Fake Memoir

File Death and Nesting

April 13, 2020 by Simon Robinson 2 Comments

I tried to read some files from a back-up drive yesterday. Dated 1992 and 1991, they were created with MS Word V1 and 2 using Windows 3 (true but a numerical series joke in memory of Lotus 123). The files are available to me because I kept moving them through time from device to device and continent to continent until I switched from Windows to a TimeMachine in an Airport on a windowsill.

I got some text from one of the files and realised that it only gave up its text because it was different – remember Word Perfect? We kept WP up for as long as we could but together with spreadsheet software Quattro Pro, it went the way of DOS. Meanwhile, Lia had bought a Brother hybrid word-processor for her teaching and first novel, a compromise because personal computers cost a month’s gross salary back then. It was hugely important to her. A massive affirmation of the importance of her work.

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Kefir Ezra

April 12, 2020 by Simon Robinson 1 Comment

We’ve been enjoying our own kefir pretty much every day since a friend gave some grains to Lia. Counter Kefir thrives in the kitchen. We use it exclusively in our morning granola. Hers greened with spirulina, them both riddled with cran-, blue- and goji berries as a health-maintaining minimum of supplements we add. There was a time that we’d buy kefir or other probiotics to use for breakfast but having our own is much more satisfying.

So, I wondered, how old is our kefir? How long has it been going? So I asked the donor.

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Early Detection, Early Response

April 10, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

My friend Peter from FabHappy recently posted to Life in the Right Direction about the TED talk from 2006 by Larry Brilliant. Here at home, we watched the talk earlier and were surprised by much of what we saw. If you’ve not see it and don’t work in the field of global medicine, you will be amazed by the simple message: early detection, early response.

I commented on his post. ‘Cheap air travel may be a thing of the past. Imagine how Europe would cope if just 1% of the people living in China and India decided to take a European package holiday in 2021. Tourism may be the biggest class of business casualty.’ Maybe. Maybe not. It’s a possible consequence we’ve been discussing here at home, on sundowner social video calls with friends and family we’ve not otherwise seen for last the 29 days of curfew. Changes to global tourism was something Peter Frankopan mentioned in The New Silk Road (2018), the arrival of newly wealthy middle class tourists from Asia – that was before Covid.

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Nerves

April 9, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

I lost my posting nerve today. The loss of confidence happened after the thought that the leaders of our nations have a duty of care. That thought took me to a keyboard to tap out my idea that leadership requires a set of standards by which leadership performance can be assessed. Perhaps we need an international body, I thought. Tentatively, I wondered if the International Bill of Human Rights might have the teeth. And then I began to seriously worry that I have no self-appointed right to express unqualified personal opinions in such a public forum as an online journal. My musings might constitute noise. Or misinformation. Considered dangerous by some perhaps. Danger is relative. Could something as simple as an E at the end of your name mark you as a Catholic? A English friend of mine thinks it could one day. “No matter now” he said, “because Catholicism is being tolerated”. But we know pograms happen. And like it or not, it’s complacency that enables them. A read of Antonio Tabucchi’s novel Pereira Maintains is a very instructive what-if.

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On Coffee and untold stories

April 4, 2020 by Simon Robinson 2 Comments

Coffee is an acquired taste. I read an online article somewhere a couple of years ago that reported on research that drew several conclusions, one of which was that the tolerance of coffee flavour needed some brain training. We accept that it is bitter because we have learned to anticipate the stimulation it will provide.

on coffee and a double rainbow in Anelo — Double Rainbow Añelo 1995

I like my coffee. I learned to really like it when I was working in Argentina with GQ from Colombia. He demonstrated that coffee doesn’t have to be bitter. But it was a slow learning.

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Mobiles and body heat

March 18, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

18 Mar 2020 – 23:03 GMT – 3°C Mostly Cloudy – Co. Dublin, Ireland

Here in Ireland, schools are closed. So people are out walking with their kids. I was walking on the beach earlier and I noted a few personal distancing issues. People on mobiles seem less able to maintain the social gap. Self importance still prevails. And the gap requested may not be big enough. Shampoo, deodorant and perfume wafted over me. I guess I’m already personal space sensitised. I noted proximity because today was cold and my ear lobes could still detect the body heat of people passing at more than one and a half metres.

I have had a cold the last few days. I looked at my FitBit today and was surprised to see the resting BPM tracked when I was feeling low and when I thought I was getting over it. In fact the daily BPM was rising for a few days before I noticed.

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Fake Memoir

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