2013 — 18 November: Monday
Is November a depressingly grey time of year, or what?1
Non-therapeutic retailing
Regardless of the grey, I need to do something about the recurring echo in Mother Hubbard's cupboard, and soonish. But it can wait until after a spot of breakfast, I'm sure.
What links...
... Stravinsky to Singer sewing machines via the Schiffs? A good question, perhaps worthy of "Round Britain Quiz" in the days of Irene Thomas, (though not in its dumbed-down modern variant).
The trouble with having a memory of less than total recall is that it sometimes adds an annoying delay. Today, for example, having browsed Michael Dirda's short Washington Post review of Stephen Klaidman's biography of Violet and Sydney Schiff with its second-paragraph mention of a dinner party on 18 May 1922 at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, I knew perfectly well that I'd bought Richard Davenport-Hines' "A Night at the Majestic".
Stravinsky and Singer sewing machines
I even knew when I'd bought it, having obliquely-mentioned at the time the anecdote in it that had caught my eye. But it wasn't until ten minutes or so after my search began, and I'd temporarily displaced the ever-growing pile of plastic bags and Jiffy bags right behind me, that its shelf location was finally revealed. You can reveal the answer to my question by clicking the pic.
I was also...
... reading another piece (by Jesse Bering), this time in "Aeon". Parts of it reminded me, powerfully, of the 1950 SF story "Last Enemy" by H Beam Piper. More amusingly, it also led me to a Kindle pre-view of Bering's latest book "Perv: the sexual deviant in all of us". I mean, come on, who could resist tracking that down? :-)
Although the tracking was interrupted at mid-point to take a phone call — and then receive and print several documents from — the dental surgeon in Portsmouth who will be charging me £95 to root around the base of my troublesome root canal the week after this. Such joy in my life.
Back from...
... two sets of shops — the delivery of the second of my two promised Uncle ERNIE cheques for the month made it worth a trip into Eastleigh to the magic machine in the nearest branch of my latest bank — with a reasonable load of comestibles and a couple of pairs of (I hope) super walking socks for when I make my next attempt to use the latest pair of boots. Though my current main walking companion is still not yet in a fit state for such outings. A quick snack lunch. Another cuppa.
Time, therefore, to note what Alfred Kinsey had to say about perversion.
Rarely has man been more cruel against man than in the condemnation and punishment of those accused of the so-called sexual perversions. The penalties have included imprisonment, torture, the loss of life or limb, banishment, blackmail, social ostracism, the loss of social prestige, renunciation by friends and families, the loss of position in school or in business, severe penalties meted out for convictions of men serving in the armed forces, public condemnation by emotionally insecure and vindictive judges on the bench, and the torture endured by those who live in perpetual fear that their non-conformant sexual behavior will be exposed to public view. These are the penalties which have been imposed on and against persons who have done no damage to the property or physical bodies of others, but who have failed to adhere to the mandated custom. Such cruelties have not often been matched, except in religious and racial persecutions.
Kinsey was, erm, not exactly mainstream in his tastes, proclivities, predelictions, (call 'em what you will) but was a fascinating character, nonetheless. Not to mention a mass-murderer (of gall wasps, Genus Cynips).
Waste...
... offends me. Which is why I tried to salvage the small striplight I used for backlighting the 60" Kuro plasma screen — instead of just throwing it out — and turn it into another light under the set of kitchen cabinets by the phone. Inevitably, its weight soon defeated the "tough as nails" double-sided foam sticky tape guaranteed (by the "£" shop) never to fail. Scratch that would-be bright idea. Next plan: get another LED strip from those well-known purveyors of Swedish meatballs. I detest (and always have detested) shopping in Ikea, but I have to admit Christa would have loved having the local branch that we can now all enjoy in Soton.