Wonder if he broke into a sweat?
Gravitational pull
This morning’s Observer column.
So, here we were in this small room. On the table, lying open on a cushion, was Isaac Newton's copy of the first edition of his Principia Mathematica or, to give it its full title, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the book in which he sets out his laws of motion (the basis of classical mechanics), as well as the law of universal gravitation, his derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion and much else besides. It was the keystone of the scientific revolution and was written at Trinity College, just down the road.
On closer inspection, it became clear that the book had been in the wars. It had at some stage, for example, been rescued from a fire. Some of the pages were singed round the edges, but the miracle of its survival paled into insignificance as one turned the pages, because Newton had clearly been dissatisfied with the first edition of his magnum opus. On page after page he had written corrections and added entire paragraphs in his immaculate, tiny handwriting.
What we were looking at was not the creation of this amazing work but, in a way, its recreation…
Hollywood Boobs
The film critic of ye olde Financial Times is in Cannes, don’t you know, for the filmfest, and reports as follows:
A casting notice for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean 4, shooting now, said actresses “must have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants.” Auditionees will reportedly be subjected to a “jiggling test”, as brutally decisive, no doubt, as the ducking stool in witch-hunting days.
So now you know.
How different from the good ol’ days. One of my fondest memories of Cannes is a report by the incomparable Barry Norman in which he told of a publicity stunt involving two topless starlets playing ping-pong on the beach,”watched by 200 male journalists, none of whom could have said with any certainty where the ball was at any given moment”.
Graduation Day
Flickr version here.
Base reflections
Seen in a car dealership while waiting for service. Flickr version here.
Quote of the Day
Facebook’s privacy problem
If you want to understand why people are concerned about the erosion of privacy in Facebook, then have a look at Matt McKeon’s terrific animation of what’s being going on since 2005.
Democracy, huh?
While we’ve been celebrating the peaceful transfer of power in Britain, over in Washington the Obama administration has been stroking Hamid Karzai, the corrupt, incompetent ‘president’ of Afghanistan who — among other things — stole the last presidential election and refuses to concede control over the electoral monitoring process for the next. When Obama first visited Kabul a few months ago, he made clear his distaste for this criminal. But it now seems that the exigencies of US military operations in Afghanistan has required a change of heart. All of which reminds me of Barbara Tuchman’s marvellous book
Inside the bunker
The Guardian had a photographer inside No 10 Downing Street during the last hours of Gordon Brown’s premiership. He’s produced a memorable slideshow.
The last word…
… from Marina Hype, er Hyde*. Lovely Guardian piece. She’s particularly good on the increasingly-bizarre media circus that developed as the coalition negotiations dragged on.
To say that by the end of this saga the media had begun to eat itself wouldn’t begin to cover the cannibalistic orgy that has been raging in Westminster. News channel helicopters drowned out their own ground-level broadcasts, ably assisted by megaphone-wielding members of the public who chanted things like “Sack Kay Burley!” Ever more outlandishly repellent pundits were exhumed. Kenneth Baker … oof, mine eyes! For political junkies it had the flavour of Pokemon – gotta catch’em all.
For less insane members of the public, this week has presumably acted as a sort of politics aversion therapy, ensuring that every time someone even says the words “strong and stable government”, intense feelings of nausea and images of Alastair Campbell will flood their brain.
The geographically tiny village of Westminster has resembled nothing so much as a meth-assisted version of Camberwick Green, with the Sauron-like capabilities of news channels allowing viewers to follow dramatis personae round this weirdo toytown. There were the Lib Dems leaving their headquarters; there they were walking to the Cabinet Office; there they were a few minutes later arriving. And oh look — there’s Windy Miller talking to Kay Burley on College Green.
Unbelievably – although not really within the context of the past few days – a giant rainbow appeared over the palace just as Cameron’s car swept in. In the coming days, do expect unicorns to follow.
*Footnote: Thanks to the eagle-eyed Hugh Taylor for spotting the typo.