Dermott Hayes's Blog: Postcard from a Pigeon, page 45
September 8, 2016
Germano, R.I.P.
How do you describe a man who always looked debonair, behaved with decorum or, like a clown, if the moment required. A man who knew and loved numbers, the grace of a champion National Hunt hurdler, the shape of beauty and the generosity of giving? That’s it, I’d say elegant.
Fit to Live
What If Evolution Bred Reality Out Of Us?
September 6, 20166:24 AM ET
Commentary
Getty Images
Look around you. What do you see?
Other people going about their business? Rooms with tables and chairs? Nature with its sky, grass and trees?
All that stuff, it’s really there, right? Even if you were to disappear right now — poof! — the rest of the world would still exist in all forms you’re seeing now, right?
Or would it?
This kind of metaphysical question is something you’d expect in a good philosophy class — or maybe even a discussion of quantum physics. But most of us wouldn’t expect an argument denying the reality of the objective world to come out of evolutionary biology. After all, doesn’t evolution tell us we’ve been tuned to reality by billions of years of natural selection? It makes sense that creatures that can’t tell a poisonous snake from a stick shouldn’t last long and, therefore, shouldn’t pass their genes on to the next generation.
That is certainly how the standard argument goes. But Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist, isn’t buying it.
September 7, 2016
The Cafe
I’ve found a cafe, near my home, where I can sit and think. It’s on a street of antique shops, a tranquil oasis in a city. There are four tables, some high chairs along the right wall. They sell haberdashery items and stationery. There’s even two computer screens and wifi so you can rent some onscreen time. The coffee is good, although they serve it in those appalling paper cups. I think I’ll bring my own cup if I want to make it a regular haunt, at least for as long as it exists. It’s not very busy in the mornings, a feature I enjoy although not a good indicator for its longevity. So if you’re looking for me, in the morning, you won’t find me, I’ll be in The Ginger.
Signs of the Time #18
Construction site hoardings go from completely boring to, well, inspiring. I caught this one near my home and very close to St Patrick’s Cathedral, one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in the city of Dublin.
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Birth of the BIT
How the Bit Was Born: Claude Shannon and the Invention of Information
“Information is what our world runs on: the blood and the fuel, the vital principle … transforming every branch of knowledge.”
By Maria Popova
“All things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe… Observer-participancy gives rise to information,” the pioneering theoretical physicist John Wheeler asserted in his visionary It for Bit concept in 1989. But what exactly is the bit, this elemental unit of participatory sensemaking, and how did it come to permeate our consciousness?
That’s what James Gleick examines in a portion of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (public library) — his now-classic chronicle of how technology and human thought co-evolved, which remains one of the finest, sharpest books written in our century, full of ideas fertilized by the genius of a singular seer and incubated in the nest of time and culture into ever-growing prescience.
How I wonder what you are?
‘I am not little and I certainly don’t twinkle, I’m a star. It’s completely different. And as for that ‘dwarf star’ thing, what the hell is that about? Just because some Danish astronomer, one hundred and ten years ago, forgot his Thesaurus. Look it up, I’m just a common star.’
September 6, 2016
The Fallen Weazel
Balancing on a knife edge was not his idea of fun but for a charity fête, well, there was no harm. Until he realized the slightest tweak of the balance, the liquid in the tube drips, altering the weight that could tip him into the tank full of acid. Plop!
Good News, Sad News
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
The evil that men do can be best observed in these links regarding the Dakota pipeline, sanctioned by the US federal government, in defiance of treaties made by that government in the past with the Nations they now defy
http://m.democracynow.org/web_exclusives/2981
https://ricochet.media/en/1359/the-most-astonishingly-honest-segment-ever-broadcast-on-cable-news
One of my very best friends died yesterday. Germano Terrinoni was a Cavalieri of the Italian Republic, a distinction achieved on the strength of the work he did on behalf of Italian immigrants to Ireland. Germano was a character who loved fast horses and good food. He denied no-one time or comfort, was generous to a fault and ever loyal to his friends. He is survived by his wife, Grace, his daughter, Isabella and his songs, Luca and Rocco. Legends never die and Germano was a legend.
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l to r, Dave Egan, DH, Michael Flatley, Germano Terrinoni
I received good news, too, however trivial in the grand scheme of things. A short film I made last year, 1916, Souls of Freedom has been chosen for the 17th annual Kerry Film Festival.
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My 50 word story, Hallelujah, will be published tomorrow by http://fiftywordstories.com/stories/
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September 5, 2016
Another Flax Golden Tale
To say I’m astounded by the standard and variety of story offered to this compendium of Flax Golden Tales is no exaggeration. Far from it, I’m awestruck and humbled by the response and my sincere thanks to everyone who has had a crack at it. This is Cath Humpris‘s contribution and it’s been well worth the wait.
Flax Golden Tales
Posted on September 5, 2016
Dermot Hayes, on Postcard from a Pigeon, invited me to join a story challenge this week. Check out his blog for the story behind his project, and to see the flash-fictions it has inspired others to write.
Below is mine:
Maxine tests for the freedom of the road.
Maxi is at the locked side-gate of Cherry Close, a private housing complex. She’s been there ten minutes in the hot sunshine, with a parcel for S Jenkins, number eight. The gateman, seated on the other side of an open window, has checked his computer, and Jenkins is in, but he’s not answering his buzzer.
‘Come back in an hour,’ the gateman suggests.
‘Then I’ll be late finishing. It’s my first day, and this is the last drop. Can’t you just take the parcel?’ Maxi smiles, trying to feel friendly towards this lump in a crisp blue shirt who’s leaning back on a swivel chair, basking in the breeze of a large fan. ‘I really need this job.’
The gateman shakes his head and looks Heather up and down. ‘Show us some ID.’
The Courier badge she hands him is plastic, and has the company logo, and her name. He glances at it and waves it away. ‘How do I know this is you?’
Postcard from a Pigeon
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