Stephen Davies, seeking to explain Europe’s technological and economic breakthrough into modernity, and John Lewis Gaddis reflecting on the emergence of the USA as the world’s current superpower, both identify the defeat of the Spanish Armada as a key moment. Davies says that the failure of Catholic Spain to subdue Protestant England meant that Europe, … Continue reading John Lewis Gaddis on the failure of the Spanish Armada
Exactly a week ago, I spent my last day before You Know What erupted all over us, wandering around London, before attending an amazing chamber music concert at the Wigmore Hall. During these wanderings, I encountered a red carpet, outside the London Palladium, in Argyll Street. Normally when you see a red carpet like this … Continue reading Red carpet photos
Via Twitter, and something called Map Porn, I found my way to this world map drawn by Ahmed Muhiddin Piri in the 16th century: Yet I can only find one other reference to it on the www, in the form of a print of the above which is for sale, here, where it’s described as … Continue reading A sixteenth century map of the world
This evening I happened upon episode 1 of Trains That Changed The World on Yesterday TV, the show which has Steve Davies in it. This was the episode I missed the first time around, so I am very happy about this. For the first half of the show, we were in Britain, covering the Stephensons … Continue reading 4-4-0
I am fond of writing from time to time, about how people with important jobs to do who spend too much time fretting about mere architecture are liable to take their eyes off the ball. What are we trying to do? This question can get lost when you decide to build, and then move into, … Continue reading An architectural contrast
But a lot of rock and rollers are about to leave the stage for ever. Ed Driscoll: Behold the killing fields that lie before us: Bob Dylan (78 years old); Paul McCartney (77); Paul Simon (77) and Art Garfunkel (77); Carole King (77); Brian Wilson (77); Mick Jagger (76) and Keith Richards (75); Joni Mitchell … Continue reading Rock and roll is here to stay
For far longer than I care to go back and calculate, I have been struggling to write a review of Stephen Davies’s new book, The Wealth Explosion. (Shortish excerpts from this book can be read here, here, and here.) Well, some time over the weekend, I realised that the way to get this review written … Continue reading Finally saying something about The Wealth Explosion
The weather outside is again really nice, but it’s wasted on me and my camera. Because, it’s Spurs v Leicester on the internet, England v Windies on the internet, and England v France on the TV. Football, cricket, rugby. How can a man ignore all that? Well, maybe “a man” could, but I can’t. Spurs … Continue reading Sporty Sunday
The Daily Mail has the story: Sony has revealed a radical new sensor chip that could dramatically improve your smartphone pictures. Called the ‘IMX586 stacked CMOS image sensor’ it boasts 48 megapixels, yet measures just 8mm diagonally. It is set to come to phones later this year, and could even appear in the next iPhone. … Continue reading IMX586 stacked CMOS image sensor (and more Samsung overheating)
I’m watching the France v Italy rugby game, which happened earlier this evening. It kicked off at 8pm. But I had a meeting at my home, which also kicked off at 8pm, so I had to ignore the rugby until now, late in the evening. But I set my telly-recorder, and all was well with … Continue reading A fixture clash