Open Sesame

As well as being another funk classic it also became popular on the Northern Soul scene here in the UK.

Kool & The Gang - Open Sesame

Enjoy

Recent Book Finds

These are the books found on my travels this week.

Good Morning

Yep, It is Friday Again

Thankfully, all that humidity we had prior to yesterday has gone and whilst the temperatures are slightly cooler it has meant that the humidity is now acceptable.

Past sentence is now open on Thursday ,so she has increased her opening days by one - so that means Tuesday, Thursday , Friday and Saturday, and no doubt I will pop in today.

Yesterday i made some fusion dishes from leftovers I had.



Chargrilled Mediterranean veg with apple and spinach wild rice and leftover brown rice.

followed by



Vegetable pakoras with spicy chicken pasta.

Very tasty mix in all.

Well, as it is Friday I may have fish and chips today.

Book 68 - Yuval Noah Harari "Homo Deus"

Yuval Noah Harari "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" (Vintage)





Until the last two chapters, I was with this book. Harari has written a book which many reviewers have taken as a dystopian prediction of the future but, which is in reality, a discussion document looking at potential futures, working on current trends.

If you are as old as me, you will remember those 'Tomorrow's World' type programmes on the television: if their 1970's ideas as to life in the 21st century had been accurate, we would all be using flying cars, have limitless free energy and be living the life of luxury whilst robots undertake all the work. I don't need to tell you, that this is not quite the way things worked out! Similarly, this book is most unlikely to be a pre-history.

The author does raise many interesting concepts: the end of the liberal era is something which I could see coming to pass but, Mr Harari goes further than this, he offers us the replacement 'religion' for the new era; he calls this 'Dataism', which I found fascinating and yet fantastical.

Dataism is described as a new, fact-based religion. It seems that human beings, if they survive, will become a sort of universal virus, collecting information just for the pleasure of knowing. I say, 'if they survive because the suggestion is that artificial intelligence will be far more effective at this task and that we will either become enhanced human/computer mergers or, we will replace ourselves with a homo sapiens creation.

The wealthy, the influential, the high rollers will not negotiate themselves into a position of less power and the underclasses are sadly showing a lack of concern for the issues of significance; they are neatly sidetracked into a world of 'needing the latest technology', and playing with these new toys. Capitalism will not go gently into that good night, alas, and all the egalitarians will find themselves wanting according to his thesis.

Interestingly, a brief study of the interweb shows that the whole concept of 'Dataism' is far from a rapidly expanding new religion, it is a crank idea with little following.

An interesting book, but don't expect it to change your life.

Music Meme Time

A short meme snagged from curiouswombat
These are my answers. Feel free to repost in your own journal, or add your answers here as comments.

No Googling, no children's songs.



A Place – I Love London In The Rain by Blossom Dearie
A Food – Chicken Strut by The Meters
A Drink - One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer by John Lee Hooker
Animal – What's New Pussycat by Tom Jones
A Number – Take Five by Dave Brubeck
Colour -  Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
Boy’s Name – Miles Ahead by Miles Davis
Girl's name – Stella By Starlight by Miles Davis
Profession – If I Were A Carpenter by The Four Tops
A Vehicle - Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin

Well, that was easy.

Jazzy's Jazzanova

That music meme has made me think of doing another music post. So here is a totally jazzy one!

George Russell Orchestra - Manhattan Rico

Cannonball Addderley Quintet - Straight Life

Dave Brubeck - Take Five

Miles Davis - Tutu

Enjoy

Word Of The Day

I could not think of any yesterday but today's word is -


Nutation




Nutation (from Latin nūtātiō, "nodding, swaying") is a rocking, swaying, or nodding motion in the axis of rotation of a largely axially symmetric object, such as a gyroscope, planet, or bullet in flight, or as an intended behaviour of a mechanism. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the second Euler angle. If it is not caused by forces external to the body, it is called free nutation or Euler nutation. A pure nutation is a movement of a rotational axis such that the first Euler angle is constant. In spacecraft dynamics, precession (a change in the first Euler angle) is sometimes referred to as nutation.

I nutate often when listening to jazz music lol!

The Friday Five

1. What would you do if you won the lottery?

2. What era do you wish you had lived in?

3. What kind of robot would you want?

4. What would you outsource if you could?

5. What superpower do you wish you had?

Air Guitar

In Finland every year they have an Air Guitar competition.

I wonder if there is any jazz drum air or jazz piano air competition. Think I would be very good at at air jazz piano and drum. I often pretend i have a piano at my computer desk listening to John Coltrane. What would be you air instrument fantasy or prowess?

Some Interesting New or Newish Books On My Want List

Just Wondering

Do you have any china?

Do you have any family silver?

If you were going to leave your best friend something, what would it be?