One of my correspondents made a joke that could be read as implying that J S Bach (1685–1750) was a Protestant. Which got me to wondering: who was the earliest Protestant composer whose name I’d know? Henry Purcell (1659–95) comes to mind, but who was big in Elizabeth’s reign?
if only you believed in miracles
Travis found a choice rant by Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek:
But the bluest blue-state left-“liberal” atheist oughtn’t be too quick with the self-congratulatory praise of his or her own rational faculties. Most left-liberals are pure creationists when it comes to society and social order. For them, government is the creator of order . . . .
I trust you sha’n’t be shocked to know that my social life is dead enough to drive me to sign up on a matchmaking website. It’s rather entertaining, actually.
I am amazed (and a wee bit dismayed) that only two or three of my top twenty matches are over thirty. And now it strikes me that the criterion questions don’t mention age. Not that I have any objection to squiring a lass of 19 summers, but if she has a problem with 25 years’ difference it would be good to know in advance.
The profiler says of me:
Compared to males his age:
- He’s more scientific
- He’s more mathematical
- He’s more capitalistic
- He’s more introverted
- He’s more independent
- He’s more progressive
- He’s more literary
there are things I’d rather have than WiFi
Matt Smith on confused telecoms policy in San Francisco. So that’s why I so often get bad connections there!
Dick Fischbeck has a new website for a kind of structure that he calls Randome, formed of overlapping shallow cones.
Ballada o Soldate (1959). A Russian soldier wins a brief leave to go visit his mother, and has encounters and mishaps on the way. A simple tale, gorgeously shot.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Sex, violence and cross-examination. Includes George C Scott younger than I had seen him. — The defendant, who saw action in Korea, describes the weapon as “a war souvenir, a Luger.” Were Lugers used much in Korea?
Beany and Cecil (1959). I was curious about this tv cartoon partly because it’s by Bob Clampett, creator of Daffy Duck; and partly because some of Larry Niven’s fiction implies that it will be remembered for centuries.
Well, that was a waste of ten minutes.
Operation Petticoat (1959), a likable war comedy.
At Home with the Braithwates (2000), tv series about a housewife breaking out. There are some amusing moments, but not enough novelty to get me to finish the second hour.