My take on a royal trip, a talkative robot and a device for landing spacecraft softly – Peter Rhodes
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) was a brilliant cartoonist famous for drawing whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple aims, such as a full-scale factory for putting the holes in cheeses. The term “Heath Robinsonish” to describe any over-complicated or quirky-looking device is gradually slipping out of common a range of usage. And then, this week, along comes SpaceX.
The task for Elon Musk's crew is to recover the spacecraft's hugely expensive Super Heavy Booster by means of a soft landing. The boffins' solution is a gigantic pair of “chopstick” grabbers which seize the mighty booster as it descends. It was thrilling to behold but it struck me as a bit Heath Robinsonish, although I dare say the cartoonist would have achieved a soft landing by different means. Like a very, very big mattress.
Staying with Elon Musk, his latest robot known as Optimus confides, in conversation with a person, that its greatest ambition is “to be as human as you guys are.” Switch it off. Now. This instant.
A new book on etiquette, Just Good Manners, offers us a range of tips on how to avoid looking common. Apparently fish knives are dead common, as are prosecco, trainers and hot tubs. Hardly needs adding that wearing your trainers in a hot tub while sipping prosecco is utterly beyond the pale.
“Charles: I won't stop Australia ditching Crown,” thunders a headline in one of the London newspapers in advance of the state visit Down Under, causing many of us to think, well, so what's new? When it comes to Australia becoming a republic, the view of the British monarchy has long been that it's entirely a matter for the Australian public. King Charles will not get involved (and what could he do anyway - send a gunboat up the Murrumbidgee River?)
Let us wish the King well on his state visit to Oz and remember that the headline “Charles: I won't stop Australia ditching Crown,” is about as newsworthy as: “Pope – I'm still a Catholic” or “Bear - I poo in woods.” No change.
