aboveboard
http://20six.co.uk/aboveboard
powered by
20six.co.uk
|
|
The count rises
The haul today was ten caterpillars and one vine weevil. The latter was on the end of a kale leaf; in the process of lifting the pot to take it and the vw outside, I knocked the beast off the plant and it fell amongst the other pots of kale. I spent the next ten minutes trying to find the blasted thing; fortunately I did so. Never have I been more glad to find a vine weevil. It will eat and reproduce no more. Needless to say, there will be plenty more where that came from.
I planted out some of the kale plants, carefully inspecting them for caterpillars--the botanical equivalent of checking kids' heads for nits.
Thought for today
Any man who has $10,000 left when he dies is a failure.
Errol Flynn
|
1.8.07 20:32
|
|
New signs
The caterpillars on my kale grow quickly. Today I spotted a new sign of their presence--turds. Now I am on turd watch. Turds mean the presence of big caterpillars, ones with big enough bums to produce visible deposits.
The book The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong is good. 'Blind obedience and unthinking acceptance of authority figures may make an institution work more smoothly, but the people who live under such a regime will remain in an infantile, dependent state. It is a great pity that religious institutions often insist of this type of conformity, which is far from the spirit of their founders, who all, in one way or another, rebelled against the status quo.'
Thought for today
It is always difficult to forgive people we know we have wronged.
Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase, 2004
|
2.8.07 20:46
|
|
Compassion today
Here's another snippet from the book A short treatise on the Great Virtues by Andre Comte-Sponville.
We should therefore avoid confusing compassion with condescension or with what has come to be caricatured as 'good works,' charity (in the sense of giving charity), philanthropy, or almsgiving. One can be of the opinion that, as Spinoza maintains, it is up to the state and not private persons to aid the poor and that, consequently, in order to fight poverty, political acts are better than acts of charity. I would tend to agree. Even if I gave away everything I owned and became as poor as the poor, how would that change the fact of poverty? Social problems call for social solutions. Compassion, like generosity, can justify fighting for higher taxes and the better employment of those taxes, surely a more efficient way (and for many of us a costlier, hence more generous, way) of fighting poverty than giving a coin here and there.
Thought for today
The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish author
|
3.8.07 20:28
|
|
A death in the greenhouse
One of my broccoli plants looked sick yesterday; it was wilting even though it was not short of water. Today I confirmed my diagnosis; I poked in the soil and revealed maggots (presumably of cabbage root fly) which had eaten the roots.
It is a race against time in my greenhouse. The quicker the plants grow, the quicker they can withstand attack from predators until, that is, they are dispatched by the ultimate predator--me.
Thought for today
Just or not, the law is still the law: no democracy, no republic would be possible if people obeyed only the laws they approved of. True, but no democracy or republic would be acceptable if obedience required us to abjure justice or tolerate the intolerable. Of course, not every unjust law must be disobeyed: the question is one of degree and cannot be resolved once and for all.
Andre Comte-Sponville, A Short Treatise on the Great Virtues, 1999
|
4.8.07 21:06
|
|
Another two fatalities
Argh, another two broccoli plants have had their roots eaten by maggots. Meanwhile, the spinach is thriving, the tomato plants are producing loads of tomatoes, the runner and french beans are flourishing, the courgettes are flowering and developing courgettes, and the pumpkins are spreading outwards. I should be grateful for that. Rain would be a bonus.
Thought for today
Take the matter of taxes, for example. If you are middle class or well-to-do, it can be an act of generosity on your part to vote for a political party that has announced its determination to raise taxes. But there are few opportunities to express one's generosity in this way: political parties, it seems, only know how to vaunt [boast of] their efforts to reduce taxes, which shows what they think of our generosity! Call me pessimistic, but isn't it clear that politicians, whatever they may say, are even more so, and for very sound reasons?
Andre Comte-Sponville, A Short Treatise on the Great Virtues, 1999
|
5.8.07 20:37
|
|
Paying for pain
Had a routine dental check up this morning. The dentist inspected my teeth and then scraped off plaque and polished them. She was more thorough than my previous dentist; it was nice when she stopped. I sat in the chair with my hands in my lap and my fingers interlocked so I could clench my hands without appearing to do so. I've had more dental treatment than usual lately, and I find this position takes my mind slightly off the pain. I sat there thinking that I was paying for the pain. 'Have a rinse,' she said at the end. I spat blood.
Planted out the rest of my kale plants. No sooner had I finished and turned my back on the plot than a pigeon flew down to inspect what I'd done. Birds must have good eyesight.
Thought for today
Love is a joy not a form of powerlessness or surrender. Loving one's enemies doesn't mean giving up the fight--it means fighting them joyously.
Andre Comte-Sponville, A Short Treatise on the Great Virtues, 1999
|
6.8.07 20:42
|
|
Modern social evils
Joseph Rowntree produced a report in 1907 about social ills--intemperance, intolerance and intoxication. The Radio 4 programme You and Yours featured an item about the ills of today. A panel of three gave their opinions, and listeners phoned in or emailed to give theirs. One was critical of the TV programme Big Brother. I think that programme is a sign of a problem rather than a problem itself. Another considered acquired wealth was a problem and asked what we will do with our acquired wealth. The answer to that is easy--we'll pay for our care in our old age when we'll be either decrepit or gaga or, worse, both.
I tried to think of a modern social evil, one for 2007 rather than 1907. The problems now are probably little different from those 100 years ago. I did wonder if stiff plastic packaging counted as I struggled to remove a new brush for my electric toothbrush from its packet without cutting myself or damaging the brush. Plastic packaging is the modern equivalent of corned beef tins--items, when opened, guaranteed to lacerate fingers.
Thought for today
One out of four people in this country is mentally unbalanced. Think of your three closest friends--and if they seem OK then you're the one!
Ann Landers (1918 - 2002) American agony aunt
|
7.8.07 20:07
|
|
[next page]
|