Jeg står op
glæder mig til at have 5 timer alenetid i dag, når Lois kl 11 kører til
Tewkesbury for at deltage i sin kirkes 2 gudstjenester – min gøremålsliste er
blevet lang som et ondt år, og det bliver mere og mere svært at gøre fremskridt
med den, ingen tvivl om det. Men man skal ikke sælge skindet, før bjørnen er skudt,
som danskerne siger – uha!
10:30 Lois
synes, at det ville være bedre, hvis hun i dag trods alt ikke kørte bil – det
er sandt, at vi i går sad og spiste eller snakkede næsten hele dagen, og i dag
har hun ondt i ryggen og hoften. Stakkels Lois!!!!
Lois siger,
hun føler, at sit helbred for nylig er lidt forværres, ironisk siden sin
succesfuld øjenoperation – nye smerter, underlige spændinger osv. Jeg prøver at
trøste hende med lidt pseudo-statistik: en tilfældig udsving, som når man
kaster en terning 1000 gange, og på et eller andet tidspunkt, kaster man et
nummer 6 fem gange i træk, eller sådan noget. Men det lyder ubevisende, det må
jeg indrømme!
Jeg har ondt
af hende og er glad for at køre hende derover og hente hende op efter den 2.
gudstjenesten, men ulempen er, at min planlagte alenetid bliver reduceret til
næsten det halve – pokkers!
10:45
Dørklokken ringer. Bob, vores nabo, har skudt endnu en fasan (men ikke en
bjørn, hvilket er heldigt). Vi vil hellere have, at han ikke skyder fasaner men
vi er for høflige til at fortælle ham – pokkers! Desværre gav Lois ham forleden
en krukke af sin hjemmelavede appelsinmarmelade, og Bob er en af de mennesker,
der ikke kan lide at stå i gæld til nogen. Den fasan døde på grund af Lois’
appelsinmarmelade, staklen !!!! Jeg hænger den lille fyr op i spisekammeret –
før i tiden prøvede vi altid at spise så meget som muligt af Bobs fasaner, men
det kræver en masse forberedelse, så nu spiser vi kun brøstet.
Den
seneste fasan, som Bob vores nabo har skudt – staklen !!!!
11:00 Jeg
kører Lois over til Tewkesbury, kører hjem og tager min oldislandske bøger
frem: digtet Havamal, og mine referenceværker. Jeg læser den berømte historie
af den nordiske gud Odin og Gunlød der er
i nordisk mytologi jætten Suttungs smukke datter.
Gunlød bliver sat til at vogte skjaldemjøden, som
Suttung gemmer i en hule i Hnitbjerget i Udgård.
Guden Odin vil
eje skjaldemjøden og sniger sig i slangeskikkelse ind igennem en sprække til
hulen og Gunlød. Her forfører han hende og tilbringer 3 nætter i hendes seng.
Så tømmer han hele tønden med mjød. Lettere beruset forvandler han sig til en
ørn og flakser tilbage mod Asgård. Suttung flyver straks efter ham, men
når ikke at indhente ham, inden han er langt over Asgårds mure og har gylpet
mjøden op.
Odin and Gunlød: efter 3 nætter i Gunløds seng, får
den berømte
nordiske gud Odin tilladelse til at drikke
skjaldemjøden, som Gunlød vogter.
Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
Jeg finder det
lidt svært at tro denne historie, men digtet blev skrevet af selve Odin, så jeg
mistænker, at det må være sandfærdigt. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi
lever i !!!!
12:00 Jeg
lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om Gauss (1777-1855),
den berømte tyske matematiker.
Mens jeg
lytter til detaljer om Gauss’ liv, falder det mig ind, at et af de værste jobs,
der sidst i det 18. århundrede var udbudt, faktisk var at være unge Gauss’
matematiklærer. Da Gauss var ca. 6-7 år gammel, ønskede matematiklæreren i den
lokale primære skole ønskede at have lidt ”ham-tid” under en matematiktime, så
han kunne fuldføre et eller andet privat projekt, så derfor stillede han Gauss
og hans klassekammerater et aritmetisk spørgsmål: han bad dem om at lægge
sammen alle de tal mellem 1 og 100 og udarbejde totallet. Han troede, at
problemet ville holde dem stille i en god halv time.
Men desværre
fandt unge Gauss frem til svaret indenfor 60 sekunder. Han indså, at...
1+100=101
2+99=101
3+98=101
...osv... osv...
50+51=101
Så derfor er
svaret 101 x 50, dvs 5.050.
Du godeste,
sikke et vanvid!!! Jeg mistænker at Gauss’ matematiklærer på det tispunkt havde
lyst til at kværke den lille fyr, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.
Unge
Gauss under en typisk matematiktime.
ikke
kun hans lærer men også hans klassekammerater må have fundet ham
utrolig
irriterende, ingen tvivl om det ha ha ha!!!!
Jeg har en
minde fra 1952, da jeg var 6 år gammel. Min far, der var skolelærer, stod i
klasseværelset med ca. 40 11-årige elever. Jeg, som 6-årig, sad og lyttede i bunden af værelset: jeg ventede på, at han
tog mig med hjem i slutningen af timen.
Det viste sig,
at ingen af min fars elever kunne pege på Spanien på et kort over Europa, så
min far bad mig om at gøre det. Jeg er i dag helt sikker på, at hver elev i
klassen på det tidspunkt havde lyst til at kværke mig, men da jeg var 6, var
det lige endnu et sjov faktum, jeg kunne imponere verden med, lidt som ”unge
Sheldon” ha ha ha!
13:00 Jeg
spiser frokost og tager en kort eftermiddagslur. Min gøremålsliste er ikke
blevet kortere – det er jeg helt sikker på. Faktisk er det eventuelt vokset med
et par opgaver – pokkers!!!!
14:30 Jeg står
op og kører over til Tewkesbury for at hente Lois op. Vi kører hjem og slapper
af med en kop te i sofaen.
18:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm i
Channel Fours ”robotsæson”: titlen er ”Kan vi leve med robotter?”.
Vi tror, at
dette program er det sidste i Channel Fours ”robotsæson”, som hidtil er været
lidt skuffende. Et afsnit om lægerobotter og et andet om sexrobotter fokuserede
på bare et par stykker individuelle eksempler,
og udforskede ikke bredere spørgsmål, synes vi.
Men dette
sidste afsnit er langt det bedste i sæsonen, synes vi. Det fremviser en
intelligent programvært, der stiller intelligente og indsigtsfuld spørgsmål,
hvilket er lidt af en forfriskende forandring ha ha ha.
Det er
interessant, at forskere for tiden er i gang med at sætte stor indsats i at
give robotter kunstigt kropssprog og andre menneskelige egenskaber og
reaktioner, der ikke er nødvendige for, at robotterne kan lave deres arbejde,
men er nødvendige for, at mennesker kan interagere succesfuldt med dem.
Vi lever i
interessante tider! Lois og jeg er 71 år gamle og vi kommer ikke til at se
mange af udviklingerne forudanede i dette program. Men vi er imidlertid
taknemmelige for, at vi har set så mange forandringer, der er ankommet siden vi
blev født: fx computere, internet, mobiltelefoner, og ægte månelandinger ha ha
ha! Så meget mere interessant, end at være blevet født og død i middelalderlige
tider og at se hele livet overhovedet ingen forandringer ha ha ha (igen) !!!!
r3
Minifabrikken i Oxford
Pengeautomat-fabrik i Japan
Bord til 4 i Japan
hjælp til tomme rede syndrom: sønnen er vokset op
og forladt hjemmet
verdens mest livagtige robotter (Japan igen)
en rimelig og positiv konklusion til programmet, synes vi
22:00 Vi går
lidt roligere i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
English translation
I get up looking forward to having 5 hours of alone time
Lois goes off at 11 am to Tewkesbury to attend her church's 2 services - my
to-do list has become as long as your arm and it is becoming increasingly
difficult to make progress with it, no doubt about that. But don't sell the
bearskin before you've shot the bear, as the Danes say - oh dear!
10:30 Lois decides it would be better if she did not
drive today after all - it is true that yesterday we sat and ate, or talked,
almost the whole day, and today she has a bad back and hip. Poor Lois !!!!
Lois says she feels her health has recently deteriorated,
ironically since her successful eye surgery - new pains, strange tensions, etc.
I try to comfort her with some pseudo statistics: a random fluctuation like
throwing a dice 1000 times, and at some point, you throw a 6 five times in a
row or something of the sort. But that sounds unconvincing, I have to admit!
I feel sorry for her and am glad to drive her over there
and pick her up after the second service, but the downside is that my planned
alone time will be reduced by almost a half - damn!
10:45 The doorbell rings. Bob, our neighbor, has shot
another pheasant (but not a bear, which is lucky). We'd rather he didn’t shoot
pheasants but we're too polite to tell him - damn it! Unfortunately, Lois gave
him a jar of her homemade orange marmalade the other day, and Bob is one of
those people who do not like to be in debt to anyone. The pheasant died because
of Lois' orange marmelade, the poor thing!!!! I hang the little guy up in the
pantry - in the past we always tried to eat as much as possible of Bob's
pheasants, but that demands a lot of preparation-time, so now we only eat the
breasts.
The latest pheasant that Bob our neighbor
has shot - the poor thing!!!!
11:00 I drive Lois over to Tewkesbury, drive home and get
out my Old Icelandic books: the poem Havamal, and my reference works. I read
the famous story of the Nordic god Odin, and Gunlød, who in Nordic mythology is
the giant Suttung's cute daughter.
Gunlød has been tasked with guarding the poetry-mead, which her father, the giant Suttung, is hiding in a cave in Udgaard.
The god Odin wants to get the mead for himself, so he
sneaks (in serpent-form) through a crevice into the cave and finds Gunlød. He
seduces her and spends 3 nights with her in her bed in the cave. Then he drains
the whole barrel of its mead.
"Lightly intoxicated", he turns into an
eagle and flaps his way back towards Asgård. Suttung immediately flies after
him, but does not catch him before he is far away over the walls of Asgard and
has disgorged all the mead up for future use by poets.
Odin and Gunlød: after 3 nights in Gunlød's bed, the famous
Nordic god Odin gets permission to drink the mead, which
Gunlød was guarding.
Good grief, what madness !!!!
I find it hard to believe this story, but the poem was
written by Odin himself, so I suspect it must be accurate. My goodness, what a
crazy world we live in !!!!
12:00 I listen a bit to the radio, an interesting program
all about Gauss (1777-1855), the famous German mathematician.
As I listen to the details about Gaussian life, it occurs
to me that one of the worst jobs on offer in the late 18th century was actually
to be Gauss's mathematics teacher. When Gauss was about 6-7 years old, the
maths teacher at the local primary school wanted to have a little
"him-time" during a maths lesson so he could complete some private
project, so he asked Gauss and his classmates an arithmetic question: he asked
them to add together all the numbers between 1 and 100 and work out the total.
He thought the problem would keep them quiet for a good half an hour.
But unfortunately, Gauss found the answer within 60
seconds. He realized that ...
1 + 100 = 101
2 + 99 = 101
3 + 98 = 101
... etc ... etc
...
50 + 51 = 101
So, therefore, the
answer is 101 x 50, ie 5,050.
Good grief, what madness !!! I suspect that Gauss's math
teacher at that point would have cheefully strangled the little guy, but that's
something I'm not entirely sure about.
Young Gauss during a typical maths lesson.
Not only his teacher but also his classmates
must have found him
incredibly annoying, no doubt about that ha
ha ha !!!!
I have a memory from 1952 when I was 6 years old. My
father, who was a school teacher, was standing in the classroom with approx. 40
11-year-old students. I, at the age of 6, was sitting and listening at the back
of the room: I was waiting for him to take me home at the end of the lesson.
It turned out that none of my father's students could
point to Spain on a map of Europe so my father asked me to do it. Today I feel
sure that every student in that class would cheerfully have strangled me at
that moment, but when I was 6, it was just another fun fact I could impress the
world with, a little like "young Sheldon" ha ha!
13:00 I have lunch and take a short afternoon nap. My
to-do list has not got any shorter - I'm absolutely sure. In fact, it may have
grown with a few tasks if anything - damn !!!!
14:30 I get up and drive over to Tewkesbury to pick Lois
up. We come home and relax with a cup of tea on the couch.
18:00 We have dinner and watch a bit of television, an
interesting documentary in Channel Four's "Robots Season": the title
is "Can We Live With Robots?".
We think this program is the last in Channel Four's
'Robot Season', a series which has been a little disappointing so far. An
episode about doctor robots and another about sex robots focused on just a few
individual examples, and did not explore broader questions, is our opinion.
But this last episode is by far the best in the season,
we think. It showcases an intelligent presenter who poses intelligent and
insightful questions, which is a bit of a refreshing change ha ha ha.
It is interesting that researchers are currently working
hard to provide robots with artificial body-language and other human qualities
and reactions that are not necessary for robots to do their work, but which are
necessary for people to interact successfully with them.
We live in interesting times! Lois and I are 71 years old
and we will not see many of the developments anticipated in this program.
However, we are grateful that we have seen so many changes that have been
introduced since we were born: eg computers, internet, mobile phones, and
genuine moon landings ha ha ha! So much more interesting than to have been born
and died in medieval times and seeing no changes at all in your whole life ha
ha ha (again) !!!!
the Austin Mini car factory in Oxford
Table for 4 in a Japanese home
help for empty nest syndrome: the son
has grown up
and left home
the world's most lifelike robots (Japan again)
A reasonable and positive conclusion to
the program, we think
22:00 We go, a little more reassured, to bed - zzzzzzzzz
!!!!!
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