george collinson ... like john wayne, only smarter

stormy weather ... one of my favourites

in stormy weather, lena horne and bill robinson make an unlikely couple, but who can complain after twenty numbers in seventy-something minutes ?

... they meet some unforgettable people on the way ...

... before she discovers that absence makes the heart grow fonder ...

... and finally sees the error of her ways ...

... and they all live happily ever after !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormy_Weather_%281943_film%29

eltham palace ... amazing what you can do with a few millions

Combining Art Deco and ocean liner style, Eltham Palace is a stunning masterpiece of twentieth-century design. Textile magnates Stephen and Virginia Courtauld built their glamorous London showpiece in 1936, next to the remains of a medieval royal palace which was originally Henry VIII’s boyhood home. The dining room features pink leather upholstered chairs and black-and-silver doors, portraying animals and birds from London Zoo. The Courtaulds’ home movie is another delight, showing them relaxing with their pet lemur. Discover many enticing features in the nineteen acres of surrounding gardens, including a sunken rose garden and medieval bridge ... it sez on the english heritage web site. The entrance to the house is a wonderful conception, with a three sided hall linking wings of the house that were offest by more than ninety degrees, doors and staircases carefully aligned to give long views through grand spaces, etc, etc. beneath a dome studded with what appear to be hundreds of lenses to bring down lots of daylight.

henry the seventh's lady chapel at westminster abbey ... infested with lions, dogs, and gryphons

do sailors still sing shanties ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_shanty

the quality of mercy ...

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown.

His scepter shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.

But mercy is above this sceptered sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;

It is an attribute of God himself;

And earthly power doth then show like God's

When mercy seasons justice.

westminster baths

windershoppin ... in the seedy backstreets of westminster

i'm still trying for the complete set of sculptures on vauxhall bridge

i need a longer lens




















science ?




















local government ?

a deterring ultimatum at hartfield in pooh country

i'm beginning to wonder if i am quite human ... as i haven't watched any soap operas lately, and i'm struggling to finish this book

Steven Mithen is a university professor who thinks about that period when people first started to think like people. In his book The Prehistory Of The Mind, he discusses the limits of how chimpanzees and monkeys think about their own kind, compared to the ways in which social humans understand one another, and he quotes a modern philosopher, in the following part of a longer explanation.

“Orders of Intentionality” is a term that the philosopher Daniel Dennett introduced to help us think about how social intelligence works. If I believe you to know something, then I can cope with one ‘order of intentionality’. If I believe that you believe that I know something, then I can cope with two orders of intentionality. If I believe that you believe that my wife believes that I know something, then I can cope with three orders of intentionality.

We modern humans regularly encounter three orders of intentionality … or at least we do if we believe soap operas, which often revolve around beliefs of what others believe a third party believes, and which often turn out to be false beliefs. Five orders of intentionality seem to be our limit. Daniel Dennett demonstrated this quite effectively when he asked

if “you wonder whether I realize how hard it is for you to be sure that you understand whether I mean to be saying that you recognize that I can believe you to want me to explain that most of us can keep track of only about five or six orders of intentionality under the best of conditions”.

Under the best of conditions chimpanzees are likely to manage just two orders of intentionality.

red stuff, grey stuff

back to the west side of vauxhall bridge to try harder ... agriculture and architecture again

vauxhall bridge ... west side

Bob Speel informs us that : On the upstream side, F. W. Pomeroy was the sculptor. From the south-east side, the first allegorical figure is Pottery, holding a pot, of course, and with very nice drapes; second is Engineering, and holds a Mamod-like fixed steam engine, with 1 cylinder and a big flywheel. Her right hand holds a mallet resting on an anvil next to her. Architecture is next, holding a model of St Paul's Cathedral in her left hand - the fact that the model is about 2 ft long indicates the scale of the statue - and callipers in her right hand. Finally, closest to the north-west bank is Agriculture, with rather magnificent shepherd's crook and a sheaf of corn.

It looks like a scythe to me !

burgeoning excitement between billingshurst and pulborough