Monthly Archives: June 2022

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The name of the rose

Is a novel by Umberto Eco, set in the early 14th century of our current era. In it, he writes of the theological disputes of the time with the pope living in Avignon and other disputes in the secular arm of things.

The two themes that are carried to the end of the novel attempt to answer two questions, did Jesus and by extension, the first apostles preach poverty? Did they own property? The second question is whether Jesus laughed? On these two questions, lie all the disputes in the novel.

The disagreements between the pope and the Fransciscans, Minorites and all the others introduced by Eco depend really on the intepretation of poverty that one adopts. The simple people who follow Fra Dolcino and others like him believe in poverty. They loot not to own but to have in common.

On the other end, that is, in the Abbey, life depends on the question of whether Jesus laughed. Any pursuit of this knowledge becomes, literally, a matter of life and death. Jorges through his various ploys kills or is an accomplice in the deaths that occur in the abbey within the duration of 7 days that our narrator was there.

Inquisitors like Bishop Benard Qui can only be appeased when someone dies at the stake. His commitment to truth leaves no room for doubt. He would kill an innocent person if it served his end arguing that god would recognize his own. Jorges kills so people can remain ignorant.

Alinardo is ignored because everyone believes his ramblings are those of a bitter old man. Maybe Abo’s life would have been spared or the monks like Malachi too, had he been taken seriously. But maybethe fate of the library was sealed from the time Bro William was assigned the task of investigating the death of Adelmo.

Why did temporal power allow itself to be involved in the inquisition which was really a dispute between the churches? Why allow the bishops to keep their hands clean in a matter that was entirely a doctrinal dispute?

What is it of relics that there always seems to be a person claiming to have one? And the more absurd it is, the higher it is valued?

If you are looking for holiday reading, this is a good one.

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Hiking trip

Clear blue sky
Views from the top are amazing, getting there is another matter
Sunrise from the summit
Surface of the mountain
Your regular host at the summit
Just before daybreak
5 star accommodation at Shipton camp, elevation 4200m asl
This plant stores its water
These birds have evolved to survive the cold mountain climate. They are also quite friendly/ docile. There are not many predators, if any.
This is before I was tired
Penis envy anyone?
Reflection of the footbridge
Where it all began
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How do you dress?

In this article, people it seems take different approaches to getting dressed. For me, I wake up, look into the wardrobe, get a shirt and find a trouser to go with it. Chose a pair of socks. Ask myself what shoe will it be and I am off.

But when you think of it. I keep to almost the same theme. Thursday and Friday- casual. Monday to Wednesday official wear. Saturday bike gear. Sunday easy wear.

Tell us, how much effort do you put in dressing up in the morning? Are you the type that plans your clothes a day in advance? Or the random type like yours truly?

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It has occurred to me

That the adage if you want to go fast go alone and if you want to go farther, then go as a group is mostly false. With me as the test subject and other observations, I can demonstrate my point.

Take the case of the g.o.a.t of marathon running, Eliud Kip, he would not be as fast without his team of pace setters. These men keep him pushing harder and farther.

Compared with your average cyclist, I ride long distances and relatively fast. Some of my PRs have been set when I am alone ( my fastest 40km, my longest ride) but over segments, some were only possible because we were in a group of equally fast riders.

When I ran my last half marathon ( I think I picked up an injury during or after) I was able to run fast simply because there were others with me running equally fast.

The second random thought is man is never ever free from conception to the grave. In the womb he is tied to the mother physically and physiologically. Once born, she is tied to culture in which she finds herself in with its many variations. And so I say again, as it appears elsewhere on this blog, that JJ Rousseau was wrong when he said man is born free but is everywhere in chains. Man cannot escape the chains. He can however modify or better still challenge the chains that hold him/her.

Finally, I have seen on a blog or two a suggestion that to end the furore over tansgender folk, we should simply let people identify as they please in terms of race and gender but grant no advantage to any specific group, simply end the victim hood Olympics. Now, I think one important question that we should all be asking is why is woman contested? Related to it, is racialism and especially between so called white n black in most societies? In short, there are two ways of being that are really contested: being woman/ female and being black.

Have a thoughtful Saturday, won’t you?

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what has your god been doing for you?

What other gods are doing.
  1. Does your god beat your business competition?
  2. Does your god advise you to become an entrepreneur?
  3. Does your god send you clients?

If your god isn’t doing any of the above, it is time you chose a new god. Gods are outta here blessing people and you are there sulking, praying to a god who will not send you clients, or even tell you when it is the right time to quit an employer.

As for me, I will continue to talk nicely to my clients.

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Madaraka day celebrations

Yesterday was the 59th Anniversary of our Republic. An occasion where the president gets to address the nation, award national honours, exercise his powers of clemency and all.

One queer thing during the celebrations was a display of hardware by the defence forces and it got me thinking, to who is this display meant? Is it to our neighbours with whom we are not at war? Is it a show of force to the citizens in case they have the crazy idea to overthrow the government?

The country has made some progress in the 59 years of neo- colonisation. Whilst there is still work to be done, women representation has improved. Infrastructure has improved. Access to health care is still struggling. There is improvement in access to education but the quality is doubtful.

There is improvement in access to justice though the office of the president is a notorious law breaker. The police still behave like those employed by her majesty’s colonial office.

While unemployment was already high, the pandemic made things even worse. Because of the different public containment policies implemented at the height of the pandemic, many small and medium sized enterprises had to relieve their workers. And now the situation has been even worsened by the Russian- Ukraine conflict.

One hopes that a country could learn from mistakes and successes of others and follow those paths, but naah. Private interests come before public choice and the result is the same mistakes over and over.

Have a good Friday everyone.