Sunday 5 February 2012

2234 Review of the week, Leveson, the weather, this and that, Ironclad and Tron Legacy in 3D

It has been a best of intentions failure weekend so far after a mixed fortunes day. It was time to report on the latest evidence to the Leveson Inquiry but I needed to clear my head filled with recently discovered family history information and also print out the verbatim records and individual statements for the last four days which I have listened to and sometimes watched, but without my usual single minded attention and accumulating understanding of what was unfolding but had been clearly planned by the Inquiry masterminds. It has to kept in mind that the Inquiry team received all the formal written evidence for this first section of the first part inquiry several months ago against the background from knowledge they will have received from the government when establishing the inquiry, the various Parliamentary committees, at the Seminars, and anecdotally as part of their own background collating as Leveson and team visits newsroom and generally obtained a measure of what had been happening and why. This is after all an investigation and not a criminal trial although the Mail newspapers have been acutely aware that have been in the dock of public opinion from the outset and their behaviour since suggests they are damn well guilty and know it. Mr Dacre appears on Monday and will no doubt explain why he launched his unjustified and vitriolic attack on High Grant at the beginning of the inquiry which whether intended appeared as an attempt to derail the presentation of witness evidence and I am one who regarded the behaviour of his papers contempt with contempt. We believe in the freedom of the press except if you attack us.

I want to also complete a piece about the experience of 3D television so by the time I have completed this writing, after losing a large chunk later yesterday, watching Newcastle on the telly, Antiques Roadshow, Come Dancing and Superbowl tonight until the early hours, more Leveson writing will have to wait.

The week commenced was warnings of severe weather conditions, prediction of dramatic reductions in the air and ground temperatures and the prospects of large and prolonged snowfalls. In the event it has remained clear of snow here on Tyneside although there have been accounts of temperatures as low as minus 30 in central Europe with hundreds of deaths among the aged and the homeless.

It has also been colder before now although there have been sharp drops as evening approached in response to several cloudless days. The temperature did reach minus 6 elsewhere in the UK and a nation wide level amber weather has been issued for the weekend with heavy snow forecast. We shall see as in the past those of us on the coastal strip have escaped where inland the snow falls and disruption has been heavy. So far there have just been a few flurries and frost on the roofs.

I have taken some basic preparations such as ensuring my boots and the snow tread covers are to hand, replaced my existing windscreen scrapper with the latest although I am not anticipating leaving the car out in the elements until a visit to the Midlands in the middle of March, and I have restocked the freezer with sufficient food and the kitchen cupboards with tins of vegetables and packets of soup so that I could survive albeit without milk for several weeks, as long as the gas and electricity are not disrupted. Last night there was a second electric off moment which did for the computer but not Sky.

My winter proper preparations did not to plan without one mishap, albeit arising from an act of carelessness on my part in that not expecting to remain long on a visit to B and Q I unintentionally left on the lights of the car so staying for long than intended I returned to find the battery was flat. It was time to test my new break down insurance. It is evident that the arrival time is likely to be twice as long as that published by the AA. In the event I had to wait 45 minutes rather than the hour suggested and I accepted that I was not far from my home and in a place of safety and warmth.

The store staffs were kind and tried to be helpful but alas the two employees with vehicles did not have jump leads with them although one had in the shed at home. However a wheel chair was provided so that I had a seat. That will teach me not to take care. The last time this happened in circumstances of a similar nature I was on my way to the Midlands for an evening engagement and stopped off at supermarket to purchase for a lunch in the car and listened to the cricket and then fell asleep so that the battery drained from just the radio left on without the engine running. It is also a problem that I do not use the vehicle every day and that my journeys of only a mile or so. It is my intention to charge up the battery before my next use.

The reason for the extended stay at BQ was the decision to experiment with growing stuff from seedlings having purchased the seed trade germinator in the attempt to get the olives stones to germinate, alas without success. I have taken two decisions. The first was to purchase a packet of Cactus plant seeds. These are tiny and will take months to germinate. I purchased a packet of cactus compost and also some vermiculelite which is used to help moisture retention.

I have already commenced the operation and included the olive stones and over the month I will purchase a second germination unit for the second experiment of growing tomatoes and sweet peppers from seed as the packet suggest sowing in March but I may begin earlier. Managed to do a check on the bulbs and ongoing plants in the hanging baskets and pot plants.

One of the reasons I stopped ordering ink cartridges from my suppliers IJT direct was that the delivery time appeared to be taking longer. The latest delay was exceptional and I had taken the precaution of purchasing another set of four from the local computer store which works out only a little more expensive more expensive £8 for 4 with the 16 purchased on line £13.99 which included the postage. I telephone on Friday morning and was advised the computers were playing up and ring back after two. Whether the assistant suspected they were about to arrive I will never know but they did together with a free USB memory drive which I needed as I managed to break the previous unit. The test will be whether these print more pages than those from the local store.

A similar situation arose over the monitoring of my blood sugars which suggested a slightly higher reading that than advisable. The GP intimated that if I had not received a monitoring letter it would arrive shortly and it had not. Again I contacted and was advised is in the post, arriving with the ink cartridges. The reading is not evidently a matter for immediate concern as the next scheduling retesting is for mind March. I was told that a fizzy drink could change the margin from OK to watch it and in truth I have been drinking more than one can of fizzy drink a day over recent months. I am supping iced water this morning which will be more than a one day gesture. The intention is to reduce the fizzy drink intake to no more than one a day and possibly even less (none yesterday). The word proportionate was much used during the Leveson week and proportionate is one of my mottos.

I am marking time with the weight although resisting all chocolate and other temptation treats. I went without breakfast one day and tended to go more for hot porridge than the tomato and mushroom bowl, with a mixture of oats, nuts cereal with cornflakes on another.
There was a whole medium size chicken cooked last Sunday with the last of the frozen prepared roasted potatoes and where I forgot to get a further packet. I enjoyed vegetable mushroom stir fry with the chicken twice, followed by a prawn snack selection as a main course followed by a pork chop with beans and tomato one day and breaded fish with the rest of the beans and tomato on another. For the evening meal there have been plenty of hot soups from packets with a quiche slice lettuce and pickles twice, and smoked mackerel three times and prawns once, also with lettuce and pickles, I enjoyed a tin of rice with cinnamon once. Yesterday there was southern fried chicken with mushroom and tomatoes for lunch and sprats for tea coated in batter and bread crumbs which has to be classified as a wicked treat as a consequence.

I have listened to Classic FM more than watched TV during the week other than the Leveson broadcasts. The week saw the commencement of Spartacus Vengeance and the third episode of which will be the subject of separate reports in the future. I was disappointed with the Imelda May’s appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival although the 3D was good. I had expected more from this 40’s big band swing creation singer after enjoying her performance as part of the New Year Show, by you know who?

My head continues to be full of the recently obtained information about family history after spending several very late nights and Friday putting the information in the chronology previously presented in public as well as circulated privately. The final effort has been satisfying and totals 26 pages plus a reading and DVD list and will form of a more substantial work I now have in mind, Previous I had tackled the history in two forms, I had built on the Census information provided by others who had researched he branches of their families before me by including all the available info on church records held by the Church of latter day saints and visiting the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives centre, as well as visiting the locations of the many of the direct line ancestors. The amazing find was a Tithe Map showing locations of all the householders with an index at a time before the first census. As a consequence I was able to trace the family further back in time to the 16th century through to the 1901 census and provided the History centre and on line databases with the information. For a couple of years afterwards I was contacted by present day relatives of other branches which had seen their ancestors travel to Australia and New Zealand in one instance in the first iron ship and on a convict ship in another. Another branch went to South Africa and one individual became the Mayor of a major city. The big gap was to have no knowledge if there were relatives of the seven sisters and four brothers of my great grand father who joined the army and married a young Spanish woman in Gibraltar and then returned when he became a Royal Hospital Chelsea Out payment pensioner.

The second part of the work looked at the Family in Gibraltar and what happened to six sisters and four brothers of my mother which was essential a confidential matter restricted to the descendents who were alive and an associated and less successful investigation into the family of my father in Malta where his family had lived for several hundred years. Then with the past days information came to hand which married these two areas of investigation into one and in way I never expected. I am still digesting the information and its implications, one of which will reshape my research and writing plans for the coming year or more.

During the week I also watched two films meriting a record. The first is another travesty of history for the purpose of a creating a film to entertain and interest. Ironclad is not a about a ship as might be expected but the warrior apparel of a Knight Templar who it is suggested gave his life in defence of his comrades in the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215 at the time of Magna Carter and the rebellions of the Barons against King John.

The film which has a distinguished cast begins with King John (Paul Giamatti) being forced to agree to a charter of rights Magna Carter, drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Charles Dance) on behalf of the Barons at the water meadow by the Thames Runnymede, a site which I have visited. Contrary to popular belief he did not sign the document and agreed only to buy himself time. He then contacted the Pope who not only rejected the Charter but ex communicated the Archbishop of Canterbury for his behaviour. King John then enlisted the help of mercenaries, in the film from Demark, in a deal which would guarantee that the Pope did not intervene in the Danish religion and affairs of State.

The film then shows an Abbot and three Knights Templar on their way to Canterbury having assisted in the rebellion of the Barons taking shelter at the fictitious castle of Darnway (there is a Castle Darnaway in Scotland). Here King John and his mercenaries capture the Abbot tearing out his tongue who has taken a vow of silence. A feature of the film is its vivid gratuitous blood letting.

One of the Knights Templar, Thomas Marshal (James Purefoy) manages to escape with the Abbot while his two companions lose their lives in assisting him. The Abbot dies but Thomas makes his way to Canterbury to report was has occurred to the Archbishop and the rebellion supporter William d’Aubigny (Brian Cox) who in the knowledge of its futility elects to take control of Rochester Castle then an important gateway between the South East coast and London. The film shows William accompanied by Thomas and his new young squire locate potential fighters for the cause before making their way to Rochester where some of King John’s men have already taken occupation after gaining intelligence of the plot. The rebels take control much to the opposition of the Castle custodian Reginald de Cornhill played by Derek Jacobi who has a young wife marriage of convenience (Lady Isabel-Kate Mara)

Receiving information of what the rebels are attempting King John dispatches some men to enter the Castle to prevent the take over. They meet no opposition from the man in charge and his young wife.

In reality there was an estimated larger contingent of Barons and Knights at the Castle than in the film although in fairness accounts of the subsequent siege are limited. The siege a familiar affair with ladders and burning oil, catapults and a siege tower which is set on fire burning the men inside, an established feature used in many other portrayals. The Castle defences are eventually breached because there is no moat and the rebels are slowly worn down over six weeks and killed including William who has his hands and legs chopped off but who in reality was among the rebels who after surrendering from the lack of food were imprisoned or banished.

The most important dabbling with history is that the French did not arrive in England until much after the siege ended whereas in the film the Mercenaries decide to go home and King John retreats when the French come in sight. Marshall the Templar is released from the order and is free to ride off with the widow Lady Isabel.

I have not visited Rochester Castle which continued to play an important role in English affairs and both Samuel Peppys and Charles Dickens were fans with Dickens mentioning the place in the Mystery of Edwin Drood, recently televised and the Pickwick Papers.

I have preciously reviewed Tron Legacy “on Wednesday 7th September 20112 when I watched two films about reality and fantasy: Tron Legacy and Inception.

I wrote at length because the film has something to say about the mature of computer and human experience of reality. Yesterday I watched the film again in 3D which is an enhancing experience adding to the importance of he film beyond its effects and adventuring, Next I will write about the experience of TV 3D but before then it is worth reminding what I said about the film

“Both were major box office successes and both covered interesting ideas. As is usually the case the script and the acting becomes secondary to the action and visual effects. This is not to suggest the acting was bad but the emphasis on action and visual effects reduced what could have become great films into the everyday.

I have seen the original Tron made 30 years ago a couple of times but not in theatre. The concept was original at the time and remains a good one to day with another sequel in the making. In order to understand and to communicate my understanding accurately I had to go through what I know and this led to considering the extent of he changes over the past 30 years with transformation of computers from punched card machines keeping records of employees and financial accounting, payment of salaries and bills, income and expenditure using machines which filled large rooms and which I was shown when joining Department of the Borough Treasurers over 50 years ago to the slim light notebook and lap tops of today.

I remember seeing men in suits hold large heavy blocks enabling telephone communication on the move to the present small slim and light devices and have no been coupled with the third amazing development of the Internet enabling the transmission of live sporting, news and entertainment events, access to vast libraries of music and films and instant visual communication around the world, taking photos and films which can be circulated worldwide within seconds.

And then there have been the changes in the cinema and television screen. Children as infants now grow up with a remote in their hands able to participate in a reality adventure on televisions through game consoles and 3 D glasses. Given the natural blurring between dreams, the imagination and reality in all children, the dimensional change and influence of the digital world should not be underestimated. While the basics of childhood and growing up are the same, the relationship between any and every child in the economically developed countries and their environment and their self perception and understand is significantly different. My childhood memory is of real bombs dropping of rationing, empty shops and made do meals and clothing, of severe travel restrictions and darkened streets
To day computer programmers visualise games played through multiple screen options and layers of complexity and Jeff Bridges the star of the original Tron film operated a major electronic games company, who spent much of his private time in a secret development laboratory beneath his separate open to the public traditional games arcade. It is from this laboratory that he commenced a technological exploration which led him to disappear from the world, his billion dollar company and his son.

To appreciate the rationality behind the film and what the Jeff Bridges character achieved it is important to have some understanding of the nature of a computer, which I have understood accurately I will try and communicate.

Computer people talk of the machine having a platform on which and in which the various programmes which enable interaction and activity are accommodated. While each programme possess individual characteristics unique to the particular activity there are common processes which interface in positive but at times in negatives way so that incompatibilities and conflicts can arise which can slow down the system, freeze it or prevent certain aspects of programmes or individual programmes from functioning in the manner designed. The computer can therefore be understood as being organic and having the ability to create new developments from the interactions of programmes and changes to those programmes unique to each machine but these because of direct and often ongoing connectivity the changes to the operating system can be detected and problems tackled automatically as well general changes and improvements to the system and to individual programmes

There are parallels with the human brain in terms of the magnitude of the knowledge contained such as audio and visual memory, sensation memory, factual memory, storage and retrieval. The computer has the ability to make calculations and retrieve information quicker and more effectively than the individual brain if appropriately constructed so that instead of programmes having to be warmed up before they run, they are warmed up when the computer is switched on and wound down and individually closed before the total system is shuts down. This is part of the operating system, Windows which I use and which enables me to communicate with the computer which in turn is able to communicate directly with other computers within the parameters which sentient beings lay down. The latter is crucial because once created and linked human being individual user only control what they require from what is available while other humans and other machines as well a she machine itself controls and develops what then happens.

In order to make the communication more human like computers having been given their voice such as Hal in 2001 and the splendidly amusing depressed robotic. Computer in the Hitchhikers guide. The two came together in a film whose name I cannot immediately recall in which a computer and clones humans who do not understand they are manufactured clones run a space station and mining mineral extraction plant on a planet where the clones have real memories but are also created to perform specific functions and have determined life functioning span after which they are replaced by new models which the computerised station can bring to life from storage, including if an individual is accidentally harmed beyond natural healing/repair. Between the mechanical robot and the clone have been various forms of the two, the Cyborgs for example in Star Trek comes to mind awareness.
The technology has also led to at least four cinematic developments. The first is the ability to create visual and audio realities which appear to be the external world but which dramatically alter and distort, destroying cities and the world in its entirety through cataclysmic events, creating new worlds, enabling human and non human beings to function in dramatic and original ways, recreating the past such as the world of the prehistoric creatures, historical battles and the imagination of fiction and science fiction writers through wide screens, high definition screens and three dimensional screens together with some primitive attempts to create smells as well as wrap around sound.

The second is the ability of the computers to communicate with each other in such a way as to harness their combined power and take control of energy and communication systems independently of external forces to the system. Another aspect of the potential power is the ability of humans to take control the various independent systems. Government to shut down the systems of their own or other countries; and individuals or groups in order to take control of countries, the while world in order to blackmail or manipulate competitive financial markets, control economies, pursue political or religious quests and so on. Developments which have become practical in reality.

Then there is the power to transport oneself mentally and physically into the system through connections rather than physically but we have also seen the transformation and transmigration of human beings into other human beings such a miniaturization for positive purposes such as medical. Tron is about the ability to transport oneself physically into the organic world of a computer system or grid. The fourth aspect is the converse- the ability of the computer system to want to experience the reality outside of itself using the human form and this aspect is the theme of Tron the Legacy.

As it is a decade or more since seeing the original film I can only base the knowledge communicated in the sequel. The sequel film begins with the disappearance of Sam’s father, Jeff Bridges who promised to take his son to the arcade to play games together but failed to return leaving the boy to brought up by his grandparents, to attend university and to set up home independently in the ultimately bachelor pad from which he use his motorcycle for dare devil riders through the city. He is financially independent as the major shareholder in his father’s company but takes no interest other than to play a practical joke on the board at their annual meeting. He not only lives alone but has no girl friend or friends of his won age.

He has acquired all the knowledge of his father so that he is able to upload the latest development of his firm into World Wide Web for free. Some joke yes. His only real contact with the firm is through a close friend of his father and who worked on developments and who designed the self protection system for the computer. We tend to see this as the computer preventing intentional or unintentional attempts from other computers and their users to search the content of the machine, to alter it, damage it, remove data and ultimate to destroy its effective functioning. In the films this is shown in an artificial human form as security guards or soldiers in the game programmes which are now in everyday use but where they have been empower to take their own initiative in blocking and eliminating threats.

The key moment in the film is when Sam is advised that his father’s friend and colleague has received a message on his pager from the number at the Arcade which has been closed down for 20 years.

This leads Sam to return to thee closed Games Arcade on his own, surprising in the circumstances, and to discover the secret laboratory and start up the system which opens up a portal into the grid and which his father had used to transport himself into the system for a maximum of eight hours each visit before the portal automatically closed down and which can then only be opened from the outside. However although the portal is opened, when inside it is necessary to hold a key to get out thus preventing forces within the system make their way into the external reality at every opportunity.

What Sam’s father did was to also create a computerised form of himself he could continue to function, operate the system when not present, with the function to lead and control ongoing activity to create improvements to free the system from malfunctions and eternal threats. What he then found is that as a consequence of the work the system in effect created new beings, hybrids sentient beings who combined the skills of the computer with the characteristics and imperfections of human beings and which could function within the machine and outside of it. This opened the doorway to tackling some of the great problems known to human beings.

However what happened is that the control of the systems which he designed and placed in the form of himself lacked the human characteristics and he thought and acted rationally in terms of its construction to create a perfect world. Because the hybrid were part human and therefore possessed imperfections they had to be eliminated and all were but one of the hybrids, in the form of a young female. This also meant that when the creator returned being just human he was viewed has been more imperfect and therefore at the top of the elimination list.


Bridges had been rescued by the remaining hybrid and taken to a previously unknown area of the grid in much the same way that we have parts of our brain which appear not to be in use and therefore their function remains unknown. Because Bridges is all human he cannot engage with his creation but the hybrid can because she is superior combining the digital and human abilities and skills. Having rescued and hidden Bridges away the portal is closed and he has no way of communicating with the outside and letting anyone know what has happened. Thus the film’s viewers immediately know that it was not the father who contacted
The son has no idea of what is to happen once he finds himself inside the machine especially as he was transported into the games area. The rational for this is obvious given that the film is primarily intended for the game playing and computer literate world of the adolescent and young adult and therefore as an action science fiction movie it is to provide game play including the use of transformers and shape shifting with speed chasing and life and death combats. Fortunately the young man, aged 27 years has knowledge and skill of game playing so he knows what to expect and his bike riding and other dare devil escapades give him performance dexterity.

He is rescued from this and the clutches of his computerised father and the security system headed by Tron created by the colleague and friend who alerted Sam and meets his father over 20 years has created a liveable world with books and music food and wine to make life bearable. Finding out that they only have eight hours to reach the open portal the son is all for a full frontal assault and escape whereas his father wants to sit quietly and think because he did not send the message and therefore there must be a reason why the computerised version of him did.


Bridges works out that his creation has taken the original plan to its logical conclusion wants to fill the external world with the perfect but soulless creations without human qualities and which in turn means eliminating all the imperfect humans. He has therefore created a huge army to accompany him through the opened portal and once outside he can of course open as often as he wants and return at will creating all the forces and resources to achieve the objective, He also knows that the one threat to his plan is the son who having served his purpose opening the portal he would use to enable him to obtain the holographic key held by Bridges to enable his release.


The son being young, emotional and headstrong refuses to sit quietly and think out what to do and as a consequence enables the computerised father to gain hold of the key nearly killing the hybrid and making him and his father impotent. Well done son! However with the help of the regenerated hybrid they work out at plan to get ahead of the army as it progresses towards the portal. The key is in fact obtained by Zeus, the owner of a Night club providing everyone with unlimited pleasures and who represent hedonism within the system. Zeus having obtained the key proposes to sell to the new order in exchange for control of the inner world while the outer is taken over. He is then exterminated after serving his purpose as the new order is puritanical rather than pleasure seeking regarded as another imperfection.

There is then the usual climax where the father realises he must remain and neutralize his self recreated while his son and the hybrid escape. Unlike Inception I had become engaged with the characters and cared about their future so the ending has its emotional moments. Having return to the external world the son decides it is time to take responsibility for his father’s work and the company and informs his father friend and colleague that they will form the new Chairman and CEO of the company, with the son being the new CEO. He takes the hybrid off to see the sun rise and to live happy ever after together. Interestingly he has taken a copy of the operating system on disk with him suggesting he has the intention to return. I understand that a sequel to the sequel is in the making.

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