Good Morning

A Jazzy Thursday Morning

Some jazz for the morning -


The Very Big Carla Bley Band - Who will rescue you?

A very nice example of big band music with a prominent part for the trombone player, Gary Valente.

John Coltrane - Wise One

Bill Evans - The Two Lonely People

Rüdiger Krause, Carla Bley & Steve Swallow - Lawns

Gerry Mulligan - Prelude In E Minor

Enjoy




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Cobalt

I noticed recently on Pinterest that one of the coffee quotes is wrong. It is the one concerning coffee spelt out in the symbols for elements in the Periodic Table. The first two letters of the word are the symbol for Cobalt (that is Co) but the word underneath it is Coban and not Cobalt. In fact,  Cobalt is an interesting transition metal and is element number 27 on the Periodic Table. The name derives from the German word kobald which translates to "goblin" since 16th-century miners in Saxony  tried to smelt what they thought was a precious metal and were poisoned by toxic arsenic fumes. What they found was a mineral ore of the metal, Cobalt Arsenide, which they believed was cursed by goblins.

The ordinary version of Cobalt, and not the radioactive Co-60, is a key constituent of vitamin B12 and essential for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system. Deficiency in this nutrient leads to pernicious anaemia where the body is unenabled to produce sufficient red blood cells to carry all the oxygen that it requires. Foods rich in vitamin B12 include eggs, liver, salmon, herring and sardines. Vegans cannot obtain it from their diet so it is essential that they take supplements. And that, dear readers, are part of the fascinating story of Cobalt.

Thursday Thoughts

I wandered into town like a lonely flower ... oops, I am sounding a bit like Wordsworth. Anyway, as it was a really nice sunny mild Winters day I thought I might have a look around the town. All I did was to check out some of the charity shops in which I found three dead cheap books and then had a meal at my local pub. As it was Curry Day I had the Naga chilli vindaloo curry with a pint of Abbot ale. Put it this way, it sure gives you a really good nasal clean out if you know what I mean.

One of the paperbacks I found was quite a heavy tome of the short stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky. It runs roughly into 700 pages. The other two are H.G.Wells classic "Time Machine" and the other is the history and mythology of Amazonian women including such famous warriors such as Artemis. Greek mythology is another of my interests as these stories still resonate with us.

This month sees the third annual Faversham Literary festival (19-23 Feb) and the highlights are Tracy Thorn of Everything But The Girl, former GLC head chief Ken Livingstone, and novelist Micheal Rosen. There are other events as well, so I need to get cracking and get some of those tickets online.

These were the book fonds today -




So far, during my recent charity shop visits on behalf of a couple of companies I work for, are the following eclectic mix -







Currently, I am wading through the 695 page Katherine Graham's Personal History biography of her time at the Washington Post, the broadsheet that exposed Watergate.

Just Wondering

When was the last time you had an amazing meal?

What is your first memory of being really excited?

How would you finish this: The best part of waking up is _______________________________?