Category: Musings

Unsatisfactory Endings

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Last night I watched a poor YouTube clip listing behaviours of intelligent people. It suggested that pattern recognition, global overview and an awareness of complexity were characteristics.

I have for now finished my physiotherapy. The experience has been good and the ending for now very satisfactory. I am not used to being physically close to other humans and the feeling is a little strange. Her timekeeping is excellent which for me is a big plus.

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There is a US comedienne who jokes that she was told that she was not sufficiently intelligent to have Asperger’s. Diagnosed autism under some circumstances has a “gifted” component.

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“Microsoft today introduced Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture that it expects will realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.

It leverages the world’s first topoconductor, a breakthrough type of material which can observe and control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits, which are the building blocks for quantum computers.”

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Nobody really knows what happened to Ettore Majorana who just “disappeared”. He may have done a “Reggie Perrin” to escape Sunshine Deserts. The plot is left hanging unsatisfied, which enables people to make all sorts of shit up.

I was having a look at Quantum Startups on YouTube yesterday and some are getting funded in aircraft carrier size quanta. With a possible Venture Capital overexposure to AI some diversification of longer term risk might be needed.

I have all the early Microsoft patents on this computer and I may dip into them if I have trouble sleeping. I remember them been longer than a long thing on a well stretched day.

Of late I have noted rushed and unsatisfactory endings to a number of TV series and movies we have been watching. The dramatization and death has been perfunctory and without much artistry. People have been introduced, sketched out a little and then killed off. This has left me with a feeling that the ending was unsatisfactory they could have done better. Body count does not always corelate with narrative excellence. I do wonder if my dissatisfaction with modern drama narrative is partly due to the “old git syndrome”.

“When I were a lad…”

The closing of the Godfather series of movies was very apt and the story telling circle was complete. It was well rounded off. Tidy.

Loose ends hanging are unsatisfactory, there is no closure .

In life there are elements of narrative left pendant and unsolved. They are untidy and messy. From time to time these messy threads reappear like the herpes virus.

Not everyone gets a Disney ending. Some want to make way for a second series or a franchise follow up. Almost without exclusion the follow up is never as good as the original.

This need for some kind of closure whether temporary or otherwise is, it seems, a part of the human psyche.

Leaving things open, untidied and untied can seem wise it can also seem highly unsatisfactory.  Fluidity and winging it can leave a right mess…which can have very wide implications and many ripples.

We are yet to find out what the longer term impacts of what Benjamin Nosferatu and Trump are doing in Iran.

I’ll speculate that it won’t be cut and dried, nor tidy and that the ending will not be satisfactory to anyone. It is a mess made out of a “cunning plan” that was not thoroughly thought through…

Which might be difficult to say for a Frenchman….

It is a moot point as to what makes an ending satisfactory.

But pendant situations do have a knack of hanging around and for a long time…

Differing Metrics – Human Love of League Tables

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Over the last few weeks we have been watching the six nations rugby competition. People want to know who won and who finished last, what was their position in the league table. Wales came last and got the wooden spoon. The world is obsessed with metrics

The QS word university rankings for 2025 are:

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I taught at one of these for over a decade {Imperial} and got a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. from another of these {UCL}. I had very brief spells teaching at two other top ten UK based universities. On paper then I was at pukka places for a while. I was not Mickey Mouse and I did not teach “Application of Media Studies To Pre-Carthaginian Naval Cultures”.

That track-record of mine is however ancient history.

I am not quite sure why people are so obsessed with league tables. Each football season hundreds of millions of people around the globe check the league position of their team and follow each football match with an avid interest.

People read polls to see how well Nigel Bellend Farage is doing. They make extensive soporific current affairs programmes to discuss poll positions.

They can base their interactions with others on their relative positions in various league tables. Trump has probably damaged the upcoming global league position of US universities.

Those at the top of the league can look down their noses at those at the bottom

For whatever reason people like lists. People measure different things. To your average Manchester City supporter the ranking of Oxford over Cambridge is of no interest.

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What happens when you speak different league table languages?

Is the share price of Nvidia more important than the degree of enlightenment?

Does it matter who has more cheap drones, who has more expensive Patriot missiles?

Must we discuss over beers down the pub from our soap boxes?

I think some people can get boners and/or go a bit damp about league table positions….

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Are you obsessed with league tables?

If so, why?

Will that help you achieve liberation and enlightenment?

Is Excel the secret key to escaping the wheel of rebirth?

It tabulation better than meditation?

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Kudos Clout and Fame

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

Tempest (IV.i.148–158)

Attr. William Shakespeare

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Many are enamoured by the notion of being important, having kudos and clout. They seek recognition and the power that might come with it. They want to have power by association to/with those deemed to have high kudos. To claim that one studied at Cambridge University or Harvard is to have a form of academic clout. Were one able to name drop Steven Hawkins as a mentor one gains brownie points while also ticking the disabled box. If one knows Taylor Swift or Barron Trump one has power by name dropping. Were one in the inner circles all sorts or doors would open for you. If you are famous you can get an audience with the Dalai Lama.

The other night we watched the Louis Theroux documentary on the  “manosphere”. He managed to get interviews with a right bunch of bellends. It was interesting to see how so many people put up with being humiliated in order to claim kudos by association with these intellectual giants. Fame whores and kudos junkies are easily found. There is often a price.

It demonstrated a truth that those “on the make” will associate with very unsavoury characters like Jimmy Savile, Bonny Blue and Epstein. The urge to self-promote can make for weird bed fellows which many claim later to regret. People will exercise poor judgment if they think they can get kudos or clout, thereby. The lust for attention, for recognition and “kudos” is addictive for some.

Discernment is rare.

I remember an interview with Edwina Currie in which she was absolutely mortified about her association with Savile and her prior trust in him. If she had not seen political worth in so associating it would never have happened. Many make a pact with Mephisto in order to self advance. Temptation is hard to resist.

We do not all know Savile but many do exercise poor judgment in hanging on to the coat tails of others many of whom are unsavoury. Corruption is the thin end of the wedge and many are way more susceptible than they might think. At best they will turn a blind eye rather than calling people out. Moral fibre is not a common breakfast cereal. Most have a price either explicit or implicit.

People will do a lot in order to associate with an impermanent illusion…

People try to measure the esteem in which others hold you…

People are given jobs on the basis of the kudos of institutions or corporations they worked for. Judgment is biased by this peculiar socio-political construct of kudos.

People can make TV shows and movies about this pursuit of kudos, clout and fame…

It takes all sorts…

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Fame
I’m gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame
Fame
I’m gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name

Dean Pitchford, Michael Gore

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Missing Persons – Incommunicado

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Quite a while back I had a dream in which someone filed a missing person report about me. I don’t know if anyone actually did or not. As things stand there is probably only one person in the world who would notice my absence as being out of the norm. Of course if I am absent or not around people are free to make up whatever stories or narratives about me they wish. I am not around to challenge of contradict such narratives. It is most likely that people have plenty to do in their busy lives and I am unlikely to even crop up en passant.

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I am not active on any form of social media. Aside from this blog there is no other on-line presence. So by today’s metrics it is a moot point if I exist or not. I could be AI generated or a figment of my own imagination.

In the last year I have had “social” email contact with four people. None of those interactions have had many words. The exchange has been a few emails long.

It could be said that I am pretty incommunicado. There are no business email addresses or ‘phone numbers listed. To date only one person has ever called me on my personal mobile ‘phone – the wife. If anyone calls the land line it is 99.99% sure to be a hoax, spam or a scam attempt. I am not accustomed to feverishly answering telephones. I do not answer.

{These telephone numbers although not secret are not well known.}

I am not affiliated anywhere…

I had a question during the night.

“If somebody actually wanted to contact me, how would they do that?”

Anything official like the police, tax or immigration can easily find me. I am legit in terms of bank accounts revenue and social security. My documentation is all up to date. I am easily to be found in French official records. A UK missing person search would find an old trail, though I do have UK bank accounts. Officially it would be easy to find my two border crossings into the UK last year, to Jersey and Gatwick. The previous crossing was January 2019 Portsmouth to St Malo. We have left Brittany only once inside France since 2019.

Aside from that I have perhaps fallen off the edge of the world…metaphorically speaking.

So if anyone has actually filed a missing person report they never got round to making contact. In France a disappearance needs to be disturbing to be investigated. In the UK it seems easier to initiate a missing person report.

As an antisocial loner it is only a matter of time before I end up in some news report or other…

Severe Drought of Love-Wisdom

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Given the climate and bloodshed in the Middle East (and Ukraine) I think it fair to say that there is little love-wisdom manifesting there. Instead we have bloody vengeance and paranoia out of Israel supported by a coercive display of military power from Washington. There is no Christian turning of the other cheek. There is a fully intentional bellicose and vicious destruction of human life and property.

Where is the love?

Where is the wisdom?

It is just the same old blood for blood endless cycle of brutal (and petty) nastiness.

When did murder ever bring long term peace? It cannot because it is karmically bad.

I wonder when Blaise Metreweli spoke with Keir Starmer yesterday afternoon to give an intelligence update, what options did she offer him? How does one minimise damage and risk in a geo-political climate like this? How do you mitigate Trump and Benjamin Nosferatu?

If we are lucky enough to get granted a right to stay in France we might be able to move to any of the following : Guadeloupe, Réunion, Mayotte, Corse, Martinique, Guyane or Polynésie Française.

It also seems that Strasbourg might be possible to be energetically near the European parliament.

In the blue books opus the Tibetan talks about the return of the Christ. A being on the second ray of love-wisdom. A being linked to all the second ray ashram(s).

There is some end of days – Armageddon – final conflict thinking behind the current motivation to destruction. I suspect that this is down to a misunderstanding of religious prophecy. It is a twist used to justify.

Maybe it is necessary to create a brutal void, a desolate desert in which not a single seedling of love-wisdom might sprout in order to precipitate such a drought, such a huge vacuum of love-wisdom. Maybe then, because nature abhors a vacuum, will the severe need call forth the return of the Christ.

The ways of the ashrams have only been briefly touched upon in the blue books opus.

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I suspect that the level of understanding held by many is not high.

The geo-political impacts of a Jesus or a Siddhartha extends way beyond the petty ambitions of any man. The imagined legacy of presidents and prime ministers pales against millennia long profound change evoked by extraordinary beings.

If they are really wanting the end of days messiah then they might be a little more careful what they wish for. It will not be to appease their vanity which he might come. There will be change and the structures which they seek to preserve are amongst the things which need changing.

Sometimes things happen when people are trying to prevent them. The universe does not kneel to the whims of man.

Adamant Assertion Does Not Equate With Thinking Things Through

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In our age of short attention spans there is a tendency to say very short statements with conviction. Some may feel reassured by this sense of certainty others know it for what it is, dogmatic adamant assertion in which little credence is based upon evidence. That is not important. It is an opinion held, usually prejudged without looking at any facts. These assertions like the erstwhile so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are used to unleash death and destruction. They are a cover for something. They are at best a smoke screen. They are used to placate and seemingly justify. They appeal to the more bellicose and reactionary. There is just a hint of “bright idea” a “cunning plan” somewhere maybe.  They can be launched on a whim because someone has pissed you off. They can be glamourised with high resolution war-porn footage of explosions and the sinking of ships owned by the mad Mullahs. Those whirling dervish mad geezers with wispy beards and dresses. They are not even human like us…

Benjamin Nosferatu and friends have again unleashed death ordnance and destruction on the world. His lust for blood seems insatiable. Nobody it seems gives much of a shit.

What about International Law? That is only for the plebs…

Looks like we are in for a very expensive winter…thanks guys…

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This from Reuters this morning…

Ynys Mon – in Tacitus – Druids

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A week ago I bought a book “Révélations sur la magie et la sagesse des druides” from a hippie shop in St Brieuc.

In it, translated into French, was a piece of text which I recognised from around forty five years ago. That text was a piece of Latin by Tacitus which I had been given to keep me busy and quiet during lessons and which also appeared  in my Latin “O” level translation paper.

Apparently it is now “A” level…

The Romans were not kind to Boudicca and her daughters….

I may be posting more about the druid vibe over the next few weeks as I read the book…

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Tacitus: Annals Book 14

Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( c. AD 56 – c. 120), was a Roman historian and politician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.

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…sed tum Paulinus Suetonius obtinebat Britannos, scientia militiae et rumore populi, qui neminem sine aemulo sinit, Corbulonis concertator, receptaeque Armeniae decus aequare domitis perduellibus cupiens. igitur Monam insulam, incolis validam et receptaculum perfugarum, adgredi parat, navesque fabricatur plano alveo adversus breve et incertum. sic pedes; equites vado secuti aut altiores inter undas adnantes equis tramisere.

30. Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis virisque, intercursantibus feminis, [quae] in modum Furiarum veste ferali, crinibus disiectis faces praeferebant; Druidaeque circum, preces diras sublatis ad caelum manibus fundentes, novitate adspectus perculere militem, ut quasi haerentibus membris immobile corpus vulneribus praeberent. dein cohortationibus ducis et se ipsi stimulantes, ne muliebre et fanaticum agmen pavescerent, inferunt signa sternuntque obvios et igni suo involvunt. praesidium posthac impositum victis excisique luci saevis superstitionibus sacri: nam cruore captivo adolere aras et hominum fibris consulere deos fas habebant. haec agenti Suetonio repentina defectio provinciae nuntiatur.

31. Rex Icenorum Prasutagus, longa opulentia clarus, Caesarem heredem duasque filias scripserat, tali obsequio ratus regnumque et domum suam procul iniuria fore. quod contra vertit, adeo ut regnum per centuriones, domus per servos velut capta vastarentur. iam primum uxor eius Boudicca verberibus adfecta et filiae stupro violatae sunt; praecipui quique Icenorum, quasi cunctam regionem muneri accepissent, avitis bonis exuuntur, et propinqui regis inter mancipia habebantur. qua contumelia et metu graviorum, quando in formam provinciae cesserant, rapiunt arma, commotis ad rebellationem Trinovantibus et qui alii nondum servitio fracti resumere libertatem occultis coniurationibus pepigerant, acerrimo in veteranos odio. quippe in coloniam Camulodunum recens deducti pellebant domibus, exturbabant agris, captivos, servos appellando, foventibus impotentiam veteranorum militibus similitudine vitae et spe eiusdem licentiae. ad hoc templum divo Claudio constitutum quasi arx aeternae dominationibus adspiciebatur, delectique sacerdotes specie religionis omnes fortunas effundebant. nec arduum videbatur exscindere coloniam nullis munimentis saeptam; quod ducibus nostris parum provisum erat, dum amoenitati prius quam usui consulitur.

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De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae – Tacitus

XIV

Consularium primus Aulus Plautius praepositus ac subinde Ostorius Scapula, uterque bello egregius: redactaque paulatim in formam provinciae proxima pars Britanniae, addita insuper veteranorum colonia. Quaedam civitates Cogidumno regi donatae (is ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit), vetere ac iam pridem recepta populi Romani consuetudine, ut haberet instrumenta servitutis et reges. Mox Didius Gallus parta a prioribus continuit, paucis admodum castellis in ulteriora promotis, per quae fama aucti officii quaereretur. Didium Veranius excepit, isque intra annum extinctus est. Suetonius hinc Paulinus biennio prosperas res habuit, subactis nationibus firmatisque praesidiis; quorum fiducia Monam insulam ut vires rebellibus ministrantem adgressus terga occasioni patefecit.

XVIII

Hunc Britanniae statum, has bellorum vices media iam aestate transgressus Agricola invenit, cum et milites velut omissa expeditione ad securitatem et hostes ad occasionem verterentur. Ordovicum civitas haud multo ante adventum eius alam in finibus suis agentem prope universam obtriverat, eoque initio erecta provincia. Et quibus bellum volentibus erat, probare exemplum ac recentis legati animum opperiri, cum Agricola, quamquam transvecta aestas, sparsi per provinciam numeri, praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies, tarda et contraria bellum incohaturo, et plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur, ire obviam discrimini statuit; contractisque legionum vexillis et modica auxiliorum manu, quia in aequum degredi Ordovices non audebant, ipse ante agmen, quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset, erexit aciem. Caesaque prope universa gente, non ignarus instandum famae ac, prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore, Monam insulam, cuius possessione revocatum Paulinum rebellione totius Britanniae supra memoravi, redigere in potestatem animo intendit. Sed, ut in subitis consiliis, naves deerant: ratio et constantia ducis transvexit. Depositis omnibus sarcinis lectissimos auxiliarium, quibus nota vada et patrius nandi usus, quo simul seque et arma et equos regunt, ita repente inmisit, ut obstupefacti hostes, qui classem, qui navis, qui mare expectabant, nihil arduum aut invictum crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus. Ita petita pace ac dedita insula clarus ac magnus haberi Agricola, quippe cui ingredienti provinciam, quod tempus alii per ostentationem et officiorum ambitum transigunt, labor et periculum placuisset. Nec Agricola prosperitate rerum in vanitatem usus, expeditionem aut victoriam vocabat victos continuisse; ne laureatis quidem gesta prosecutus est, sed ipsa dissimulatione famae famam auxit, aestimantibus quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset.

Where – Decision Making

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Ever since I was stupid enough to develop a course on “Decision Making” I have unsurprisingly been making decisions. I wrote this course under the umbrella of my dreaming colour Indigo Blue.

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Here is a slide from said course. Without blowing my own trumpet overly it is a good thought provoking course which has application up to the highest levels.

We have already decided that we need to downsize. The house is way too big and hence expensive to run for our needs and the garden at 2 acres is massive. Our rough parameters are at around 100 square metres for house and less than 2000 square metres {tops} garden. That is about it and of course we are limited in available price.

Next week we have a “when” data input. I will discuss with an orthopaedic surgeon the possibility of a second hip replacement. The basic logic being that if he thinks I should wait we have a time window in which to move house. I am more able than I was last year. If he thinks go ahead, then this year will be operation and recuperation.

Maybe if no operation we will put the house on the market and the level of interest or otherwise will advise on whether we can move and how big the kitty of funds is.

If we are lucky enough be granted rights to remain and live in France we have three possible countries, France, UK and Ireland. There are no important relational ties which restrict choice.

Were we to apply and gain French citizenship in due course we could choose anywhere in the EU.

The where is geo-located to Northwestern Europe. Parts of the UK and France are prohibitively expensive.

It seems likely that we will have to sell, put the money in the bank, and rent for a while. The sale process in France is not as facile as in the UK. We could try to get the stars to align but that could be stressful.

This means we could pretty much live anywhere in the above countries provided that we are happy to shrink capital by six months or a year’s rent.

The notion of a different kind of living / location has come to fore.

So far we have had, quaint village centre, isolated in a middle of a wood on a private estate, on a working farm and in our own compound with pond and a river. We have learned scale and “estate-management”.

Two first pass options have appeared, in the middle of a cathedral quaint town or next to a tidal river…The tide provides a rhythm we sampled once before on holiday in Cornwall.

Because we live in a “pocket” we have lacked direct sight of sunrise and sunset, this is something I might like to rectify.

It is a kind of open ended slightly weird feeling not knowing where nor with any strong inclination. A part of the motivation for coming here was access to a photonic cluster with laser industries. That is not important now.

We do need access to reasonably high level medical care for things like haematology – myeloma but that can be at a 40 minute to hour journey time. We are in the French system which has been very generous and kind.

Might be nice to be a bit warmer, with less rain.

We don’t know where, we do have some incoming on when.

The “doing what” question seems to be converging on more of the same. In other words we will garden, do DIY, meditate and dream. That seems to be the entire scope. Nothing big, no interaction with cheeses big or otherwise. With a smaller garden we could go bonsai like in detail and take a more minute care. Which would be a new approach for us.

There are a few more years before we are eligible for UK state pension which will give a small increase in income.

This is a sketch of the parameter space for the upcoming decision…