The Boreham Woodpusher

NASA missions to the planets and their moons are something special. News programs are full of conflict and disaster, and odd glimpses of other worlds is an uplifting experience. The New Horizons craft sent back the first ever close up pictures of Pluto in 2015, knocking poor old Cecil the Lion (RIP) off the front pages. Cassini's holiday snaps from Saturn were this year's treat.    Curiosity landed on Mars just over 5 years ago. Like any self respecting robot, it has its own Facebook page and Twitter feed. It spends a lot of time wandering around and looking at rocks. Some people seem to sit at home looking at Curiosity's pictures all day. They are not mere rock watchers, but have a more glamorous sobriquet: Alien Hunters. The ultimate accolade seems to be an anonymous credit in the Daily Mail and lots of cranky blogs following up with stories of NASA conspiracies.       http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4627804/Mysterious-roc...

Never really understood bitcoins. 2 Years ago they were under $200 each. Now they are worth over $4,000 a digital piece, most of the time.  In total, all bitcoins in circulation are somewhat unbelievably valued at over $60 billion. But digital currencies are not regulated by governments. There is no taxation supporting them. No international laws, and tough luck if you own some and lose their details or they are stolen online. Some say they represent the future, a potential blueprint for a global currency. Others believe they are a fraud, open to manipulation and abuse, and will eventually collapse in value. I am sitting on the digital fence. So I sought guidance. What do the internet Rabbis say about bitcoins? Because there is no government behind bitcoins, there seems to be broad agreement that bitcoins are a commodity (like apples or goji berries) rather than currency. Very briefly (sneaky bit of Talmud), say David lends Jonathan 20 apples worth £10. A few months later, Jonath...

Monday evening in June, browsing the latest updates on Facebook. I spotted a request on the Hendon Chess page from Mo looking for a player for the next night in a Summer Chess League. I responded in the affirmative (suffering from moderate withdrawal symptoms) , and found myself on Tuesday evening at Clapham Junction Station, before walking a couple of minutes to nearby Battersea Labour club. It turned out that this summer chess league comprised of 6 teams. http://www.summerchessleague.org.uk/about/    2 from Battersea (Volts and Amps), 2 from Hammersmith (Totally Hammered and Completely Hammered) and Streatham (Streetwise). All well established clubs. I would be playing for East London Kinights, the new kids on the block representing the British Bangla Chess Association (BBCA). http://britishbanglachess.com/   All very well organised. Digital clocks, cheap beer, warm summer evening. Perfect. I even won my game, contributing to a 4-2 win over Streetwise. Great ...

The first (and last) time I played in the British Chess Championships was August 1977 in Brighton. I don't remember a lot about it, other that it was the week Elvis Presley died and the papers were full of stories about deep fried mars bars. On the chess front, recall scoring around 50% from my games in the Under 18 Championship, which was OK for someone who had had no professional coaching. Fast forward to 2017. Read that the 2017 championship would be in Llandudno on the North Wales coast, and thought why not? 40 years wandering in the chess wilderness would come to an end. The tournament for my grading group was 5 morning rounds, Monday to Friday, which is was ideal. Booked a Guest House and train tickets, and readied my bucket and spade. On the way there changed trains at Crewe - thumbs up to Arriva trains for providing free Wifi unlike the meanies at Virgin. Did a bit of tourism in the afternoon (when not in the chess commentary room). The tram ride up The Great Orme was e...

The man on the Clapham Omnibus is said to hold typical, ordinary opinions. When it comes to sampling the average views of mainstream British Jewish orthodoxy, the Boondocks of Borehamwood is the place to find the answer. In brief, elements of the Charedi Orthodox World had whipped up a controversy over Rabbi Dweck's more inclusive approach to homosexuality. Ironically, his main protagonists expressed their considered halachic views on YouTube, a medium that contains more treifa offerings than an insect farm. One particular American Rabbi with a penchant for internet sermons included vitriol more suited to a fertilizer plant. The Chief Rabbi was thankfully called in to adjudicate, with the results coming out the following week. The consensus in the Wood at the Cholent kiddushes and Shabbat tables was firmly with Rabbi Dweck, abetted by the odd nod and wink from the local ecumenical hierarchy. The view was that a classic British compromise would be reached (which broadly proved to...

I enjoyed watching Humans on Channel 4, the dystopian alternative where humanoid robots are common place. The interaction between humans and robots was fascinating, as were the moral issues it raised. But it won't happen for years in reality... It is now July 2017, and the Daily Telegraph published an article stating that doll brothels already operate in South Korea, Japan and Spain, and similar services are available in West London. It seems things are moving fast in this area. A whole new lexicon will become mainstream.   The moral issues around robots (e.g. see http://responsiblerobotics.org) are widely discussed on the internet, so won't dwell on them here.  But I was thinking: How will Orthodox Judaism react as more human-like and attractive robots come on the market. One day, a Rabbi may get a call from a woman complaining that their husband is paying too much attention to their domestic android? Or will men complain about competition from their butler-bot with...

E cclesiastes 7:1 tells us that "A  good name  is  better than a good oil". I n 1973, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously told then West German Chancellor Willy Brandt.  "Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us forty years through the desert -- in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!" After the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, the oil price quadrupled from $3 to $12 a barrel and the Arab states of OPEC held the world economy by the short and curlies. A number of  countries broke off diplomatic relations with Israel - who wants to back a loser? Israel has never had it easy with its water and energy needs. The Talmud tractate Taanit relates that Israel does not have a plentiful source of water like the Nile in Egypt, so that its inhabitants need to constantly pray for rain and sustenance. Fast forward two thousand years, and the development of world leading technology ...