The
British philosopher Roger Scruton makes the interesting point that,
although the founders of the EU believed nationalism bred by the
nation state had caused WWII, this is very wrong. The cause of the
war, he says, was German nationalism and peace was restored by the
patriotism of Britain and other states. In contrast, this was indeed
born of the nation state. No prizes for guessing if he supports this institution.
There's a
British MP who sits on 2 House of Commons committees related to science and health. Which is odd as he thinks that a greater use of astrology
would save GPs a lot of time and reduce the costs of the
national health service. "Astrology" he asserts "is a
useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses
via the birth chart". As for those of us who reject this tosh,
his response is: "People who oppose what I say are usually
bullies who have never studied astrology." "Sure" he
adds "astrology may not be capable of passing double-blind tests
but it's based on thousands of years of observation". His name
is David Tredinnick and he presumably believes the predictions
he reads in the Daily Mail et al. There is, as yet, no
requirement that British MPs should have an IQ above 50. And, believe
it or believe it not, Mr Tredinnick chairs one of the 2 committees.
So, what does this say about his fellow members who put him there?
Are they having a laugh?
Another
Spanish vignette . . . As I was walking along a street in town
yesterday, a man came out of a bar in front of me. Another chap,
coming towards us, recognised him and exclaimed "Buenos días,
hombre!" His friend replied: "Buenos días, amigo. Me cago
en díos!" Now, this means 'I shit on god' and I doubt he
literally meant it. My guess is it's one of the rich lexicon of
Spanish expressions using the verb cagar - 'I shit in your milk'; 'I
shit on the woman who gave you birth'; 'I shit on the Host', for example
- which the Spanish use to indicate either positive or negative
emotions. Indicated by the context and the vehemence with which
the phrases are uttered.
When I
went for my ECG yesterday morning the nurse took me to a doctor's office, did what she had to do and departed, to give the results to the
doctor. I was left alone to put my clothes back on and then
leave. I couldn't help notice that there was a lot of stuff in the
room that I could have knocked off.
Unexpectedly, the nurse returned and told me we had to go to another
office as the doctor preferred the machine in that one. So we went
through the routine again and she once again went off to the doctor,
having got exactly the same result. This time, I noticed that the
stuff I could have walked out with included the doctor's laptop. I
couldn't imagine this happening in the UK.
After the
ECG, I went for my blood tests. I've been doing this annually for
quite a while now and the guy who draws blood - so brilliantly you
don't feel it - has become very friendly. This time I was able to
give him some information on land for sale near my house, where he
wants to live. During the lively conversation around details, he
twice called me coño. Now, the English equivalent of this also
starts with C and has an equal number of letters. I told him he
should never use this in English and he was, of course, surprised as
it's a term of endearment here. I told him what it meant in English
and he protested that coño didn't mean 'vagina' but 'the front
bits'. 'Oh, that's alright, then' I said. But I think the sarcasm was
lost on him.
Is there anything more unimpressive than an idiot who justifies
his imbecility on a legal technicality? As I approached a roundabout
this morning, I saw that the traffic coming from the left was moving
only slowly through it because of an accident there but that my way through
was open. As I moved to do so, I was blocked by a driver determined
not to give me the 2-3 seconds it would take and which wouldn't affect his progress. And he was pointing at
a yield sign which, if I'd obeyed, would have kept me there all day. He
was, of course, driving a white van.
Finally . . . Here's rather large foto gallery of dental surgeries in the centre of Pontevedra. The first is the traditional 'brass plate' type, where the surgery is on one of the upper floors and is advertised via a hoarding at 1st floor level. And the other 5 are the new glass-fronted, ground-floor types, located in the main shopping streets. Clearly, some investors see this as a good business model.
Finally . . . Here's rather large foto gallery of dental surgeries in the centre of Pontevedra. The first is the traditional 'brass plate' type, where the surgery is on one of the upper floors and is advertised via a hoarding at 1st floor level. And the other 5 are the new glass-fronted, ground-floor types, located in the main shopping streets. Clearly, some investors see this as a good business model.