Category Archives: Blather

More mediaeval horror

The real point of all this, though, was to remember just how ghastly the middle ages were, and, by extension, just how ghastly various places around the world are right now, some, at least, as a result of our interventions. … Continue reading Continue reading

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An early example of lay participation

in the affairs of the Catholic Church: Du Guesclin, having completed his levies, led the army first to Avignon, where the pope thea resided, and demanded, sword in hand, an absolu­tion for his soldiers, and the sum of 200,000 livres. … Continue reading Continue reading

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Hume meets a modern business leader

I forget who this was, but it is interesting that these are exactly, it seems to me, the character traits celebrated in modern American business: He was courteous, affable, en­gaging, eloquent; full of insinuation and address; inexhaustible in his resources; … Continue reading Continue reading

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Hume on Scots cuisine

While I was not blogging last month, I did fool around a bit with using my phone as a note-taking device. The idea is to photograph whatever pages seem interesting, using the “document” setting on the camera, and then OCR Continue reading Continue reading

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Small random thought from death march

(I know it’s now death May: that’s known as deadline slippage) Monomaniacs, even Melanie Phillips do sometimes get somethings right. Even a stopped clock must be right twice a day but possibly paranoiacs are right more often, for if their … Continue reading Continue reading

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Assorted Sunday evening links

The Times will prove this bishop’s a Liberal too The last Prince Henry surplus to requirements found an alternative to soldiering … I know these are haikus It’s late. I’m busy. They’re funny anyway. via Making Light, the only article … Continue reading Continue reading

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Gone, not fishing

I am going to cut off all access to the web from this computer until I finish the last chapter of the Swedish book. But, before I vanish, a link found by John Naughton, which I didn’t think would be … Continue reading Continue reading

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HIgh water

It really has been a filthy wet winter. I was down by the Cam yesterday and the little river, which two years ago in March looked like this looked instead like this These are, as near as I can manage, … Continue reading Continue reading

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String theory

I threw away the palm pilot this morning. It still worked if I took it to bits every six weeks and reassembled it, a voodoo which restored the touch screen to touch sensitivity, but I have just got a new … Continue reading Continue reading

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Just a thought

I watched Easy Rider last night, for the first time in about thirty years, and pretty much completely sober. The soundtrack is still remarkable, but I was surprised to discover at the end, when the rednecks shot Hopper and Fonda, … Continue reading Continue reading

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