Documentary Stupid
Yesterday at 8pm the BBC showed what purported to be a programme in the Natural World series on The Wild Places of Essex (I am not going to link to it in iPlayer for reasons that shall become clear.) It was a personal view by someone called Robert MacFarlane (who has just written a book) and it was, to be frank, absolute crap. It ought to have been called, The North Bank of the Thames or possibly just Rainham Marshes. The commentary was pretentious claptrap, and the photography nothing out of the ordinary - no comparison with Life or with the excellent The Great Rift. Essex Wildlife Trust - of which we are members - was acknowledged in the credits, but I don't think they will be very pleased that the only organisation to get a mention was, as ever, the RSPB - when the National Trust and the Eseex Wildlife Trust have some of the best (and best managed) sites in my adopted county. I assure Mr MacFarlane that there are lots of places in Epping Forest without a sign of humans, and lots of places in the county without a sign of either industry or urbanisation.
Grrrrr.
It was followed by an Horizon on infinity, in which no single mathematician seemed able to tell the difference between the concrete "two apples" and the abstract "2". I got fed up of yelling that "infinity" was, to all intents and purposes, a philosophical concept, albeit a useful one, at the screen. And by the way, no you cannot count to an infinite number because you will bloody well run out of time and universe.
Grrrrr.
It was followed by an Horizon on infinity, in which no single mathematician seemed able to tell the difference between the concrete "two apples" and the abstract "2". I got fed up of yelling that "infinity" was, to all intents and purposes, a philosophical concept, albeit a useful one, at the screen. And by the way, no you cannot count to an infinite number because you will bloody well run out of time and universe.