tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-206462402024-03-13T04:06:40.814+01:00 Small Wrinkles in SpacetimeJohn Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.comBlogger648125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-83322357482636669552016-01-29T21:52:00.004+01:002016-02-01T17:54:43.996+01:00Au Revoir, for now...<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Just to see how it goes and to freshen the look a little bit, "Small Wrinkles..." is being put out to pasture, at least for a while. She has been migrated to Wordpress, just to see how it goes. For my followers, perhaps you'd be kind enough to redirect here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">New address and new name:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://johnvagabondsblog.wordpress.com/">johnvagabondsblog.wordpress.com</a> or, click the link.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The puppy says 'thanks'...</span><br />
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<br />John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-85803427596359420792016-01-28T19:39:00.000+01:002016-01-28T20:52:21.284+01:00Caesars and Popes<style>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgups-2xfYAmoh5yQwV1XQE9ORtrZFgxLkQ6hJB8X5lLdS3B3pmg1vZm5LetGRlDw_Cq9Cv_3dt2kUSWA1FCe24ipoLSBbYuVheTcix7VKUqdqJHOHKEUv_wbPFz5ZM_o0WnCA_/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.05.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgups-2xfYAmoh5yQwV1XQE9ORtrZFgxLkQ6hJB8X5lLdS3B3pmg1vZm5LetGRlDw_Cq9Cv_3dt2kUSWA1FCe24ipoLSBbYuVheTcix7VKUqdqJHOHKEUv_wbPFz5ZM_o0WnCA_/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.05.24.png" width="264" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I had never been to Rome, that pastiche of a
city of ancient empire and High Catholicism, where the latest wearer of
the shoes of the Fisherman shepherds his billion-strong flock in the hope of
maintaining humility amidst magnificent opulence and ceremony. Romans
seem determined to build, add to or repurpose almost all of their ancient
buildings, and walking through the streets is a living tutorial in history and
architecture. Even the Colosseo is being partially rebuilt.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A three or four day tour reveals the tip of
one of many icebergs, but little else. We stayed in a hotel adjacent to the University
monastery of <a href="http://www.aventinohotels.com/sa/en/hotel.htm" target="_blank">San Anselmo</a> and listening to Benedictine Vespers with a
congregation of three in Capella San Anselmo was quite a delight. The hotel was
a converted villa in Aventino, once a very exclusive part of town, far out of
the way of the tourist scammers. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our lodging</span> was a beautiful macédoine of old
and new, much like the city itself. After several nights, I still could not
discern with certainty how all twelve shower nozzles could be simultaneously
turned on, and the jacuzzi settings in the overly luxurious black and white marble
bathroom were manifold, various and incomprehensible. Nevertheless, tea and
biscuits were served free of charge at four o'clock in the peaceful, old-world
lounge, a slightly wistful echo of England.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjVlKuW2RjFZj7bOVFRrzh-Xc27RksW6sliQIaifiCDKwyIKZR1rI1cMS1pPG9tWXEkQ5Ke-rT-MSfrJaxIxuFpFJResfE_eoUhzEC0OxxD3GuOUykqDOxilNSJmwXF7gthZnM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.08.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjVlKuW2RjFZj7bOVFRrzh-Xc27RksW6sliQIaifiCDKwyIKZR1rI1cMS1pPG9tWXEkQ5Ke-rT-MSfrJaxIxuFpFJResfE_eoUhzEC0OxxD3GuOUykqDOxilNSJmwXF7gthZnM/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.08.28.png" width="212" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Much like Florence, the sheer weight of Roman
high art is a sensual overdose. Every church seems to have its own private
masterpiece, donated by a Pope, a Cardinal or a jurist and there are rather a
lot of churches. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">San Pietro, atop the prison-like walls
surrounding the Vatican, is, of course, the hugest and most aggressively
splendid beast of them all. Piercingly beautiful, exquisitely ornate, the
interior gives the impression of emptiness, as if someone very rich and
important once lived here but they just... left.</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMY3aEbs_eGNs_0a3YSV3qRNPtUpwWI7eXKU4eBDpkUDc0YUWDrMI7uA7h2TxT5dCFYwnzfAPhybAuu2co4ufOURRbUhhhbEEhZtxJ3BesBybtR5MhlQubk7cHR1CeUtk_zF3/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.06.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMY3aEbs_eGNs_0a3YSV3qRNPtUpwWI7eXKU4eBDpkUDc0YUWDrMI7uA7h2TxT5dCFYwnzfAPhybAuu2co4ufOURRbUhhhbEEhZtxJ3BesBybtR5MhlQubk7cHR1CeUtk_zF3/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+19.06.46.png" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Of course, there are nuns scurrying, sombre monks, hands clasped inside their habits, with that religiously determined
walk so many seemed to have, a purposeful swarm between the myriads of
corridors to chapels squatting like beehives on its perimeter. The pearl is, of
course, La Sistina, Michelangelo's masterpiece of young, athletic and
half-naked men in Renaissance poses, body doubles for various Scriptural
luminaries. People often forget that it is a chapel not a museum, so a
black-clad Nigerian priest was in constant attendance to ensure solemnity. I
spoke with him on the subject of confession, and we found common ground.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have quite a short attention span for fine
art, but tracing the sparse, erratic footsteps of Caravaggio to St Augustine's
near Piazza Navona is an exercise in humility. This image does no justice to
his 1604 masterpiece of chiaroscuro, the Madonna of Loreto, or Pilgrim's
Madonna.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She stands, barefoot, just as the two
kneeling pilgrims are. The original shows the dirty, wrinkled feet of the
pilgrims and the exquisitely worked head of the kneeling woman, old and
wizened. The Carmelites, for whom it was originally painted, rejected it in
disgust, not least because he had used a famous prostitute as a model for the
Virgin. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Us5UsWVIy6Og0vlfUInGbOm8k1DBoEUYzf66j1rVinrJB_rBV9c3w3-CRSWxiKzwufXkNTkUsCBN-9lxZ8QXy53om2kEx_01JeuspqchPglv5DkCj45II9oCYCbdrVZU3CpE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+18.26.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Us5UsWVIy6Og0vlfUInGbOm8k1DBoEUYzf66j1rVinrJB_rBV9c3w3-CRSWxiKzwufXkNTkUsCBN-9lxZ8QXy53om2kEx_01JeuspqchPglv5DkCj45II9oCYCbdrVZU3CpE/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-01-28+at+18.26.39.png" width="247" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The swaggering Caravaggio<span style="color: #1c1c1c;"> left Milan for
Rome in 1592, doing a runner, it seemed, after "certain quarrels" and
the wounding of a police officer. He arrived in Rome flat broke and of no fixed address.</span> Eight years later he became the city's most important painter, almost a
Tarantino, shocking the public with grossly realistic images executed to
perfection and a worthy successor to the mighty Raphael.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">No, it wasn't just about art, or food,
Caesars or Popes. We both enjoyed the sense of ‘otherness’, the ubiquitous old
Latin and Roman numerals, even the drain covers have SPQR - Senatus Populusque
Romanus, the Roman Senate and People - stamped on them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-63577203414502374692016-01-20T18:47:00.001+01:002016-01-20T22:01:57.655+01:00Sweet and Sour<style>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I haven’t commented – much less reviewed – movies in a
while. Not because I haven’t seen very many, I have. But, perhaps because too
much blockbuster type stuff has had its share of ten-cent reviewers like me and
people go to see things because they happen to fit with their other, more
pressing schedules. Also, there has been a quite wearyingly predictable
newsround in recent times and I am not going to remark on the similarities
between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, North and South, right and left, chalk
and cheese, sweet and sour.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In reference to polar opposites, I wondered if an iTunes rental of “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3316960/">Still Alice</a>” was going to
disappoint if the trailer and plot spoilers were to be believed, but, not so.
Being, er, over sixty, thus eligible for certain privileges like a guaranteed
seat on the Métro, tends to cast a long shadow sometimes, in particular, the
possible, if not imminent threat of some debilitating disease or other. People of my age occasionally give passing thought to being introduced to the
grim reaper. Julianne Moore, in the role of a lifetime, plays a successful
professor of linguistics, who finds herself initially unable to capture a word,
as if it is just out of reach, and she is subsequently diagnosed with a rare
familial form of Alzheimer’s disease. I found myself trying to remember how
many times I had been caught without the right word, as if it had slipped
between the cracks in my memory – a quite normal ‘senior moment’ I suppose we
all get from time to time. The story revolves around the inexorable progress of
the disease as she tries with less and less ability to hold on to her identity
and the reactions of her immediate family. More and more, thoughts drop out of
her head, which is both sad and almost unexpected. So, we are led into a solitude of twilight
paths we’d prefer not to have to face with a bittersweet, perfectly timed
ending.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYJshqeS8tyrP574-ospSNDVjg9Y-Q7rVIlIGsFbxgy_7iMduCVKuTO7nDBq-p8EB1lobtpsiHg9DBN0G9kt6oRhjyq08PmjDOEFr-k436wSStBeTpgHbLedQ_DlmF-eZuiRz/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-20+at+19.06.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYJshqeS8tyrP574-ospSNDVjg9Y-Q7rVIlIGsFbxgy_7iMduCVKuTO7nDBq-p8EB1lobtpsiHg9DBN0G9kt6oRhjyq08PmjDOEFr-k436wSStBeTpgHbLedQ_DlmF-eZuiRz/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-01-20+at+19.06.17.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">By contrast – brutal contrast, as it happens - Tarantino’s
“<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3460252/">The Hateful Eight</a>” was also
showing at the cinema this week. Echoing “True Grit” with broad, snowy Wyoming landscapes and a frontier
mindset of careless bloodshed, this would have almost worked as a stage play –
Tarantino moves his pieces around virtually a single set as if under stage direction.
Again, the intimidating Samuel L Jackson, with improbably perfect dentition,
incidentally, provides masterfully adroit manoeuvres around an incendiary and
sadistic script, a company of perverse men betrayed by money and false causes.
Tarantino imbues each of his characters with a distinct and complex
personality, interweaving a plotline of feral brutality and post-Civil War distrust with
considerable final trademark blood-letting. As it turns out, this, together
with some of the more gratuitously anti-racist themes, is what doesn’t quite
work – a flabby ending with dead or dying; the only nice people having a brief candle of a moment before being remorselessly snuffed out.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Two very different takes on departing this life. Both not
very reassuring but one much gentler than the other. Your choice.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span></span></span></span></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-5987838438536668622016-01-06T18:13:00.000+01:002016-01-06T18:29:11.501+01:00Skeletal Prose<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2lV_2MM-Vah-8nagvE0h9T4vGck9_xXaRobmiFXRnp9ygUZrL3JEBB7ix1Fx4LnySgcl15SFac0QQKY7dtB6kp7iUrcy0FsoTQ_2MvfNb81OelyLplMujbwU7UmERW2JhgFc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-01-06+at+17.57.07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2lV_2MM-Vah-8nagvE0h9T4vGck9_xXaRobmiFXRnp9ygUZrL3JEBB7ix1Fx4LnySgcl15SFac0QQKY7dtB6kp7iUrcy0FsoTQ_2MvfNb81OelyLplMujbwU7UmERW2JhgFc/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-01-06+at+17.57.07.png" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">A week late, but, you get the idea</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">It’s
so well-intentioned of people to <a href="http://www.happynewyear-2016.com/2015/03/happy-new-year-2016-images-and-quotes.html"><span style="color: #0000e9;">resolve to do things differently</span></a>. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Me,
I don’t make resolutions for New Year. Mostly. Except, perhaps, one. Polonius’
remark to Hamlet’s parents, is brief, and to the point. ‘…brevity is the soul
of wit…your noble son is mad....’ Little room for doubt or misunderstanding,
then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">William
Strunk. Once heard, a name not easily forgotten. He was a professor of English
at Cornell, and had a student, one E B White who enlarged his 1918 magnum opus
‘The Elements of Style’ into almost a set text for authors. If White's name
sounds familiar, he wrote ‘Stuart Little ‘ and ‘Charlotte’s Web’. I haven’t
read Dr Strunk. But, if I had, I expect he would have taught me the necessity
of brevity. He wrote, somewhat caustically: ‘Vigorous writing is concise. A
sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary
sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines
and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all
his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in
outline, but that every word tell.’ Riveting stuff. Keeps you awake till the wee small hours.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Skeletal
prose, so beloved of the well-paid writer, not counting James Joyce. Here's a
fifty-dollar word, a <i>free gift*</i>, if you like. Pleonasms* are a redundant
excess of words, the authors’ revenge on people who pay by the character who’d
like them to write less of them. Literature overflows with people who didn’t
follow this doubtlessly sound advice. Shakespeare again, this time from the
third act of “Julius Caesar”: ‘This was the <i>most unkindest</i> cut of all.’
Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep": ‘Beyond the garage were some
decorative trees trimmed as carefully as <i>poodle dogs</i>.’ And finally,
Samuel Beckett: ‘Let me tell you this, when social workers offer you, <i>free,
gratis and for nothing</i>, something to hinder you from swooning, which with
them is an obsession, it is useless to recoil...’ (Molloy)<i>.</i></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">The
law, well known for ponderous prose, has its own little stylistic vices, using
little pleonasms like "null and void", "terms and
conditions", "each and every" – two-for-one words which say the
same thing.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">So,
therefore, and so forth and so on. This year will see a paring, a slenderizing
of the prosaic <i>moi</i>. No more flowers, no more multiply-verbed sentences
in <i>close proximity</i>, (ha!) no burbling descent into doggerel. Instead,
the crispy meme, the <i>mot juste</i>. Or whatever.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-46168899631102325792015-12-24T15:30:00.000+01:002016-01-09T13:47:19.607+01:00People of the Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv01ydg5swpL8ftcw28j4tnntPGNpDKpk_t_UGy1NXjb9fDdBp_kdG_vwJ_20iFzw1B4rDU4k1kwu7L56cleiHStr3URg9pMvDxZ84WI9dczbqHIY3kqMS_t57n71Jm72uq8Bd/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-24+at+15.18.05.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv01ydg5swpL8ftcw28j4tnntPGNpDKpk_t_UGy1NXjb9fDdBp_kdG_vwJ_20iFzw1B4rDU4k1kwu7L56cleiHStr3URg9pMvDxZ84WI9dczbqHIY3kqMS_t57n71Jm72uq8Bd/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-12-24+at+15.18.05.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">A Wheaton College politics professor
who wore a hijab over Advent in solidarity with Muslims was suspended last week
for asserting that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. She argued that
the Church had affirmed this belief for centuries, including most recently by Pope
Francis, nevertheless the strongly evangelical authorities at the College felt she had strayed too far from the orthodoxy required from tenured staff. Having lived in the Middle East in predominantly Muslim countries for
a number of years, I found myself reviewing whether or not I agreed. It is all
too easy to intellectually sweep under the carpet any misgivings that one might
have, and fuzzily labeling us all as ‘people of the Book’, thus if we don’t
agree on a few things, it doesn’t really matter very much since, by God’s
grace, we’re all headed in more or less the same direction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The praxis, however, may
tell a rather different story.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5WRw5IBaygNCAiRqZRGmq4fy5SNeLM8JyLDlJtGXbYed-Qf0s5wGWeANPMIF4A2qxYcOcYOC2w5fvJlGg49nsnSWcYS_yDP-PF0_m1K0icTCkqFH_5AB96yXNWC3egdKgYac/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-24+at+15.28.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5WRw5IBaygNCAiRqZRGmq4fy5SNeLM8JyLDlJtGXbYed-Qf0s5wGWeANPMIF4A2qxYcOcYOC2w5fvJlGg49nsnSWcYS_yDP-PF0_m1K0icTCkqFH_5AB96yXNWC3egdKgYac/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-12-24+at+15.28.20.png" width="400" /></a>Both Christians and Muslims
ask similar questions, most basically, “who, or what, is God” and frequently we
both may find ourselves first looking for differences rather than similarities.
The concept of God in Islam differs in important ways from classical Christian
theology, most obviously by a rejection of the concept of the Trinity. Many
allegedly Christian denominations, such as Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do
as well. The Qu’ran, however, goes further and teaches that Jesus is not divine
but is “…a messenger of Allah.” Iranian Islamic scholar and perennialist Seyyed
Hossein Nasr writes, “The Qu’ran continuously emphasises the Unity and the
Oneness of God, and it can be said that the very raison d’être of Islam is to
assert in a final and categorical manner the Oneness of God and the nothingness
of all before the Majesty of that One.” Islamic emphasis on the oneness of God
suggests that it is closer to the pantheism of Spinoza-everything that exists
is (a) God - than to Christianity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Consequently, the Islamic
concept of divinity contains little reference to personhood. Only within a
relationship can God express interpersonal attributes such as love, sympathy,
intimacy, self-giving, and communication. Furthermore, the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Islamic understanding of God’s character doesn’t include his command to love, which is central to the Christian view. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Only between distinct individuals can
there be reciprocities such as give and take, initiating and responding,
sharing and self-revelation, union and communion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">For God to be fully
personal, then, capable of love and community, plurality of attribute is within
the divine being itself, which is a foundational belief in Christian theology. C
S Lewis wrote: “All sorts of people are fond of repeating the Christian
statement that ‘God is love, but they seem not to notice that the words ‘God is
love’ have no real meaning unless God contains at least two persons - a lover and
the one in receipt of love. Love is something that one person has for another
person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not
love.” The inference is that there was
no ‘one’ to love. Only a God of love is fully personal. Thus the Trinity is
crucial for maintaining a fully personal concept of God. As Presbyterian pastor
and theologian Robert Letham writes, “Only a God who is triune can be personal.
A solitary monad cannot love and, since it cannot love, neither can it be a
person.” Therefore it “has no way to explain or even to maintain human
personhood.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arabic and classic Islamic
philosophy does not have a concept of the person in the sense that Western
philosophy interprets the idea, appearing to lend weight to the importance of
the specifically Christian origins of the term. If it’s true that Islam lacks
even a clear concept of the person, this would explain why it tends to be
fatalistic, emphasising submission without necessarily understanding the will
of Allah. This also explains why a great deal of Muslim worship consists of
near-mechanical rituals; worshippers recite the Qu'ran (its meaning is ‘that
which is recited’), in unison, word for word, often by feat of memory, in the
original Arabic. Muslims are not required to understand what they recite, indeed,
most are not Arabic speakers. Two Muslim authors write: “It is not
uncommon to meet people who know a great deal of the text by heart but have not
the slightest understanding of the world view that permeates it.” But this is
acceptable, the authors say, because in Islam “understanding is secondary” to
recitation and ritual. Furthermore, for some, the lack of worth placed upon the
individuality of human life and dignity makes the call to martyrdom very much
more logical.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In summary, it could be argued that Islam is reductionist
in that a lower view of God leads to a lower view of the value, status, and
dignity of man. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">But this does not finally
answer our initial question. The Qu’ran openly states many times that Allah is the 'best
deceiver' in contrast to the Christian belief that the ‘father of lies’ or
‘deceiver’ is Satan. The root Arabic used in these verses is <i>makr</i>, meaning
<i>deception</i>, and is almost always used disparagingly. However, even this may not
be enough, until we find the following: “And their saying: Surely we have
killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the messenger of Allah; and they did not
kill him nor did they crucify him, <i>but it appeared to them so (like Isa)</i>
and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they
have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed
him not for sure. Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty,
Wise.” Qu’ran 4:157-158. This looks like a rather clumsy orally inspired refutation of the Resurrection by someone having had access to the Gospels. Nevertheless, in conclusion, we might return to Pope
Francis, </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">whose view is supported by Catholic orthodoxy and </span></span>whose remarks were probably made pastorally rather than theologically,
as a worthy attempt to build interfaith bridges. It seems that the <i>subjective
intention</i> of Muslims is to worship one God - moreover, the one God
from the line of Abrahamic revelation. Whether or not their version of that
revelation is tainted, authentic or correct, that’s what they “profess to hold to".
Furthermore, some of the attributes of the God to whom they address their
worship are comparable to the Christian God’s: He is one, merciful, omnipotent,
and the judge of the world. Just as clearly, though, we <i>cannot </i>say that the God in whom Muslims
profess to believe is theologically very similar to the Christian God. Most obviously, their God is a “lonely God,” as Chesterton put it,
whereas ours is a Trinity of of one with three attributes. Beyond that, in the divine
economy, our Gods are different: most pointedly in that ours took
human nature to himself and lived among us, whereas the Muslim God remains purely
transcendent. To Muslims the idea of an incarnation is blasphemy. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Whether
indeed such differences are valuable or relevant in the polarizing debate in
Europe and the US, remains for the reader to decide. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I am grateful to Nancy Pearcey's '<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Truth-Principles-Secularism-Substitutes/dp/0781413087" target="_blank">Finding Truth</a>' from which a number of excerpts were taken.</span></span></div>
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-16586421565205803082015-12-07T23:23:00.001+01:002017-11-01T17:16:11.692+01:00Officially Pagan<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh6-7hL9YqHKlYVAtH0D-jWOEgtfZ1ENVZyfjifvCyvsqB-Ki3n4EXmL1U3xlSjsZeMWwOlYINT_XdNlHJIwiogtgumve_j6zNdom2O9RCFfKYiRvZ18tZeVBRcrw59Eg2s4T/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-07+at+23.18.40.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh6-7hL9YqHKlYVAtH0D-jWOEgtfZ1ENVZyfjifvCyvsqB-Ki3n4EXmL1U3xlSjsZeMWwOlYINT_XdNlHJIwiogtgumve_j6zNdom2O9RCFfKYiRvZ18tZeVBRcrw59Eg2s4T/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-12-07+at+23.18.40.png" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It's official. More than half of the Brits are no longer
"Christian, according to <a href="http://www.brin.ac.uk/2014/the-british-election-study-2015-religious-affiliation/" target="_blank">this data</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">from the British Election Study, 2015. We've all watched the apparent slow fizzle or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"general decline" in its Christian
affiliation and the powers that be are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>now proposing that something is done about it. The time has come for
public life to take on a more "pluralist character", according to an
official report. Major state occasions such as a coronation should be changed
to be more inclusive, it said, while the number of bishops in the House of
Lords should be cut to make way for leaders of other religions. The
recommendations from a panel chaired by the former High Court judge Baroness
Butler-Sloss<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Anglican, 82) come in
light of 'major changes' in British society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, what should be done? </span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">One possibility would be for the bishops to leave
the Lords entirely. The other would be for everyone to be given a fair thrash
at it, which would mean a few Christian bishops, the odd Papist,
representatives of all the chapels, Third (or is it Fourth) Wave plus a
fundamentalist or two, a Sunni Imam, a Shia Imam (keep these two well apart),
a gaggle of Rabbis, a Sikh guru, a Hindu priest able to represent Krishna,
Vishnu, Ganesh, Durga, Lakshmi, Kali and all the rest of them, a couple of
Buddhist Lamas to cover both the Red Hat and Black Hat sects, a Witch Queen, a
Nordic Skald and a selection of Druids to represent the Pagan religions who
were here before all these strange Eastern imports arrived, a Jedi complete
with ceremonial lightsabre, a representative of Steikhegel, God of isolated cow
byres, whose job would have to include representing anyone I’ve left out, and
finally Richard Dawkins, bringing up the rear and forlornly bleating “look at
me, I’m the only one in step here”. Debates - or should they now be more
properly called 'interfaith dialogues' - would be televised, of course and
aired between endless reruns of the Muppets Christmas Carol and Spitting Image.
Can't wait.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-80400675989968527432015-11-23T16:51:00.004+01:002015-11-24T01:28:12.029+01:00Elusive Gratitude<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81-tdQrB1Qj3NpTDyK3_8qS_K0MLFzvOftDw-lol22kFlLNcJjfNy31GlWmdUxK0SW68j97Hw4hh_ln9u3zLMHR-XhUGU7890o0yBJSae5U3krX19o6BjemzxgYs__ayRzFDY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-23+at+16.50.19.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81-tdQrB1Qj3NpTDyK3_8qS_K0MLFzvOftDw-lol22kFlLNcJjfNy31GlWmdUxK0SW68j97Hw4hh_ln9u3zLMHR-XhUGU7890o0yBJSae5U3krX19o6BjemzxgYs__ayRzFDY/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-11-23+at+16.50.19.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Those who know me well will be aware of why I have to pay attention to gratitude. The remembrance of gratitude is an oft-repeated mantra and it was coincidental that I read a piece in the NYT on the eve of this year's Thanksgiving which set off a few parallel trains of thought. Firstly, do we actually have to feel grateful, thankful, or whatever, in order to actually be grateful? I stumble over this. On the one hand I think one should feel grateful in order to give thanks. To do anything else seems somehow dishonest or fake; a kind of bourgeois insincerity that one should reject. Surely it’s best to be emotionally authentic, Or, is it? Sincere fakery might achieve just the same result, if it does sound a bit oxymoronic. Doing the best for ourselves does not require fealty to feelings in the name of authenticity, but rather, rebelling against them and taking a stand against negative impulses tends to cause us to act right even when we don’t feel like it. In brief, acting grateful can actually make you grateful. </span><br />
<div id="_10RI1Riy3QUgd6" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For many people, including me, gratitude is difficult, because life can be difficult. Having said that, to accompanying snorts of disapproval, how could my life be so much more difficult than, say, a rickshaw driver in Mumbai, but even for me, days of endless azure thankfulness doesn't come easily to the melancholic personality. Even beyond deprivation and depression, there are many ordinary circumstances in which gratitude is elusive, an old fish that refuses to take the bait. Focusing on tragedy dissolves a grateful heart, as one pundit put it. Watching beheadings does not make us feel good.</span></div>
<div id="_YOia8utI1TIB3i" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I have been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner - hence this post - and events like this can all too easily be ruined by a drunken relative who always has to share his political views, usually at bellicosely high volume. It's supposed to be a delightful, entertainingly warm fuzzy of a party, but...</span></div>
<div id="_sQDGbnBZvXYYX2" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Beyond rotten circumstances, or just a few too many "slings and arrows" having found their uncomfortable mark, some people are just naturally more grateful than others and there appears to be some science behind why this is so.</span></div>
<div id="_Mn51mmyEMkYeyi" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A variation in gene (CD38) seems to be associated with gratitude. Some people simply have a heightened genetic tendency to experience, in the researchers’ words, “global relationship satisfaction, perceived partner responsiveness and positive emotions (particularly love).” That is, those relentlessly positive people you know, the perpetually glass half full types, who seem grateful all the time may simply be, well, mutants.</span></div>
<div id="_AAqUQsE8dj8MMy" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But we are more than slaves to our feelings, circumstances and genes. Evidence suggests that we can actively choose to practise gratitude — and that doing so makes us happier. This is not just the usual self-improvement hokey-pokey, much as it might appear. For example, research carried out over ten years ago randomly assigned one group of study participants to keep a short weekly list of the things they were grateful for, while other groups listed frustrations, hassles or even neutral events. Ten weeks later, the first group enjoyed significantly greater life satisfaction than the others - my first question being 'how was it measured'. Other studies have shown the same pattern and lead to the same conclusion. If you want a truly happy holiday, choose to keep the “thanks” in Thanksgiving, whether you feel like it<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>or not.</span></div>
<div id="_U0jA6bh4D5N2GR" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Acting happy, regardless of feelings, appears to coax one’s brain into processing positive emotions. In one famous 1993 experiment, researchers asked human subjects to smile forcibly for 20 seconds while tensing facial muscles, notably the muscles around the eyes called the <i>orbicularis oculi</i> which create “crow’s feet”. They found that this action stimulated brain activity associated with positive emotions. If grinning for an uncomfortably long time like a deranged psychopath isn’t your cup of tea, try expressing gratitude instead, again whether you feel like i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t</span> or not. Tell someone something affirming, for example. It stimulates the hypothalamus which helps to regulate stress and the ventral tegmental area which is part of our reward circuitry<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>that produces the sensation of pleasure. In so doing<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, we become<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> conditioned to repeat it.</span></span></span></div>
<div id="_VeEvM1VMNZ7WAa" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But what if we can't actually see anything that's worth being thankful for? This is harder because we have to to some extent make it up. The reason why people put pictures of cats on skateboards on Facebook is because they stimulate pleasurable emotions. If this is a bridge too far, as an exercise, write down five beautiful things. They could be objects, places, memories or people.</span></div>
<div id="_DvpEyc4tEsH59p" style="-webkit-transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; color: #212121; padding: 0px 0px 0.5em; position: relative; transition: margin-bottom 0.3s; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It’s common sense as well as being scientific: Choosing to focus on good things makes you feel better than focusing on bad things. </span></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-59628180648697638912015-11-19T12:39:00.000+01:002015-11-25T10:04:36.559+01:00Conscious Reality<style>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Large Magellanic Cloud 30 billion stars, image 160, 000 years old</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Today, I discovered that a wandering mind can
lead into all kinds of curious byways. In light of the Paris massacres, I found myself thinking about the
existence of the ‘soul’. Specifically in respect of the fact that when one
visits the dead, they look the same, but ‘they’ are clearly not present. That
which is ‘them’ has, as they say, left the building. Consciousness has not only
departed, apparently, but can be seen to have done so, with no seeming
scientific justification, except that the defining functions denoting being
alive are no longer operational. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I’ve also been reading the first few chapters
of Revelation, and realize how very little I know about how first century
apocalyptic literature carries meaning, in the sense that the words become consciously understood. Not least, because I consider it with the
overlay of twenty centuries, scientifically adept and to some extent poetically
aware, but its conscious messages frequently elude me and I still find myself
asking childish questions which are bounded by a static space-time continuum;
like, “where is Heaven or Hell?”, as if knowing would make any difference. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For centuries, starting with the Renaissance,
a single mindset about the construct of the cosmos has dominated our scientific
thought. We began to observe and make logical deductions about what we
saw. Galileo’s muttered aside at his trial ‘yet, it doth move’ is distinct
testimony to an emergent scientific mindset. The model which we call science
has provided insights into the nature of the universe, and its countless
applications that have transformed every aspect of our lives. But the new
biology, leapfrogging physics is asking if perhaps it is reaching the end of
its useful life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The old model proposes that the universe is a
collection of interacting particles obeying mysterious, predetermined rules.
The universe is presented as a watch that somehow wound itself, and that,
allowing for a degree of quantum randomness, will unwind or evolve as time
passes in ways which we may, or may not, be able to predict. But the
overarching problem involves life, since its initial arising is still an
unknown process, even if the way it then changed forms can be apprehended using
Darwinian mechanisms. The bigger problem is that life contains consciousness,
and this is the part we don’t understand. There is nothing in modern physics
that explains how a group of molecules in a brain creates consciousness. The
beauty of a sunset, the appreciation of a flower, these are all mysteries.
Tools exist to map the effect and the geography of the brain where the
sensations arise, but not how and why there is any subjective personal
experience to begin with. Also, nothing in science can explain how
consciousness arose from matter. Our understanding of this basic
phenomenon is virtually nil - most seem to hope that as processing power and speed increase, some semblance of a solution will be on offer to satisfy the scientific community. Most physicists, however see this as an irrelevance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is the biological creature that makes the
observations and creates the theories. Our entire education system in all
disciplines, the construction of our language, revolve around a bottom-line
mindset that assumes a separate universe “out there” nearly fourteen billion
years old and came into existence with a ‘big bang’ – and we still don’t know
everything about that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- into which we
have each individually arrived on a very temporary basis. It is further assumed
that we accurately perceive this external pre-existing reality and play little
or no role in its appearance. However, experiments have shown just the
opposite. The observer critically influences the outcome. An electron turns out
to be both a particle and a wave but how and, more importantly, where such a
particle will be located remains dependent upon the very act of
observation. Nothing is real until we observe it. Thus, the observer may,
in fact, create the reality. Science passes through the filter of consciousness
in exactly the same way as an electron passes through one or other of two
slits, and the outcomes may be equally unpredictable.</span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-29300706783580857032015-11-14T11:44:00.001+01:002015-11-25T10:06:37.181+01:00Paris Burning<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2eY4PdYX5vvumNbdyXHwWy2ZeMn94MpmH_iC8JRePbjpMBXGYDcQTY_8S12YNW2wQcpf8DNqUrNT3_TCKz4tbYg5_iwyRl0Y0Gb6opFxV5coo1zFv3MMXclAiq_VAD9Kh_GA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-14+at+11.14.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2eY4PdYX5vvumNbdyXHwWy2ZeMn94MpmH_iC8JRePbjpMBXGYDcQTY_8S12YNW2wQcpf8DNqUrNT3_TCKz4tbYg5_iwyRl0Y0Gb6opFxV5coo1zFv3MMXclAiq_VAD9Kh_GA/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-11-14+at+11.14.53.png" width="320" /></a>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">I was in Paris yesterday. The plan was to go see a
movie, perhaps, then join friends at home. The movie schedules meant that had
we stayed, we would have returned home after dark, so, we left town early. For
once, transport ran smoothly. A peaceful dinner with friends visiting from
Montreal and Geneva. Then, the news broke and everyone drifted to the TV room
to watch news of the carnage unfold in the 10th and 11th and the Stade de
France.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is France's 9/11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">What happened in Paris last night is exactly what
Europe's security services have long feared, and tried to second guess.
Determined, well-organized simultaneously rolling attacks, with automatic
weapons and suicide bombers in the heart of a major European city, targeting
multiple, crowded public locations. These tactics have been used before in
Mumbai and elsewhere. Once shock and outrage have abated, there are many
questions which will have to be answered, and the answers had better be right.
How has such a well-organized sleeper group found its way undetected into the
heart of Europe? Were the attackers French citizens, if so, how they were
radicalised, armed and organised? In France, perhaps, or the Schengen zone, or
further afield, perhaps in Syria, and by whom? Why weren't they detected by the
intelligence services? Is France, after two major attacks this year, uniquely
vulnerable? Or does the carnage in Paris mean all of Europe faces new threats
to our public places and events? And if a Syrian link is proven, will France's
instinct be to back off or will it redouble its commitment to the fight
against radical groups there? Today, François Hollande used the words 'act of
war'. It might be good to remember that wars brew slowly - the First World War
was a tragedy of incompetent leadership, pride and brinkmanship for the
preceding twenty years and the relatively unimportant assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand was the spark that lit the powder keg that set Europe ablaze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> I have written before about the
idolatry of ISIL, making mention of the fact that the severest punishments in
the Old Testament are reserved for those who sacrifice their children to
Moloch. The perpetrators and the ideology that drives them are transparently
guilty of this very act and, this time, it's personal. It can no longer be
denied that radical Islam is a dark, malevolent and powerful force with a
thirst for conquest and an appetite for retribution on a scale not seen for
centuries. As I write, an audio communiqué from ISIL has just been released
online, in fluent, Arab-accented French, claiming responsibility, indicating
the targets were meticulously chosen for maximum impact. If this is, as
Jeb Bush put it last night, 'the war of our time', then we had better get
ready.</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-57561560617916003602015-11-02T19:40:00.003+01:002015-11-02T19:40:59.329+01:00Fear Not Trembling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOgnqgI0nBanb8JNnYxyHPMmfgoSqcModHNaaAJ5xI5hkqd0nEpeqbQNsJcimKwZWFLKXBBDoTK3PPuxeepKwL8et39vy3DILdXe9PxD06MJZwUYW2t9YhYpUaxkrw01oiFol2/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-02+at+19.35.42.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOgnqgI0nBanb8JNnYxyHPMmfgoSqcModHNaaAJ5xI5hkqd0nEpeqbQNsJcimKwZWFLKXBBDoTK3PPuxeepKwL8et39vy3DILdXe9PxD06MJZwUYW2t9YhYpUaxkrw01oiFol2/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-11-02+at+19.35.42.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Men fear change as children fear the dark, to
misquote Francis Bacon. To a child, the dark is full of hobgoblins, werewolves
and nameless monsters who would do him harm, which is why I have always felt
uncomfortable about the current sanitised and irreligious expressions of
Hallowe'en which have slipped, like Disney, into popular culture. The dark is
not merely a comforting absence of light, or the expectation of comfort where
there currently is none.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We live in dark times - the world is a less
predictable place. Changes, especially those which happen fast, cause our
balance to falter as familiar patterns of behaviour seem to us be be becoming
less secure. When balance falters, errors are made. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We hear a
great deal now about the drift of America and Europe away from a Christian
identity. Whenever there is talk of decline - as in fact there always is - the
one thing that seems to be lacking is a meaningful standard of change. How can
we know where we are if we don’t know where we were, in those days when things
were as they "ought" to be? How can we know there has been decline,
an invidious qualitative change, if we are unable to establish an appropriate
timeline? If we begin to pay attention to the marked and oddly general
fearfulness of Western culture at present and thus identify its sources, we are
some way towards dealing with the problem. Evidence of such fearfulness is
ubiquitous, from erecting razor wire at Hungarian borders, to the torching of
immigrant accommodation in Sweden, to police responses to recalcitrance in
schools. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus we find a description
of the state the people of Israel will find themselves in if they depart from
their loyalty to God, or, loyalty to foundational principles: “The sound of a
driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the
sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. They shall stumble over one
another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues.” Has Europe and the US
lost sight of the laws and traditions from which the solid bulwarks of their
democracies were first forged?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, if
Leviticus is to be believed, irrational responses will be made to irrational
fears. With the rise of homicidal, religiously inspired and heavily armed
forces in the Middle East, intent on propagating a version of Islam which has
surfaced, like a Babylonian river over the centuries, indeed from its blood-soaked
inception, we do well to fear, but not to lose our reason. Fear alone, the
flight of the adrenalin-fuelled prey, will not be enough to save us. Neither
will a soothing call to 'peace and safety' because the images of black flags on
the streets of Washington or Paris or in little rural villages in Germany or
Belgium, is too distant and far-fetched to even contemplate.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGg4BfsAgGckvs6go5xz39_Yrl3Esy28aL8n-yZSKdN25DXFU4l9_zcJunsYvPtqcdf1ZH4Sn5BsUX-g442a9BzhfWMhTBVQj4PVPSTgiA8D7wB2FTxw0F2UA3rjbgJfjnb2V/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-02+at+19.37.08.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGg4BfsAgGckvs6go5xz39_Yrl3Esy28aL8n-yZSKdN25DXFU4l9_zcJunsYvPtqcdf1ZH4Sn5BsUX-g442a9BzhfWMhTBVQj4PVPSTgiA8D7wB2FTxw0F2UA3rjbgJfjnb2V/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-11-02+at+19.37.08.png" width="299" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria;">Fearfulness
obscures the distinction between real threat on one hand and on the other the
terrors that beset those who see threat everywhere. One response to the latter is
to arm ourselves to the teeth and just wait. During the First World War, waiting
for action was one of the most mind-shattering processes to endure which of
itself, generated a fear which could rapidly be used as a weapon, the same kind
of fear that the suicide bomber so effectively uses against his enemy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let us, prejudice notwithstanding, assume for a moment that a
God of justice really exists, separate from the states and institutions who
proclaim his authority. If so, his wrath is turned to the devastation and
horrors wreaked in his name by people who walk into schools with semiautomatic
weapons and who rally behind fundamentalist, closed-minded and blood-drenched
ideologies seeking to replace his justice and mercy with the flawed fascism which
is Shari'a. Few actions are more harshly forbidden in the Old Testament than
sacrifice to the god Moloch (Leviticus 18.21, 20.1-5). The sacrifice referred
to was presenting living children to be consumed in offertory fire to Moloch -
a perfect metaphor for the suicide bomber or the Palestinian driven to
murderous attacks against Israelis whose inevitable outcome will be his death.
Ever since then, worship of Moloch has been the sign of a deeply degraded culture
and in essence is at the heart of ISIS, Hamas and all the other proponents of
terror. Ancient Romans justified the destruction of Carthage because children
were sacrificed to Moloch there. Milton represented him as the first pagan god
who joined Satan’s war on humankind:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"First <i>Moloch</i>, horrid king, besmear’d with blood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Though for the noise of Drums and Timbrels loud<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To his grim idol." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(<i>Paradise Lost</i> 1.392-96)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-27476048052442303522015-10-21T08:54:00.005+02:002015-10-22T17:31:33.509+02:00Classic Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6G8aAxlf_k0JUowejIJwz781a9CCuuea-QC97z9BFDkbOptYe478fd2Pr7EwOqJs2mHQNlWYSdHHcLokKfU12pUhpkUn0gGINQfe62SSbrXdSaCabBuzvRb-NaQa7MD3J2od/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-21+at+08.52.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6G8aAxlf_k0JUowejIJwz781a9CCuuea-QC97z9BFDkbOptYe478fd2Pr7EwOqJs2mHQNlWYSdHHcLokKfU12pUhpkUn0gGINQfe62SSbrXdSaCabBuzvRb-NaQa7MD3J2od/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-10-21+at+08.52.46.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“ Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (everything changes, nothing perishes). ” <i>Ovid, Metamorphoses</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written; and merits lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent past, the work is not a classic. <br />A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us to our very core partly because they integrate themes that are understood by people from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience. Themes of love, hate, death, life, and faith touch upon some of our most basic emotional responses."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
A classic has the ability to engage the reader as part of the narrative. I have to confess - and indeed it feels confessional to say so - that modern literature is frequently depressing since its focus is either on caustic satire or lamentable weakness and affairs about which few of us can be proud. The sequel to "Tom Brown's Schooldays" relates Tom's experiences when he becomes a student at Oxford and struggles to balance the temptations of university life at the time with his innate sense of decency. Hughes preaches relentlessly at us, Tom develops Chartist leanings and old friends from Rugby turn up in unexpected places. It takes a more outward-looking view, no longer from a boy in the closed cocoon of his school, describing manners and customs long forgotten, but underlying motives about who we are as people and how we interact with each other is a universal theme, seen through the Victorian lens of a rigid class system. Perhaps we have lost sight a little of how heroism and unselfishness works, how faith ought to drive our actions and our contribution to the world means that we leave it a better place than we found it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Retirement seems to have had the effect of developing a longer, broader view. It becomes easier to contextualise one's being at this particular time within the perspective of a much longer timeframe. As we are more honest with ourselves, we see more clearly from whence we have come and how we have arrived at where we are, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. I can't help wondering if this is what a spark of wisdom actually looks like. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The world is made up of two kinds of people, first are those who love classics, the second are those who have not yet read a classic.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oscar
Wilde once wrote that 'if one
cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it
at all'. I'm looking forward to revisiting many of my old friends in their pages.
</span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-60954913162182918822015-10-06T19:02:00.003+02:002015-10-06T19:07:31.401+02:00arma virumque cano*<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_FhXY-gSyrPLdNwdn2jWzj-IXV4O63x4geSWWlUEcqjh_5JtrDhLLMozieyIbubykRmeUS6ArNqZ7pNAdHpmFF7GIrlUeW3bVpApYXi0oRhmizki_RZi2F9eDt3GQsxhbRzZ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-06+at+18.44.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_FhXY-gSyrPLdNwdn2jWzj-IXV4O63x4geSWWlUEcqjh_5JtrDhLLMozieyIbubykRmeUS6ArNqZ7pNAdHpmFF7GIrlUeW3bVpApYXi0oRhmizki_RZi2F9eDt3GQsxhbRzZ/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-10-06+at+18.44.23.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Single shot, breech loading circa 1800</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext; line-height: 150%;">Once
again. A young man with a grudge and guns. Ten students dead this time. Second
Amendment? Just because it was set in place in the aftermath of the
Revolutionary War doesn't mean that it is set in stone, nor can its fundamental
ideology be questioned. In the light of the fact that people without proper
training or experience can acquire not just a hunting rifle but in certain
states a semiautomatic assault rifle more usually seen on the battlefield, and
remembering that when the Amendment was written, all that was available was a
single shot, breech loading device that could, in very experienced hands, fire
between three and four rounds a minute, it is time for a review, gun lobby or
not since the Amendment as written is no longer fit for purpose.</span><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It would be counterintuitive – as well as anti-historical
– to believe that the landowning aristocracy like Madison and Washington wanted
to arm the population so that a crowd of malcontents could resist the
constitutionally elected government. In reality, the Framers of the Constitution
wanted to arm the people – at least the white males – so uprisings, whether
economic clashes like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion" target="_blank">Shays’ Rebellion</a>, anti-tax protests like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion" target="_blank">Whiskey Rebellion</a>, attacks by Native Americans or slave revolts, could be dealt with by
a locally raised militia. They were the local Government agents, guarantors of
economic tranquility and were never given a mandate for wanton destruction,
neither was such ever envisaged as a possibility at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What about other places? People carry in Israel, for example.
The primary difference is that most Israelis are weapons-trained, having served
in the IDF, and many Americans are not; no proof of competence seems to be
required. In Israel, getting a license is gruelling and can often involve
months of security vetting, weapons licensing checks, serial number matching,
condition of the weapon, range certification, plus a barrage of awareness-raising
information to be given verbally to the prospective owner – “When can I shoot
in self-defence?” “You had better be certain that you had no other recourse,
that you did what you could to warn the attacker, and that had you not taken
action, at least one innocent life could have been lost. And you may still
expect to do jail time.” A fair disincentive for shooting someone in a fit of
pique. Soldiers with weapons and private citizens who openly carry are
everywhere in Jerusalem but it is hardly surprising that unprovoked discharge
of a firearm is almost unheard of. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It should be made much more difficult - in the US and elsewhere
- for a civilian, especially without proper training, to acquire and keep any
kind of weapon. We have an old hunting rifle, which I don't use because I am
not licensed to do so and if I wanted to buy a gun here in France, I'd have to
pass a written and practical test then join a gun club and/or buy a safe and
finally buy the annual license. I would not be allowed to carry it on the
streets under any circumstances on penalty of extreme prosecution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The statistics are overwhelming. I wonder which of Washington’s
successors will have the courage to do the right thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>* I sing of arms and the man.. Virgil: Aeneid</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-61420223614767116682015-09-22T22:21:00.001+02:002015-09-24T09:45:21.569+02:00Insulting Behaviour<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXrpHRFdRj3H4GRRecXdA8oAdqBoZ_Th9EyqWo3pV7CyJD_TuiGBN4Q4a9GvXGDbgmVi6LqjSe93zv1PGrCW140oZhYlH11AqrKNxOTlhtrrIT-7EnRhsZTNYgITj776aBZ5h/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-22+at+22.08.47.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXrpHRFdRj3H4GRRecXdA8oAdqBoZ_Th9EyqWo3pV7CyJD_TuiGBN4Q4a9GvXGDbgmVi6LqjSe93zv1PGrCW140oZhYlH11AqrKNxOTlhtrrIT-7EnRhsZTNYgITj776aBZ5h/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-09-22+at+22.08.47.png" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Cameron's Friend</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I am almost tempted to feel sorry for David Cameron. After all, who among us cares to have our undergraduate behaviour paraded before a jeering mob, if the readers of the Daily Mail can be so described. The story is that the Ashcroft millions filling the Tory coffers failed to generate a Government post of sufficient gravitas, so he hired a Sunday Times journalist to put together a pastiche serialised in the Daily Mail mentioning juvenile indiscretions, real and, it appears, imagined, about the current Prime Minister. One of the more entertaining was the unverified story of an interaction with a pig as part of an initiation ceremony into an Oxford dining club. Its sheer salaciousness has sent the story stratospherically viral amongst the salivating twitterati who are unable or unwilling to devote more than 140 characters to vent their scorn and outrage. Even if it were true and it probably isn't, the best one can say about Lord Ashcroft and his shovel-wielding amanuensis might be 'is that all?' He probably hasn't quite come to terms with the fact that this kind of sub-tabloid muckraking makes the raker smell pretty strongly of shit. The only people who may suffer permanent damage are the prizewinning author of "Call Me Dave", who probably regrets offering her services as a hatchet woman, and her embittered employer.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nevertheless, Britain is a free country, where people can pretty much say and publish what they like, and insulting the Prime Minister or even the Queen doesn't carry the death penalty. </span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvokcDpBrx_unHOk6CJROwFBhsv66hR9618zpoFA8pDsw3BHdXzohhiB4y6wy3yjbEMO3t8PXHcy1uQ1UgRIJGZPscVc9VxpWAEjPiLAiq2Uv2TqawziKBVn9QwJA_T3fJ_YH1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-24+at+09.42.48.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvokcDpBrx_unHOk6CJROwFBhsv66hR9618zpoFA8pDsw3BHdXzohhiB4y6wy3yjbEMO3t8PXHcy1uQ1UgRIJGZPscVc9VxpWAEjPiLAiq2Uv2TqawziKBVn9QwJA_T3fJ_YH1/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-09-24+at+09.42.48.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">from: "Spitting Image"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Not so elsewhere. It was hoped when the new ruler of the House of Saud took office, that a kinder, more tolerant Wahhabism might present itself to the world. It would seem not, however. A juvenile nephew of a Shia activist was convicted under torture on a range of charges including 'insulting the King', preaching a sermon which 'disrupted national unity' and taking part in a protest which turned violent. There were no defence lawyers or what we in the West would describe as 'due process'. His punishment is first beheading followed by being strapped to a cross and his body left to rot. He is now just twenty-one years old.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We continue to do business with barbaric regimes, since not to do so might 'damage our interests', in this case, the interests of the petrochemical barons and weapons manufacturers. It seems there are always ways of getting around mutually contradictory policy objectives like arms sales and human rights. And, of course, primitive, medieval punishments carried out every day in lands where various types of Shari'a are practised, have 'nothing to do with Islam...'</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you're looking for the image of a crucifixion, don't bother. We have enough already. </span></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-56589508847579523432015-09-10T18:35:00.002+02:002015-09-15T11:50:35.452+02:00Being Nice to Ladies<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVnpTIxsuPRGz2vzdwu2keGloMdgZlR_G8EuD3cE2BpihXfn_oXVo-khalePrYLwYVPaWby-aHmTz_MrLlKPgsUGg9JUI6q5_pH_8X9w071GMJujDl4oJU3XsQYlZ1wF32maJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-10+at+18.26.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVnpTIxsuPRGz2vzdwu2keGloMdgZlR_G8EuD3cE2BpihXfn_oXVo-khalePrYLwYVPaWby-aHmTz_MrLlKPgsUGg9JUI6q5_pH_8X9w071GMJujDl4oJU3XsQYlZ1wF32maJ/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-09-10+at+18.26.11.png" width="400" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sexist? No. It's just feet.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You know what? I really couldn't let this pass without remark. I am no fanboy of PC in all its forms, fatuous or otherwise, courtesy usually providing an acceptable alternative. If people find certain words, phrases and innuendis 'offensive', then so be it. Life is hard for delicate little flowers sometimes and occasionally its winds blow cruelly. This is all about one Charlotte Proudman - the irony did not escape me - who was complimented about her photograph on LinkedIn - where young Turks of all ages get to publicly joust for their next big break. OK, a bit patronising, much as the remark made by a senior lawyer, complimenting Ms Proudman on what was, after all, a quite well-taken picture of a pretty twentysomething. But, this was no ordinary bimbette. No, indeed. She happened to be a human rights barrister who took grievous offence to the gentleman's perceived sexism. She responded rather robustly, I thought, saying in her own words that she found his message
‘offensive’ and that she was not on LinkedIn ‘to be objectified by
sexist men’. She then went on to describe his behaviour as 'unacceptable and misogynistic'. Quite clearly, she doesn't know that the word means a deep hatred of women. She went on to suggest that he should 'think twice before sending another woman (half your age) such a sexist message'; the irony of using ageism to bemoan sexism clearly escaped her.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The inevitable Twitterstorm produced champions for both sides, and it's been hilarious to follow the exchanges. The tweet-and-bleat feminazis versus the knights in shining armour for whom paying a courtly compliment is really rather dashing. Did he pat her bum? No. Did he leer at her suggestively and call her 'sweetheart'? No. They have never met. Did he ask her to send him a picture of her in her nightie? All he did was write a complimentary if perhaps misguidedly candid note on her LinkedIn page which she was at pains to point out was for *snigger* 'business purposes'. Now THAT was a sexist and misogynistic remark. The words are exactly the same but... </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's interesting to me when I notice that so many arrogantly believe they have a God-given right to go about their daily lives without
ever being offended, or simply engaged with. But, hey, they can’t. Nobody's an island, thank God. What makes life
grand, interesting and serendipitous is when we encounter all kinds of people, saying all sorts of stuff, some of them are 'nice', some oafishly rude, others paralysingly stupid. Far better to endure the occasional rough encounter – or
receive an unexpected compliment–than to live in the emotional twilight and tyranny of social paralysis that the PC among us cultivate so enthusiastically.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I suspect that she might be regretting her strident little tantrum. Educated, grown up people should really be better equipped to deal with remarks which offend them and now she has to detach herself from an hysterical and schoolgirlish social media firestorm. I wonder how she'd behave if she was subjected to serious, deliberate and sustained harassment, as many undoubtedly are, some of whom may be her clients. I hope she can defend them with rather more measured objectivity than she shows when defending herself.</span></span><br />
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-55115820115269149692015-09-09T18:26:00.000+02:002015-09-09T18:43:58.441+02:00Journeys of Hope and Despair<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjovhGyEBFpvaP2VCREaEVzQ7_-yZYj5QIii1QFvIOqQRyOnUZdDIvjFyQxxn1Mg27obXKK4dut_eOMsj-BkynoVqxSiNd3H6xhKTa_10F3X_cSODcJFA72VP8Vl5lRjQKjVR/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-09+at+18.20.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjovhGyEBFpvaP2VCREaEVzQ7_-yZYj5QIii1QFvIOqQRyOnUZdDIvjFyQxxn1Mg27obXKK4dut_eOMsj-BkynoVqxSiNd3H6xhKTa_10F3X_cSODcJFA72VP8Vl5lRjQKjVR/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-09-09+at+18.20.27.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">From idyllic Greek islands to the fertile plains of southern Hungary, an avalanche of human misery, deprivation and increasing desperation has massed, gathering momentum, overwhelming the flimsy processing agencies which have proven inadequate to manage the sheer numbers of applicants who are desperate to reach the security of Europe. Twenty thousand are wedged on the picturesque little island of Lesvos, west of the Turkish coast. Crossing the Libyan desert, paying out their life savings to unscrupulous and cynically passionless bounty hunters for a square foot of space on an unseaworthy little boat, many have perished en route in the greatest mass migration since the end of the Second World War. Some are escaping persecution because their brand of Islam is insufficiently jihadist. Others are fleeing because they are Christian, hence targets for persecution, imprisonment, or worse. Others have been bled dry by incompetent and corrupt governments incapable of performing the one single task justifying their existence, that of looking after and protecting their citizenry. Some just want to work and find a better life for them and their children. Still others may have a more nefarious agenda, to infiltrate the land of the <i>kuffar</i> and plot its takeover. They are given names like 'economic migrant', 'refugee', 'asylum seeker' or 'illegal immigrant' to attempt to distinguish and classify them, to decide whether or not they have a right to be here.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of a party from Eritrea who all left together, almost one hundred and forty souls, bound for Europe, twenty survived. People are dying in trucks, bodies are washing up on Turkish beaches, dead as starfish. So many stories, making all of us sit down, appalled, and ask what we, or our government can and should do.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The sheer scale of the invasion and its rapidity this summer has taken everyone unawares. It is naive to criticise the use of the word 'invasion', since so many are using ingenious means to circumvent the authorities. Agencies are supposed to fingerprint new arrivals at their place of entry but some migrants do not wish to settle in Italy or Greece, where processing them could take months, even years, and the social security packages are paltry compared to those offered in Scandinavia. So, they burn their fingers with lighters or use the liquid goo from a burned plastic bag to make their fingerprints unreadable. Such is the scale of the problem, the authorities simply wave them on so the next country in the chain can take responsibility for them. Fake passports are on sale in Rome to make journeying easier.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">An Egyptian billionaire has offered to buy an island from Greece or Italy to house everybody temporarily until they can be processed. A brave idea, but not one which many of the hopeful travellers would be prepared to invest in, I suspect. After all, islands have been prisons for centuries.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Why is it that Germany seems to be welcoming so many? Perhaps it is, brutally, a matter of demographics. The German population is shrinking, and there are less able-bodied and, above all, young workers to keep the industrial wheels turning with legendary German efficiency. Cynical as it seems, the Germans may have hit the motherlode by tapping in to a source of cheap labour for a generation, whose taxes will pay for an increasing number of pensioners in their system, assuming, of course, that new arrivals will be able, indeed willing to assimilate and not huddle in racist ghettoes as exist in parts of France. The rightist Government in Hungary, however, whose demographic problems are not dissimilar, is building a fence along its border with Serbia to just keep them out. A Syrian lawyer desperate to reach Germany, scrambled under its razor wire, leaving a bright, bloody trail behind him. The Slovaks are only admitting Christians, not Muslims; they can thank ISIS, bin Laden and all the other bloodthirsty crazies for that. And, how many are the GCC countries, the ideological home for Muslim refugees, </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">taking</span></span>? None. Not one. Someone should be asking them some hard questions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">As Angela Merkel pointed out, the world is watching us. How we deal with this as governments and individuals will speak volumes to those who detest our democracies and spit on our way of life. <br />A government has the moral responsibility to protect the welfare of its
citizens. At the same time, each individual has the responsibility to
love his neighbor. Many of us will shortly have new neighbors with strange, unfamiliar customs, curious, unintelligible speech, different social norms. We can choose to tread this unknown territory of rapprochement with fear, as children who fear the dark, the unknown, or, we can take firm hold of our own heritage, confident in its ability to protect us emotionally and spiritually to reach out, one-on-one and in our groups, to do justice, love kindness and, above all else, remember mercy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-4978963646776578392015-08-14T20:49:00.000+02:002015-08-14T22:23:45.065+02:00Reflections on Gay Marriage<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ9ORHmf-jXvwD5_Am-VbkRRwJV8azVDphccXYaLmwAqdDI1yzigZJHGqZu_HA5U47TYRZZW_imkwEZcQhFw4NqBfk2C4JmxkVOf09E5bF504xjRCSS2dH5iiVTDN1BYZJgXv/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-14+at+20.51.59.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ9ORHmf-jXvwD5_Am-VbkRRwJV8azVDphccXYaLmwAqdDI1yzigZJHGqZu_HA5U47TYRZZW_imkwEZcQhFw4NqBfk2C4JmxkVOf09E5bF504xjRCSS2dH5iiVTDN1BYZJgXv/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-08-14+at+20.51.59.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tying a knot</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I've resisted the temptation to write about gay marriage for quite some
time, firstly because I'm not gay and secondly because I have been married and
divorced more than once, thus disqualifying me experientially, morally and
ethically from engaging with the issues it raises. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Quite a number of the historic denominations seem more concerned with
being inclusive than being the 'church', whatever certainty this presupposes. I don't think that we have much idea
what we mean by being inclusive other than some vague idea that inclusivity has
something to do with being accepting and loving and, of course, it's a necessary
strategy for survival in what is denominationally a buyers’ market; it's a
smorgasbord of intellectual and social paradigms out there and one size doesn't
fit all. Furthermore, the inclusive church is captured by romantic notions of
marriage. Combine inclusivity and romanticism and you have no reason to deny
marriage between gay people.<br />
<br />
When couples come to ministers to talk about their marriage ceremonies, some
ministers think it’s mandatory to ask if they love one another. The couple
dutifully admits that they do - if they said otherwise, the priest or whoever
might have serious doubts about joining them together, especially if the
denominational slant is sacramental. But, in truth, how would they know? A
Christian marriage isn’t about whether you’re in love. Christian marriage
is offering the practice of fidelity over a lifetime in which we can look back
and call all those collective decisions, hopes and fears 'love'. It is a hard
discipline over many years and some of us weren't, it seems, quite up to the
task.<br />
<br />
The difficulty, therefore, is that Christians, when they approach this issue,
no longer know what marriage is. For centuries, for socially advantageous or
politically expedient reasons, just like a lot of other religious practices,
Christians married people who didn’t know one another until the marriage
ceremony, and they were going to have sex that night. They didn’t 'know' one
another. Where does all this 'love' come from? As the song says "what's love got to do with it..." They could have sex because they
were married, not, as is the case today, with whomever and whenever they felt like it.<br />
<br />
Now, when marriage becomes a mutually enhancing arrangement until something
goes wrong, then it makes no sense at all to oppose homosexual marriages. If
marriage is a calling, carrying with it a transcendent holiness that makes
promises of lifelong monogamous fidelity in which children are welcomed, then
we’ve got a problem. But we can’t even get to a discussion there, because quite
a lot of self-confessed so-called Christians no longer practice Christian
marriage. <br />
<br />
What has made it particularly hard is that the divorce culture has made it
impossible for us to talk about these matters with the requisite honesty so as
not to indulge in self-deceptive, sentimental lies. We have become serial
polygamists, confused about whom we're allowed to sleep with and who we're not.
We're confused about our reasons for having children and the moral relativism
which we practice is justifiable in the broader ethical context in which we
find ourselves. It would be surprising indeed in such a climate if gay marriage
legislation actually failed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If
you were expecting me to come out firmly on one side or the other, sorry to
disappoint. I make no judgement on horrifying Levitical pronouncements - I am not sufficiently qualified to do so, neither am I qualified to demand certainty in the face of moral confusion. The whole purpose of intellectual wrestling is that sometimes, the
two protagonists are locked in inertial combat, where neither appears to be
moving. My hope is that some internally fruitful debate is produced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My
thanks to Stanley Hauerwas for some of his thoughts.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-54208782332885146592015-08-12T20:37:00.000+02:002017-03-09T11:05:38.922+01:00A Fly Trap for the Islamists<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2pnoRV6j_BQ0N7UVpHcMBmaiea-uZQjrrNszwv2vnq3yiUnxY22S6DQxy2cc9-JAB7h3K4gSAJuFKOLzoHYVLYIkO1RSm6PIa8MrW3NsH_avx7eHn6YSQpQByyh-qiKO1cRP/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-12+at+20.41.33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2pnoRV6j_BQ0N7UVpHcMBmaiea-uZQjrrNszwv2vnq3yiUnxY22S6DQxy2cc9-JAB7h3K4gSAJuFKOLzoHYVLYIkO1RSm6PIa8MrW3NsH_avx7eHn6YSQpQByyh-qiKO1cRP/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-08-12+at+20.41.33.png" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Jizya. Everybody's favourite tax</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> have to confess to a small but delicious sense of <i>schadenfreude</i>
when reading that the radical cleric Anjem Choudary has finally been arrested.
I wonder, whatever can be done about a British-born man who is qualified to work but
appears never to have done so, and who instead spends his time taking his
"dole" money, boasting that he is entitled to it as 'jizya' and using
it to fund a lifestyle devoted solely to preaching against the state? Britain
can't withdraw his citizenship or otherwise render him "stateless."
He has a young family who cannot be allowed to starve on the streets. These are admittedly late liberalism problems, but they are problems
nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">He has been undone by his own self-aggrandisement and
attention-seeking, but the problem is that over many years he has been
involved with innumerable people who have shown themselves to be more than
simply loudmouthed blowhards. They have attempted to bring serious sectarian
conflict as well as murder to the streets of Britain. A number of
Choudary's associates were imprisoned a few years ago for
attempting a Mumbai-style attack on London landmarks, including the London
Stock Exchange. Others have been to prison for incitement and
countless terrorist-recruitment offences; and since the beginning of the Syrian
civil war, a number of his followers or supporters have gone to Syria and Iraq to join and
fight with ISIS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Choudary himself is a trained lawyer and is sufficiently
slippery to know on just which side of the law to keep his remarks. The last
Labour government's creation of a new offence of "glorifying terror"
ought to have caught him within it, but it appeared not to have done.
Frustratingly, he has remained at large.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I wonder why. One theory is that Choudary has been, to some extent used as a "fly-trap" by the police or SO15. He is well known enough to have anyone seriously interested in the
most radical forms of Islamic extremism find their way to him. Perhaps there was some clandestine agreement to allow him to get away with what he does because it is better
for such extremism to have an observable and open meeting-point than to be forced underground where tracking and monitoring becomes so much more difficult. Also, second tier commanders - those who are more directly
involved with fomenting hatred and plotting terror, may be drawn out into the
open. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bomb threats have been made by radical Islamists against
members of the Royal Family during</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> celebrations on Saturday
commemorating the capitulation of Japan in WW2.</span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> Ultimately, they were unfounded, but their very existence is the terrorists' main weapon, to try to make people afraid. Is it possible, I wonder, that
the timing of Choudary's arrest is not accidental? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Brits may only tolerate their Royal family sometimes, but
if such an attack took place, the consequences for the perpetrators and
indeed anyone suspected of being the least bit radical would be catastrophic
and it would change the British attitude to Islam and its involvement in the Middle East crisis, perhaps for
ever. </span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The British National Anthem has a number of verses, often
forgotten and rarely sung. Verse Two goes like </span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">this...<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">O
Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall: Confound
their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we
fix: God save us all.</span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Knavish tricks. Quite so.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-69911864766776098122015-08-12T19:59:00.000+02:002015-08-17T22:57:04.054+02:00New Labour for Old<div style="border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRV8o42nMsy7oHTwItSZDfEhG3aBWX9yoHaD0PApgqpoUFpaRFxfuYLpuEYMxmZZsAEd9OJTEP-JTbq5KJ3wjOcVdVUhGQI0eBSCPOC9304fyVd-cpR7leU3sg_e_4Ln3f1eZR/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-12+at+20.39.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRV8o42nMsy7oHTwItSZDfEhG3aBWX9yoHaD0PApgqpoUFpaRFxfuYLpuEYMxmZZsAEd9OJTEP-JTbq5KJ3wjOcVdVUhGQI0eBSCPOC9304fyVd-cpR7leU3sg_e_4Ln3f1eZR/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-12+at+20.39.46.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who's he?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes, I wonder, idly, about British politics. The Canadians are about to vote, the Brits have a right wing mandate for the next four years and all credible opposition has descended into factional infighting and recrimination. Labour is not so much licking its wounds but has been placed on life support. All through my life the Labour party have been at the gates of Downing Street, and often enough stormed them, only to be beaten back at a subsequent election. Even Tony Blair's soft centrism failed to sway my own instinctive pull to the right. But, what might happen to the Conservative party if those barbarians disappear? Jeremy Corbyn, the vegetarian cyclist and teetotaller represents the barbarian, old-school face of the Labour Party. Steeped in Marxist-Leninist ideology, a union man to his toenails, a fiercely combative and frequently bad-tempered debater, he may take some beating. But, one should not assume that he will lift the Labour leadership, despite the best efforts of the Socialist Workers, rightist fifth-columnists and Communists to inflate the voting numbers. The slender possibility remains that when second preferences are counted Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham will scrape through. But theirs would be a miserable, half-hearted victory: humiliated before they even begin. Their party now faces one of two alternatives: a 'real' hard left, miners' revenge victory for Mr Corbyn, or a Pyrrhic victory for Ms Cooper or Mr Burnham who says the Labour party may split and I do not doubt him. The Right, and especially the Kippers will at first rejoice. The barbarians are fighting among themselves and no longer threaten us! Huzza! And it is true that a Labour party rushing headlong to destruction would guarantee the Conservatives’ return to office in 2020. Shall I, then, live under a Tory prime minister until I’m at least 75? Perhaps. But the isolationists' pulling up the drawbridge may be too high a price to pay. Corbyn keeps strange bedfellows - he has hosted Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, amongst others which isn't surprising since an irreligious man has sno understanding of the religiously motivated agendas of such people. He is the favourite by a mile at this point - so just as a marker, here's the odds for today. Let's hope the old saying is right, 'it ain't over till the fat lady sings.'</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKu8z_eyiZ9mB8vqJ36qb8pnzZAcHOSB1gIimIPC8NwFZMPQHO7lN00jbIdDpiB4OwTxa9H-pQtA9cmCP9zcDYDjiHlXmo2hxYgHZAg2hF3zyV6No0TubC9P_6Rb-8edAB7Hb/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-17+at+22.46.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKu8z_eyiZ9mB8vqJ36qb8pnzZAcHOSB1gIimIPC8NwFZMPQHO7lN00jbIdDpiB4OwTxa9H-pQtA9cmCP9zcDYDjiHlXmo2hxYgHZAg2hF3zyV6No0TubC9P_6Rb-8edAB7Hb/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-08-17+at+22.46.28.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile...</span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calais migrants are storming the Channel tunnel in their thousands, desperate to get to the UK, seen still as the Promised Land and the Brits' response is currently feebly ineffectual. All over Europe, people desperate to flee war zones and destitution are beating a path to their doors. Greek islands and Lampedusa are overrun by those who have survived the perilous and ruinously expensive journey, trafficked by those who have cynically made money out of the desperation of others. The whole demographic of Europe is changing and the least that the British voter can expect is a Government both muscular enough and compassionate enough to take appropriate action. If Corbyn gets in, he'll fling wide the immigration gate and have them all working down the Welsh coal mines he wants to re-open. </span></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-26588564014649133162015-08-01T12:19:00.006+02:002015-08-01T18:00:14.672+02:00Problematically Correct<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2Wb-BU9YHcneMT5jIYRPZi5Zp25zje5W2ew8kLbx5ta03cInnW3KJyDpJ19hUg7fh5i4N0U0mGd9xp8FMnJjgaPbX5qAiDk60CECOpI9HGJZsn4KrnryxkCj50WWS46MH18V/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-08-01+at+12.18.10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2Wb-BU9YHcneMT5jIYRPZi5Zp25zje5W2ew8kLbx5ta03cInnW3KJyDpJ19hUg7fh5i4N0U0mGd9xp8FMnJjgaPbX5qAiDk60CECOpI9HGJZsn4KrnryxkCj50WWS46MH18V/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-08-01+at+12.18.10.png" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: small;">...but getting married soon...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There's
a tyranny of forced sensitivity, alive and well in a pleasantly cocooned part
of North America. I refer, of course, to the wonderfully liberal, inclusive and
welcoming University of New Hampshire - surely home to multitudes of young
persons, eager to join the well-meaning throngs of the socially and politically
aware. The website positively shouts inclusiveness. If you are lesbian, gay,
queer, trans, not sure or even mildly interested in being any or all of the
above, there's a place for you. After a series of (probably minor) protests,
they have recently removed from their site<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>somewhat tautologous
"Bias-Free Language Guide", where words like “American,” “illegal
alien,” “foreigners,” “mothering,” and “fathering” are deemed
“problematic”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this, one assumes that
somebody, somewhere might be slightly offended by the use of such outrageously
provocative terms. According to the university’s website, the guide “is meant
to invite inclusive excellence in [the] campus community.” Leaving out, just
for a moment, the fact<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that the sentence
as written is meaningless, what can possibly be so very precious about people's
sensitivities that they are not able to deal emotionally with having their
feathers ruffled a little bit? I rather imagined that part of the purpose of higher education was to learn to listen to disagreeable points of view. What's worse, the neutering of language robs much dialogue of the robustness necessary to bring a point home. Resorting to beige, nondescript and damply meek wording only subtracts from the dialectic, hardly ever adding to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
guide defines words such as “homosexual” as “problematic,” offering “Same
Gender Loving” as a more inclusive substitute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What a shame that people feel it no longer necessary to learn classical
languages, since if they did so, they'd realise that the substitute term means
something rather different to the original. Similarly, a lack of gender-neutral
bathrooms is, according to the university, “ciscentrism.” Doesn't everyone
use the one with the shortest queue? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There's a big, wide difference between a deliberate, gratuitously offensive remark or form of words chosen precisely because the speaker wants to do some damage and a figure of speech used with no malicious intent and I'm tired of the endless tiptoeing around people's real or imagined sore spots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Oh
dear. So it's not OK to call someone a nigga? Even as a term of affection? Even
if they are one?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-32631848098408997632015-06-29T15:44:00.000+02:002015-06-29T15:57:07.774+02:00Flat Lands and Legends (Part Two)<span style="font-size: large;">When it comes to food, the French are the most obsessive on the planet. Yet they have rather lagged behind the curve when it comes to cooking outdoors; Texas muscle and Antipodean flair have rather led the field. But, the French are catching on and, as always, bring more than a little Gallic flair to the barbecue business. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOHa84HQebOEkpVTCuZgZrT5E9_NCOkwfE26rCsnXIJsHhVMZxbqJvZt0DWJqnb2W3MlGjnRmJhaT08dmpRI5zLPA9CejJKLXgVviMDQGD6aq9SQ5k92dcGXe3mUAoNHZG0Fq/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+13.37.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOHa84HQebOEkpVTCuZgZrT5E9_NCOkwfE26rCsnXIJsHhVMZxbqJvZt0DWJqnb2W3MlGjnRmJhaT08dmpRI5zLPA9CejJKLXgVviMDQGD6aq9SQ5k92dcGXe3mUAoNHZG0Fq/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+13.37.34.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the beach in 2014, moved to town square this year</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was quite a crowd. Professional teams with slick uniforms and their own washers-up (in our case, me), amateur
teams consisting of men in silly hats out for a good time happy to let
their meat char to a cinder in favour of drinking a lot of pastis and
having fun by the sea. Reality TV stars, coached by the sponsoring barbecue company, gaggles of photographers, pretty girls with fake tattoos and considerable razzmatazz. And, a serious jury, consisting of starred chefs and other head honchos. All converging on the little town of Saintes Maries de la Mer, the capital of the Camargue, to find the best barbecue chefs in France.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Also, two middle-aged women in home made tie-dyed T shirts turned up to take on the 'best of the best' from all over France, Europe and as far away as French Polynesia. One of whom is quite well known to me, a legend in her own lunchtime.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The advertising budget was eye-watering. In addition to a lavish beach party for all those involved, each of eighty teams received the use of a brand new 300€ Weber charcoal barbecue, plus tools, competition aprons, charcoal and a large parasol, and, of course, meat, fish or vegetables from a top-flight local provider. Competitors could enter a maximum of three categories. Once the meat was received, they had two and a half hours to present.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear God, but it was hot. Most of the time, I hung around, dripping, like a spare usher at a wedding; when Gipsy slips into top gear, the best thing to do is just take cover. Hand movements are as fast as a concert pianist's and one can almost hear the vegetables begging for mercy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Day one, the chicken and taureau day, went well and the food as always was outstanding, but the jurors reached us virtually at the end of the judging period. When the taureau was being tasted, a frisson went around the site as the chief juror, an elderly gentleman, suddenly lit up. He stayed for rather longer than his allotted time and questioned the team closely.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmNKNDm0kj-IcM8kX7scvnWyNiMjKFsMcqK57UuG3fh8tJkeApCVrTVHcA9I4adSx3FFANc1UKIPYyrIUDQz_uCMLh2HU6xRfLlR9yLPVrLaW7jZP2D6EmnTk_UWO6lpT-hPp/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+14.52.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmNKNDm0kj-IcM8kX7scvnWyNiMjKFsMcqK57UuG3fh8tJkeApCVrTVHcA9I4adSx3FFANc1UKIPYyrIUDQz_uCMLh2HU6xRfLlR9yLPVrLaW7jZP2D6EmnTk_UWO6lpT-hPp/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+14.52.23.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Taureau - after the jury had finished with it</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">We left for a night in a farmhouse in Vaccarès. Day Two was, if anything, hotter. The team were only doing the pork section so it looked like an easy day. However, outrageous fortune's capricious nature being what it is, delay followed delay until mid-afternoon when Gipsy was hauled off to the ambulance with a hour to go, suffering from heatstroke. The partner was left to finish and the result was good but not outstanding, which was unfortunate.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">These things are always a lottery. I told myself that it was the taking part that mattered and a prize was a bonus. Gipsy muttered grimly that 'she hadn't turned up just to come second'. Just as well, really.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1clh3YPpQ27_AmMA_jZfOsKPwq0QNZJyQwplAA0Xh6pFquFzJpAHWJY-C7dKJkdMJ__QKMm6k5m0dxPHj31BmSjQcpPXRN4CiFJRmERL9eVSxrecHgQPo35kedQ49feE10gzB/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+15.55.31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1clh3YPpQ27_AmMA_jZfOsKPwq0QNZJyQwplAA0Xh6pFquFzJpAHWJY-C7dKJkdMJ__QKMm6k5m0dxPHj31BmSjQcpPXRN4CiFJRmERL9eVSxrecHgQPo35kedQ49feE10gzB/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+15.55.31.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Blue Riband event is the bull, the 'taureau' of the Camargue. A special trophy is presented to the winner of this category, since it is considered to be the most difficult meat of all to prepare successfully, with originality and the perfection required at this level. When she won, I shouted like a kid at the football match and might even have jumped up and down. When she got second prize for the hamburger section and third for the chicken, I clapped politely, having recovered my customary sang-froid.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The three-starred chef asked if he could use her bull recipe in his kitchen. After all the packing up, we barely had room in the car for the winner's barbecue and the trophy. The former we get to keep, the latter we have to give back or defend next year. Apparently.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkinw-UYb1ePHJonJ8CkkFo3UAMSNnA1DFiXNYN82g_NR3i9cusxsNvcEAgos9X6IasVtZrsQVFbD6PRVQVaSHQjWz3kSpOqUGUEr8Lx12lyeoeR5XGIwe6Z3ZWuenzvR49cd/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+14.53.06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkinw-UYb1ePHJonJ8CkkFo3UAMSNnA1DFiXNYN82g_NR3i9cusxsNvcEAgos9X6IasVtZrsQVFbD6PRVQVaSHQjWz3kSpOqUGUEr8Lx12lyeoeR5XGIwe6Z3ZWuenzvR49cd/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+14.53.06.png" width="582" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Champions Trophy 2015</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-63274101373450730502015-06-29T10:54:00.001+02:002015-06-29T11:50:44.327+02:00Flat Lands and Legend (Part One)<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEmeY2Si-8ErmCWhGyKpJSowKMXVLNWCjq30FJENT9IKkwhOeEjR_owjTtOvmNHf55VuXRRt1UFN2DKsD5gLyg_Mk9I2CRqGElzi9nfpxP-9XpPw21T0zDNKDBfKEUsLQayXr/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.46.51.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEmeY2Si-8ErmCWhGyKpJSowKMXVLNWCjq30FJENT9IKkwhOeEjR_owjTtOvmNHf55VuXRRt1UFN2DKsD5gLyg_Mk9I2CRqGElzi9nfpxP-9XpPw21T0zDNKDBfKEUsLQayXr/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.46.51.png" title="Public domain" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Public domain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Camargue is almost not France. Windswept and flat, the winter Mistral howls relentlessly across the salt marshes, whipping up the waters of the ragged Rhône delta and the Etang de Vaccarès from which thousands of pink flamingoes take flight, in spectacular V-shaped formation, their long necks extended like fighter jets.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEx7ayKYH0tBrNPyzKrV9r9E6aueAwBL-T4Wj-91kbEKWgJLmSaXW6uL2N5xim2LiFG-bx5fKfZkZ0Caz3tn6FwozPAooMwt5xuoaWruF-ZM9N0uveB-Vo8YIdl1rzPv5xpDGq/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.46.10.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEx7ayKYH0tBrNPyzKrV9r9E6aueAwBL-T4Wj-91kbEKWgJLmSaXW6uL2N5xim2LiFG-bx5fKfZkZ0Caz3tn6FwozPAooMwt5xuoaWruF-ZM9N0uveB-Vo8YIdl1rzPv5xpDGq/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.46.10.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Public domain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wild horses, the hardy white breed thought to be one of the oldest in the world still live semi-ferally and are the traditional mount of the <i>gardians, </i>the cowboys who herd the fighting bulls. At the southern apex of the delta lies <a href="http://www.saintesmaries.com/en/" target="_blank">Saintes-Maries de la Mer</a>, the capital of the Camargue. Catholic tradition has it that there were three Marys at the foot of the Cross, Magdalene, also Salomé and Jacobe, sisters of Jesus' mother and mothers to Apostles. Exiled by the Romans, they came with Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea and a black, perhaps Egyptian or Ethiopian "child servant" called Sara to the shores of the Camargue and brought <a href="http://www.languedoc-france.info/030701a_st_sara.htm" target="_blank">Christianity to France</a>. The Romani gypsies venerate this 'black virgin' at an annual ceremony where her effigy is carried waist-deep into the sea by the <i>gardians.</i></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8F_GcgbZELkCnNPzxJLz0U1QO_vicOMkTEQ52kaQnp98hN6JXkojwHleiLkZr1ApvmX-SgpqFAazy4V4WWEiFC1kbULQeRA1Yn1LLkJ5SdWXD3rqkJTHihwYXE82Gww03bRn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.45.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8F_GcgbZELkCnNPzxJLz0U1QO_vicOMkTEQ52kaQnp98hN6JXkojwHleiLkZr1ApvmX-SgpqFAazy4V4WWEiFC1kbULQeRA1Yn1LLkJ5SdWXD3rqkJTHihwYXE82Gww03bRn/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-29+at+10.45.02.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Public domain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Today, the little town is full of well-heeled tourists - a pair of cowboy boots can cost as much as two thousand euros and the beaches are long and sandy. With few adjoining condominiums or big hotels, they are far less crowded that their immediate neighbours on ether side of the delta.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Last weekend, the town came alive. But for quite a different reason. End of Part One.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-46818396838612198702015-06-25T23:03:00.000+02:002015-06-25T23:25:56.373+02:00Flags and Guns<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I haven't been to many of the Southern states of the USA. I've met a number of people from the Carolinas, well-mannered, fiscally conservative folk who don't exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms. It was the English who enshrined the right to carry firearms for self-defence and legally defensible right to life in a turbulent and unstable period of English history; the American fledgling state simply copied the idea.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Even the most trigger-happy Americans are getting tired of having to defend the indefensible statistic that far too many people suffer mortal injury because of gun crime. </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e7Yi_xqELG3K5LnWWctix4qIpCPCDXJLT88uBbPE6BO9MrNeW7vgzGtVDtsZxnJDqFqLT3m3EtD0yciKkh1sZSFz6xgX-Jrug04Ewxb_VcwNxvsLJuSpka2gCNsMd9TesaP-/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-25+at+21.17.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e7Yi_xqELG3K5LnWWctix4qIpCPCDXJLT88uBbPE6BO9MrNeW7vgzGtVDtsZxnJDqFqLT3m3EtD0yciKkh1sZSFz6xgX-Jrug04Ewxb_VcwNxvsLJuSpka2gCNsMd9TesaP-/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-06-25+at+21.17.38.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The image shows twenty-one year old Dylann Roof. He is holding two objects, both of which are venerated and highly dangerous. One is a Confederate flag, the other is a semiautomatic .45 calibre Glock 41 pistol, obtainable to almost anyone without a violent history at a cost of just over six hundred dollars. Designed for the Austrian military, it is used by police forces all over the world. This particular one took the lives of nine black churchgoers in Charleston a few days ago. Over sixty thousand died under the Confederate flag in Virginia and North Carolina alone during a war motivated primarily by a desire to end slavery. For the moment, it still flies in the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse, a grim reminder to the black population that the white man's wishful thinking is alive and well.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXUML1XI3XpzazMNutwwCSTdXBtZZ72sIZKpHjSlVL4eVuf5BSqKoxabilCF_np4548S2oe8MD9AsWYWsIOSb31Qr5BNvVt92MdmhYewalcK03q3SRrMKziCuChJ5JkUg1FoL/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-25+at+23.24.36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXUML1XI3XpzazMNutwwCSTdXBtZZ72sIZKpHjSlVL4eVuf5BSqKoxabilCF_np4548S2oe8MD9AsWYWsIOSb31Qr5BNvVt92MdmhYewalcK03q3SRrMKziCuChJ5JkUg1FoL/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-06-25+at+23.24.36.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is not enough for the State of Mississippi to remove the Confederate flag from its license plates, nor is it enough that the President makes yet more sympathetic noises. White supremacist websites radicalise those of fragile mind and limited intellect, deluding people into thinking that a race war is just around the corner and it is their duty to prevent it by violent means. If firearms are so easily obtained, it is hardly surprising if such people use them. Labelling this boy as a white supremacist terrorist, therefore not 'one of us' won't do since it distances his actions from a wellspring of US opinion that justifies the use of lethal force by private citizens by allowing them, any of them, to carry a weapon of mass destruction. It's time, just time, to reconfigure the software, update it for a new time and a different morality where we come to the realisation that private citizens do not need handguns. Only then will the Dylann Roofs of this world no longer be provided with the means to enact their warped, twisted fantasies.</span></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-32315765414924050082015-06-20T11:29:00.001+02:002015-06-20T15:12:58.292+02:00Jurassic World v Pope Francis<style>
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</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSCp1GUVRuUEQ8y1T0cjLfmNrQ41lS3FIft1xyXfoOtLTKmc9I0NvxIBYsTEWN_GzEusB_Hgj3h-NUrm8dPoGTzXB7ghzf3W0JQ5oryH9FAmj4cZe07RN5E7C1zFfCeDkGumN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-20+at+11.26.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSCp1GUVRuUEQ8y1T0cjLfmNrQ41lS3FIft1xyXfoOtLTKmc9I0NvxIBYsTEWN_GzEusB_Hgj3h-NUrm8dPoGTzXB7ghzf3W0JQ5oryH9FAmj4cZe07RN5E7C1zFfCeDkGumN/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-20+at+11.26.27.png" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Went to see Jurassic World
yesterday, in the rather uncomfortable awareness that I was buying in to a
mega-product, under the guise of a little sentimentality, having enjoyed the
preceding three in the franchise. I said to myself that I was really only going
for the special effects – after all an extra 3 euros bought me my 3D glasses.
But afterwards, a few uncomfortable thoughts remained. At first sight, it’s a
Man v Nature movie – a stern Frankenstein warning not to meddle in God’s
business, gene-splicing artificial monsters with unpredictable habits. One
recurrent theme was that the public wanted bigger, faster, more aggressive
monsters with ever-larger teeth, a metaphor for worst-case scenario consumerism. I thought it quite disturbing that Starbucks
and Mercedes Benz should find it necessary to pay, one supposes, large sums in
product placement to showcase their brand logo in a fictitious theme park whose
star attraction was nothing more than a Pepsisaurus Rex. Furthermore, the
presence of children, our heirs and successors, only narrowly avoiding being eaten by huge, flesh eating
dinosaurs, left me with the feeling that that it wanted to tell us that no
matter how bad it gets we’re all going to survive and normal consumerist
existence, fuelled by reptilian, limbic thinking, will just carry on as before,
with ever-increasing rapacity, heedlessness and greed.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When capitalism
self-references so obviously, and parodies itself in such a thinly veiled
pastiche it’s the first step to taking a long, hard look at itself.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuRPkYCNzmJ_vrOYxXlbWDJQTz1kAYZTWoDonj81RAOdh88VoW2y8SvGY7UukXmYpIHTMEAbgKqc-igWyK3R-D8gFOZKGlg9AFsVL-RkemiBs30duKNuLxgXCGUrchHpizbEn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-20+at+11.25.32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuRPkYCNzmJ_vrOYxXlbWDJQTz1kAYZTWoDonj81RAOdh88VoW2y8SvGY7UukXmYpIHTMEAbgKqc-igWyK3R-D8gFOZKGlg9AFsVL-RkemiBs30duKNuLxgXCGUrchHpizbEn/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-06-20+at+11.25.32.png" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pope Francis is wildly
popular and has global moral clout. His new encyclical “Laudato Si'” on climate
change is designed, amongst other things, to influence the debate at the very
highest level. His <span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">insistence that humanity collectively learns to protect the
environment not only takes a swipe at capitalist greed but also deconstructs
conservative arguments, attacking the deniers of climate change whose
businesses and pocketbooks will suffer. <span style="font-family: inherit;">'Everything is interrelated', he asserts, such as </span>sexual complementarity<span style="font-family: inherit;">, climate change </span>and <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">economic inequality</span>. </span> Changing the hearts and minds of
individual Catholics could go a long way toward electing <span style="font-family: inherit;">politician</span>s with sound
environmental polices, and, ideally, slowing our warming climate. Furthermore,
Francis is well liked by non-Catholics allowing his influence to spread far
beyond the walls of Catholic cathedrals.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
somehow doubt that the original Francis could bring himself to feed a flesh
eating velociraptor and his successor is following his example.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-6284087806934515362015-06-15T14:31:00.002+02:002015-06-15T15:32:04.114+02:00Orwell's Carthorse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9v6j-iVZoWKI154xwFFq94iqTwW7tF0kyw5an3GFCOYU1B0S6tHt-KGWePh41CFcV-doI_3qi-DHghMpmJqsfXVuIWTyycuYquozCkf3gXH6_TF1qjXeZv0rGL5rxUoJY8NLk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-15+at+13.04.35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9v6j-iVZoWKI154xwFFq94iqTwW7tF0kyw5an3GFCOYU1B0S6tHt-KGWePh41CFcV-doI_3qi-DHghMpmJqsfXVuIWTyycuYquozCkf3gXH6_TF1qjXeZv0rGL5rxUoJY8NLk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-15+at+13.04.35.png" /> </a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Like old, patient Boxer, Orwell's carthorse in 'Animal Farm', the well-trodden
path around life's somewhat wearisome treadmill rather caught me by surprise
recently, precipitating a Setback. Boxer forgot to look behind him. The pig,
Napoleon, sells Boxer, his usefulness outlived, to the knackers in order to buy
whisky - in this instance - the metaphor has grim but exact irony. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Writers,
I suppose, fall into two categories, those for whom anarchic rebellion bubbles
subterraneanly, occasionally exploding into polemic and invective against - or
even for - some 'cause' or another; hairy Esaus, jousting men of letters like
Osborne and Wesker whose grist to their mills might today have included the
moral turpitude of the US involvement in Iraq. And then there are the others,
the Jacobs, the smooth men, the Ortons, the Stoppards, who wrote because they
liked to fence with words, languidly flop-haired and elegantly dispassionate,
the foil, not the sabre, contributing nothing but their example to a
battle-weary debate.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For
both, there are pitfalls, stones in the road, guilt-ready, beady-eyed and
malevolent, to trap, ensnare and disable. John Keats once wrote in his
'Diaries' that '…the only means of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up
one’s mind about nothing - to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts,
not a select party.’ On that particular day, I imagined it to be raining, an
endless, persistent drizzle, with no break in the clouds. Perhaps the iron vulture of melancholy perched briefly on his shoulder, too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I
have a friend who for many years has called me MathMan, which makes me smile,
or rather, snigger inwardly, for such I am not. I know MathMen, those whose eye
and armament never waver from the pitiless focus of logic, pursuing it to
its bitter and satisfying end, the proof of pure reason. Then, arriving
sweatily on its summit they stand, sword in hand, defying all comers. As for
me, I sometimes play childish games with numbers and symbols, which is nothing
more than the flounce on the party dress of mathematics, a copycat despised. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGtUMR_ID5Szw2ofi-835sPi8n2Y7Qh9KJ1HCyXv3J1eerIECedJlA1hu39HRYja60W7YhVGNVUNPpUutqBAoODImSJ5EZ_4Jior9CbBuGF86hHjyvSaQ5efOfUozDybJ3fzU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-06-15+at+14.13.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGtUMR_ID5Szw2ofi-835sPi8n2Y7Qh9KJ1HCyXv3J1eerIECedJlA1hu39HRYja60W7YhVGNVUNPpUutqBAoODImSJ5EZ_4Jior9CbBuGF86hHjyvSaQ5efOfUozDybJ3fzU/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-06-15+at+14.13.02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Like Stoppard, who once described himself as ‘a timid
libertarian’, when I write anything, I seem to have to reconfigure pre-existing
narratives, much as he has done with such conspicuous success. He wrote the
screenplay for the beautifully worked 2012 film version of ‘Anna Karenina’ let
down by saggy performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watching the
giraffes of probability flying heartlessly overhead,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should rework Macbeth in the genre of a
power struggle in the Middle East, where the House of Saud, as Macbeth, does
battle with the Shi’as, the ayatollahs, the thanes of Glamis. Perhaps a couple
of dynastic witches, in the form of the Bushes, plus a black one, Obama, to
stir the pot, Birnam Wood meeting Dunsinane in the blood-soaked oilfields of
Mosul. Ah, perhaps, but being bloody, bold and resolute sits uneasily on
shoulders which slope as uncomfortably as mine and native idleness and
preoccupation with the next pretty butterfly of logic flitting innocently into
my path may postpone, perhaps forever.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To-morrow, and to-morrow, and
to-morrow,</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Creeps in this petty pace from day to
day</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To the last syllable of recorded
time,</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And all our yesterdays have lighted
fools</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The way to dusty death. Out, out,
brief candle!</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Life's but a walking shadow, a poor
player</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That struts and frets his hour upon
the stage</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then is heard no more: it is a
tale</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Told by an idiot, full of sound and
fury,</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Signifying nothing.</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
ISIL may be less permanent than we have been led to believe, its black feathers
may yet tumble from the sky.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
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John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20646240.post-34625692531944490282015-05-14T13:29:00.000+02:002015-05-14T13:54:52.149+02:00Friends and Places<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWejLKuGZLXx7D9g98yhWaSREInA00XYQCiUddevtUvGAOdcvOmn0ZaW8c8mop3d2yLupA8Qdx09yCVv73V2dT0plpSEPlifcJck2165y9k21SF7VHr8EYMCpCSHNyX0Zkt82/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.00.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWejLKuGZLXx7D9g98yhWaSREInA00XYQCiUddevtUvGAOdcvOmn0ZaW8c8mop3d2yLupA8Qdx09yCVv73V2dT0plpSEPlifcJck2165y9k21SF7VHr8EYMCpCSHNyX0Zkt82/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.00.21.png" width="277" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Old City from Café Rimon, Mamilla</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The ancient stones of the Old City are worn smooth and shiny by the feet of countless residents, pilgrims, and visitors. They seem unchanged and unchanging in the soft opalescent light that bathes the city. People come and go, taxi drivers on Jaffa Gate still asking extortionately unmetered rates for a trip to Bethlehem, the old man with sad eyes, dirty feet and sandals sitting on the street corner, the old woman peddling red string for a shekel or two </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">to ward off the evil eye </span>on the steps down toward the Kotel, a <i>segula</i> whose Kabbalist origins can be traced back to Genesis 38 where a red string is customarily wound around Rachel's Tomb and resurrected in times when people feel in need of personal or national protection. Everything in the shifting political sand seems sometimes to lack agenda and purpose, yet, in this medieval cocoon, all seems as it should be, as it was meant to be.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKSPMn4n3Tmi9kqCi-WreDkxxfExPRUfGenljKtq3cJEBaEjBZzlLSs1yHQSSMuqUUEp-HZmYhds1K6O_CqHDIUrzpc4zXc2kzkoshGHTTL1EE6PAmExbTzeBUofUZWrYB5dN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+12.59.35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKSPMn4n3Tmi9kqCi-WreDkxxfExPRUfGenljKtq3cJEBaEjBZzlLSs1yHQSSMuqUUEp-HZmYhds1K6O_CqHDIUrzpc4zXc2kzkoshGHTTL1EE6PAmExbTzeBUofUZWrYB5dN/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+12.59.35.png" width="294" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Judean wilderness, Arad</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Returning here is always something in the nature of pilgrimage, but, beyond the endless queues at the holy sites and huckster tourist flim-flam, as one burrows more deeply into the reasons and motivations for so much of the tensions, wire-wound like an overstrung instrument, there is a resonant aura of tranquillity, caustic in its irony.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And yet, this is not all there is. Many come to Jerusalem, and fail to explore further. This time, a long road trip took us down past Be'er Sheva through the mountainously inhospitable Judean wilderness, where the bedouin outnumber the rest, down past Masada, Herod's palace still majestically overlooking the Dead Sea, to Arad, a town without a traffic light where the hikers go, their litre of water per hour strapped to their backpacks, trails winding through perilously steep wadis.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVb4HKkqy4jrZkh0k6t_bz9_X9E5dcxIFGfPEihULKYxN81Nkjn3BweEpA0fccUdILKFNDDkcIHHkOTNAxUt_tLO_Gc3UqxwF7l3Q-B0BbjpunjPYsSV5rBGxWoFYCxkI29Ac/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.09.43.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVb4HKkqy4jrZkh0k6t_bz9_X9E5dcxIFGfPEihULKYxN81Nkjn3BweEpA0fccUdILKFNDDkcIHHkOTNAxUt_tLO_Gc3UqxwF7l3Q-B0BbjpunjPYsSV5rBGxWoFYCxkI29Ac/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.09.43.png" width="269" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Eilat, Marina</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And then, there is Eilat, a sliver of a town, once near-lawless, now a neon-clad Las Vegas, with its own puddle-jump airport, where people come to party, to swim with the fishes around coral reefs so impossibly close to the shoreline and lie on the beaches within sight of Aqaba to the east and the desert of the Sinai to the west.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My own focus had shifted. I came not to see and gawk, but to spend time with friends, teachers and students, which was, surprisingly, so much more rewarding. I spent time with the young men and women who had to sit under my tutelage, some more mutinously than others, and rediscovered their warmth and exuberance, tempered by a year of growth, and how deeply satisfying it felt to be with them and briefly share our lives once more. Colleagues were glad to see my return, wishing me well.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir0HA9ddVAUuOULNk2OVkkvWlY-9GJfgb8i0ZlnAioy1WSNjAAEe1_DMmvVj9Vmz-GFgPYABdB1h6c8iPl023h3Al4GcEGelO8mgVnhEGNo7B3z410QeUWBLXUKw-ivpfqWrFZ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.22.19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir0HA9ddVAUuOULNk2OVkkvWlY-9GJfgb8i0ZlnAioy1WSNjAAEe1_DMmvVj9Vmz-GFgPYABdB1h6c8iPl023h3Al4GcEGelO8mgVnhEGNo7B3z410QeUWBLXUKw-ivpfqWrFZ/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-14+at+13.22.19.png" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What a difference a year makes...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If a lasting peace ever descends on this place, it will not be because of the intervention of foreign enforcers with muscle and money, it will be because people who know and have learned to trust each other will no longer allow their political masters to dictate terms based upon self-interest and hubris.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the eve of <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-day-rerouting-the-parade-reframing-the-day/" target="_blank">Yom Yerushalayim</a>, may we see it, in our day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>John Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647833154827132967noreply@blogger.com1