Thursday 21 December 2023

Storms. Traditions. A bit of Michael Rosen. Art appreciation and AI.

One of the grandchildren was getting rather excited yesterday because they thought they had heard that the latest storm was to be named Storm Pye (my maiden name). This was a mistake. Named by the Danish Met Office, this is Storm Pia and is forecast to bring the strongest winds across central and northern areas of the UK.


It seemed to have been raging a little in the small hours of the morning. My son declares that it des not deserve to be called a storm. “It was blowing a bit in the night, but that’s all”, he declared. And he has been sleeping in the attic where you hear the wind and rain a little more. 


But strong winds are forecast. Schools have been closed in Shetland and ferries across the west coast of Scotland have been disrupted. A yellow warning has been issued which includes northern areas of England including Newcastle upon Tyne and Greater Manchester and remains in place until 21:00 on Thursday night. Mostly I think we are dreaming of a wet Christmas. 


We’ve had a successful “First Christmas” as it has been named in the family. The southern branch of the family come north for a few days before Christmas and return home in time for Christmas day. Presents for the small people are exchanged and opened, having convinced the smallest in the family that Santa has made an early delivery especially to make our ‘First Christmas” possible. And so another tradition was created! So last night we had gourmet fish and chips with a glass of white wine! The height of decadence! And presents!


Here’s another post from Michael Rosen:


'I don't think we can stop this game of chess,' said the King, 'until we decide what kind of stop it is.'

'A pause,' said the tutor.

'Or a momentary break?' said the King.

'Or a cessation of activity, perhaps,' said the tutor.

'Or a temporary halt,' said the King.

'I prefer an agreed discontinuance,' said the tutor.

'I can only go with a reasonable outage,' said the King.

'Well,' said the tutor, 'if we can't agree on what to call it, we can't stop.

'Fair enough,' said the King, 'on we go.'


I don’t think any comment is needed. 


Here’s a link to an article about artificial intelligence being used to decide whether or not a piece of art, “La Madonna della Rosa”, was painted by Raphael or just by his assistants and followers, and touched up by the great man. Whenever something like this comes up I find myself wondering if it matters. If a piece of art has been acclaimed for centuries, and has survived so long, does it really matter whose hand actually held the paint brush?


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

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