vignettes from the great clear-out (1)

Some old sheets of glossy local authority propaganda, on that back of which Nick had written out the chords for some jazz standards so that I could provide the lower part of some 4-hands jazz a few years ago when he visited us in TG. He does have a wonderfully florid hand!

Nostalgia at every turn, as our house has spilled its guts all over the floors.

Fail blog

Oh dear. this really is a good website. Well, not exactly good, but the creative and ungrammatical (or should that be unsyntactical?) use of the word 'fail' all over the shop is only the icing sugar on the icing on the cake of amusement.

Just one to whet the appetite...

what's in a name?

Well, if the name is PET-CESSORIES, then an unfortunate allusion to something you might put somewhere you might not want to think about.

And yet, remarkably, that is the name of some pet equipment shops in and around Cambridge (and maybe elsewhere for all I know). It's not clever really, is it? Now, Axcessories, a hardware shop, that would be a good name. Maybe someone's thought of it, but Pet-cessories? Please...

On the M1 from Sheffield to Leicester this afternoon we did, however, see a very good company name on the back of a white van:

PYROTECT

that is actually quite good for a fire-retaring services firm. Well done to them. But Pet-cessories...?

Iconoclastic Controversies!

Discussing what seminar papers we were going to write for today's NTI moot on 'Idolatry', and running through 'Are sin and idolatry synonymous?', 'Review Tim Keller's book Counterfeit Gods', 'Why does 1 John end the way it does?'we came across 'Assess the contemporary relevance of the iconoclastic controversies in the Orthodox church of the first millennium'. And of course that's the one I chose.

Better still, it's the perfect name for a Christian Rock band, n'est-ce pas? And the best track on their debut album would surely be 'Fallen into the eisegetical pits' (co-incidentally, a chapter from Greg Beale's meaty We become what we worship: a biblical theology of idolatry [2008]).

All comedy on this post courtesy of JR from Cornerstone.

a draw, a palpable draw!

At long last I have achieved more than 0 in a correspondence game of chess with Charles! It's only half a point, but it's a start. And what a fun game it was. The swashbuckling King's Gambit was whipped out, and pieces were sacrificed all over the shop. If I had castled long and kept my King out of danger that piece sacrifice might even have netted me more (but, then, I always think that, and history is against me!)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nc3 Nc6

4. Nf3 Bb4

5. Bc4 g5

6. h4 g4

7. Ng5 Ne5

8. Nxf7 Nxf7

9. Bxf7+ Kxf7

10. Qxg4 Bxc3

11. Qh5+ Kf8

12. bxc3 Nf6

13. Ba3+ d6

14. Qh6+ Kg8

15. 0-0?! Ng4

16. Qxf4 Be6 (the doubled pawn charge is rather neat...)

17. c4 Qxh4

18. c5 dxc5

19. Bxc5 h5

20. Qxc7 Rh7

21. Qd6 Rf7 (the dance of the rooks, and I was very pleased with the next move, which saves the game...)

22. Rf3! Rd8 

23. Qxe6 Qh2+

24. Kf1 Qh1+

25. Bg1 Nh2+

26. Ke2 Nxf3

27. Qg6+ (draw by perpetual)

Phew!

Iced tea

Not something we in the UK or in this household know a lot about.

I first encountered it on a school trip to the Mösel valley in 1993, which was notable for a lot of firsts, including wine, acceptance by a group of my peers who were fairly "cool", continuous Lord of the Rings reading from the front seat of the minibus…

But we’ve tried to whip some up recently – pineapple juice was the best additive so far, and it lasts at least 36 hours.

comprehensive education

This concept has reached new heights/depths in Japan. The poop museum has to be seen to be believed. Actually, although the register of the language may be a little coarse (and is that just the blogger's fault?), one can't complain about an increase in human knowledge and intellectual curiosity among the young! [Thanks to Dionysius for this link]

And speaking of human knowledge and intellectual cuiriosity - why not peruse an introduction to some great lines over the years by James Earl Jones, all bundled up and delivered by his most memorable role, Darth Vader. Here's one, and here's another. Warning, you may cry with laughter... [Cheers to PG for those!]

ouch

Tuesday was painful enough, but why does it all ache more on Wednesday!?

No badminton next Monday or my concert on April Fool's day will not be a wise time ;-) 

Badminton!

At long last I have got round to joining the badminton club down the road. And boy does it hurt. After 2 hours of dancing around the court with players of all ages and most abilities above my own (yes, several pensioners who were clearly better than me) I am wondering whether or not itwas worth it.

Of course it was, even though on the way home the unnescessarily long laces on my trainers got caught in my pedals and I fell off my bike, causing the chain to fall off (my heart was free), leading to my hands getting covered in oil, so no gloves possible, so freezing extremities by the time I got home.

There's a saga-in-waiting there.

Meanwhile, badminton will entertain me for many a Monday to come, I hope. And it will be a great way to chat to more local people who I don't yet know.

on the shelf / floor

A recent touch of spring cleaning at the homestead enabled me to chuck away all manner of bits of paper and curiosities I had lying around. On one of them was a list of folk superstitions from a country that inerests me. Things like “If you stare into space, or if a toddler peers through its legs, a guest will arrive”. I can’t remember what the source was, unfortunately (possibly chat with foreign friends or some book of popular anthropology), and I will only divulge the country of origin to the alert readers of this blog…

Thinking of something bad will lead to something bad, unless you pull your ear and tap the table to prevent it.

Umbilical cords buried in certain places will influence the lives of the children they were attached to.

Refusing to wash up and leaving the dirty crockery overnight encourages the Devil to wee on them.

Kutting toenails at night brings evil (compare this to Japan, where the evil is specific – your parents will die early!)

‘Evil Eye’: the blue-white-black circular charm wards off a sort of covetous glance from others that would otherwise damage the house, possessions. (NB. the problem is other people. Mrs L wondered if that was related to the practice of giving a thing to someone who admires it? A prophylaxis against extreme and unnecessary generosity?)

Your clothes must not be left outside overnight, or else evil will arrive.

"...therethrough" !?

In response to an innocent question about what the fake coal in living room gas fires is made of, I received this delightfully convoluted quote (thanks, Miss Foottit)...

"A gas fire with coal effect has a gas manifold or box divided into separate gas compartments with gas outlets therefrom and is formed with illumination apertures. The coal effect which is ceramic and has flame apertures therethrough is precisely positioned on the gas manifold or box by locating formation so that the gas outlets and flame apertures are correctly relatively disposed to avoid "sooting".

An electric lamp (preferably two) is disposed forwardly and downwardly of, and preferably centrally of, the gas manifold or box and the coal effect to provide an instantaneous "glow" effect when illuminated. This latter effect can be attained with or without flames being present."

digestive system

Meat is not usually a major part of our diet these days. We are normally vegetarian (though in the last year the exceptions to that rule have increased compared to the previous couple of years). All this sausage has done something funny to the digestion, shall we say!

commas in quotation

Why do they do it? I mean you, why do you do it? Put terminal commas and other pieces of punctuation inside the quotation marks? Like this, for example...

As Williams points out, Albania has 'a very odd-looking language to a Western European,' not to mention a large number of concrete pill boxes dotted about its countryside.


Or (less offensively) like this...

World Chess Champion, V. Anand, who just defeated V. Kramnik for the coveted title, told us what it was like playing the gruelling match in Bonn: 'It took a lot of effort and energy.'


This practice is very widespread - even in academic writing. But it looks ugly, and it robs the framing sentence of its own opportunity to send signals. In fact, when it comes to full stops, the frame sentence then doesn’t HAVE a full stop to bring it to a close. It it left hanging into the abyss of nothingness. Aaaaaargh!

King of the Hill

This is an Emperor Tamarin. I think you know who I have in mind...

shiny white ones

I have some new pedals on my bike! They are quite chunky, and very white. For some reason, Essex is coming to mind... They actually match the bike itself, a quarter-century old Raleigh Marauder that seems to be made of cast iron and has retained its murky whiteness despite serious peeling, rust and grime.

The old pedals made a noise like putting cats through a mincer. Pedestrians twenty metres ahead would jump and look around in fear, unaware that it was just the gentle pressure of my right ankle that was causing the noise. The right pedal in particular was so jammed up (no bearings, and rusty metal was grinding on plastic, I guess) that sometimes it would stick, and eject my foot at the top of its circuit, leading me to practise my kicking moves rather against my will as I sauntered down the High Street, or, more worryingly, battled along a major road with little margin for error.

It took the bike repair man all afternoon to get the pedals off. Spanners, levers and the weight of two men couldn't do it. A mysterious "heat gun" was employed, though I never got to see it.

chess and politics

Nothing quite so serious as Garry Kasparov standing up to Dictator... I mean Prime Minister... I mean President... 
I mean, you know, that guy who's in charge in Russia...
Putin. In this case it's the secret records of chess matches between Bush and Kerry in 2004 and now McCain and Obama in 2008.

happy blogday!

This is the 366th post at noearthlycity. The 'leap year' blogday!

knickers and twists

The change in the date of Easter is contrary to the resolutions taken at the First Ecumenical Council and believers may lose their faith as a result of this change. The difference between the Jewish passover and Christian Easter must be maintained.

(Anon., ‘The Georgian Patriarchate’, in Bria, ed., Martyria/Mission: the Witness of the Orthodox Churches (WCC, 1980), pp.126-131 [p.130])

"Believers may lose their faith as a result of the change."

Just think about that for a moment...

I try to be sympathetic to different theologies and to understand where people are coming from, but this one ...? Didn't they and don’t they have more important things to worry about in Georgia? 

Clearly they did, because the writer of that chapter preferred to be anonymous!

reader feedback

A kindly old man recently pointed out that the label to this sad post was somewhat missplet (since corrected), and sent me some background info on it.

Your recent blogs:
"Labels: chuch, death, life"
"Showing posts with label chuch. Show all posts"
Now THIS is what I used to delight to do to your sister and her dimples.

chuch: verb trans & intrans; to externally manipulate facial cheek tissue in
an irreverent but affectionate manner.
Noun abstr; the act of/opportunity for chuching.
chuchable: adj. having facial cheek tissue suitable for such action.
orig: "chuchyface": familiar term of address used by entertainer/compere in
60's(?); now commonly used in social networks


Which was rather nice.

They might be giants

My naivete concerning DIY is matched only by my child-like ignorance of pop music. One of the four popular CDs I own is the album Flood by They Might Be Giants. (The others are Sounds of the Sixties, Status Quo’s Rockin all over the years and Carry on up the charts from The Beautiful South.) Someone at church introduced me to it at a bring-your-favourite-track evening for the 20s & 30s group four years ago. Thank you, Nat.

I love its wackiness, its ‘folly’ in the medieval sense, and the amusing electronic instrumentation. ‘Particle Man’ and ‘Whistling in the Dark’ are very fine indeed, but they stand on the shoulders of what might be giants. Even their cover of Kennedy and Simon’s ‘Istanbul’ (from 1953) is great fun.

However, rather than find out anything more about the band and their work, which might lead to disappointment, information overload, or becoming an earnest groupie, I shall continue to feed off this fun slice, unrepresentative or not. After all, everybody just wants a rock to wind a piece of string around, or, failing that, prosthetic foreheads on their real heads.