Danskcolin: Friday, February 1 2019

Lois and I wake up to a layer of snow - maybe up to 3 inches, which is a bit of a refreshing change - and no problem considering that both of us are now retired and do not need to go out of the house. And it continues to snow during the morning. Unfortunately, I still feel bad due to my cold, but I try to soldier on with the day’s agenda ha ha - what a hero !!!!

09:30 The local library's staff call Lois to tell her that this afternoon's Baby Bounce & Rhyme session for young children and their mothers has been cancelled due to the snow, so Lois, who usually helps out, can relax this afternoon and stay in the warm, which is nice.

Our backyard this morning

11:00 We listen a little to the radio, an interesting episode in the series "In Our Time", all about Owen Glendower, a Welsh prince who started a rebellion against Henry IV of England and against English rule generally, in the early 15th century. The host of the program is the charming Melvyn Bragg.

Owen's campaign kept going for quite a long time, and, although ultimately unsuccessful, it upped the reputation of the Welsh nobility, and paved the way for the first Welshman to sit on the English throne - Henry VII, the first king in the Tudor dynasty.

Owen Glendower (1349-1416), Welsh hero

It took Henry IV a hell of a long time to defeat Owen Glendower's rebellion, mainly because the English parliament did not like Henry, and refused to give him enough money for the job.

One can argue that the most important result of Magna Carta (1215) was not the jury trials, the writ of habeas corpus, or the idea that nobody was above the law. More influential in a way was the principle that only Parliament could impose taxes, which forced the king to cooperate with Parliament – if he didn’t, he would soon find himself running short of cash, to put it mildly.

My late mother was born in, and grew up in, Wales and she had a cousin, Howell, who was interested in genealogy. He claimed he had "proved" that one of the family's ancestors was a Welsh prince, Gwaethfoed, who once met the Anglo-Saxon King Edgar (959-975).

A charming story, but one which I didn't believe for a second, I have to admit. The Welsh are an incurably romantic people, but I hope that I have inherited enough of my father's Anglo-Saxon hard-headedness to recognise an attack of wishful thinking when I see one ha ha ha!

Flashback to 2010: An excerpt from the family tree in my Christmas Newsletter,

where for the first time I went public on

the news of the family's "royal" connections ha ha!

The story of Gwaethfoed's meeting with Edgar, the then Anglo-Saxon king,

according to researcher Darrell Wolcott of the

Center for the Study of Ancient Wales, Jefferson TX

Flashback to March 2005: we visit the family genealogist Howell's daughter Ruth,

crouching behind the sofa with her 2 daughters.

On the sofa (left to right) my late mother, me and my late sister Kathy

12:30 We have lunch. Afterwards, the Hotpoint engineer calls at the door and he starts investigating possible faults with our freezer, which seemed to turn itself off last weekend.

13:30 I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, the engineer completes his study: he has diagnosed a problem with the freezer's compressor. Another engineer is to visit us on Wednesday and try to fix the problem. If he fails to solve the problem, then Lois and I get a new freezer, which is nice. We bought our present freezer in 2008, so it has lasted well, the engineer says. What madness!!!

15:00 I get up, and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and her last two Australian "Anzac" biscuits, on the couch.

We listen a little to the radio, an interesting programme in the series "More or Less", all about statistics that you see in the press or in the media. Tim Harford, the programme's charming host, does his best to find out if these statistics hold water or not, which is not always easy, to say the least.

A listener, Helen, who has signed up to the Tinder dating site, has written to Tim to ask for an explanation - Tinder tells her she has had 15,000 likes, and she just can't believe that. She is willing to admit that she is well into middle-age and not particularly attractive, she says.

Tim's staff agree to investigate Helen's questions and they pay for her to go on Tinder's premium service, "Tinder Gold", which offers to reveal more information about the people who have "liked" you. They find out that the app now tells Helen that only 1260 users have actually "liked" her. So where have her other 13,740 fans gone?

"Tinder Gold" also reveals that many of those who liked Helen did not fit her requirements. She specified men who lived within 30 miles of her, but many of her "admirers" lived hundreds of miles away. However, most of the men were in Helen's specified age range, which was something.

The programme's researchers contacted Tinder's headquarters, but they responded only in a rather vague manner because they allegedly "could not comment on individual cases".

Tim discussed Helen's scepticism with Marina Adshade, author of "Dirty Money". She explained that there are many more men on dating apps than there are women, so men tend to be less selective, making the women even more selective in response: a vicious circle.

Maria Adshade, author of "Dirty Money"

The bottom line is, according to Marina, that Tinder is a business, and has a commercial interest in giving you the impression that you are very popular, so that you will use the app even more than before, especially if you are a woman. No surprise there!

Lois and I discuss the programme - we are curious to know what kind of people use the Tinder app, but we come to the conclusion that it would not be in the long-term interests of our 46.5-year old marriage to experiment with the app while we are both still alive - probably a good call.

Consent to intercourse - yes or no - very much a binary question. With the Tinder app, you look at the potential partners' photos, and swipe either right or left to accept or to reject them - I forget which is which.

Lois and I learned earlier this week from another radio programme that women in Victorian times sitting in cafes with potential partners had the system of tilting their hat to the right or left to indicate consent to intercourse or the opposite. I suppose this was an early form of the app, but it would have taken a hell of a time to respond to 15,000 potential partners in that way, the so-called "hat app" - no doubt about that!

Also would the “hat” tilting have stood up in court? The jury’s still out on that one (literally).

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting and nostalgic documentary is on, all about Don McLean's 1971 album "American Pie".

Unfortunately, I am a little distracted during the programme because, while watching it, I am simultaneously trying to prepare some Danish vocabulary lists for our U3A Danish group members - damn!

It is always interesting to see how the heroes of our youth have been ageing and going a bit to seed physically in the same way as all the rest of us baby boomers, I have to say. And it's always interesting to hear for the first time about all the unpublicised fights between artists and producers which apparently dominated the recording of all those iconic songs that seemed so important to us at the time.

I actually bought both his "American Pie" single and his "Vincent" single and still have them on a memory stick - I threw away my original vinyl versions during an early attempt to "downsize" ha ha ha.

"American Pie" is about a loss of innocence that occurred in the late 1950’s, although Lois and I have seen a number of documentaries recently claiming that the 1950’s were not the golden age that we baby boomers believed them to be - oh dear.

"Vincent", which is about Vincent Van Gogh, saw McLean having a massive fight with his producer over what point in the song the violins should be introduced. McLean insisted that the violins should be held back till the last touching verse "Now I think I know, what you tried to say to me, how you suffered for your sanity ... etc", which Lois and I agree McLean was right about. Good grief - decisions, decisions! We are very glad we ourselves were never tempted to go in for a career in the music industry, I have to say !!!

Flashback to us in 1971: on holiday in the Malvern area, with its beautiful hills,

on the threshold of getting married the following year

22:00 We go to bed - back in our normal bed tonight - zzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

Lois og jeg vågner til et lag sne – måske op til 3 inches, hvilket er lidt af en forfriskende forandring – og ikke noget problem i betrægtning af, at vi begge to nu i er pensionister og har ikke brug for komme ud a huset. Og det fortsætter med at sne i løbet af formiddagen. Jeg føler mig desværre stadig dårlig tilpas på grund af min forkølelse, men jeg prøver at fortsætte ufortrødent med dagsordenen ha ha – sikke en helt!!!!

09:30 Det lokale biblioteks personale ringer til Lois for at fortælle hende, eftermiddagens Baby Bounce & Rhyme session for små børn og deres mødre, er blevet aflyst på grund af sneen, så vil Lois, der plejer at hjælpe til, kunne slappe af i eftermiddag og forblive i varmen, hvilket er rart.

vores baghave i formiddag

11:00 Vi lytter lidt til radio, en interessant afsnit i serien ”In Our Time”, der handler om Owen Glendower, en walisk prins, der startede en oprør mod Henrik 4. af England og mod engelsk herredømme i begyndelse af 1400-tallet. Programmets vært er den charmerende Melvyn Bragg.

Owens kampagne var langvarig, og, selvom den ultimativt var usuccésfuld, øgede den omdommen af den walesiske adel og banede vejen for den første waliser til at sidde på den engelske tron – Henrik 7., den første konge i Tudor-dynastiet.

Owen Glendower (1349-1416), walesisk elt

Det tog Henrik 4. en helvedes tid til at besejre Owens oprør, hvilket først og fremmest var på grund af, at den engelske parlament ikke kunne lide Henrik, og nægtede at give ham nok penge.

Man kan argumentere, at det vigtigste resultat af Magna Carta (1215) var princippet, at kun parlamentet kunne pålægge skatter, hvilket tvang kongen til at samarbejde med parlamentet – ellers befandt han sig snart i bekneb for skillinger, for at sige mildt.

Min afdøde mor var født i Wales og hun havde en fætter, Howell, der var interesseret i genealogi. Han påstod, at han havde ”bevist”, at en af familiens forfædre var en walesisk prins, Gwaethfoed,der engang mødte den angelsaksiske kong Edgar (959-975). En charmerende historie, men en, jeg troede ikke et sekund på, det må jeg indrømme. Waliserne er et romantisk folk, men jeg håber på, at jeg har arvet nok af min fars angelsaksiske nøgternhed til at genkende et anfald af ønsketænkning, når jeg ser det ha ha ha!

ilbageblik til 2010: et uddrag af mit julenyhedsbrev, der offentliggjorde

nyhederne af familiens ”kongelige” forbindelser ha ha!

Beretningen om Gwaethfoeds møde med Edgar, den daværende angelsaksiske konge,

ifølge forskeren Darrell Wolcott af Center for the Study of Ancient Wales, Jefferson TX

Tilbageblik til marts 2005 - vi besøger familiens genealog Howells datter Ruth, på hug

bag sofaen sammen med sine 2 døtre. I sofaen ser vi (venstre til højre)

min afdøde mor, mig og min afdøde søster Kathy

12:30 Vi spiser frokost. Bagefter ringer Hotpoint-ingeniøren på døren, og han går i gang med at undersøge mulige fejl med vores fryser, der slukkede sig af sig selv sidste weekend.

13:30 Jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden afslutter ingeniøren sin undersøgelse: han har diagnosticeret et problem med fryserens kompressor. En anden ingeniør skal besøge os på onsdag, og prøver at fikse problemet. Hvis det mislykkes ham at løse problemet, så får Lois og jeg en ny fryser, hvilket er rart. Vi købte vores nuværende fryser i 2008, så den har varet godt, siger han.

15:00 Jeg står op og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og hendes to sidste australske ”Anzac” kiks. Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program i serien ”More or Less”, der handler om statistikker, man ser i presssen eller i medierne. Tim Harford, programmets charmerende vært, gør sit bedste for at finde ud af, om disse statistikker holder stik, eller ej, hvilket ikke er altid nemt, for at sige mildt.

En lytter, Helen, der er tilmeldet sig Tinder-datingsiden, har skrevet til Tim for at bede om en forklaring – Tinder fortæller hende, at hun har haft 15.000 ”likes”, og det kan hun ikke tro. Hun er midaldrende og ikke synderlig attraktiv, siger hun.

Tims personale aftaler at undersøge Helens spørgsmål og betale for Tinders premiumservice, ”Tinder Gold”, der tilbyder at afsløre mere information om dem, der har ”liket” dig. De finder ud af, at nu ”kun” 1260 brugere faktisk har ”liket” hende. Hvor bliver de andre 13.740 af?

Også ”Tinder Gold” afslører at mange af dem, der likede Helen, passede ikke hendes krav. Hun speciferede mænd, der boede indenfor 30 miles fra hende, men mange af sine ”følgere” boede hundredvis af miles væk. De fleste af mændene var imidlertid i Helens speciferede aldersgruppe.

Programmets forskere kontaktede Tinders hovedkontor, men de svarede kun på en ganske uklar måde, på grund af, at de angiveligt ”ikke kunne kommentere individuelle tilfælde”.

Tim diskuterede Helens skepticisme med Marina Adshade, forfatteren af ”Dirty Money”. Hun forklarede, at der er mange flere mænd på datingapps, end kvinder, så mænd har tendens til at være mindre selektive, hvilket gør kvinderne til at være endnu mere selektive: en ond cirkel.

Maria Adshade, forfatteren af ”Dirty Money”

Bundlinjen er, ifølge Marina, at Tinder er et kommercielt selskab, der har en kommerciel interesse i at give indtryk af, at du er populære, så du bruger appen endnu mere, end før, specielt hvis du er kvinde. Ingen overraskelse der!

Lois og jeg diskuterer programmet – vi er nysgerrige efter at finde ud af, hvilke slags mennesker bruger Tinder-appen, men vi kommer til den konklustion, at det ikke ville være i vores 46,5 årige ægteskabs langsigtede interesser at eksperimentere med appen, mens vi begge lever endnu – sandsynligvis en klog beslutning.

Samtykke til samleje – ja eller nej - i høj grad et binært spørgsmål. Med Tinder-appen skal man se på potentielle partneres fotoer og swipe til højre eller til venstre for at acceptere eller afvise dem - jeg glemmer, hvilket er hvilket.

Lois og jeg lærte tidligere på ugen fra et andet radioprogram, at kvinder i viktorianske tider, der sad i caféer med potentielle partnere, havde for vane at vippe hatten til højre eller til venstre for at udtrykke samtykke til samleje eller det modsatte. Jeg formoder, at dette var en tidlig form for appen, men det ville have taget en helvedes tid til at reagere til 15.000 potentielle partnere på den der måde, den såkaldte ”hat-appen” - ingen tvivl om det!

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et interessant og nostalgisk dokumentarfilm, der handler om Don McLeans 1971 album ”American Pie”.

Jeg er desværre lidt distraheret under programmet, fordi jeg, samtidigt med at se det, prøver at udarbejde nogle danske ordforrådlister til vores U3A danske gruppes medlemmer – pokkers!

Der er altid interessant at se, hvordan vores ungdoms helte har ældes, og har forsumpet fysisk på samme måde som alle de andre af os baby-boomers, det må jeg nok sige. Og det er altid interessant at høre for første gang om alle de skjulte konflikter mellem artister og producere, der tilsyneladende dominerede optagelsen af alle disse ikoniske sange, der på det tidspunkt virkede så vigtige til os.

Jeg købte faktisk både hans ”American Pie” single og hans ”Vincent” single og har dem stadig nu på en hukommelsestab – jeg smed mine oprindelige vinyl-versioner væk under et tidligt forsøg på at ”downsize” ha ha ha.

”American Pie” handler om et tab af uskyld, der foregik i slutningen af 1950’erne, selvom Lois og jeg har set en række dokumentarfilm for nylig, der påstod, at 1950’erne ikke var den guldalder, som babybommers troede, at de var – yikes!

”Vincent”, der handler om Vincent Van Gogh, havde McLean haft et massiv skænderi med sin producer over, hvilket tidspunkt i sangen violinerne skulle blive introduceret på. McLean insisterede, at violinerne skulle blive tilbageholdt til det sidste rørende vers ”Now I think I know, what you tried to say to me, how you suffered for your sanity... osv”, hvilket Lois og jeg er enige om, at McLean havde ret i. Du godeste – beslutninger, beslutninger! Vi er meget glade for, at vi selv aldrig blev fristet til at gå ind for en karriere i musikbranchen, det må jeg nok sige!!!