Bogey Aesop & Co: Recent Episodes
Steve Rimmer
Retirement can feel like a strange time for many people. Gone is the routine of work, your time is your own – in theory. How to stop chores from taking over can become a tricky balance. Some people retreat and return to work. Often, those that persevere find they are as busy as ever – but not always with the fun leisurely activities they were looking forward to.
It didn't take Farmer Brown's boy long to discover that Whitefoot the Wood Mouse was living in the little sugar-house. He caught glimpses of Whitefoot peeping out at him.
“Just as I thought,” muttered Reddy Fox as he peeped through the bushes on the bank of the Big River and saw Quacker swimming about in the water where it ran too swiftly to freeze. “We’ve got just as much chance of catching him as I have of jumping over the moon. That’s what I’ll tell Granny.”
Longlegs the Blue Heron watched Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter disappear down the Laughing Brook. As long as they were in sight, he sat without moving, his head drawn down between his shoulders just as if he had nothing more important to think about than a morning nap.
Danny Meadow Mouse is such a plump little fellow that there are a great many other furry-coated people, and almost as many who wear feathers, who would gobble Danny up for breakfast or for dinner if they could. Some of them pretend to be his friends, but Danny always keeps his eyes open when they are around and always begins to play hide-and-seek.
Chatterer hurried through the Green Forest. He didn't know just where he was going. He had but one thought, and that was to get as far away from Shadow the Weasel as he could. It made him have cold shivers all over every time he thought of Shadow.
Whitefoot had spent the winter undisturbed in Farmer Brown's sugar-house. He had almost forgotten the meaning of fear. He had come to look on that sugar-house as belonging to him. It wasn't until Farmer Brown's boy came over to prepare things for sugaring that Whitefoot got a single real fright.
Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun had just got well started on his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky that morning when he spied two figures trotting across the snow-covered Green Meadows, one behind the other.
Longlegs the Blue Heron felt decidedly out of sorts. It was a beautiful morning, too beautiful for any one to be feeling that way. Indeed, it was the same beautiful morning in which Grandfather Frog had caught so many foolish green flies.
All Danny Meadow Mouse could think about was his short tail. He was so ashamed of it that whenever anyone passed, he crawled out of sight so that they should not see how short his tail was.
What Chatterer saw was a big brown bunch near the top of a tall chestnut-tree, and he headed for that tree as fast as ever he could go. What was that big brown bunch?
Grandfather Frog was fast asleep in his pond and, most importantly, in broad daylight. This wouldn't be such a bad idea, if it were not for all the creatures who would like him for dinner.
Danny Meadow Mouse was worried. Now worry is one of the worst things in the world, and it didn't
seem as if there was anything that Danny Meadow Mouse need worry about. You know, some people let their looks make them miserable. They worry about how they look, and this is very foolish.
In all his short life Whitefoot the Wood Mouse never had spent such a happy winter. Whitefoot is one of those wise little people who never allow unpleasant things of the past to spoil their present happiness, and who never borrow trouble from the future. Whitefoot believes in getting the most from the present. The things which are past are past, and that is all there is to it. There is no use in thinking about them. As for the things of the future, it will be time enough to think about them when they happen.
Chatterer the Red Squirrel had been in abad mood because there was no excitement. Then, he had all the excitement that he wanted. Indeed, he had more than he wanted. He was being followed.
Granny Fox is hungry most of the time. It is not easy for her to find enough to eat these days, and
so she spends nearly every minute she is awake in looking for her dinner.
Technology has brought many benefits to the court room, ranging from photocopiers to DNA fingerprinting and sophisticated surveillance techniques. But that doesn’t mean any technology is an improvement.
Worryingly, we don’t actually know the extent to which AI and other algorithms are being used in sentencing.
Artificial intelligence is already helping determine your future – whether it’s your Netflix viewing preferences, your suitability for a mortgage or your compatibility with a prospective employer. But can we agree, at least for now, that having an AI determine your guilt or innocence in a court of law is a step too far?
As the law is considered a human science, it is relevant that the AI tools help judges and legal practitioners rather than replace them.
AI systems can avoid the typical fallacies of human psychology and can be subject to rigorous controls. For some, they might even be more impartial than human judges.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become such a part of our daily lives that it’s hard to avoid – even if we might not recognise it.