Cycling as therapy.

The strip of LED lighting that was yesterday installed under the canopy is too harsh. So, I constructed a red acetate filter to cover it and the effect is pleasing.

The LED strip in question

The acetate filter

The filter fits over the LED strip

Voila

Canopy in position

Voila, encore

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Currently listening to:

"Through the Night" on BBC Radio 3 iPlayer

Verdi's Quartet in E minor arr. for string orchestra [orig. for string quartet]

Performed by the Varazdin Chamber Orchestra from Croatia.

This was a new piece to me - superb.

Varazdin

Varazdin

Varazdin, Croatia

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Last night's dinner:

Scallops, black pudding, cabbage and 3 little potatoes

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Began reading two books:

With this one in reserve:

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Miscellany:

Last night, listened to a radio interview with Gerald Ratner who in the 1980s ran the largest jewellery company in the world. Famously the company went down the tubes in the early 90s and it's only in the last 10 years that he has built up a replacement business.

But, during his 10 years in the wilderness, he took up road cycling and 22 years on he is still a cycling addict; cycling was the one good thing which emerged from his commercial and personal disaster.

I found this short article about him online.

Gerald Ratner, famous for the backfiring “total crap” joke in 1989, is a roadie nut. He told the Daily Telegraph at the weekend that ridicule from newspapers and his removal from the family jewellery firm – the biggest in the UK at the time – could have sent him over the edge: “If it wasn’t for my bike, I’d have gone to the funny farm.”

Ratner now runs a online jewellery firm – geraldonline.com – and places cycling first in his list of hobbies.

Every day he rides his Trek Madone – the Lance Armstrong bike – on the same 32-mile route, leaving from his house in Bray, Berkshire. He tries to average at least 18mph, revealed the Daily Telegraph.

Profiling Ratner, the newspaper accused the entrepreneur of being “borderline compulsive-obessive” because he rides a bike in racing kit.

“I love the feeling,” said Ratner.

“It’s the highlight of my life. I love getting all the clothes that go with it, the shoes that click into the pedals, the windproof jacket, the Lycra, the tights.”

The Telegraph report clearly thought Ratner needed therapy but the 56-year old retailer said riding his bike was cathartic. Cycling had been “a great deal cheaper than a shrink," he said. 

Anyway, for a change, I took out the Peugeot this afternoon - now using the drop handlebars as they are meant to be used pretty well at all times.

Dusk over the Clyde

St Andrew's RC Cathedral in Clyde Street

The Armadillo

The Hydro

LED lighting strips for HO Scale scenery

Some time ago I purchased a strip of LED lights that I think is intended to illuminate the interior of HO scale railway carriages.

I'm going to use it to light up the underneath of the canopy in my night club scene.

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Currently listening to and indeed have just purchased from iTunes:

Which is a compilation of 26 Samba songs performed by various respected practitioners of the genre.

This is all bongo-related, of course.

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Last night's dinner:

I must say, the Shenaz Indian restaurant in Glasgow, excelled itself last night and such a consistently civilised place to visit.

Their motto is "One visit means many" which once a friend rather cruelly interpreted to be a reference to an upset stomach afterwards.

Vegetable pakora

Chicken curry and boiled rice.

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Currently reading:

Various online articles about the Ramsey-Lewis method.

eg

as a functionalist model of the mind.

So far, totally unconvinced by it - but, I must be wrong.

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Miscellany:

Cycled around the West End of Glasgow on various errands this morning.

University Ave approaching Gibson Street.

Fitting light reflector to "Hotel" sign

The "Hotel" sign made from the green circular lid of a milk carton was open at the back and so light escaped from it and lit up the wall behind it - see pictures below for this to make sense.

So, today I attached a circle of cooking foil to the back of the lid to form a reflector.

Not sure whether this was a good thing or not!

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Currently listening to:

So far, I have done very little in the way of "mucking about with" or "exploring" my bongos. My custom has been to spend approx 35 minutes per day practising the routines provided by my tutor almost always accompanying the Samba music of Cartola.

However, most musicians recommend a degree of "mucking about with" and "exploring" one's instrument, and for many reasons. (Too tired to articulate what those reasons are but in my bones I think such experimentation is probably a good learning tool.)

So, in addition to my daily routines - which I am scared to abandon even for a day - I have also been finding time to accompany the highly percussive music of "Golden Teacher". Usually, these sessions have consisted of my adapting Samba patterns to Golden Teacher's less syncopated but more incessant rhythms.

Here's the link to the appropriate Soundcloud web page.

https://soundcloud.com/optimo-music/golden-teacher-dante-and/related

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Last night's dinner:

Sea Bass under a red pepper sauce, asparagus and sweet potatoes.

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Currently reading:

Back to the philosophy of mind with a vengeance eg today's lunch.

And have finished Henry Miller's filthy but brilliant:

The book is a brilliant evocation of mid-20th Century Paris and the writing is stunning. But, there is very little characterisation compared, say, with that in another American book, Ask the Dust, by John Fante.

I've just discovered that Ask the Dust was made into a film:

I wonder if it's any good.

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Miscellany:

The weather has been far too windy for me to go out on the bike today and I must say that as a result I feel quite maffe.

Humbrol Metal Cote

Used some Humbrol enamel paint to achieve a few tasks today.

Basically, silver paint.

For some time, I've been thinking that the green colour of the ceramic church roof is not right. It would be better if it was painted a grayish colour similar to the rest of the church building. The plan was to cover the green with the Metal Cote and then later apply a few coats of Mod Podge - see earlier episodes of blog re Podge.

I was so pleased with the result that I decided to silverise the flat roof of the adjoining building and some unpainted areas surrounding the church.

Looks much better already.

And, since the tin of silver paint was open, applied a coat to the roof of one of my Budd carriages - the one that had been darkened by being over-painted by the person who sold it to me on eBay.

I think that it's an improvement.

Acquired this French poster yesterday from my sister. A superb evocation of a French cafe. I've found a good place to hang it so that it adds atmosphere to the layout.

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Currently listening to:

The usual stuff on Soundcloud.

If you follow the link below, you'll find out something about Soundcloud and their Berlin offices.

http://blog.soundcloud.com/2011/01/12/work-at-soundcloud/

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Last night's dinner:

Forgot to take photographs but it was a traditional Christmas dinner at the house of my niece's family - where we've been for last few years.

Despite the fact that both my niece and her husband were loaded with the cold I can honestly say that the meal was their best ever - fantastic.

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Currently reading:

The Myth of the Turing Machine
The Failings of Functionalism and Related Theses

I'm not at all keen on reading loads of text on a computer screen, but this article was so relevant to my philosophy of mind studies that I persevered and read it to the end. Here's the link.

http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~celiasmi/Papers/Turing%20Myth.central.jetai.1ce.nofields.html

It was written in 2002 by Chris Eliasmith.

He states the Functionalist argument for a computational model of the mind as follows:

1.     Systems with minds are cognitive systems.

2.     Cognitive systems are computational systems.

3.     Turing machines can completely describe any computational system.

4.     Therefore, Turing machines can completely describe any cognitive system (2. and 3.).

5.     Turing machines are defined independently of implementation (i.e. functionally).

6.     Therefore, cognitive systems can be defined independently of implementation (4. and 5.).

7.     Therefore, systems with  minds can be defined independently of implementation (1. and 6.).

That in itself was helpful.

He then points to a weakness in the argument, namely, the ambiguity or, as he calls it, equivocation in the phrase computational systems. In premise 2 computational systems refer to actual concrete devices that can compute eg minds. But in premise 3, the phrase computational systems refer to mere formal statements as to the requirements of such systems.

P    Premise 2 can only be true if computational systems is meant in its concrete formulation. But, in that case, premise 3 becomes false because Turing machines only refer to abstract formal requirements of a system and not to any particular concrete implementation of that system.

Bit of a coincidence that this week, Alan Turing should receive his posthumous Royal Pardon.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/alan-turing-gets-royal-pardon-for-gross-indecency--61-years-after-he-poisoned-himself-9023116.html

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Miscellany:

Late afternoon, as the light was beginning to fade, I went on a 60 minute cycle around the north side of Glasgow.

Christmas pannier.