Tony's been having problems, round in Odessa Street.
And I haven't a clue what to tell him.
This, with his permission, is what happened, from his e-mail:
"DO U know about sunspots? Or possibly load shedding by electricity generators? I ask becos when I sought relief from filling out my tax declaration a wave of electronic hell hit me.
First I tried your blog (anything 4 a laugh) which took 5 minutes to move from the heading, then froze after a few words, oddly spaced.
I gave up & tried to change an address in my phone repertoire; a long but uncomplicated operation I've done many times - the machine simply failed to obey.
After that I turned on my TV which went RED.
Then I turned everything off & went back to my tax declaration: a long but complicated operation, since my pension consists of 12 different sums which I have to add up 3 times B4 I get the total right.
Discouraged, I took no action & the condition cured itself.
Is there a technical explanation? Do U know it? Wd I understand it? Or shd I just ask Sainte Anne's to keep me a bed?
I imagine that the explanation must be sunspots or load shedding by the local power station but can't help a feeling that someone is sending me a message:
You are not fit for the modern world, chum."
Any thoughts?
I have been to 'Sunspots in History' (Spaceweather), where I learned that "some people claim that even the length of mini-skirts and the performance of stocks are affected by sunspots."
By way of 'A Vos Mac!' magazine, I discovered two pieces of software, one called Celestia and the other called 'Stellarium'.
Both are free and quite remarkable, but proved a major distraction from Tony's complaint.
I've Googled in vain, finding lots of information, but little of it within my grasp.
Then I tried Enchanted Learning.
And ended up at 'The Roots of Consciousness (William James site),' an online version of a hefty tome by Jeffrey Mishlove.
This much I now know:
I don't think it would be either wise or necessary to entrust Tony to the care of St Anne's mental hospital, particularly on the first day of spring this side of the equator.
But the question of mind and matter has moved on apace in the years since I read Fritzoj Capra, as is amply illustrated by a highly rated reading list on 'Consciousness in Physics' (Amazon US) by one "marrorris2".
In the meantime, Tony, you might get an answer out of EDF by the simple expedient of deducting an appropriate percentage from the payment of your electricity bill for each day the television turns RED.
7:23:11 PM link 
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