David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


18 August 2015

LINE!


The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Infinite monkey theorem - wikipedia

And so to the ever-wonderful David Pope of the Canberra Times :

For crying out loud, stick to the script, people!...


click image to enlarge   
Word has leaked that earlier this week Tony Abbott "read the Riot Act" to his Cabinet about falling into line and following the script - what script? - on same-sex marriage. Hence, the courting scene above with that manly hardliner Scott Morrison and the lineless small l liberal Malcolm Turnbull. Out front on keyboard, the infinitely hammer-fisted monkey. Author! Author!
          
Three Laughers of TAR enact I fLawnt  the Line


 click image to enlarge                       photo courtesy LM of TAR
 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...

 LOGOS/HA HA