To the British Museum, via the Vets Head, of which more anon.
Pen on oil, various hands, circa 2014. Or, if you prefer a more stringent test of your cultural levels, try to identify the provenance of this:
The main theme for today's visit was Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art which was interesting, and confirms for me that the older I get and the more I know about other, particularly antient, cultures, the more I realise how little I understand what they can possibly have been thinking. Eventually, when I'm really old, I'll realise I've never understood anyone else at all.
For <reasons> we ended up walking through more of London that usual, which lead me to realise how weird London is, too.
Here's St Pauls, from Waterloo bridge; and while the overall scene is pleasing in the fitful sunlight, some of the modern buildings are astonishingly stupid. Its like tasteless aliens have dropped giant blocks of Lego on the unsuspecting city. Their architects should be hung from the overhanging sides. Speaking of which, there's a lovely relief in the BM with giant Assyrian archers, a badly drawn siege engine, appalling perspective on a ladder, and some impaled captives. And, according to the caption, juggling with cut-off heads; but I couldn't see that.
Lastly, I quite wanted to write about Removing Diurnal Cycle Contamination in Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperatures: Understanding Tropical Tropospheric Trend Discrepancies by Stephen Po-Chedley, Tyler J. Thorsen, and Qiang Fu; but I don't have the paper (h/t Ned; yes I know about SS but I want to read the paper). Anyone? [Updated: its here; my thanks to DA.]
And, errm, lastly again, a snippet from Wolf Hall:
I tell you, Cromwell, you've got face, coming here.
My Lord, you sent for me.
Did I? Norfolk looks alarmed. It's come to that?
Refs
* A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)
* Patrick Moore Gets Called Out, Storms Out of Interview
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Sassanid, or before
[Right area, but too late. Actually https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninhursag according to the caption (https://www.flickr.com/photos/belette/16796458099/) so around 2500 BC -W]
we ended up walking through more of London that usual, which lead me to realise how weird London is
You need to get out more. If that photo is representative of London's skyline, then the weird thing about London is that a city of such importance has so few architectural monstrosities of that kind. Boston's City Hall is particularly egregious, but pretty much every major city in North America has buildings as bad or worse than the ones in your photo, and let's not talk about what the Chinese and Japanese have been building.
Skyscrapers. Will Self's piece may be of interest:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/27/will-self-on-the-meaning-o…
[Well, he's a writer. He doesn't really understand the concept of function -W]
I never thought I'd see that particular line from Simon & Garfunkel's Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m. used as a title. (I approve...)
How long until you begin quoting Dylan Thomas (whoever he wuz)? ;)
[There's actually a subtle Dylan reference in this very post, if you look hard enough -W]
Modernization is important. I think we live in a world where technology is taking over society and where the modern world is playing an increasingly big role in the functioning of cities. Small towns are getting less and less and big cities, like London for example, are getting bigger by the day. Yes, point taken, maybe these buildings could have been done a bit better. But fact is, this is the world we live in, and expansions like these are just a step in the right direction according to me.
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