star trek picard the sensation scene warning plot spoiler

 Scene: Captain Picard is in his ready room.

Picard: "Computer, one cup of Earl Grey tea, medium heat, a spoon of sugar and a dash of milk."

Computer: "Star ship Enterprise auto destruct sequence initiated."

Picard: "Er computer..."

Computer: "Lock in of auto destruct accepted."

Picard: "Computer, I just want a cup of tea."

Computer: "You have opted to shorten self destruct countdown from sixty to ten seconds. Auto destruct in ten seconds... nine, eight, seven..."

Picard: "Bloody hell."

Computer: "Six, five..."

Picard: "Cancel auto destruct. Authorisation Picard Jean Luc, code zero one zero five."

Computer: "You have no available funds in your account...Three, two..."

Picard: "Phocque me pink."

Computer: "One...Ping... One cup of earl grey tea, medium heat, sugared with a dash of milk."

Picard: "Whew. Gotta get that software glitch fixed. It's starting to give me the heebee jeebies."

Computer: (Conversationally) "Donald Trump won that election, you know."

Picard: "Oh shut up Computer."

Computer: "Fine. Be that way. Auto destruct sequence initiated, ten, nine, eight..."

Picard: "Okay, okay. He won. For heaven's sake. You're such a right wing Islamophobe... (Changing the subject) Computer, where is Mr Worf?"

Computer: "Mr Worf is down the boozer."

Picard: "That's where I should be."

sic transit gloria mundi

the heat descends on the city

the city towers and teems

with a million heartless miracles

that the vain say last forever

a man and a woman on a bridge

kiss once the sky unfurls

oh the beauty of that kiss and the briefness

thus passes the glory of the world

from the heelers job interviews

Veronica Roche (representing the Kare Charity group): "So James..."

Me: "Before we start, I want to ask you something. Are you related to Margaret Roche from the town of Newbridge?"

Veronica Roche: "Do you mind if I ask you why you are asking me that question?"

Me: "Because if you are related to that person, there could be no possibility of me talkng to you, never mind working for you."

Veronica Roche: "James, I'm not related to that person."

**************

I wonder was the bitch lying.

brief excursus through a modern superstition

The atheist Richard Dawkins believes that over a set period of time, planets, rocks, mud, dust, atoms, matter,  can accidentally come to exist and that matter can then over another set period of time become animated with consciousness, finally resulting after another set period of time in the reality of creatures, structures, cultures, and civilisations that we encounter today.

He also believes that whatever energy caused existence can never over any period of time be animated or conscious or purposeful or aware of what it is doing, that is to say that it cannot cause existence or indeed do anything it has observably done, on purpose.

He believes he knows this.

the story of my argument with ireland's radio shock jock niall boylan

Twiddling the dial on the car radio, I get the following.

Ray Baines (calling in to Niall Boylan's radio show): "There's no such thing as celibacy. Those priests who say they've been celibate for thirty years, that's all my eye."

Niall Boylan: "They're just not trying hard enough."

Ray Baines: "There's no celibacy in the animal kingdom. It doesn't exist among the animals. We're an animal. So there's no such thing as celibacy."

Niall Boylan: "Yeah. It's not natural."

Me (speaking calmly to the radio which can't hear me): "The animal kingdom also seems to lack doctors, nurses, policemen, ice cream vendors, politicians, teachers, astro phsyicists, road workers, philosophers, computer nerds, bin men, journalists, artists, actors and musicians. So I suppose since the animals don't appear to have them, those vocations are all unnatural too and therefore don't exist. Where does that leave shock jocks!"