Monday, August 18, 2008
Epistemological Crisis in Beijing
And, speaking of paradigm shifts, Britain is third in the medals table. People were discussing this at lunch yesterday as if the earth had dropped from beneath their feet, leaving them floating in a free conceptual space where anything might be true. As the afternoon wore on, the issue inevitably became entangled with the matter of the Higgs Boson. For your average Brit, the world makes less sense today. But, chin up, at least the weather's awful and house prices are plunging.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Re: being third in the Olympic medals table, it's great isn't it? Is it possible that we could beat the Aussies? (Probably not.)
ReplyDeleteMind you, we benefit enormously from there being so many different ways of rowing a boat.
In 2012 we should rig it to ensure we get maximum chance of picking up a load of medals. Thus: Olympic darts, snooker, men's doubles snooker, heavyweight men's quads snooker, crazy golf, stand-up comedy, top trumps etc.
Personally, Brit, I think we should restore the tug of war. We were, apparently, quite good at that in 1908. And the sack race.
ReplyDeleteEquating Britain with a winning mentality is too upsetting - wasn't that something only Germans or Americans possessed? We must take comfort in the fact our home grown footballers are still pretty useless. I fear Capello might change all that too.
ReplyDeletei won the sack race once, at school. The trick is to lean forwards like a lightning bolt about to strike, and keep the feet bouncing like crazy. It helps if you clench your teeth and make 'uggggggggggghhh!' noises too. i fancy my technique deterred my fellows, who sensibly dropped behind rather than come within danger distance of this lightning bolt in a sack.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see boys with their pants so low on their hips they can barely walk, i think of sack races. Glad you won one, Elberry, though it is hard to think of you actually engaging in such a race. I have a vision of you as the sardonic kid hanging back against the schoolyard wall with a cigarette in his hand, a disdainful glance for the fools on the playground, behind the desks, etc.
ReplyDeleteAll this success is making me nervous. When we hammered the Germans 5-1 in 2001, it was eclipsed a few days later by 9/11. Our Olympic heroics happen when it's kicking off in the Cuacasus. It'll end in tears, mark my words.
ReplyDeleteWise words of warning, Corky
ReplyDeleteTalking of the Caucasus, what could these two be cooking up between them and where on earth did he get that suit?
ReplyDeleteIt's the only thing i ever won, Susan, ever. That's why the memory means so much to me now, as i stand weeping in the ruins of my youth and my once-proud dreams. i fall to my knees and gasp: "But at least i won the sack race 25 years ago!"
ReplyDeletei was quite weak at school, and it was pretty rough (lots of Hitler Youth types) so i learnt to blend into the background. On the rare occasions someone would notice me i would smile in a disturbing sexual way, and they would leave me in peace.
I think we may need to add a gold medal in bullfighting to the British tally. Apparently, Mr Frank Evans, a retired bullfighter of 65 "who has recovered from a quadruple heart bypass operation and knee replacement", has been swirling the cape with a 420kg beast in Spain and is still alive to tell the tale. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI've played golf with Frank Evans - great guy. Didn't know he fought bulls till the day after. Asked if he'd ever got hurt he replied 'the wife has hit me harder'.
ReplyDeleteMy correspondent in Ormskirk says house prices are picking up again. You read it here first ...
ReplyDeleteIt is gr8 that japan is third in the Olymic medals table..Enjoy with big party..
ReplyDelete