Civilisation : the west and the rest by Niall Ferguson

I recently finished reading "Civilisation: the west and the rest" by Niall Ferguson, which accompanied the 2011 Channel Four TV series "Civilization: Is the West history?". It's an absorbing and thought provoking book on how the west, that is Europe and later the United States dominated the world from 1500 onwards. 

Most people, on both sides of politics, would argue that the western dominance came through military might in the last five centuries, however Ferguson presents a more complicated picture.  He explains in great detail that five 'killer apps' were responsible - science, property rights, rule of law, democracy and consumerism.  

It's a thoroughly readable book and I recommend it to anyone wanting to understand how the west became dominant. 

In praise of sudoku

 As my years advance, I have become more aware of my declining mental health and cognitive abilities. I can see the effects of this on my own mother who is in the middle stages of Alzheimers.

I have tried various methods to counter this and one of these is doing the Japanese mathematical puzzle sudoku. I found it has improved my memory and analytical skills. And its quite enjoyable to do. It also works well with the modern tablet and Ipad age. On my chosen sudoku app, I’m on the hardest level already with less than twenty clues in a nine by nine grid.

In praise of going to museums

Throughout my adult life, I have always been fascinated by museums, I have my favourites (Imperial war museum London and the Louvre, Paris) which I been to many times and will continue to visit whenever I get the chance.

As well as learning something and being entertained, I have found them to be places where I can relax as well. Some are expensive, some cheap and some free.  Plus the museum restaurant is a good place to find a hearty budget lunch.

Today I paid another visit to the Hong Kong Palace Museum to see the ancient Egypt exhibition. It was smaller than I expected and well presented.  There were no mummies available but plenty of coffins and statues. One thing I learnt was that mummification of the dead in Egypt continued into the Hellenic and Roman periods.  Also the entrails of the deceased were removed, stored in jars and entombed with the body, very unpleasant work for the unlucky one.

Since I have already seen the other galleries I left after not long afterwards.

Lunar New Year

It's that time of year again, the new lunar year is upon us, today is lunar new years eve and tomorrow its the year of the horse. Here in Hong Kong its a time for family get togethers, sharing presents and putting up decorations. As a Chinese person, it helps gets through the depressing months of January and February, especially when I lived in the UK. All I can say is happy new year everyone.

In praise of…………. watching live sport

Yesterday I went to Reading to see some friends for dinner, in order to maximise my time there, i went to watch the local football team play at extravagantly named Select-A-Car stadium.  Reading FC played Barnsley in a third tier match. The game ended in a 2-2 draw and it was good way to spend an afternoon.  Obviously the skill levels were below the levels of the EPL, however it was the excitement, frustration, joys and the sense of shared community spirit which caught my mind. Here you can let out your emotions alongside your fellow fans and spectators.  This cannot replicated in a pub or watching it via television at home. Despite advances in technology, nothing matches the thrill of watching something live.

Jerusalem string quartet

Last night I attended a concert performed by the Jerusalem String Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in London. This combo from Israel has been attracting the pro-Palestine/antisemite crowd over the years so I decided to see and listen to them for myself.

The pieces performed included one from Mozart, Shulamit Ran and Ravel in that order. I have been to a few classical concerts in the past few years including a number of BBC Proms concerts.  The pieces were delivered with passion to a polite crowd that included several chinese concert goers. It was what I expected. Wigmore Hall being a rather small venue was perfect for this, as it gave me a cosy in ones’ living room experience.

The Rise of Skywalker

 On my flight from Hong Kong to London, I watched the last box office installment of the Star Wars franchise, “The Rise of Skywalker”.  All I can say is that this is the worst film of the franchise and Disney has truly ruined what George Lucas created.

My criticisms include CGI use of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and most controversially the re-spawning of Emperor Palpatine.  They could have written Leia out of the story and the re-spawn of Palpatine meant that the entire ending of episode six, “The return of the Jedi”, meant nothing.

The only redeeming feature was the cameo given by Dennis Lawson as Wedge Antilles.  I agreed with the prequels and also with “Rogue One” but the films after Return of the Jedi should never have been made. 

bodø/glimt vs manchester city

I had the pleasure of listening to this game on BBC Radio 5 Live and all I can say is well done bodø glint.  The BBC has many faults, especially in news reporting but it does live sport really well.

London postal musem

Yesterday, I paid a visit to the London postal museum.  I had heard about it in a Youtube video from one of my long time favourite railway channels. It was nestled on edge of the east end, and it was split into two sites across a road. One site is the main exhibition hall and the other, an underground mail terminus that used to deliver mail under the streets of the capital.

The ticket (£18) includes a ride on the restored mail train, and if you want to ride it you must book advance by buying the ticket online. You can, of course, buy your ticket at the door but there is no guarantee of spaces on the train.  I was just interested interested in the exhibition so I skipped the train ride.

The display was about the history of the mail service in Britain, which has its roots in medieval times. Then it moves on to how mail was transported, from horse to train and then by road.  Finally it explains the development of how it was paid for, which lead us to the humble postage stamp.  It did mention the public telephone system which was run by the post office before splitting off to become British Telecom.

Later I went across the road to have a look at the mail rail, as a train nerd, it was interesting to learn about the development of this service which solved the issue of avoiding the congestion on London’s streets.  To me the mail rail looked like a giant miniature underground railway.  I noticed younger visitors were very excited to be on it.

All in all it was an enjoyable day out, I do think it’s better suited to children

In praise of ….. going to church

I have been going to church on and off every Sunday, although I am not a baptised Christian, I draw many personal benefits from it. My journey into Christianity and religion in general started in the 1990s after meeting a born again Christian friend, who was the first Christian I can genuinely relate to.  After that I dabbled in new age spirituality and Buddhism as well.  I have also read the koran since then.

Religion makes us think about spiritual things and not just on the material things.  This has made me less anxious and more relaxed over things which I have no control. If it happens, it happens. Even when I’m only I still make an effort to go on a Sunday.  There is also the social aspect of meeting people and doing something tangible.

Ebay

 Anyone reading still using Ebay?

Moongazing

I have been following astronomy for more than five years. Until recently it had been reading astronomy books and watching astronomy related videos on youtube, last year i bought myself a pair of stargazing binoculars second hand.

I have used it mostly to moongaze as Hong Kong is plagued with light pollution in even its rural parts, rendered stargazing impossible . With it, I have been able to observe the very cratered surface of our natural satellite.  The binoculars came with a small tripod but it was too small to have any use.  I bought it because i wanted to do stargazing on a budget but it only works with little light pollution and a proper tripod.

A telescope would be better for stargazing but for the moon and the other solar system planets a 80x20 pair of binoculars would suffice.