The Cloud Horizon

One of the reasons I love flying…

Virgin on outstanding

Let me start this post by mentioning how I will never forget the time David Dimbleby said how these days he gets to avoid “the horrors of flying and airports”. With this one remark he gave away the snobbery and privilege that taints his entire outlook on life (in another he declared what a delight it must have been to have been an ancient farmer with only a fire in the middle of the room to warm you). While many people can only fantasise about flying, and never even get to leave their home town, Dimbleby resents spending a few hours defying what is naturally possible for human beings, seeing an aerial view of earth, and being waited upon in what is effectively a moving hotel (I bet he doesn’t fly economy either). Enough said about that, let’s talk about Virgin.

Richard Branson seems to have a unique midas touch when it comes to public services, and (although many may have stories to the contrary) he seems to have achieved the impossible feat of providing a good service, being very successful in business and being a nice guy at the same time. Credit where it is due, always.

I am flying with Virgin Atlantic today, from London Gatwick to Orlando, Florida. The booking was easy, using their website, and 10 pence cheaper from the closest reseller (Expedia). I am always happy to cut out resellers, as they have no right to take your money for doing nothing but standing between you and the service provider, so I was pleased to book directly on the Virgin web site (all in cost £308). Not only can you book online with Virgin but you can also check-in online, which I did. On arrival at the airport there were many staff to assist, and no queues. The plane left on time, and there is more leg room on this plane (a Boeing 747) than I have previously experienced. Food is better than usual, service good and entertainment selection exceptional.

Branson is doing things how they should be done - which is rarely seen in business. There are even little touches like the headphone jack on the seat is not some weird one whereby the airline can insist you buy headphones for it. No, it’s a normal headphones jack and they give you free phones or you can use your own.

By far most depressing aspect of this flight is the presence of so many incompetent parents and graceless people, but blame for this can hardly be laid at the door of Virgin. Their only shortcoming so far is that the on-board entertainment is scheduled and not controllable by the viewer - and that is hardly much of a criticism.

A visit to the hatter

When I was 18 years old I bought a bowler hat. As is my way, I researched carefully before buying, and finally located a shop called Bertie Wooster in Chelsea. The hat I bought was actually a riding bowler, with a hard shell. I wore it with pride around Durham, no doubt much to the mirth of imbeciles.

I have retained an interest in hats and lament the passing of the age of chivalry, when both gentleman and ladies wore hats and courtesy was regarded as a strength and not a weakness. To this effect, I today visited two hatters in the Piccadilly/St James area of London. One is called Bates, on Jermyn Street, and the other Lock & Co. The staff of Bates are not particularly friendly, perhaps too fed up of tourists, and they are usually to be found reading books.

Lock & Co. is a little further out of the way - one needs to know of it to find it - and the staff are extremely friendly and unpretentious. I spent some considerable time in this shop and ended up buying a waxed cotton explorer hat and an ivory cotton Monaco trilby. I shall wear the latter during my forthcoming trip to Florida.

Some exam answers to avoid

Passed on to me by my great brother Chris:

A pleasant visit to Cheltenham

I have just returned from a very pleasant trip to the English town Cheltenham, which proved itself to be something of a gem of the south-west.

I was training the staff of the Cheltenham Echo local newspaper. I could not have hoped for a nicer contact at the company and my companion and I stayed at a first class guest house called Georgian House in the Montpellier area of the town. I can recommend it fully.

We were taken by our contact to the excellent Daffodil restaurant (a converted art deco style theatre) and we discovered a fine real ale pub in the form of The Jolly Brewmaster. This offered six real ales, of which I sampled three - and all were of a high standard. We also visited a Chinese restaurant called Ruby.

We had the benefit of excellent weather but I can recommend Cheltenham to all. It must have its share of yobbery but this was not particularly in evidence, and I’m looking forward to returning to the town soon.

Astrology

Astrology is an insult to astronomy. It consists of writings of complete and utter fantasy mainly by effete and unscrupulous men, which are consumed mainly by credulous and insecure women.

False proverbs

Yet again the truth needs to be spoken:

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

“Those who are in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

In fact, those who are in glass houses perhaps know more about stone throwing than anybody else, and the fact they might be in their own target group need not necessarily affect the truth of what they say.

“If it doesn’t kill you it just makes you stronger.”

Um, try telling this to a cancer sufferer, or countless other people. Occasionally, in some senses, perhaps, but this is certainly not a rule.

“What you don’t know doesn’t hurt you.”

Likewise, it might well hurt you.

Enough for now I think…

News absurdities

Here are some recent news absurdities from the mainstream BBC news, not from tabloids:

• The nation is up in arms as “Shambo“, the “sacred” bull, will have to be put down for medical reasons. This so ludicrous is barely even merits a mention here. But of course, so politically correct were the BBC that they never called into question whether or not this livestock should actually be considered “sacred”.
• Not enough women in top jobs. I wonder if any of the feminists have considered that not all women might want to go into so-called “top jobs” and many might instead have an interest in the most important job of all: bringing up the next generation.
• The town of Tewkesbury lies under flood water. The BBC journalist interviewed the local vicar as the voice of authority. Can you believe he neglected to ask him why God had decided to bring such inconvenience to the community?

Harry Potter is for Children

Relevant to my article The Embrace of Decadence, I’ve just created a Facebook group with the above name and the following description:

“Are you astounded by how many grown adults these days shamelessly read children’s books in public, and even worse, sometimes claim they have literary merit?

Do you despair that train carriages will soon seem to be crammed full of people who are either reading celebrity trivia or these children’s books, with their imaginary magic and wizardry?

Do you always feel a little sorry for such people that they can’t manage adult literature - for example Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro or Salman Rushdie..?

If so, reject this meme, help elevate the nation’s mental age and join this group to put the Harry Potter books back where they belong: on the children’s shelves!”

It is truly amazing how many adults do shamelessly admit to reading these books. As I add to this article now, only last night (8th Feb 2008) director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti (who, ironically and unbelievably has been made a Commander of the British Empire) held up the novel on Radio 4 as her choice of outstanding literature, her vocabulary extending to words such as “snotty” (repeatedly) for those who thought the novels less than outstanding. Her fellow guest on the show begged to differ, instead recommending a novel by fine writer Graham Greene.

Has ultra-liberal Chakrabarti (who is married to a rich City lawyer) not heard of writers such as Nabakov, Kafka, McEwan, Dickens, Tolstoy, Hardy, the list goes on… or can’t she manage them? If not, she can read these fantastical childrens’ books… but if she wishes to gain any credibility among educated people she would be well advised not to hold them up as examples of great literature, because that they are not.

Rarity is not an intrinsic value

“The two types of stamps … known as the Red Penny and the Blue Penny are probably the most famous stamps in the world, being very rare and therefore also very expensive.”

Wikipedia article on Mauritius

Very rare and therefore very expensive. It’s interesting to consider the relationship between these two properties. I can show you a pebble which is so rare there is only one like it in the entire world (any pebble, actually), but that doesn’t make it outstandingly valuable. So what is so special about the stamp? It is man-made, it is rare and perhaps it is the first of its kind. Is this why people bestow value upon it? Or is it because it is exceedingly beautiful? Or is it perhaps that it was very difficult to make technically, or at least difficult at the time?

Well, it’s not exceedingly beautiful and need not be in order to be deemed valuable, this can be shown by many valuable works of art. Being merely man-made is not alone sufficient for high value either, that should be obvious. An item certainly need not be difficult to make to be deemed valuable - just look at most modern art. Being the first of its kind tends to bestow value, and if there are few others, even more value. So now we are back where we started, with rarity and the pebble.

Is it a number of these factors together, or others, that make the stamp valuable? Possibly. It goes without saying that the thing which really makes it valuable is demand, but that is begging the question (and I use that phrase in its rarely used correct sense). What makes it demanded? I dare say it is its value itself. In which case we have a circularity, one which is truly absurd and one on which millions of dollars are spent each year. Indeed many collectors do not even like, or see any intrinsic value, in the things they buy. They buy them merely as investments.

There is more to be said, of course, about this whole area of aesthetic value, but personally I believe there is indeed such a circularity (”The Emperors New Clothes”), it is absurd, and really quite shameful for all involved. Importantly this extends to music and even people, who are often valued merely on the grounds that they seem to be popular with others and not because of perceived intrinsic values (this can be an obstacle to the rich and famous forming genuine happy relationships). These are cultural memes, propagating independently of any objective analysis.

Remember my principle of rising price beyond actual actual intrinsic value (sometimes known as ’snob value’, though this is not quite clear enough), and, well, if you have any dignity, have no part of it!

For more ideas on intrinsic (primary) versus dependent (secondary) properties have a look at the the writings of John Locke.

“I Wish I Was Still Studying Philosophy”

Facebook now has a tremendous number of groups and almost all have irreverent titles - this seems to be mandatory… One I have just joined (my first) is the group “I Wish I Was Still Studying Philosophy”. The thing is, the name of this group raises a philosophical question in itself…

I don’t wish I was still studying philosophy - I’m still studying it - it never stops! I’m extremely happy with the form of my life. I’m joining the group because of the philosophical interest in common, but the name is somewhat weak and defeatist. If you really seriously wish you were still studying philosophy (and not just for the sporting activities and getting drunk), chuck in that boring faceless job and go and study it again!