It seemed to be an ordinary sort of day, the kind of day when the sun shines, the bees buzz and the lilac blossom falls gently on the ground. Passing a house where several cats make their home, the slave came out angrily spraying a can of noxious vapours at anything that moved. It seemed that the cats had introduced some unwanted guests into their home and the slave was determined to remove them.
Coco watched in astonishment as three free fleas fled.
Further to the mysteries of a past day, Coco read* today ‘that a great and worthy twentieth century’ Irish poet ‘declined to produce a translation of’ Beowulf ‘because it was considered that someone of a different enthnicity, genre and mother tongue’, not to mention culture, to the Old English author ‘could not accurately reflect and interpret’ this great poetry.
For the real story of Beowulf he refers you to Professor Heather O’Donoghue, here and to her book…
Coco is now on the search for an original ancient Greek to labour afresh in the translation of the poetry of [place here the name of your favourite ancient Greek author] but in the words of one Latin translator slightly paraphrased: Don’t worry too much about your pronunciation there are no Romans about today to correct you, and in the Bowdlerised words of a Renaissance writer: My attempt for Greek’s labour to find is vain, for I who myself have deceivèd shall fail.
* The catastrophic and apostrophic additions and amendment in Coco’s first paragraph have been added for clarity.
Why a white poet did not translate Amanda Gorman
When a white Dutch author was chosen to translate Gorman’s work the decision was swiftly reversed
The heightening of ‘the debate in the Netherlands over the ethics of translation’ probably suggests that the Dutch are expected to read every other language in the original tongue. Given their outstanding ability to speak English, as no true born Englishman can, Coco has no doubt that that every true born Dutchman will rise to the challenge to drive metaphorically the illiterati into the abyss of darkness otherwise known as the North Sea, as they consume with an avarice insatiable for other tongues unknown since the day of Babel.
Sonic backgrounds: Obloquy to the message.
I thought I would say something really important. After listening to yet another performance of Götterdämmerung, and I hasten to add lest already I have given the wrong impression, that it was a very good performance apart from the ‘Bravo’ hurled out at the end. The voice, by the way, which penetrated the air was very similar to that which resounded at a different, and much reduced, performance in the promenade concerts many years ago. It seemed that the utterer of that earlier bravo may have listened to the rebukes of his peers at the quite untimeliness of the oral intrusion of his voice on the earlier occasion, ah, but me! I have been distracted and consequently left unfinished, an error which my better grammaticastic friends will not let me forget, a sentence which now lacks both a subject and a verb. Let me start again with what I really intended to say. Just for the sake of distraction: Did you notice the importance of the second comma in this paragraph?
Whilst listening, or perhaps more accurately, watching and listening to an audio visual presentation I realised why I do so much dislike the presence of music in the background. It was that that prompted me to think of yet another performance the closing moments, well only about ten minutes worth actually, of the same opera. I remember reading many years ago of one man, Bruckner his name, who on going to the performances of Wagner’s operas only went for the background music. His biographer concluded that had Anton ever opened his eyes during a performance he would have never entered the theatre again. I understand that, I have a similar view, as good as the story may be in itself – and perhaps a few of them are but most can be summed up in three words two of which are power and money and the third is the only one needed for opera buffa – the story is only a hook on which to hang even better music, so when going to the opera, I take quite a similar view to Anton. Audio visual performances consist of two parts, audio and visual. Now whilst the audio part can be split into many tracks, it behoves the engineer to ensure that they produce a homogenous, appropriate and pleasing mixture. I need to return to the point.
Perhaps some, or even many of you, have been to a performance of St Anthony’s chorale, in one of its many forms, by a junior school orchestra. If so you will know exactly what perfect fifths should not sound like. If you have never been to such a performance, may I suggest you keep your ears open for one, or indeed any junior school orchestra concert for despite the impurity of the fifths, such orchestras are well worth the listening for the quality of the musicianship will still be appreciated and from which the real music shine, perhaps better sound. Technique can be learned and improved even by the long ears of Mozartian disdain, musicianship is much harder to obtain.
So, to the point, I remembered during this other audio visual presentation listening to a world leader speaking of the overcoming of the will, behind which Götterdämmerung was being played. Whether it was a particularly good performance is neither here nor there, Wagner is almost at his best in this work and the music is captivating even when played badly, more so than St Anthony’s. It was most interesting. It was really quite a clever marketing device, but there was a canny media director managing the public face of the government as one might expect. The music is quite engaging, which is perhaps somewhat of an understatement, but also quite provocative. The speech is also. What struck me though was that though I had been impressed I had completely missed what had been said. For all I knew it might have been a description of antics of the teddy bears at their picnic except that a few phrases did stand out such as ‘They must be careful’, which of course would be true if you are on a picnic playing near water and ‘Don’t play with trifles’, which again surely must be a warning both to those who would fill their bellies before they came to the picnic and to those who simply wanted a custard pie fight, or had already eaten far too much, like most ten year old boys at a picnic, and who really did want to eat the trifle but simply could not manage to swallow another spoonful. The use of background music had this rather unfortunate effect of distracting you from what is actually being said, which if you had heard, rather like Anton you would not want to ever hear again.
It was finding myself distracted by some very well performed, unlike the St Anthony’s, but completely inane, unlike the St Anthony’s, trivia to which my ears had become attuned and which as a consequence caused them not to listen to the words which then themselves became the background, it was that that reminded me of the matter of the overcoming of the will, and why background music is, well abhorrent. In some circumstances of course the use of this phenomena is completely intentional. If you listen to ‘Einstein on the Beach’ then you may realise after a time, if you ever thought that this was in some way akin to opera or rap where the words do have meaning, and so tried to listen to the words being spoken, despite the constant shifting of the repetitive patterns in Glass’s music, that the words are really quite inconsequential and a reading of ‘The Hunting of the Snark’ would have sufficed. We have in Einstein what is a wonderful inversion of the idea of background music, which gives the impression that the music is there simply to provide a foil for the words. The reality is quite the opposite. If you are a lover of Glass then you may, feel free to, disagree with my conclusion, I shall not be offended nor inclined to think otherwise for reasons which I have already set out.
In the audio visual presentation which is the subject of this report, it was the words that mattered, the music was merely incidental, and not incidental take note. Much incidental music is quite consequential as Midsummer Night’s Dream or the Peer Gynt suite, which are worthy works in their own right. The presence of the merely incidental sounds here, was both unnecessary and distracting. Now, it is as true that if one of the auditors was distracted then it must be the case that others were too, as it is that if in class you have a question someone else shall too, and therefore you need to speak out because the other person is too shy to do so. But it has become the ‘norm’, would that it were ‘Norn’ instead, to underlie many oral presentations with this kind of thing. Even news reports will be adulterated by background noise. I wonder whether the producers ask themselves whether the music that has been chosen for them is appropriate for that report. Prokofieff and Korngold may have been able to write background music appropriate for a film scene, but for a real life report? HItchcock knew the value of getting the music right. Do the even more ephemeral news reports have the budgets to produce just the right underlying sounds? If not, why add these sounds and alienate your auditors from what is actually being said, unless all you really want is for your auditors to have a good feeling about what was said, as in the overcoming of the will, and so return for more of your news.
Perhaps the ephemerality of the news reports is the only reason that no-one really cares. Tomorrow no-one will remember that all they heard was the background and the real message, as they say, went in by one ear and out by the other.
If the message matters, speak the message not something else. And of course, you will say to me, Physician, heal thyself! And quite rightly too for this note, article, post, report or whatever else you may wish to call it contains much that is neither relevant nor important, having nothing to do with the conclusion or message I wished to convey, and which you will no doubt not remember, so to conclude then with the message of the message:
If the message matters, speak the message.
From which what do you conclude about this message?
Where Coco first published this he was going to use the word kongratulations, correctly spelt of course, but something in the system insisted that it become a word of colour rather than an ordinarily coloured word in black ink. As Coco is the writer, he thinks that it should be for him not an editor with whom he cannot speak to decide whether a word required some form of emphasis, and in any event, emphasis in a sentence can often be achieved for a word simply by a repositioning or change of word order, so of something else Coco had to think.
To congratulate the gold awards winners at the JWC WU WHS (https://www.jwcwuwhsawards.com/) awards ceremony would be insufficient, they have worked hard for what they have achieved, but not in order to win an award, but rather to further the health of men and women. We were reminded this evening that John prayed for the Gaius (3 John 2) that he should prosper and be well [in his body] as he is well in his soul. The winners of the awards are engaged in this work.
It is invidious to single any of them out, and who is Coco to judge anyway, but he shall, and in compliance with good statistical practice he shall declare a significant data selection bias, and mention the ILF (https://www.lympho.org/), where Professor Christine Moffatt CBE is a trustee, and UTokyo, where Dr Gojiro Nakagami works on BioFilms which as you will all know are even more scary than Hitchcock films.
Finally, Coco takes the opportunity to remind you that should you know any young people with lymphoedema who have not yet completed the QOL survey, please do ask them to consider the LYMPHOQOL (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LYMPHOQOL) questionnaire. PostScript: Whilst the official survey closed late in 2022, and the results taken for analysis, from which reports are expected early 2024, the questionnaire is still available and entries being monitored. You may find the questions useful and helpful. If you leave personal details then the team may be able to follow you up.
Professor Christine Moffatt CBE
Professor Gojiro Nakagami
If you wish to jump into the video of the awards ceremony, then you will find Professor Moffatt at 2566 and Professor Nakagami at 3282.
The 2020 JWC WUWHS Awards: ‘The Olympics of Wound Care’
These awards seek to recognise the hard work done by health-care professionals in all fields of wound care over the four years since the WUWHS 2016 conference. As with the JWC awards, these will highlight the great contribution that nurses, clinicians, scientists, researchers and academics make to the development of wound-care research and practice.
The 2020 JWC-WUWHS awards are open for nominations now. The deadline is Friday 26 November, after which we will shortlist and ask our editorial board members and representatives of the associated societies to judge the top 5–8 nominees on a number of criteria.
We also want to draw your attention to the Most Progressive Society award. This accolade is for the associated society who has made the biggest impact in wound care in the past four years.
Download Flyer Here
Offences, which do not like a joke – an open letter
Have you heard the one about the Yorkshireman, the Cornishman and the man of Kent? It doesn’t quite have the ring about it as an opening line as ‘Have you heard the one about the Irishman, the Scotsman and the Englishman?’ But if Coco used the latter, Coco would get away with the rest of it in an English public house, providing none of the English liberal elite were present, and might regret the long, but deserved, stay in hospital if Coco tried it in Clonmel. What the reaction would be in Aberdeen is as clear as whether Schrödinger’s cat is alive or dead.
But, in using the second opener Coco is not being racist, Coco is making a professional judgement; the joke needs something on which to hang the three preposterous remarks, and as we know a joke will not succeed if it is longwinded.
We all characterise others, and recognise characteristics in our own stock. Coco is a man of deep pockets and short arms, which says nothing of Coco’s wealth nor physical incapability, when Coco’s part of the country is the butt of the joke. Does Coco take offence at that? No, why should Coco, when Coco only need to take offence if Coco is insecure in Coco’s belief that all such characterisations are at the same time far from the truth and close to the truth. Schrödinger’s cat lives again.
Some people are though quick to take offence. The BBC, about whom you complained, ran an article some years ago which had a picture of whited up Nigerians. If it is appropriate to white up, then why not also to be able to black up? A more recent report suggested that one ballet dancer felt humiliated that she had been asked to white up in Berlin, but when you look at cosmetics in countries which are populated predominantly by darker skin colours than ours, how many whitening products does one find? Another aspect of the report referenced an idea that when you are on stage you can retain your own identity. Coco had thought that the whole point of being a stage actor was to take on the identity of the person you were to portray, which of necessity requires the giving up of your own. If Coco were to watch a spy film, Coco would not want to see Sean Connery but James Bond. Whiting up for the stage does not imply a loss of identity any more than it did for the Nigerian men, for whom it was probably part of their identity.
The present malaise about racism has much which is unforgiving in it. An elder of a church said recently that these movements have much for which to answer. For years we have had people coming in and out of our church of a huge variety of hues, and all I have ever seen are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who want to love, serve and worship him. Now I am asked to take note of whether they are black or white – with nothing in between?
Racism is thinking about race as marking someone else different to (and probably also implied less deserving than) me. But this gentleman, and probably many thousands like him, had never had race in his thinking in his dealing with others. Your reported comments suggest that you are probably one like him. Anti-racist sentiment however forces us to think in racist terms. It is not something that either you or Coco want to do.
Recently Coco complained that a professional institute had set up a black section. Coco asked that as it would be considered inappropriate to have a white section, why did they think it appropriate to have a black section. The response did not address the question, but merely referenced the usefulness of the section to the minority group. Coco has no doubt at all that the section is useful, but Coco still considers that it is an inappropriate use of the funds of the organisation. Such a view as Coco has is however unpopular.
The recent mantra that ‘diversity is required for the prosperity of our company etc’, seems to forget that the UK and its companies were at their most prosperous when the very opposite was true. It is not a message that people want to hear today. [For reasons other than diversity Coco would not want to return to those days.]
In Coco’s view you were right to point out that there was a lack of diversity in the Gospel Singer of the Year. Coco was not aware of the event, and Coco has not troubled his own self to find out any more about it yet. It does not really however surprise Coco to hear that the finalists were all black. It is nothing however to do with race but rather with culture and skill. The culture promotes a particular style of gospel singing which is popular today. Coco quite understands that and in some settings quite enjoys listening to it*. There are other styles of gospel singing which probably, due to the preferences of the present day, would not get past the first round. How far would George Beverly Shea have got today? Perhaps even Graham Kendrick or Stuart Townsend would not survive many rounds. A presbyterian a cappella precentor would probably not even have been allowed in the first round, but it seems to Coco that the precentor is much more of a gospel singer in terms of what the Scriptures require than any of the others.
Whilst the organisers have no control over the line-up of finalists, it is difficult however to understand what wisdom the organisers saw in not ensuring that there was ‘diversity’ in the other members of team, judges, presenters etc. unless they wish to say there was diversity as they had representatives of several different racial groups such as Shona, Zulu, Igbo, Fulani, Ethiopic, Somali and the hundreds of others whose names Coco has never known. But would that sort of diversity not in itself be an acknowledgment of racism in their thinking?
Coco is sorry that you were taken to task for merely pointing out the obvious. There are times when the emperor does not wear his clothes and it does no harm to others, but there are times when it does do harm and it behoves us to mention it in the most polite way that we possibly can.
A difficulty we have though is that we know that by speaking in apparently anti-cultural [unpolitically correct is close but not quite right] ways we shall become objects of opprobrium. We can hope however that those that take offence at our words do so only because they have not fully understood what was said, and have not yet understood the contradictions in their own position. Coco is glad to have read that you have discussed the matter you raised with some of these groups of people and are willing to continue to do so. The report on the BBC seems to show that they have failed to understand what you actually said. Coco hopes that does not also reflect an unwillingness to understand, and that by discussion they will learn.
Racism is a problem, and some people are hurt by it. Racism is however not just practiced by white people. You could say that the Atlantic slave trade, for which we are still vilified even though we abolished it, was driven by racism within West Africa. The slave trade across Africa to the east clearly shows all the signs of racism. But it is rife worldwide: the dominance of the Han in China, the endless in fighting between tribes in the African republics, the Iberian dominance in South America; Coco is sure you know of many other specific examples and far more than Coco knows.
For some however it is a tool that can be used for advantage: a complaint is made by A ‘You didn’t choose me because I am a different colour than you’. The complaint is not entirely unfounded. A was not chosen because A was both not the right person for the job and secondly because A is racist. The employer believes in diversity and does not want to employ someone who thinks that race matters and should be brought into the considerations for a job.
But race does matter. You are an Irishman. Coco has often offended an Irishman by saying we are all British here forgetting that my friend is from the south. She is still a friend. Coco cannot enter into the cultural secrets of a Japanese family any more than a South African can understand how a UK business planning meeting works. Where it matters we must recognise it and allow for it, but where it does not we are all equal before a sovereign God to whom we must answer for the way we treat those who have also been made in his image.
Let the world do as it will. If it wants to promote racial differences under the guise of anti-racist sentiment, let it do so. Let us present the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, male nor female. Let us not regard any man by the flesh, but according to whether they love the Lord. In this way we shall be truly anti-racist whilst celebrating the diversity of culture that God has given to us. The gospel of free grace, an incarnate God and a crucified Saviour has more offence in it than any offence of which the world is capable to the pride of man.
The grace of your Lord Jesus Christ be with you
The day of reckoning is nigh!
On the day that new opportunities arise for some, this is the day of reckoning for many others. There are but a few hours left to complete your reckoning to HMRC, have you done so? Or are you exempt? If you must still do so, and are not yet ready, do not let Coco delay you any longer.
This day of reckoning reminded Coco of another day, we have heard much of the effect of the consequences of the new coronavirus and of excess deaths. In very broad terms seventy-five thousand excess deaths is a very real and great tragedy. You do know that there were six hundred and fourteen thousand deaths in 2020 – an even greater loss. This reminded Coco of the even greater day of reckoning that is to come to every one of us. You may often hear it said ‘we only live once’ which of course has a corollary ‘we only die once’ and after that there is a crisis. Well, crisis is the original word, it means judgement. There is a day for the reckoning that each one of us must make to his Maker. Are you ready for it?
Between now and the end of the day of reckoning for your tax return in England and Wales there may be a further seventy times seven (one of whom on the basis of statistics alone will not have completed his tax return) who have gone to the ultimate day of reckoning. As the Bible reminds us that just as we must die once, so Jesus Christ has appeared once to take away sins, and shall appear a second time for those who are waiting for him to bring salvation. Are you waiting for him or waiting for judgement?
Gloom descends
It was a rainy day and Eeeyore had taken a walk through the gloomy gloom of the gloomiest glade in the Hundred Acre Wood that he could find when all at once Gloom fell all over him.
How do you do?, he said.
How would you do, Eeyore replied, if when you were walking in the pleasant places with the rain gently falling on your back and running down your tail suddenly there was an interruption from above by someone all at once falling out of the dark grey misty sky onto your back where the rain should have been?
Gloom became gloomier. It was no use, try as he may he could not raise any cheer in anyone who came across his path, not even Eeyore, whom he thought had the gloomiest disposition that he had ever seen. And Gloom had seen many a gloomy disposition in his time.
So Gloom considered that there might be another way to improve the situation. He thought to draw a smiley face, but knew that a smiley face would be quite, indeed considerably beyond his abilities, but he would try. As he did so Eeyore gently pointed out that under the Equal Status Act Gloom should not have drawn a smile that clearly depicted that he, Eeyore, was a donkey.
Gloom understood the predicament, indeed the dilemma of being between a rock and a hard place: Had he drawn a smile with human eyes then it would have been the most outrageous of insults; Had he drawn an anatomically correct smile it would have been regarded as an ethnic slur. In the circumstances, there was nothing for it. The only thing he could do was to draw what may be considered a caricature of the character of Eeyore as of course that was the only way that Gloom had any hope of ever drawing anything.
Inspired by the BBC.
Apologies, Coco forgot to remove the TM. Coco has not registered the logo. If you wish to do so, please bear in mind that a challenge may be forthcoming from the owners of the original which Coco has plagiarised and from which Coco has produced an entirely new work of art, whose copyright I now claim.
Knotty problems require several solutions
It was an article on the BBC which reminded me, but Coco forgets which among the many thousands it was.
The building work had at the last reached its completion and Lakshmi, the very capable and ferocious forewoman, had left her three workers, Erdogan, Mahmud and Stephen, whom she trusted without reservation, to clear up. Stephen, who was able to read and assimilate plans and instructions quickly and accurately, was a bright and sparkling electrician but willing to turn his hand to most aspects of building work. Mahmud was as strong as an ox, ready, willing and able to carry out any instruction given to him with a swiftness and certainty unparalleled among men. He was not given to reading but could mix plaster and cement in huge quantities and lay bricks in straight rows and even lines. Erdogan was every bit a plumber by nature, a plumber by trade and a plumber by size, but knew his rafters from his joists without even thinking about it. He was also exceptional with plaster. If anything could be plastered, he could skim it.
The time had come to remove the wooden scaffold which had been erected several months earlier by a company of sailors whom Lakshmi had picked up in the nearby fishing leje. The old tars had efficiently used just about every sailors’ knot, and a few more, that were known to man as they secured the scaffold around a building that had not then been built. Stephen and Erdogan surveyed the knots on the scaffold scratching their heads wondering what to do and where to begin. Mahmud waited impatiently, for he had not been instructed to do anything, for something to happen. Erdogan came down first with his face very pale. ‘Problem there is’, he muttered, ‘very serious’.
Stephen suddenly let out a great cry of delight such as had not been heard in the region for many a day. Looking over the edge of the scaffold and tossing a knife down to Mahmud, he shouted: ‘Eureka! It is straightforward, we must cut off the Turk’s head.’
Mahmud looked around. So did Erdogan. He knew full well the propensity of Mahmud to literally follow instructions and without any further delay took to his heels becoming the first man ever to run a three minute mile.
We know what literalism means. It is the stuff of The Merchant of Venice. The judgement handed down in favour of Shylock demonstrates this. Shylock could have his pound of flesh. Literalism finds a way into justice. It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But if justice goes one step, however small, beyond literalism, then it is not justice. The Lord said ‘You have heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ because the law had been corrupted by the additions of men and so he added ‘but I say to you, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you’. He reminds us that the law also says ‘it shall not be so among you’ for he is the one who gave us that law.
We often hear of cries for justice, and Coco does not say that we should not listen, but let us be careful that a cry for justice does not become a cry for revenge. The judgement for Shylock would not serve justice if in the taking of the pound of flesh one drop of blood was shed.
But there is a time for the shedding of blood for justice, and the one who said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth?…but I say to you love your enemies and do good to those who hate you’, became himself the shedder of blood. His enemies took him and nailed him to a tree. Justice was being served, but not in the way that his enemies thought. They intended to dispose of him, but they were doing what God had planned and had spoken about to us beforehand. He was despised and rejected by men. He was taken as a lamb to the slaughter. The Lord placed upon him our iniquity.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ultimately become a life for a life (as the Law had predicted), and Jesus, the righteous one, gave his life for our life. Justice was served, the exact price that we should pay because of our sin was paid by Jesus. And the wrath of God was sated. Not only that, his own qualification of an eye for an eye with ‘but I say to you: love your enemies’ was demonstrated by him in his death in that it was for his enemies that he laid down his life and shed his own blood.
So God, in the death of Jesus, shows his justice. God looked for a way at the same time to satisfy justice and to save sinners. He found it. He gave himself to die to satisfy the law’s righteous demands in order that he might save us from our sin. Jesus paid the price and now calls: Come to me, for life without a price. Your own labour and works will not turn the scales, but Jesus has turned the scales with his own blood. The way to peace with God and eternal life has been opened.
You may want to know what happened next in the story of the builders. Well, it is recorded that Mahmud did indeed cut the Turk’s head off after which the removal of the scaffold was as some would say apple pie.
Further information:
| 1 | Ask any six year old female what a Turk’s head is and she will be able not only to tell you but show you how to make one there and then providing as examples several more in a variety of colours that she had already made. Be aware that not, possibly only yet, being a sailor she may know the thing by a different name. Don’t ask a boy. He will say that he knows, give you six different versions, none of which work and then tell you that it is so easy you can work it out for yourself before he walks off for the apple pie that he hopes is still in the fridge. |
| Scriptures referenced above are to be found, inter alia, in | |
| 2 | Matthew 5 |
| 3 | Deuteronomy 19 |
| 4 | Isaiah 53 |
| 5 | Romans 5 |
| 6 | Isaiah 55 |
| 7 | If we say that Mahmud became the second person to run a three minute mile we need to add: He also missed the finishing line by about 300m for Erdogan ran in a SW direction, and Mahmud mistakenly followed West by SSW. |
| 8 | If you skipped to the end you may have missed the important bits. Perhaps Coco should copy the BBC and only produce short and less wordy posts. |
A preposterous proposition
There are, as you, dear reader, well know, four types of sieve. This conclusion is founded upon the well-established theory of sieves, which states that a sieve is an object with two properties each of which may be in one of two states. The two states are of permission and denial. The properties relate to the passage of fluids (liquids and gases) and solids. Thus a sieve is an object which will either permit or deny the passage of liquids or solids. Where both states are set to denial (Permissio Aut Nunquam), we have a pan sieve, which as a result of the dropping of the noun and retention of the adjective as an adjectival noun – a common occurrence in the English language – is commonly known as a pan. We must be careful however in any discussion of the theory of sieves to use the correct terminology. Where both states are set to permit (Permissio In Propter aEternum) we have a pipe sieve, which becomes known to us, for the same reasons, as a pipe or where the pipe has zero thickness a ring or hoop. The second order of sieve is where the fluid property is set to permit and the solid to deny. This is the, somewhat perhaps confusingly but it has become the standard convention, the solid sieve (Solidum Obstructus; Licet fluidum Ius Detur). In everyday use in the kitchen or garden we would simply refer to it as a sieve. The fourth order of sieve, which is a fluid* sieve has a state of deny to fluids and permit to solids. It is under standard convention known as the exotic sieve. It is thought to have significant technological advantages over much that is presently used in engineering, for the storage of fluids and the building of engines which rely upon clean fluid fuels. It would be possible to clean fluids in a static environment, the fuel tank of your car for example, rather than using a filter in the pathways to the combustion chamber. Exhaust gases similarly and waste liquids could be cleaned and solids collected safely. The possibilities for use in a waste treatment plant are considered to be inestimable.
As yet the exotic sieve has not been observed in the real world, but early work in the late Soviet Union under Lysenko, who was primarily an agricultural scientist but saw the potential benefits of this sieve made some progress, but sadly the work ceased to be funded in 1989. It is thought that the work may be continuing in Xin-Jiang or perhaps Wuhan, but no official confirmation of this has been possible to obtain.
So what has this to do with standees, well we shall now see. Coco was astonished to see the use of the word so Coco thought: Coco should consider other words which use this construction. You may care to correct the following:
Has it become obvious to you that the -ee-or endings, like the famous donkey, are rather morose. They speak of an empty head which has seen the -ee-or elsewhere and thought ‘that can be used in place of ‘standing’’. On a bus, there is likely to be a notice indicating that it is licensed to carry 30 seated and 20 standing. What has clearly been forgotten is that this is a common English way of saying 30 seated passengers and 20 standing passengers. Standing is an adjective without its noun, just as pan in the initial discussion is an adjective without its noun. Coco suspects that perhaps they were told that standing is an adjective and thought ‘O, we cannot use that then’. Did they forget, there is already a noun implied in the notice which does not need to be said, but sometimes is, or at least used to be, and therefore standing is the correct word to use. Better than standee then would have been to use orthostatis, at least the correct form of that word is definitively defined, if Coco may use a tautologous repetition of a conceptual idea.
By the way, the second purpose of the discussion of the sieve was also to show that just because a theory suggests the existence of a particular state of matter, the real world does not have to provide it. There may be an apparently empty slot (*as above for the Fluidum obstructus; licet solidum ius detur seive) in our design for the world, but it is perhaps just as likely that the design is wrong as that the thing for the slot exists.
For in saying: where is the promise of his coming, they wilfully forget that God made the worlds of old out of water and destroyed them with water (ie the cataclysm). Just so he shall destroy the present world (at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ) with fire (2 Peter 3 and elsewhere). Do you have a conception of this world which excludes that? Does your paradigm omit judgement and retribution? We must not forget that God has shown his wrath, and mercy towards sinners, in the death of Jesus Christ who for sinners received the just judgement and retribution that our sins deserved in order that God may justly show mercy and provide forgiveness to sinners.
How to use a cane
A tautologous repetition of conceptual ideas will not produce the making of a taxonomic classification of factual data items however well clothed with an investment in a garb of reasonable logic, but it may provide a cane with which to rod those with whom your tolerance will have nothing to do.
There were four schools on the remote populous Atlantic Island of South Withering, we call them A, B, C and D. The Island had overall a poor reputation for the education of its people and wished to improve its standards. A report was commissioned and after much deliberation it was agreed by the educational sociologists that the recommendations would be implemented subject to some minor modifications which they assured all would not invalidate the new measures. It was a stick and carrot approach but as with most social sociology the emphasis was upon the carrot. There would be rewards for increasing standards of achievement amongst pupils as this was felt to be the most appropriate way to encourage both schools and pupils.
The targets were ambitious, but given the abysmal starting point generally recognised as not unattainable. Over three years there was a hope, it was not expressed as an expectation, of a ten percent improvement in educational achievements. The teachers at school C were quite concerned about the targets, but nevertheless threw their weight behind the initiative and after learning that their colleagues at school D were struggling offered them help in the form of additional coaching and tutoring. The teachers at schools D and C worked together over the following years. Schools A and B continued to make steady but not remarkable progress.
At the day of assessment all four schools were astonished at the outcome. School D received prestigious rewards for its achievements. Schools A and B were commended, but school C would be placed in special measures for its failure to draw anywhere close to the targets that had been set.
The results table was as follows:
| Grades | α | β | γ | Overall | υ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 10% | 13% | 20% | 15% | -50% |
| B | 12% | 10% | 10% | 11% | -69% |
| C | 0% | 3% | -5% | 0% | 0% |
| D | 50% | 25% | 30% | 31% | -68% |
What was not disclosed however were the actual numbers of pupils before and after (the before numbers have been scaled to match the current numbers):
| Before | After | ||||||||
| Grades | α | β | γ | υ | α | β | γ | υ | Total |
| A | 150 | 230 | 200 | 170 | 165 | 260 | 240 | 85 | 750 |
| B | 130 | 180 | 210 | 80 | 146 | 198 | 231 | 25 | 600 |
| C | 450 | 30 | 20 | 0 | 450 | 31 | 19 | 0 | 500 |
| D | 90 | 250 | 350 | 310 | 135 | 312 | 455 | 98 | 1000 |
| Total | 820 | 690 | 780 | 360 | 896 | 801 | 945 | 208 | 2850 |
All of the teaching staff knew that without the dedicated support of the staff at school C, in guiding her teachers but primarily in motivating her students, school D would have made little or no progress. But in their hearts, they knew, it was useless to say anything. For school C even the best possible result would have been regarded as a failure: +11% at α -100% at β -100% at γ -0% at υ.
What has that to do with Welsh farmers one may ask? I too do wonder why they are in December 2020 to be given new reduced greenhouse gas emission targets when they already have one of the lowest rates of emission in the world?
Jones, the farmer, who had been very active in the farmers’ union throughout his working life, on his retirement had been asked to present to his colleagues on the techniques that he had used and tried over his many years’ of active life. Some months later in the course of his closing remarks he mentioned that he had farmed 1000 hectares for over forty years, and through the implementation of systems of active land management and rotation in his last twenty or so years had increased his average five year yield from 6 tonnes an hectare to 8, but in this latest year he had achieved over 10 tonnes per acre.
His peers were impressed by his long term achievement, but what had he done recently? ‘Remarkable’, they spoke to one another in the reception afterwards. ‘Indeed’ would be the reply, ‘what had he done, what is the secret?’ And all and sundry wanted to ask him the burning question, but he seemed to take control of every conversation and steer the discussion away from the question of yield to techniques and environmental impact. Eventually the younger farmers gave up, until another retired gentleman farmer spoke out, and asked Jones to explain to the company what he had meant and how he had done it, giving Jones, as only an older man could do, no escape. Jones replied quite simply, ‘if you are willing to put in the effort then ten tons per acre is not in anyway unachievable, but, he added, I knew that if I planted more than one square yard I would not be able to devote sufficient care to the crop to produce such a yield.’
‘By the grace of God given to me, Paul, do not think more highly of yourself than you ought, but let each by careful judgement measure yourselves according to the faith that God has given you. ‘ Of course, if we have no faith then we have no standard by which to measure, but nevertheless our standard is Jesus Christ, who loving his enemies, gave his life for us that we may receive from him faith and so be able to serve and love him in his eternal kingdom (Romans 12:3 and elsewhere).