The Yin and Yang of God

My children smile when we watch Studio Gibli films together, and I invariably comment on the 'Buddhist' philosophy depicted in the stories.  A classic is Spirited Away, where evil and destructive demons just have goodness trying to get out of them, as some balance is restored.

We are aware of the two opposing philosophies in East and West. The West castes 'Good' against 'Evil' where nair the twain shall meet.  The East sees good and bad, as two sides of the same coin, (co-dependent).

I am interested by evolutionary theory which sees deceit, and cunning as integral to the evolution and development of brain capacity.  Evolutionary 'forces' from a anthropomorphic perspective, appear to be morally very suspect. Viruses can bring good, but largely bring destruction to man and beast, yet are thought of as the building blocks of life itself.  Could evil be working in partnership with good?

We are left with a world were suffering is as neatly intertwined into the fabric of existence and joy.

If our Creator has a heaven planned for his/her creation, for which I hope, why couldn't it have been in place for the first round, not the second?   Perhaps the first round is necessary in order to create the second? A co-dependent balance?

Lemon Crunch

4 Oz or 110 gms   Butter 
1/2 lb or 230 gms  Gingernut Bisuits

2 Lemons
1/4 pint or 1/2 Litre Double Cream
1 tin Sweetened Condensed Milk

Makes one 20 cm diameter flan dish.

• Crush biscuits to crumbs.  Mix with melted butter and press into bottom of flan dish.
• Zest and squesh lemons.  Mix with condensed milk.  Whip cream and mix cream slowly with this mixture.
• Place on the top of the base.

Charterhouse Ding Dong

Bravo to Roger who organised a great day out in central London.

London is the city of contrasts.  St Giles Cripplegate Without, a medieval church with 12 bells, surrounded by Barbican brutalism just beyond the remains of the Roman walls of the city.

We where there to hear the semi-final of the National 12-bell Striking Contest. This was some of the best ringing in the world.  So of course you want to know who won?

The results

Test Piece: 250 Stedman Cinques

Judges: David J Dearnley (Chief), Thomas J Hinks

	Team	Rang	Speed	Mark
1	Ancient Society of College Youths	1st	3h31	80%
2	Cambridge	5th	3h31	77%
3	Bristol	2nd	3h26	70%
4	High Wycombe	6th	3h29	65%
5	Southwark	7th	3h24	64%
6	ULSCR	4th	3h20	60%
7	Liverpool	3rd	3h27	57%

St Giles is next to City of London Girls School.

Mum, Helen, Roger and Uncle Richard,
attentively listening to the 12 bell peal.

Aunt Lis, 'sitting down'.

Right, that's it- where's lunch?

The Old Red Cow, overlooking Cross-Rails
massive hole in the ground.  Helen at the
Head of the table.

Roger at the Head of the table (a Pushmepulewe).

The Gateway to The Charterhouse, or Sutton Hospital.

Helen Button

Briefing from our guide- a Charterhouse Brother.

Charterhouse began as a Chantry Chapel offering prayers for the dead of the Black death.  Beyond city walls were the place to dump things, including dead bodies.  Interestingly, Cross-Rail report they have tunneled though many graves from this period in recent months.

Charterhouse became available after the Carthusian Monks refused to let a misogynist, meglomanic become head of their church, and consequently lost their heads, after a great deal of torture.  Armament magnate, Thomas Sutton snapped up the property at a snip.  He then converted into a charitable foundation.  It's completely male dominated; old gentlemen, and a boys school.  Alumni include, John Wesley, Baden Powell, and Thackeray.

The 'Great Hall'.

Us touring 

The Gallery where Elizabeth I is said to have received visitors
 before her coronation.

I liked the 'geological discontinuity between stone and brick.

A view of the chapel.  

And some other building I enjoyed coming across on my route to Charterhouse.

This house is covered in Cows' Heads.
Smithfields is in the next street. Any connection?

Charles Rowan House.  Build like a powerstation?
http://charlesrowanhousetra.typepad.com/tra/2012/07/history-of-charles-rowan-house.html 

St James, Clerkenwell.  Where Bibs and Andy were married.
Also near to Skinner Street where Shelley eloped to the continent
with two women, one his 1/2 sister!

Flight of the Gold Crest

On Friday before giving a lecture at DeMontfort University, I had a few minutes, so I walked around Castle Gardens.  I saw a Goldcrest hovering like a humming birds around a bush, but only for a split second.

Yesterday, waiting for my bike to be serviced, I visited the Welford Road Cemetery.  Again I saw a Goldcrest hovering like a humming bird.  Again only for a split second.  Not easy to see, but a few milliseconds is enough.

On The Map

My favourite topic, and Simon Garfield's book is providing me with plenty of wonderful thoughts for my amusement in Leicester Traffic Jams.

The first is the word 'orientation'  as in 'map orientation.'  This comes from the time when maps were orientated with the east at the top (the orient), pointing to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was actually in the middle of the map, but all 'direction in life' should be found by looking east, unless you live in Amman, where west would be best.

The second is the the origin of the name ' America'.  Appropriately it appears that the continents - first south, then north, were named after Amerigo Vespucci, a financier of a Columbus trip.  How appropriate for the banker to get the sponsorship deal, like some vast football stadium.  America is the feminine version, to join Europa and Asia. I also read about a Bristolian who supported the theory than another Bristolian financier supplied the name, with the money.  A certain Richard Amerike of Long Ashton (of the cider fame...) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/americaname_01.shtml

The third is the discovery of the Island of California http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_California. Apparently for many hundreds of years, a famous map, which tidied up California, by believing it was an island, rather than a peninsula, perpetuated the myth of California as an island.  It was only put right in the early 19th century.  Simon also notes that Moses appeared on one early map with horns.  In a similar way, a mistranslation of the Hebrew has him descending from Mount Sinai 'horned' rather than 'shining' (geren).  I was struck by the need, just as in maps, for translations of religious texts such as the bible, to be compared with the reality, just as a trip to California is needed to sort out the island issue.

The world lit up by facebook connections around the world.

The Waldseemuller Map.  Possibly the first commercial map to
name the Americas

Gerrymandering-  What a wonderful story.  Apparently the term comes from a certain New York Senator and one time vice president Governor Gerry, who supported a bid to change some constituency boundaries to increase seats for the Democratic-Republican Party against the Federalist Party..  Over a dinner party, the new map was likened to a Salamander, which soon became a Gerrymander. The Newspapers had great fun, and Gerry lost his seat.  Interestingly we pronounce Gerrymandering with a hard 'J', rather than after the Governors name, which perhaps saves his blushes.

The Gerrymander

Map of Bohemia

Density Map of French Cycle Clubs

"It's all Greek to me" translated into other languages

Genetic overlap across Europe

Why The Celts are great