Murphy's Law

I was delighted to discover today that Murphy's Law was named for a real person, Edward A Murphy, an American aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems.  Murphy regarded the law as crystallizing a key principle of defensive design, in which one should always assume worst-case scenarios.

I found Edward Murphy while looking up John Paul Stapp, who is probably responsible for the fact that two of my friends are still alive this morning.  John Paul Stapp Stapp's life was dedicated to aerospace safety in particular, and safety in general; he was one of the principal advocates of automotive safety belts.

The Player of Games - Iain Banks

I read this book as an antidote to 'The Game Players of Titan' and it was much better.  Banks's games are never described in enough detail to be able to play them, but the overall feel is of games with depth. eg. An early game in the book is based on the four-colour map problem.

Gurgeh is not a totally likeable character, but he is believable, and all the more believable in that he isn't perfect.  His Culture is advanced enough to be able to supply all a person's needs, thus, equality is a given.  It's hard for him to relate to a world in which people don't have total freedom, but when he encounters such a world the possibilities of power start to intrigue him.

The Empire of Azad is based around success in the game of Azad and Gurgeh - the best games player in the Culture - is 'persuaded' by Contact to go and play Azad.

Contact are a devious bunch, and very good at hiding what they actually intend...

How much of the time is Gurgeh doing what he wants, and how much of the time is he doing what Contact want?

I enjoyed this book (stayed up late to finish it) and it's definitely worth reading more than once. 

(This would be a more in-depth review, but my wrist is still aching from something I did a couple of weeks ago.  Recovering slowly)

Further Thoughts on Jew's Harps

It strikes me that one of the reasons I find alternative names for Jew's Harps to be mildly annoying is that names of musical instruments have a cultural context for me.

One (of many possible) derivations suggested for the name was its popularity among people like the Khazars, who were largely Jewish.  That's a link back to areas of the world where the instrument is still used.

I'd be equally irritated if Appalachian dulcimers, or Irish Harps underwent a name change.

I still can't pronounce 'bodhran' correctly (it's the drum in the icon), but I'd never want to change the name as that would be to lose the cultural context and history of the instrument.  Speaking of which, I really need to get mine out and play it more often...