The Dwarf - Nº10, an Oily Chutney Mary & The Strange Tale of the Collapsed Carrot Halwa Soufflé

Chutney Mary turned 33 years old this year... 

Tempus Fugit when hedge funds implode...

You won't want to miss this one. You might wanna share it too if like me you can't stop cracking up when Russell slips into American accent mode. I tried to track it down and ended up on nasal plosion videos.

It's a thing and it's exploding all over the flat earth web. I can't stop sploding either hah 🤣

Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen is credited with writing the first plainchant music that excels in the acoustic environment of a purposefully designed church or cathedral. You may not know her but it's unlikely you haven't heard the liturgical style of music that invites a talented singer to check out the acoustics of old religious architecture on their first visit, such as this young lady who is hearing her voice for the first time, just like you and I were with her.

I was introduced to Hildegard by Lord Bragg conversing with Miri Rubin, William Flynn and Almut Suerbaum. I will drill down into the difference between scholars and academics later as they're all largely bought and sold as indeed am I and you - I will say that the official account for Hildegard has potholes. How would a fifteen year old, bricked in to a prison cell at a convent where the acoustics match that of Julian Assange's prison cell in Belmash, invent a genre and practise, experiment and enjoy her work that Cathedrals are designed for (among other qualities)?

Furthermore why would a 15 year old girl who devotes her life to God through abstention and isolation step out one day and ostensibly run the monastry as it were, before moving on to set up her own vision in Rupertsberg which most certainly is not Bingen.

Or let's put it another way. If a fanatical devotion to God through a life of mental flagellation and service changes such that one day the bricks are torn down as there's no door to exit, just a slot for passing food in and waste out. Why isn't that explained by anyone? Why would the elevator pitch for the story, the hook as it were, be left out?

I'll tell you why. It's because her story isn't one leveraged by just the forces of love, patience and protection, but one that demonstrates amply an early life hijacked by compression, suffering, prayer and abstinence.

Where is the good?

Might it be true?

Is beauty indistinguishable from the eye of the beholder?

Cloistered away from prying eyes and whatever it takes to emancipate a 15 year old anchorite from their anchoress dungeon.

History is written by the prevailing forces In Our Time. This is a fact seemingly everyone knows when pressed for an answer, but only a handful will provide examples of.

Lord Bragg nails it when he asks where did she get the books from?

Melvyn doesn't just fight British womens corner he defends women full stop. He's your champion.

Prove me wrong.

Some churches have Cathedral like audio quality built into the internal architecture. In fact, many churches are designed with acoustics in mind to enhance the sound of choirs and plainchant. The acoustics of historical churches have been extensively studied. Orthodox churches in the old world typically have reverberation times around 1.5 seconds for a small village church, 2.5 seconds for a larger urban or monastic church, ranging up to 6 seconds for a cathedral-sized church². 

Acoustical Considerations in Orthodox Church Design. https://orthodoxartsjournal.org/acoustical-considerations-in-orthodox-church-design/

Reverberation and church acoustics | Musitechnic. https://www.musitechnic.com/en/reverberation-and-church-acoustics/

Acoustics for Community Halls and Places of Worship | SRS. https://www.soundreduction.co.uk/advice/soundproofing-your-property-type/acoustics-for-community-halls-and-places-of-worship/

Church Acoustics For Liturgical Participation - Resonics. https://resonics.co.uk/church-acoustics

Church Acoustics: Four Must-Know Basic Concepts. https://www.churchproduction.com/education/church-acoustics-four-must-know-basic-concepts/

Church Acoustics: 5 Biggest Challenges and How to Fix Them
https://www.greatchurchsound.com/blog/church-acoustics-5-biggest-challenges-and-how-to-fix-them.

Sir Christopher Robert Chope OBE MP - "Wouldn't Touch A Booster With A Barge Pole"

“Many people now wouldn’t touch a booster with a barge pole and I include myself amongst those
They’re not only counterproductive but also dangerous”

Sir Christopher Chope’s full remarks at Westminster Hall
24.10.22

4 clips ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/dQLOoStS9k

— Janey (@_Janey_J) October 25, 2022

Those are his exact words. The video is embedded below if that helps.

Monobina - Unity 101.FM - Gold

I'm pretty sure you've never heard an Indian song as good, or a Bollywood production that exceeds this video.

"Gold is a historical sports drama inspired by India’s first Olympic gold medal. The film traces the “golden era” of Indian hockey through the journey of Tap Dance, a young assistant manager in 1936, who dreams of playing for an independent nation."

I caught it on the local ethnic and South Asian radio station Unity101.FM

Does Taramasalata Freeze

This post isn't my usual blogging fare but I am fascinated with online super-niche questions and then getting some feedback in Google Analytics.

The short answer is yes it does freeze but the thawing process separates any oils or liquids and so the taramasalata or roe pate as our U.S. friends call it requires mixing up again or even better re-blending, if one were to have a dinner party for example.

I probably wouldn't try to freeze taramasalata again and recommend buying it fresh and eating as soon as possible.

You're Very Statuesque Charles

When I worked for my first below-the-line advertising agency called CounterAttack on The Albert Embankment, I lived in Shepherds Bush with a bunch of housemates, including a married couple, a young homesexual, a budding entrepreneur, and a Kiwi before the Spanish cousin turned up. 

It was pretty normal stuff.

We were all what might be described in those days as young urban professionals, though my housemates had all attended better schools, and spoke better than I.

They were never condescending in my memory.

I think I had my first dinner party there, and a brother(in law?) of the married couple remarked as I stood up from the dinner party table. 

'You seem very statuesque Charles', or words to that effect.

I'd never heard the word Statuesque used before, but I could kind of figure-it-out, and so the memory of the word has always been imprinted on my mind.

If I was to stick to the subject of Statues in Southampton, there are only three I'm well researched on. 

One is Palmerston, who is a big effing deal in the follies of England. 

The other is Sir Isaac Watts, and the last I wont mention.

Sir Isaac wrote hymns, in a time when hymn writing and singing was very popular. 

What's this bro's statue, doing in my home town, I asked myself?

Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Christian minister (Congregational), hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. He is recognized as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.

I read up on Isaac and his Southampton connection, but what really intrigued me was his contribution to William Blake's work, and thus Jim Morrison.

A couple of years ago, when I was researching Southampton statues, I formulated an hypothesis(sic). 

I determined that either we left nothing or kept everything, with respect to Statues.

Back in those heady days of 2018 or maybe 17, I thought let's keep them all. Even the genocider and well expensed.... Winnie sodomized cadets at Sandhurst, Churchill.

I've changed my mind.

Tear them all down. 

They are an obscenity to the study of history.

... wait, they are an obscenity to historians too.

Veganism Round Table - Mark Devlin

Fried leaks in butter, are awesome.

Technically I should be looking at a dairy cow alternative.

Step by step.

2+7

Southampton Docks

Locomotieve Ghost Mix by ADIN

Intermittent Fasting - The Ultimate Overview | Conor Santry

Another excellent video, this time from Conor Santry proselytizing the life changing effects of intermittent fasting. One of the cognitive dissonance effects of the subject is that people can't get their heads around fasting being a lifestyle.

Surely we'd just wither away?

No is the answer and in fact if we study the growing body of health and fitness nuts who are adopting it, supplemented with the astonishing body of information on how good it is for the human body I think it's clear that the easiest solution to one of life's most burdensome issues (overeating, body shape etc) can be tackled with the simplest solution.

I lasted 6 days last week just fasting non stop and it allowed me to squeeze into some new trousers I'd already become to big for with overeating.

Water Fasting Done Right - Dr Daniel Pompa & Dr. Derrick Dempsey

I'm on Day Five of fasting. I've had a nibble of an apple or pear here and there but no meals. The only downside so far is I seem to need 3 hours of sleep at the moment, and I'm too chicken to go to bed at 3am to see if that's the case.

Not everybody has the same physiology, health and metabolism so I'm just going by how I feel. I intend to take up intermittent fasting when I break fast but I have a feeling I can go a week or two at the moment, possibly more.

There's so much great information out there on the subject, and I found in the early days that watching a video or just listening to them while I worked gave me a boost to stay the course.

The Power of Intermittent Fasting

Lately I've put on more weight than ever in my life. It's my fantastic cooking naturally. I have been able to tuck away ginormous saucepans of amazing home cooked food and load the plates up with rice too, and then just keep grazing all day frankly. 

I can't leave my own cooking alone.

Like everyone, I didn't want to stop eating as it's a reward mechanism. However, a friend has been raving about intermittent fasting. It's so simple that it doesn't make sense to begin with, but once you understand how simple it is, it's quite an extraordinary concept. It also costs fuck all, saves money and works quicker than anything.

I've gone the full Monty and just stopped eating so I'm going to see how long I can last without food (third day so far) and then I'll switch to the intermittent fasting, but I've seen the fastest results already. I find watching the videos keeps me focused.

I've also given up smoking again so I'm constantly looking for distractions, but it's an interesting combination giving up food and smoking at the same time.

Corporate Media Silent Over The Hottest Story On The Planet

Worldwide protests against Monsanto completely ignored by the media.

Monsanto are a corporation, the media are corporations. They take care of each other while the most dangerous company on the planet plots to control who can grow food and who can't. You need to wake up if this is lost on you. Time is running out.

Deferred Gratification is Psychopathy

You all know the model. Leave the kid in the room with the Oreo or whatever and the ones who can defer gratification are later found to be more "successful" in life.

Bullshit (Just look at weasel beard above). That's not success. That's psychopathy.

It's industrial scale, corporate-brainwashing and nutmeg-psychology that flies in the face of of the very essence of being a human FUCKING being. 

I mentioned it back on Rob's blog a couple of days ago that the change from arboreal, fruitarian, peaceful and (ahem slightly orgiastic - yay for SEX) Homo Sapiens of an honourable and inspirational nature compared to the 21st century mendacity of homo mutatitis that hoard their grain and self implode on the metaphysics of attempting to temporarily own the perma-unobtainable, through war and coercion that leaves half the planet glued to the the carpet-embedded-sofa, cheered on by a TV & Fossil fuel Drug dependency while the other half are out in the fields on the other side of the planet,  tilling the soil for mere pennies a day while oscillating geographically and in a temporal sense from exhaustion into starvation and back into exhaustion again to grow food for "me me me" and not themselves. 


Is this the poetry of deferred gratification? 


Put off today what you can industrial-strength kill off tomorrow?

Surely the very essence of enlightenment is to live in the intelligent and harmonious moment instead of breeding a species that shit-hoards, spits on frugality, wastes 40% of it's food, crushes its global brethren and celebrates this as toxic material-science enlightenment?

Do me a favour. Eat that fucking pancake kiddo and live in the moment while we the supposed adults figure out how to take care of the urgent problems of today instead of breeding a child who becomes professionally psychopathic at ignoring and deferring the impending ecocide debt-blowback.

What exactly is a Dosa?

After talking about the wonderful Dosas in Croydon over here, I've finally managed to take a picture of the heavenly ones they make at the Chennai Dosa and here it is. Inside that pancake like fold is a potato and lentil filling, while behind it are three little wells for putting the Dhal like soup, the white coconut chutney and a range of sauces including a chilli, tomato and a mango. All for dipping in. I'm also very fond of the basic metal beakers used for drinking London's finest tap water.

Its not very glamorous but its usually quite busy with all sorts of ethnic Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis not to mention the growing Afro Carribean community I've noticed going.