Aint Code the Bees Knees?

Of course I should get out more and we did today, but (God that word again, I'm thinking of starting a but box in the new year. That should bring in a few coppers... Ed) Up to a point; but I digress! I  received an email on Xmas day from the library reminding me that books were due on the 27 Dec.

I finished off (and enjoyed) 3 books in fairly short order recently and I'm glad I did.
The Spark of Life, Frances Ashcroft.
One of the best descriptions of a lab discovery I have read :-

There is nothing - nothing at all - that compares to the exhilaration of discovery, of being the first person on the planet... Page 2 ff

Having been subject to a certain amount of  electrification recently it was interesting.

Just Six Numbers, Martin Rees.
In essence these numbers are a recipe for our universe. Why those numbers and what slack is there in the system provides a few, very worthwhile hours of mind bending. They also relate to the  Penrose question.

Dominion, C.J. Sansom
An everyday story of what if, smog, nuclear secrets, loyalty and betrayal.
Such simple pleasures!

On the Fiddle

Just finished Akenfield by Ronald Blythe.
Glad I read it as I have been meaning to for many years now. Thought we had a copy on our very disorganised shelves but if we do it remains burried in the mists of thrillers. SCL have an electronic copy and it proved so easy in my convalescence (and dotage... Ed) to download it. Nice contrast in a way.
Funny old place, Suffolk. Some funny old boys too!

Crooks and Nannies

John Naughton found a nice one which he duly reported at Nooks and Crannies in eBooks.

Not only did it produce the Spoonarian response which appears in the title to this blog but I also thought of the endless possibilities, a la Myles of the Little Horses, to seek gainful in the world of eBooks.
Now there are enough Flaneurs out there who have Kindles and Nooks and all manner of electronic devices with which to impress the ladies. On these devilish instruments there will be reams and reams of worthy literature whose electronic form will be as pristine and untarnished as a new born babe. They are likely to remain so for a very long time until the wife gets her hands on them. They may be referred to in the salons of Milton Keynes, with a languid disdain. Maybe flicked through in the coffee houses of Stevenage or perused under the porticoes of  Peterborough but never given the rigorous academic seeing to that your intellectual trencherman is capable of in this day and age! So why don't I offer my services to various suppliers of household goods, ladies foundation garments, and cosmetical preparations to find and replace keywords in such text with subtle and subliminal advertising matter.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

becomes

 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife whose beauty has been enhanced by a dollop of Brady's Botox strong enough to floor a donkey.

 at the flick of a switch, and your man becomes a dollar millionaire overnight. I await the call.
(It may be some time...Ed)
Oh ye of little faith!

Frostwork

And in the night Jack weaves his way from web to flower,
And in the day the sun discloses where the diamonds are.

Is That a Mango in Your Pocket?

I've just finished A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif.
(I have told you about such fruity stuff before; it will play merry hell with the old bag... Ed)
I do enjoy a good paranoid surrealist history with walk on parts by OBL in a suit and the like.
Anyway, imagine my surprise to find a whole wall of mangoes in Lady BP's study the other day!
We have been seeing the odd mango  appear in the fruit bowl recently.
Must watch my step.

Thinking Clearly About Nothing

Full disclosure. In case some poor benighted soul thinks that the title of this post is spiritually related to the title of this blog, tough. Go seek enlightenment on someone else's doorstep! I believe Mother Carey welcomes dreamers.
I picked up on the Brain Pickings post about alcohol and the brain. The conclusion of this (Canadian (?) aren't we all now) comic strip is that the Devil's Buttermilk enables us to think clearly about almost nothing. A little harsh I feel, especially as I gave up the DB almost 2 years to the day now under starter's orders.  I do not consider myself to think clearly as a result and I am buggered if I can remember what it was that I was thinking about anyway... The U Tube video gives a link to all sorts of helpful little videos about drugs and a very useful reminder about hangover amelioration. May come in useful this time of year. I'm off to make a cup of tea, lashings of hot tea! It's cold enough to have the nuts off a nun here and the starter would judge my efforts to cut down on the caffeine as woeful anyway. One drug at a time sweet J, I say, one drug at a time.

Prentice Hand

I came across the phrase in Driftwood and Tangle by Margaret Leigh.
Chapter 10 - At the Peats - is set in 1940. It is, in part, a reflection on WWII.
Leigh also describes her kackhanded cutting of the peat leaving the bank gashed and uneven...

as if it were a huge chunk of butter at which a boy had been hacking with a blunt penknife.

For those of us that have not put 10,000 hours in the meter ours will always be prentice hands.

Every state should have one

A programme in the poverty series on BBC 4 drifted across my shortening attention span the other night. All good stuff and the pilgrim, an earnest young Swiss, was questioning the set up in Zambia in relation to the past disposal of assets, specifically the copper deposits. The VP of Zambia, Guy Scott,  happens to be white and the earnest pilgrim questioned him on his lack of pigmentation and, delicately, asked if this was linked to colonialism and exploitation. I have little knowledge of the Scott's politics, background or probity but I really chuckled at his reply. Obviously, he has been tackled about this before. He indicated that such a situation, having a white VP,  was not uncommon and that he believed the US had one!

Cause of Death?

A blog by Paul Mason  about Yang Jisheng. He is the author of Tombstone which is claimed to be the 'Untold Story of Mao's Great Famine'. At least 36 million dead!

Giles Fraser has a comment piece in the Grauniad about images of dead children.
Contained within it is  a twitter feed giving a link to the picture of his concern, 4 children in a morgue in Gaza.
Please be aware it is a very disturbing picture. No doubt there will be further horrifying pictures to come.

We certainly know how to kill!

Misty, Moisty, Morning

Off to avail myself of the democratic facilities at the urns in the Tithe Barn I slipped the old point and snap in my pocket.
A few photo opportunities ensued.
A web of deceit

A few (fig) leaves of respectability

 

 
In the graveyard of freedom.

Herself was concerned when she returned to find the house locked up, the fire out and the kettle boiling. Not a sign. I had passed into the churchyard and was presenting a damp, solitary figure to the memorial masonry of previous generations. Lost in contemplation of my own mortality.

(So the sun didn't cleave the woodwork then. God, but you can be a miserable bugger sometimes...Ed!)

The Usual Suspects

Nice little blog from our Paul  at the Great Hall.

Certainly nobody in the press made trouble: not even me, nor Channel Four News, nor The Guardian. We sat, watched, recorded.

Eee Paul, you becoming a southern softie? Few years in the Laogai; toughen you up a treat lad.

Certainly seemed to be a shortage of people considering it's their hall!
I have come to appreciate Paul's journalism and reportage. I sincerely hope Fatty Pang and the Posh Posse don't do too much damage!

Fun Guy

We may have missed the 5th November but I would hate anyone to say that I am not a fun guy or appreciate such in others.

Not much room for these sorts of things, I'll just squeeze in here.

Recycling

We do our share.
The council provides for the collection of garden waste, paper, cans and cardboard. We recycle glass (Did I not hear that you had forsworn the devils buttermilk...Ed? ) Herself is partial to a drop of red wine, possibly a nightcap of the finest blended, and who am I to object. Besides, there are always pickle and jam jars, bottles of this, that and the next thing for which our consumer society requires the finest vitrification. I could believe the bloody milk bottles keep some fellow and his mafia cousins from Murano in clover. I religiously take a few rags from my back that have threads bared, the furniture that the mice have had condemned by the parish authorities  and assorted electrical devices that still have their valves glowing to the town dump, AKA the Recycling Centre, to avoid the horror of landfill. As a result of my efforts for the environment I may be responsible, personally, for the failure of the publishing industry because I take my surplus reading matter to the shop that combats famine in Oxford. (I think we get the point, could you move on for the love of god and his blessed mother... Ed!)  Well I also take the little cardboard tube that appears when the toilet roll is exhausted (I share its pain...Ed.) and flatten it, putting it in the recycling. I feel an enormous pressure to do this.

I believe that I could more likely cull badgers, hunt foxes or other defenceless beasts, perform cruel and painful experiments on small animals than fail to recycle the small but dutifully flattened cardboard tube.
Strange isn't it?

Whistle Bright Star

A grandmother's joy at the setting sun.

A hard day.

Flatland, a stage for light.

The Great Wen boils with smelting gold,

A febrile heart.

Whistle bright star, a beacon home.

Romancing the Wind

Very uplifting, no pun intended for once and if you are not as high as a kite after watching this video well, shame. Ray Bethell, an 85-year old resident of Vancouver, is romancing the wind with kites near the Burrard Street bridge. Here he flies three kites in a ballet set to "The Flower Duet" from Leo Delibes opera "Lakme" - with Joan Sutherland and Jane Berbie. Robert  Holbrook is credited with the video.

Many thanks to Jean for the link. 

Pleutering with Swans

I had been off pleutering about and taking an easy road out of the village paused to catch breath and the sights and sounds on a bridge over the mighty river of ours which feeds the Little Ouse. Needless to say it was quiet. A good excuse to absorb the last sunshine of September, feel bones warmed and spirits lifted. Cheers, but in a good way. I thought I was on my own but a loud beating came from under the bridge. The trickle beneath my feet must have produced a huge fish if some previously unseen angler was landing his catch and dispatching it. The beating continued, increased even, but I could not identify the cause. Moving to the other side of the bridge I saw a swan paddling about in a very shallow pool going about its business of grooming and looking truly magnificent, as white as an angel on a Christmas tree.

Further on I noticed a bird scarer. The farmers use these kites, in the shape and with the motion of real birds of prey.
I watched for some time in grudging appreciation of the mimicry. I suppose they work but they probably displace real birds of pray and sometimes mistakes of perspective and general stupidity make me think that the folk at Mildenhall or Honnington have invented silent helicopters. I was mulling these daft thoughts about in my head when the bird scarer dropped like a stone into the field. It was an accept no imitation Kestrel. The real thing!

I thought of

 If you've seen the hawk, be sure, the hawk has seen you. 

 (Findings, Kathleen Jamie. p 32. I thoroughly enjoyed this book like all of hers that I have read and must attribute the pleutering to her; p51 to be precise.)
  

A Great Way to Start the Day!

Tuning half an ear to the British Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday morning at about eight am I was greeted by the  Huapango. I have met this creature before and it does put a bit of a shine on the day despite plague, famine, war and devastating floods. Just thought you might like to know.

Gustavo has a  passable rendition here.

(That's what I like to see:- clarity, brevity, fully referenced and a bit of a punch, it's what blogs were made for...Ed)

Is it a bit of a punch you're after?

A Shell of Myself

Shells, don't you just love 'em

Shell companies, now that is another matter. A blog  by Nick Shaxson on the ever popular Treasure Islands site gives the details but I prefer to let my imagination roam.
The companies - Unbeliezeable,  Delawho;  the officers are Umberto and Desiree, your name will never be mentioned!?
Umberto will do what you tell him to do... Also included in the starter pack was a resignation letter signed by Desiree
undated!
The reporters start to have fun with things they might be able to do. “Can we have Unbelizeable sue Delawho?”
However there are safeguards and due diligence will be done.

“The beneficial owner promises that the company will not be used for the purposes of distributing drugs, money washing, financing of terrorism, production and/or distribution of kiddy porn, and some other activity that you are promising not to run through Unbelizeable.”

Oh Yeah!
So Senor Zeta do you swear to be a good boy, a very good boy?
You may wholesale huge quantities of non prescription medications, be in the premature undertaking business, sex, rock and roll, not necessarily consensual, with the liddle people but you would never lie would you? Good I'm glad we have established that.
Now we can do bidness together and, if you wan, Desiree can have your babies!
Ocala!

Paranoia - Signs of the Times

I had the pleasure this week of noticing that one of the drugs I take had been increased in its dosage.
(Now you know herself prefers you speak of medication rather than drugs... Ed)
I am an old and foolish man with a bad memory but I am quite clear that neither the hospital nor the GP had suggested that the drugs medication should be increased in dosage, still less had they consulted me. Herself who was there at the last hospital consultation agrees and anyone who suggests that she is foolish, old or with failing memory - well peace be upon him as he is not long for this world.

Imagine my paranoia, my increasing paranoia, when I saw this sign in the car park of a local village hall.

No respect at all, it will be compulsory youth in Asia next.

Books glorious books

What a great idea! Virtual Library contained in public QR codes. Projekt Ingeborg.
From the ever popular ( in our house) and useful Collaborate (Previously known as Thriving Too)
(I did enjoy the little fishes, though (I could play with them for hours))
(Are we not becoming a mite parenthetical...Ed?)
(I am not in the same bracket as yourself!)

Lots of other ideas about books and libraries in this Books and libraries link.

Accounts Receivable

 Elif Batuman is a writer that I had picked up on in the London Review of Books.  I had seen she was giving a talk at the British Museum - Cervantes, Balzac and double–entry book–keeping, the title of the talk caught my imagination. She has  written The Possessed  which I have just read in paperback.  Ian Sansom gives a whiff of it in the Guardian review link. The book reads like a short ride through Russian Literature in a fast machine - see John Adams   for rest and relaxation.
Her wit limbo dances under the academic bar. On p57 in the paperback version she reports being accused  by a colleague at a seminar of not fully understanding Lyutov's ( a character in Bable's Red Cavalry)  "specifically Jewish alienation."

Her reply  -

Right ... As a six foot-tall first-generation Turkish woman growing up  in New Jersey, I cannot possibly know as much about alienation as you, a short American Jew.

It may show irony in the soul but it is lost on her colleague who nods and replies -

So you see the problem.

There are nightmares about penguins as homestay hosts, ice-houses for connubial blisters, inspirations for conspiracies and attempts on Tolstoy's life. Do keep up there at the back.

Omposable

Not Staged, honest. I wouldn't go anywhere near digging the garden.

Omposable was 'e

You know I think herself is trying to tell me something.

Salad Daze

A Cabinet re-muffle, an Indian Summer and Salad Daze.
We are blissed out, lucky S o Bs.
I will pass over the occupants  of the deckchairs of state on the  good ship of the coalition and move on to the weather.
The Bees, even the S o Bees, have been making up for lost time.

We visited Hackney, not to indulge in Para-Julibumpic watching, but for a literary soiree!
Persons who are known to us and may even be re..(don't start on that bollix again, we will take the disclosure as being full frank and filigree transparent ...Ed) OK then we enjoyed the launch of Salad Days - see the link. Great stuff. Get a copy while it is good and hot!
After the event we wandered down the Lower Clapton Rd. The Blue lights still flashed and the sirens screamed but the old place is definitely on the way up! The party, stout and otherwise, foregathered in the Clapton Hart.
Before it was Chimes (or Crimes) we knew it as Dougies. I did not see this myself, being safely tucked up in bed, but in its Dougies incarnation a drive by shooting once upon a time produced return fire rather than the usual hitting of decks, allegedly. I seem to remember Lady BP going out for a night with the girls there but she claims I am old and foolish and my memory is failing!

Anyway,  we are making the most of it, the weather that is, not the failing memory.

Lest We Forget

Last year I referred (Somewhat disparagingly I thought... Ed) to graphs concerning the economy.
Ann Pettifor has returned to the subject and blogged her notes for a presentation to a conference entitled Just Banking.
Ha! Ha!

The arguments are well worth trawling through if you have any doubts at all that it is going to be a cold, cold winter.
The ground is also being prepared to blame us and those like us for the pickle we are in. The idea that it was a big boy called Gordie wot did it, and ran away, can only stretch so far in the collective Alzheimer syndrome that clouds The Mail, The Current Bum and the Torygraph! So now:-

Blaming the Victim
And, it is implied, those responsible for this spontaneous combustion are the victims.
‘Sub-prime borrowers’ are frequently named and blamed. Michigan hairdressers on $7 an hour with a mortgage sold fraudulently by the agents of banks at a very high rate of interest – are the innocents deemed culpable of bursting the vast global credit bubble.
Blame has been passed from criminal to victim: from the private banking system to government and to the public sector.

And for those who like to see pictures, graphs even...

Busy Bees

Lloyd's Bank in BSE has a sign which incorporates a bee hive.

This goes back to the name of the bank before it was absorbed into Lloyds
The bank may be absorbed into the Coop Bank as the TSB(ee).
Ho Ho.
Nice though for us romantics - cooperation, mutuality, bees (workers, queens, drones, fleets of drones no doubt; see where all that misty eyed nonsense has got you... Ed)

Mass, Length and Time

I have just finished Dan Falk's book In Search of Time  and no I don't know what time it is!
He has a lovely quote from Roger Penrose who has had a few thoughts on the matter.   On p240 they are discussing the the Big Bang.  Penrose is troubled by the interpretation of the evidence to suggest that there was a state of thermal eqilibrium at this time. This is a state of the highest entropy or disorder? Our universe has evolved from this!

Penrose seems genuinely troubled - to the extent that one can be troubled by events that happened 14billion years ago. .....
I don't know why people haven't worried  about this more...

( For the love of God, can you not tell us what the time is? ...Ed.)

Well it is Tree Time, of course!

Reflections on a Republican Future

Time to move on as the Julibumpics draw to a close.
To paraphrase:-

If I were the President of this Land
I would declare total war on the Snollygoster Man

What is a Snollygoster I hear you ask?
Mark Forsyth supplies the answer in a TedX talk at the House of Commons.
Some wry thoughts on the origins of the use of the title President. (POTUS to West Wing fans).
I suspect everyone will be wanting a 'fleet of drones' now. Such a seductive little phrase, such horror now and misery to come!

Alas Vermeer

Interesting 'Secret Life of the Artist' by Andrew Graham-Dixon on the Beeb recently  which uses paintings, locations and public records in the Netherlands to lay bare the life of Vermeer. I had always surmised that he was the cliched enigma wrapped in a mystery despite books, films, exhibitions and extensive commentaries; part of the attraction, of course.

    "Andrew Graham-Dixon, travelling to Vermeer's hometown of Delft and a dramatic Dutch landscape of huge skies and windmills, embarks on a detective trail to uncover the life of a genius in hiding.Renowned for painting calm and beautiful interiors, the real life of Vermeer was marred by crime and violence. His life was a bid to escape the privations of his family and yet even a glamorous marriage and artistic success failed to save him from the fate he dreaded more than any other."

When I discovered Vermeer I became intrigued by the use, and the effort, of a painting within a painting.

So there you have it, allegedly, the Last Vermeer, painted while his mother in law screamed at him to sell a few pictures for gods sake if only to repay the money he had possibly stolen from her and pay the baker.

And after Vermeer?
See the photo by John Naughton  at the link.
Very fine snap, a real cracker.

The End is Nighish

Do I think that Rubberman and Gideon are heading for the taxi?
Yes.
Is it because they have reneged on the social contract?
Is it because they have lined up cuts that will alienate their voting base?
Is it because they have reduced taxes for their millionaire mates?
Is it because they have bleated ineffectively about tax avoidance?
Is it because they have tasered productive industry?
Is it because they have allowed big finance to run riot?

Possibly, but once someone states that -

You cannot run a modern sophisticated economy the way you run a tuck shop at Eaton*

describing your 2 plus years of government, you have reached the John Major underpants moment.

All Your Big Society - Dave - Belong Our Cones Hotline!

* Jimmy McGovern, Observer Magazine 5/8/12

Mind, Memory and Creativity

Be careful what you save it may come to haunt you!

I had a spare moment to plough through the instapaper list that I keep and that keeps nagging away at my tool bar.
I came across a reference to the obit of Mary Fedden in the Grauniad. 
I'm sure I marked this because of the picture that appeared with it, but if I am honest I can't think why. However, the Feather and Two Stones sparked a train of thought along the lines of:-

The birds have had a hard spring and early summer. Some of the blackbirds are wandering around the garden  in a daze;  bedraggled  and with feathers hanging out. I'm sure if I was a twitcher I would be able to explain it. The weather, the cats, the overpopulation due to St Claire feeding everything in sight, twice a day, I've no idea. But we do see a lot of feathers! it would be nice to record some of the patterns and colours. And the flutterbyes, don't start me off on the mariposal road! 

I was enjoying this thought going down the list of links when I saw one to The Painting Fool. God knows how or why it got there but it did and I thought - apposite - to say the least! Not bad for a bit of old code. But then aren't we all just a bit of old code? Soft, squishy and set in lumps of carbon that evolved for a few billion years but there you go; can't say fairer than that. Have a look yourself and see what you think!

Upgrade Now!

Buddhist Pizza Software is pleased to announce an upgrade to its acclaimed Tanka Town operating system. The fix new release (TT 17.75) will be known as Snowyleopardz and will offer truly amazing functionality, an unbelievable range of built in applications, and mouthwateringly good code design nestling behind the usual propitiatory firewalls.

Best of all it's going to squeeze gazillions more in juice outa you lemonheads who don't know sh*t from Shinola.

Can someone do a final edit on this before it goes out to the  creative fruitcakes?

Gombeen Men

I watched Bob Diamond being 'grilled' by the Treasury select committee yesterday. I'm sure in the rough, tough, macho world of fearless reporting words like grilled are used in the belief that they convey the full heft and majesty of one of the organs of our democratic assembly relentlessly seeking the truth. Not so, I was reminded of someone being savaged by a dead sheep which, I believe, is an image conjured before. As far as applying intense heat to a lump of meat in order to soften and produce a more acceptable dish, I saw no evidence. Rather, I saw Diamond Bob working on his very elegant tan, breaking off from time to time to ask the committee members to rub a little more of the 20million into his shoulders. That winsome, boyish smile, that little movement with the lips to reveal a pleasing toothy grin, how could anyone doubt his sincerity, his dignity, his integrity.

And we are going to have a Parliamentary Enquiry?

Remember it is your money that the bu**er is walking away with.
If he was a rioter who had stolen water he would be in some interview room down Tottenham Nick with Inspector Knacker having the full panoply of the law applied to his soft and squashy bits.

(Such anger in one so young and so early in the morning. You haven't had your breakfast have you? Now you know the importance of the inner man, keep the bag filled and stay off the red meat or we will be making another appearance by popular demand in A&E...Ed)

Mr Turing's musical conundrum

The Grauniad has a nice little test.
5 pieces of music, one of which was generated by that Hank Marvin Android in the corner.
Can you tell which one?
I couldn't!

So Naughty!

The link below gives a Grauniad headline
Europe's divided leaders grope for summit breakthrough

That's the difference then - the current bun would have had

I feel a right tit whispers horny Iti Monti!

We're doomt I telt ye, doomt!

(For god sake get that man a cup of tea or he'll be wailing all night!...Ed)

Shake Hands.

A Brief and Private Encounter.
A man sits gazing out of a long window as he has many times before. The lawns in front of him are manicured and watered to within an inch of their lives. There is an empty chair set next to his and something suggests that it has been occupied  convivially many times before. The comfort of the chairs, their proximity and relative angle suggests regular use even if the fabric and stuffing do not.

The door to the room opens without the formality of a knock and a small woman heads for the occupant of the chair in a business like manner but without haste. The size of the room gives the man ample time to rise and put on a warm and generally welcoming smile. The woman does not extend her hand but addresses the man in a clipt and slightly tremulous voice.

I suppose I should call you Mr Chuckles. How is Ian by the way?

Big Ian is fine, preparing himself for the final shock when he discovers that Jesus is a Catholic, just like the Pope! I'll call you Brenda rather than Mam, unless you wold prefer the Gaelic?

The twinkle in her eye and the gear change in his smile suggest that ice has been broken.

They shake hands and Mr Chuckles offers a drink. Brenda suggests a Dubonnet with a little stiffner.
She takes the second seat and a large glass is offered. Mr Chuckles pours himself another cup of tea and joins her.
They sit in almost  companionable silence. The man askes her if she has travelled far. She snorts in genuine amusement.

Oh yes Mr Chuckles, I have come a long way!

Concert Parties

Watched the start of the Big Noise concert. Thirsty Work was interviewing the Head? of El Sistema (Scotland);
'El' Sistema, yes we have a lot to thank the Greeks for. There was also a wifey from Raploch with a kid in the band. The 'Head' had  a chin that could cut through 6inch steel obviously on the way up the greasy arts pole in Scotland, maybe I do her a dis-service. The wifey was 4 square solid with an open face and a hesitant air. Not used to speaking out on The Box I'm  sure, but I felt that she was being straight with enthusiasm for the band and the effect on her child. Thirsty did a good job, not patronising, well not too much anyway. Then they played Purcell's Abdelazer. It was a life affirming blast. We were told that kids as young 6 were performing. They weren't just performing they were living and having fun and making music in addition to whatever else they felt. Review here

    As Richard Holloway, chair of Sistema Scotland, acknowledges:
     "This will only mean something if it's peppering the whole country."

Rather, what this means is that a community has been able to come together for a cultural event which their members have taken a worthy and proud part. Who knows but hopefully some may be infected with the bug to do things. Music, community, economic activity and government  for themselves.  Heaven forfend!

Which led me to think about  The Concert by Vermeer. It was stolen - Details of the picture and note of its theft here -

No sign of it since. Was it taken for ransom? No clearly established genuine demands? Was it used by Crims in US for collateral for drug deals? Was it a feather bed, get out of jail card, which has not been used so far. Were the IRA involved? Has it been destroyed? Lots of interesting ideas and hypotheses but very little information.

I have a conceit.  Although the idea of a Flemming Villain wrapped in ecstasy, stroking a cat as he contemplates this work of art has long been debunked, what would you do if you suddenly found your birthday present wrapped in the sodding painting. Claim the insurance or try and flog it down Islington?

What if you stuck it in a chaepo frame, nailed it to the wall above the imitation coal fire and complained loudly to family and friends that the 50 sovs you paid for it down the Old Kent Rd was a diabolical liberty and you can swear that the thing was painted over a copy of the Chinese Girl with the eyes that follow you round the room in strong sunlight which is why you keep the curtains closed!

The Reagan Defense

The Reagan Defense must rank with the Sicilian as giving the guys with the black hats a chance.
Hey! I don't remember!

I've just seen, en passant, Dave at the Levenson. M'Lord Justice's 'wally dug' has been savaging Dave's ankles over what may be described as 'instances of hospitality' involving the Dirty Digger and his evil empire.
Dave has deployed the Reagan Defense to great effect.

Darn't remember yeronner!

One might regard this as a terminological inexactitude if it was not for the episode reported earlier this week of the child that got left behind.

How many is it now Sam, two... three?

(Didn't Tartakower give O'Kelly a run for his money with the Sicilian in '46?...Ed
To be honest I don't remember and besides strong drink may have been taken!)

Portraits of Edingurgh

A recent visit to The Scottish National Portrait Gallery gave me a  a 'queer turn' and no mistake.  There was Peter Higgs looking as if he had been attacked by a Hamiltonian Operator. Nice one Lucinda?!
Hunting the Higgs. A worthy quest? Yes but not the most interesting question. What is that pray? Well my GUT feeling is that the guys working on a path to unite Gravity and Quantum Mechanics are at the theoretical coalface. You can see them can't you. Physicists in white coveralls, hard hats emblazoned with Quantum Mechanic. Tunneling in the theoretical depths of an energy well with diamond tipped wave functions. On the other side a team of Gravititions suited up to protect against Cherenkov radiation, again with hard hats bearing the words 'Gravity doesn't suck!'


For a more erudite and subtle flavour of the question, on the way we pursue progress, in physics at least, see Carlo Rovelli's thoughts

We are very far from the final theory of the world, in my field, in physics, I think extremely far. Every hope of saying, well we are almost there, we've solved all the problems, is nonsense. And we are very wrong when we discard the value of theories like quantum mechanics, general relativity or special relativity, for that matter. And throw them away, trying something else randomly. On the basis of what we know, we should learn something more, and at the same time we should somehow take our vision for what it is, a vision that is the best vision that we have, but then continuous evolving the vision.

All abaat strings and loops init?
(I just knew they would let that fellow in again, and Bloomsday around the corner...Ed)

No Child Left Behind!

So Dave a little careless with your own children. Pity about those of the great unwashed.
I'm sure there will be much merriment at your expense. Thank heavens no child was hurt in the escapade.

Might it be a little cynical to suggest that it was a good example of what a normal millionaire you are and how your multimillionaire wife is not only good lookin', well dressed for every occasion but, duurh, a little forgetful as well.  Close personal protection a bit laid back at the old Dog and Duck? Still, let it be known that you and Sam have made a, tax relieved bung, to the NSPCC, Alzheimers, the Lifeboats or whatever and you could go up in the nations affections!

While we are sitting in judgement I repeat the link to a Mr Cooder who spotted the reluctance to exclude bankers as a class of persons from the trough! Real inclusion:- no banker left behind.

Night all and hey, be careful out there!

Growing Rainbows?

Taken at Lea Gardens

As You Are Now So I Will Be

I find myself using the backs of envelopes (not fag packets), the blank side of paper, letters, advertising, printing in rough and so on. It makes me think of an elderly, fiercely intelligent monk that taught us applied maths more years ago than I care to remember and so many years ago that I can't remember his name. We were a group of three, and sat mesmerized as he worked his way through examples, explanations and problems, detailing each on the inside of an envelope which had been opened carefully to use the blank space. He produced these as if from an endless supply in the pockets of his somewhat threadbare habit. Questions produced but a moments reflection through pebble thick glasses, a few fish like gulps and the solution would be set out on the scrap paper, clearly, logically and with a straightforward commentary.   Given that we were fairly thick and the sessions lasted two hours I think we half expected him to run out. We would have the joy of seeing him tug at his socks to try and find more scrap paper. It may be that we considered handing in homework on such stationery or maybe that is the conceit of a false memory. I do remember his gentle manner, his brogue and the fact that the rest of the community regarded him as, well, completely bats.

Anyway, here is a wee picture of another little treasure.


Early Purple Orchid since you ask!

Julibee

Our Queen is a True British Sailor

Is the Duke of Edinburgh still the highest Peer in the land?

Nuff said!

Jeux

Holidays can be such fun-

A bit of a fish out of water to begin with.

But we had a whale of a time

To play chess arrange your castles at each side of the beach!

But I am the king of the castle.

Time for painting

Such a busy bee.

And so to bed!

Dersu Uzala

Went to the pics to see Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurosawa (1975, 70mm print Mosfilm, Sovcolor!)
Described by Philip French, who knows a thing or two about Filums, as

 an elegiac film of great visual and spiritual beauty

The print wasn't that good and for today's audience it must seem a little slow, 2hr. 40m.
Since the audience had an average age of 72 it didn't seem to matter much.
An afternoon of real, contemplative, pleasure.

I'm sorry I'll wake up now.

Sightlines

 

Lines of Sight

Book of the Week from Monday 23 April is an abridged reading of Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie. Very enjoyable. Views of 'nature taking its course'

The Pathologist with empathy   "Ooh what a shame" a one woman Greek Chorus.

Killer whales going around in family groups - young males with their mums!

We have sailed

In the beginning we were without sail
then :-

And so to bed.

Sailing By

Shy and retiring

Never mind about the open necked shirt;  20 years without a proper job came to an end  yesterday with a suitably small celebration. My eye was taken by a card bearing the caption "Stuff Work" showing 3 individuals suitably dressed for the beach circa 1920, jumping in the air for joy or whatever. It was in our local Oxfam secondhand bookshop. As the Catholics would say: - a dangerous occasion of sin. Luckily we escaped with the family coffers reduced by less than £10. I bought Absolution by Olaf Olafsson as a treat because he appears in an interview used for teaching by herself. I could see it was desired along with the 2 Scandithrillers that she purchased for serious cash money!

Shadow work.
An idea used by Ivan Illich, in his 1981 book.

I shall continue as a shadow worker!
(Ah get on with you. Any excuse to sit on your fat backside philosophising, with the parsnips unbuttered, the dishes in
the sink and more maunderings per square foot than that man McGonagall...Ed)

A Fortune Made in Haven

Let me make it clear, Buddhist Pizza does not snigger, neither does he indulge in any of the childish, mean minded, low spirited, delights of schadenfreude. However, the muesli was spread explosively around the breakfast table this morning at the Grauniad's headline Cameron family fortune made in tax havens.

To be caught with one's trousers down is one thing, to be caught displaying so little is another.  A fortune of £2.74 million is hardly worth getting out of bed for these days,  and a bequest of £300,000? Well really, what would Gideon say?

It could be of course that the Old Pater, Ian of that ilk, had a very shrewd tax wallah, heaven forfend.
I wonder if we could find out who he works for.

I did enjoy the reference to the ancestral pile, Blairmore (I kid you not) sadly  believed to be in the family no more.

(Stop sniggering man! It's very unbecoming... Ed)

A Little Light Music

John Naughton has had a few posts recently concerning light, you can view one such here, and you can see  his photography in this link.

I was really sparked by a video on his blog. A demonstration that we see so little and there is so much! 

Questions, Questions

And now the question you have all been waiting for!
Is there a black hole at the centre of every galaxy?
Possibly...

Meanwhile back on planet earth a tale of the "black-collar class" known in the  Buddhist Pizza Pagoda of Heavenly Peace 22b Baker St. as

"The case of the candidate member, his wife, her son, the lover (who's lover...Ed?) and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, probably the cook, the crook and the CIA as well" 

rumbles on. Any similarity with the suspension of Bo Xilai  from the party over the alleged murder of Neil Heywood is by chance and chance alone.

How fortunate, how very fortunate that I am reading The Shanghai Gang a chapter in The Party by Richard McGregor.
I would, otherwise, have my head filled with wrong thoughts, lies and corruptions from the capitalist running dogs.

(Final question, why are capitalist dogs always running...Ed?
Because they are like noses!)

Wealth of Nations?

John Naughton has a link to a very clear description,a 'cartoon assisted' video, of how to make money in America.
By turns it is amusing, informing, enraging and dispiriting. The little people at the end have such sad confused looks on their faces. Arise ye starvelings.

Grown up cartoonary seems to be a very powerful instructional and polemical device. I've seen it used to great effect recently.

Drouthy, Very Drouthy

It's been hell out here Gideon, you have no idea what life is like for the little people.
First there was the hosepipe ban.
Then there was the petrol shortage.
And now, sob, even the bloody Belgians are lamenting the desertification of Mid Suffolk.

Finally the worst; this sign seen in the, empty, car park of our local.

The Party's Not Over

It being a cold, wet, miserable, Easter I settled down,  reading The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor.

Fascinating stuff. Not just for all the old chestnuts about 99% of the human race being Chinese and how the GDP of China  will be twice that of the world in 2013, and that they use more 'water', 'energy', 'resources', per capita in a second than a drunken sailor in a cheap hotel over a bank holiday weekend.

The power of the party, the way it penetrates society, the way it has hung onto control in a period of very rapid political, cultural and economic change is remarkable. Things definitely got wobbly in the cultural revolution and again around the  Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 but, as always, the Party came up smelling of burnt almonds.

Two things struck me by page 21:

- most of the politburo are engineers by background and many of them have real jobs as well,
- the Party does not seem to have a website ( must check that).

I love the idea of "leading small groups". I certainly went off on one when that appeared on the page. It's a pity they didn't name them small leading groups (watch it...Ed!)

No sign yet, in any detail, of the The People's Liberation Army (PLA) for which much thanks. You would not want those guys parking their tanks on your lawn, or town square perhaps.

Must go and check the interweb site thingy for the CP of the PRC.
What's that noise? Sounds like a number of very large, badly tuned diesel engines!

Headhunting

O Lord what a violent world we live in, even in our fiction. Scandicrime has had a hold on our family reading and viewing for some time so that it was inevitable that we would head for the 'Pea Flit' for a screening of the Headhunter based on a Jo Nesbo 'thriller' at some point. I don't want to give too much away but was struck by the filmic cracker of the 'hero' caught with his gun in his kecks and a crazed, spurned, woman of murderous intent wielding the biggest, sharpest, kitchen knife it is legal to posses. She is clearly set on performing butchery on his carcass without the benefit of death, initially.  Of course, he sticks his hand down his pants produces what looks like a pretty deadly erection and just manages to kill his assailant before she plunges the samurai Sabatier into his heart. Needless to say, she ends up dead sprawled on top of him in a somewhat suggestive position.
There was a clear teeing up of the line:-

There's a gun in my pants and I'm not pleased to see you!

The moment passed.

How pleasant after this to return home, the fire out, the kettle boiling and a good prawn curry cooked to perfection by Lady BP.
We also had the joy, later, of watching death in much warmer climes with Inspector Montepulciano - based on the Andrea Camilleri series.

All good stuff!

A Gallamite

A certain Mr Galloway has been in the news recently. A  self proclaimed tidal wave of democracy about to break over our benighted shores? Up to a point George Copper, up to a point!

I saw, in the many comments about the event, said Gorgeous George described as a Saddamite. A tad unfair?  I would describe him as a Gallamite:- the friend of a Sadammite -  as you could say.

Apologies  to the Inky Fool who does this sort of thing much better with real words.

Affirmative Authentication

We do tend to assert  that which confirms our views, philosophy, judgements, eternal verities. We are less interested in the counter argument and evidence. Twas ever thus and will be so.

An interesting take on the volume of information now deployed and able to be deployed to support a particular position in a review by Brain Pickins of The information Diet by Clay Johnson.

I particularly like

"the industrialization of information, arguing that blaming the abundance of information itself is as absurd as blaming the abundance of food for obesity."

and

Force-feeding the public Hollywood’s entertainment lard.

Who wants to hear the truth when you can hear that you are right?
Although it cuts both ways. If we have the tools and the ability we can use the data to build strong cases. Otherwise we can just hose  the unbeliever with facts, lashings of facts, until they sink in the data mire!

A Happy Hand Ha Blessed Heaster to you Hall!

Philosophy and Drink!

John Naughton in The Observer (1/4/2012) complains, a little, about a certain Mr Heidegger.
His not unreasonable grumble reminded me of Freddie Jevons, who had the privilege to teach me at postgraduate level in the (19) seventies. Yes I am that old. Freddie used to complain in his highly polished mittle european accent that " Philosophers are only paid to argue vith each osser!" 

Amen to that Freddie old son!

That reminded me of Monty Python's  Philosopher's Song. Not a yearning lieder for truth or beauty, nor yet a cantata for clarity in language or even a lament for logic, more about booze. It is alleged that Mr Heidegger was a boozy  beggar who could think you under the table and as for Mr Kant, a real puisant,  it is claimed that he was very rarely stable!
A whiff of M. Descartes position, philosophically speaking, can be judged from the claim attributed to him, without prejudice of course, that  "I drink therefore I am."
This may be relevant for April the 1st or not; you may judge for yourself at the link here.

So if you value your brain and your liver, give up the philosophy as well as the booze!

Many thanks to our Correspondent from Oz who pointed out the ditty to me originally

We're Doomed I Telt Ye, Doomed!

Old BP's country lore:- 96 in a series.

They do say a black fox has been sighted in these parts. The legend is very clear, my dears. We are going to hexperience some dreadful times. Plague, famine, war, Gideon's Budget, terrible though they are, will all seem like a calm benefice compared to what lies ahead. The Fox was killed. Expect to see bakers marching in the streets waving French bread, investment bankers having to live on their salaries, the top 0.01 per cent of the population leaving for tax havens in droves, Germans being smuggled into the country in petrol cans.
I tell ee, it is very close to the end times!

Waiting for Gideon

A trip to Diss and despite the lack of JB and Mrs Wilson it was bliss!
At least the weather was fine. A miasma of fish and chips hung on the spring air.
On a corner, in numbers, was a menacing group of grey power activists.

Waiting for Gideon? He is likely to get a good kicking if he shows his pension taxing face here.

Interesting place Diss. Tend to do things the way they want.

No reason why they shouldn't. I was glad to avail myself of the seat and noticed that the brass plate was dedicated to the builders who sponsored the bench. I have no knowledge concerning its installation.

Homer's Willy

No doubt being the recondite bunch that you are you will all (6 on average...Ed?) be familiar with Chapman's Homer or even, for the followers of the Little Horses, Chapman's homer.
Well it gets worse. Mr Forsyth, The Inky Fool, has a discussion of the origin of the name of Troy based on an article in the London Review of Books. He then spoils the whole tone of the matter by claiming

... it gives me such puerile pleasure that I thought I should reproduce it here so that you, dear reader, can snigger.

You will not get that kind of cheapskate faux intellectual bollix here, scholarship and integrity, accept no substitute!
It's no use perorating about polyphloisboia  or even in a polyphloisboian manner. The damage is done.
(There, there, don't upset yourself. You know the cardiologist warned against that. Away and have your rashers and tea, lashings of tea... Ed!)

Embrace Political Stability

Our Great Horseperson, The Sun reader in our hearts has, with Comrade Gideon, produced a 5 year financial plan. Rejoice!
Each journey, no matter how long, begins with one small step. We are about to set out on an economic adventure which, in less enlightened times, would be called a miracle!
There may be Socialist Roaders, grey power revisionists, even enobled comrades who have given in to the crime of Tebbitism who wish to take the broad mass of the people to depths of socialist depravity. Do not let them tempt you with promises of a return to the horror of keynesian growth. Tax and spend is the road to ruin.

Ithankyouandgoodnight.

Spring is Here

Blossom Forth

Algo Wars :- Life at the Planck Length

I read the article by Donald MacKenzie, How to Make Money in Microseconds: Algo-Sniffing ( in the LRB 19 May 2011) again recently after watching the TED video by Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world
I see the Algo Wars as part of the general carnage unfettered capitalism can produce. Interesting, therefore that the cosmological speed limit (300,000 km/s less change) figures in the calculations of once and future masters of the universe. How long before the fabric of space-time constrains the ability to make money from making money? I don’t suppose the markets are going to be worried about the Plank Length for some time to come.

It did get me thinking. Perhaps we should redefine ‘thickness’ in terms of 3 Plancks with a banker's clog on!

The Bullingdon Budget

I'm sure Gideon will not let his friends down. May I wish you all a very prosperous new (tax) year.
To welcome it in you could  do worse than listen to

No Banker Left Behind by Ry Cooder on the album: Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down

but it may not be to your taste!

One that nearly got away.

I become a caricature of myself. I could have sworn I put this link somewhere safe after 2 or 3 people included me in their loops!
I'm sure I'll find it one day at the bottom of a list of bookmarks, the electrons slightly moldy and the  HTML somewhat arcane and charming. However, the Interweb being what it is I was able to summon forth like Gabriel or was it Gladriel?  Anyway, for those who care, Cultural Equity have an online archive of the work of Alan Lomax  here.

Mr Wikipedia holds that 

Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Scotland, England, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.

They have digitised a lot of the  fields he collected and it is possible to get lost in them, pleasantly.
Storing fields must have been murder before digitisation! (Enough or I am sure some of your regular readers will have you planted in one of them...Ed!)

Unseasonably Warm?

I have always enjoyed a rousing speech and seeing those with the ability stick it to the men!
4 minutes of this and you could be forgiven for asking Mewt What? Nitt Who? Why would anyone want a tea party in a Sanatorium?

How glad I am that there is no chance of our own dear leader Mr Millipede rocking them in the isles with a good dose of that old fashioned religion!

Thanks to Mr Naughton for the link.
(Weren't you the one complaining not so long ago about the rhetorical diseases...Ed?)

Laddies who Lunch

Must  check calendar, Pancake Tuesday, Ash Wednesday; not April the first.
Gauleiter Pickles emerges from Pickles Towers with another big idea.
The Big Lunch.
Too easy, open goal, Jonny Wilkinson in the pocket 15 metres in front of the posts, a man with his wallet open repeatedly pleading Help yourself! Help yourself! 
Dear god; they just keep him hanging around so they can wheel him out in a handcart when some light relief is needed!
(That was  vicious, unnecessary, sizeist, offensive to the man with a fuller figure and a gratuitous pun the like of which I have not come across in editing nearly six years of this rubbish! ....Ed)

Some of my best friends are trees

At a time of such human slaughter it seems perverse to worry about the death of a tree. Rachel Sussman has a sad tale about the death of an old tree and some interesting musings on age and impermanency from the ever stimulating Brain Pickings.
She has documented some old codgers in her time, yes even older than myself. It's worth reading in full.
For our regular readers  with little time on their hands :-

... the Senator,[ the name of the burned 'bush'] there is a glimmering chance at a second life: clippings from the tree were taken years ago and successfully propagated in a nursery. The resulting trees are now 40 feet tall, and could ostensibly be transplanted into the very spot after a long and careful root-stabilization process. There are also seedlings at its base that, with a little paternity testing, could prove to be its clones rather than its progeny, or perhaps some new growth will be forced from the existing root system stimulated by the stress of the fire.

Lookin Up

(No relation)

A Little Perspective

To paraphrase Peter Cook -
Twitter has done so much to prevent the massacre of civilians in Syria!

Forbidden Apples

Don't you just love capitalism?
Who's been taking a bite out of those little green apples?
Meanwhile something hot and steamy in the Caribbean in connection with a Mr Cashcroft's (?) banking facilities.
I'm glad Buddhist Pizza Inc got its bonuses in early, away from the glare of the anti capitalist spotlight.
I know a boutique bank  in Waziristan. The manager is so helpful on these occasions and it is so far for the wrong type of financial journalists to go! (Discrete Inquiries through the usual channels please!)

eBooks Naa!

See, they'll never catch on. I mean who wants to sit in front of  a screen and look at this kind of thing.

The Waste Land; you said it. Who is that broad? She looks pretty wasted to me, ha ha!

Periodic table:-
Its not a table, and where do I put my coffee, period?

Code this, code that, is this guy some kind a communist?

A Late Entry to the Oscars

Once upon a time in a land far, far away we lived and worked. We were happy!
But, boy, don't young folk know how to enjoy themselves  now!
Take the time to enjoy this, it will certainly brighten your day, you may need it.

Full disclosure:- some or all of these people may be known or related to me or related parties.
(What in god's name does that mean...Ed?)

Book Data

Sunday afternoons in January when the garden can look after itself and you don't have a dog to take for a walk you are looking for an intellectual challenge. You can always plot the fall of capitalism or chart the rise of peace and justice.

Click on the graphs and all will be revealed!

Nice little gizmo from Google Books - The Ngram Viewer

Thanks to:-
Jean-Baptiste Michel*, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva Presser Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, The Google Books Team, Joseph P. Pickett, Dale Hoiberg, Dan Clancy, Peter Norvig, Jon Orwant, Steven Pinker, Martin A. Nowak, and Erez Lieberman Aiden*. Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books. Science. Published Online Ahead of Print: 12/16/2010.