g

Titles of online articles I have seen [I have not read them ]

Why your organs shrink at menopause and what you can do about it
Do we want to expand them?

How to handle things.[what sort of things?_]

Why or how your finger length reveals your gender [Surely easier just to look at the bosom/ chest?}

Which microwave to buy [Making unstated assumptions;some of us either have none or may have stolen one]

Why you need both metal and silicon whisks [I thought it was breasts just for a moment; now there’s an idea]

Why you need to keep lots of frozen pasta in your kitchen [Try turning off the radiator first and checking the ovens]

Which six cookery books are the best? [Look up restaurants on your smartphone instead] I wonder how many this person has checked.I find ones written for catering colleges are better and cheaper.

Why you should never take a bath
[I find a handbag is quite sufficient in the daytime].

How to entertain at home. [Fall out of bed?]

How to keep your husband happy [Freeze him? Cuddle him? Leave him.Remarry him

Why you should never forget your wedding anniversary
I didn’t know one could

How to have the best number of children

[ Yes, it’s all under our total control]

How to keep your teeth super clean [Stop eating and die?]

Are you bored of sex? [No,I’m bored of reading about it]

How to cure loneliness. [Buy a microwave and some cookery books then invite someone round for a meal]

How to get your bounce back [Buy a dunlopillo mattress?]

Should you take vitamins? [Where to?]

Can you still remember your name [ yes, but I won’t tell you]

It doesn’t matter what the teachers said
They don’t know as much as we might think
We can learn to deal with x,y,z.

These letters ,used as numbers, are not dead
But in the mind’s eye, glow like golden ink
It doesn’t matter what the teacher said

I learned that once when I was ill in bed
I saw a screen with letters which were linked
We can learn to deal with x,y,z.

The letters moved to stand in two lines wed
Then ratios formed and thus caused me to think
It doesn’t matter what the teacher said

I saw the answer glitter as I read
Pascal solved it once, and then I did
We can learn to deal with x,y,z.

Observe the patterns ,hidden and unread;
Like music which has scores and does their bid
I doesn’t matter what the teacher said
We can learn to deal x,y,z.

Now schools open, lockdown comes again
Jesus has one shepherd,one wise man
Just one beast to keep the family warm
And one black sheep to save them all from harm

Nero has one wife who he will kill
So he may have five concubines at will
The brother gone, which child will he proclaim
After he’s fired all Rome up in great flames?

Oh, Jesus on his Cross must die alone
Except for Mary’s spirit and her bones
One Roman soldier, Pilate with his lie
The men who died with him, all crucified

Filled with joy, the demons prance around
In their septic darkness underground

Meaning

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/owe-it-to-yourse

to deserve and need to do something that will be good for you:Take a few days off work – you owe it to yourself. Thesaurus: synonyms and related words Essential or necessary

Love your neighbor in her bikini:A sinful tale

Beware of getting into hot water in your bikini
A few weeks after Annie moved into the  lovely house next door to Stan,he met her when he was seeing his wife off to work.
Why does Mary not have a car? Annie enquired suspiciously.
She is trying to keep slim,Stan told her.
Well,she’s not been very successful,Annie said scientifically.
She might be much fatter than she is now if she drove a car,he stated ponderously
That’s true,muttered Annie loudly.I am your new next door neighbor.
Yes,said Stan,I have seen you sunbathing in the garden in your bikinis.
How come? she asked merrily yet sternly
There’s a big hole in the fence.He said
Is it legal to look at women through a hole in the fence?asked Annie.I know it’s illegal to look into their bedroom windows.
Is it really,asked Stan nervously,I had no idea.How about women looking at men through a round hole in a fence or square one?
Oh,they are not  very keen to do that,she lied charmingly.
Well,said Stan,clearing his throat,I think I owe it to myself to tell you that I love you.
Wow,you’re quick off the mark,the lady said saucily.What do you mean,you owe it to yourself? she continued in a puzzled tone.
Nothing,said Stan,I could not think how to word it.I mean I wish to unselfishly love you and admire your ripe body and your cute sense of color.I love your teal trouser suit.And you sing so well in the bath.I can hear you.
You didn’t mean you owe it to yourself to take advantage of me?
Not unless you want me to take advantage of you,the gallant old man informed her kindly
And you can take advantage of me, he said I make cakes and biscuits,wholemeal bread and I am training my cat Emile to do statistics on an i pad.
How extraordinary,Annie whispered.I didn’t know cats had an “I.” let alone pads.
Well,they have pads on their paws,he informed her intelligently.
True,she said,but where are their I’s?
Where are our I’s ? he responded in a manner to rejoice the heart of Mary Midgley or Susanne Langer two of Stan’s favourite writers on philosophy,logic,symbols and ethics.
Not that he practised the Ethics but he liked to know what he was doing wrong.It’s more fun that way.If you sin,sin big!
A man who seduces women merrily one after the other may have no idea it might be wrong.Neither might the women.Why is it wrong? Surely it’s better than killing people,making war  or leaving the lid off the jam all night so the wasps get into the jar?
Still,not many men get the chances that Stan got.No-one suspected this kindly,handsome practising Catholic was a womaniser despite his blue beard,green eyes,white skin and red hair.And his slim yet strong figure clad in navy trousers and white shirts all the year round.Maybe his wife did but she preferred to read Aristotle in bed and dream about mercury… those little silver balls,so cute!
Well,as we know,Stan is about to make Annie his mistress but in such a cold wet summer,where can he take her to do the deed?The shed?The public library? Cafe Nero?
I owe it to you not to tell you yet.That will give you time to think of a solution for this sweet old man and his naughty but nice neighbor. Like,how about the confessional in the local Church?
Whatever next?

I owe it to myself to keep it secret as you may come along and spoil the fun.
Stan went indoors and washed up in the boiling hot water he kept by him constantly as he owed it to himself to be ready to make a hot drink at any moment he fancied and by gum,he did fancy like no man has ever fancied before.So his daemon tells me.

Song:

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE(from The Tempest)


Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.   
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bou

Myanmar soldiers tell of Rohingya killings, rapes and mass burials

Reported video confessions could be used as evidence in international criminal court

My hands turned white and later they turned blue
Then they went bright red,my toes did too
How to get my gloves on, my hands swell
It rarely seems as hot as Satan’s hell

Woollen socks won’t fit inside my shoes
Especially when my toes are turning blue
Do not put that ice into my drink
I can smell a rat, what do you think?

Apparently I have a strange disease
That hits on my extremities which freeze
My nose is cold, my ears are stalactites
If I spelt that wrong,do not chastise

Life has variations which annoy
At least it’s not another flaming War

Hailstones rush sideways,
striking the windows
with small fierce blows.
In the gaps between
two white butterflies zig zag
like motorized wild flowers;
One colour,two forms. I see now
two aspects of Nature:
hard,destructive,stern;
frail and delicate.
Both are coloured the same white.
Hard to tell sometimes which we are seeing
But we can all distinguish between a gentle touch
and a bitter blow.
As the day dips into night my heart falls too.
In these dreams I look for the lost
in the snowy steppes and the ice of my own heart.
A white petal falls.
Cherry trees bloom again

Russia in love.

On the bank, the flowers so wild would grow
And butterflies like mobs of petals flew
Flittered ,fluttered like large flakes of snow

We walked up from the path, seen down below
The coloured petals shook, the sky was blue
On the bank, the flowers so wild will grow

Oh,love,my love, it seems so long ago
You held my hand and smiled it seemed so new
It made our bed as do large flakes of snow

I never saw such butterflies before
The foxgloves and the daisies shook in glee
On the bank, those flowers so wild will grow

The wonders of the world have pedigrees
But mystic hearts see light without degrees.
Again, again, the colours fall like dew
Flitter ,flutter like bright flakes of snow

Dignity’s not valued,nor is thought
Courtesy replaced by free for all
Virtue is outdated, love is bought

Desires fulfilled too fast deter the poet
Mobs are crowds set free , then riots call
Dignity’s not valued,where is thought ?

Caught up in these traps,I cannot write
The loudness and contempt are nets that trawl
Virtue is outdated,love is bought

Where is love, where hate, why now untaught
While priests and bishops court their own downfall
Dignity’s not valued,nor is thought

In our new society, hate smiles
Grab the money. stocks like eggs shall fall
Virtue is negated,love is bought

By the door abandoned babies wail
Dogs’ eyes sad rebuke our fairy tales
Dignity’s not valued,nor is thought
Virtue is negated, man debates

Please do not cry in A & E.We all get lonesome
If your phone is too mobile we will arrest it
We will copy your contacts so beware
It it’s too smart, we’ll stupify it
If it’s expensive, hide it as the doctor might be envious
Sorry,please do not die in A & E until in a cubicle.
Do come here if you are having a stroke.No, not of the dog
Ring 999 only if you are ill or a crime is being committed, or both
The police come quicker than the ambulance as their figures are too low.
Now the British are killing each other.Let them have a boat and hope they get to
a New Found Land.
We complain we can’t go to the theatre while people starve and sleep rough
Me,me,me,me……….

Art by Katherine

When once we walked with love along our track
Now I wander round an unknown plain
For you are gone and never can come back

There is no excitement, all seems flat
Yet on the earth it seems I must remain
When once we walked with love along our track

The death of lovers gives a mighty smack
The heart bursts open, wounded with its shame
For you are lost and never will come back

I hear your voice but see my home is wrecked
Only God can heal the cripples maimed
Oh,once we walked with love along our track

I wonder who the judge is, who inspects
Who will win and who will take the blame
For you are lost and never will come back

Like the unweaned babe we howl in pain
We bite our lips till blood runs down and stains
When once we walked with joy along our track
Now you are dead and I still feel the lack

There was a young lady from Berwick
Whose boyfriends rotated on merit
Some flew up high
Far into the sky
Down here she was left with hysterics

There was a young doctor called Percy
Who very often felt thirsty
He had diabetes
As he eate too many sweeties
Or maybe it was based just on hearsay

In Kenya our soldiers roast beef
Was men who were captured and beat
They cooked them quite slowly
Like Christ they were holy
Their flesh was both godly and sweet

In Palestine once there was peace
And plenty of tourists to fleece
The Temple burned down
Jerusalem doomed
The vultures flew over like geese

Please never mention Sim Card Tray when you comment on my blog
Nor dual SIM card
Nor pin for ejecting SIM card
Nor rage
Nor anything remotely linked to the above
Thank you

Nuclear weapons do not make us strong
We destroy our habitat by force
But who can cure sick politics or tongues?

Can we bring in good by doing wrong?
Dresden grey with pity ash and fire
Nuclear weapons do not make us strong

Evil, hatred,envy, vices throng
Torture prisoners for your own desire
Then who indeed will cure the vicious tongues?

For their own prtection ,snakes have fangs
Hypnotise them with a ancient lyre
Nuclear weapons do not make us strong

Give your love a necklace of black bombs
The falcon turns again upon its gyre
Damn Jesus, take your politics ,your tongues

Humans have been here for far too long
Suicidal wishes start to stir
Nuclear bombs or food for loveless young?

Here the priests, the Bishop and the friar
Through the trenches bloody let them stagger
Nuclear weapons do not make us strong
Yet who can cure sick politics or tongues?

This photo is by Eleni Paliginis and is copyright.Posted with her permission 1st September 2020

Too old for cold,I stand now against the hedge,
Watching the snowflakes in the glare of neon street lights.
Darkness has come early,and I think of country uplands and huddled sheep.
On Salisbury Plain,shepherds watched their flocks
Just as in Bethlehem two thousand years before,
And then,exactly when?
“Between the wars”,it stopped. Now we know there is no “Between the wars”.
And who decided
To cull the sheep and shepherds and the space for kindness ?
Now that same Plain still exists,but banned
And closed to human-kind,
For bombs ,not wombs
Nor for birth of lamb ,nor gypsy child ,nor Saviour
Where would He go today?

You can buy a yellow jumper in Marks and Sparks
A padded jacket but no cover for a heart
You get imitation leather,you get imitation wool
You can go out shopping till your head is full.

There’s a polyester nightdress,there ‘re plastic boots
Don’t wear a holster , the police might shoot
Getting into bed with your cute nylon sheets
Your lover is electric but very discreet

Imitation cashmere, imitation food
A roast beef dinner for one sounds lewd
Imitation chocolate,imitation fur
Imitation politics and uncombed hair

An imitation Royal,a funeral to share
Imitation music,imitation care
Don’t fall down if you’re out alone
An imitation human rings an imitation home

Random apples
Fall silently
On unknown Newtons

I realise my bad experience at the hospital will mean doctors
in Urgent Care will get more training
on angina especially atypical.
That is going to help many people in the future.
Even save lives

I think they thought I wanted money

We suffer the ill fortune of   a brain
A mind that gives attention to ourself
We think and think and then we think again

It makes us into islands,not the main
And does it coldly, cruelly by its stealth
We think and think and then we think again

How this hyperactive mind gives pain
Causes sadness and decline in health.
We curse misfortune, thinking and our brain

Surely we must tell ourselves quite plain
Monologues internal tend to bolt
We think and think and then we think again

How we love to suffer and find fault
How treacherously we hurl  ourselves to guilt
We suffer the misfortune of  a brain
We think and think unless our mind is tamed

In my soul, the nerves are very long
I feel your pain,my own and everyone’s
Why must artists suffer as they sing?

On the wall their watercolours hang
From disordered blotches patterns spring
In my mind, the thoughts are very long

Of our hearts, we need them to expand
To see and make our visions can’t be wrong
Why must artists suffer as they sing?

We use our minds, we use our eyes and hands
Critics’ cruelty gives us mighty stings
In my mind, the threads are very long

On the sea shore,treasure lies in sand
Gulls soar squawking over seaborn fronds
Why do artists stutter as they sing?

To this earth we shall not freeze or cling
By the sea edge, shells laugh in the wind
In our flesh, the nerves are fine yet strong
Artists suffer but they make their songs

Look,I am on earth, with love endeared
My birth was registered in copper plate
Mother,father,love made lace by fear

Mother smiles yet as I suck she tears
Who shall I become, what is my fate
Look,I am on earth, oh love so dear

Father should be strong, for he must steer
Yet soon he will be gone, for heaven late
Mother,father,love made lace by fear

After that our tiny boat would veer
Mother weeps and mourns,nowhere is safe
Look,I am on earth, was love too dear?

In the paper on the wall, elves sneer
Mother cries because I break a plate
Mother,father,love made lace by fear

Here is Jesus on his cross,side pierced
Where will he lie now, has he no grave?
Look,we are on earth,was love too dear?

By the bed, ghosts wander through his place
Mother sleeps a little,then she wakes
Look,I am on earth, their love endured
Mother,father, sad love weeps your tears

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ambiguous

ambiguous

---

adjective

open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; equivocal:an ambiguous answer.Linguistics. (of an expression) exhibiting constructional homonymity; having two or more structural descriptions, as the sequence Flying planes can be dangerous.of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify:a rock of ambiguous character.lacking clearness or definiteness; obscure; indistinct:an ambiguous shape; an 

https://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2016/04/senses-of-abstract.html

een ontic and epistemic uses of the word. 

Ontic Senses of ‘Abstract’

a. Non-spatio-temporal.  The prevalent sense of ‘abstract’ in the Anglosphere is:  not located in space or in time.  Candidates for abstract status in this sense: sets, numbers, propositions, unexemplified universals.  The set of prime numbers less than 10 is nowhere to be found in space for the simple reason that it is not in space.    If you say it is, then tell me where it is. The same holds for all sets as sets are understood in set theory.   (My chess set is not a set in this sense.)  Nor are sets in time, although this is less clear: one could argue that they, or rather some of them, are omnitemporal, that they exist at every time. That {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} should exist at some times but not others smacks of absurdity, but it doesn’t sound absurd to say that this set  exists at all times. 

This wrinkle notwithstanding, sets are among the candidates for abstract status in the (a) sense.

The same goes for numbers.  They are non-spatio-temporal.

If you understand a proposition to be the Fregean sense of a declarative sentence from which all indexical elements, including tenses of verbs, have been extruded, then propositions so understood are candidates for abstract status in sense (a).

Suppose perfect justice is a universal and suppose there is no God. Then perfect justice is an unexemplified universal.  If there are unexemplified universals, then they are abstract in the (a) sense.

This (a) criterion implies that God is an abstract object.  For God, as classically conceived, is not in space or in time, and this despite the divine omnipresence.  But surely there is a huge different between God who acts, even if, as impassible, he cannot be acted upon, and sets, numbers, propositions and the like that are incapable of either acting or being acted upon.  And so we are led to a second understanding of ‘abstract’ as that which is:

b. Causally inert.  Much of what is abstract in the (a) sense will be causally inert and thus abstract in the (b) sense.  And vice versa.  My cat can bite me, but the set having him as its sole member cannot bite me.  Nor can I bite this singleton or toss it across the room, as I can the cat.  Sets are abstract  in that they cannot act or be acted upon.  A less robust way of putting it:  Sets cannot be the terms of causal relations.  This formulation is neutral on the question whether causation involves agency in any sense. 

Stan fell asleep in front of the roaring fire.Emile lay across his lap.Emile was so limp he looked like a wet towel casually over the old man’s knees.It was Stan’s birthday but no party had been arranged.He was struck that Mary had not baked a cake..nor even bought one at the Co-op.
That was no surprise really as he did all the cooking including Bakewell tarts and Xmas cake,He was a versatile man who could also mend old radios and fix clocks that were stuck one time….usually th wrong one!
He also spent quite a lot of time giving statistics lessons to pensioners and kissinf his blonde  mistress,Anne who lived next door.
He decided that being so near her was a big advantage, given his age.
Suddenly he was awakened by chuckles and giggles,
There were Mary and Anne holding a big iced cake and a pot of tea.The doorbell rang and in came all Stan’s friends from his Art class.Mary produced sandwiches and pork pies,sausage rolls and potato cakes.
How did you do this ?,he enquired dazedly.ad
We did it all in Anne’s oven.She has two so it was quite easy.
Mary was not jealous of Anne for Mary would rather read Principia Mathematica than go to bed with Stan.
Apparently she was mildly autistic but she was happy doing maths as many of her co-workers had the same syndrome.
She did have one daughter whom she had found hidden in a gooseberry bush in the garden.This was enough for Stan as he was 92.
But luckily he did have a good gold plated pension of £390.09 per month.
Everyone was having a fabulous time until Anne tried to light the candles on the cake.No matches could be found.
Ring 999, Stan called childishly.Mary obeyed and soon the ambulance drew up.
In ran Dave the   trisexual paramedic.
Is it your chair? he enquired wildly?
No,it’s this cake.We can’t light the candles on it.Shall we douse it in petrol? We have a jerry can full of it in the spare room.
That is very dangerous, he shouted.
Well,we are old now and need the car badly.Risk assessment gave us evens on the odds.
Dave produced a silver lighter and lit the candles.Then he conducted them all as they sang,
”Happy Birthday” to Stan.
Stan managed to blow out 90 candles before passing out on the rug.
Well,at least he didn’t break the chair,Mary said philosophically.
I wish he had,said Dave. I’ve got some superglue here.
Well,we do have a wardrobe that’s falling apart.would you like to mend it?
Sure ,he replied gratefully.This is why we have the NHS!
We are here for you 24/7
Or come to A and E if you get a mouth ulcer or a cold sore.No problem is too small!
Stan came to on the rug with Emile beside him.He gazed deeply into the cat’s green eyes.
I think I’ve fallen in love with you,he informed Emile.
Will you sleep with me and let Mary have your basket.?
Are we engaged,said Emile?
Definitely, said Stan.I’ll get you a golden collar with diamonds on it.
When shall we be married?
As soon as it’s legal,Stan answered honestly.
In the meantime,we’ll have to live in sin.
Then he fell asleep again with Emile in his arms.
What a lovely picture, cried the ladies.
Look at this.What a happy sight.
What love,what devotion.
How strange,what a commotion.
They’re in love,what emotion.
Don’t tell the Pope,we need caution.

I can’t love you
without loving the whole world too.
I can’t open my heart
unless everyone can be part

Wait for me
I’m not afraid.
Wait for me.
I may be delayed.

I see you in my mind
Smiling, sad and kind.
I can’t love you
Unless I love the lost too.

Give me your hands
Outstretched across the  strands
We’re all one.
Love has begun