Category Archives: music

amusements, history, medical, music, science

A Two "Duh"s Day

Two, totally unrelated, oddities that have impinged on my eyes today.  The first is from BBC News:

Abbey Road zebra crossing from Beatles cover listed

This seems to be a nonsense. How do you list a zebra crossing? What is being listed? What is there now is not the same crossing as when the Beatles created Abbey Road: the road has been resurfaced, the zebra stripes repainted and zig-zigs added. Or is there to be an archaeological excavation to see if the Beatles’ era road surface remains? Or is the current road never to be resurfaced or repainted?

Secondly …

Mutant Mouse Chirps Like a Bird

“It’s furry like a mouse but sings like a bird […] It’s a mutant mouse developed by the genetic engineers at the University of Osaka that is able to tweet and chip like a bird, instead of a mouse’s normal squeak […] The research group currently has over a hundred singing mice […] it seems that they use their chirp in different ways than normal mice use their squeaks. The more conventional squeaks are used when a mouse is stressed, while the singing mouse seems to use its chirp in different environments, including in the presence of mates.”

Douglas Adams thou shouldst be living at this time!

amusements, beliefs, current affairs, music, quotes, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

When I post these quotes it shouldn’t be assumed that they are new to me. Very often they are quotes I have know (even if only vaguely) for some while, but which I have stumbled across during the week and wished to (re) record. For instance the first two of this week’s selection have been useful on many occasions over the years.

Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony […] You can’t expect to wield supreme power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! […] I mean, if I went around saying I was an Emperor because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, people would put me away!
[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]

Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together.
[Psalms 2:1-2; Handel, Messiah]

If we could gather all the electric eels from all around the world, we would be able to light up an unimaginably large Christmas tree.
[Kazuhiko Minawa, Enoshima Aquarium, Japan; see

You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live now.
[Joan Baez]

books, music, quotes, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

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Sorry, not too many posts recently as I’ve been too preoccupied with other things. But here’s this week’s selection of quotes …

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
[Andre Maurois]

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
[Thomas Jefferson]

This is what you shall do: Be loyal to what you love, Be true to the Earth, and Fight your enemies with passion and laughter.
[Edward Abbey]

If you were addressing humankind, and all its groups were listening, what advice would you give?
The best advice I think was given by Douglas Adams: DON’T PANIC.
[Arthur C Clarke]

And finally a somewhat longer than usual offering:

Reasons briefly set down by th’author, to perswade every one to learne to sing.
First, it is a knowledge safely taught and quickly learned, where there is a good Master, and an apt Scholler.
2 The exercise of singing is delightfull to Nature, & good to preserve the health of Man.
3 It doth strengthen all parts of the brest, & doth open the pipes.
4 It is a singular good remedie for a stutting and stamering in the speech.
5 It is the best means to procure a perfect pronounciation, & to make a good Orator.
6 It is the onely way to know where Nature hath bestowed the benefit of a good voyce : which guift is so rare, as there is not one among a thousand, that hath it.
7 There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever, comparable to that which is made of the voyces of Men, where the voyces are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.
8 The better the voyce is, the meeter it is to honour and serve God there-with : and the voyce of man is chiefely to bee imployed to that ende.
“Omnis Spiritus Laudes Dominum”
Since Singing is so good a thing, I wish all men would learn to sing.
[William Byrd c1543-1623; Psalms, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie (1588) ]

memes, music, personal

10 Song Shuffle

OK, Cat tagged me on Facebook, so here goes (after I’ve had a bite of lunch) …

What You Do
Once you’ve been tagged…(1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.(2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.(3) Write down the first 10 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.(4) Choose 10 people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

If I tagged you, it’s because I’m betting that your musical selection is entertaining, or at least amusing. To do this on Facebook, go to “NOTES” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, enter your 10 Shuffle Songs, Tag as many people as you like (under the post) then click Publish. Otherwise post this on your weblog, as here!

The Songs
1. Pink Floyd; Wish You were Here
2. Incredible String Band; No Sleep Blues
3. Scott Joplin; Paragon Rag
4. Queen; Killer Queen
5. Vejvanovský (Pavel Josef, c1633-1693); Beatus Vir (Psalm 112)
6. Trionfi! A Florentine Festival; Canto di Lanzi sonatoridi rubecchina
7. Ludford (Nicholas, c1485-c1557); Gloria from Missa Benedicta et Venerabilis
8. Santo Domingo de Silos; Benedicta es tu Virgo Maria
9. Queen; Bicycle Race
10. Beatles; Here Comes the Sun

I tagged 10 people on Facebook, but from here I also tag Sue L.; Jilly at jillysheep; and Noreen at Norn’s Notebook.

amusements, books, history, music, topographical

The Millipede Brothers

It always surprises me what the brain does and the associations it makes.

Like many here I have been extremely bored recently by the charade the Labour Pain Party have been going through to elect a new leader – well at least it didn’t provide the expected result for once, which is perhaps one advantage of a transferable vote system – and the follow-on shenanigans.

My boredom has however been in part alleviated by the fact that I can’t help but think of the two main protagonists as The Millipede Brothers.  A somewhat amusing, if slightly droll, piece of mental gymnastics.

But of course The Millipede Brothers do sound rather like an act from some Victorian Circus. Perhaps they were a star turn promoted by Barnum and Bailey. Or more likely they were part of Pablo Fanque’s Fair, featuring Mr Kite, a poster for which so inspired John Lennon and the Beatles to produce Sgt Peppers.

I wasn’t even sure Pablo Fanque was real – he was! Fanque, born plain William Darby in Norwich as early as 1796, was not just a circus performer but, more importantly, Britain’s first black circus impresario.

Pablo Fanque, began as a famous circus performer in his youth but became the proprietor of his own circus company. His earliest known appearance in the sawdust ring was in Norwich on 26 December 1821, as ‘Young Darby’, with William Batty’s company. His circus acts included horsemanship, rope walking, leaping and rope vaulting. In 1841, aged forty-five and living in Oxford, he left William Batty to begin business on his own account, with just two horses. The towns of Lancashire, Yorkshire and adjacent counties became Fanque’s favourite venues and it was his visit to Rochdale on 14 February 1843 which produced the poster (above) that inspired John Lennon’s lyric For the Benefit of Mr Kite. Fanque died in Stockport in 1871 and is buried in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds next to his first wife Susannah Darby.

Much more interesting than Labour Party politics!

amusements, beliefs, environment, medical, music, pleasures, science, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

Another in the series of things which have struck me, or amused me, this week.

So look, I’m going to say this thing, and you’re going to listen and believe me because … I don’t know, why would you believe me if you haven’t believed it from anyone else? […] Because in the patient corners of your heart, you’ve ALWAYS known it’s true. It’s this:
You’re not broken. You are whole. And there is hope.
[Emily Nagoski at ]

There is evidence that male babbling (what you kindly call Punditry) is a Zahavian handicap.
During both foetal development and puberty, male brains are subject to damage from hormonal processes that convert the female body and neural system into a male one (more or less). This causes males to be, on average, poor at communication. They don’t understand what they hear as well as females, can’t form their thoughts into words as well, and most interestingly, can’t think about one thing while carrying on a conversation with another human at the same time, as females routinely do.
Therefore, ability to communicate at all, let alone well, is very difficult given the handicap of this developmental brain damage. Public communication (babbling/punditry) would indicate relatively high quality for any male that could do it. Thus, all that male babbling.
[Greg Laden in a comment at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/]

The Chap Olympiad has a number of things to recommend it, apart from the variety of potential experiences. One is that its resolute promoting of amateurism, eccentric sporting and events cocks an elegant snook at the revolting orgy of corporate arrogant dullardism that infuses all major sporting events. We don’t need their cocacolaMacanike extravaganzas in citizen murdering nations. Stuff ‘em.
[“Minerva” at http://redlegsinsoho.blogspot.com]

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
[Albert Schweitzer]

Just as we should cultivate more gentle and peaceful relations with our fellow human beings, we should also extend that same kind of attitude towards the natural environment. Morally speaking, we should be concerned for our whole environment.
[Dalai Lama]

Minds are like parachutes: they only function when open.
[Thomas Dewar]

books, music, topographical

The Power of Okinawa

Anyone who is interested in “roots” music and who doesn’t already know the music of Okinawa and the sub-tropical Ryukyu Islands of Japan really should check it out.  And this is now a lot easier with the new website and weblog, The Power of Okinawa, by my friend John Potter, as well as a second edition of his introductory book, also called The Power of Okinawa (order from the website for ¥2700, about £20 / $30, delivered worldwide).
Potter-san is originally from Norwich (England) but has lived in Japan since 1984, first in Kobe (where he survived the 1995 Kobe earthquake) and then in Mie Prefecture where he was Professor of English at Kogakkan University. He contributes music features to magazines in Japan and the UK; has published articles on literature and education; and written a book on Summerhill School.
His discovery of Okinawan music in the late ’80s led to an abiding interest in the islands and their music.  He has made regular trips to the Ryukyu Islands and travelled extensively in Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama, listening to and meeting many of the musicians there.  John accompanied Shoukichi Kina and his band on a visit to England, and has collaborated on song translations for several artists.  In 2009 the lure of island music finally proved too much and he took early retirement in order to move to Okinawa.

Even with the West’s increased interest in “world music” the Ryukyu Islands have remained far adrift from the musical mainstream. Seldom heard, the islands’ centuries-old colourful tradition of music and dancing reflects the people’s determination to express their own culture.  John Potter’s book and website offer the first definitive guide to this vibrant and exciting music, detailing its history and profiling its major personalities.

And for anyone who thinks they might be interested it is worth trying to get a copy of the Rough Guide to Okinawa music CD.  This is wonderfully eclectic, fun and inspirational music.  Real wacky stuff!

amusements, arts, books, memes, music, personal, photography

Dinner Party Meme


Dinner Party Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is to imagine your ideal dinner party. Which 12 famous people / people from history would you invite? Here is my rather curious set of bedfellows:

1. Anthony Powell; English novelist and man of letters has to be my first choice!
2. William Byrd; Tudor composer and recusant
3. Samuel Pepys; Restoration diarist
4. Richard Feynman; hugely influential physicist
5. Galileo Galilei; another hugely influential and brave scientist
6. Dalai Lama; always calm, always measured and always laughing!
7. Terry Jones; formerly of Monty Python but also a first rate medieval historian
8. Mick Aston; archaeologist and eccentric
9. Alice Roberts; incredibly bright, multi-talented medic, and very sexy
10. Susanna Reid; another incredibly bright and attractive young lady who’s a BBC TV newscaster
11. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll); Victorian mathematician and writer of Alice in Wonderland
12. Leonardo da Vinci; another hugely influential artist and scientist

Why so few girlies? I don’t know. I’m sure there must be more in my brain!

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

1. ANTHONY POWELL, NOVELIST, AT HOME IN SOMERSET, 28 DECEMBER 1983., 2. William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), 3. Samuel Pepys memorial, St Olave’s Church, London, 4. Richard_Feynman, 5. Galileo, 6. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, 7. terry jones, 8. Time Team in Salisbury, 9. alice roberts, 10. susanna 15, 11. lewis carroll was kind of cute, 12. vitruvian man leonardo da Vinci

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

food+drink, medical, memes, music, nudism, personal, photography, science, sexuality
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Katyboo posted this meme the other day, and as she didn’t tag people, preferring us to elect or not, I’ll take the bait. Well it’s better than doing whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing.

The rules of the meme are: Respond and rework. Answer questions on your own blog. Replace one question. Add one question. Then tag eight people.

What are your current obsessions? Depression. I don’t know why I’m so depressed at the moment (I’ll blame work, it’s as good a scapegoat as any, but it almost certainly isn’t the only factor) but it is taking over and stopping me doing things.

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? The Emperor’s new suit. Nudity and getting fresh, cooling, air to the body is actually good for you; it stops you getting all sticky and sweaty in places you don’t want to. I do wear a pair of shorts or jeans (more if I need to) during the week, if only so I can get to the front door quickly. Otherwise I follow the maxim “Nude when possible, clothed when necessary”.

What’s for dinner? Vegetable Crumble, I think. Well we are trying to be good and reduce our meat intake for the sake of our health and the planet. And Noreen does a mean veggie crumble with mushroom, onion or cheese sauce. Yum, yum!

Last thing you bought? In a shop? Not a clue; I hardly ever got to shops these days. Online? Some scented geraniums.

What are you listening to? The hum of my PC. I can’t take continual background music (let alone talk) these days. I suspect that’s related to the depression.

Do you have a pet and if not, why not? Yes, two cats and lots of fish (both tropical and in the pond). And no, the cats take no interest whatsoever in the fish.

Favourite holiday spots? Dorset and South Devon, by the sea. Well anywhere quiet by the sea really.

Reading right now? My PC screen, stoopid! 🙂

Four words to describe yourself? Fat, grey, snotty, depressed.

Guilty pleasure? Why do pleasures always have to be guilty? Erotica. Yes and I’m unashamed about it. In the words of Jean-Luc Goddard, “Eroticism … is consenting to live.” If no-one ever found anything erotic we’d none of us be here!

Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? edartr at Flickr‘s photographs of his hilarious two dogs; see here for example.

First spring thing? Zebedee

Planning to travel to next? Norwich to see my mother. Don’t know when yet, but it should be soon.

Best thing you ate or drank lately? East Green

Do you have any weird phobias? No. There are things I dislike intensely, like maggots, but nothing which turns me into a complete gibbering wreck.

Favourite ever film? As I don’t do films I’ll change this one. My question is: What time is it now, and what time would you like it to be? It’s currently 1150 hrs, and thus fast approaching lunchtime. What time would I like? The time I can drink beer freely again.

Care to share some wisdom? “It’ll pass, Sir, like other days in the Army.”

Favourite song? Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly. Well that’s one of them anyway.

What’s your favourite meal you make without sticking to a recipe? Curry. But then I almost never use a recipe for anything except cake – and I never make cake.

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Who would be stupid enough to even consider it? Maybe Harpo Marx? Actually Woody Allen probably suits my personality better. 🙁

Facebook or Twitter? Other or Neither? For preference neither. I do dabble on Facebook from time to time, mainly as a way of not quite losing touch with people. But as far as I can see Twitter is a complete waste of time and everything else; no-one has yet managed to explain the point to me. The same goes for Second Life and YouTube.

What is your favourite word? What do you mean I’m not allowed that one? It’s a perfectly good Anglo-Saxon word. Oh OK, let’s have something boring then, like corvid.

OK, so here’s the question I’ve added: If you were to have one piece of luck this week, what would it be? To win the lottery so I can afford to retire.

Like Katyboo I don’t like tagging people – although I’m always happy to be tagged – so you can all choose to take part or not. If you do, just leave a message and a link in the comments, please. Enjoy!

memes, music, personal, thoughts

My Pink Life

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I stole this meme from Lucy Fishwife; for which we give thanks!

All you have to do is pick a (musical) artist and using ONLY SONG TITLES from only that artist, answer the questions below. Then tag anyone you like.

OK so I choose Pink Floyd.

1. Are you a male or female: Bring the Boys Back Home

2. Describe yourself: Scarecrow

3. How do you feel about yourself: Learning to Fly

4. Describe your parents: Us and Them

5. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriends: Young Lust

6. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Shine on You Crazy Diamond

7. Describe your current location: Up the Khyber

8. Describe where you want to be: Dark Side of the Moon

9. Your best friend(s) is/are: Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict

10. Your favourite colour is: Jugband Blues

11. You know that: Eclipse

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party

13. What is life to you: A Saucerful of Secrets

14. What is the best advice you have to give: Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk

And I tag: Noreen, Jilly, Katy, Misty, Antonia. Enjoy!