Monday, May 28, 2007

George Bush Library

Bush Library - hat tip to J Walk
From atheism.about
A recognizably modern Baptist movement developed in the 16th century and was split into two groups. One, the General Baptits, believed that the atonement of Jesus was general for all believers.
probably something to do with feeding bread to every bird.
When I originally googled for this misprint - before I had a blog the first hits weren't so obviously making fun..

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Guardian's RSS feed

Two adjacent headlines from the Guardian's RSS feed:
  • Anger at plans for NHS database of gay men
  • Palestinians flee camp violence

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Boring tecchie stuff

Next week I'm going to installing Zimbra as a mail/calendar sharer for work, hopefully I'll get around to posting the results here. The web demos look good so we'll soon see how easy it is to manage! Any experiences that others have had - web searches seem to suggest pretty positive results. Manlug had a talk on Saturday about Meldware which seems to cover pretty similar ground but I was a little tied up on Saturday! Any Meldware experiences?

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Post the festival!

Recovering after playing in the Alderley Edge Music festival no places this year(!) but consistently scored 81 marks in each class, no criticisms from the adjudicator on my polyrhythms in the Rachmaninov - great relief - though coming to a strange piano not having tried the start of Op 23 No 4 on it was a bit hairy - and it showed!
Go and see Raspberry Rabbit's photo of da Vinci Horse Manure....

Monday, May 14, 2007

Crocheted Dalek

Not joking either! Complete with downloadable pattern.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Two Brittens

Thanks to On an Overgrown Path for highlighting this bit from the Guardian leader of Friday:
Christianity underpinned so much about his prime ministership, from his 1997 identification of the act of voting Labour with spiritual redemption - "one cross on the ballot paper, one nation was reborn" - to his attempts to persuade the public of absolute truths. The effect could be brilliant. But it produced a strange sort of defiance, especially after Iraq and in the response to terrorism, a leader who came to believe, like Peter Grimes, that he could see the shoals to which the rest of Britain was blind.

the faith aspect was interesting but became remarkably polarising as in the Iraq issue.
Then there's this headline referring to a different Britten Opera (not safe for innocent minds)

Friday, May 11, 2007

Family Fast

Maybe we should proclaim a Family Feast - errm sorry - a Family Fast(tm) and see if KFC come after us. I've never been to Tan Hill but we live close to the competitor for highest pub...

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Plenty of reading

Done plenty of reading in April and have a book group meeting this week. I've finished three more books since the start of this month - more theological - and am now making real progress on lowering the piles on my bedside table!
Then in a fresh expressions of church mode there's this blog entry from Good in Parts.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Anti-ageing cream

And nothing to do with tonight's Dr Who comes this story from the Guardian, Manchester too!

Masterclass

What a great artist and teacher Jorge Bolet was - I have no chance of ever being able to play the Rachmaninov 3rd concerto but I learnt a lot from this masterclass from 1983 - that link is to no 11 of 14(!). I'm rehearsing some Rachmaninov and Scriabin for the Alderley Edge Festival (better link welcomed!) later in the month - I see that the Op 23 prelude I'm playing - in the Romantic class was written earlier than the late Scriabin I'm doing for the modern class (but only just!) - a recommendation of a recording of the Engime (Op52) would be appreciated - as long as it's not the Volodos! This year a top 3 place is not assured!