Six Memory

Today is the 29th of July and it's the birthday of six people I know in varying degrees of importance, and until this morning I was unaware it was their birthday. These include myson-in-law Mark (important), Amanda, Ellen, Savona, Sam and Laura.

That got me thinking on how, more and more we let electronic devices do our remembering for us, and in some ways that is good because it allows the mind to focus on other, hopefully, more creative or inventive pursuits.

Someone was once shocked that Albert Einstein didn't know the speed of light. His retort "Why do I need to know that? I can look it up in a book". That's always been an inspiration to me, because my memory has always been atrocious, though I find it odd that I will know the plots of Shakespeare's plays but seldom could remember quotes. When I did the Law part of my Business Studies I knew all about cases but could never remember what the cases were, which was fine when doing course work but not in an exam situation.

Rebecca Cother's Lovely Robots

This reminded me of a TED talk by a guy, Henry Evans, struck down at the age of 40, now a quadroplegic who now lives his life aided and through his devices. We are all now reliant on so many devices, ebven though we may not think we are. Stephen Hawking used devices to share his thoughts and knowledge with our world.  These peaople show us what CAN be achieved in situations of apparently impossible adversity.

You press a light switch you expect the light to shine. Thanks to phones you now don't have to remember phone numbers, I still know about three, all my own, but I know where to find phone numbers.

I've been in IT on and off for the best part of forty years but with out reference books the best I can come up with is:

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE field_name = "What I Want"

But I know where to find out how to do what I want, I don't need to remeber how to do it.

So for a change a none music related post, it's a rainy Sunday but if you are lucky you wont be at work.

Dark Morning, Waiting For The Light - #58 - 2014 - Royal Blood - Ten Tonne Skeleton

I have to be thankful in my new job that I see a lot more of the day, both during working hours and at the ends of the day , however I look out the window now and it's dark and I know by the time I get home it will be dark. However this is the nature of this planet and where I am located. This time last year I knew I was going to be leaving my old job and looking forward to whatever new things came my way. Some people see things as being the end when they just are new beginnings and since leaving my old job I have been involved in volunteering work with Oxfam , a start up company with Geek Talent and met an amazing number of great new friends. Part of this is due to the near 60 hours a month that I used to spend traveling to and from work , that's a working week and half for me to actually play with , how absolutely brilliant is that? I had an interview which seemed like a dream job in Durham which I never heard back from , but my new job is five minutes from my front door and enables me to deal with chores like doctors and hospital visits within a very supportive work framework. A friend in America recently started a new job m and he little girl was ill , her employer sent her home to look after her daughter until her daughter was better. That employer was supportive and that by that act it gained extra loyalty from my friend , a very sensible and caring act.

So we know the light will come if we prepare ourselves when things are dark. God that sounds pretentious as hell, Do I care , not a jot, life is god for me so it means I can be strong for anyone who needs me to be strong for and with them.

Anyway ......

Have Fun

The Odyssey hits the penultimate year , and I cannot pinpoint a new album that I bought last year just from memory, though lot's will jump out when I look at a list , but my memory has always been like that. Odd that I cannot remember actual facts , but I can remember how to find the facts I need to know. Someone once expressed shock to Einstein when they found out out he didn't know the speed of light, his retort , "What do I need to know that for, I can look it up in a book" , and that has been me all my life.

I should have thought it's a year sing me and my mate Chris were trying to get tickets for a non existent Royal Blood date at Newcastle Riverside ,  I could have chosen any track but Ten Tonne Skeleton is brilliant.

So go out and have a great Monday , it will soon be light , I can see the eastern sky brightening up.

Why Blog?

Although I know this now I didnt when I started blogging. I knew people kept diaries and some famous people actually got them published. I started the blog as a way of recording places I'd been to then started adding music and technology related stuff , until i just started recording anything that interested me or caught my eye.

My memory is not all that great , I'm not great at memorising facts but I am good at remembering where to find those facts. Someone once was shocked that Einstein didn't know the speed of light. "Why do I need to know that? I can look it up in a book" was his replay. Now we have the internet and loads of ways of accessing what has now become the greatest reference work ever. In our smart phones and tabllets we hold in our hands our very own Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy and proposed by the sadly missed Douglas Adams.

Anyway back to my point , this blog gives me a searchable reference to things that have happened to me and caught my eye. If other people are interested then that's great , but it's still here for me. I also would love to write a book and hoped that this blog would spark off something that would result in a book. With Amazon's self publishing package anyone can publish a book now.

Yesterday Graham Norton was interviewing Maureen Lipman and she said that she could trace her life through her newspaper columns , so I'm not the only person doing this.

So basically blogging enables you to jot down things you don't want to forget, and online blogs also enable you to search back through your life both digital and real.

Here's my first post and dip into blogging on Sunday 18th February 2007 almost six years back. This is 401 posts on , here's to the next 401 posts.