The Fall of Florence

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Saturday had an interesting evening, Beethoven, Ireland and Honegger. Daniele Gatti played Beethoven’s 4th concerto in a pleasant way that drew you in to the conflict that he portrayed. After a generous interval and Ireland’s Concertino pastorale for strings we were treated to what I had thought, and those of you who know anything about Honegger also would also think, would be quite a challenging piece, Liturgique, symphony nr.3.

Somewhat astonishingly however It proved however to be as lyrical as Ireland’s pastorale.

Directed Energy Weapons

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There is talk recently of what is claimed to be new, and that these new things are only available in two locations one of which is Nevada (you only need listen to the few of seconds). How much truth is in the claim is not to be decided by the reference Coco makes to it, nor is Coco’s reference to it to be taken as supportive, or otherwise, of the claim that has been made.

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Supererogation

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It was when an evangelical said to Coco, the grace we gave for lunch counts for the coffee and cake that was taken later that Coco understood that despite the words of the partially unreformed confession; found in, inter alia, the Thirty-nine Articles, not the Steps, which are of an altogether different sort, of later fame, which states:

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Venn diagrammed

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Venn diagrammes often convey important information in quite straightforward, easy to understand ways. Take this one from TR for example, it illustrates clearly some of the issues and benefits of a mixed work-life pattern that involves working from home and in the office. They call it hybrid working:

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Identity Crisis

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Debate and dogma: how to spend afternoon tea time

The following report is taken from Hansard and is therefore copyright the UK government; this is a short extract from exceedingly lengthy tomes and is provided here in illustration of combative debating techniques over a matter, perhaps, as you may understand when you read, of little importance and yet carrying a great weight of feeling both for and against it in the minds and hearts of the debaters. Coco might like to suggest that the argument boils down to

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On the [a]moral high ground?

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Speculative misguidance?

Once again the BBC is to be thanked for bringing to our attention a prominent issue in our contemporary world by drawing attention to the Brattle report. The reference to the ‘19 million [who] include those Africans kidnapped and transported to the Americas and Caribbean and those born into slavery‘ which is indeed a blight upon those nations who participated in the slave trade originating in West Africa and conducted over many centuries, brings to our attention the extent of the harm caused by slavery, and also whilst pointing to the evidence that exists today of the transatlantic aspects of that slave trade by mentioning those ‘born into slavery‘ also leads us to ask where today is, and if there is none, why is there none, of the overland transportation of slaves from West Africa to the east? There is sufficient information available to provide an answer to that question, but I shall not rehearse it here lest the descriptions used infringe the sensibilities of the censors and my readers. Let me say nothing more than that some of the men at the least may perhaps have preferred the Western than the Eastern transport.

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The morning arrives

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From the pleasant haze of the morning mist
The col called out to the towering tor:
In your deep shade from the sun let me tryst
With the dews of the dawn who water my floor.

The tor replied with a deep sounding tone:
Nothing is hidden from the light of the sun.
He comes out of night’s tent to fly alone,
To enter the race daily which he must run.

How can I help you? He rides in the sky
Far over my head and the white clouds that fly.
His beams shall arrest and dry out the air,
The grass and the flowers that long for his care.

They are not without sun and dew replete
So let them their work now the light and rain do.
The years they pass, they are ready to fleet;
May this new one refresh: the Lord be with you.

墨田川–梅若之古事 (Sumida River: The Ancient Story of Umewaka)
月岡芳年 (Tsukioka Yoshitoshi)

Ilhas Flakland

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Las Islas Malvinas son una dependencia británica en el Atlántico Sur cerca de Argentina.

Apart from the poor Spanish, on which I have no competency to judge, I do not see a problem with the name of the archipelago. Some may have a problem with the meaning of the sentence, but that is not what I am addressing here. In English we would of course say: The Falkland Islands are a British dependency in the South Atlantic near Argentina.

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