At Length

Goes on a bit.

Hobby Horse Sated

2019/03/20

From the Twitters

The European Copyright Directive has reared its unsightly head again and what I find notable about these regular Rights battles is that the one group of people who are ignored are those of us who actually pay for what we consume. It’s always so called ‘creators’ versus pirates and the rest of us are supposed to just lump it.

It’s definitely made me buy more stuff second hand and concentrate my purchasing on independent artists. Why should I support those who want to make it easy for the Government to clamp down on dissent by enabling a censorship system that won’t work to stop piracy.

Like the ‘Home Taping Is Killing Music’¹ campaign the concentration on the debatable effects of piracy just diverts from the money grab by the big media companies and the business practices of Amazon and the like which is where artists money is actually going.

And we live in a backward looking era where there’s hundreds of years of proven high quality books, art, and media for new work to compete with and a vast over supply of artists. There’s a lot of good writers, musicians, etc. about but very few decent plumbers. Supply and demand.

P.S. And in a desperate attempt to save the word from its current decline to just a marketing phrase – this is what creative means.

‘In 1965 Seiichi Miyake spent his own money to invent tactile blocks (or Tenji blocks as they were originally known) to help a friend whose vision was becoming impaired.’

It didn’t. ↩

Froome Zooms

2018/05/26

Photograph of Chris Froome and Ritchie Porte taken at the Tour de France by Robert Calin — Photo By Robert Calin

On the 19th Stage of this year’s Giro Chris Froome attacked from eighty one kilometres to go to win by three minutes and turn a deficit of two minutes and fifty four seconds to Tom Dumoulin into a forty second lead.

This has led to a certain amount of speculation, egged on by the advertising click reliant cycling websites, about whether such a performance was possible drug free which will continue whether the drugs tests he will have been subject to during the race prove positive or not.

Though extraordinary the circumstances of the attack make the result credible.

As a multiple Grand Tour winner just finishing on the podium had far less appeal to Froome than memorable attack than could win the Tour. Also an audacious attempt at victory would put doubt into the minds of his rivals who tired after two weeks or racing might hesitate to commit to a pursuit immediately as well as causing panic amongst their teams. Though is seemed unlikely it would succeed of the riders currently competing Froome was probably was the one with enough all round ability, results and reputation to make it possible.
Crashes in the first week of the race had affected his form which in any case had been planned to improve throughout the Giro with a view to being in the best shape for the Tour de France. Even then he had won on the most difficult stage of the race, 14 to Mount Zoncolon, which suggested he wasn’t far off his best. (Though he did lose time the following day an occurrence amongst riders which has become more common in an era of less drug use as recovery suffers).
As he has been improving many riders who started the race stronger have been losing form, most dramatically the race leader Simon Yates who lost thirty eight minutes on the day. That not only took the race leader out of the pursuit but also his team which had been strong throughout and would have likely increased the fire power of the chase.
His team have not been at its best and with some exceptions had been notably absent in the later parts of the race each day so using them early in the stage would be getting the most out of them. Additionally by distancing his rivals from their domestics they would have to work as hard as him, or a little less when in groups on the flat.
As I noticed during the day, and was reported later as part of the plan, Froome had helpers with food and drink all along the route whereas the chasers had far less support meaning they had to use some energy and spend time getting nourishment from their team cars which in parts of the climbs and descents was difficult.
The closest group chasing included two men who wouldn’t help because of a private battle over the White Jersey for best young rider and who knew the other members would continue working anyway improving their General Classification position. For much of the time the brace of riders from Groupama-FDJ alternated riding with Tom Dumoulin so the chase was two against one with only the Sunweb rider being the equal of Froome on the flat so when he wasn’t on the front the gap increased. As Dumoulin commented it may have been a mistake waiting for one of them who he described as descending like an ‘old lady’ which meant losing more time than they should even allowing for Froome taking greater risks.
Haranguing the non-contributing riders suggests the Groupama-FDJ duo were letting themselves be distracted from the task at hand and as Thibaut Pinot wasn’t in a race with Chris Froome but with Domenico Pozzovivo for a place on the podium their efforts were geared more towards that than risking all to catch the leader.
Interestingly, or perhaps hypocritically, no comments have been made about the performance of three riders distancing by five minutes a far larger group chasing behind.
A gain of three minutes over eighty one kilometres means Froome was riding at just over two seconds per kilometre faster than the chasers which doesn’t sound quite so super human. Of course he had no respite from the wind but as no mention appears to have been made of its direction it suggests that neither a head wind, which would favour a group of riders, had hindered him or a tail wind had aided him.
It has been insinuated that this ride had much in common with when Floyd Landis temporarily won the Tour de France before being disqualified for drug use but the exploits of Fausto Coppi may be more apt as without artificial help to aid recovery extremes of performance become more likely.

On the other hand it may have all been a mistake. Chris Froome was only trying to win the Mountains Jersey.

A Matter Of Degree

2017/04/04

Whilst lists on Social Media of which Degrees should be funded may be useful to Michael Gove, trying to defend University Courses on the basis of utility is a slippery slope we’ve been sliding down since the 1980s ¹.

I’m all for paying for GPs, Tax Avoidance Consultants, Artists and Architects who specify cheap cladding ² to learn but those who have been customers of the Degree Factories often seem to be supporting wage differentials rather than Education.

The point either misunderstood or ignored amongst the trickle down arguments for subsidising University is the extent to which those who haven’t had the advantage of attending gain from supporting those who do and currently things are out of balance and without a reversal of increasing inequality they are going to get worse.

For every graduate research chemist there are fifty middle managers in that position because of a piece of paper rather than ability and even if a job is open to non degree holding candidates they will be paid considerably less.

No one could argue against funding Doctors to train because that is a rare absolute case of us all benefiting – whilst there is an NHS. Dentists? Unless you’re lucky you have to pay through the teeth.

As the State shrinks, contractors replace Councils, more and more things are privatised, house prices rise and wages increase faster for those already have the most we’re really not getting a good return on our investment.
Continuing with the popular GP example, (it’s never an executive imposing zero hours contracts for some reason), whilst a Surgery cannot exist without a Doctor, at any sort of scale neither can it exist without receptionists – they are interdependent. You might care to look at the wages of the latter as it’s an example of undoubted ‘benefit’ but also a rather measly one. ‘How much do you pay your cleaner?’ as I like to ask the more middle class Graduate.

As happened during the Brexit Referendum campaign telling people with little how well off they are rings rather hollow coming from those who quite often have rather enjoyable well paid jobs.

The move in recent decades to University becoming ‘Big School’ has seen billions wasted on those forced into it despite it not suiting them, not least for the lack of attention and funding for alternatives and the economic penalty of not going. Like the comedy ‘Gold Standard’ of A-Levels the combination of those who assume ‘it was good for me it must be good for everyone’ and those who fear Degrees losing their social status and financial advantage condemns us to a system that does not get the best out of everyone. All should have a chance to go University but they should also have the opportunity not to.

This is hopelessly simplistic but a grand thesis in comparison to the ‘four legs good two legs bad’ reaction to the questioning of this holy cow ³.

Recommended relevant text: A Very Peculiar Practice ↩
Grenfell Tower Fire ↩
I was worried I was short of cliches in this post but pulled it out of the bag at the last moment to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. ↩

More Matters Of Import Debated On The Internet

2016/04/08

A brief Twitter exchange over a throwaway comment on a post invoking visions of pots, kettles and the colour black.

But let’s take a closer look at this scandalous slight on the honour of creatives who choose the electric kazoo as their means of artistic expression.

‘That’s a thing now’ – Home made and bespoke electric kazoos have of course been around for over fifty years but the emergence of manufacture at scale dates at least to the early 21st Century.

‘Nobody wanted or needed that’ – The Twit disparaging the electric kazoo is a self-confessed ukulelist who might have had more empathy for an instrument that like their own has been dismissed as a novelty or toy for much of its existence. It’s a classic case of displacing a subconscious inferiority complex onto an instrument seen as ‘lesser’ in an attempt to bolster the ego of the protagonist and the perceived status of his or her ‘axe’.

But perhaps most problematic is framing an instrument traditionally played by the poor, particularly in rural areas of the USA, as unnecessary sustains a divisive narrative dismissing the experiences of minority, lower class, or otherwise excluded groups as less worthy than those of elites.

Kontakt users can approximate the sound of the Electric Kazoo using the Soniccouture Concert Kazoos library though it should be noted that a breath controller is required for any semblance of realism.