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Post by Gerard on Aug 24, 2013 18:47:20 GMT -5
Simon Ward: "I never felt when Joe was being casual that he was casual. That's one of the reasons I couldn't get to know him. With Joe, his tales - everything he said - was just an act . . . "
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2013 0:59:13 GMT -5
Ludwig Wittgenstein said much the same, Gerard! We just act! Nevertheless, I suspect that such an observation does raise any number of questions about the human condition. Can we ever know one another, or is all the world really just a stage? Is everything we do, too, just an act? Well, I suppose that a good place to start is with the casual. When I go to work, I often wear what is best described as a business suit, particularly in the City. Of course, over the course of the last century, there has been a long-term trend to dress down. You don't even have to wear a tie to work these days, even in the City of London or Westminster. So smart casual is fine by kleines c, both professionally and socially. To be honest, I am not into torn jeans. My trousers split enough anyway, even if they are not always ripped off! As for casual behaviour, well, we tend to call each other by our first names, although I recognise that a formal approach sometimes has its advantages. Would you rather be called Gerard, Gerard, or Mr Gerard, Dr Gerard, Professor Gerard, Sir Gerard or even Lord Gerard? So online and offline, I often act pretty casually, so to speak, although I recognise that there are occasions on which it is more appropriate to be formal, to dress up and to use full titles. It can be a difficult judgement to make. But if everything is just an act, fake, perhaps, is it ever possible to know the real Gerard, the real Joe, the real Simon Ward? René Descartes came up with the idea that I think, therefore I am. Well, what do I know? [/b][/quote] (Michel de Montaigne) Descartes turned Montaigne's question on its head and said I know that I think. I can doubt everything, and everyone, apart from the fact that I doubt: [/b][/quote] Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested that I feel, therefore I am, whilst Karl Marx went for action; I act, therefore I am. Meanwhile, the great philosopher, Immanuel Kant, suggested, ethically enough, that I ought, Gerard, therefore I can. Arguably the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century, Ludwig Wittgenstein, felt that previous philosophers had tied themselves in knots by asking the wrong sorts of questions. They thought that philosophical problems were to do with understanding the nature of the world, but Wittgenstein thought that they were all problems of language. Sort language out, Gerard, and you could knock philosophy itself on the head. Let us therefore knock language, philosophy and everything else on the head here in ' The Third' this Bank Holiday weekend, Sydney. Wittgenstein thus pondered how language related to the world, what the limits of language were and what this all meant for the philosopher. He came to two different conclusions; firstly, as outlined in ' The Tractatus', that language had a logical structure that accurately reflected the structure of reality; secondly, as outlined in the later ' Philosophical Investigations', that language was a game, full of tricks, jokes and subtleties, the meaning of which was derived from social context as much as logical analysis. You can certainly see this game being played here in online discussion forums and other social media, for example, if not everywhere else. Ultimately, Wittgenstein was unsure that anything could be said about how language related to the world because that was necessarily beyond the scope and meaning of language itself. Thus he concluded that some things remain unsayable and declared: I communicate, therefore I am; I do not communicate, therefore I am not. You post, Gerard, therefore you are? In terms of how we look, and how we speak, and how we act, we can do so formally, or we can do so informally, casually, or in any number of other different ways. According to Immanuel Kant, you cannot make one straight thing out of the crooked timber of humanity. Nor should we try, Gerard?  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2013 5:22:04 GMT -5
. . . When I go to work, I often wear what is best described as a business suit, particularly in the City. Of course, over the course of the last century, there has been a long-term trend to dress down. You don't even have to wear a tie to work these days, even in the City of London or Westminster. . . . A few points about the City that come to mind - beyond money being the root of all evil. 1) Not so long ago around half the people who had business there still wore bowlers (but not indoors). 2) There was a somehow very unusual but pleasant and busy restaurant - large and basic, wooden chairs with narrow curved legs. I wonder whether it still exists? On the first floor if I remember rightly. 3) In those days most people would arrive at their place of business at around ten in the morning, and leave soon after four. That is how it should be is it not - if one is going to do business at all of course. 4) And then the names lost all their money. I forget how or why. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2013 6:00:52 GMT -5
Greetings, once again, from kleines c. If I may address all five of your points directly, Sydney: 0) A few points about the City that come to mind - beyond money being the root of all evil. I should like to dwell on money and evil for a moment, Sydney. According to St Paul, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of 'money is the root of all evil': which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Interestingly, Baron King of Lothbury, the former Governor of the Bank of England, thinks that it is not so much the love of money that is the root of all evil, Sydney. BBC - Ming banknote - transcript Lord King would like to think that we can still trust him in the House of Lords, but I have my doubts about Mark Carney, too. Money is the root of all evil; evil is the root of all money. I therefore do not trust money. Nevertheless, let us make of money what we can, Sydney, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods: Matthew 25:14-30 (King James Version) Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, Sydney, for there shall be even more weeping and gnashing of teeth. As for the four principal points: 1) Not so long ago around half the people who had business there still wore bowlers (but not indoors). This was probably half a century ago. I recall that my paternal grandfather used to wear a hat, but he is long dead! 2) There was a somehow very unusual but pleasant and busy restaurant - large and basic, wooden chairs with narrow curved legs. I wonder whether it still exists? On the first floor if I remember rightly. still exists. I eat there occasionally, Sydney, with City acquaintances! 3) In those days most people would arrive at their place of business at around ten in the morning, and leave soon after four. That is how it should be is it not - if one is going to do business at all of course. These days, of course, the culture of the City has changed a lot. The hours, particularly for investment bankers are long, and the culture remains macho! Sleep is for losers? 4) And then the names lost all their money. I forget how or why. I knew a few names who lost their money, their homes and even their shirts during the 'eighties and early 'nineties. It was a series of unexpected liabilities, including asbestosis claims in the United States of America. I actually spent some time sorting this mess out in the 'nineties, but by the time kleines c arrived, the culture of the City had changed completely, Sydney.  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2013 20:55:48 GMT -5
. . . This was probably half a century ago. I recall that my paternal grandfather used to wear a hat, but he is long dead! Simpson's Tavern still exists. I eat there occasionally, Sydney, with City acquaintances! I sympathise with the member's grand-father, being dead; let us hope he found it all worth-while! The restaurant I remember from circa 1965 was not Simpson's (a good and interesting suggestion, but I fear my description was inadequate - it is possible I once went to Simpson's, but was made uncomfortable by the roughs and the boozing). It - perhaps a little further west - was more of a "canteen" sort of place, up a flight of ordinary stairs, with ordinary tables and those fragile nineteen-twenties wooden chairs; but it was principally frequented by the bowler-hat brigade. Long gone, very likely, because of all the hideous new construction one reads about. I will have to find a street map to see if something jogs my memory, since at present I have little recollection of what I was doing in those parts, even. Except that it was certain days of the week, for certain purposes. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2013 1:23:44 GMT -5
Good morning, once again, Sydney Grew! I hope that you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend, even if you have to work today, Monday 26 August 2013! ' The London Times' leads this morning with some editorial comment on being funny peculiar. Quite how this hoary old idea survived the careers of Lucille Ball, Sandra Bernhard, Mae West, Dorothy Parker, Bette Midler, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron, to name but a few Americans, and Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Tracey Ullman, Miranda Hart and Victoria Wood, to name but a few Britons, defies belief. ' The Times' thunders that wit and comic potential are not now, and never have been, the preserve of men. Humour, however, remains remarkably fickle. Sydney. What I find funny, others may find absurd, and what others find funny, I often find peculiar. As for restaurants in the City of London in the 'sixties, alas, I have no knowledge. Even in the terrible 'teens, I am hardly an expert. To be honest, I prefer to cook and entertain at home! Nevetheless, I suspect that the restaurant you remember has long gone! One of the best restaurants in the City of London today is called Hawksmoor Guildhall, but let us leave the culinary criticism to ' TimeOut'. Here are the City's top restaurants today. Time Out - London - The City of London Restaurants TimeOut - Hawksmoor GuildhallFast and furious, busy and boisterous, this handsome room is the backdrop for another testosterone filled celebration of the serious business of beef eating. Nicely aged and rested Longhorn steaks take centre-stage. Hawksmoor GuildhallAs for the best food, well, for three Michelin stars, I suspect that you have to go west, although I am not convinced that three stars are worth the money! I cook better! What I would recommend, however, is an exhibition currently running at Somerset House. This exhibition focuses on a series of important London churches designed by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (c.1661–1736) during the early part of the eighteenth century. Although Hawksmoor is recognised as one of the major contributors to the traditions of British and European architectural culture, there is insufficient visual documentation and analysis of his work. This exhibition curated by Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and featuring the work of architectural photographer Hélène Binet, reconsiders Hawksmoor’s architecture in relation to urbanism. Hawksmoor’s London churches show an incredible variety of visual narratives that are instantly recognisable as the consistent work of a brilliant and inspired mind. The key distinguishing features of these churches are their spires, each designed with different qualities and motifs. The architecture of the spires, and of the buildings more generally, is the result of a fusion between fantasy and rationality, imagination and method. Yet, as Hawksmoor delved into the ancient history of architecture as catalyst for his imagination, his work was considered radical and contemporary in its day. The spires, akin to Pope Sixtus V’s obelisks of Rome, rose throughout the city and became major urban markers. While Hawksmoor’s churches were built for specific locations and communities, they were also part of a much larger project for the building of some fifty new churches across the city. These structures are therefore also exemplars of a much larger urban ambition. To highlight Hawksmoor’s scalar approach, Hélène Binet was specially commissioned to document the seven remaining London churches. These immaculate black and white large format photographs demonstrate the beauty of Hawksmoor’s architecture with special attention to the variety of scales, sites, interiors, textures and materials. Digitally conceived and fabricated resin models celebrate the connections between Hawksmoor’s structures and the City of London.  Somerset House - Nicholas Hawksmoor: Methodical ImaginingsI propose some toast: to the first, the second and ' The Third'! Three cheers from kleines c and the gang (Bank Holiday Monday breakfast coffee)! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2013 1:47:30 GMT -5
I have found that the city is mainly populated by people who are good with numbers but who can not see 'the bigger picture' and this is probably a good thing, as to evil and money, well, it is the lack of money that is evil, one can never be too rich.
One can be too thin, I remember this from meeting the anorexic girlfriend of a friend in Monaco and thinking 'she is too thin'.
Personally, I avoid the city of London though the train from staplehurst goes into cannon street if you get the timing right.
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