Mending the Deck Chairs on the Titanic
Reflections on The Second Sunday in Advent, in This Year of Grace, 2024 AD - Part 2
“Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou has given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.”
— Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
The Book of Common Prayer; First published January, 1549
So my Part 2, to be the conclusion to The First Sunday of Advent, didn’t quite happen that way, and now The Second Sunday of Advent has come and gone… Seems to be no slackening of horrendous events in the world at large, and so let’s begin with Juliet Stevenson, an English actress I’d never heard of before but who featured on some people’s Substack Notes recently...
Notice how her hand is shaking.. She knows the risk she’s taking criticizing however indirectly, World Jewry. And I’m also surprised that two-bit bastard Keir Starmer hasn’t had her clapped her in irons and dragged away to be detained indefinitely at Upchuck III’s pleasure…
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
There is precious little I can do, besides draw attention.
In other news, out on errands that evening and found this in a bus shelter on Esquimalt Road on the way home:
Thus in connection to the above I’ve gathered Grace Lore MLA here in British Columbia, has just been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, guess the speed of her passage will indicate whether or not it’s a turbo cancer, but like Gandalf-the-Grey, I don’t doubt my guess…
Gathered this from Brave Browser’s AI Interface:
Grace Lore Cancer Diagnosis
Temporary Step Down: MLA Grace Lore, Minister of Children and Family Development for British Columbia, has announced that she will temporarily step down from her role due to a recent diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
Sudden Diagnosis: Lore revealed that her diagnosis came unexpectedly, stating that it was “very sudden” and she is working with medical professionals to address the situation immediately.
What sets my spidey-sense tingling in these rubrics are “colorectal cancer” which felled my twin sister at 52 in 2011… she had a raft of allergies when we were growing up, and took the Gardasil injection in our university days; cancer is frequently the eventual (can take decades) result of infant or childhood vaccinations, but you’ll have to dig deep and in curious territory to find that information. The Gardasil vaccination meanwhile has more red flags than a Chinese May Day parade, but again: You’ll have to dig to learn this.
Other thing making my antenna vibrate is the “sudden diagnosis” business; and as a member of the NDP Grace was like the rest of them a fervent kool-aid drinker, even if information on whether she took The Lethal Injection is thin on the ground. Brave’s AI told me nothing useful there, but there’s the other issue in British Columbia if you wanted to work in 2021 – 2022 you pretty much had to take the Poison Death shot... Thus I was more-or-less unemployed for 8 months...
Public information is also very cagey about her birth date but CTV News informs me she’s just turned 39. Very young to develop colorectal cancer…🤔 And oh! Isn’t this interesting! (in a ghoulish sort-of way 😱): Just learned her 4-year-old son had a brain tumor diagnosed in 2021.
In the immortal words of Treebeard: “Root and twig! Very odd”: Because 4-year-old children do not develop brain tumors… at least not before the “Covid” “vaccinations” they didn’t... Don’t need to be an oncologist or a neurosurgeon to know that…
Brave Brower’s AI has this to say about the glabrous Mr. Garrison:
NDP MP Randall Garrison has announced his retirement from politics, citing health reasons. [Cpt. Roy: Those reasons remain unspecified] The Vancouver Island MP, who has represented the riding of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke since 2011, will step down next month. In a speech to the House of Commons, Garrison revealed that he has finally secured a family doctor after a four-year wait and is following their advice to prioritize his health.
Garrison, 74, has had a distinguished career in Parliament, serving as the NDP critic for justice, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, and deputy defence critic. He has been a strong advocate for various causes, including protecting Southern Resident orcas, funding Esquimalt harbour cleanup, banning conversion therapy, and banning discrimination based on gender identity under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
As Randall Garrison steps away from politics, he leaves behind a legacy of tireless advocacy and a commitment to protecting the rights and interests of his constituents.
“A legacy of tireless advocacy”? 🤪🤣💩 Yeah, right. When the optics were good, and he got something out if it, he was committed to protecting the rights and interests — of certain of his constituents. If you were a straight fat old white boy like me? You could go pound sand. I remember August 2017 as I and the 147 other residents of the Triple Oaks Mobile Home Park were being screwed out of our homes which we very foolishly purchased on Native Land...
His laconic comment to us? “It’s between you and the Songhees.”
Thanks a heap, Randall. Good riddance to rubbish.
Up the next day, poking and sorting and found the following in my music folder:
💣 Bach: Air for the G String – d’Amore
💣 Bach: “Difficult Passages”, sloppily arranged by Evelyn Rothwell...🙄
💣 Bach: Concerto in A Major – d’Amore
💣 Bach: Gigue from Partita #3 – d’Amore
💣 Bach: Sonata in G Minor – Oboe
💣 Morricone: Gabriel’s Oboe – Oboe
💣 Ravel: Bolero – d’Amore
💣 Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin - Oboe
💣 Schumann: Fantasiestücke Opus 73 for A Clarinet (d’Amore – with some persuasion)
💣 Schumann: “Träumerei” (arranged for d’Amore)
💣 Telemann: Die Kleine Kammermusik – for anything handy
💣 Telemann: Sonata in F Minor – Alto Recorder (English Horn)
💣 Telemann: Suite in A Minor – Alto Recorder (English Horn)
💣 Telemann: Trio Sonata in E♭ Major – Oboe
Enough material there to keep me busy for quite awhile, as in 18 months to 2 years; as fine a distraction from the World Outside as you could wish for, and a reminder of why I want to buy that Yamaha Arius YDP-145 = something usable at home for my accompanist should I ever find her 😥
Not the (used) 6-foot Yamaha C3 I was going to buy for my Room of Requirement before the NerdNest was stolen from me… not even a Yamaha P22.. Still… “ ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve” as Mercutio might have put it — and it only weighs 70 pounds as opposed to 500 – 600… very important consideration given we could be “rennovicted” at any moment…
Thursday December 5, as I set to clearing out my repair shop the thought occurred “Why don’t I install the left-hand F key on my Buffet oboe myself?”
What will be involved in this?
1. Break up the problem into as many details as possible.
2. Possibly one of my junked Side F keys and mounts and posts will do the job, have to look very carefully.
3. I’ll have to silver-solder the connecting lug on the original F key. Except, wouldn’t a soft-solder do the job, and be less risky?
4. Need some sort of jig (or 2) to hold everything, and the worry is will the head from the torch deform or burn away the key? Not a nice situation!
5. Have to get a hinge rod of the appropriate length, thread it, cut a screwdriver head.
6. The post at the base of C-D trill key will have to come out, get drilled out, to accommodate the hinge rod. I’ll need some sort of do-hiccus to hold it properly, so I can drill it out in the Sherline mill.
7. Right away there.. What do I need, in order to use the Sherline mill, to drill out that post?
8. Have to locate on the body of the oboe, where to drill the holes for the bottom key post for the links between the F key and the F side key. This calls for a fair degree of nicety in measurement, as in “I can’t f*** this up”: It’s got to align perfectly.
9. Ditto for the two holes for the posts for the F side key touch piece.
10. I’ll need some kind of jig to hold the bottom joint on the milling machine such that the surface is “flat”...
11. And suddenly I’m thinking what does “flat” mean with the key posts for the F side key touch piece? They’re going in at an angle of some sort, like it or not... Have a look at the Lorée, and get an idea what’s going on there..
12. Those two holes have to align perfectly.
13. Drill the holes, sure, but.. how do I tap them so the posts screw in? Or do I just make the holes slightly oversized and glue the posts in with epoxy?
14. And after listing what is to be done as thoroughly as possible, practice at least half-a-dozen times if not more, starting with a length of dowel, some junked bottom joints, and finally on that basic oboe I got from Gary Armstrong...
There’s the other wee issue of getting the Sherline lathe and miller operational and learning some elementary machinist skills, but… once that’s done? Well... then turn an extension for the d’Amore so it will play low B♭ to do the “Fantasiestücke”, then let’s see if we can’t figure out how to make and equip both the d’Amore and the English horn with low B♭ keys.
As Leonard McCoy said as he was about to perform his first brain transplant (or rather, reinstallation 🤔): “A child could do it.”
Thursday, December 6, learned via CFAX it was the 35th Anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnic mass shooting… Marc Lepine murdered all those young women simply because they were women.
So we were told. And incidentally a few young men, but in these progressive times, they of course don’t matter. History does not relate if Marc was on SSRIs as so many of these mass shooters seem to have been, nor is there any mention of “CIA” or “Psy-Op” which ... with a little digging ... also often seem to follow these terrible stories like a bad smell. One of the things I remember was he was rejected by the Military; he had applied for Officer Training, they are somewhat picky about who they accept for that, but the Media of course didn’t mention if there were any other issues that might have resulted in his rejection.. they conveniently don’t mention so very many things…
🤔🙄💩
What I do wonder, if the poor bastard was such a f***ed-up mess, how come no-one noticed? Why did no intervention of any kind happen... ?
Then I consider my own slipshod experience at the hands of the school system and the Mental Health fraternity... There but for the grace of God… 😥
“Don’t put it past politicians to dance on the graves of dead children for political clout.”
— YouTube presenter Gustavo Honzofo
But that was all the justification Justin Castreau needed to issue an order-in-council (how very democratic and open to public input) to seize individuals’ personal property. They had to reach back 35 years to justify making perfectly legal firearms now illegal, unlike America where there’s a mass shooting at least once a week (I jest, sourly… 🤔) What’s next? BB guns? Water pistols? Little kid’s pop guns and cap guns? (Can you still buy cap guns and caps?) What’s next? Machine tools like my itty-bitty lathe and milling machine so we can’t make our own guns? Chemicals and chemistry sets so we can’t make our own explosives?
Another mincing step in David Icke’s Totalitarian Tiptoe, and of “mincing”, we should expect from Justin, nothing less. I used to be a Canadian Nationalist. Now? The breakup of this country and unification with America can’t happen soon enough: Despite their own need for a massive housecleaning at least we’d then have the slender protections of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments.
And thus do my days progress as we slowly unearth from our latest move, I can well understand why a move is right up there with a death in the family… But my shop is starting to take shape, I’m getting my oboes organized, and thus some distractions from events at home and the world outside. As a counterpoint to Yanina’s soliliquy in “Part 1”, I leave you with my Dress Rehearsal for Medea’s church’s Christmas concert, December of 2018. How time flies…
And as I close for the night? In the distance I hear, the 6th ambulance siren since I got up this morning…
À la prochaine
Capt. Roy Harkness
Nice job on your shop, Capt'n and beautiful playing, as well. :)
Would it embarrASS some libbie loon if I accused him of adultery and/or exposed another of those liars by identifying him using the services of a prostitute?