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email from my sister – Greek Philosophy

Posted in family and relationships, Fun Stuff, tagged Diogenes, gossip, Greek philosophy, Socrates on August 3, 2010| 3 Comments »

I often get emails from my sister (actually that should read I get a ‘Thought for Today’ email from her Mon-Fri and they often have little gems of something to think about). This particular thought made me chuckle and therefor is good enough to share with you.

Here it is; enjoy:

Greek Philosophy — As pertinent today as 399 BC !!
Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumour or spread gossip.

In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom
One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied, “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test.
It’s called the Triple Filter Test”
‘Triple filter?” asked the acquaintance.
“That’s right,” Socrates continued,
“Before you talk to me about Diogenes let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say.
The first filter is Truth – Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it.”
“All right,” said Socrates, “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.
Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?”
“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued,
“You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued, “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness.
Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates,
“If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me, or anyone, at all?”

The man was bewildered and ashamed.
This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was shagging his wife.

end of your Greek philosophy lesson for today! 🙂

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Trooping the Colour 2010

Posted in around the UK, Fun Stuff, Historical, things to do in London, Travel, tagged British traditions, http://www.3daysinlondon.info, London events, Pomp and Ceremony, things to do in london, Traditional events in London, Trooping the Colour, Trooping the Colour 2010 on June 14, 2010| 5 Comments »

What do you get when you mix Tradition, Pomp and Ceremony, a Queen, Princes, Princesses, Royal Artilleries, Horses, crowds of cheering people, and Red Arrows?

Trooping the Colour!

Troops marching by in Colour

The Sovereign’s official birthday is marked with a colourful mix of military bands,

Military Bands

precision marching, some 20,000 well-wishers, top hats and tails, flags and planes and a 41-gun salute, to create an exciting day of Pomp and Pagentry marking a tradition that goes back more than 4 centuries.

The event is an enactment of the traditional preparations for battle when the “colours”, or flags were “trooped” down the ranks so they would be recognised by the soldiers. This year’s celebration, marking her Majesty’s 84th birthday, saw the colour being paraded by the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.

This was the 58th ceremony at which the Queen has presided. Looking radiant and dressed prettily in lilac with a flambouyant matching hat, sitting in Queen Victoria’s 1842 ivory-mounted phaeton drawn by a pair of horses, with Prince Philip at her side, she rode daintily down The Mall.

one of the carriages being driven to the Palace before the event

Queen Victoria's 1842 paheton drawn by two greys, on their way to the Palace to collect Queen Elizabeth II

Preceded by first Prince William and The Duchess of Cornwall in a carriage, then Prince Andrew with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in a second carriage, she was accompanied by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Kent and the Princess Royal on horseback.

The Royal Standard flew colourfully and cheerfully above the Palace, while below, the streets were cleared of traffic and detritus in preparation for the Queen’s appearance.

The Royal Standard flapping jauntily above Buckingham Palace

The day began at 10am with slightly overcast skies and proceeded with Military precision till the fly-past at 1.30pm. The British Military are renowned for their detail and each carefully choreographed display never missed a beat.

The enthusiasm of the crowds in front of Buckingham Palace, along The Mall and inside the Whitehall parade grounds was visibly palpable. A ripple of excitement swept through the crowds that had gathered, standing 10 deep, when the first of the Regiments made their appearance.

standing 10 deep

The Military Bands; 400 musicians, splendid in their colours of either red and black or black and gold, accessorised with enough bling to put any self-respecting Pop Star to shame, played a medley of military tunes and of course “God Save our Queen”.

all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men...covered in bling!

The Troops; the different Regiments marked by their own particular colours and uniforms, marched past in snaking lines of Red, Black and Gold, boots shining, arms swinging jauntily in tandem as they made their way past the Palace to Horse Guards Parade.

snaking line of marching troops

The crowds watched in awe as the field guns, drawn by matching teams of horses rode past,

gun-carriages drawn by carefully matched horses

and in admiration as wave after wave of colour swept along The Mall.

Once the Colour was trooped, the Guards in their poppy red tunics and well-brushed bearskin hats filled the arena with a display of precision marching, after which the Royal family then returned to the Palace, stepping out en-mass onto the balcony to welcome back the Queen and Prince Philip.

After riding out along the route of cheering citizens come from all corners of the earth,

they come from all corners of the earth

the Queen returned to the Palace

Queen Elizabeth looking radiant returning to the Palace

and within minutes stepped onto the balcony to an enthusiastic wave of clapping, cheering and vigorous flag-waving!

waving flags and cheering crowds greet Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as they step onto the balcony

We were then treated to a Royal Air Force fly past, featuring the old stalwarts of World War II – the Spitfire II and Hurricane, as well as fighter-jets and the Red Arrows which left a stream of blue, red and white plumes across the sky in their wake.

The Red Arrows - a plume of red, white and blue behind them

On the balcony the Queen waved enthusiastically, encouraged by the cheers of the crowd below.

And then….it was all over. The crowds milled about, not sure what to do with themselves after all the preceeding excitment, and slowly but surely they slipped away to spend the rest of the day enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of London.

milling about after the excitement

I strolled into Green Park for a bit of rest and relaxation and to have a squizz at some of the delightful little elephants, part of the Elephant Parade, that are dotted about the city for the next few weeks.

Baarsfant

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my own ‘Springwatch’ moment

Posted in Fun Stuff, It's my life, tagged fledging blue tits, springwatch on June 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One thing is for sure….my life is not boring!

The last few days have been weird to say the least with two very early morning wake-up calls. (long story for another time). Needless to say I have been feeling somewhat like a zombie today.

So what a lovely surprise to have a ‘springwatch’ moment all of my own this morning. I was in the kitchen doing whatever I was doing when I heard a calamitious noise outside. A quick look out the window revealed a ‘fledging’. 🙂 Yes, my very own viewing of our resident family of Blue-Tits on their first outing.

Now I am taking a bit of licence here coz I am not exactly sure this was the first outing, nevertheless it was my first sighting of the chicks with Mama and Papa, and my word what a din!

I got some great, albeit somewhat blurry photos – (due to distance from where I was standing to where the family were perched).

The babies were so funny, landing in a flurry of wings onto the washline that is strung across the verandah, then flipping over upside down and hanging on for dear life. Mother Tit flapping about, pecking at the food and feeding the chicks in turn (depending who was nearest and squarking the loudest 🙂

Surprisingly, the babies were quite a bit larger than the parents, ever so very cute and boy did they make a din!!

here are the photos…(excuse the blurriness)

a blue-tit fledging

hey! I got here first...me first!!

the whole darn family is lined up..

hang on kids...grubs a coming

hiya Pop, what you doing down there?

oooppps....wheee this is fun 🙂

no worries Ma, feed me anyway

look Ma, no hands!

so Mother, you reckon he's for the circus then!

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Cycle Slam 2010 #travel #europe#london

Posted in Fun Stuff, Holidays, news from around the world, things to in London, Travel, tagged cycle across europe, cycling, cycling in europe, http://twitter.com/3days_in_london, raising fund for charity on June 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Hello. Thanks for dropping by :). I found a flyer the other day that piqued my interest; Cycle Slam 2010. Anything with the words cycle or with the hint of travel, always catches my eye.

On closer inspection I note that it is an advert for a Bike ride across Europe (London, UK to Timisoara, RO). Now that is exciting.

so here are the details:

What: Bike ride across Europe (as above)

When: From 1st to 20th August 2010

Where: Europe (United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania)

Why: To raise money to help Romania’s abandoned children

Who: A core team of 20 cyclists plus anyone who wants to join

The flyer appears to have been printed by a young man who goes by the name of Bogdan Christea. He and his fiancee are two young, ambitious and hardworking entrepreneurs who want to raise money to help disadvantaged children live better lives.

They are planning to leave in August this year, hopping on their bikes in London and won’t stop pedaling till they reach Timisoara in Romania. Their route will take them through 9 countries and along they way they will visit some of the most beautiful cities in Europe. They will be supported all the way by Amway and team NUTRILITE and hope to make this an experience of a lifetime; for themselves and of course for the children who will benefit from the funds they raise.

map of Romania

He has chosen his home country of Romania, where children are still suffering in a childcare system that was left deeply damaged by the Communist regime. Their dream is to help rebuild the system and thereby ensure that children there have a brighter future to look forward to.

Timisoara, Romania

If you would like to take part in this ride for one or more of the dates across Europe, raising your own sponsorship, then this may be for you.

For more information on this visit http://www.cycleslam.eu they are also in twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cycleslam

So if you are a keen cyclist, and fancy raising funds for a good cause then why not contact these folk and see what it’s all about. NB; do make sure that any event that involves raising funds are bona vide and have a registered charity number.

Thanks to http://www.wseas.us/conferences/2009/timisoara/sse/location.htm for the picture

Thanks to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timisoara_Romania_CIA2006.png for the picture

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aka a whale! :)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Inspiration, It's my life, tagged healthy body image, http://www.twitter.com/notjustagranny/, i want to be a whale, mermaids, shutterstock.com on May 17, 2010| 4 Comments »

I recently received this via an email from a friend; it is delightful:

Recently, in a large city in France , a poster featuring a young, thin and
tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, “This summer, do you
want to be a mermaid or a whale?”

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of
the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the
gym.

To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious
humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby
whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with
shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like
Patagonia , the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia . Whales are
wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures
and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected
and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the
offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?

They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not
to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them … where is IT?
Therefore, they don’t have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get
close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P..S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only
skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my
kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate
with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much
information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it
distributes out to the rest of our bodies.So we aren’t heavy, we are
enormously cultured, educated and happy.
Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good
grief, look how smart I am!¨

thanks to shutterstock.com for the picture 🙂

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something else to do on a rainy day in #london

Posted in Fun Stuff, things to in London, tagged croissants, pizza, sherry, sleep, what to do on a rainy day in london on May 2, 2010| 6 Comments »

OK, so you’ve opened the curtains and the sight does not appeal….it’s raining!!! Again? No, not really. We have actually been blessed with some of the most amazing days of late, sunny and warm and just gorgeous.

a sunny day in London

However, today it is raining and so what to do?

a rainy day in London

Besides visiting the British Museum you could jusy stay in bed!

Buy the Sunday Papers and a few croissants from the corner deli – be sure to send someone else 🙂

sunday papers - tnx to http://www.brittanymolsen.com

Then snuggle down under the duvet, with a large pot of tea,

pot of tea - tnx to http://www.realbeauty.com

the papers and hot buttered croissant with strawberry jam!

croissant - tnx to http://www.tentazioni.co.uk

Do this till you get sick of tea, read all the interesting articles and need the loo.

Then you could order in a large pizza and select your favourite movie on TV and again snuggle down for the rest of the day, or again till you need to pee 🙂

pizza - tnx to http://www.signature-austin.com

Then pour yourself a glass of sherry (make sure the arm is past the correct hour :)),

glass of sherry - tnx to http://www.johnjenkinsdirect.co.uk

grab some snacks and back to bed with a good book, do this till it’s legitimately time for bed and then you can just snuggle back down under the duvet and quite happily sleep till morning.

sleep till morning - tnx to http://www.rd.com

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clever Mr Magpie

Posted in Fun Stuff, It's my life, tagged fox, London, magpie on April 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

I just had to share this with you! I put some dog biscuits out for the fox this morning, as she sometimes wanders through the garden about midday, and usually has a squizz to see if there is any food on the verandah.

Anyhow, I noticed the biscuits had been disappearing, but I hadn’t seen the fox at all and wondered where they were going.

So I am sitting here writing and something caught my eye. I looked up and there was the Magpie….picked up a biscuit, flew over to the birdbath and dropped it into the water!!!! Then he flew back a few seconds later and picked the biscuit up out the water! 🙂

How clever is that! I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch him at the waterbowl but nevertheless I got him on the verandah near the foxes plate. Clever chappie.

it was the magpie, nicked the biscuits!

ooo and there goes the fox, through the garden right on time and the biscuits have gone! 😦

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How to NOT go sledding :)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Holidays, idiot category, It's my life, Travel, tagged having fun in the snow, news of the snow in london, sledding in london, snow in the uk on April 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

Ok, so I know the snow was a pain for a lot of people….but boy oh boy did we (my daughter and I) have fun. Here is an example of how to NOT go sledding!!!

In case you are wondering….that is my ‘delightful’ daughter laughing in the background!!

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…..twetiquette

Posted in career, Fun Stuff, It's my life, tagged @mention, how to have a conversation on twitter, http://www.twitter.com/notjustagranny/, put the social back into media, quotes, relationships, retweet a quote, retweets, social media and what it means, Twitter on April 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

You may or may not know it yet, but I love twitter. To me it is one of the best internet inventions ever….well besides the internet of course 🙂

I’ve said before that I could quite happily spend the whole day on twitter; following links, retweeting quotes, chatting to friends around the world, connecting with new friends I noticed mentioned by current friends, having a laugh at the jokes, responding to mentions, having a peek into someone else’s life: finding out what they like, who they don’t like, what they think of Tiger Woods, who is visiting starbucks, who loves tea, who has been where, whose kids are on spring break, photo’s of gorgeous places, who is sitting on a carribean beach, what is happening 6,000 miles away, who is passionate about which cause, who supports those causes, who is selling what, and why, who writes poetry, whose baby has just been born, whose birthday it is, celebrating their achievements, who is passionate about their garden, who shares my interest in travel, which people lean towards religion and who doesn’t and much much more…….you know what I mean.

And this got me to thinking about the etiquette of twitter, about how it is we get to connect with the people behind the profiles and I wondered if twetiquette is the same as etiquette and do the same rules apply when we are relatively anonymous behind a computer screen as opposed to being face to face.

Etiquette (pronounced [,eti’ket]) is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group. The French word étiquette, signifying ticket (of admission, etc.) first appeared in English in 1750.

So if I understand that correctly; etiquette in simple terms is a code of behaviour within a social class or group. How then is etiquette practised in the world of twitter.

In a normal social setting it is good etiquette to introduce yourself, to shake hands in greeting (or whatever the correct social norm would be in your any particular country), to engage in polite conversation, to enquire after someones health and if you feel comfortable in the environment you then engage further and enquire as to career or family ties, do they participate in a sport, what sort of music they enjoy and so through a repartee of conversation within the norm of a social setting you get to find out more about the person you are communicating with.

On twitter your introduction is your profile: you have an opportunity to introduce yourself. I come along, I have a look and if we speak the same language or like similar things we then ‘follow’ : we shake hands.

Next I post a tweet that I am about to go on holiday or I re-tweet an interesting link you have posted about travel tips or an exciting destination – you respond and as we engage so we get to learn more about one another: conversation.

Then perhaps a friend comes along and we think the person we are with might like to meet them, so we introduce them: @mention the person and if possible we say why aka #ff or #followfriday

Sometimes over the course of time we find that the things they say aka ‘tweet’ are of no real interest, so we move on : unfollow

When we first meet a new person in a normal social settings we dont just jump in with the company’s latest advert : marketing links

And I dislike the idea of ‘automated’ following programmes to build numbers : running down the street ‘shouting..be my friend’?!

So here is my idea of twetiquette:

Follow = I like you and think we may have things in common

Retweet your post = I find your post interesting and would like to share it with others

@mention you and comment on something you said previously = conversation

Click on a link you posted = taking an interest in what you have to say

Retweet the link = I think other people might also be interested

Retweet a comment you made eg a quote = repartee

#followfriday = I think youre a great person and would like to introduce you to my other friends

So, those are just some of my ideas! What are your thoughts on the matter?

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Who was St George?

Posted in Fun Stuff, Historical, It's my life, tagged 23 April, England's National Day, Golden Legend, googles front page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George, http://www.google.co.uk/, patron saint of england, St George and the Dragon, St Georges Day, Winston Churchill on April 23, 2010| 3 Comments »

St George on Google 🙂

Most countries which observe St George’s Day celebrate it on April 23, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George’s death in 303 AD.

St George’s Day is celebrated by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint. St George’s Day is also England’s National Day.

Saint George is the patron saint of some important cities, mainly belonging to the territories added to the old kingdoms of Castille, Leon and Aragon in the historic period of the “Reconquista”.

The legend

St. George and the Dragon, wood sculpture by Bernt Notke in Stockholm’s Storkyrkan

St. George and the Dragon in Stockholm’s Gamla stan

Woodcut frontispiece of Alexander Barclay, Lyfe of Seynt George (Westminster, 1515)

According to the Golden Legend the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place in a place he called “Silene,” in Libya; the Golden Legend is the first to place this legend in Libya as a sufficiently exotic locale, where a dragon might be imagined. In the tenth-century Georgian narrative, the place is the fictional city of Lasia, and it is the godless Emperor who is Selinus.

The town had a pond, as large as a lake, where a plague-bearing dragon dwelled that envenomed all the countryside. To appease the dragon, the people of Silene used to feed it two sheep every day, and when the sheep failed, they fed it their children, chosen by lottery.

It happened that the lot fell on the king’s daughter. The king, distraught with grief, told the people they could have all his gold and silver and half of his kingdom if his daughter were spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, decked out as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.

Saint George by chance rode past the lake. The princess, trembling, sought to send him away, but George vowed to remain.

The dragon reared out of the lake while they were conversing. Saint George fortified himself with the Sign of the Cross, charged it on horseback with his lance and gave it a grievous wound. Then he called to the princess to throw him her girdle, and he put it around the dragon’s neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a meek beast on a leash. She and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach. But Saint George called out to them, saying that if they consented to become Christians and be baptised, he would slay the dragon before them.

The king and the people of Silene converted to Christianity, George slew the dragon, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. “Fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children.” On the site where the dragon died, the king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George, and from its altar a spring arose whose waters cured all disease.

Traditionally, the swordwith which St. George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, a name recalling the city of Ashkelon, Israel. From this tradition, the name Ascalon was used by Winston Churchill for his personal aircraft during World War II (records at Bletchley Park), since St. George is the Patron Saint of England.

How cool is that! Thanks to Wikipedia for the above….a font of information as always. This story has fascinated me ever since I discovered that my birthday falls on the day of the Patron Saint of England, especially as I so love England. It is quite thrilling. 🙂

So who was St George?

Quick Facts about St George

Born in Turkey (in Cappadocia)
Lived in 3rd century
His parents were Christian
Became a Roman soldier
Protested against Rome’s persecution of Christians
Imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
Beheaded at Lydda in Palestine

St. George is believed to have been born in Cappadocia (now Eastern Turkey) in the year A.D. 270. He was a Christian. At the age of seventeen he joined the Roman army and soon became renowned for his bravery. He served under a pagan Emperor but never forgot his Christian faith.

When the pagan Emperor Diocletian started persecuting Christians, St. George pleaded with the Emperor to spare their lives. However, St. George’s pleas fell on deaf ears and it is thought that the Emperor Diocletian tried to make St. George deny his faith in Christ, by torturing him. St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine on 23 April, 303.

In 1222, the Council of Oxford declared April 23 to be St George’s Day and he replaced Edward the Confessor as England’s patron saint in the 14th century. In 1415, April 23 was made a national feast day.

my thanks to woodlands-junior for the info

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