Speed and sneezing

Today's run


Set off from home today to try 20 miles. Got to Blyth in good time and decided to press on to Bedlington. Here's a site about a rather grand building just outside the village.

En route, I became aware of a tickle in the nose and a powerful aroma of plasticine. Rounding the corner of the road to Nedderton, (neat topiary sir!) I found myself bounded by two rape fields..

Pollen is interesting stuff. Not only irritating and , at times, debilitating of those suffering hay fever. I remembered that it had a part to play in the Einstein story. I thought for a bit and then remembered Brownian Motion was illustrated by the movement of pollen grains in apparent agitated ways when observed in water.

To my young mind, this was magical in a Clarkeian way (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). When I read about it as it seemed to link our world, with it's clumsy analogy seeking science to the quantum world where small things travelled huge distances but never impacted on us in any observable way.

Inspired, I took the next downhill corner at speed and broke the limit for the first time since I did my penance for infringement of the rules at a local roadworks (34 in a 30 area. I ask you!). My computer showed a 'mx spd' of 35.9 mph. The average for the trip (31.5 miles) was a mere 13.9 mph. This does illustrate the fabulous efficiency of the bicycle however.
Speeds of around 17 mph make very real distances achievable and make for a rival to the car. Whilst Claire can easily run to South Shields and make this a meaningful journey in emergencies, the bike makes such journeys possible in practicable time with plenty left over for life saving, retrieving lost sunglasses or a nice lunch out etc...

Blogger isn't playing!

Maybe Google has forgotten the rules! It wouldn't let me create a link in the proper place for Niraj Ahuja's blog; http://tachyboson.blogspot.com/. Links to the Asimov and to a lovely site by Bose's grandson about his life and work...
I'll include the link permanently when Blogger lets me!

Ouch!

Bank holiday weekend and I'm full of Ibuprofen, Paracetamol and Codeine. A sneeze, a poor lift and turn and a bag of shopping invited a weak disk in my back to make it's presence felt once more.

So, having been liberated by the disinhibition of opiates, I dashed off a quick letter to the Observer, encouraging them to drop the Horoscope page and then sat and read the rest of the magazine, hoping to find something to inspire my entry today.

No luck. So, back on the bike then. (It's better to keep moving I find). No inspiration, just good old fashioned exercise induced thought!

There are many things about cycling that conspire to discourage you from ever doing it again. There are the foolish, life threatening actions of motorists for a start. I have known two people killed on their bikes on quiet roads and I think of them every time I climb aboard.
The inclination to consider you either,
a) a pedestrian with very big roller skates or,
b) a slow motorcyclist
causes major problems as the car driver attempts to compensate for your being on the same planet by accelerating past you. Often shouting abuse. Sometimes with a klaxon.

The wind. I have come to hate those tedious moments when you feel as if your forward progress is being unfairly hindered by a force ten gale only to be confounded as you look at the surrounding flora and see no sign of a zephyr. Fabulously quiet, speedy runs on the flat are only possible when there is a complimentary following wind.

The wrong gear. Just because you have access to 24 gear speeds doesn't mean you need more than 3. Struggling along in racing mode isn't big, nor is it clever. It won't make you any fitter either.

Dropping from 24 to 1 without thinking and losing your chain.

The state of British tarmac.

Thank you Niraj!

Dark Matter..


Thank you Niraj, for the text and links to the Audio for The Last Question..

A remarkable sequence of tales, linked by inquisitiveness and a written a mere 20 odd years after the conception of Dark Matter by Fritz Zwicky

Isaac Asimov casually drops the expansion of our universe into this wonderfully economical tale. By doing so, says more in a sentence or two than most of us can manage in an afternoon!

I have read and enjoyed this several times. It never fails! You may listen to chapter 1 here.

Thinking allowed

Ok, following on from my previous post. No cycling but some thoughts about the rules that govern existence instead. (And we won the pub quiz).

1. The game of football only exists as a theoretical possibility until the kick off.
2. It relies on there being rules that apply to the theory before it can 'be'.
3. The rules of football are 'Something must go somewhere within a given time. If so, repeat until given time expires'.

Football may have arisen from our wish to kick a stone or any light enough object and others' wish to copy or experience the same obvious satisfaction in the act of kicking. The 'players' may have thought they were making up the rules from that point but, all they were doing was understanding the rules that already pertained to the game and adapting them to fit their collective, negotiated aim. Rules governing competition and aggression in us all.

The 'Game' of football can be created, like Subbuteo. But it doesn't 'become' until the rules are applied.

So, by my reckoning, the 'rules' were there before the event. Just as we can say that black holes consume all matter and energy and associated 'information' held and shared by active particles. The mystery is a wonderful conundrum with a rulebook at it's centre and no players until someone finds a ball.

Cern and the LHC may throw a ball our way. We may not understand what it is.

Dreaming about rules and games..

Idly wondering, whilst waiting to feel comfortable enough to cycle. The existence of the universe,'became' in the fraction of a morsel of a sliver of a split pica second after the 'thing that happened'. That then progressed very quickly, to there 'being' elements.
There followed a near eternity of, oh, say, a second or so before the whole 'thing' became cool enough to allow the formation of molecules.

All this depend on there being 'rules' that apply to the elements (players). They conform to the 'rules' conveniently. Each of the players performing as they do naturally but the whole process 'becoming' a universe.

The rules that we commonly accept as governing our universe are merely additional tweaks. A bit like saying that 'The Eroica' exists because Beethoven wrote it. It really exists because of the rules governing vibration of string and reed, the production of sound waves on percussion of stick and drum and brass.

LADY BANANA: Yay! I'm A Cyclist (with a sore bum!)

LADY BANANA: Yay! I'm A Cyclist (with a sore bum!)

I can sympathise! This is crucial. Get a saddle that allows for longer distances!
No cycling today.