Apparently US regulators are considering what to do about WiFi phone callson planes. Their rationale is that many passengers think that people making phone calls is annoying.

But is that the real reason? If airlines were worried about passenger comfort would they allow the seat-back satellite phones? Is the difference here, perhaps, that they can charge a lot for calls? (Kind of another net neutrality debate, but at 37 000′.)

Similarly, if customer comfort was a priority, surely we?d get more leg space. And better air. And fewer jerks that sit in front of you and recline the seat immediately after take-off.

This was originally posted to Medium in 2016. Reposting a couple of weeks ago would have made more sense in hindsight…

Apple event invitations are famous for providing clues about announcements that will be made at the event. Who can forget the square shapes on the invitation to last years keynote effectively predicting the arrival of the new Apple TV? Or the circular patterns a couple of years ago that presaged the cylindical shape of the new Mac Pro?

Expectations were low. No new hardware they said. New software they said. And yet, even with expectations so low, they failed.

What did we get? In short, nothing that we’ve not already seen from Google or Amazon or Microsoft. Sure, they did it with a bit of flair but, as we know, marketing is all that Apple are about these days. As Schiller said only three years ago, “[Apple] can’t innovate anymore.”

It’s difficult to come up with a better explanation for what this book is like than the description on the back: Depraved New World (affiliate link) is a worryingly funny collection, which captures British politics at its most absurd. 

It’s a collection of John Crace’s political sketches, originally published in the Guardian, covering October 2021 to June 2023. A pretty eventful time in British politics.

Reading it now, in late 2023, is probably the perfect time. Much earlier and you can’t tell the “good” sketches or consequential events from the average ones. Much later and you’ll have forgotten some of the important details that are being written about. They’re sketches, not analysis of the events or a history. Between the chapters are occasional colour about what was going on, but, broadly, you’re on your own. Political geeks only! Some parts I’d forgotten, but smiled when I recalled. If you’d come across Braverman stepping on a guide dog’s tail on The Thick of It, you’d dismiss it as too unlikely and contrived.

“Wilt on High” is another one of those books that I read because a number of people said “if you like Douglas Adams, you’ll enjoy Tom Sharpe.” This book was picked arbitrarily by virtue of being available in a second hand bookstore for 50p.

Since it’s the third book in the series staring Wilt and I’ve not read any of the others, there were some references to the backstory that I missed. I don’t think those details were absolutely critical.

Following on from XKCD, “What if?,” and “How to” comes Randal Munroe’s “What if? 2.” It’s another collection of silly questions with scientific, humorous answers. Examples include “Could you eat a cloud?” and “How far could you see if you had an eye as big as the earth?”

It’s as simple as this: if you liked those books, you’ll like this one.

“Incineration of organic matter within it” is a bad feature for an umbrella.

I have a problem with this book. Now that I come to write some notes on it, I find that there is so much that I want to quote that I may as well copy and paste the whole text.

I’m not going to, but here are a few.

I hate competitiveness, because I know I’m better than that.

And.

People say I’m self-deprecating, but I don’t think I’m very good at that.

## “If you convert [your car] to run on copies of this book instead of gas, it will burn through 30,000 words per minute, several dozen times faster than the word consumption of a typical human.”

If you thought that “How to“, the follow-up to “What if…” would be more practical, then you’d be wrong.

Whether it’s chasing a tornado without getting up from your couch or moving your house with jet engines, Munroe takes another fun, inventive journey through science and maths. While it doesn’t quite hang together as well as “What if,” it still manages to amuse, educate¹ and entertain.

If there’s one thing to take away from “The Problem With Men” is that there is an International Men’s Day and it’s on November 19th. Is that two things?

But you probably knew that.

The problem with this book is that it’s very much preaching to the choir. If you’re un-ironically asking when International Men’s Day is on March 8th, this book is not likely to be on your radar.

Is wasn’t really my idea. I saw it in the newsagents in Rhodes Town and laughed but I never really thought of actually buying it. The credit for that goes to my wife.

I’ve been posting pictures of each month entry on Twitter and Facebook but I thought it would be nice to group them all together in one post. That’s what you’ll find here.