By entering the showground, the pass holder gives consent to being filmed or sound recorded for TV, Video, DVD, Webcast or other public broadcast as part of the audience at the event. These may include pictures of persons under 18 years, in which case where possible permissions will be sought from parents or legal guardians prior to photographs being taken.

The pass holder shall sell or transfer or attempt to sell or transfer or this vehicle pass to any third party without the Organisers’ prior consent.

The pass holder shall not without the Organisers’ prior consent sell, license or attempt to sell or license, any material whether written or in the form of digital or photographic film, sound, video or other recording or computer software obtained or made at the event.

Complimentary vehicle passes cannot be used for any media promotions or competitions without the prior written consent of the Organisers.

Smoking is illegal in all enclosed public spaces and buildings.

These Terms and Conditions may be modified by the Organisers by notice prominently displayed on the WIAS website.

AIR SHOW FM: “Air Show FM” will provide 24-hour music, news, interviews and traffic information up to 15 miles from Waddington. Tune in your radio to 103.6 FM and listen out to the latest traffic news.

All proceeds to RAF Charities and local worthy causes. For further information write to SO2 Charities, RAF Waddington, Lincoln. LN5 9NB.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Reproduced without permission and in flagrant breach of copyright.