St Paul and the dinosaurs

I know I'm not the first to notice the biblical parallels in Jurassic Park but whenever either one of these is quoted, I can't help thinking of the other...

St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 12:
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (David Koepp / Michael Crichton / Malia Scotch Marmo):
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.

TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' technology for November 2017

Here's the technology I was talking about in my November 2017 'gadget guru' chat on TRE Talk Radio Europe this afternoon:

Nuviz
This is a 'head-up' display that’s designed to fit to a motorbike helmet, bringing fighter pilot technology to the road. You get GPS maps, a camera for recording your journey, a hands-free headset connection and the opportunity to listen to music. Nuviz is designed to stick to the bottom right-hand side of a motorbike helmet, offering a transparent screen that sits in front of the rider’s right eye and a controller that fits to the bike handlebars. From what I’ve seen, the Nuviz is a serious piece of kit for any motorcyclist who does a lot of riding in unfamiliar territory. UK price is £615.

Bowers and Wilkins PX headphones
Bowers and Wilkins started making loudspeakers back in the 1960s – that’s still what they’re best known for – and only expanded into headphones less than ten years ago. The PX is the company's first pair of wireless headphones with built-in active noise-cancellation. Inside the earpiece is a 40mm driver angled to send the music straight into your ears. They connect via Bluetooth, with buttons on the right-hand earpiece for volume control and playing or pausing - and can even stop your music automatically when you take them off. Expect to pay around £329.


Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa 
This loudspeaker is designed to attach to any of Motorola's Moto Z phones. It fastens on magnetically, which is rather neat, and gives you a pair of stereo speakers delivering 8 watts of music power. Inside is the same kind of technology as one of Amazon’s Echo loudspeakers, including a connection to the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant. It’ll listen out for instructions through its four microphones and will answer the same questions you might ask an Amazon Echo device. Except, of course, because it’s attached to your phone, you don’t need to be at home to do any of this. And because it’s attached to your phone, the phone screen can also show you answers whilst Alexa talks to you. Pricing is $149/£99.

USB fridge 
A few years ago, accessories powered by the USB socket on your laptop or desktop computer were all the rage. I thought this trend had gone away but it seems I was wrong, because I’ve spotted a USB fridge. How on earth do you get enough power out of a USB socket to power a fridge? Part of the answer is the size of the thing: it’s literally only capable of holding a single 330ml can of drink. It’ll cool to around 8 Celsius after five minutes, which isn’t as cold as a proper fridge but is perfectly acceptable, I’d say. Especially for £14.99.

Rocket FM Lewes 'Talking Culture’ playlist from 30th October 2017

Here's a list of the songs I played during the 'Talking Culture' show on Rocket FM Lewes today:

The Whitlams: Thank You (For Loving Me At My Worst)
Katie Melua: The Closest Thing To Crazy
David Lee Roth: Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Be My Baby
Paul McCartney: Silly Love Songs
Sara Bareilles: Love Song
Michael Nyman: Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds
After The Fire: One Rule For You
Tracey Ullman: Breakaway
Peter Skellern: Hold On To Love
Mister Solo: Number One
Jill Sobule: I Kissed A Girl
Jimmy Cliff: Wonderful World, Beautiful People

Baffled at a Bookcase

...a library needs to be handy and local; it shouldn’t require an expedition. Municipal authorities of all parties point to splendid new and scheduled central libraries as if this discharges them of their obligations. It doesn’t. For a child a library needs to be round the corner. And if we lose local libraries it is children who will suffer.

Alan Bennett, first published in the London Review of Books and then in 'The Library Book' (borrowed from Ringmer library, which is threatened with closure).

If you tolerate this...

Ridding our villages, towns and cities of libraries, which are essential in shaping a nation's consciousness, seems like a direct attack on the soul of the country.

Nicky Wire, from 'If you tolerate this...', originally quoted in The Guardian and published in 'The Library Book' (borrowed from Ringmer library, which is threatened with closure).

Ringmer library

My local library in Ringmer is threatened with closure, despite having moved to a new building last year. It seemed an opportune time to borrow Ali Smith's 'Public library and other stories' and to quote her correspondence with Sarah Wood about the opening of a new library:

It was a really fantastic moment in my life, in our lives, a moment of real change. The brand new building brought with it the idea that our local history was important - that books were important, but also that we were too, and that where we lived was.

Rocket FM Lewes 'Talking Culture’ playlist from 23rd October 2017

Here's a list of the songs I played during the 'Talking Culture' show on Rocket FM Lewes today:

Michael Bublé: It's a Beautiful Day
Aqualung: Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)
Sergio Mendes and The Black Eyed Peas: Mas Que Nada
Linda Thompson: Lonely Hearts
Thelonious Monk: It Don't Mean A Thing
Talitha Rise: Bloodfox
David Hasselhoff: Hooked On A Feeling
The Beach Boys: Break Away
Astrud Gilberto: Parade
Tom Petty: Free Fallin'
Patrick Duff: Mother Nature's Refugee
Dido: Life for Rent