Welcome to this blank canvas, as it were.

It will get coloured in during the course of the forthcoming 365 days of our new circuit round old SOL INVICTUS. (Started this page 1st Jan 2021)

2021
& we've begun
another orbit round our Sun

let's hope this one
proves much more fun
before it's done

(Earth 'circles' around our local star in an ellipse or oval, which doesn't have a  distinct beginning or end, of course.To be more precise, apparently, Earth's orbit has an 'eccentricity' of less than 0.02, ie it's very close to being a 'perfect' circle. Earth like Yours Truly ^TM  is only slightly eccentric!
And don't be so conventional or square, consider other geometrical forms. Our planet makes a revolution of the sun annually. Political revolutions sometimes take longer. Why not start one now?)

Meanwhile, while you're waiting, with bated breath, twiddling your opposable thumbs...

You could do worse than occupy yourself with perusing the then NEW pages I did last year in the never-to-be forgotten 2020

Talking of the Sun, don't forget the MOON,

our good Earth

& the rest of the UNIVERSE

or whatever you do:

Here & Now

(Look a SUNBEAM, home of the Hummingbird)

Am already playfully working on a few pages,

to be revealed soonish or laterish.

Watch this space.

         Try this for size:

                          click pic

                            More coming soon

   NEWSFLASHES, February 2021:

  Old Dog, New Trick?

   This month, my 9-year-old son taught me some new (well, 1980s rapper) slang I hadn't heard before:

   "Give props to" = To praise & show respect to, (from proper respect for/ recognition of)

    So, there's an extra pun for my arsenal, give props to me for my props here.

***

   12th Feb - Chinese (&Tibetan) Year of the OX begins.

   13th Feb - almost a decade on, 7.3-magnitude earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, scientists say was aftershock of 11 March 2011 disaster (quake, tsunami, triple nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, when more than 18,000 died.)

***

 Lawrence Ferlinghetti, writer & founder of City Lights Books, died 22 Feb at age of 101. Wrote this essay on him in 1974.

***

1821 - Keats died 23rd Feb

***

March, the Rightwing Regime (aka Tory Government) in this undemocratic Monarchy, is in the process of outlawing protest with ten year imprisonment for those causing "serious annoyance" (their words). In case I get accused of inciting such annoyance, I must clarify that by "March" I mean the month not an imperative to act, though strictly speaking I couldn't rule out being deliberately ambiguous!

See what I said about protesting, rioting, causing serious annoyance in previous years:

- "there's gonna be riot"

- Brixton Riot

Got wrongfully arrested at a protest here.

It might well be that the very reason people protest is that they are "seriously annoyed" by something, eg Tory anti-protest laws!

Despite being made illegal by the U.N.(since 22 January of this year) the government is planning to acquire yet more damned nuclear weapons, which seems like a deranged priority at a time of Covid plague & ecocidal climate disruption. Might prompt some seriously annoying protest.
 

***

The Racist formerly known as Prince Philip, Grand Old Duke of Edinburgh, (born in Corfu, Greece, of a Danish Royal Family), Her Modesty the Queen's hubristic hubby died 9th April a few months short of his one hundreth birthday. Nation, if not world, said to be in shock. Mourning de rigueur. BBC pro-royalty propaganda overload.

More interestingly (to me anyway), the 9th was also the Bicentenary of Baudelaire's birthday in 1821.

***

April, Spring eventually blossoms, so added a bit to this page.

***

May, created new page: Swansong to Duality.

The bigger picture  has been in the news. A new Dark Matter map, including Cosmic Voids apparently, has been published. But don't forget the map ain't the territory!

 

A.I. detects canine DNA in my features: I'm a Dog! Well, ain't I just?

June soon.

Now, indeed!

Saw first swallows. One

                                      swooped to within about a metre of me.

                                                                                                   What a brill thrill.

***

Friday 11 June till Sunday 13th June, the G7 Summit is being held in the village of Carbis Bay, near St.Ives, in Cornwall. This is what I wrote about the G8 at Gleneagles in Scotland & the one at Genoa. I attended the 2005 anti-G8 protest & was wrongfully arrested. Gee whizz!

 

15 June, vast face-mask put on 57-metre-high statue of Buddhist goddess of Compassion, Kannon, near Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima. Plan is to keep the mask in place till COVID-19 under control in Japan.

click pic

21st June, SOL stood still, on the Longest Day.

 

19th July, England's rightwing regime lifts restrictions & allows Her Majesty the Queen's loyal Subjects to remove their beaked masks, though the pernicious Plague continues. Covid cases are  increasing. Globally, over 4 Million people have been killed by this madly mutating zoonotic virus.  Will the nightmare never end? Dig the Doctor's P.P.E.

14 July, Danish Cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard (right) died age 86. He was placed on an Al-Qaeda hit list & attacked in 2010 for allegedly insulting Islam with a cartoon of an Islamic terrorist with a bomb in his turban (not Mohammad as mistakenly claimed). Prophet & Loss.

24th July - Full Moon, like every month.

3th August - Received copy of 50th Anniversary Edition of All Things Must Pass by George Harrison, a magnificent, melodious reminder of Impermanence. How time flies. Remember this meaningfully titled album from when it came out way back in November 1970. One of the songs, 'The Art of Dying', now hits home rather more, as a musical memento mori for me & everyone else. No necessity to be mournful, rather we can appreciate the value & beauty of this precious human life. Recall the human condition, lest we forget...

The Uber Deluxe wooden crate version (a bargain at 'only' $999.98) even contains 1/6 scale figurines of Harrison & the Friar Park gnomes. Prophetically, I did my gnome page earlier this year.

***

It has just been announced that July was the HOTTEST month on Planet Earth since records began:

Funnily enough the acronym for the National Oceanic & Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) punningly refers to Noah  of Ark fame! Appropriate considering there's an increased risk of flooding in some areas...

I wrote about the devastating 2010 Earthquake in Haiti. There's been another one (7.2 Magnitude) on 14th August this year. Progress?  See Fukushima Kannon earlier this year, above.

From 23^rd August for 2 weeks, XR Impossible Rebellion in London. A courageous attempt to prevent Extinction.

25^th August - Just made new webpage of this piece by my late father: To Be As One With God

& this by him, A Snowdrop During Wartime

31^st - Another piece by my father about St.Paul's during the Blitz in 1941...

1^st September - New webpage of my Father's Parting 1940, another wartime piece.

And some comic verse by him: Thoughts on the Immutability of Matter. I remember I enjoyed that as a young teen.

2^nd - New webpage: The Pharos (Dover Castle)

4^{th - A Plea for the Old Ones by my father. I'm now older than he was when he wrote it.}

5^{th - There's a Moral Somewhere, comic satire by NK}

^{8th - On this day, 8th September, in 1968, my father died, aged 53. The Beatles had just performed 'Hey Jude,' live on TV (my dad watched.) "Take a sad song & make it better." Beautiful & meaningful song. Has a special place in my heart.}

^{click pic?}

10<sup>th - Hindu Festival for Ganesha (elephant-headed god, said to represent deep wisdom, centeredness, ability to ease obstacles, commitment to pursuit of knowledge), celebrating new beginning & fresh starts.

He no Dumbo!

Placed this statuette (not exactly to scale) at bottom of garden, where the fairies live:</sup>

11^th - New video page about an occasional visitor to garden, filmed a few years ago: FOX!

       - Unhappy Anniversary, I referred to here & here & here.

13^th - Lucky for some, finally took a D.I.Y. Covid test, having succumbed to heavy cough & cold symptoms. Results due in a few days.

14^th September - 700^th Anniversary of Dante's death (1321).

16^th  - Unhappy Anniversary: brutal torture & murder of Victor Jara by Dictator Pinochet's army in Chile, 1973.

18^{th -} Covid swab test result negative, as expected. So personally must still be careful. Also, according to reliable reports, it turns out that U.S. funded Wuhan Lab in risky 'gain of function' research & possibly manipulation of Coronavirus, resulting in pandemic we have been experiencing worldwide for last few years.

 7^th October - finally created new page of raw sewage footage  of my 1983 Live Performance, nearly 40 years after the event!

8^th - Just posted an old poster of an early performance by Little Davy King's Performing Clones in Subversification & Loud Words against the Conspiracy of Silence, Brighton, 1979. See it here, if you're interested.

9^th - Recently struggling up the stairs with what, in my case, might be a symptom of Parkinsons, I recalled this. Just before he died, my poor old (young, by my present standards) dad made a splendid bilingual pun. At the time, I was studying 'O' Level Latin ("small Latin & less Greek", like Shakespeare, according to Ben Jonson). After a few heart-attacks, climbing the stairs was a bit arduous for him. My Dad still had the good humour to quip "per ardua up the stairs".

Ad astra indeed...

Talking of my father, today I got round to posting a scan of a pen & ink drawing of Beddgelert he did in 1949, a few years before I was born. When I was a kid, he told me the apocryphal folk tale, from which the Welsh village was said to derive its name, about the faithful hound, called Gelert, supposed to have defended medieval Prince Llewelyn's baby from a wolf.

12^th - BBC News Headlines today: "Covid response one of UK's worst health failures." It was covering a new Parliarmentary Report. UK total Covid death toll so far: 138K & rising. When I was writing about that vile virus last year, I had no idea it would still be in the headlines.

Did page I created from a beautiful text I found next to my father's deathbed.

13^th - SUFI SOCKS ROCK SHOCK!

Recently acquired a pair from the USA rather than the old Ottoman Empire.They are very stylish. Nice & Comfy. No more cold feet for me.

However, unfortunately, must confess I fear my whirling days may well be over, tho am always free to imagine.

From foot to head now. Sufi sox to Sufi Winged Heart earring. Every part of the body catered for. "Spiritual materialism" as corporate consumer capitalism gone mad. Whatever next?

There are beautiful, brass bronze Sufi brooches as well. This one I wear over my heart.                                                   

click pic?

Heart of gold?

So it was a false claim in my piece, Icarus Ridiculous, that "you won't find me with a pair of wings/ gazing wistfully at the sky"

Talking of Sufism, it's occurred to me that, in terms of belief, I could be fairly accurately described as a sort of quasi anarcho socialist, advaita vedantist, buddhist, gnostic, sufi, quaker, nondualist... or that kind of non-thing... am not really an "-ist."

Funnily enough, ie not very funny, ironically perhaps, pre-Covid demonstrators were threatened with arrest unless they removed face masks  but I got wrongfully arrested even when I did (here). Nowadays, you can get arrested if you refuse to wear a face mask!

Mask of Anarchy?

 Click pic?

***

16^th - Playing with new page, here. Now has sound & vision. Very colourful. Aesthetically erotic in a sacred way.

19^th - memento mori, a Yak bone ring. Reassuringly, the Yak died naturally & sale of these artefacts, made by Tibetan refugees, supports the FREE TIBET campaign.

.Saw in the News a photo of Her Maj the Queen using a walking stick. Well, she's getting on a bit (95) &, at a fraction of her age (a mere stripling at 69), I use one too. Will repeat again that, despite my surname, I am no supporter of the outmoded, undemocratic institution of monarchy.

21^st - Full Moon again this month.

55^th Anniversary of Aberfan disaster in 1966. My father, born in Wales, wrote movingly about it, here. I remember hearing about it on the TV News.

Playing new Beatles 50^th Anniversary mix Deluxe edition 2CD version of Let It Be. Fab. Sounds OK to these ears. What a lasting musical & cultural legacy those 4 Liverpool lads have.

The title, LET IT BE is good spiritual advice. Acceptance of what is. No resistance to what actually is. Of course that doesn't mean we can't change or modify. Remix reality!

22^nd - Publishing online PUN-hub. Pun lovers treat yourself to a dopamine rush & take a look.

***

31^st - Clocks went back in hour house. Tonight's click pic?

  Here's one I made earlier with the kind assistance of my crafty consort who's adept at pumpkin carving (i.e.Jack-o'-lanterns), among other things. Musical help from undead Diamond Dog Mr Bowie and, Liverpool's gift to the world, those 4 lads who need no introduction.

Looking in the rear view mirror:

Late News

Vision 2020 (Grim Hymn)

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

 Yours Truly ^TM born - 1951

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