| View previous topic :: View next topic |
Boreades
In: finity and beyond
|
|
 |
|
| Mick Harper wrote: | | By a remarkable concatenation of ambient light in my bedroom, I find when going to sleep there is no difference whether my eyes are open or closed. It looks the same to me. And I mean exactly the same. |
Try sleeping with your eyes open. Then you will understand the difference.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
|
How do I know I don't? Plenty of people do.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
|
|
| Mick Harper wrote: | | What is the most significant thing on Kharg Island for applied epistemologists? |
The sixth century Christian monastery. |
I am not really buying into the idea of a Christian community in the Pesian Gulf that exists between (who knows?) between the 4th and 9th century, after which the community dies out. They have a few crosses, a very early claimed christian church on an island, and a few rediscovered chronicles by unkown authors....from err later centuries recounting earlier events......
Kharg also has a Portugese Castle on it. (That could be a clue?)
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
That's interesting. The Portuguese fought a long campaign against the Ottomans (and others) for control of the spice trade across the Indian Ocean in the sixteenth century. I would think the monastery was from that era.
PS The Chinese were butting their head in too. Nothing changes.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Boreades
In: finity and beyond
|
|
|
|
| Wile E. Coyote wrote: | | Kharg also has a Portugese Castle on it. (That could be a clue?) |
It certainly is.
The Portugese took their version of Christianity with them as they expanded their trading empire.
Something similar happened in Goa. I was told by a Goan Catholic priest that the Portugese were shocked to find they weren't the first Christians to get there. And promptly tried destroying all the records of the St Thomas Christians.
Why? Can't let completing franchises get a share of the market.
An alternative theory is Syrian missionaries.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Boreades
In: finity and beyond
|
|
|
|
|
There's also the Nasranis (or Saint Thomas Christians) of Kerala (in south India). Which still uses a Syriac Aramaic language in their churches.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
Me: I got a new watch from you and the strap has broken.
Her: Do you have the receipt?
Me: Probably not.
Her: I'll email you one.
Me: Cheers. Can I have a new watch?
Her: I'll arrange for one to be waiting for you at the Sainsbury Argos in Ladbroke Grove.
All right, put down those smelling salts. This astonishing piece of customer assistance from Customer Assistance has yet to come to full fruition. I'm setting off now. Something, I can assure you, will go wrong. I hope so anyway. I'm old-fashioned like that.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
They said you would exchange this watch for me.
Who did?
Your Customer Assistance people.
First I've heard of it. When did you speak to them?
Two days ago.
Not possible. You bought it three months ago. Our guarantee is for ninety days.
So it's not down to you?
It would first have to go back to the manufacturer to see if they could repair it.
It's a £7.99 watch for Chrissake.
We haven't got it in stock so there's nothing we can do anyway.
What about a different watch of the same price?
We've got nothing in that range.
A different watch and I'll pay the difference?
No.
A cash refund? Then I can buy a new watch from you.
It just doesn't work like that, sorry.
So what should I do?
Follow the Returns procedure set out on your Argos website account.
But I'll be without a watch all that time.
Best get your skates on then.
I made up that last line but the rest is kosher. I do have a real dilemma. I can
1. Go back to Customer Assistance and have a good whinge. That would be satisfying but will take an inordinate amount of time and won't get me a new watch.
2. Fill out the form online, get the label thingy, find a container for the watch, take it to the post office, wait to see what happens next and be without a watch for several days.
3. Cut my losses, pay another £7.99 plus P & P and have a new watch delivered tomorrow.
I know (3) is the rational course but will I love my new watch with the ardency I showed to its predecessor after all I've been through? It really is a lovely watch. I could always
4. Get it repaired for a tenner by my man in the Portobello market.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
On another consumer front I decided to bite the bullet, give up on Korean microwave toasties and buy a proper British mid-range sandwich toaster. This is its failings
1. It only comes in one size, i.e. two sandwiches at a time when you just want one.
2. The sandwich shells don't lift out so you can't use it for anything else.
3. It takes forever to heat up to the necessary temperature.
4. It takes forever to toast the sandwich.
5. The top selling toasting loaf in Britain doesn't fit in it.
6. The cheese comes out necessitating a clean job (and less cheese reaching your gob)
7. There is no timer, you have to watch it (the instruction manual says you have to).
8. There is no indication when it's done (you have to keep looking).
9. There is no on/off switch, you have to unplug it at the mains thus unplugging at least one other kitchen appliance.
10 There may be other things, I'm only one toasted sandwich in.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
| Mick on Substack wrote: | | Here’s some founders’ stock to help you make the right decision. |
This gave me a terrific idea. You probably know that anyone who publishes a book has to send a copy to the British Library. Well, from now on, anyone who sets up a business has to send a share to the Bank of England. Or something. I'll leave it to Mark Carney to work out the details. We'll soon have so much money we can become a socialist republic.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
Mineral Extraction Quiz Question of the Week
| How did the Soviets excavate diamond mines in the Irkutsk region of Siberia? |
By using underground atomic bomb tests.
There were twelve in all. Russia exports a billion pounds worth of diamonds every year. Needless to say it is now impossible to grow anything in the Irkutsk region of Siberia.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
Joseph Goebbels: It's on the wires, we've achieved regime change!
Adolf Hitler: Who's the new man?
Hermann Goering: Winston Churchill.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
Winston Churchill: We've achieved regime change in Berlin.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Who's the new man?
Charles de Gaulle: Joseph Stalin.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
| The Athletic wrote: | | The 65,000-seater venue, home to the NFL’s New England Patriots and MLS team New England Revolution, is owned by the Kraft Group, headed up by multi-billionaire Robert Kraft. The venue is scheduled to hold seven matches during the World Cup, including a round-of-32 game and a quarter-final, and the tournament is now only 99 days away. |
They're having an argy-bargy about money. But I was more interested in the question: Is there such a thing as a non-multibillionaire?
| "Well let's see now, I've got one billion, six hundred million and change. As of breakfast today." |
Couldn't happen. You're not a real billionaire until you've got at least... I'd say, four billion. But five would be better. Interestingly, I've got between one and two thousand in the bank and it's stayed that way for some time. So I'm a true non-multi thousandaire.
Which reminds me, what happened to the Jordanaires? And how many of them were there? However many happened to be knocking around the RCA studios when Elvis turned up for a session is the correct answer, I would think. And an echo chamber if it was only Arthur F Jordan. In fact, and this is a little known fact, Elvis was oftentimes reduced to being his own Jordanaire. I expect.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
A usually reliable source tells me Benjamin Netanyahu has been killed by Iranian rocketry and replaced by an AI version of himself. 'Good God,' I said, 'does that mean they can churn out thousands of little Netanyahu's?' 'No, you daft twat, they're just hiding the news until the war is over by using AI-generated footage of him.'
I enquired as to the origin of this exciting story and he sent me a link of Netanyahu addressing an audience recently with six fingers. (Netanyahu, not the audience. I couldn't see their hands with sufficiently clarity to tell how many fingers they had.)
Anyway, I thought I should bring you the reassuring news that AI cannot yet count accurately when it comes to single digits. Literally.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Library Index 
FAQ 
Search
Register
Profile 
Log in to check your private messages 
Log in 
