Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

I nearly choked on my old man's sherry recently when I read about a 'science' teacher in the USA (where else?) who liked to add christian commentary to his science lessons basically saying the science he was teaching was wrong and that his religious view was correct.  He had been sacked it seemed and there was a 'reinstate him' movement from the concerned kids who were praying for him because they now believed science was unreliable.

"If you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear" is the mantra of the proponents of the surveillance society. It's rubbish of course as we all have things to hide such as our bank account or credit card details! Privacy International's 2007 survey gave the UK the lowest privacy ranking in the EU putting it in the 'endemic surveillance' category alongside Russia and Singapore. So do we good citizens actually need to worry?

February 21 -- Feast of Saint Robert Southwell "A poet, a lover and a liar are by many reckoned but three words with one signification." Saint Robert Southwell That was the cynical admonition of the poet Robert Southwell, addressed to his cousin, W.S., believed by some to have been William Shakespeare. The two were contemporaries who indisputably read each other's works. Shakespeare, a humanist with no apparent religious zeal, admired Southwell's poetry, but Southwell, a Jesuit priest, seems to have had reservations about literature that…

2/21: Saint Robert Southwell (1561-1595) and Blessed Thomas Pormort (1560-1592) Martyrs at Tyburn, England - "The men like Topcliffe might tempt us to hope that Hell exists, but we would do well to remember that our notions of justice are imperfect, and in wishing that, we deliver ourselves to the Devil."

Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor and nuclear disarmament activist Sunao Tsuboi died on October 24 at the age of 96, according to advocacy group, Nihon Hidankyo, the group of atomic bomb survivors he headed.

Sunao Tsuboi's experiences at Hiroshima

Tsuboi was 20 years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on his hometown on August 6, 1945. He was on his way to engineering school when the bomb hit, killing 140,000 people.

Three days later, a second nuclear bomb fell on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000 people. Japan formally surrendered on August 15.

"I suffered burns all over my body," Tsuboi said in 2016. "Naked, I tried to run away for about three hours on August 6 but finally could no longer walk."

He gained consciousness 40 days after the bombing, but he was so weak that he had to start by crawling. A part of his ear was gone because of the burns. Later, he developed cancer and other diseases.

“Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.”
Cordelia; King Lear Act 1 Scene 1

—William Shakespeare

Today is the Cornish Feast of St Erth (also known as Erc), patron saint of St Erth near Hayle. An Irishman and brother to Ia (St Ives) and Uny, Erc was converted by St Patrick and traveled to Cornwall. He would later return to Ireland, living to the age of 93

Today is the Cornish Feast of St Erth (also known as Erc), patron saint of St Erth near Hayle. An Irishman and brother to Ia (St Ives) and Uny, Erc was converted by St Patrick and traveled to Cornwall. He would later return to Ireland, living to the age of 93

— On This Day in Cornish History (@CornwallFE) October 31, 2020

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.