a diary of traces # 16

Pipifax and Panlo, if not in the first rank of music hall performers, were certainly in the second. They now appear to have all but disappeared from most records as well as from memory.

However the brochure for the Royal Variety Performance of 1912 has the two at the top of the list of performers; and a scan of the May-June 1965 edition of Bandwagon tells us that Panlo was one of only 6 trampolining artistes who could, in 1910, "... execute the acrobatic feat in which a tumbler executes the round-off, flip-flap and double back somersault on the ground."

Contact points/future directions

Conceptual robotics
Pre industrial memory
Mud pooling effect
Ephemeral downstreaming
Defective ad replacement
Spiritual concrete
Red maintained

Difference makers - Jung

"The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens into that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was a conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach."

The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man, C G Jung

INTJ

Anthem?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLOBVvzU4W8

Unheeded fictions - part one

The Mothered Finch

Maudlin, melancholic, claustrophobic.

a diary of traces # 15

"Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
Caledonian! on wi' me!"

Bruce at Bannockburn
Robert Burns

a diary of traces # 14

The height of hat fashion in 1920:


Where have all the hat makers gone?

a diary of traces #13

"Duty does not imply restraint".

The Happiness of Duty, from The Pleasures of Life, Lord Avebury

a diary of traces #12

Entry on 'Billiard Amateurs':

"A member should be encouraged to play for some permanent memorial of his skill, not for the sake of being a shilling or two in pocket. This distinction may make all the difference in the world in the character and spirit of the contest."

Five Hundred Points in Club Law and Procedure (Twelfth Edition), R.S. Chapman

a diary of traces #11

Dreams mentioned in popular song:

"They say that Crazy Horse had the power to dream himself into the real world, and leave the illusion behind."

(The Song of Crazy Horse, J.D. Blackfoot)

"Did I dream you dreamed about me?"

(Song to the Siren, Tim Buckley)

a diary of traces #10

"Your kiss is potion from an ancient jar..."

From Hymn to Beauty, Charles Baudelaire (McGowan translation).

a diary of traces #9

"After the opera's over,
Attending the ladies is done,
We gems of the very first water
Commence with our frolic and fun."

Sung by George Leybourne, one of music hall's best lion comiques. He often sported whiskers in the style known as 'Piccadilly Weepers'.

Oxen

The Wagyu - a Japanese breed of cattle, said to produce 'the caviar of beef' (Know your cattle, Jack Byard).

In former centuries they "... were given only the best grain to eat and beer to drink and were massaged three times daily".

DaDa notes 2.

Breton (in Nadja) describes the first time he heard tell of Benjamin Peret:

A woman, ostensibly asking for the next copy of Litterature, recommends Peret to Breton. "I still remember the expression 'would like to launch himself in literature' which subsequently, knowing to whom it referred, seemed so curious, so moving."

a diary of traces #8

'Experiments carried out "in a corner of the human species." '

Blanqui commenting on Considerant and Cabet the nineteenth century Fourierist socialists, from Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project.

a diary of traces #7

"A dangling, untied ribbon, the soul doesn't exist in and of itself."

Fernando Pessoa

DaDa notes 1.

When the Herzfelde brothers first met the future Oberdada, Johannes Baader, in November 1918, he introduced himself as "President of the Universe".

a diary of traces #6

Isaac Newton: "frustrated with the poor results of a long and isolated campaign to discover ancient alchemical secrets..."

The Guardian, 05/09/2009

a diary of traces #5

Wild Angelica

"The seeds of Angelica are like little winged eggs."
Nature Notes, The Times, 15/11/2006

a diary of traces #4

A google search of "history of milk" brings up these facts, amongst others:

1. Nov 1 1903 - Never before, probably, in the history of the city has the system of inspecting and supervising the milk supply been as thorough as it is today. Every discovery in the science of sanitation is being taken advantage of....

2. Canned Milk History - Evaporated and Sweetened Condensed Milk. Learn the history of canned milk and find out why early canned milk was safer than fresh.

3. A brief history of raw milk. Curious to Learn how Raw Milk got its Bad Rap? Read this Brief History!

4."Whether or not raw milk carries pathogens depends totally on the way the milk is produced - how the animals are fed and the care thats taken to keep the milk clean during production."

I suspect the ultimate history of milk is yet to be written. Its time will come.

a diary of traces #3

A documentary on the colour photos of Albert Khan remind us of the aftermath of the WWI battlefields of Picardy following the armistice.

Farmers returned to their land, but were constantly coming across bodies. They were obliged by law to declare these 'finds'. The remains were then identified where possible, and the families required to pay for burial. Mass burials were carried out indesignated areas. An ossiary of unidentified remains was also built - and remains in place today.

For years afterwards, bones, shells, fragments were dug up by the plough.

a diary of traces #2

From an old book on folklore of the sea.

The captain of a sailing ship was a tartar, and had particularly picked on one mariner, Bill. The mariner was often called before the gratings for the cat of nine tails. Eventually the mariner died from illness, attributed by all to the captain's ill treatment.

Several weeks later in rough seas the captain was washed overboard. The last words the crew heard were "Bill is with me now."

a diary of traces #1

I have decided (in my wisdom) to write an occasional diary around traces - the detritus, arcanities and philosophical leavenings of society.

Oxen

I have been concerned recently with the question of oxen.

My perception was that they were part of everyday life here in the Uk until relatively recently, but have now seemingly completely disappeared. I have to admit that I was not even sure whether they were a specially bred species, or not.

It appears that oxen were originally the generic name given to all cattle. Later it came to refer to male cattle, and then to specially bred cattle, usually neutered, who were trained from birth,and matched as part of a pair as working beasts.

However Oxen were slow when compared to horses, and lost out over time to these rivals. Later of course horses lost in turn to automated horsepower.

There appears to be a rich lore around oxen. They also provide a window into a way of life long since passed.

There will be more to come as I search out some further information.