Showing 1 - 10 of 26
A trip to the far side of the Moon
Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/04/2026
» The current Moon mission has been a most welcome distraction from the depressing events in the Middle East. Watching the launch of Artemis II from the Kennedy Space Center it was hard not to feel that tingle of excitement which accompanies such a liftoff as the crew headed into space. They will even have a rare look at the far side of the lunar surface. We wish them a safe flight.
Cheating in exams now a sophisticated art
Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/07/2025
» It was Oscar Wilde who once observed: "Exams sir, are pure humbug. If a man is a gentleman he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.''
The night I was eclipsed by the Moon
Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/10/2024
» I had planned to view the super full moon last Thursday night but unfortunately forgot all about it. My apologies to the Moon. That's the sort of thing that happens these days. It went down as another failure in my rocky relationship with the heavens and ranks up there with a lunar eclipse fiasco I was involved in many moons ago, if that's the right expression.
Make way for the Bold Gendarmes
Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/08/2024
» The Paris Olympics have sparked memories of the time as an eight-year-old I was dressed up as a French Gendarme for a Christmas concert at a church hall in England. There were four of us and we had to perform The Bold Gendarmes, a popular song in the mid 1950s by French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach. It made gentle fun of the French policemen as the opening lyrics suggest:
AI's brain fog no defence for arts
News, Parmy Olson, Published on 05/07/2024
» Ever notice how science fiction gets things wrong about future technology? Instead of flying cars, we got viral tweets that fuelled culture wars. Instead of a fax machine on your wrist, we got memes. We're having a similar reality check with artificial intelligence. Sci-fi painted a future with computers that delivered reliable information in robotic parlance. Yet businesses who've tried plugging generative AI tools into their infrastructure have found, with some dismay, that the tools "hallucinate" and make mistakes. They are hardly reliable. And the tools themselves aren't stiff and mechanistic either. They're almost whimsical.
The rise of the 'Finternet' reality
Oped, Agustín Carstens and Nandan Nilekani, Published on 28/05/2024
» The financial system is ready for a giant leap forward. It's time to explore new frontiers. We foresee a time when applying for a mortgage or a small business loan could be as easy as texting a friend or booking a hotel room online.
Leaping lizards on a Sunday afternoon
Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/03/2024
» Last Sunday I was sitting on the garden porch of my Bangkok abode grappling with the crossword and watching the birds hopping around the garden. My wife, who was away in Chaiyaphum, had just called and I had reassured her that everything was fine and very tranquil... a perfect Sunday afternoon.
Real social networks coming to an end
Oped, Daron Acemoglu, Published on 09/09/2022
» Not only are billions of people around the world glued to their mobile phones, but the information they consume has changed dramatically -- and not for the better. On dominant social media platforms like Facebook, researchers have documented that falsehoods spread faster and more widely than similar content that includes accurate information. Though users are not demanding misinformation, the algorithms that determine what people see tend to favour sensational, inaccurate and misleading content, because that is what generates "engagement" and thus advertising revenue.
Haven't had Covid? Maybe you've just been lucky
News, Faye Flam, Published on 15/07/2022
» There's a trend for experts who've yet to test positive for Covid to explain their disease virginity on social media, detailing all the steps they've taken to evade the increasingly pervasive virus. Covid virginity is becoming more special now that it describes a shrinking minority. The lucky few, like weight-loss gurus, are only too happy to share their secrets to success.
If Roe goes, the end is nigh for women's rights
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 11/06/2022
» It used to be that who you were at birth defined who you were for the rest of your life: slave or owner, emperor or subject, aristocrat or serf, man or woman, black or white. But, over time, moral revolutions have chipped away at the idea that we simply inherit our identities.