Yet again Coco finds himself in agreement with a sociologist. Robert Dingwall has written about the inappropriate use of fear to coerce specific behaviours at the beginning and during the passage of the covid-19 crisis. Coco must admit to being one of those complacent ones who did not ‘feel sufficiently personally threatened’ due to a personal examination of ‘the low death rate in [the] demographic group’ to which Coco belonged. Coco must confess however that Coco has been taken to task several times by more than one individual of more than merely competent medical standing for holding such a position.
Continue readingEvidence
To try to find the evidence
That we’ve never been apart
Is to bind the wind in bundles
For to load upon a cart.
It has now been many years
Since we face to face have met.
Yesterday with its many tears
is but snow of winter’s art.
Have I forgotten what was said?
The words you spoke, to this day,
Ring aloud to inform the mind,
In their vast and bright array.
What thoughts there are, they must pass by
Another day is present.
The past remains now but a sigh,
Onward, forward, we are sent.
And so, again in April’s reign
Another year transgresses
Then if it be that so you deign,
Be pleased with him who blesses.
1831 Katsushika Hokusai
Tulip blossom
The tulip blossoms in the spring
The beech leaves wait their turn to fling
Their verdure o’er their golden dress
Which spoke of winter’s weariness.
The beach then beckons those who run
To come to join in all the fun
Of summer days and sandy feet
Which quickly come, but soon do fleet,
A year has passed, another day
So what then shall we now convey?
We cannot let this day pass by
Without a tear found in the eye.
A tear of joy, of hope, of love
A tear which points us far above
This world and all that is therein
Unto the One who inhabits heaven.
So, for your good I now must pray.
In words the Spirit shall relay,
That in all your ways you may know
The power of him who lived below.
1831 Katsushika Hokusai
Elephantiasis et al
At the Makerere University Environmental Health Students’ Association 19th Scientific Conference in April 2024 Dr Arthur Bagonza presented qualitative results from a study funded by the ILF into the burden and prevalence of lymphatic filariasis in Uganda.
Street Furniture
It was Monday morning when Coco noticed it.
Continue readingTwo Old Men
Tolstoy appeared on my listening list this week, which was somewhat intriguing. Why would Tolstoy appear? But I had been listening to John Lennox, and Tolstoy’s short story illustrated one of Lennox’s brief characterisations of the distinction between true and false religion, between true and false love. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which is celebrated by many in the West, but in the East, and so not also for these two old men, for another five weeks, is the evidence of this distinction. The tomb in which he was lain is emptied, and despite attempts to cover up the resurrection it is well attested in history.
Continue readingExtremist?
Given the changes to the definition of extremism, Coco thought he should examine his own position to check whether or not his views fall under the censorship of any part of the definition now put forward. According to the BBC report:
Under the new definition, which comes into force on Thursday, extremism is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to:
Continue readingSchrödinger
If you have have not read Schrödinger, read this first. As this is a disturbing and not an easy read, perhaps the BBC would be a little easier to grasp.
Schrödinger, The Elusive Intellectual Cat – An Oration
If you prefer to listen than read, you may do so here.
Anti-scientific?
It was a recommendation of and a listening to Professor Angus Dalgleish, physician, oncologist, pathologist, medical researcher and author that prompted the thoughts.
The Professor makes a good point. There is a lack of consensus in many areas of science, and perhaps especially true in the context of cosmological and the design of bio-chemical machines, where radically contrary views may be held by main-stream scientists, but who rise up together when anything approaching a Biblical perspective on the known facts is introduced to silence the proponents of what is an alternative and more credible explanation than their own. Even Coco’s use of the word design in the preceding sentence will provoke the ire of such opponents of the scientific method to which they pretend to adhere but abandon when it does not suit their ideology or philosophy.
It is difficult however for the layman to assess and test the different points of view and ultimately comes down the question, as Coco read elsewhere in a different context, ‘who are you prepared to believe?’ whilst at the same time keeping only a tenuous hold on the current scientific thinking, for as has been seen very clearly in the last 500 years at least, current scientific thinking can be rapidly overturned by a new and aberrant ‘fact’ or a new explanation for a well-known fact that had previously not been adequately explained.
What Coco would suggest however is that we should not believe those who seek only to silence the opposition and are not prepared to let you listen to any alternative presentation or explanation.
The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbour comes and examines him. Proverbs 18.17
Anti-scientific woke
Compression
It took more than ten years; Heather Ferguson reports on what spurred her to action and its results.
International Lymphoedema Framework – https://lympho.org
American Lymphedema Framework Project – https://alfp.org