Owen Thinks

Inadequate in only the very best ways. All opinions are my own and are not endorsed by my employer.

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[T]he French team was caught red-handed with a vast medicine cabinet of illegal drugs. Celaya flushed tens of thousands of dollars' worth of drugs down the toilet – though this would not have been much help if the French police had raided the team, because the toilet was in a camper van.

[Ah, sportspeople.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/oct/11/lance-armstrong-denials-usada-detail)

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The real distress the Closer photographs have caused the royal family is not personal, or private, but political. They undermine the fabrication of royal power. In a year when the British have reinvigorated their archaic cult, these pictures revealed the naked truth that royals are just like everyone else. The royal titters in the Pacific suggest that to anyone who joins the Windsor family, that idea is so difficult to comprehend, it's funny.

Continuing the theme of only talking about things that really don't need my input, here's something about Kate Middle's torso. Not sure I completely agree with [Jonathan Jones' conclusion](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/18/naked-truth-about-kate-middleton), but any article talking about French princesses' pervy nipple tweak oil paintings is probably worth a read.

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Yes, yes, MOAR iPhone 5 words. But this Wired piece nails it.

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Not a post about the iPhone 5

I was going to blog what I thought about the iPhone 5, but the main thrust was going to be about how the "debate" around smartphones just now completely bores me. So, without further ado, here is an equally meaningful contribution to that debate:  There, don't we all feel better?

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For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.

There are 8 people left who have walked upon another celestial body. [The ninth left us today](http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38284).

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Gratuitous promotional shot for Western Ferries. (Note: This blog is not affiliated with Western Ferries.)

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The view up the Clyde wasn't bad either.

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The Holy Loch was pretty tonight.

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On Danny Boyle

In the aftermath of last night's superb opening ceremony, it occurred to me that this sort of success is what can be achieved when a brilliant professional, with [an](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Grave) [excellent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_(film)) [track](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later) [record](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_Hours), acknowledged by their peers to be [amongst the best of them working at the moment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accolades_received_by_Slumdog_Millionaire), the creative freedom and scope to create something worthwhile. For the life of me, I can't think of a single cabinet ministry of which that can be said, and that's been the case for _decades_.

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Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of our time. [...] The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has gone too far for me. Such commercialisation has reduced the esthetic and philosophical impact of this creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: turning my head away.

What a pretentious old fool Christopher Tolkien is, here giving a rare interview with [Le Monde](http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1199318&xtmc=tolkien&xtcr=2) (€) (translated, piratically, [here](http://sedulia.blogs.com/sedulias_translations/2012/07/was-first-felt.html)). Also a hat-tip to [TORC](http://www.theonering.com/news/other-news/christopher-tolkien-interview-reveals-his-feelings-on-the-peter-jackson-films-and-more).

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I hear no Euro-sceptic say now that a "binding" referendum was held in 1975 and we must all move on. Instead, they want another binding referendum, and if they lose it they will want another when they can win

Steve Richards, on why referenda really are a chronic waste of time.

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I've joined a wee photography group. We take pictures together, share the results online.

The first trip I went on with them was to a nearby park, where I mainly spent my time abusing the hell out of the bokeh I can get out of my 35mm f/1.8 prime. Case in point, here are some foxgloves.

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My wife's "wild berry cider, with blueberries". Found in the dictionary under "something for the ladies" (Taken with Instagram)

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Must be Glasgow. (Taken with Instagram)

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Torched

 I was rather surprised by how keenly Scots took to the presence of the Olympic Torch, but nowhere near as surprised as I was by how happy I was to join in the general merriment. Perhaps after my republican grinching over the Jubilee weekend, I was keener than I'd imagined to be part of society again. After looking up where it was going to be, out of idle curiosity, I was quite delighted to find that it was going to be barely a few hundred yards from where we live, so I took a half day and the three of us pottered along to see what was going on. We were there early enough to pick a good spot and plan out some decent photos, the holy grail of which was a shot of Nate, at least close to the torch, though he declared himself unimpressed by the whole business and soon fell asleep. The torch was due to leave the main road and head up the driveway of a local sports centre, and we'd carefully positioned ourselves on a corner between the road and the driveway, so that we'd get three goes at it; the torch going into the sports centre, on its way out, and then as it continued down the main road. Three bus loads of indeterminate anonymous and rather desperate looking cheerleaders later, and we were ready, it was finally upon us.  Unfortunately, instead of following the cheerleader coaches up the driveway, the bearer and his minders carried happily along the main road, past the entrance, and were soon joined by an even larger gaggle of frantic stewards all shouting some variant of "You've missed the bloody turn, you idiots! Pardon my French there kiddies!"  I lost sight of the bearer in the rush of the crowd to reposition to the fact that the route had made an impromptu change. I like to think he hurdled the railings on his way into the sports centre, but I fear he just found a gap and went through it. There was a loud high pitched cheer when he went inside the centre, so I suspect there was a large number of kids inside waiting for him. When it emerged, we had a new bearer:  This guy was fantastic; you can't really tell from the picture, but he's a wheelchair user, and after he finished his shift with the flame, he was mobbed by kids, and I don't think a single one went away without getting a go with his torch or getting their picture taken. He was there ages. I'd love to tell you more about the torch bearers we saw, but the [mugshots on here](http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/day=2012-06-08/index.html) are sadly incomplete, so I can't. That was it then, the Olympic torch on its way through our little bit of Glasgow. Well, except for one last thing:  Nate, you will note, was bored of all this jogging nonsense and was dreaming of a rock concert.

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Irony

I am mindful that this is called "Owen Thinks", and that beyond photos there's very little to suggest I've done any thinking at all recently. There's a number of factors involved here, [one obvious one](http://owenthinks.tumblr.com/tagged/baby) requiring the lion's share of my free time, as well as the fact that we've started an internal blog at work, so I've been scratching my (admittedly weak) writing itch there. I even got to use the phrase "ivory tower, navel gazing frameworkitis" at one point. I enjoyed that. So do I think? Outside of working hours, I'm not thinking a great deal beyond "has he been fed recently and is his nappy dirty?"

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Sweeties!