1940-2020 – eighty years

Eighty years is a very long time. Most of those who read this blog are a way off reaching that number of years on this planet.

I know a few folk who’ve reached that estimable age. Today that group reduced its number by one.

My Mum.

I have many memories of my Mum. Obviously the most recent is seeing her in bed today, seemingly asleep. The last few years have been watching her battle various illnesses and how she battled and struggled with the different issues her body would devise to remind us all how fragile this thing called life really is.

The photo we all agreed on today as the one to reference as an enduring image of her, is this photo of her I took 13 years ago. The photo was taken as we were leaving The Firecrest pub in celebration of the two birthdays that happen in July, within our close knit family.

Mum – July 2007

There are other photos I’ve got of Mum, but none capture her in as relaxed and happy a pose. Somehow, if she knew a camera was pointed at her she’d sort of clam up or harden her pose. I’ve got quite good at getting people to relax for more candid and personal photos. This one though was taken almost stealthily, to better capture the woman we all know.

There are many other memories, in the usual mix that any family has over time. None of us are saints are we? But we don’t focus on the bad, and nor should we over-glamourise the good or better recollections.

2020 has been a funny old year what with Covid, Trump, Boris, and other stuff. It’s also seen the loss of a number of people – and now includes my Mum.

Take care, look after and cherish your loved ones, you never know just how long you might have with them

More science fiction coming true

When you consider just how much of a part technology has played over the last century, it is an amazing time within which we live.

Check this latest story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54838982

Now imagine such a tunnel not just across the US, or Russia, or any other similarly huge country. Imagine it crossing the oceans – above would be safer of course – and you then have Harry Harrisons’ A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah right before your eyes.

I love technology.

Life, the universe, and everything

I wish I knew the answer.

My last post was drafted while watching OHMSS and drinking some lovely Yellowtail Pinot Grigio, could you tell?

Life at the moment is more than interesting for all of us. We have COVID-19, Trump in the White House, Boris in number 10, and Brexit coming down like a steam roller. So, life is pretty good right? (Sarcasm mode in full on mode).

The universe is ever expanding, which reflects what our lives and knowledge should be – ever expanding. I’d like to think that every day has a new lesson, whether you recognise it or not. Mine is that, after watching some episodes of Futurama, I miss my Leela. Who is she? Someone I once arranged to meet in Milton Keynes. That will only mean something to the one person it’s meant to mean something to. I truly do feel as stupid as Fry sometimes, and maybe that’s fair.

Everything is a huge thing to consider. But for most of us it’s our lives and all that it comprises. Family, friends, loved ones, jobs, careers, stuff – you know, everything. It’s only when enough of it is going away or disappearing or leaving your immediacy that you realise everything is not all that is important.

Warning: at this stage the Yellowtail has been fully consumed!

Every day we get closer to the end of our lives. Some are closer to that time than others and some have hit the barrier. I miss good friends. I worry that soon I will miss people who are even closer. Apologies, those who know, know, those who don’t, don’t need to.

I was profoundly disappointed and upset to hear of a friend’s passing, especially given how I’d “been there” at certain key times For them and their loved ones. Hey ho, reality check.

I wish I could be more closely involved with some, especially “Leela”. Maybe one day.

Sometimes life can be a cruel whatsit and wants to highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good? Another time, anything I say now feels like self-aggrandisement.

The bad? Covered above. I guess sometimes it takes bad things to truly show your relative value to others.

The ugly? Truth. Truth can be a bad thing. To acknowledge that we’re all human. We all make mistakes, the impact of them is the key. Never rate work issues higher than personal ones – be it family, friends, or anyone close outside of work.

Net, make the most of what life offers, enjoy the great things that happen – and there are way more of those than we ever recognise or admit to the wide world, take life as it comes and be the best person you can.

The rest will take care of itself.

Favourite Bond films​

OK, so which is your favourite Bond film?

Goldfinger? Has to be up there, great song and lots of good action. Gert Frobe as the villain, Honor Blackman as, well, you know her name.

How about Skyfall? Daniel does a good Bond, a very good Bond. You believe he became the assassin we all love and has the gritty background, yet can act suave and sophisticated when the need arises.

The Living Daylights has some good action sequences, but Dalton doesn’t quite make it as Bond, nice enough, but not “the” Bond.

How about View to a Kill? What lost it for me was Mayday’s sudden and somewhat unbelievable conversion. Indeed, most of the Moore films are somewhat tongue in cheek, not what Bond really stands for.

Goldeneye? Now, Pierce is definitely a great Bond, for me better than Connery. It’s a great film, spoiler alert – Sean Bean dies at the end, and a wonderful set of action set pieces. It’s still not quite enough.

No, the best Bond for me is the one with the worst Bond, but best overall sense of Bond the hero, Bond the action man, Bond the spy, Bond the covert antagonist, Bond the fighter, Bond the lover, Bond the compassionate, Bond the womaniser – Bond, the complete man of that time.

Yes, for me, OHMSS shows Bond in the complete manner.

PS The only way to better this option is to use the original storyline from the book as originally written by Fleming for “The Spy Who Loved Me“. But it wouldn’t fit what we’ve now come to expect of Bond. It’s told from the female protagonist’s perspective. It’s nothing like the Bond story as we now know them. Nonetheless it is the best Bond story I’ve read and for me would have been an absolutely stunning Bond film. It just wouldn’t have sold, and even in these liberated and more equal times it is still wrong, because it was of an era, of a time when things were different. It’s a shame, it addressed issues of its time well, and being told from the female perspective highlighted the challenges women face. And Bond is the hero who saves her. Even better than in OHMSS.

One day perhaps. I for one would love to see that different type of Bond.

I wonder if someone will have the courage to make it.

Facebook is too big

I left Facebook more for fears of how they failed to address privacy than other reasons, though those other factors for which Facebook constantly faces criticism did play a part.

To know that a report which it instigated reinforces that some of the issues society today faces are driven by how Facebook works, only makes me more focused on staying out of its way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53333626

This article by the BBC highlights that far from being a saint, Facebook is a sinner of the worst kind. That, as at that time, 990 or more companies are boycotting Facebook advertising because of how it operates, only corroborates that perspective.

Facebook is great for maintaining contact with friends, but there are other ways.

I’d love to find a way to help and connect with others that is about cooperation, not segregation. About consideration for others, not self-aggrandisement. For the whole of society, not individuals or elitist groups – regardless of political affiliation.

Little things make a difference

Apologies, the title might sound like a “consideration” or other emotionally laden topics.

Nope, this one is a technologically based post – about Node-Red.

Watch this video:

Now you might understand why I enjoy working for this frustrating, large and challenging company – it can be extremely inspiring at the same time.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Can I say how much I respect Neil? When he writes, he writes with huge consideration.

This post is about being a man of colour:
https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/commentary/2020-06-03-reflections-on-color-of-my-skin.php

Think on what he writes and how, even in the UK, we can all make a difference.

A win for personal privacy

The UK Government had insisted they have the right model, despite security researchers finding lots of flaws and being advised it could breach privacy legislation. Though with the latter, the UK Government’s steam-roller like focus on “getting Brexit done” might leave us, it’s citizens, more exposed anyway.

So, today I read, they’ve made another u-turn and will use the more privacy-focused Apple/Google solution. Good for all of us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53095336

Yet more IBM #cooltech

It’s always good to read when my employer is working on something positive for the world.

And this is pretty impactful – at least we all hope so, I’m sure.

https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-joins-covid-19-high-performance-computing-consortium/

As it says in the release: “Supercomputers in the UK and USA are being used to run a myriad of calculations in epidemiology, bioinformatics and molecular modeling, in a effort to drastically cut the time of discovery of new molecules that could lead to treatments and a vaccine.”

I’ve got my fingers crossed that this brings a positive outcome so that we can go back to normal operation.

An emotional watch

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember Tony Slattery. Funny, amazing improviser, clever. Watching him in this documentary is salutary to his talent, and eye-opening as to what mental health challenges can mean.

Horizon, 2020: What’s the Matter with Tony Slattery?: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000jbcf via @bbciplayer

It was a touchingly filmed, yet extremely honest perspective of someone who’s had a lot of challenge in their life. I’m sure many will find it fascinating, in a vicarious way, but others will feel it resonating, and perhaps give them ideas on how to rethink their own situations.

Tony’s old GP started the journey, but it was all three of the other specialists who I think highlighted the need to rethink and take action from the reframed positions that rethinking generated, to make progress.

Understanding the astonishing reveal made towards the end, and then to see how that must have clearly impacted the change in Tony, was to me, amazing.

Abuse, self or other, creates many challenges and Mark was a clear foundation on which Tony’s change will be anchored, now and in the future.

Highly recommended viewing.