2019-12-04
Entry tags:
Cheeses
Ilchester Black Cheddar cheese is delicious. Never heard of it before until I tried it recently. It is a rich and smooth Black Cheddar which is a versatile and uniquely flavoured cheese. Coloured with natural Cocoa and Carob to give a malty flavour. Goes well with slices of apples and a very fine sprinkle of salt and pepper. Melts easily on toast as well.
The same company do a fine range of beer cheeses too. They call then Tipplers - "Back in 1962, our founder Ken Seaton discovered that adding beer to cheese helped to preserve it, as well as making it taste rather good. To this day we still make our Beer Cheese to Ken’s original recipe, adding extra strong ale and a secret blend of spices to mature Somerset Cheddar.
Our Tippler range also includes Port Cheddar and Whisky Cheddar cheeses!"
Must try these out as well.
Entry tags:
Photo Dump
Recent photos -
Brighton Rail Station
North Laines Brighton ; Self Portrait
Mike and Lesley at November's Lunch Club Brighton.
Brighton Rail Station
North Laines Brighton ; Self Portrait
Mike and Lesley at November's Lunch Club Brighton.
Entry tags:
Book 96 - Edward W. Said "Parallels and Paradoxes"
Edward W. Said "Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society" (Bloomsbury)
This book is the transcript of several discussions with the two authors. The discussions are about music, but wider than music, philosophy of life and music's connection to politics and literature. The text is not edited well; one has to focus intently to keep the flow of information connected while reading. However, the reward is stunning philosophic ideas about music, such as how sound creeps out of silence. Excellent information and ideas. A recommended read.
This book is the transcript of several discussions with the two authors. The discussions are about music, but wider than music, philosophy of life and music's connection to politics and literature. The text is not edited well; one has to focus intently to keep the flow of information connected while reading. However, the reward is stunning philosophic ideas about music, such as how sound creeps out of silence. Excellent information and ideas. A recommended read.
Entry tags:
Book 97 - David J. Peterson "The Art of Language Invention"
David J. Peterson "The Art of Language Invention" (Penguin Books)
This book was an awe-inspiring look into a level of geek to which few aspire, but those who want to try their geek credentials should attempt to read.
While getting extremely technical (a background/interest in or even passing knowledge of linguistics is highly recommended), Peterson drops in bits of humour that allow for at least some readability for the layperson (e.g., his rant about evil onions and the tidbit that "keli," the Dothraki word for "cat," is his cat's name). Since I do not know much about linguistics and some knowledge of semiotics, the first section on sound was painful to get through, but as the book went on I was able to appreciate the content more.
What was the most fascinating aspect to me was the intricacies of how natural human language works and how serious conlangers (from different sounds and grammatical structures to the evolution of the language) must take all of it into consideration.
One of the things I learned was that, quite possibly, conlanging is one of those things from which I need to put my hands up and back away slowly, because I could far too easily become interested, find myself sucked down a rabbit hole, and *poof* would go vast tracts of time I should be spending on one of the things I'm already involved with. I don't know if I would ever take the plunge – but I have too many hobbies and potential hobbies and projects and distractions than are good for me. Until I learn to do without sleep, I need to keep my distance from anything else that might suck me in.
What would have made this book better, was an audio recording to actually hear how the numerous examples of his (and the natural) languages are pronounced.
This book was an awe-inspiring look into a level of geek to which few aspire, but those who want to try their geek credentials should attempt to read.
While getting extremely technical (a background/interest in or even passing knowledge of linguistics is highly recommended), Peterson drops in bits of humour that allow for at least some readability for the layperson (e.g., his rant about evil onions and the tidbit that "keli," the Dothraki word for "cat," is his cat's name). Since I do not know much about linguistics and some knowledge of semiotics, the first section on sound was painful to get through, but as the book went on I was able to appreciate the content more.
What was the most fascinating aspect to me was the intricacies of how natural human language works and how serious conlangers (from different sounds and grammatical structures to the evolution of the language) must take all of it into consideration.
One of the things I learned was that, quite possibly, conlanging is one of those things from which I need to put my hands up and back away slowly, because I could far too easily become interested, find myself sucked down a rabbit hole, and *poof* would go vast tracts of time I should be spending on one of the things I'm already involved with. I don't know if I would ever take the plunge – but I have too many hobbies and potential hobbies and projects and distractions than are good for me. Until I learn to do without sleep, I need to keep my distance from anything else that might suck me in.
What would have made this book better, was an audio recording to actually hear how the numerous examples of his (and the natural) languages are pronounced.
Entry tags:
Mark-Anthony Turnage
A couple of modern symphonic pieces -
Mark-Anthony Turnage - Three Screaming Popes (After Francis Bacon For Large Orchestra)
Mark-Anthony Turnage - Your Rockaby
Mark-Anthony Turnage - Three Screaming Popes (After Francis Bacon For Large Orchestra)
Mark-Anthony Turnage - Your Rockaby
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Book 98 - John Gribbin "13.8"
John Gribbin "13.8" (Icon Books)
This is a lovely book for anyone interested in modern cosmology. It is not really watered down, but at the same time concepts and jargon are well enough explained that even readers with no physics background can probably follow along. This book also does a good job of covering the basics of the history of the science of cosmology, a very brief introduction of course, but sufficient to provide some detail of many of the key people involved in working out the age of the Universe, including several of the women involved in the early days of this research
This is a lovely book for anyone interested in modern cosmology. It is not really watered down, but at the same time concepts and jargon are well enough explained that even readers with no physics background can probably follow along. This book also does a good job of covering the basics of the history of the science of cosmology, a very brief introduction of course, but sufficient to provide some detail of many of the key people involved in working out the age of the Universe, including several of the women involved in the early days of this research
