The Sunday Rumble: 10.9.17

Memories are made of this:   I took one look at this photo in The Telegraph and my mind shot backwards faster than 'Beam me up, Scotty's device!  Something like 64 years in a nano-second.

This is an old Harvard trainer and as a very young air cadet on my Summer camp at an RAF airfield, circa 1953, I was given the chance to fly in one piloted by, for some reason, a French Air Force pilot.  He asked me if I would like to try some aerobatics and with all the dim-wittedness of a 14-year old I said yes.  Crikey, or perhaps I should say, mon Dieu!!!!!

 

This fella' seems to know where-of he writes:   The Telegraph has a leaked document from "Jeremy Browne, the special representative for the City of London to the EU" which, I suspect, is more or less spot on.  In summary he says that the Brexit negotiations are a waste of time and that nothing less than the abject surrender of the British to the Berlin-Brussels apparat will be permitted.  The EU bureaucracy will pay no heed to the wishes of either European businesses who are likely to suffer in the event of a rift, or any national governments who wish to maintain some sort of relationship with Britain.  This is more or less what I predicted from the off, so the only good news is that for once my forecast was accurate!

 

I promise never to moan about the weather again!   As you all do know, by experience or by hearsay, we Brits never stop complaining about the weather.  It is always and forever either too hot, too cold, too much rain, not enough rain and so on and on.  However, watching on the TV the A1 major shit-storm that has pulverised the Caribbean, Cuba and is now setting about Florida, I think the only decent thing to do is to shut up about our weather, er, even if it did bucket down on me yesterday!

 

Peter Hitchens sums it up:   In today's Mail he runs through the totally unremarkable views of 'The Moggman', as I call the Honourable Jacob Rees-Mogg MP.  He points out that the truly remarkable thing about the furore that has erupted over 'The Moggman's opinion on things like marriage and abortion, is the furore itself:

The interesting thing is that Britain has, in so short a time, reached a stage where support for lifelong heterosexual marriage, and an aversion to killing unborn babies, are seen as eccentric, brave or outrageous opinions.  Did you notice that happening?

Well, yes, I have noticed it, actually, but there is zilch I can do about it!

 

Oh Lord, verily have I sinned:   Well, it is Sunday and I have been a very naughty boy.  I was sent up to the local shop to buy a bottle of milk and whilst there a box of Bakewell Tarts, you know, the ones with icing sugar on top and a cherry, jumped up and down and waved at me - so I bought it!  And five minutes ago I ate two of them!  What with Harvard aircraft and now Bakewell Tarts, today really is a trip down memory lane to my childhood and, boy, did I ever love Bakewell Tarts!

 

C'mon, Donald, get a grip!   I'm beginning to think that 'The Donald' should be renamed 'The Wuss'!  This woman was in charge of the Tax Department that singled out Republican and Tea Party groups for special investigation when they claimed, as they were entitled to do, tax exemption to pursue their political aims.

N0w, that festering nest of Left-wing lawyers, aka: The (non)Justice Department, have refused to charge her.  Why do I not trust the American justice system?  Let me count the ways!

 

Churchill and Orwell:  Not names that you would normally see combined but Mr. Thomas E. Ricks (no, me neither!) has just written a book featuring both men entitled:  Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom.  I am tempted to buy it and only the fact that I still have the other half of Lord Salisbury's biography looming over me is giving me pause.  Courtesy of A & L Daily, you can read a very good summary and review written for The National Interest.

 

 

No more Rumbles today

 

 

 

 

Comments

[AussieD]

a waste of time and that nothing less than the abject surrender of the British to the Berlin-Brussels apparat will be permitted.

You would think that after several hundred years of getting their collective Continental arses kicked when trying to intimidate the Brits they would eventually wake up. That they haven't is in itself a good reason to let them stew in their own respective juices.

An archers salute would be most appropriate.

[here's your chance SoD to troll to your heart's content]

[Loz]

Ref the B word, this looks like a prime candidate for the likely future course of events ...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/09/brexit-eu-withdrawal-bill-second-referendum

In summary: -

The enacting Brexit legislation will see Corbyn's Labour, the Tory rebels, and the house of Lords demand a clause for a second referendum on the terms of leaving added to it.

A few days before the vote in March 2019, Merkel and Macron will offer controls on immigration, more pervasive than Dave managed, with continued EU membership.

Then, with the full facts in front of them, with every avenue explored over this two year interregnum, the properly informed Brits will decide who they are.

Whether to lead Europe, define its institutions, save it from itself, and everything in between, or, to Brexit.

And poor old BigHen will at last be able to put the ibuprofen back in the meds cupboard!

SoD

[Whyaxye]

There's a Harvard that regularly pootles about above us here in deepest Sussex. I think it is based at Shoreham Airport. It has a distinctive snarly roar which always makes me look up.

About 20 years ago I was at the Shoreham Air Show with my son, and a Harvard (possibly the same one) suffered a mechanical failure on take-off and had to skim over the A27 trunk road and crash-land in the field beyond. This was just where the Hawker Hunter crashed two years ago, with disastrous consequences. Luckily, on that occasion the pilot walked away and the plane was relatively unharmed.

[backofanenvelope]

Perhaps the properly informed Brits will just wave goodbye to the French after 112 years of war. And instead of cuddling up to the Yanks, say goodbye to them as well.

[Whitewall]

The EU bureaucracy will maintain its power by any means necessary. That is the nature of governments with unchecked power. It may be time for the poo bahs in Brussels to consider raising and maintaining their own army. After all, the threat to Europe is within itself and now the invasion of Islam. NATO has no control over this. Russia? All it has to do is sit and watch Europe erase itself and its western traditions.

Brexit needs to come fast before it is too late. The UK has a good chance to repair itself once the minders in Brussels are busy trying to keep other EU members from leaving.

[Whitewall]

With Mr. Mogg, he seems to insist on the radical act of telling the truth.

[Whitewall]

Lois Lerner in the clear for now. The Swamp wins again. This is going down badly. Two systems of laws...this will end badly in time. Justifiably. Retribution is over due.

[backofanenvelope]

I am afraid that Mr Trump, far from draining the swamp, is in fact sinking into it.

[TheBigHenry]

I suspect that this was part of President Trump's deal with Congressional Demoncrats Schmuck Chuer and Bat-shit Crazy Pelosi for prompt funding of hurricane relief. The Demoncrats always want their pound of flesh. Money talks; nobody walks.

[JK]

Whitewall?

Re: Lois @ 5:06

https://audioboom.com/posts/6276262-whatever-happened-to-the-investigations-of-the-clinton-foundation-2015-16-charlesortel

"Retribution is overdue."

Indeed.

[Timbo]

Memories indeed, Duffers. Never had a ride in a Harvard, but flew in Chipmunks at RAF Valley and gliders at Burtonwood while in the ATC. Good times.

[JK]

"No more Rumbles today"

Er, wait a minute.

Bob? Henry?

https://audioboom.com/posts/6284115-the-dangers-of-modern-science-speak-henryimiller-hooverinst

Git 'er done fellers!

[Bob]

JK,

In the long run, the types of vague and misleading information Henry Miller mentions are filtered out. As a human activity, science is subject to all the pitfalls of any other. That's nothing new. Pseudo-science and opportunism are older than science.

There's always room for improvement in everything, like David's (and my) eating habits for example (at least I don't eat tarts). What's important is to not develop a nihilistic attitude and believe that since science, or any other constructive activity, isn't perfect it should be done away with. David and I would both starve.

With the types of research done today being far more complex than when I started my career, more mistakes are probably unavoidable. Eventually new methods for checking work will be developed.

[Bob]

JK,

Also, it's nonsensical to blame leftish groups for all the evils in the world. Here's something going on in your neck of the woods that's a good illustration:

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/04/29/crossett-arkansas-georgia-pacific-factory-pollution-446954.html

[JK]

"I don't eat tarts."

Never Bob?!! Even way back before Mrs. Bob?

Well. At least now I can sorta understand how you've turned out.

(On the other hand, were I forty (or so) years younger and I'd gotten aholt of that long-legged Russian model's Mom SoD[?] linked to t'other day, I probably wouldn't be around here to give you your just harangues.)

I'll give you a little something though Bob, I've got a bunch of 1930s-50s Popular Science magazines, most featuring ads that variously tout, "Science confirms Lucky Strikes are good for you" or, "90% of Physicians recommend Camels."

So there's that. And there's Al Gore & Co.

[TheBigHenry]

OK, JK, I listened to what Henry Miller was saying. Most of what he said made perfect sense to me.

One of the reasons (perhaps the main reason) why so-called "scientific findings" are becoming more and more untrustworthy is that computing power has become so easily accessible that more and more untrustworthy "researchers" are able to game the endeavor.

When Ulam and von Neumann developed computer-based Monte Carlo simulation techniques at Los Alamos for the design of radiation shielding and other nuclear objectives, there were only a handful of organizations who had the wherewithal to conduct such experiments. Today, my granddaughters have more computing power in their pockets than all the computers in the world put together had during the Manhattan Project.

BTW, I was surprised that, in this interview, Henry Miller did not once utter the word "fuck".

[Bob]

Henry,

Computers cut other ways. As a starting engineer I sat down with pencil and paper and worked out circuit analyses by hand. By the time I retired we all used SPICE and Minitab so results would be uniform. Jeez, I'd forgotten about Monte Carlo simulators.

[Bob]

JK,

Expect for the very occasional, nope. I don't eat Moon Pies either.

[TheBigHenry]

Bob,

Without Monte Carlo Simulation very few (if any) Grand Challenge problems could be solved. At Los Alamos National Laboratory there are two ways of conducting scientific experimentation: in physical labs and by computer-based Monte Carlo simulation. The latter approach is used in those situations where a physical experiment would take too long, be too costly, too dangerous, or just plain unfeasible.

Interestingly enough, Monte Carlo spawned a computer modeling technique which is at the heart of computer animation -- ray tracing. Ray tracing is the method of tracking photons (or neutrons) through a simulated physical environment modeled by combinatorial geometry techniques.

Prior to my research at Los Alamos, I was a physicist at a company in New York called Mathematical Applications Group, Inc. (MAGI). MAGI is the company that produced the computer animation for the first half of the movie "Tron".

[Bob]

Henry,

The physicists I worked with who designed semiconductor devices ran Monte Carlo simulations. In the mid '80's I had an Amiga computer that ran ray-trace software for a toy. Smart guys (not me) were using them to animate corporate logos for big bucks.