How to behave in a library

~ admin ~ Leave a comment
National Library, Sydney, Australia 16 May 2024 0655 GMT

National Library behaviours, Sydney, Australia – May 2024

Coco is well aware that certain types of behaviour in a library are deemed to be obnoxious to other users, and some behaviours may result in future exclusion from these reputable institutions. Whilst making his way to the botanical gardens Coco noticed some of the eccentricities of library behaviours whilst passing by and chancing to peer down into what appeared to be the reading room. It was not the papers strewn across the table of someone who was at least making an effort to do some work, nor the pairs of fingers tapping furiously on keyboards which may be evidence of little more than playing a game, but the head, not in hands moment, but rather resting on the arms of the white-topped reader whose attention span may have been exceeded by perhaps several minutes and who was then enjoying a quite pause, shall we say, in her efforts to provide ingress into her mind of whatever subject she had that afternoon previously been devoted. We may credit her with that as there is some evidence of a book underneath her arms. On the other hand she may just have fallen asleep. Coco hopes that she was a quiet sleeper and did not disturb the other readers.

Not far away however there was a much more sinister apparition. Perhaps it was only that the air conditioning in the reading room was far too severe, but the other readers do not give any indication of that there was a lack of heat in their environment, except perhaps the sleeper, but Coco hopes that she had not succumbed to the extreme cold of the reading room. Why would anyone wear dark glasses, a gaberdine shawl collar coat and something between a pork pie and top hat in a library reading room? Did anyone else in the reading room consider that such vesture may be, shall we suggest, a cause of concern? Who is this person? To what secret, or not so secret, society does he belong? Unlike his neighbour he is looking intently at the screen in front of him. Is he one of Marlon’s putatively Trotskyite acquaintances? Is he using the library as cover for his espionage? Is he conducting a conversation with his co-conspirator who is sitting at the desk in front of him and who is also intently conversing with her screen, whilst apparently being quietly watched by her neighbour? What is going on? Does he know that he is being watched?

Well, Coco did not wait to discover the answers to these questions, and in any event the answers to the questions if they had become public knowledge may have posed serious if not mortal danger. There were more pressing demands than this trivia – a rendezvous in the botanical gardens was calling and one could not let the coffee go cold.

Passing away

~ admin ~ 3 Comments

Whilst this is not the place for personal blogging, some of you will want to know of, and a few of you will have met my mother I thought I should say something here. When Abraham was living in Mamre1 near the Dead Sea, three men visited him. He welcomed them and they honoured him by eating with him. Two of them walked on. One remained behind to speak with Abraham about the reasons for their visit. My mother attained ninety-nine years in November, and on Sunday past whilst we waited by her bed-side, two such men visited her. The District Nurse had not long left. We did not see them, nor hear their footsteps, but she left the house with them to be taken to her eternal home. Though we did not see them come or go, they left her body without breath, so that we would know they had been.

The One who remained to speak with Abraham later said: In my Father’s house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I shall return to take you to myself.2

She was a good mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and great-aunt to many as well as a friend. We thank God for her many years, and for giving her grace to persevere in weakness, illness and pain in her last days.

1 Genesis 18
2 John 14

The funeral service shall take place at East Hill Baptist Church conducted by Joe Long, pastor and neighbour for many years, followed by a committal at Roehampton Vale. For further information, please raise a question in the comments below. Donations, please, if in lieu of flowers, should be made to the Royal Trinity Hospice, who provided care at home for her in her last weeks, or to OxFam. We thank those who have already made donations.

Lipedema – the debate

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

There is a debate in the world of Lipedema which Coco now spells not as Lipoedema in order to avoid the suggestion that oedema (water based fluid) is present in the dsytrophy which is called lipedema. Coco has referenced the debate in other articles – here and here. The video referenced below produced by Colin Mockery (is that a pen name like Coco?) is quite long but an excellent literature review for anyone who has either the smallest interest in lipedema or who is looking for an example of how to review literature and present the results of such a review.

It is a fascinating story. Coco understands why some at the ILA or the Concensus would want to advertise or suppress the video, but Coco would wish to be cautious about the way it is done. It could so easily be perceived as a gloating over the ‘enemy’. We must not rejoice over the fall of others nor seek to find ways to make them fall, for we are as frail as they are, so concerning promotion of the video, Coco would want to add a statement something like (the author himself makes much the same point close to the end of the video):

‘whilst we agree with the scientific conclusions of this examination of the literature we do not endorse any attacks upon any of the individual practitioners mentioned who we believe intend only the best for their patients even if they may have been misinformed and not have used or promoted the most appropriate treatments in their practices. Attacks upon individuals merely strain relationships and hinder our efforts to work towards a common evidence-based understanding of the underlying causes and best treatments available for this debilitating condition. We must remember that each one of us has taken a journey to reach where we are today, having ourselves also made mistakes and having been in need of correction ourselves.  Our understandings are limited, and any criticism we make must be made with humility and compassion. ‘

Coco can see at least one cultural problem though for whilst Luther and his contemporaries would happily speak directly against persons – indeed Luther himself was likened to a bull by the Pope of his day – such an approach is not the best to use today in some societies. However if you ask a German today to say something in that manner as it may be appear to him that it is very much like asking him to attack the teaching of Mein Kampf whilst at the same time defending Hitler himself, which would be completely counter cultural in the Vaterland.

There were some other aspects than the attacks upon the individuals, with which Coco was not happy in the video for example, the use of the comic music behind some of the video clips of Dr Karen Herbst and Linda-Anne Kahn(?) were prejudicial, unhelpful and disturbing. Coco could see why it was thought appropriate, but it was unnecessary (unless the music was also behind the original videos of course). The words used were enough in themselves to get the point that was being made across. Secondly, the use of irony in the apparent pretence of a denial that there was a commercial motive behind their public statements despite the presentation of evidence that suggested quite clearly that there is a financial conflict of interest may not be what you want to find in a literature review, but there are good examples of it in English literature itself; Shakespeare used the very technique in Mark Anthony’s speech after the murder of Caesar, perhaps with good cause for if he had not Mark Anthony may himself have become the object of a second murder.

Coco commends the video for your close attention. Listening at 1.25 will work, and reduce the viewing time, but there are sections where the review quotes from the literature where you will need to slow down to normal speed in order to properly grasp the sense of the speakers being quoted.

This time of year

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

It cannot have escaped your attention that that ‘It is the most wonderful time of the year’ is a message that you will have heard many times in recent, and perhaps not so recent, days. If Coco have understood that message it involves families and more specifically the love that there is within families despite the hurt that we can and do inflict upon each other from time to time: as it is said – love bears all things.

So if it is love that makes this the most wonderful time of the year, then love is very important indeed would you argue with me if Coco suggested that it is the most important aspect of this time? If of this time, then surely not just at this time but at all times? It is a terrible thing when we come across someone who appears to have no love in him, except perhaps for himself, but when we meet someone who has real love which we recognise it by the generosity and compassion he shows towards others. Surely that rejoices our hearts.

Having seen and understood the importance of love – it is wonderful, it is what makes families what they are, it transforms (at least in popular culture) this time of the year, how do we understand love and God? That there is one God, one supreme being is indisputable, but there is a debate about whether such god can love. Coco shall not here go into any detail but it boils down to what a lone being is able to love. Love is expressed towards another. We believe however that God does not simply love, he is love. How was that love expressed then before anything else was made? This can only be understood in the light of the event which we celebrate at this time of the year.

No-one has seen God, but the Son, whose birth we celebrate, and whom the Father loves, has made him known. Before ever the worlds were made, the love of the one true God was known and expressed in the relationships between the persons, Father, Son and Spirit, of the Trinity, the one true God.

If it is love that makes this the most wonderful time of the year, it is love that makes our God the most wonderful God. This love is expressed towards us also in that the One whose coming we remember gave himself on Roman cross for our sins.

O come all you faithful, joyful and triumphant, to worship and adore him, very God of very God. O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Euthanised

~ admin ~ Leave a comment
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/2048/cpsprodpb/3dca/live/802b5180-9821-11ef-bfea-b14ec5c567a4.jpg

Instagram-famous squirrel euthanised by authorities

Coco has no wish to pass judgement, and he hopes that there is no sense of that in the following, but the circumstances of the disappearance and subsequent demise of the squirrel afford an opportunity for a couple of comments.

It was that that “multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets” had been received by the Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC in the USA). The consequence for the squirrel was that it was taken from an allegedly unsafe house, which it appeared to be happy, to a safe house where it died.  

The concern for the welfare of wildlife is not to be derogated, but it does lead one to wonder where the equivalent organisation is for people who live in ‘potentially unsafe housing’ and why they are not removed from such places though of course not with similar consequences as in the case of the squirrel.

The second comment follows from Coco’s first, though it requires a slight rephrasal of what had happened, for it speaks of events which take place frequently and against which a protest such as was made in favour of the squirrel are in some places illegal. Whilst we do not have an equivalent of the DEC, we do have the legalised removal of people from safe housing with the same consequences as for the squirrel.

They are people for whom their environment is perfectly suited to their development and growth, and yet they are torn out of it and are quietly euthanised. The womb should be the safest place on earth for a human being.

Job in his distress cried out: Why then have you brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave Job 10:18-19.

Most of us would not cry out in such a way wishing for a still-birth. Perhaps the words of King David are better for you: For you formed my inward parts; you wove me [together] in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in your book they all were  written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them Psalm 139:13-16.

It is a big issue. It may make a difference on November the 5th 2024 in the USA.


A black man is allowed to say things that white men cannot.

Lipedema

~ admin ~ 1 Comment

Sometimes it is hard to obtain a list of the things that can go wrong after or during surgery, though best practice dictates that patients should be provided with full information in order that they may give informed consent to the intervention – it occurs to Coco that perhaps the insurance standard of the utmost good faith should be applied to the contract – but at the ITALF 2024 conference held in the auditorium at the Atheneum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome we were presented with such a list,

Trattamento riabilitativo termine e getione dei problemi: E Fiengo, Pomezia, RM

Complicanze
Incompleta risoluzione del dolore
Dipendenza dall’indumento compressivo
Parestasie, ipoestasie, iperestasie, e compressioni nervose
Discromie e disturbi circulatori distrettuali
Linfedema secondario
Edema e fibrosi post-operatoria
Cicatrici e alterazioni fasciali
Lipedema regrowth

ITALF 2024 at APRA, Rome. Presentation by E Fiengo, Pomezia

It goes without saying that the list itself is ‘incompleta’ and there are other perhaps much more serious risks which are not listed here, but which are not directly related to the problem which the surgery is attempting to solve, but it is good to hear an acknowledgment that some of the outcomes may be considered to be a complete failure of the surgery itself, for the final condition of the patient will be worse than at the beginning. Surely it is not inappropriate that the words of our Lord may be paraphrased about them:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Matthew 23:15

Coco leaves it as an exercise for the reader to produce a suitable paraphrase. Please leave it in the comments should you think it apt.

Incomplete resolution of pain
Compression garment dependence
Parastasia, hypostasia, hyperastasia, and nerve compression
Dischromia and district circulatory disorders
Secondary lymphedema
Postoperative edema and fibrosis
Scars and fascial alterations
Lipedema regrowth

Lockdown (too)

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

The following post may provoke a response from the censers(sic!), and a lockdown which is far from useless, though perhaps needless, may be imposed here, after which you shall be glad never to hear from me again.

What do you think of what was orated by the Lord Hannan of Kingsclere?

The story about the people of Ohio is quite entertaining..


Lord Hannan of Kingsclere speaking in the House of Lords. Published 3rd September 2024

Further comments may be found here: Fake News?

Should the following link fail, you may be sure that a response has been provoked:

Luther’s wisdom

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

It was an interesting discussion about the place of Luther in European and in particular German history, and his continuing influence that prompted me to write, for whilst the conversation was informative, offering perhaps a different perspective than you would be given by an O-level syllabus, there appeared to be a contradiction in it. You may want to listen, or watch for yourself, to judge the matter more carefully

Martin Luther: The Man Who Changed The World from The Rest is History where Tom and Dominic (who?) talk about the man whom we cannot forget.

There is a reference somewhere in the middle of the discussion to the authorities of the age. These authorities are not to be questioned, not because of the civil or political power they hold, though some of them did, and as we shall see do so today, but because they were in the know. They were the cognisant (cognizenci) of their day. Coco does somethings think they are may be more properly described as the gnostics of their day. These people were able to influence the responses of the authorities and the masses to the sometimes new ideas proposed by those who really were in the know, and who had by careful research or experiment been able to demonstrate the veracity of the ideas. A reference may be made to the Copernican revolution; we must not lose sight of this that today we have a different understanding of the revolutions of the planets than any of the three sides of the debate. The science of one year may become the dust of the next.

There was a sense in which the speakers sought to suggest that the day of the cognisant had passed and we now lived in an age where all ideas and thoughts were properly tested for their truth, and that this approach was something introduced by the Renaissance, and built upon by Luther – every man must be free to understand the Word of God by his own conscience: My conscience is captive to the word of God! To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I therefore cannot, and I will not recant! Here I stand. I can do other. But then we had a reference to the epidemiologist. Apparently in recent years we believed them. They became the authorities who would tell us what to think and how to behave. Today the authority behind them is making a power grab in order to be able to control not only what we think and how we behave, but what we can do and where we can go. Should they succeed then all that is required is a word from them, and everyone must fall into line.

Are we lazy? Is that why we do not question the pronouncements of the cognisant? Are they really cognisant, or are such as these pursuing their own agenda? Darwin when he proposed his origin of the species (note not the origin of life) provided clear tests for his hypothesis. The discovery of DNA finally showed that the hypothesis had failed the tests (though it should have been obvious before then), but still the so-called cognisant continue to speak as if it were valid, and even try to extend it beyond the limits Darwin himself imposed. They are pursuing their own agenda, and those who seek to question them, as they tried to do to Galileo and Luther are shut down.

Are we forgetful? The cognisant of old have often had to give up their ideas in the light of evidence. Those who were wise recognised the limitations of their ideas and were careful to express them in such a way that the limits were clear. Boyle’s Law is universal, but read it carefully before you criticise it where it appears to fail.

What really stood in the way of both Luther and Galileo was not true knowledge, but a wisdom of this world. It is a wisdom which leads the fool to say: There is no god. Paul speaks to the Corinthians about this in quite clear terms:

For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.1

Now some would like to suggest that this means that all the wisdom of this world is worthless, but let us not so misunderstand what Paul is saying. He makes the context of his remarks quite clear: the world through wisdom did not know God. Paul knew very well that what may be known of God is made known in men, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, as he wrote to the Romans. Paul is not saying that we should not take notice of the world around us, nor is he saying we should not try to understand it. It is in understanding the world correctly that we see the witness that God has left in the world to his invisible attributes as Paul says here.

Paul goes on to say something similar to that which he said to the Corinthians: because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.2

They thought they knew something. They thought they were wise. But the condition of their heart meant that they used their knowledge to invent a wisdom which would led them eventually to say: There is no God. On the way to that point they invent gods for themselves, which are clearly false gods. They cannot hear, they cannot speak, they cannot move themselves but have to be carried on carts. Some see the foolishness of this behaviour but cannot find a satisfactory intellectual argument to support the statement that there is no God until they exalt the wisdom of man, his power of reasoning, his logical mind above the evidence that is around them, and they invent stories to explain it away. Stories which cannot of course be proven to be false for no-one was around to see the fake story unfold.

The wisdom of the world of which Paul speaks here then is that false wisdom which says in its heart that man is self-dependent, that he has no need of a god (other than the false one he makes in his own image but which he often will not acknowledge that he has made). Wisdom is intended to lead us to God, but man in his wisdom corrupts it to turn himself away from God. It is this corrupted wisdom, which Paul describes as the wisdom of this world, of which he speaks here. Paul is fully aware of the proverb which says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

Wisdom in itself is to be valued, to be embraced, when it is not corrupt. So Paul in writing to the Corinthians that he will not use the sophistry (another word for wisdom, which we often use in a pejorative sense when false arguments are used) to persuade them to become believers, but will simply speak the truth to them. And this is the truth that Jesus Christ was crucified. This is a fact which runs counter to all the wisdom of this world, that a god should allow the mortals to crucify him (remember that crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of the low) was foolishness to the Greek and Roman world. So he explains it to the Corinthians:

I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas (Simon Peter), then by the twelve. After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.3

Let us not then be deceived by the foolishness of the sophistry of this world and say in our hearts: There is no God. Rather let us believe the gospel which has been delivered to us that Chris died for our sins. Let us not be wise in our own minds, but receive the wisdom which comes from the fear of the Lord.

But let us also not forget that the study of this world is intended to lead us to God, not away from him for as David said:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse shows his handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.4

1 1 Corinthian 1:14-2:16
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Spiritual Wisdom
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written:
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
10 But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Romans 1

3 1 Corinthians 15

4 Psalm 19

Famine in Africa

~ admin ~ Leave a comment

Digging riverbeds to find water

The article posted by the BBC Digging riverbeds in Zimbabwe in desperate search for water reminds us of the dire famine in much of south central Africa. The Zimbabwe Partnership Trust has for several years supported communities in Zimbabwe including by financing the drilling of bore-holes to provide water for agricultural projects and schools in remote regions. ZPT is focussed this year very much on the relief of famine in those communities where it has been working through trusted local partners.