State of the Discussion

The posts in play...

Weekend music thread #03 Rhumba and the clave
(14)
+
Something Different
(18)
+
Monarchy in the UK
(26)
+
The South shall writhe again
(29)
+
Bal des Ardents
(8)
+
There have to be clowns
(5)
+
Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny
(17)
+
 

The comments...

GftNC
+ Oh my God, the surprise of seeing your own video explanation, russell! I wish you could have seen my smile of pleasure and delight [. . .]
Liberal Japonicus
+ Muchísimas gracias, Russell! I accidentally left the link in at the bottom, as I thought I was going to add to Russell's post, but thought [. . .]
russell
+ hey all, how do I register with this blog? I have a Friday music post but can't login, I don't think I ever registered. [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Speaking of high-definition scans of old art, has anyone else looked at the varnish crackle in the scan of Rembrandt's Night Watch? Literally, you [. . .]
wjca
+ Thank you all for the information and suggestions. I suppose you could say I'm at least somewhat into this stuff. Since I'm undertaking to [. . .]

there's an amazing animated movie about the Book Of Kells.very cool.

novakant
+ wj, if you're into this type of thing don't miss out on the Chester Beatty museum and library. Among many other artefacts, they have a [. . .]
nous
+ wonkie, what do you miss about the old cameras? When I bought my micro 4/3 camera before the Iceland trip, I played around with lens [. . .]
GftNC
+ ps You can see every page of the Book of Kells in high res in TCD's Digital Collection - i can't remember where I [. . .]
`wonkie
+ I miss the old cameras. I'm a painter and I used to use photos as a starting point. It just isn't the same trying to [. . .]
GftNC
+ I love the book of Kells! Did you see the Long Room? It's the platonic ideal...I'm down with a very grim flu, so nothing interesting [. . .]
wjca
+ Just for something completely different, I'm in Dublin, Ireland this week (conference). So I wandered over to Trinity College to check out The Book [. . .]
+ i'm working on a program to automate the application of large collection of image effects i've written over the years (mostly back when i had [. . .]
Michael Cain

Yes, the base iPhone 17.

Liberal Japonicus
+ Did you go with the iphone 17? For me, the battery is the key driver of a new phone, and the current phone I have [. . .]
russell
+ Other people must be doing interesting and/or useful things beyond politics. I've been cleaning black mold out of the basement. Big fun!! :( Also, went to a [. . .]
russell

Well, not always by a long shot.

I stand corrected!

hairshirthedonist
+ I'm consistently amazed and annoyed by the distorted photos of photos I see people posting on social media. They take the photos at angles that make [. . .]
novakant
+ I think we should take all their money and use it for education, infrastructure and health care. It's all a big scam and at the [. . .]
GftNC
+ All of that said, from this side of the pond the UK royals seem to have this weird dichotomony between the ones who are actually [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Ya know, it was really handy to be able to preview comments. Just to keep control over italics.At least in my browser, the comment edit [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ The writer’s thesis was that the US would get better quality presidents if we had a powerless monarchy to be the focus for the people [. . .]
russell
+ I spent the entire time my we watched "Downton Abbey" annoying my wife by yelling at the Crawley's to learn how to put on their [. . .]
GftNC

Also, I really miss the preview button too!

GftNC
+ wj, I seem to have mastered the italics and bold thing: you put your text in as normal, then highlight whichever text you want [. . .]
wjca
+ Off topic Ya know, it was really handy to be able to preview comments. Just to keep control over italics. So far, I [. . .]
wjca
+ The writer’s thesis was that the US would get better quality presidents if we had a powerless monarchy to be the focus for the people [. . .]
+ >I live in north central Texas, and I never see anything like that. i'm in central NC and i seen it now and then. there was [. . .]
`wonkie
+ I know it's silly, but I'm one of those Americans who watches the royal family soap opera. I remember reading an opinion column years ago [. . .]
Snarki, child of Loki

Throwing Andrew "under the bus" could be a lot more damaging, with double-decker buses.

wjca
+ My impression was that British support for the monarchy has been based, for most of her lifetime, on support for Queen Elizabeth herself. King [. . .]
GftNC
+ Andrew is a very stupid, arrogant, entitled creep. It's perfectly possible he didn't know that Virginia Giuffre was trafficked, he would have assumed that [. . .]
wjca
+ I live in north central Texas, and I never see anything like that [Confederate flag flying off the back of a pickup]. Would that suggest that [. . .]
Michael Cain

I expect the monarchy to survive as long as it's a big tourist draw for Americans.

Pro Bono
+ This takes me back to 1977, the year of the queen's silver jubilee (the 25th year of her reign). There was much love shown for [. . .]
CharlesWT
+ I live in blue part of blue MA, and the whole giant American and/or Confederate flag flying off the back of a pickup with Eric [. . .]
nous
+ The problem with monarchy according to Lewis Carroll: "Off with their heads, said the Queen." The problem with democracy according to Walt Kelly: "Yep son, we have met [. . .]
wjca
+ Oh, a benevolent monarchy (or a benevolent dictatorship of any sort) actually has the potential to work pretty well. The problem is, there's no [. . .]
hairshirthedonist

That is such a wild story. I'm beginning to think that monarchy is a bad idea.

Pro Bono

GftNC: not usually.

Hartmut
+ As a point of contrast, Germany post WWII was able to move past Naziism – to not continually be engaged in arguments about it (I [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Look at how the majority of the most geographically racially segregated cities in the US are Northern – Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis,…The Black population in [. . .]
+ by this point, no decent person would sign up to be anywhere near Trump. working for him means you run the risk of destroying your [. . .]
nous
+ russell - But the whole country is complicit in that history, and I think the whole country participates in a refusal to come to terms [. . .]
russell
+ The comment in the podcast that most connected with me was Bouelle's statement about it not just being about the South as a geographic area, [. . .]
nous

They all float down here.

Hartmut

Thank you, lj.
Let's see whether the last few gaps can be closed still.

Liberal Japonicus
+ Hartmut, a best guess ==== In [Venice] Rollers [ahead] It's so full of fun While you roll, you feel the groove Such a sport that makes you move Grandpa and mama too Freaks are [. . .]