Wednesday, October 11, 2006

my dinner party

Ok, in response to rob's dinner party challenge, here are my 8:


Neil Armstrong - this man was the first to walk on the moon for goodness sake. Although he doesn't like to talk about it much, it would be nice just to see what kind of guy he is. Maybe we could chat after the cheese course.



Galileo - one of the original Big Boys... as a fellow scientist and astronomer, I'd like to see his reaction to how far we've come in the last few centuries. I'd be particularly interested in his take on the Current Paradigm.








Ian Banks - he is one of my favourite authors, and I think he'd make an excellent guest. I'm sure we could have a good discussion over a fine malt.








Sir Alec Guinness - one of my favourite actors, and a famously reclusive character. I'd like to have a one-to-one with him over a glass of cognac.










King Arthur - one of my countrymen, and protector of the land. Not dead, but merely sleeping until a time when we are in great peril, it would be great to have His Majesty at the do. I'm sure he and Sir Francis would have a good natter about days of battle. I'd be interested to hear Arthur's take on the world situation.











Sir Francis Drake - this guy came from not too far away from my neck of the woods. What can I say - he circumnavigated the globe and beat the Armada. Fascinating dinner guest.










Richard Feynman - it was said of Feynman: "There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.". He was also a really interesting guy. An asset to the dinner.







Finally, I would have one of my distant ancestors (a great**6 grandfather for example), brought back at the same age as me. I'd like to compare notes on our lifestyles.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

a sad day

this blog is usually light hearted, and frankly purile on occasion. however, we do have our serious, reflective moments in 311... this is one of them. john and i were sad today to learn of the death of the young snooker player paul hunter, who has lost his battle with cancer. he was 27 years old. snooker has lost a great player, and our thoughts are, of course, with his family at this time.