Diversions Manifold

Every Christmas, Easter and family birthday, as I list out the contents of a parcel on what feels like an excessively conspicuous “non-EU deliveries” sticker, then pay the suddenly exorbitant postage and customs fees to the UK; every time that, right at the end of the ordering process, a British website discovers that I’m based in Europe, or a European online store learns to its horror that I want to ship to the UK - indeed, every time I want to ship nice things, only to discover that they won’t, and now that the formerly anticipatory, family-related traipse to the post office has become a trudge to bureaucracy, I silently curse Brexit. These are, in the grand scheme of things, little niggles, already well known to anyone who has ever wanted to ship to countries like the USA or Japan. But they always remind me that the UK - barely but clearly (though for some vague notion of “Brexit means Brexit”) - voted and then acted to make things worse than they had been until just very recently. ...

I'm a pretty good sketcher of words and ideas, but a terrible completer of posts: making sure that the ideas make sense and connect properly, trying to get the wording and the feel right, trying to draw conclusions and lessons from whatever experiences or thoughts I am trying to describe; sometimes even deciding which service to post things on (a ridiculous situation, in all honesty) - that's all hard work, and sometimes I just don't feel that I have the energy to complete it. As a result, my pool of drafts begins to overflow and prevents me from really finishing. So, in the spirit of draining the pool and refreshing my perspectives, here's a dump of my most current drafts, cross-posted on Blogger and on my Micro.blog instance! Rethinking which services I should keep, and why, is something for another day. A review of Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before created 2023-09-06 This is a most typically Umberto Eco book, of an unknown, uncertain narrator reconstru...

Well, the pun will: this enjoyable concert with the Bachchor Heidelberg last night, singing the Weihnachtsoratorio (Christmas Oratorio), or - to give it its full name - the   Oratorium in Festum Nativitatis Christi   from   C.H. Graun , was simply a delight. It's a charming piece dotted with not too challenging yet still interesting chorales and fugues for the choir, amongst the usual mix of arias and recitatives from the soloists telling and reflecting on the nativity story. Our conductor for this concert was  Jörg Halubek , whose website and photos make him look grander and more arrogant than he actually is. All in all, a light, happy concert bringing good cheer, if at least temporarily, for those who had to drive out of a packed centre of Heidelberg.

Back in February I posted about the challenges of being between jobs . Now, following a sequence of online first and in-person second interviews and a remarkably tough choice between two very different offers from very different companies, I'm just a few days (including a bank-holiday weekend) from starting my new job at Pepperl+Fuchs . It's an exciting prospect, producing an intriguing mix of thoughts, feelings and excitement that I would like to just briefly reflect on here. On a purely practical level, the nerdy part of me is most interested in the commute. I'm genuine in wanting to continue to avoid using the car to get to work, having commuted by bike for much of my career. Cycling directly to work is alas no longer a regular option. I tried the ride the other day, and it took me an hour and a half to get there. The route along the river is actually quite pleasant, but while I'm sure I'll be able to improve the timing, it's still long. My main mode for the ...

The last day at work before the holidays back in December 2022 was also my last day of work at the company that employed me. Officially, I'm on gardening leave, so still on the payroll (though magically off headcount), until the end of March. The justification for letting me go was the increasingly common one of needing to reduce overheads to try and return the business to at least a vaguely profitable level in Europe. Similarly to Ford's announcement in Europe , expertise (residing in just a few, but perhaps expensive, engineers) is being retrenched into other regions. I won't write more on company politics and strategies, as I'm not at liberty to do so, but I can talk about how it affects me. Nebulous ahead Quite clearly, I can't see clearly yet where my future lies. If I'm to stay in the region, which is what we as a family all want, then it's unlikely that I'll stay in the automotive industry: this feels like a blessing, and matches my own burgeoning...

Heat There's been a heatwave and very little rain these last couple of weeks. The press that I read has been very focussed on the pernicious and systematic nature of these heatwaves, clearly linked to climate change driven by human emissions, mostly of carbon. The Economist had two articles about it:   Today's heatwaves are a warning of worse to come , and   The increase in simultaneous heatwaves   which clearly set out the current set of problems and challenges ahead. The Guardian, naturally, also contains warnings about the situation, including a typical piece from the inimitable George Monbiot:   This heatwave has eviscerated the idea that small changes can tackle extreme weather ; and an Opinion piece on the public perception of what needs to be done, and the almost impossibly political predicament we're in:   The Guardian view on public attitudes to the climate crisis: burning for change It's all just politics? Deciding to do things for the environment, and...

Now that I’ve completed my first full week back at work, I can confirm the suspicion I raised in my New Year’s post marking my return to blogging that the freedom and energy to write and blog that I discovered over the Christmas vacation have been severely reduced: Alongside the where ... it’s pertinent to ask, when would I write? Maybe blogging is principally something for the holidays, when I'm rested and have time to reflect and to write. On the plus side, I am writing about it here! The brain drain Why is work - the non-physical work that I do- so draining? What am I doing all day that consumes so much energy, despite mostly sitting about, typing and clicking? I’m involved in product development and launches, in technical support, in documentation and report writing, with many context and application switches throughout the day. The energy that I burn in these activities can’t be all that much by themselves. It’s the brain itself, I feel, that becomes tired and lethargic - mot...

For a while during the initial phases of the first lockdown, there was some discussion about the prevention paradox , the risk that beneficial actions taken on a population basis will leave many individuals thinking: what’s the big deal, or, why should I pay that price?  A good summary of the prevention paradox is contained within this pre-Covid quote from the International Journal of Epidemiology (emphasis mine): ‘[the population strategy] offers only a small benefit to each individual, since most of them were going to be all right anyway, at least for many years. This leads to the prevention paradox: “A preventive measure which brings much benefit to the population [yet] offers little to each participating individual” … and thus there is poor motivation for the subject. … In mass prevention each individual has usually only a small expectation of benefit, and this small benefit can easily be outweighed by a small risk’ The first Covid lockdowns in Europe helped to slow the spread...

2+0+2+1 = 5 2+0 = 2*1... it's a symmetrical year! 2*0*... OK, I don't need to go further than that. 2/0/... : it's an infinite year! [[2^0]^2]^1] = 1 Two thousand and twenty one years since... wait: Two thousand? What, only two thousand? And twenty one, don't forget. Exciting. Happy New Year! Wishing you diversions manifold!

From  View from the EU: Britain 'taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns and their cheerleaders' , a view from Helene von Bismarck: “Populists depend on enemies, real or imagined, to legitimise their actions and deflect from their own shortcomings,” she said. If the EU has been the “enemy abroad” since 2016, it will steadily be replaced by “enemies within”: MPs, civil servants, judges, lawyers, experts, the BBC. Oversimplification, lack of nuance are greedily seen as ways of cutting the Gordian knot of complex debate and "getting things done". There are times and places for such methods, but not permanently in running a country.  Also, from John Crace in the same paper ( On Boris's big day, Tories kid themselves this is the deal they always wanted ) "He had united his party – if only temporarily – over Europe. So it was job done for Boris, as Brexit had mainly only been about divisions within his own party. "

Labour had a seemingly impossible decision to make regarding the Brexit trade deal vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday 30th December. Labour leader Keir Starmer is quoted as saying: “The choice before the house today is perfectly simple. Do we implement the treaty that has been agreed with the EU, or do we not? If we choose not to, the outcome is clear: we leave the transition period without a deal. Without a deal on security, on trade, on fisheries. Without protection for our manufacturing sector, for farming, for countless businesses. And without a foothold to build a future relationship with the EU.” To me, the words "perfectly simple" are rather disingenuous. Starmer tried to portray the judgement as a binary choice, whereby all other considerations are neglected. That can be seen as clear leadership; it can also be a sign of a leader uncomfortable with conflict.  Fortunately, there was some public debate on the day: [Stella] Creasy said in a statement on her websi...