Letters From Littleton
on 02/02/2010 at 02:04 PM
Ah yes, the day the enlightemnent age bumped up against the industrial age out on the open sea.
For a look at the day the industrial age battlefield bumped up against the atomic age click here:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/479803/atomic_test_compilation/Thank you Rich. I knew somebody would feel it strongly enough to say something. I had thought about titling the post “the day the unicorn and the lion sat down” since I also see the Death of Empire in there, although this picture was done many years before that. But there is a very strong element of Passing the Baton in there, and the Put Granny Eskimo On An Iceberg motif as well. Very much sic transit gloria mundi. And the descriptive prose written by Ruskin is glorious, akin to Dylan Thomas’s “rage against the dying of the light” in tone but far better written. So perfect that it just broke me up; those words and the history of what that ship did ... this is the keystone in my conceptual arch of what England is all about. Pity that my belief is more than 100 years out of date, but I will hold true to that faith.
And they said that us geeks had no artistic appreciation. Hah!
If I could express myself as well, I’d have said the same as Drew as I feel those emotions as well. Just not well put unfortunately. There is something so heart wrenching in that painting. While not exactly in the same class of course and not having seen that sort of naval action, I once Googled my old ships, USS Columbus CG-12, The Maddox DD731 and The Watts whose number I forgot. Anyway, the idea that they were finally turned to scrap depressed the heck out of me. Especially the Columbus. But this painting is even stronger and especially what it represents in history. Shame they never preserved her as they did the Victory, which I have been aboard.
And thanks Drew for the posting. I don’t quite know how you got that quality because even the on line version I saw wasn’t as large. I knew you would like that article.Ah, but this is Turner’s masterwork, so pictures of the painting are all over the internet. I found a large one of high resolution, then lightened it a fair amount, and then shrunk it. Lots of graphics get darker when you size them down. I have not been to Trafalgar Square to see the original, which is of decent size, so I can’t say how bright or dark it ought to be.
And this is why the former IBM geek runs things here peiper,He knows all the tricks.How the heck did the Skipper get so lucky.
AT&T, please. And only as a long term consultant. If you play with graphics toys long enough, you’ll see the same thing. I use ACDSee as my main photo editing tool, and I have the Macromedia suite for when I need to do Photoshop activities or build web pages. Thanks for the props, but anyone who has the tools can do what I do. I don’t think I have any special talent; otherwise I’d be turning out flash animations all the time.
Come, cheer up, my lads, ‘tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?(Chorus sung once...)
Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men,
we always are ready; Steady, boys, steady!
We’ll fight and we’ll conquer again and again.We never see the French but we wish them to stay,
They always see us and they wish us away;
If they run, we will follow, we will drive them ashore,
And if they won’t fight, we can do no more.(Chorus sung once...)
They swear they’ll invade us, these terrible foes,
They frighten our women, our children and beaus,
But should their flat bottoms in darkness get o’er,
Still Britons they’ll find to receive them on shore.(Chorus sung once...)
[Verse sometimes omitted]
Britannia triumphant, her ships sweep the sea,
Her standard is Justice—her watchword, ‘be free.’
Then cheer up, my lads, with one heart let us sing,
Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen, and king.(Final Chorus sung twice...)
As it happens they have been showing a good history program in the UK called “Empire of the seas” at the moment. It may make its way onto PBS at some point in the future.
Steyn has a good take on “passing the baton” here.... http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2882/26/
I knew that but for some reason IBM was stuck in my head at the time,DUH ME.
But we are still lucky your running this show.
02/03/2010 at 12:21 PM
02/04/2010 at 12:47 PM
