Menu 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 Home Updates list Contents list Site search About Beginning Schubert Schubert collection 2015 Quote and image of the month for December Quote: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Image: Modesto Urgell e Inglada, La vuelta del entierro/Returning from the burial. Posted on UTC 2015-12-01 01:02 Words: 174; reading time: 1 minute Die Winterreise Schubert yet again, but no cheerful bits at all this time, just loss, betrayal, rejection, alienation and wandering. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-12-31 16:10 Words: 496; reading time: 2 minutes Language Lab Follicle mites face off, likely causing problems. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-12-15 15:07 Words: 382; reading time: 1 minute M'learned wag The search for wit in lawyers continues. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-12-15 08:27 Words: 232; reading time: 1 minute Close shaves of the Scholastic kind We use Alexander's sword to cut the Gordian knot of William of Occam's non-existent razor. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-12-14 07:18 Words: 1,140; reading time: 5 minutes Solar Impulse More news from the suspension of belief department. This time Wacky Races meets Alice in Wonderland. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-12-07 15:02 Words: 1,183; reading time: 5 minutes Updated on 2016-02-29 Fidei defensor Defender of the faith: The Christmas message of the second in line to the British throne. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-12-06 16:31 Words: 113; reading time: 1 minute Suspending disbelief in modern life The operatic guide to the week's news in which we do not go quietly into that good night. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-12-04 13:44 Words: 676; reading time: 3 minutes Die schöne Müllerin Schubert again. Two blondes making out. A talking stream looks on as the hunter gets the girl. Many trigger alerts here. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-12-03 16:10 Words: 323; reading time: 1 minute Quote and image of the month for November Quote: Wilhelm Müller, Die Winterreise. Image: Carl Julius von Leypold, Der Wanderer im Sturm/The wanderer in the storm. Posted on UTC 2015-11-01 01:02 Words: 55; reading time: 1 minute Shaken, stirred and rusted Objects of technological desire do not die, they just rust away and become ever more pointless. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-11-28 07:20 Words: 871; reading time: 3 minutes Updated on 2016-02-10 The dramatic Climatic Unit One aspect of climatic nonsense still going strong after nearly half a century and now probably too late to fix. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-11-27 09:54 Words: 261; reading time: 1 minute Language Lab Today we are reaching out to all the significant others on the planet. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-11-25 14:22 Words: 819; reading time: 3 minutes Tumbril for two, please! The Swedish Charlie tackles the evils of this world: hot baths. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-11-24 10:10 Words: 668; reading time: 3 minutes Engaging God: God help us! After the atrocities in Paris, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, 'engages God' on a walk. What have we done to deserve this? Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-11-22 08:09 Words: 873; reading time: 3 minutes Enlightenment redux Brendan O'Neill calls on us to fight for the Enlightenment. Don't bother: it's dead and gone. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-11-19 13:53 Words: 5,442; reading time: 24 minutes Updated on 2016-02-10 Jigsaw-puzzle grammar Writing for meaning, as opposed to writing for tedious pedants. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-11-13 08:02 Words: 1,966; reading time: 8 minutes Antisocial media The definitive guide to staying sane in the social media age. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-11-12 15:27 Words: 995; reading time: 4 minutes Updated on 2016-07-01 Highbrow cat-stroking If you don't mind displaying your intellectual credentials, here's how to do it. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-11-11 09:26 Words: 117; reading time: 1 minute Myth Thwitzerland The 700th anniversary of the Battle of Morgarten in Switzerland and the cloud of unknowing that surrounds it. Something for everyone. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-11-11 08:44 Words: 4,829; reading time: 21 minutes Jean-Jacques Rousseau's NBFF Rousseau befriends an extremely rich autocrat who wants to use mathematical skills to control the world. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-11-04 09:00 Words: 124; reading time: 1 minute Mars will now say a few words The God of War speaks on the impending Armistice Day, 11.11.2015 Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-11-03 10:37 Words: 575; reading time: 2 minutes Wiki-wacky Wiki-wacky-woo, I don't know you. Or much about anything else, for that matter. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-11-03 09:37 Words: 763; reading time: 3 minutes Microsoft. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways… Vista, Ribbon, Win 8, Win 10. Shall I go on? Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-11-02 09:14 Words: 1,015; reading time: 4 minutes All Souls' Day, 2 November Some thoughts for All Souls' Day, 2 November on the Litany for All Souls' Day of Johann Georg Jacobi, set to music by Franz Schubert. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-11-02 10:12 Words: 1,727; reading time: 7 minutes All Saints' Day, 1 November Some thoughts for All Saints' Day, 1 November on the painting La Toussaint by the French artist Émile Friant. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-11-01 10:12 Words: 1,104; reading time: 5 minutes Updated on 2018-10-03 How to lose money Desperate to lose some money quickly? Here's how to do it: buy gold. Here is the thinking person's guide for which you have been waiting so long. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-11-01 09:52 Words: 1,862; reading time: 8 minutes Updated on 2016-01-27 Quote and image of the month for October Quote: Ezra Pound, The Cantos of Ezra Pound. Image: Édouard Manet, Un bar aux Folies Bergère. Posted on UTC 2015-10-01 01:02 Words: 153; reading time: 1 minute Carbon dioxide: the science is settled The much-awaited canonical statement of this blog on the subject of Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change: our chief scientist reports. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-10-30 10:09 Words: 1,474; reading time: 6 minutes Transitioning to November Whatever happens, don't mention the H-word! We offer an alternative for those damaged. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-28 10:11 Words: 422; reading time: 1 minute Fanatics: the good and the bad Jean-Jacques Rousseau's good fanatic: let's see how that worked out. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-24 10:44 Words: 1,908; reading time: 8 minutes The bad old days Thank goodness they have gone! Forced gender assignment, a complete lack of ethnic, religious or sexual diversity. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-10-23 09:11 Words: 382; reading time: 1 minute Rousseau! Back in your box! The Swiss people have spoken. Will Jean-Jacques finally flee back to his sarcophagus, in Switzerland at least? Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-19 11:24 Words: 910; reading time: 4 minutes Troubling the living stream Easter 1916: The stony heart of fanaticism as seen by W.B. Yeats. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-19 07:11 Words: 1,742; reading time: 7 minutes Wittgenstein’s disease Many people suffer from this disease in silence, attempting to hide their distress from others. A sufferer writes. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-10-16 15:08 Words: 1,025; reading time: 4 minutes Who are you calling a snob? Classical music? Let's take this outside in the car park. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-16 11:07 Words: 1,410; reading time: 6 minutes Updated on 2016-04-14 Red Burgundy – The agony and the ecstasy How to waste a lot of money and suffer much disappointment in the search for the special one. Skid Row awaits. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-10-15 15:08 Words: 1,164; reading time: 5 minutes Nietzsche's birthday Friedrich Nietzsche would have been 171 today, so let's dig out one or two of his undeservedly neglected poems to celebrate the occasion. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-15 09:03 Words: 415; reading time: 1 minute Rousseau in Nature He's on the stagger still, this time in two Danish universities. [corrected 17.10.2015] Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-15 14:12 Words: 447; reading time: 2 minutes Business Girls John Betjeman. For once not the lovable eccentric with a fondness for women, old buildings and steam railways, but the poet. The very good poet. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-15 08:07 Words: 554; reading time: 2 minutes Data despair One more push in the battle against 'data are'. There are still pockets of resistance: bitter people with nothing to lose who will probably fight to the last bullet. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-14 15:22 Words: 611; reading time: 2 minutes EU referendum: No thank you! Holding a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union is more than slightly bonkers. If it didn't work in 1975, why will it work now? Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-10-13 11:26 Words: 2,320; reading time: 10 minutes Updated on 2016-02-05 Rousseau staggers on Latest sightings of this website's favourite zombie. Some people seem quite shocked. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-11 14:15 Words: 132; reading time: 1 minute How to end an extremely long poem You have scribbled 6,000 lines of impenetrable poetry. How do you stop? Like this. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-11 14:00 Words: 279; reading time: 1 minute Atlas Shrugged: 'Whatever…'. The great unread: a literary assessment of Ayn Rand's magnum opus. As doorstopper, serviceable; as novel, beyond awful. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-10-10 09:16 Words: 2,029; reading time: 9 minutes Democracy and delegation Quote of the day: Modern democracy and delegation from an Ancient Greek perspective. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-10-09 15:07 Words: 227; reading time: 1 minute Celestial advice There is always room for helpful celestial advice when things don't seem to be going your way. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-10-09 14:07 Words: 44; reading time: 1 minute Jeannot in church A contribution from a member of the French branch of our therapy group for the liturgically damaged. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-10-03 11:24 Words: 635; reading time: 2 minutes The good old days The good old days of life on the land before the curse of industrialisation. Posted by Thersites on UTC 2015-10-04 09:33 Words: 721; reading time: 3 minutes Quote and image of the month for September Quote: Blaise Pascal, Pensées sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets. Image: Hubble, the Pillars of Creation. Posted on UTC 2015-09-01 01:02 Words: 237; reading time: 1 minute Bye bye, democracy. Hello, general will. We seem to be reading more and more these days about the limitations of democracy and the need to take decisions for the common good. All this can only mean one thing: the zombie has awakened and is walking abroad once more. Its name? Jean-Jacques Rousseau. … Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-09-28 13:24 Words: 3,260; reading time: 14 minutes Tests of faith, the lunatic's friends Two ancient stories about belief, lunacy, faith and other quite important things. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-09-30 16:05 Words: 1,362; reading time: 6 minutes Schubert, you idiot! How Franz Schubert managed to write one of the greatest secular choral works, despite messing up somewhat.Part of an occasional series on the composer. Posted by Richard on UTC 2015-09-28 15:20 Words: 1,823; reading time: 8 minutes S.E.E.D. It's only now that you find out who your true friends are. Posted by Mad Mitch on UTC 2015-09-09 07:45 Words: 1,276; reading time: 5 minutes You swine! It’s a pretty horrible smell. Imagine Saturday night in the gents of the Dog and Badger, late, after every gent has been in there, and even the dog and the badger by the smell of it. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-09-04 07:27 Words: 855; reading time: 3 minutes Greenwich Dump Time Greenwich Gasworks, where are you now? Don't ask. Posted by Austin Morris on UTC 2015-09-15 17:07 Words: 2,084; reading time: 9 minutes
