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Art fans everywhere will recall that the great French Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926) spent much of his short life in London, making sketches and drawings of what he found there. It’s funny how one field of art (painting) can inspire efforts in a greater field (cocktail making), Because according to legend, Monet’s sketch of Waterloo Bridge inspired the geniuses at the Savoy Hotel to come up with their Monet Moment:

In a mixing glass add 2/3 measure of cognac and 1/2 of byrrh. Add1 dash absinthe (it’s absinthe that makes the heart grow fonder) 1 dash creole bitters and 1 teaspoon of sugar syrup. Mix over plentiful ice , strain to a cocktail glass, and decorate with orange peel. And as you drink, remember the immortal words of the Swedish popular musical singing group ABBA, who stated

Monet, Monet, Monet-it’s a rich man’s world

Or was it Manet?

Our inspiration came from the marvellous new Savoy Cocktail Book, published by Constable. Anyone who has enjoyed cocktails at this superb venue should rush out now to purchase a copy

#cocktails #savoy #monet #waterloo

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Sometimes we at LSS will riff on an interesting article, or perhaps combine it for you with two or three others. But sometimes an original article is so clear, so well written and thought provoking that we simply reproduce it with our strongest possible urge for you ro read it.

Such is the case with this Nature piece, which we reproduce the full article. The lab leak hypothesis is very live at the moment. Its potential to disrupt geopolitical relationships is very high indeed. The article is thoughtful , considered and does not jump to conclusions. Virtues we could all imitate.

The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and don’t know (nature.com)

#sars-cov-2 #coronavirus #covid-19 #wuhan #china #unitedstates #bats #laboratory

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“It was Social Democracy that won the cold war ” remarked Will Hutton. With its blend of welfarism and higher taxes to mitigate inequality, it ensured that the values of freedom and trade offered something to ordinary people everywhere. Thus they were vaccinated against the deadly attractions of Soviet Communism and by 1991 the rest was History. Or so it seemed, for a few heady, wasted years.

Instead of Social Democracy, the west fell under the spell of quasi-religious market fundamentalism, whose mantra was “privatise, tax cuts ” and above all “shareholder value.” The dominant class, especially in Anglo-America, became a closed circle of bankers, media, think tankers and politicians who gleefully colluded in the looting of public value as much in places like Britain as in Russia. The plunder is stored away in various offshore islands, Mayfair apartments or Cotswold Mansions, according to taste.

How did this moral rot come about so quickly, and where shall it lead us? In a succinct and hard hitting article for Prospect magazine, Anatol Lieven traces the arc of decline from 1991 to the present, and teases out the causes of our current predicament. Like some latter day Gibbon he observes:

Looking back 30 years from the grim perspective of 2020, it is a challenge even for those who were adults at the time to remember just how triumphant the west appeared in the wake of the collapse of Soviet communism and the break-up of the USSR itself.

Today, of the rich fruits promised by that great victory, only wretched fragments remain.

We hope this extract will cause you to jump at once to the link below, where hard hitting insights are deployed in short, easily read prose. A gem.

To realise you are in decline at least offers the opportunity to do something about it. But China knows one thing the greedy social darwinists who run the West have forgotten. The State, and the duties owed to it, offers far more in return than the cost of a few taxes. Unless we re-learn that lesson, our future could be short, and grim indeed.

How the west lost – Prospect Magazine

#socialdemocracy #capitalism #china #usa #thewest #freedom #geopolitics

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“Science is all right and religion a delusion!” “Darwin is against the Teachings of God!” So run the shrill cries of extemists on both sides of a dangerous and sterile debate, inflaming the passions of their followers and bathing themselves in unguents of self-righteousness. The life of Thomas Bayes (1701-1761) is a refutation of all extreme positions. The anonymous Guardian piece * linked below will begin to show you why.

If you haven’t heard of Bayes * directly, the chances are his theorems and methodologies have actually influenced your life very deeply indeed. He and his followers developed the basic tools of modern statistical inference, now widely used in medical research, epidemiology, forensic science and a host of other disciplines. To save you from a lot of symbols, he and his followers asked the simple but profound question “What is the probability of event A and B occuring together, given what I already know about B?” *

What interests us here is that he asked and answered it in the course of a civilised debate on the work of the philosopher David Hume (1711-1766) Hume, an atheistic son of The Enlightenment had criticised the idea of miracles. Bayes, a Non-conformist Minister produced a reasoned critique that refuted Hume, and incidentally led the way to much enlightenment. The point is that the debates of these men produced more light than heat. And Bayes was so great, he could also be found defending the rationalist works of Newton against august Doctors of the Church like Bishop Berkeley. A balanced mind indeed.

The modern world is full of idiots screaming at each other in the media and over the internet. The tools they used have all their origins in the Enlightenment. But they have no understanding of its spirit, or basic mental processes. Bayes, and Hume were different. It is time that some of us imitated their spirit.

We have provided some wikipedia links if you want to know more. If the spirit of the Enlightenment survives anywhere today, it is in the Wikipedia Foundation. We therefore provide a link for you to donate, as little or much as you can. Please take this very seriously

Support Wikipedia – Wikimedia Foundation

The Guardian view on the god of science: a divine but rational disagreement | Editorial | The Guardian

Thomas Bayes – Wikipedia

Bayes’ theorem – Wikipedia

#probability #bayes #hume #enlightenment #religion #science #statistics

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A weekly look at stories from near and far

Antibody nasal spray For people who don’t like injections, here’s an exciting new idea covered by Nature. Antibodies to Sars-Cov-2 could be administered by a nasal spray. For those with more time, there’s a nice link to the main article.

A nasal spritz of a designer antibody offers strong protection against variants of SARS-CoV-2 — at least in mice. Since the pandemic’s early days, scientists have been developing antibody treatments for COVID-19. But those available have not been very popular with doctors, partly because they are delivered through intravenous infusions rather than directly to the respiratory tract, so it takes high doses for them to be effective. Now, researchers have engineered an antibody that can be delivered directly into the nose. They envision the spray being used by people who have been exposed to the virus, and as an extra line of defence for those who might not be fully protected by vaccines.Nature | 4 min read

Older people and climate change So much of the history of the last ten years can be explained by the fact that older people hold most of the financial, political and social power, especially in countries like the USA and England. Understandably, they tend to be deeply conservative and suspicious of change. But that is all the morer reason to try to engage them, as Aled Jones and Bradley Hiller argue in this thoughtful piece from The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/why-the-climate-movement-must-do-more-to-mobilise-older-people-161732?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%201965719275&utm_c

Inconceivable microbes Apparently there are organisms deep in the earth which seem to feed off of radioactivity. This has profound inplications for the search for life on other planets and star systems Nature again:

Scientists have long puzzled over how microbes living deep underground feed themselves without sunlight or heat. Now, two studies suggest that these organisms could feed off the radioactive decay of hydrogen and other elements. The findings open up new possibilities for life on other worlds — and could shed some light on our planet’s own history.Quanta | 11 min read
References: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta paper; Nature paper

Big Data finds new talent Residents of West London will doubtless cheer the return of Brentford FC to the big time. How have they done it? According to David Hellier of Bloomberg (via the superb Apple News feed) they have stolen a march on their competitors by clever use of AI and data to pick undiscovered new players. Sports fans, read on!

_{We thank Mr Peter Seymoiur of Hertfordshire for this story}

Soccer’s Richest Game Won by Brentford and Big Data – Bloomberg

Well, if we see a common thread this week, it is the unexpected and different in all these stories. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend, and remember-always expect the unexpected.

#sars-cov-2 #covid-19 #big data #brentfordfc #seti #microbes #radioactivity

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Have you ever noticed how some of the best songs were always the simplest? Think early Beatles or Rolling Stones. Shocking Blue‘s Venus. Or maitre d’ of the simple line, Chuck Berry himself, whose sparse songs are far more memorable than the bloated over-orchestrated offerings of so many later acts.

As with art, so with cocktails. Our aim this week is to provide you with a few simple classics. Short, sharp and sophisticated, they can be run up with a couple of bottles and a twist of fruit, maybe. None of that wasted drinking time mucking around with syrups, strainers and twenty different ingredients this week, chums. And so, without further ado:

Dry Martini 5 ice cubes, 1/2 measure dry vermouth, 3 of gin. Stir, don’t shake and pour into a cocktail glass. Decorate: one green olive and a spiral of lemon peel. How James Bond is that?

Rusty Nail Put 3 ice cubes in a nice chunky tumbler glass and pour in 1 measure of good scotch. Add 1/2 measure of Drambuie and decorate with a single spiral of lemon peel. Don’t get hammered!

Gimlet To 5 ice cubes in a medium glass, add 1 measure of lime juice cordial. Very slowly add the gin, and decorate with a slice of lime. Personal note: the author first discovered the word “gimlet” while studying the novel Peter Pan, aged nine. The teacher challenged us to explain what it meant, and when we could not , kept us in during break. Harsh!

Harvey Wallbanger Put six ice cubes in a shaker. Add one measure of fine vodka and 2 teaspoons of Galliano. Add 125 ml of real fresh orange juice , then shake, rattle and roll. Pour with ice into a long-ish glass, which you should also have kept chilled beforehand. Stylish!

Well, that lot is almost as easy as pouring a beer, unless you drink it from the can, like our old correspondent Ms R.S. of Southend-on-Sea. We don’t think that anyone can give you a fairer start to the weekend than that. Happy drinking, people!

Adapted from that excellent volume The Hamlyn Ultimate Cocktail Book. Please buy!

#cocktails #galliano #jamesbond #teachers #friday

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Mr Bond’s car is the one on the right

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“I tell you, I despise that man. Why? Because he is a pessimist!” So Gussie Fink-Nottle singled out Bertie Wooster to the crowd at the prize giving in Market Snodsbury Grammar School. Close textual analysis of What Ho, Jeeves! will recall its exposition of the eternal battle of the optimists, represented by the likes of Gussy and Tuppy Glossop, and pessimists such as Bertie, always skulking at the back of the hall and snarking at the discomfort of others.

Well, ladies and gentlemen we at LSS are firmly in the Fink-Nottle camp. The optimists. The glass half full types who think a problem is there to be solved. If a hole has a long fairway, then the exercise will do you good sort of attitude. And today we are presenting 16 reasons, no less why we think we are right. About green energy any way.

By watching the linked Facebook video, which also has some jolly up beat fink-nottlish sort of music, you will discover:

solar panels which track the sun like giant daisies

turbines which sit in rivers and streams and do no harm to wildlife

solar powered tubes to cook delicious kebabs on camping trips

batteries powered by salt water

And lots more ingenious, optimistic and positive ideas to wring a little more energy from the planet, while cocking a snook at horrible old pessimists like Bertie Wooster who said it couldn’t be done. So just as Gussie frequently called for cheers from his audience, let’s cheer on the optimistic engineers who will make these and many other good things possible.

^{Credits: the video comes from the Business Insider website and was recommended to us by Mrs Christine Hartley of Sussex.}

Watch | Facebook

Tech – Insider (businessinsider.com)

PG Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster Arrow Books 1992

#solarenergy #renewables #technology #globalwarming #climatechange

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News that President Biden is to visit Tulsa, Oklahoma * to commemorate the victims of the notorious 1921 race massacre will doubtless cuse alarm amd despondency in many quarters. Because it suggests that some people are starting to learn from the mistakes of the past and trying not to repeat them. Those who relish “the narcissism of small differences” * to stir up hatred and conflict will see it as a notch up against them. But don’t despair haters- your time is really coming, and it will be in Space.

How so? Well, it’s all a question of gravity. If humanity starts to build colonies on nearby planets, as seems likely, history shows that these will very quickly become self-sustaining, producing children of their own. If the gravity of the Earth is taken as 1.0, that of Mars will be 0.379. Future Martians will quickly adapt to this new gravity, rapidly becoming so weak relative to earth gravity that they will never be able to return to their ancestral planet. Their children will become very tall indeed, perhaps three or more meters, and will lack all desire and ability to mate with the sturdy dwarves of planet Earth. The Lunar situation will become even more exaggerated. Its gravity comes in at a miniscule 0.165. You can work the rest out for yourselves, including for other nearby bodies, and zero gravity space stations.

In fact we are probably anticipating the rise of new species, not races. Biologists know that different races can still produce fertile offspring. What separates species is that they can no longer breed with each other.

The opportunities for hatred, suspcion and mutual rivalry among several different species, all equipped with nuclear weapons, are dazzling indeed. Of course the old differences that are so relished in the twenty first century, for example black and white, arab and jew, tutsi and hutu, rad fems and trans activists….(that’s enough conflicts-ed) will seem quaint and old fashioned. People will wonder what all the fuss was about, when there are Martians and Jovians to fight and loathe. In the meantime, we link to a marvellous piece by the late great Christopher Hitchens, eloquent as ever in its disdain for the petty and the foolish everywhere.

Tulsa race massacre – Wikipedia

Biden warns of echoes of Tulsa massacre in the United States today (yahoo.com)

Christopher Hitchens: The narcissism of small differences | National Post

#presidentbiden #tulsa #race #spacecolonies #ethnonationalists #xenophobia #mars #moon

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A couple of days ago we posted a few thoughts on the current dilemma facing western democracies and their strategic dilemmas. We even likened their position to that of a lion tamer in a cage. It turns out that other, greater minds have been thinking about the same problem quite independently of us. Will Hutton is a profoundly learned writer and commentator, and we have been following his columns and books for years. Here in the Observer he gives us his take on the terrible threats to democracy from the rise of the surveillance state. *(link below)

We at LSS don’t want to go all pompous and portentous on you, good readers. We hate to spoil a sunny day . But we will obseverve this: the countries we call “the west” are the only heirs to the traditions of the Renaissance and Enlightenment left. What is that tradition? Free intellectual enquiry and honest trade. These are what have given us such advantages as science to provide vaccines and predict the sorts of climate changes that felled earlier civilisations. Life in the alternatives will become stagnant-and a lot more ordered than you will like.

From Minsk to Hong Kong, people power just isn’t working any more | Will Hutton | The Guardian

#willhutton #observer #renaissance #enlightenment #democracy #science #freedom

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“The problem was that the Chinese just didn’t like McDonalds.” So, reputedly, ran the weary sigh of an old State Department hand reviewing the various events and ups and downs from 1990 until now. If you remember back to that heady time, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism,the end of history, the word McDonalds has a very special place. The arrival of that restaurant in each liberated town (Moscow, for example) was meant to herald the the arrival of the Free West. Just as people flocked to McDonalds, so they would flock to western values of freedom, democracy, open markets and the whole Enlightenment package. Except that they haven’t.

The whole view was naive and simplistic. It overlooked the fact that other civilisations might have very different cultures, histories and even reasons not to adopt the western package. Perhaps those reasons were good, perhaps not. Maybe we should deal with them another day. But anyone with a sense of history or logic must respect them, and look at the world we are in today: 2021, not 1991, in other words.

We think that the West now is rather like a lion tamer in a cage with three very large wild lions. The tamer is armed with a chair and a whip, the traditional accoutrements of the profession. The three lions are Russia, China and Militant Islam. The tamer does not wish to destroy them, for they are his livelihood. Yet he must find a way to bring peace to the cage. The problem is numbers. To approach any one lion too closely, in order to tame it, would leave his back exposed to the other two, who will turn to attack. Yet to leave the three lions where they are requires endless vigilance, which must eventually exhaust. And meanwhile he can’t spend time developing the act, or any other.

One man knew a possible way out of the dilemma: Richard Milhouse Nixon. That’s right, the much maligned 37th President of the United States of America, whom older readers will recall ran into certain -ah, difficulties– over matters concerning a certain Senator McCarthy, Cambodia and the Watergate Building in Washington. But for all his faults, Nixon had two key insights. Firstly, his enemies might have a world view similar to his own, except that they were the tamers and the US and its allies were the lions. And that above all, they needed a deal, for both sides had something that the other badly wanted-peace. Fifty years on from detente, we now badly need something very similar. Is their an American or EU leader ready to grasp the nettle?

#world politics #democracy #freedom #USA #russia #china #islam #EU

_{we hope to bring you our regular round up next week}