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HtoHe
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« Reply #465 on: 20:10:52, 02-10-2008 » |
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"Schiller, who died in 1805, is best known for his poem Ode to Joy."
Is this really Schiller's best known work?
I thought it was by Andy Freude. Seriously, it can surely only claim to be well known because of its association with Beethoven 9. A snap poll of the three people available for questioning (all English, if that's significant) shows that all three know the tune, two know it's called 'Ode to Joy' and none knows who wrote the words. If we accept familiarity by association it could be argued that Wilhelm Tell is as well known as An die Freude. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #466 on: 21:20:53, 02-10-2008 » |
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Perhaps "humorous" isn't quite the word - but the news that Met Police Chief "Sir" Ian Blair has been forced to resign left me in a euphoric mood that has not yet evaporated  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #467 on: 21:36:19, 02-10-2008 » |
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Perhaps "humorous" isn't quite the word - but the news that Met Police Chief "Sir" Ian Blair has been forced to resign left me in a euphoric mood that has not yet evaporated Hmm ... if I thought this had anything to do with Blair's being held to account for the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes I would be inclined to agree, but it looks much more like Boris Johnson flexing his political muscles and removing a public official deemed to be an opponent. On past form, I can't see any evidence that Bozza's conscience would have been troubled any more by the Menezes incident than that of Livingstone, Blair (or Blair). |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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HtoHe
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« Reply #468 on: 21:40:12, 02-10-2008 » |
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Perhaps "humorous" isn't quite the word - but the news that Met Police Chief "Sir" Ian Blair has been forced to resign left me in a euphoric mood that has not yet evaporated As a variant of the old saying about the Beatles expiring in reverse order of talent, a colleague of mine suggested the Blairs - Lionel, Tony and Ian - were falling from prominence in the wrong order. It took a long time for him to go but it was almost worth waiting for: 'I'm leaving because Boris wants me to' - oh, the ignominy! |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #469 on: 21:59:30, 02-10-2008 » |
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On past form, I can't see any evidence that Bozza's conscience would have been troubled any more by the Menezes incident than that of Livingstone, Blair (or Blair).
True enough - but whatever his reasons, Our Man From The Spectator has consistently refused to endorse Blair from the onset of his tenure as Mayor. This makes nonsense of Blair's witterings that he went because of lack of Mayoral support - in any case, he was a political appointment by his namesake. My immediate thoughts were that the ongoing Menezes Inquiry is reaching a critical stage, and Blair realised he's going to emerge poorly from it. My personal hypothesis has always been that it was Blair's order to shoot-to-kill, and he intended to become a "hero" by carrying out summary justice on London's streets... the plan backfired, but a palm-scratching club has conspired to conceal the level of his involvement... until now. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #470 on: 22:20:06, 02-10-2008 » |
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On past form, I can't see any evidence that Bozza's conscience would have been troubled any more by the Menezes incident than that of Livingstone, Blair (or Blair).
True enough - but whatever his reasons, Our Man From The Spectator has consistently refused to endorse Blair from the onset of his tenure as Mayor. This makes nonsense of Blair's witterings that he went because of lack of Mayoral support - in any case, he was a political appointment by his namesake. My immediate thoughts were that the ongoing Menezes Inquiry is reaching a critical stage, and Blair realised he's going to emerge poorly from it. The big difference is that Johnson took over the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority on Tuesday (formerly it had been held by a member of the GLA), and therefore acquired executive power over policing in London. On Wednesday he summoned Blair and told him that there needed to be a change of leadership. On Thursday, Blair resigns. It looks to me as if Johnson was biding his time and waiting for the opportunity to remove a police chief who was obviously very close to New Labour and Ken Livingstone. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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MT Wessel
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« Reply #472 on: 01:58:33, 05-10-2008 » |
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My personal hypothesis has always been that it was Blair's order to shoot-to-kill, and he intended to become a "hero" by carrying out summary justice on London's streets... the plan backfired, but a palm-scratching club has conspired to conceal the level of his involvement... until now. Well hens teeth! Could this be true?  |
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lignum crucis arbour scientiae
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thompson1780
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« Reply #473 on: 10:19:57, 05-10-2008 » |
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Quite astonishing. I wonder what the conversation was like that started the Economics project...... I actually find the biology one quite important. Now we know that, we can fool cat fleas into thinking they are on a dog (e.g. by spraying with wee, saying 'Sit, Tiddles!', etc), which will mean they will jump further. That means we will have to increase the distance between cats for fear of them catching fleas from each other. That will indubitably mean a smaller population of cats, as there isn't enough space for them..... No flaws in that logic, surely Tommo |
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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George Garnett
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« Reply #474 on: 10:52:53, 05-10-2008 » |
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No flaws in that logic, surely
None that couldn't be overcome by a "leap of faith" (dog-flea-sized), Tommo. An excellent scheme. I'm itching to get started on it. |
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #475 on: 11:34:01, 05-10-2008 » |
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Actually, the research that got the medicine award seems quite important to me, since it seems to say quite a lot about how social conditioning relates to the placebo effect - and I'd argue that the placebo effect is something about which it would, as a society, be very useful to know more. I'm actually quite a big fan of Dan Ariely's work, more information about which can be found at: http://www.predictablyirrational.com/ |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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MT Wessel
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« Reply #477 on: 01:23:16, 11-10-2008 » |
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Perhaps "humorous" isn't quite the word - but the news that Met Police Chief "Sir" Ian Blair has been forced to resign left me in a euphoric mood that has not yet evaporated Has it still not "evaporated" ? |
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lignum crucis arbour scientiae
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #478 on: 11:45:17, 11-10-2008 » |
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This headline woke me up!  Fortunately the heading wasn't meant to be taken literally.  STEPHEN HAWKING GETS CAST IN BRONZE STATUE One of the greatest living scientists, Professor Stephen Hawking, is to be depicted in a bronze statue sited near his office in Cambridge. The sculptor, 32-year-old Brightonian Eve Shepherd, has been following Hawking around to learn more about his personality. The statue will cost £250,000, and aims to show the "power of Professor Hawking's mind and the fragility of his body". A scale model's been made that shows Hawking inside a whirl of some kind, like a black hole. You can see that above. The artist is unsure when the final sculpture will be complete. (via BBC) Related posts: A guitar photocopier, for effortlessly making clones of famous bits of wood | Hawking's spaceship on sale on eBay |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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