• Mass with no child noises? Never again, please

    Mass with no child noises? Never again, please

    A few years ago I was in a supermarket when a woman approached me. She was familiar to me and it turns out we used to sit near each other in church. “Are you that man who used to throw his kid in the air?” A little context. Parents and grandparents know that looking…

    Read more: Mass with no child noises? Never again, please
  • Someone to watch over me

    Someone to watch over me

    The observer effect may be defined as the disturbance of a system by the act of its observation. This means that measuring in itself alters the value measured, such that the status of the system being assessed is reported falsely. Dipping one’s toe to test the water temperature changes the temperature of the water…

    Read more: Someone to watch over me
  • Scraping the barrel

    Scraping the barrel

    Creativity is shaped by inspiration in response to conscious or subconscious prompt: simple patience, chance encounter or studied observation is rewarded with lightbulb moments, one notion prompting another, making new connections (especially while asleep), shaping and reshaping, gathering pace and focus like a determined toddler, until we have a lamp to illuminate our way.…

    Read more: Scraping the barrel
  • Just add water

    Just add water

    One way to make something beautiful is simply to add water. Witness Bob Ross (The Joy of Painting) – Saint Bob, as he’s known in our house, not just for his built-in halo, but for his kindness and capacity to gently empower would-be artists of all ages and abilities. A snowy mountain scene beautified…

    Read more: Just add water
  • I’ll name that tune in one

    I’ll name that tune in one

    As David Bowie and Bing Crosby shared Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy on the 1977 Merrie Olde Christmas Special, it was truly a meeting of titans past and future: mahogany Bing in his reassuring cardigan, the odd Werther’s Original no doubt secreted about his person, aside the unsettling, luminescent Thin White Duke. It is…

    Read more: I’ll name that tune in one
  • All that we leave behind

    All that we leave behind

    Antoine Lavoisier’s law of conservation of mass states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only rearranged. Other than the odd satellite, outbound/returning spaceship (aliens are presumed to take themselves and their litter home) or meteor, the earth is a closed system for matter. We’re stuck with the building materials that we have. Round…

    Read more: All that we leave behind