Cute Cat Friday 2014-05-09: Belle

Triumphant queen of the climbing tree, challenged only by a piece of string.

Blue Ruin: Review

Blue Ruin is a spare, dark and brilliantly constructed suspense thriller.

The protagonist wants to take revenge for the murder of his parents. This premise is familiar from a thousand Hollywood stories. Bruce Wayne in the Batman films, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, and Mathilda from Leon dedicate their lives to learning how to fight. After a time of preparation and training, they go forth to bring terrible retribution upon those who wronged their families.

Blue Ruin is quite different. Dwight, the protagonist, has not sculpted himself into a fearsome killing machine. He is living a solitary, penniless life in a beach resort somewhere in the American state of Delaware. From the beginning, he displays a stubborn determination to survive and hold onto the few things which matter to him. He passes up opportunities to steal and has not succumbed to alcoholism or drugs; instead, he spends his evenings quietly reading books.

When he learns the man convicted of his parents' murder has been released from prison, he gathers his few resources and sets off to take his revenge.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-05-02: Dexter

Dexter enjoying some much needed lap time, after a hard day of cat activities.

Scotland's Vote 4: Beware the Cataclysm

The Scottish independence referendum is a decision of the utmost importance. It deserves serious and sober discussion from both sides. Instead, more often than not, we are given complete and utter bilge.

The Yes side is far from blameless, but this particular offender is from the No campaign.

A Cataclysm to Delight the Forces of Darkness

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen was the UK's defence secretary from 1997-99, and Secretary-General of NATO from 1999-2004. As shadow Scottish secretary in the 1990s and a Scottish Labour MP from 1978-99, he is a veteran of Scottish politics. One might expect him to be a person of substance when it comes to defence policy in Scotland.

Then again, Robertson is the man who predicted devolution would "kill Scottish nationalism stone dead." His latest contribution is unlikely to restore his credibility.

On 8 April Robertson gave a gave a speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington DC, in which he declared Scotland leaving the UK would have "cataclysmic" strategic consequences:

The loudest cheers for the break-up of Britain would be from our adversaries and from our enemies. For the second military power in the west to shatter this year would be cataclysmic in geo-political terms ... the forces of darkness would simply love it. [Emphasis mine]

The Brookings Institute is a serious think tank. I expect there were a few raised eyebrows at this sort of language.

Why should anyone believe scientists?

An old schoolmate recently asked an interesting question:

Most people don't really understand science. They are only repeating what they heard at school or in the media. So aren't they just taking science on faith, as if it were another religion?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: First of all, professional scientists don't understand most of science. How could it be otherwise? The totality of science is the work of thousands if not millions of people, over hundreds of years. It's far more than one human being could learn in a lifetime.

So the question isn't why the ordinary person in the street should believe what scientists say. Why should anyone believe them?

One good reason is that any given part of science is open to being observed and understood by a newcomer. Here is an example from my personal experience.

Cute Cat Friday 25-04-2014: Belle

Belle is enjoying the sunny windowsill and does not wish to be disturbed.

Transcendence: Review

Transcendence is an ambitious film about the rise of a superhuman artificial intelligence. It doesn't achieve all it sets out to do, but it is a commendable attempt.

Hollywood's record in trying to address artificial intelligence has been patchy at best. It includes the sentimental nonsense of Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence, the stylish kung-fu nonsense of The Matrix, and the totally absurd nonsense of The Lawnmower Man. Transcendence seems to be keenly aware of this history, and it is desperate to be taken seriously. To some extent it is successful. Much like its main character, Transcendence has overcome the weakness of its ancestors, but lost something of its humanity along the way.