I offer this genuine quote from Karl Marx to Montana Mike "Religion is the opiate of the people"a quote which in my opinion has a particular relevance to the situation in the United States, regarding organised religion, marxists say that by offering a better life in some mythical hereafter,the general populace of any country are sedated by religion and so have no will to alter society to benefit them.
It is important to note that Marx is from an earlier age,and used language that may seem flowery in our modern world but can still be relevant.
Modern writers on philosophy and economics may be more easily understood,one I think of is A L Morton,who wrote an interesting book "A Peoples History of England"and an interesting novel "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists"(the unexpurgated version) from around the turn of the century by Robert Tressel,which was the nom de plume of Robert Noonan,a painter and signwriter in Hastings England,anyone who worked in the building trade will relate to this writer and have one or two chuckles.
On to the weather forecast,it is a lovely sunny day but the forecast is for a couple of inches of snow this weekend,a mere bagatelle after our visit to Kansas City last february,thats cold !!!
Strained my back lifting turf in the garden so I am out of commission for a couple of days till it recovers,which it usually does in that amount of time. Ciao Graham
Saturday 31 January 2009
Friday 30 January 2009
The gal knows her stuff.
The answer to my question on the quote is indeed Karl Marx and the date was 1867,so Mary Sue goes top of the class for knowing Karl Marx, but the date was a tricky one because it,s very relevant today,and appears more recent than it actually was.
Though the second question where is the black swan? could be a little more difficult,maybe it has flown home to Perth Western Australia,as they are native to that city,living on the Swan River which flows through the city.
Last night we watched a programme of Jamie Olivers about the way pigs are reared,it seems we British have more humane methods than the rest of Europe,but even these are offputting to say the least, free range is the only humane way but it seems the customers will not pay a little extra for them,or will they? have they been asked? is it the supermarkets dictating to the farmers ,and imposing low prices on them? if the farmers get together and fix prices and methods then the supermarkets will buy cheap inhumane reared pork products from Europe,the answer is with the buying public,BUY BRITISH.and level out the playing field,that is presuming you want to eat meat at all.
For American readers Jamie Oliver is a "celebrity" chef who appears on TV.
Though the second question where is the black swan? could be a little more difficult,maybe it has flown home to Perth Western Australia,as they are native to that city,living on the Swan River which flows through the city.
Last night we watched a programme of Jamie Olivers about the way pigs are reared,it seems we British have more humane methods than the rest of Europe,but even these are offputting to say the least, free range is the only humane way but it seems the customers will not pay a little extra for them,or will they? have they been asked? is it the supermarkets dictating to the farmers ,and imposing low prices on them? if the farmers get together and fix prices and methods then the supermarkets will buy cheap inhumane reared pork products from Europe,the answer is with the buying public,BUY BRITISH.and level out the playing field,that is presuming you want to eat meat at all.
For American readers Jamie Oliver is a "celebrity" chef who appears on TV.
Thursday 29 January 2009
Economics and a Black Swan
I came across this quote from an economist,and thought it was rather farseeing,so for the politically minded here it is.
"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods,houses and technology,pushing them to take more and more expensive credits,until their debt becomes unbearable.
The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks,which will have to be nationalised and the State
will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."
Now tell me who that is a quote from, and what year to within 5 years.
To more mundane matters the weather contrary to the forecast has been lovely sunny day and 6 centigrade,though it is said to be colder this weekend and possible snow showers.
Sheila is reading a book by Giorgio Locatelli an Italian Chef,and inside is a photo of our old friend Mauro, or if not he has a double.if we can get the scanner to work I will send it to Gina and see what she thinks.
The hens are clearing the ditch at the south side of the little house on the prairie,so I shall not have to strim it in spring,we called in at the trout farm in Withern and he fished us two massive ones out of the river,I don't think you can get fresher than that,we chatted with the owner and his wife about hens as they have about a dozen,which they keep in a little old touring caravan,they used to have a black swan on the river but it seems it just flew away one day and never came back,it's believed to be" swanning around "somewhere in Lincolnshire!!!!!?????
Poor Montana Mike is whittled over his heart beat,I would have thought if its beating you are alive,if not you are dead, all seems fairly straightforward to me,I seem to remember Tommy Simpson the cyclist dropping dead on an alpine climb,so maybe its not a good idea to cycle too fast?
Thats it for now Cloudy Scrumpy Cider is in the fridge so Cheers
"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods,houses and technology,pushing them to take more and more expensive credits,until their debt becomes unbearable.
The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks,which will have to be nationalised and the State
will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."
Now tell me who that is a quote from, and what year to within 5 years.
To more mundane matters the weather contrary to the forecast has been lovely sunny day and 6 centigrade,though it is said to be colder this weekend and possible snow showers.
Sheila is reading a book by Giorgio Locatelli an Italian Chef,and inside is a photo of our old friend Mauro, or if not he has a double.if we can get the scanner to work I will send it to Gina and see what she thinks.
The hens are clearing the ditch at the south side of the little house on the prairie,so I shall not have to strim it in spring,we called in at the trout farm in Withern and he fished us two massive ones out of the river,I don't think you can get fresher than that,we chatted with the owner and his wife about hens as they have about a dozen,which they keep in a little old touring caravan,they used to have a black swan on the river but it seems it just flew away one day and never came back,it's believed to be" swanning around "somewhere in Lincolnshire!!!!!?????
Poor Montana Mike is whittled over his heart beat,I would have thought if its beating you are alive,if not you are dead, all seems fairly straightforward to me,I seem to remember Tommy Simpson the cyclist dropping dead on an alpine climb,so maybe its not a good idea to cycle too fast?
Thats it for now Cloudy Scrumpy Cider is in the fridge so Cheers
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Computer Painting
Lost my Atlas Street painting ,so I have replaced it with a painting iI did on the paint programme WACOM which Gina and Andrew bought me,it allows you to paint using different mediums,ie Oil.crayon,pastel,etc.. and you can print them off as a limited edition,or just a one off.
Sunday 25 January 2009
Still "on the prairie with the rain"
Thought I should translate my previous title into English,as I know some Americans are not too keen on things French,but alas the rain was here again though it is brightening up over the wolds to the west,just in time to go dark.
The days are getting longer round about 5.30 pm on a sunny day, looking at the weather in various places the Blades are not doing too well in their Spanish resort,neither is Len the winter snowbird in Benidorm for three months,though it is double the temperature we have,at the moment +6c is forecast for the next 5 days,with of course the possibility of rain.
Kansas city looks to be in for a few cold days around -6 or so though it will at least be sunny,up in western Australia cousin Mick is sweltering in +36 centigrade,but dropping to 32 for the next 5 days.
Holidays are on hold as our poultry sitter is busy with new additions to the family and a little tied up in the lovely town of York,though we are not really finding anything we care to book in any case.
I looked on a website for clog makers,as I always used to wear them until I could not find them for sale anymore,lo and behold! there is a little factory at Mytholmroyd in west Yorkshire close to the Lancashire border, I shall probably order some tomorrow by phone as it is a long drive from here,though it is near my old friend Moshe's place in waterfoot,I don't know whether to go for lace ups or open backed,I think maybe open backed are more convenient for slobbing in and out of.
Montana Mike is entrusting his massages to some Barmpot,( a name often used by my dad Herbert in a not too flattering way) who has a third eye, and various other foibles which appear to be substance induced,which does seem a little dodgy especially for him with his known distaste for risking his health,her name is something like "incandescence" and she has 360 degree vision, I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
I have had a busy week or so with work and missed out on the village hall bowling but if nothing comes in Monday I shall probably go along and entertain the elderly.
Sad to see that Sonia and Michael are suffering from the economic downturn,and having to share one cup of cocoa between them,I think we should resurrect the stocks(olde englishe not banking style) and fasten all the bankers in so we can chuck manure at them,as we are standing in a great pile of their doing.
It seems the poms are on the move to the coast and so no blogging until further notice, I hope their dear little boy is behaving while their attention is distracted.
Thats it for now folks, G'Day Graham
The days are getting longer round about 5.30 pm on a sunny day, looking at the weather in various places the Blades are not doing too well in their Spanish resort,neither is Len the winter snowbird in Benidorm for three months,though it is double the temperature we have,at the moment +6c is forecast for the next 5 days,with of course the possibility of rain.
Kansas city looks to be in for a few cold days around -6 or so though it will at least be sunny,up in western Australia cousin Mick is sweltering in +36 centigrade,but dropping to 32 for the next 5 days.
Holidays are on hold as our poultry sitter is busy with new additions to the family and a little tied up in the lovely town of York,though we are not really finding anything we care to book in any case.
I looked on a website for clog makers,as I always used to wear them until I could not find them for sale anymore,lo and behold! there is a little factory at Mytholmroyd in west Yorkshire close to the Lancashire border, I shall probably order some tomorrow by phone as it is a long drive from here,though it is near my old friend Moshe's place in waterfoot,I don't know whether to go for lace ups or open backed,I think maybe open backed are more convenient for slobbing in and out of.
Montana Mike is entrusting his massages to some Barmpot,( a name often used by my dad Herbert in a not too flattering way) who has a third eye, and various other foibles which appear to be substance induced,which does seem a little dodgy especially for him with his known distaste for risking his health,her name is something like "incandescence" and she has 360 degree vision, I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
I have had a busy week or so with work and missed out on the village hall bowling but if nothing comes in Monday I shall probably go along and entertain the elderly.
Sad to see that Sonia and Michael are suffering from the economic downturn,and having to share one cup of cocoa between them,I think we should resurrect the stocks(olde englishe not banking style) and fasten all the bankers in so we can chuck manure at them,as we are standing in a great pile of their doing.
It seems the poms are on the move to the coast and so no blogging until further notice, I hope their dear little boy is behaving while their attention is distracted.
Thats it for now folks, G'Day Graham
Monday 19 January 2009
Dans le Prairie avec le pleu
Monday morning" dans le prairie" and chucking down with rain,I have just downloaded the website which shows the poms new place in Oz.it's a far cry from Sheffield 5, some people are just born lucky,though we still can't get their blog on.
Montana is back and it seems looking for a dog sitter ,sadly he ignored my suggestion that he move to Florida,he would then be inundated with dog sitting volunteers trying to escape from Blighty, his dear long suffering wife is now accused of having the TV on too loud, but to me it never seemed loud enough when I was there, but the adverts always seem louder than the programmes,even though the broadcasters deny this is the case.
Yesterday I was out signwriting a shop facia in brilliant sunshine and 7 degrees centigrade,which felt positively heatwave after recent weather down here, opposite the shop was a pub,and occasional comments were uttered by departing drinkers,mainly of an appreciative nature.
I am now fed up of trying to find somewhere to holiday this winter and have given up on the subject, Le Blade is in Spain for two weeks and I looked at the weather in Malaga,rain today,then sun tuesday,then 4 days of rain,oh dear this is not why they went,hopefully the forecast is wrong and the sun shines for them.
I have a job to do decorating a pictorial weather vane,that requires some gold leaf on the points of the compass and the arrow,which brings to mind my old pal Brian Thornton,who used to supply me with cut price gold leaf , I think about him a lot when working on posters and stuff,and have a chuckle at some of the little tricks we got away with,we once rented a big empty warehouse near crystal peaks shopping mall in Sheffield to paint a football pitch size banner,and were using some cellulose based paints,which were giving of a strong odour,the bloke who owned the place came in and commented on the stink,Brian told him it would not linger long which was bending the truth to say the least,suffice it to say we did not use that place again.
As I write the sun is breaking through! guys are swimming guys are sailing the Stan Frebergh record comes to mind,about kids at summer camp in America.
Montana is back and it seems looking for a dog sitter ,sadly he ignored my suggestion that he move to Florida,he would then be inundated with dog sitting volunteers trying to escape from Blighty, his dear long suffering wife is now accused of having the TV on too loud, but to me it never seemed loud enough when I was there, but the adverts always seem louder than the programmes,even though the broadcasters deny this is the case.
Yesterday I was out signwriting a shop facia in brilliant sunshine and 7 degrees centigrade,which felt positively heatwave after recent weather down here, opposite the shop was a pub,and occasional comments were uttered by departing drinkers,mainly of an appreciative nature.
I am now fed up of trying to find somewhere to holiday this winter and have given up on the subject, Le Blade is in Spain for two weeks and I looked at the weather in Malaga,rain today,then sun tuesday,then 4 days of rain,oh dear this is not why they went,hopefully the forecast is wrong and the sun shines for them.
I have a job to do decorating a pictorial weather vane,that requires some gold leaf on the points of the compass and the arrow,which brings to mind my old pal Brian Thornton,who used to supply me with cut price gold leaf , I think about him a lot when working on posters and stuff,and have a chuckle at some of the little tricks we got away with,we once rented a big empty warehouse near crystal peaks shopping mall in Sheffield to paint a football pitch size banner,and were using some cellulose based paints,which were giving of a strong odour,the bloke who owned the place came in and commented on the stink,Brian told him it would not linger long which was bending the truth to say the least,suffice it to say we did not use that place again.
As I write the sun is breaking through! guys are swimming guys are sailing the Stan Frebergh record comes to mind,about kids at summer camp in America.
Friday 9 January 2009
It came from outer space!!
Cold and grey here on the prairie,I am in the middle of a signwriting job,but the paint is not drying ,too cold and damp,not much else happening,Le Blade is off to Sheffield for the weekend,the forecast is to get warmer on Saturday so I hope to go and letter the in situ part of the job on Sunday.
Montana is now undergoing some kind of massage from a woman who speaks to alien beings!!
so there's a person to fill you with confidence in the outcome of her work.
Still not able to get the Poms blog,Sandra must have pressed the wrong buttons under the influence of too much"chardie" the result of which is no one can read her blog.
I have spent much time surfing the net for an escape from the endless winter,but to no avail,much of the stuff on offer is in the euro zone which is poor value,even if the exchange rate were better than it is now,and cruises are a "not sure" after our voyage with the Le Blades to "Rottendam"so any suggestions will be received and considered.
The blades fell off a wind tubine a few miles up from us,and gullible locals are claiming extra terrestrials are the culprits,as there were supposed sightings of strange lights flashing across the sky,it should be mentioned that the RAF,and American airforce are all located in the county,and in fact there is a bombing range at Donna Nook,about 4 miles from the little house on the prairie!
So it would seem that extra terrestrials managed to negotiate a passage through space,but fell at the last hurdle,a wind turbine in Lincolnshire.
We had a call from Gina at her radio station asking if we could shed any light on the aforementioned,as it made national news,but on offering my theory re the RAF she decided not to give me the opportunity to comment on air.
Montana is now undergoing some kind of massage from a woman who speaks to alien beings!!
so there's a person to fill you with confidence in the outcome of her work.
Still not able to get the Poms blog,Sandra must have pressed the wrong buttons under the influence of too much"chardie" the result of which is no one can read her blog.
I have spent much time surfing the net for an escape from the endless winter,but to no avail,much of the stuff on offer is in the euro zone which is poor value,even if the exchange rate were better than it is now,and cruises are a "not sure" after our voyage with the Le Blades to "Rottendam"so any suggestions will be received and considered.
The blades fell off a wind tubine a few miles up from us,and gullible locals are claiming extra terrestrials are the culprits,as there were supposed sightings of strange lights flashing across the sky,it should be mentioned that the RAF,and American airforce are all located in the county,and in fact there is a bombing range at Donna Nook,about 4 miles from the little house on the prairie!
So it would seem that extra terrestrials managed to negotiate a passage through space,but fell at the last hurdle,a wind turbine in Lincolnshire.
We had a call from Gina at her radio station asking if we could shed any light on the aforementioned,as it made national news,but on offering my theory re the RAF she decided not to give me the opportunity to comment on air.
Thursday 1 January 2009
Happy New Year
New years day and cold here on the prairie,around 2c,we had a quiet night home alone last night,
Le Blade rang us in the afternoon ,they are both still in Sheffield virus mode,though Madame is in worse condition than him,we received an e mail from cousin Mick's wife Debbie in Carnarvon West Australia,they had their four kids home for Christmas(or Chrissie) as she calls it,seems they are grown up now and being trained in the art of beer drinking by Crocodile Mick,also there were her sister who lives in London,and her dad from Perth,apparently a good time was had by all,Debbie says Mick is useless with the internet,so he will phone later,no doubt a lot of choice Oz words will be forthcoming,I offered to go over and teach him how to use the internet,and maybe show him how to drink wine.
Thats all for now so Happy New Year ,and for the Italians Buon Anno. Graham
Le Blade rang us in the afternoon ,they are both still in Sheffield virus mode,though Madame is in worse condition than him,we received an e mail from cousin Mick's wife Debbie in Carnarvon West Australia,they had their four kids home for Christmas(or Chrissie) as she calls it,seems they are grown up now and being trained in the art of beer drinking by Crocodile Mick,also there were her sister who lives in London,and her dad from Perth,apparently a good time was had by all,Debbie says Mick is useless with the internet,so he will phone later,no doubt a lot of choice Oz words will be forthcoming,I offered to go over and teach him how to use the internet,and maybe show him how to drink wine.
Thats all for now so Happy New Year ,and for the Italians Buon Anno. Graham
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