Tag Archives: Weekend

Qubits and quiet moments

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

I read two articles this week that blew my mind: one was about quantum computing and the other was about mindfulness.

The quantum computing article described a company called D-Wave that has produced a computer (known as the D-Wave 2) costing $10,000,000. The temperature of interstellar space is 80 times warmer than the temperature at which the D-Wave 2 operates and it looks like this:

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The article describes how it works in detail but here’s the key part:

“Regular computers work with information in bits. Each bit can either be at 1 or 0 at any one time… Now imagine a computer that operates under quantum rules… Its bits could be 1, or 0, or 1 or 0 at the same time.”

This means that a computer using quantum bits can do far more calculations than one using regular bits. To be exact, the D-Wave 2, which has 512 quantum bits, could perform 2 to the power of 512 operations simultaneously. That’s more operations than there are atoms in the universe, by many orders of magnitude.

We’ve all seen how pervasive technology and computing have become in our lives. Many of us will have access to work emails at all times and it can sometimes feel like there is just too much information to process.

That’s where mindfulness comes in. It’s difficult to describe mindfulness but imagine training and developing your mind in the same way you train to develop your other muscles. Practicing mindfulness helps you to be “present” in a given moment and manage your thoughts.

To show how most of us struggle with that simple sounding task, take 20 seconds and try to clear your mind of all thoughts.

Didn’t work, did it? Thoughts about work or things you need to do will no doubt have popped into your head. You’ll also probably have found that the more you tried to clear your mind, the more those thoughts appeared. Mindfulness is aimed at helping you train your mind to acknowledge thoughts – but not dwell on them – and to allow you to focus on the task in hand.

My point this week is that many of us often feel like there are more operations going on in our head than there are atoms in the universe. That’s the price we pay for living in a connected society. All that being said, I’m comforted by the fact that, while some folk are striving to make technological advancements, others are striving to find methods which might help in alleviating the pressures on our minds.

This week’s Tash apparently – according to those in the know (i.e. not me!) – found quantum mechanics so counterintuitive that he thought the theories relating to it must either be wrong or incomplete. He also said this:

“The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”

After trying to wrap my head around qubits and how to best find a quiet moment, I was glad to discover that even Albert Einstein struggled with comprehending the world around him.

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Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

p.s. If you’re interested, there’s a free app called Headspace which is aimed at helping users become more mindful. Part of the app is a ten-day programme called “Take Ten” where users take ten minutes out of their day for ten days in an effort to get a basic understanding of mindfulness. I enjoyed it.

Protest

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

On Tuesday of this week, the Scottish Parliament passed a Bill which will allow same sex couples to marry. The passing of the Bill means that Scotland is catching up with England and Wales, where same sex couples will be able to marry by the end of March.

The rights of gay communities around the world are in sharp focus at the moment, particularly as the Winter Olympics formally open in Sochi today. The homophobic laws and attitudes of some in Russia (particularly President Putin) have attracted a great deal of criticism.

Some say that politics has no place in sport and there is merit in that point of view. After all, athletes cannot control the laws of the places where they are sent to compete. However, it’s also true that sport is a leveller and can be a real-life example of many of the qualities of human nature.

We’ve seen in the past that sport can be an ideal opportunity to challenge inequality. Think of Jesse Owens in 1936 (when Owens confounded Nazi propaganda by winning gold in three sprint events and also in the long jump) and in 1968 when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised a fist in the air for Black Power (they said at the time that it was for human rights in general and that is reflected in the human rights badges which they and the Australian athlete, Peter Norman, wore on their jackets):

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Given the iconic pictures which resulted from Smith and Carlos’ stance on the podium, it can be no surprise who this week’s Tash will be. This is Tommie Smith these days:

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It’s not just people on the big stage that can be a catalyst for change. We all can be. Indeed, if change is ever to happen and take root, it has to happen at a local level as well in full view of the public. To conclude this week, I thought it might be useful to give an example of an individual who took a stand in a more personal way. This is a letter which Bertrand Russell sent to Oswald Mosley, the founder of the British Union of Fascists, in 1962:

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I really appreciate the terms of this letter: it’s polite, concise, yet emphatic. I would urge everyone who discusses issues like gay marriage, or anything where people have strong feelings, to take the same approach. It’s not often that one person is always right or always wrong and the chances are that the person you’re talking too has something interesting to say, even if you disagree with most of their views.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

 

A wooden leg named Smith

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

Many thanks for the texts and emails of complaint following last week’s re-post of an old TF. I was working on an Operation Zorro activity and that had to take priority. Hey, I’m not perfect.

Perfection is something that I have been reading and thinking about recently. Mainly this is because I’ve been reading the incredible book “Daring Greatly” by Brené Brown. The book covers a multitude of interesting topics but, for the purposes of this week’s TF, I’m just going to talk about perfection.

You often hear people saying that they are perfectionists. I assume they are trying to say that they pay attention to detail or that they are thorough. That’s all very laudable but it isn’t really being a perfectionist in the proper sense.

If I were a perfectionist, I’d never get out of the house in the morning. I would have to try over and over again to pour the milk perfectly onto my cereal; I’d spend until the end of time trying to iron a shirt perfectly; and I’d spend so long trying to make the perfect knot with my tie that the threads would eventually come apart in my hands. I may be wrong, but I don’t think human beings are capable of perfection. We can get close (for example, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or Jimmy Page’s solo in Stairway To Heaven) but nothing we create will ever be perfect.

That being said, I do think that we sometimes experience perfection. I’m thinking in particular of those moments when weather, company, music, time, speed, location (and every other factor you can imagine) conspire to create something which is perfect. I remember one moment in particular which I felt was perfection and thinking that I had to try and capture it somehow. It’s not great photography (although the sunburst sums up how I was feeling at the time) but this tht exact moment:

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As we get older, we feel less free to enjoy ourselves and perhaps moments of perfection pass us by. We worry that things are going “too well” and that some disaster must befall us in order to balance the scales of life. Or we feel guilty that we’re happy when others are not. This weeks Tash lost the ability to enjoy life because he got wrapped up in his responsibilities and stresses. However, with a bit of help, he realised that life is best lived when you can laugh and enjoy the company of those around you. The man I’m referring to is Mr Banks from Mary Poppins:

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I wonder if Mr Banks felt that the kite flying out of his hands was a perfect moment.

Have a great weekend folks – enjoy it! Maybe go and fly a kite or something?

What’s next?

 

Operation Zorro

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

Happy New Year to you all.

We all know that January is traditionally the time to set targets for the year ahead. For my part, I have/am committed to making changes this year. Not because I think what I’m doing now isn’t worthwhile, or because I feel like I need to “improve” myself, but because I want to set a series of targets and I will be delighted when I hit them. It doesn’t  matter what those targets are; all that matters is that I’ve set them and that I’m going to hit them.

To give myself a better chance of reaching my goals, I’ve been reading a bit about change. Although I risk incurring the wrath of Appreciators who are sick of hearing about cycling, I gained a good insight into the subject from Dave Brailsford, Team Principal of the wildly successful Team Sky. He describes his thinking as the “Triangle Of Change” and he says three elements are required:

1. You must be suffering enough, or the reward must be great enough, for you to engage with change.

2. You must believe that you are capable of change.

3. You must be committed to change.

What I take from this theory is that we won’t change simply because we feel that we should i.e. that feeling obliged to change isn’t enough. If we want to change, it has to be for ourselves. That seems healthy and sensible to me.

Although all three points of the triangle apply to me, I’ve decided to add another layer of carrot/stick. By sending out this TF, I’m also going out on a limb and saying that I’m committing to making these changes. This means that, if I fail, I’ll have to face you as well as myself. The added advantage to going out on a limb is that there’s a chance others will come out there with me.  It’s always easier to attempt things with the help of others.

I have also decided to give this project a name: Operation Zorro. There are three reasons for this: it makes the whole thing “real” rather than just some jumbled ideas; Zorro has many qualities which I admire (the wiki page refers to him being a superb athlete, acrobat, tactician, horseman, swordsman, marksman, unarmed combatant, well-educated, wealthy, master of stealth with extensive scientific knowledge and advanced gadgets. No-one sees him coming); and, crucially, Zorro rocks a Tash:

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Just one last point. I heard a quote (I don’t know where it originally came from) just before Christmas and it’s been buzzing around my head ever since:

“A year from now you’ll wish you’d started today.”

I’ve started already but you can start today, if you want.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

2014 and Beyond – Part 2

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Good morning Tash Appreciators!

Welcome to the last TF of 2013.

Last week, we looked back at this year and I said that adversity drew out our true character. This week, I’m going to challenge everyone (especially myself) to take our experiences of 2013 and use them to make 2014 count.

In order to look ahead to 2014, and beyond, I’d like to pose one question:

 Tash Friday 20:12:13

My honest answer to that question is that I haven’t got a clue.

Not having an answer to that question doesn’t mean that I’m not ambitious or that I don’t care, it just means that there is a wide world out there and I don’t yet know where my place is within it. I hope I’m not the only one who feels like that; I suspect I’m not.

I also don’t mean that I feel lost or down about life – quite the opposite, in fact.  It’s just that, for too long, TF has been about “keep going”. Keeping going is all well and good, if you know where you want to go but, if you keep going without a thought as to where the final destination is, are you not lost? From now on, I’ll be thinking to myself: what’s next, what’s next, WHAT IS NEXT?

This week’s Tash (Samuel L Jackson in “Coach Carter”) was a leader: he  was able to encourage those around him to listen to their better angels. In order to draw out a member of his team, he kept asking him “what’s your deepest fear?”

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For a long time, the young man had no response until, one day, he came up with a secularized variation of a quote from Marianne Williamson. I’ll give you the full quote and you can choose to take the word “God” as meaning whatever makes sense to you:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

In 2014, and beyond, I’ll work out what’s next and TF will shine. Consider yourselves liberated to do the same.

Have yourselves a thoroughly wonderful Christmas and hopeful, happy, New Year.

What’s next?

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Black Friday

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

Yesterday saw the United States come to a halt as people got together with family and friends for Thanksgiving. Today will see a fair few of those same people heading to malls and department stores to do their Christmas shopping. However, this isn’t any normal day of shopping, today will be the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday:

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I had thought that Black Friday was just an American thing, but judging from the adverts on TV and the subject headings of the emails in my inbox, the hysteria has made its way over here. I saw it in person too – at a shopping centre earlier this week when, even at 9 pm, there were still thousands of people shopping for presents.

I don’t care what people spend their money on – it’s theirs, they earned it, they can spend it however they like. I’m not that interested in snooty arguments about consumerism, either. What struck me was that, in all probability, the people who are shopping on Black Friday or mid-week at shopping centres are not doing it for themselves, they’re surely buying Christmas presents for others.

That got me thinking about why we all go out and spend so much of our hard-earned cash on other people. I don’t think it’s because we’re all slaves to consumerism. I don’t necessarily think it’s because we expect to get something back in return, either. I think we all just like to see the look on the faces of our friends and family when they open a present, which we’ve given to them, and it’s immediately clear that the present was what they wanted. With that in mind, maybe we don’t all need to be shopping at 9pm on a Wednesday, maybe we just need to spend a bit more time thinking about what we should get and whether it’s actually going to be appreciated.
Speaking of appreciation, with this being the day after Thanksgiving, I feel it’s appropriate for TF to give thanks too. Surprisingly enough, TF gives thanks that Tom Selleck decided that this look didn’t suit him:
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But that this one did:
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Have a great weekend folks!
#keepgoing

Wait until the weekend…

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Morning Tash Appreciators,

TF isn’t always easy to write, you know. Some weeks the editorial staff have nothing interesting to say and other weeks – usually following a mediocre week – there just isn’t the motivation to get a solid edition done. Those weeks’ editions are generally prefaced with something like: “just a brief TF this week…”.

It seemed like this week’s edition was going to be a short one: I was sitting on a later train than I’d hoped (the one I wanted to get having been cancelled); I was tired; and I couldn’t think of anything interesting to say [*insert joke about never having anything interesting to say*]. Then this man came to my rescue:

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James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem and their anthem “All My Friends” are TF regulars. However, tonight, as I stood on a crowded train in a day-dream, not really listening to what was blaring through my earphones, a blast of synthesisers came forth and I heard Mr Murphy sing, mid-way through the track “Dance Yrself Clean”: “wait until the weekend and we can make our dreams come true.”

And then I remembered – tomorrow is Friday! Things didn’t seem so bad after that. Now, when you’re reading this, it really is Friday, and everyone knows good things happen on Friday.

It is therefore with renewed enthusiasm that I turn to this weeks’ Tashes. I’m delighted to say that I have two superlative offerings from Appreciators.

The first is of a bouncer in a Boston, MA, bar. It was confirmed that, despite it looking too good to be true, this was an authentic Tash. It was also confirmed that, somewhat unusually for our friends across The Pond, Mr Bouncer was also wearing a poppy for Remembrance Day. I believe the correct description of this kind of display – using the “Baastaan” vernacular – is Boston Strong:

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Go Sox.

The other Tash comes from Bristol, the cultural heart of South-West England. Now, I was under the impression that I had a fairly good grasp on TF’s demographic. However, the short message accompanying the photo suggests that TF may have reached non-English speaking countries:
“Here you, ya mad raj! Huv yae seen ma Tash? It’s v-dot-beeeaaauuuut an’ the burds go pure daft fae it!” 
Make of that what you will, but my interpretation is that this chap is pretty delighted with his Tash; as he should be:
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Keep the entries coming folks!

Have a great weekend!

#keepgoing

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It’s that stage of proceedings

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

It may not quite be panto season yet, but we seem to have reached the stage of proceedings where we take a slight pause from the action to make some shout-outs. Feel free to whoop loudly if you, or someone you know, is mentioned…

This week, a steady trickle of Movember-related Tashes have been submitted for TF’s consideration. Here are a selection of my favourites:

From the world of professional sport comes a Tash which must surely have been on the go for some time.  This chap is a South African rugby player who has played for the Lions in the Super-14 and, more recently for the Glasgow Warriors. I think this effort may take some beating:

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From across the Pond comes a Tash of a sweeter kind – a sugary effort from the stupendously named Glory Hole Doughnuts in Toronto:

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Last, but not least, comes another offering from Scotland. I am reliably informed that this chap is known for smashing his way up and over various high mountain passes around west central Scotland. I also hear that the shape of his Tash is the result of exhaustive aerodynamic testing – a man must be aerodynamic, after all. Mr Russell Bridges, take a bow, sir:

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Thanks for all the submissions and #keepgoing to those taking part in Movember.

Have a great weekend folks!

#keepgoing

Winter Warmer

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Good morning Tash Appreciators,

As the clocks fall back, the nights draw in, and the cold winds begin, we could all do with a winter warmer. This weeks TF will offer two types of warmth: practical advice for avoiding a winter chill and fire for the soul.

First, the practical advice. As this is TF, the most obvious tip is to suggest that you all rock a Tash. This appears to be good advice – even for the ladies – as there is plenty of cosy looking Tash-wear which would both be fashionable and a public proclamation that you appreciate the Tash:

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For the gents, Movember begins today – why not join in? I understand that the key advantages of having a Tash in November are as follows: looking fly; using it to pick up chicks – I understand they dig them (apologies for the sweeping generalisation and crass language, ladies, I’m sure you understand that it is done in the name of charity); and that you will be helping to combat prostate and testicular cancer as well as mental health challenges. As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive, if you decide to participate in Movember then you effectively are this week’s Tash – Nick Offerman:

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For chaps like myself, who are not blessed with facial follicles capable of bashing out a worthy Tash in 30 days, we can always donate to the cause. I already have:

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Naturally, any Appreciators who decide to sport a Tash will, if they wish, be included in one of this month’s TFs.

Now for the fire in the soul stuff. As I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been working my way through the West Wing (again). It’s the ideal winter warmer – when the nights are cold and dark, and hibernation seems a very attractive proposition, there’s nothing better than watching President Bartlett and the gang blow the walls off every room they enter just by being good folk. It may be a political drama but it’s very accessible and the characters are likeable. If you have any doubts about it, ask someone for a loan of episode one – I’ll be surprised if you don’t stick with it.

I’ve just finished season 2 and – without giving away any of the plot – the President has a decision to make. He’s challenged God; he’s seen the ghost of an old friend; and has made a deal with his wife. However, with the words “If you think we’re right and you won’t speak up because you can’t be bothered, then God, Jed, I don’t even want to know you” ringing in his ears, he stands at the lectern, puts his hands in his pockets, looks to the side, smiles and…

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It’s magnificent on too many levels to list but, if you like reading TF, then you must watch it.

Have a great weekend folks!

#keepgoing

Hurry up with my damn croissants

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Morning Tash Appreciators,

I’m a bit behind in listening to it but this week has seen Kanye West’s eighth album – Yeezus (yeah, it’s very like Jesus, isn’t it) – getting a lot of airtime in TF HQ. For those who don’t know who he is, this magazine cover tells you everything you need to know about who he used to be:

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This album is good – really good. The lyrics and melodies are imaginative and quite different from any hip hop album I’ve heard before. The only difficulty with it is it’s also one of the angriest records I’ve ever heard. Parts of it make for difficult listening.I don’t have a problem with an album being difficult to listen to, nor do I think that many Tash Appreciators are interested in what Kanye raps about on this album. What is interesting, I think, is that he wasn’t always an angry guy. In his first big release in 2004, his lyrics were about consumerism, being self-conscious and modern racism. It was all pretty insightful and constructive:
We buy our way out of jail but we can’t buy freedom.
We buy a lot of clothes when we don’t really need ’em:
Things we buy to cover up what’s inside.
 

I don’t know what’s happened to Kanye to make him seemingly change his outlook on life so dramatically (maybe it’s just as he predicted in 2004: “the people highest up have the lowest self-esteem”) but it seems a shame that it’s come to this, even if it does make for entertaining music.

We’ve probably all had times when we’re angry or disappointed about what’s going on around us and that can sometimes seep into our attitude towards life in general. It’s also difficult for us to always see those changes in ourselves. The aim, I guess, is to ensure that we have folk around us who will say when things are getting out of hand. It’s a shame, but maybe Kanye doesn’t have someone around him to say: “Here, you know that song when you say ‘I am a God’ over and over again and then use that line which talks about you wanting a “damn croissant”? That’s too far.” They should perhaps show him a picture of this week’s Tash:
 Tash Friday 4:10:13 3The croissant Tash is a first for TF.
I’ll leave you with one final Tash this week. It’s a picture of Kanye from his High School yearbook. As you can see, he was awarded best dressed, he’s happy, he’s rocking a Tash (just about) and he’s wearing a polo shirt:
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As a matter of fact, he chastises himself in this current album for ever wearing a polo shirt. However, I wonder when he was happier: when he was wearing that shirt or when he was writing this album.
Have a great weekend folks!
#keepgoing