First conclusions on 2010 World Cup (WC) first round. Scandal loomed already in WC 2006 Final

Could the elimination of France and Italy respectively vice champion, and champion WC 2006, in the initial stages, first round ties forebode the end of the Soccer as Biz over Soccer as sport, to end the National selections of over payed, and possibly over played players being chosen for national teams?

Poor performance from England and her very well-off players, Germany doing a little better only just. Spain a favourite has gotten into trouble. But before I slate or "Slag" as they say today to use a metallurgical term for "wast chemical reactants in steel and metal smelting" all the relatively big rich EU countries we must await the Portugal vs Brazil and Spains venue today.

The smaller less well payed soccer nations are doing or did surprisingly well: USA and the Americas in general over and above the giants Argentina and Brazil, Austral Asia's Australia and New Zealand, very good football from the African continent and more than honorable performance of the Asian contingent (Koreas and Japan). lets hope that some good sense and common decency may find it's way back into football first as a Sport and why not as proper business upholding high ethical standards reflecting their undoubted influence on youngsters worldwide as opposed to what we are getting and have been for longer than, I for one, can stand, simulated fouls, jersey and arm pulling, when it is not a full body search, late leg and ankle breaking tackles, tackles from behind cheating of all sorts. Does this reflect life and society as a whole as some even experience coaches say? Is all society on video and broadcast world wide on TV?    I believe I am not alone in my protest.

Market gits Spice.

(To Mr. D. Footham and friends).

(revised version of foot and mouth disease).

Ye git’s! Ye bunch o’git’s,

ye mak’ me mad, blin’ daft.

Market gits Spice. (gits-gets also in slang a”git” is an idiot )

David Bootham, or is it back’m?

No enough cash, I’d brand ‘im!

Tae squander on spice and the likes, bluster!(buster?)

The kind that wid gae the strangest an ulcer. (wid-would)

I’m doubled up in shear pain.

‘Must be market’s shear strain.

The gits, wid they feel ony shame? (gits-idiots)

We’ve heard how much he’s worth but to whae?

But does ay ken hoo much ‘e-costs an’ to wham?

REFRAIN: Ye git’s! …

The pair wean’s the pair wee weans.

Yur daddy ponded yur wee toy train

Yur fired! Yur a’ damned fired by goad!

Naebuddy wi’ sense wid gae yeese a joab.

Is it Boab or Alex that sets the wage?

The slate’s a nae Start, richt Salty gage

Doon richt stupidity has nae boun’ or age

Busby’ s babbes must turn in their graves

A-spire,

Their weans waited near forty years save

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!

Fig’s guid, Zizou, and king ‘Enry too

Emperor Eric a’ways did his team true

Ryan presses the wick, victory he riggs Homage also to Ryan Air that flies Beauvais Fr to Prestwick

Glides like the white ghost*, a fine Gigg. *The late John White of Spur’s & Scotland .

But a’ this dope, incense an’ spice? .

It’s lawfu’ but no’ a’ quite nice.

I’ve got it, thanks tae a day’s thoucht (Thought for the day, BBC4)

That’s richt, a chap broadcast oucht

“In auld Britannia a man is mare concerned

Wi the inequalities in horsies, race banned

REFRAIN: (Ye git’s!…

Market gits Spice)

Than awe the inequalities in blessed mankind”

A man’s a man fur a’ that an’ a’ that”

So whit’s the trouble, lay me alain ye top hat

Tae win the price o’ a packet a coffin nails

Or a pint o’ bitter tae pit wind in ma sails

Fur company, while a canter hame. ( a=I Canter, today= drive)

Yur no gonie put on me ony blame?

Fur ‘a that an’ a’ that it’s coming yet

That man to man the warld o’er

Shall brothers be for a’ that

So listen tae yur brither noo

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!…

Market gits Spice

J A No-Holds-Bard

(29/03/2001).

Read more: http://no-holds-bard.blogspot.com/2010/05/video-support-for-football-refereeing.html#ixzz0rsCirFAd
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Share Alike

 FOOTNOTES:

I. France was in no position to question the poor decision concerning the red card obtained by the young and still principled Yohann Goucuff. The incident as shown on video did not appear to warant even a yellow card, but then the referee, who did a good job on the whole, must act on "Pre-War" technology, where mistakes are encouraged, with as we now know today, to lead to total disaster.

II
Should players chosen to represent their country pay their own expenses? In the big football countries there is certainly a case to be made for such practice. Much publicity is generated around the selection, even if there are very little publicised share systems in operation between: federation, staff and players .

RELATED POSTS:

Video support for Football Refereeing, Why are we waiting? Also Up-date: satyrical poem on soccer extravaganza, violence at matches, cost of security and abusive salaries: "Market Gets Spice" -

Video support for Football Refereeing, Why are we waiting? Also Up-date: satyrical poem on soccer extravaganza, violence at matches, cost of security and abusive salaries: "Market Gets Spice" -

This is a long overdue up-date protest on what can make a legitimately claim:

"That Soccer-Football be put at the top the list of the"World's Worst Management."

risking further damage to the reputation of the Worlds best referees and of course to the sport as a whole.


 In current times of financial and economic crises... upon crises, that is saying a lot!

I suppose we are awaiting more incidents during the World Cup in RSA, in-spite of having the best refereeing available?

I am writing this protest because violence in and around football grounds continues to increase, at least here in France. Governing bodies, National Federations, European Federations and World Cup Governing Bodies refuse to see the obvious (Video it)- that through video assisted refereeing a better refereeing system can improve the game and help take the sting out of Soccer-Football, once a sporting activity.

As in any field of human endeavour, a sense of justice and correct management is a basic tenet. (May our politicians and top management take heed for this applies universally, cf. reference to crises upon crises above also contenders for this Top Award)

Greatly improved refereeing and refereeing management is now absolutely possible in soccer-football, thanks to video techniques which are highly performant and of proven efficiency in many sports: tennis, american football and last but not least, RUGBY- FOOTBALL, indeed, a most difficult sport to referee. In Rugby no major decision can be faulted thanks to the referee's use of slow-motion video, where doubt exists, before awarding tries and drops goals.  

Like the rugby referee, every football fan (spectator) in front of his TV set, TV journalists at the ground and eventually all the supporters seeing large screen video replay in slow motion at the Stadium can see details of any rule breaking, doubtful views of action in the critical areas around the goal;

I personally suggest that this area be chosen as the penalty area, the 18 yards (16.45m)x 44 yards (40m)wide. such is the extent of foul play with serious consequences for all on the pitch, players, teams, the mid-field referee , better known as the man in the middle, incidentally the lowest plaid job on the field!

Causes of useless misunderstanding continue. In the worst cases the game can be ruined by bad refereeing.

Ramifications clearly affect the fans and their behaviour even if refereeing is not the whole story but where the eventuality of bad refereeing, in at least in the most critical area, the penalty box, can be eliminated immediately.

Mid-field play can be monitored and relayed by 4th or even 5th referees (clean job creation) If serious sanctions taken on the spot. Warnings should be accompanied by time-out as in Rugby. (further details are subject to debate) .

  Even the ordinary football fan is highly opinionated, to say the least, but disagreement does not necessarily and usually does not lead to physical violence and after match destruction.  But the rather large fringe of hooligan-elements mostly attracted to the big clubs is another story or more precisely the usual old story of group behaviour well documented in the world of sport.
However, in my long experience as a sports fan, I believe the sports press guilty of under playing the extent of hooliganism particularly soccer-football type. In this there is most probably a dearth of investigative crime-sports press. (But in the Social and Economic Sciences these are most certainly well and impartially documented, but do they have the bite of the investigative press?)

MY PLEA
Give the game every means for good clean refereeing as all sports lovers wish. And cut the grass (and maybe more) from under the feet of the hooligans.

The Cost of Security: could it be less than the cost of a good video system?
Obviously, if the much indebted public foots the bill, by all reports, cf. allusion to crises upon crises above. NB. for budget comparison Soccer & Rugby, cf.below


A rapid google search gives a few figures for reinforced policing of games (250 000 Euros, I gather three time that of the average match- (80 000Euros) Then against the salary of a few stars this may appear to be chicken-feed? So why do Club managers refused both to insist in proper video-refereeing and also refuse to pay the global cost of football, "organised sport or a blood sport?"-For example, PDG of Olympique de Marseille-OM, refuses to foot the security bill Ref 1 below. cf. Provisional Budget for League1 clubs in France Ref.2, Le Monde Satuarday 29 May 2010. All clubs Ref3 Wikipedia. For a Big Club such as OM the budget is 105 MEuros; Budget/security 105MEuros/250KEuros=>420 time the Security estimate or 250KEuros/105MEuros=>0.24% of Top Club Provisional Budget) 

Who is in charge here? Who is responsible for the organisation? Who stands to make money from this? Who pays? Is it TV coverage or ticket holder, and to what extent? No fan-crowd, no hooliganism! These question and more must be answered and the general public money saved.

By comparaison, budgets for video refereed Rugby are, by and large very much smaller except Toulouse and Stade Français,Paris. The spread vares from 28,10MEuros max (Toulouse) to 8.7MEuros mini (Albi) Ref 2.
Removing these two
Rugby Av Budget = 14.4MEuros
Similarily, Av Budget French Soccer L1 = 48,2MEuros          (3 times higher )
(Ref 2, 3 & 4)

VIDEO PLUS - SCIENCE?
It is conceivable to introduce finite element analysis to measure and display physical forces at play during the course of the game. This will heighten knowledge and could possibly reinforce the laws of the game which are designed to protect the players and ensure that soccer-football remains a sport if that is the aim? or is it just one more cash generating machine for putting money in the pockets of the few (more contenders for the World's worst management cf. Nobel Prize winner 2007, J.E. Stieglitz latest book: Freefall : America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy,
(French title: "Le Triomphe de la Cupidité."

VIDEO ASSISTED REFEREEING, A MUST  FOR SOCCER-FOOTBALL. IT WILL PROTECT THE REAL PLAYERS,THE SKILLFUL ONES. THUS IT PROTECTS THE GAME ITS SELF AND MAY REQUALIFY THE GAME AS A TRUE SPORT MANAGEDE AND PLAYED BY SPORTSMEN .

Some of you may remember my earlier poem written before video became a regular refereeing support tool in so many important sports (ie more important than football, guilty of outlawing itself from the "WORLD OF SPORT". 

Market gits Spice.

(To Mr. D. Footham and friends).

(revised version of foot and mouth disease).

Ye git’s! Ye bunch o’git’s,

ye mak’ me mad, blin’ daft.

Market gits Spice. (gits-gets also in slang a”git” is an idiot )

David Bootham, or is it back’m?

No enough cash, I’d brand ‘im!

Tae squander on spice and the likes, bluster!(buster?)

The kind that wid gae the strangest an ulcer. (wid-would)

I’m doubled up in shear pain.

‘Must be market’s shear strain.

The gits, wid they feel ony shame? (gits-idiots)

We’ve heard how much he’s worth but to whae?

But does ay ken hoo much ‘e-costs an’ to wham?

REFRAIN: Ye git’s! …

The pair wean’s the pair wee weans.

Yur daddy ponded yur wee toy train

Yur fired! Yur a’ damned fired by goad!

Naebuddy wi’ sense wid gae yeese a joab.

Is it Boab or Alex that sets the wage?

The slate’s a nae Start, richt Salty gage

Doon richt stupidity has nae boun’ or age

Busby’ s babbes must turn in their graves

A-spire,

Their weans waited near forty years save

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!

Fig’s guid, Zizou, and king ‘Enry too

Emperor Eric a’ways did his team true

Ryan presses the wick, victory he riggs Homage also to Ryan Air that flies Beauvais Fr to Prestwick

Glides like the white ghost*, a fine Gigg. *The late John White of Spur’s & Scotland .

But a’ this dope, incense an’ spice? .

It’s lawfu’ but no’ a’ quite nice.

I’ve got it, thanks tae a day’s thoucht (Thought for the day, BBC4)

That’s richt, a chap broadcast oucht

“In auld Britannia a man is mare concerned

Wi the inequalities in horsies, race banned

REFRAIN: (Ye git’s!…

Market gits Spice)

Than awe the inequalities in blessed mankind”

A man’s a man fur a’ that an’ a’ that”

So whit’s the trouble, lay me alain ye top hat

Tae win the price o’ a packet a coffin nails

Or a pint o’ bitter tae pit wind in ma sails

Fur company, while a canter hame. ( a=I Canter, today= drive)

Yur no gonie put on me ony blame?

Fur ‘a that an’ a’ that it’s coming yet

That man to man the warld o’er

Shall brothers be for a’ that

So listen tae yur brither noo

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!…

Market gits Spice

J A No-Holds-Bard

(29/03/2001).

REFERENCES

1. Jean-claude Dassier, PDG, Olympique de Marseille (refuses to pay) refuse de payer - Football-sécurité(security) - France 3 ...

      Football-sécurité. 26/11/2009 | 15:32 par Provence Alpes ... pour mettre au point des modalités de tarification mieux adaptés à la réalité des coûts". ...      mediterranee.france3.fr/.../Jean-claude-Dassier-refuse-de-payer---59194321.html

2.  Le Monde 29th May 2010 in French.

3. French League 1 Club budgets-Wikipedia (in French)

4. French Rugby Club Budgets, Wikipedia (in French)

Scots-Celtic bagpipes and drums _Up-date_mended links and Cultural Shock_Peace in the European Union, Poems Recalled

My last post (today also) led me to check out my original motivation links under Hugh MacDiarmid, the Great Scots Poet and incidentally a Sargent in the Medical Corps of the British Army in the so called Great War, WWI, in which my own wife's family, paid a heavy tribute: A grand uncle, Paul and a cousin Jean, both poilus-soldiers in WWII, lost their lives. Her Grandfather, poilu too, survived the "Chemin des Dames", Verdun and lived to the age of 87 years old with an permanently injured lung-lost and a piece of shrapnel in his thigh, undetected until late into his 80's and too old to operate!

Short recall:

For memory Hugh's poem, a prayer "Beyond Exile" may be found, in english with my translation to french in my post of entitled:



Tribute to Lazare Ponticelli & to those who survived or tried to survive WWI

It inspired my poem in french and english to Jean (and Paul) called "Well Beyond Exile / Bien au-delà de l'exile." in my post of Oh What a "Great War", That Was! of 12 March 2008. Such work may be readily found by using the blog search on the very top left of my blog with the key words "My poems".

In an expanded Hugh MacDiarmid link list to included Scots Anthems, Pipes and Drum, from Lone Pipers to Massed Pipes and Drums from around the World and combined Scots Songs, Music Videos, things I am sure would interest MacDiarmid if he were alive today. To some, the global reach of the Scottish-Celtic Music connection could be a cultural shock in itself. But to my surprise and great pleasure, I learned the The famous bagpipe tune "Highland Cathedral" was written by German musicians Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb.

Global Reach

May Europe and it's EU members states declare

across the Board.

To continue their road in peace, in life-long happiness,

oil and gas spared

Thus pointing the way as only united states still dare?
coal-on-hold or CO2 stored

As commonwealths have before them, still tireless

co-operate

From need to needless, here lies contented society,

no, not bored,

For to balance need's vicious circle of today's economy,

keeps us on our toes.

Wasteful of energy and resources, wayward

The Natural Resource Company Ltd.

But to illuminate the paths and so evermore

Solar Energy

(en)Lighten the burden of still troubled nations

Renewable-Sustainable

Is the only true energy course alternative

lecture ended

For only people, peoples and nations, physically and mindfully

body and soul

at peace with themselves can avoid distress

climatic distress.

© JA.

To think this started with a broken link and since corrected:

(The Unofficial Scots Anthem written and sung by Corries has now been corrected, scroll down the menu bar with pleasure)

And a gummed up widget on my Materials Science and Engineering blog sucessfully removed, radical!

Post scriptum: If any broken links or phishing warnings on any of my sites are found please, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Will this, one day, save the Bard… from Neurodegenerative disease - Millenium Projects ?

At the turn of decade, the century and the millennium a traumatized scientist wrote a couple of poems:
The first poem, written in 1999 was called: POETSACS. It reflects a hotch-potch of problems at the time. Most are still with us (ref 3 below) and Crusades are still required.

POETSACS

Suppose for a minute that French, Germans, I.A.N. & others bend but have a point.
To thine own self be true…

(Thou canst not, then, be false to any man)

Suppose for a minute that industries ills have come to an end

With B.B_eef joint.

To thine own self be…

Suppose that "Brit." Farmers look for jobs as coalminers

Steelworkers, engineer shipyard welders…

The list is long of Northern night* deadline chimers

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick makers.

To thine own self....

This last job - could this be futures only economic Key?

For the short and not the long wave model let us prey,

On prions and the deil's like,

No, (not) the purse of any Syke.

To Thine...

Lest come they may,

As come they might,

Human frailty,

Mad moo

Too!

J. A. © (1999).


This following article-abstract from The Economist 13 Sept 2007 holds hope for us and shows, once again, how one line of fundamental research driven by serious economic crises "Mad Moo, medical name BSE-Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy" with terrifying repercussion on health sheds new light on the family of Neurodegenerative diseases.

" SEEMINGLY different diseases can sometimes share a common cause. Tumours of all sorts, for example, are clusters of cells run out of control, dividing incessantly. Over the past decade, another unifying medical principle has emerged. It holds that many diseases of the central nervous system—including Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases—also share a mechanism. Instead of non-stop proliferation, the theme in this case is rubbish-disposal gone wrong. "

SOURCE

1. My poem.
2. Neurodegenerative disease ref The Economist 13 Sept 2007
3 A CRUSADE UP-DATE and associated sites check "iansa.org and "Arms Control.org

Music to my ears - Times arrow ever cast -Take a PEEK

Music to my ears -

Times arrow ever cast

Sounds for the deaf and for the solitary golfer by -6°C/267 degrees Kelvin.
(In an early autumn morning, temperature about -6°Celsius/267 degrees Kelvin)

The sun shone an the first green and the second tee.
The young oak looked on amused at these futile gests.
Her leaves, golden, spoke; tinkling, tinkling, falling free,
Floating in the early frosted air to a final tinkled rest.
I strained my ear to listen to natures tune,
From tee to tee and tree to tree ever since,
I realize the uniqueness my experienced “roon.”*

*(roon= round of golf in Scots vernacular)
My poem - poem by a scientist © JA “Times arrow ever cast”


Science in disguise – Music to my ears or is it? Take a “Peek for casting”.

DISCLAIMER

By a Franco-Scots trained metallurgist whose appreciation of plastics is limited and reports on such “substances”** starting from a mind-frame defined by "the metallurgists" motto as “I hate plastics!” - except for Bio-Degradable ISO-NF International Stds. Org. - Norme Francais...plastic carrier bags recycled for home rubbish-The Best. And like all Scots I like a rebate- “Debate svp on what follows-comment!”  Here I slip from a true natures experience on a short golf-practice to prose on science,technology,engineering, materials selection and art not forgetting some humour.

Korea golf ball mould supplier Sung Hyoung Precision has begun coating its mould cores with polyarylethethetone (Peek)

The coatings scratch and wear resistance properties are claimed to extend the service life of mould to six times that of those covered with fluoropolymers or metal platings. The polymer is a linear, semi-crystalline thermoplastic

The main ingredient is a linear, semi-crystalline thermoplastic that does not require a primer or multiple layers.
Such “petroleum derivitives” have of course many other industrial applications “unfortunately” but to be fair, the UK polymer producer offers several online case studies relevant to their products and applications.

Global Outlook-start: UK-China.

Global Application Development Services To support OEMs-Original equipment manufactrers and coaters with the development and commercialization of these coatings in their application design, The PEEK manufacturer has two application support service facilities; The Asia Innovation and Technology Centre (AITC)The Asia Innovation and Technology Centre (AITC), located in the Xinzhuang Industry Park in Shanghai, China and the The Coatings Application Development Center (VADC), located at the company headquarters in Thornton Cleveleys, Lanchashire, United Kingdom. Both centers provide customers with expertise and support in materials specification, training, prototyping, testing, and research.

NB. Life Cycle Analysis:

Granta Design's new Eco Audit Tool enables identification of the energy emissions from a product at different phases in its lifecycle, based on the materials and processes used; eg. material, manufacture, transport, use, disposal.

LHS-Fig. Histogramme Energy vs Lifecycle phase

Sources
-Materials World (MW) Print edition only – All MW. full online content –Link.
-Engineering Talk

-Life Cycle Analysis Eco-Audit All the links Images are due to Granta Design.

**For a discussion on Materials versus Substances cf my link:
"The Material Chemists-Definition of Materials Chemistry"

Industrialists websites:
Victrex "Peeks"
Sung Hyoung Precison

"An Address in poetry to John Updike's famous Poem "Cosmic Gall" - First Response entitled "Not so shy".

Translate this Page!

"An Address in poetry to John Updike's famous Poem "Cosmic Gall" - First Response entitled "Not so shy". " cf. (previous post to read John Updikes excellant poem on science: the fundamental physics particle, the neutrino, "Cosmic Gall" -link

By J. Alexander ©

"From underneath the bed—you call It wonderful;
I call it crass."
(""last two lines of Updike's poem- Cosmic Gall cf. previous post)

NOT SO SHY

"From underneath the bed—you call It wonderful;
I call it crass."
Dross or Dirt?
We call this sass!
Pauli nobely avoids theory's downfall!
Named, neutrino, by Fermi to encompass
Weak forces such as mine – a pitfall,
Hardly matter for any pub jackass,
More sober than a two pint quark* brawl,
No strange charm top or bottoms-"up" eyeball.
Peace, shy neutrinos embrace,
Oblivious to man's incessant squall,
For crude detectors they by-pass,
And nature's processes they seem to surpass.
They drench us like Clyde's** "Reinefall,"**
From Peking, Nepal - Newhaven or Madras,
They parade, strut and transpierce Whitehall,
Bathe Glasgow streets and drown Paul Mall,

One second on from creation strasse.
At 1.9 ° K, I cannot imagine some fireball,
Particulate light oscillating flavour's shawl
Requires background noise hyper-firewall.

PS.

Peace, shy neutrinos embrace,
Oblivious to man's incessant squall,
For crude detectors they by-pass,
And nature's processes they appear to surpass.
The peaceful shy encyclopedic pal,
Before it's shower no need to bow at all,
From natures con-fusion to heaven-
Hi, I'm just passing through to enthral,
Deil's ilke's, shy neutrinos embarrass.

J. Alexander©

*(quark is Nobel Litterature, James Joyce's quart = 2 pints)
**(Clyde Cowan & F. Reines - a wink or nod at to my SW Scottish birthplace via Two Nobel Prize winners who first detected Neutrinos Clyde L. Cowan & F Reines

NB.1 On Dr. Clyde Lorrain Cowan & his burial place at Arlington Cemetery.


NB. 2 Cowan himself was a Chemist by training


Acknowledgements:
With the help of the Stanford Institute web word generator.
Back-ground. Research: CPS/ chemistry/0311004

"click here to translate this page into any language, using the Fagan Finder Translation Wizard" Translate this Page!

THE GORDIAN KNOT

THE GORDIAN KNOT
(which many of us must cut every day! - "Cut the Knot here"

At a loose end.
Tying up loose ends,
Can only lead to knots,
Stories of curves and bends,
Hardly stuff of comfortable thought.
by J.A.© ( march 2001).

LE NOEUD GORDIEN.
(beaucoup d’entre nous doivent le coupé tous les jour! -
"Coupez le noeud ici" -en anglais

En lambeaux
Accrocher des bouts de pendants cordages
Ne peut mener qu’aux nœuds,
Des histoires de courbes et de virages,
Pas vraiment matière à penser-
Confortablement à eux..
Version Fr. par J.A. ©(Avril 2001)

More on knots & maths

FROM ENTROPY to POETRY, for Thermodynamics Enthousiasts

FOR THERMODYNAMICS ENTHUSIASTS - POUR DES ADEPTES EN THERMODYNAMIQUES.

From Entropy to Poetry

(originally Owed'N..! as "Ode" )

( in response to J.E. Harris, FRS. FEng. FIM. "Material Matters-Poetry & Entropy, MW. Sept. 2002, P70. Thanks Jack for the tips on; great poems on science, John Updikes "Ode to Entropy..." and & perhaps the greatest English Poet of the last century,WH Auden who graduated from Oxford as a biologist! )

From poetry to entropy,

You will by now agree,

There is not an “F” of a difference,

Nor even a “Gee”(G).

Could it be simply an “N”?

If only this was The En’d!

For what is to follow,

There could well be no tomorrow,

Short molecule DNA of poetry.

For of beginnings and ends

Much has been hypothesised

And even tested, God forgive!

Such is the closed system

In which many are hypnotised

To make a living, a pit-ance.

But life’s work lies in between,

As some open, interactive, book.

An “F” of difference?

I’m glad you asked,

Simple formulas to treat with deference.

Naturally “F”is for:

Fiddling and fumbling with variations.

Mixing and muddling and even juggling

With Temperature and Space, ( dT, dV.)

Helmholtz keel. (dF = - SdT - PdV )

And “Gee” where does it come in?

You may again feel free to ask?

Will’ard enough and Gibbs steps in*,

His physical – chemistry violin,

Striking the cords of Temperature and Pressure,

(dG= - SdT +VdP)

Easier to manipulate

In some (dead) physical body.

Of chemical potentials?

Muse to add, (μ)

Infinitesimal accounts of energy change with mass.

Remember the thermodynamic mnemonic flag:

“Students Usually Voluntarily, Forget The, Grants People, Have.”

-S U V

H x F

-P G T

And of “N’s”, just some number?

Or n, i. chemical potential? [n, i, (any)]

Maybe Not, I. N. Stein;

Clean power two, speed of light

Shortest molecule DNA of poetry,

(E=Mc^2)

Simple formula above all to treat with deference!

A and H, worth a bomb,

Or just some N-UK-ES ?

“N” as in Nu-clear?

The highest state of strong order, dawning

“et de ce jour bacteries et champignons*

jailirent à l’existance pour dissoudre*

et un nouveau champignon est né*

Such is Nature – reviewed.

[S for entropy, for system or something

All potential candidates for a one word

“System of Systems” Of… Information?

Naturally, Log on too, ( two )

For being negative can be positive. ]

[ ]= Unfinished verse –

WTBD. "Work to be done".

Of closed systems and of open,

The worst of course is isolation

For the latter is no man’s land

Nor any living kingdom

Wherein neither energy nor matter exchange.

And as if to remind one’s self

The best system is

As in Nature’s “Natural Processes”**,

The system KISS,

For God is love,

So Keep It Simple Stupid!

This all began with an “H”

But let’s not En’d

With “H” for Head

As “en-Trophy”!

It must by now, be apparent,

That the proper order, may I say it,

Must be from Entropy to Poetry!

*[Willard Gibbs, Thermodynamics theorist 18…]**”(from J.Updike, trad. Alain Suid “Ode à la Décomposition”) **(from A. Suid’s trad. of J.Updike’s “Facing Nature”). 3rd draft, 12 Nov. 2002, JA., 4th draft 6 March 2003. JA.,5th draft 6 May 2003. JA. 6the draft 2 June 2003, copyright

© JA., MORE on Entropy,

Links to be refreshed (TBD)

Click Link; http://fr.mdpi.net/Practical Applications of Thermodynamics:http://www.calphad.org/ & Communities-Families:http://www.matport.com%3c/strong%3E

1st Ever Poem-Bilingual "Accidented Watch" - "Ma Montré Accidenté"

MA MONTRE ACCIDENTE
(Prose sur une manifestation de la phénomène de révolution -
Autre titre Cadran en Révolution)

ACCIDENTED WATCH
(Prose on revolution -cf. below)

Avec les aiguilles,
la longue et la courte,
minute par minute,
heure par heure,
le cadran tournait.

Chaque jour par cinq,
je ne voyais pas la différence,
un tour complète,
de retour à douze,
comme dans un rêve.

Mon dieux!
Elle ne s’arrête pas.
Truc d'Ouf! Mon esprit-
Ne m'a pas joué un tour!
Je suis encore en vie!


ACCIDENTED WATCH
(Prose on revolution)

With the hands,
the long and the short,
minute by minute,
hour by hour,
the face revolved.

Every day by five,
I could see no difference.
One complete turn,
at twelve again,
as in a daze.

Mein Gotte! it did not stop.
Relief at last! My mind-
was not playing a trick.
I was alive again!

My poem-dream: "Jaggy Stuff" (analogy with laser light)

Alternative Title: Battle Song _Fight against one's self (reputed to be one's own worse enemy?)
Author's note:This poem is based upon a half-awake dream, places and people are real.

Jaggy Stuff

Translate this Page!

He looked at himself in the glacey mirror*
And what he saw was war and terror.
He looked again and remembered his dream.
His franglais, mixed, shone not quite clean,
As the laser beam, sharp and unbent,
Highly directional, monochromatic, coherent
Bringing secour, help and relief at last.

He looked at his dream as a man afar - vast,
Like the antimatter in the quantum glass,
Present and past in one place on the cross.

Which door was number three? Right? No left.
Upon opening was a man, on the table edge deft,
Behind young cronies drinking merry.
I left this boat, suffocating ferry.

It was night, but the day was dawning.
I breathed afresh the new belief spawning
I looked and saw, I listened and heard
A voice from the other side, (Adams) said
-Cried out, Morin is dead! I half awoke,
In the grey and an idea broke,
untwining the ‘frangais’ laser clear.

“Mort” in! “Death in”, is dead, reborn hear!

I left my long commatic state
To breath again, with life a date.

J. Alexander (about12/12/98).Copyright © J.A.( Scanned and punctuated 15/12/2001-8/01/2002 Ed.19/03/2003).
*(double meaning “glacey”, cold- franglais->glassy)
LINEAR FRACTALS - PRETTY JAGGY STUFF

LASER Up-date & Comments "Ultra-fast Lasers 080327"

TBD - To Be Done or Work-in-hand

A recurring pre-occupation in my web and blog approaches, has been and is, concerned with of the concept of limitations and their positive (or negative or equilibrating-neutralising) power and their definitions. This is becoming more and more apparent to me! I do hope readers share this perception, if not I trust you will send your feed-back for improvement or contribute via your own web-logs and links.

To start this "conversation," and hopefully help understanding, let me developpe this as follows:

""Many of you will know of the idea of the “weakest link” as in a chain, or in a team or human system, and again in chemical kinetics, “the slowest reaction in a series of reactions may determine its overall rate or speed” or upon further analysis may depend on in what is known in chemical or mechanical engineering –as fluid dynamics and heat and mass transfer as opposed to purely chemical reaction rate. In a few of words “Holistic Systems Approach.” These notion appear throughout. ""

Current up dates to blogger with AdSense are:

· "Toe the line" or "The Prefects Prayer"
Already posted here-in.
. It is based upon the very clear short book "Les Constantes Universelles" (Universal Constants in english) by the Physics Nobel Prize winner Gilles Cohen Tannoudji. I warmly recommend both C.Cohen Tannoudji's book for the concise,insightful account of the universal constants; G, c, k & h the gravitational constant,the speed of light,Boltzmann and Planck'constants respectively and my,hopefully mind stimulating, verses on LIMITS in

· "Newton is Dead"
Already posted here-in
ENTROPY,Chemical-Thermodynamics; Gibbs, Helmholtz, J.C.Maxwell et al. in

· "From Entropy to Poetry," (Work completed)
or
LASER Light-beams in
· "Jaggy Stuff" (Done cf next post above)
or again on WORK & JOBS

· "Le travail c'est la santé-a damned good job too",
Alreadt posted herein
or
even on Neutrinos in
· "Not so Shy" (TDB follow-up from John Updike's poem The Shy Particle)

. These and other subjects are treated in a light-hearted but fairly sound fashion. As suggested in my original weblog post “”, despite such exponential increase in knowlege,(that non-trivial “hockey stick” crops-up again) it is trivial, still,to say that infinitely more is unknown than is known, even excluding the outer space & extraterrestrial exploration often involked in such statements, and less explicitly as in Nuclear Fusion.

An Innovative Energy Network Brings Carbon-Credit Hope-Highlighted by my poem "THE DC NETWORK" High Voltage Direct Current -Also Sound Advice on HIV

This militant poem, "The DC NETWORK!" was posted earlier as an add-on to

"Letter in the Scottish Tradition-"LE TRAVAIL C’EST LA SANTE…"
(a damned good job too!)

Due to the value of the Innovation's refered to,(1)HVDC[link] & Materials Science's Role (rubber)[via IOM3 Link] in Battle against HIV, I appeared highly desireable to give my poem & links (TBD)higher visibility.

Source of Inspiration:
Footnote Sus Dev: ref. "Material Matters" & Letters to the Editor Materials World & our following debate on HVDC:

"The DC NETWORK!"

HVDC should in no-way be confused with HIV.

Both refer to distributed energy, waste to flee!

HIV needs no explanation for today's generation,

-Remember...!

HVDC means High Voltage Direct Current, premption

Notice here that, "mean" takes an "s", giving "means"!
Both relie on the Materials Sci. Scot, rubber(s) for insulation.
Let worldly saints see,

Lack of protection is Devil's temptation.

Soon the world solar energy links,
May end the current energy jinks,

Wind in Scotland powering Poland & Germany!

Can you just imagine, more than one man thinks

A 6million kilted, bagpipe nation starts to dream a link

Fossile energy sources may end some day - happily,
Spreading, comfort instead of dire, wild-fire
The latter is a climate change hard trier.

Trust the solar-nuclear; Wind & water
Marine-Hydro, Fuel Cells & Geothermal
Decide on Solar source, dash...
Not just all that,trash and hash.

Scottish Mettle!

copyright JA (080328)

It is particularily fitting to dedicate this post to the Pylon Poets.

[& again thanks Jack -Material Matters, Materials World -IOM3, Sept. 2002, p70. ]
The so-called "Pylon poets" of the 1930s were mocked for writing poetry that seemed to praise the scourge of the National Grid spreading itself across the hills and valleys; Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice all got tainted with the brush (even though Spender's original Pylon poem doesn't seem all that straight-forwardly enthusiastic if you read it now).
But it reminds me of our current national debate about wind farms. I absolutely love the idea of a landscape which combines respect for our architectural heritage, with a delight in what is to come - and for me, wind farms and pylons are exciting: a gorgeous, exhilarating sight. But to listen to some Radio 4 phone-ins, you'd think I was completely alone. Now I've got Brian Hayes, though, I know there must be other people out there who like pylons. courtesy of The Independent, Emma Townshend.

Footnote: The excellent "Leonardo Energy" web site, is managed by The European Copper Institute

MORE on RUBBER - Roadmap for Rubber & Polymers, please Comment

My Poem on Mechanical Limits-"NEWTON IS DEAD."

LIMITS TO A PHYSICAL & MECHANICAL APPROACH.

NEWTON is DEAD.

(Inspired by -“Newton is dead” by Peter M. Allen, Prof. of Physical Chemistry,MIT

ref: “La Mort d'Newton”

Ed. Maisonneuve & Larose(in French translated from Italian under the direction of Augusto Forti-Bureau Européen de l’UNESCO, Paris).

"NEWTON is DEAD".
Newtonian physics and thermodynamics have succeeded.

In economy, biology, and ecology, problems have receded.

Based upon some false sense of equilibrium,

We have reduced the complex sys. Triumvirum

To some potential function; utility, convenience, efficiency,

Vital to human condition if only one could wait and see.

The blind watchmaker has had his say.

Old man time has cast his arrows way,

Breaking the egg timers universal symmetry.

Please don’t get me wrong, there is no gimmickry.

Even in evolution, which is where it’s at,

Darwin is in essence a view of the past.

The mechanical world is in a right damned panic,

Dissipative processes have sapped dynamics.

In breaking systems into constitutive parts,

Atoms and molecules have lost life’s spark.

Could it be that my own equilibrium is fleeting

From balanced short time to long* my life eating?

Because all is not of equal possibility,

We simply seek the average probability.

But this machine, I may tell you, can only function.

It’s job is not to compete, co-operate, disposition.

To grow, evolve, and even innovate.

Continuous learning, conscience create!

Only as a mainly mortiferrous linear decision,

Can physics keep its present power of prevision;

Entropy, Free Energy potential associates imposes relaxation,

Inevitably deterministic, predetermined, equilibrium variation.

This last word is to-days reality,

Far from all known bounds of reversibility,

Instabilities three wicked witches, turn, twist, and flirt

**“Out of line” modern body of physics & chemistry comforts it.

Do you get the picture of the human system devotion?

Individual components immerged in a potential ocean,

Whose evolving contours are hills and valley postures,

Hyphens for present and possible (potential) futures,

And each of them as in some fog or smog vaguely visible.

Choose carefully here, the dreams of some brave individual!

For awaits devilish dilemmas fork, requiring doctor’s care,

Or on average smooth, sooth, through fear of life’s dare,

For history moves equally to individuals and to systems rhythm

At least this is Peter’s hope;DASHED & DROWNED?

[**& NSF below ]

Here I must stop least language becomes the new barrierOf our species,

much worse than any animal carrier.

*(Long & short time economic model-pendulum?/eqm.)

**Non-linear

Jas. Alexander © (written about 12/12/1999 .This edition 20 Sept. 2001 & 11Oct.)

Please quote the author in any communication/transmission, written or verbal… copyright © J.A
More on Entropy [Link] or

[Link]

Practical Applications of Thermodynamics &

Communities-Families:[Link]

My Poem,"Toe the line" on LEARNING-HORIZONS/HORIZONS APPRENANTES!

Time to leave my translations of Hugh MacDiarmid and introduce some "pseudo-science..." through one of my own Franco-English poetry efforts.

LEARNING HORIZONS/HORIZONS APPRENANTES!

- The super-cord runners! -

Alternative title: "The Prefect's Prayer"

(It is based upon the very clear short book "Les Constantes Universelles" (Universal Constants in english) by the Physics Nobel Prize winner Gilles Cohen Tannoudji. I warmly recommend both C. Cohen-Tannoudji's book for the concise,insightful account of the universal constants; G, c, k & h the gravitational constant,the speed of light,Boltzmann and Planck'constants respectively
“Les Constantes Universelles”[pdf] par Gilles Cohen-Tannoudji )

Other Inspirations and influences on this approach are due to

Interdisciplinary Reviews Ed. J.E.Harris & Order in Intermetallics by R.W.Cahn.(ref.author's signed print transmitted personnaly, many thanks) & to the late
J. Rotblatt-founder of Pugwash "1st meeting,Pugwash,Nova Scotia,Canada" Hi forever!)

Toe the line

("A vos marques")
Ce n’est pas un terrassement
Toe the line
C’est le début du commencement
Toe the line
C’est l’intention absolue de dépassement
Toe the line
Maintenant, les yeux rivés, fixement
Toe the line
Sur la corde plus que jamais, en filament

Bang ! Soit-il grand !

Big-Bang blum,
On est sur la piste.
Stu-Peur !

C'est une horizon qui s'éloigne

Et une autre horizon qui s'approche.
Ce sont les concurrents qui s’éloignent.

Les un des autres, les horizons témoignent
Par déplacements, expansions bidirectionnelle,
Le corps s’échauffe,

Comme un ressort!
Mais l’esprit reste froid, calme comme la nuit.
Le but atteint, c’est l’horizon affranchi
Les corps se rencontrent, de nouveaux se percutent.
Sourires ou larmes, des visages s’allument,
Embrassant vainqueurs et vaincus.
Dans l’effervescence, le temps s’arrête.
Au-delà du tout "quantum" discernabilité,
On a inventé "l’amplitude de la probabilité".
Nous sommes spectateurs, des parieurs tous !
Mais dans l’énergie de l'action, on vit,
Ici, maintenant, conscience
On découvre la remise des médailles,
manifestation de la life réalité !

So-t
Toe the line! - all in Time-GENTLEMEN-Please.

(Coude à Coude, derniers Verres, Messieurs, SVP.)

Jas. Alexander © (29/03/2001 up-date2008)
(m. j. a. m- mostly just a metallurgist).

Oh What a "Great War", That Was!

Well Beyond Exile / Bien au-delà de l'exile.

(versions en français et en anglais suivent)
(Suggested by H. Mcdiarmid “Beyond Exile.” Salonika (1916)
and surely,the pipe music “The hills of Tyrol”, paroles A. Stewart).

Note historique:

This true story happened in the same place (Dardanelles near Salonika), one year after Michel Grieves (alias H. Macdiarmid) wrote his beautiful lines "Beyond Exile cf previous post)

C'est histoire vrai à eu lieu dans la même région(Les Dardanelles près de Salonique) ou M. Grieves (alias H. Macdiarmid) à écrit ces très belles paroles dans "Au delà de l'exile" cf. log précédent

One Year On /Un an de plus
To Salonika and Back/ Salonique aller – retour-1917.
For Françoise et sa Famille: Mamie Lulu, Paul, Dédé et Michel
and especially Grandfather Jaconnet, he who survived the
atrocious: "Chemin de Dames"- Verdun

(To Jean, 1893-1917).

"Le cousin de ma femme est mort aujourd’hui"


“My wife’s cousin died today,
Son nomEm, Jean Crochet.
‘Maréchal de ceci ou de cela ?’
«Tout simplement des Logis. »
‘Diplôme en poche aussi ?’
« Des Ponts et Chaussées . »

Il a quitté le 201e d’artillerie
Le silence sur la 26e batterie

Sur ses terres lointaines
Trouver le vieux chemin
De la colline et de l’école
était au-delà de ses propres forces
Son père comme lui a dû allé
Car Jean, lui-même, à trop tardé !

Il a quitté le 201e d’artillerie
Le silence sur la 26e batterie

A Salonique. Quel beau voyage !
L’instituteur, directeur, la norme
A trouver le vieux chemin
De la colline et de l’école.
Jean a passé l’ultime borne

Il a quitté le 201e d’artillerie
Le silence sur la 26e batterie

Ils sont de retour à nouveau, Nevers
Jean, Alphonse, et Francine
Ensemble devant la pierre, l’hiver,
Vieillis de cent ans un jour
Silent memory to a living “hymn”

Il a quitter le 201e d’artillerie
Le silence sur la 26e batterie

Il faut bien le dire,( tout haut ?)
Ca fait beau sur son tombeau.

JA © (1/06/2001). Trad. Update (5/06/2001)

Footnotes :

Francine née Perrier
1° version ever = anglais pour "toujours"

Variations
Silent memory to a living “hymn
(Mémoires si-les-cieux - la vie en hymne).

English Translation

Well beyond Exile – “One year on”
( Translation to English of” my poem
Bien au delà de l’exile. Originally in French. Inspired by H. Macdiarmid )

My wife’s cousin died to-day.
Oh, his name? Jean Crochet
Major General this or that?
Simply a sergeant major
A young university graduate, eh ?
From‘les Ponts and Chaussées’

Jean left the 201st artillery
Silence on the 26th company

In distant lands to find
The old hill road and
The village school was well…
Beyond his strength, now unkempt
His father, like Jean also went
Jean’s life was down right spent

Jean left the 201st artillery
Silence on the 26th company

To Salonika what a wonderful trip
The school head master, directorship
Found the old hill road and
The village school was well…
Jean had passed the ultimate mile post

Jean left the 201st artillery
Silence on the 26th company

They are now all back in Nevers
Jean Alphonse and Francine
Together before the headstone, ever
Aged a hundred days, one day
A silent memory to a living hymn.

Jean left the 201st artillery
Silence on the 26th company

Should I allow, my voice be heard
Declaring that it does look good
On his grave head?

JA copyright@J.A
Trial translation 25 Oct. 2001. ©

Footenote: Jean's cannon had fired so many rounds that day that it blew up on them. A sort of metallurgical-quality assurance-defect, then "that's war that was" and maybe still is?

Poem_"Market gets Spice" -Times of Abuse -Sport, Business, Finance...

I did not intend to write so soon, nor, to subject the poor chance reader to some "prose" in Scots vernacular. In fact when I originally wrote this poem a few years ago, around 2001, and submitted it to the European Union (EU) for corrective action, only to be told, correctly, that Scots is not an official EU language.

I bet it is better understood by the large contingent of ex-pats of Scottish origin, notably: New Zealand, ouch! They whip the home brew in rugby; Canada, Oh! their salaries and living standards are so much higher- USA, Australia, South Africa..! At the time I guess I went for food wine... & culture in France. And believe it or not, metallurgy was part of this scheme, I discovered the world of special steels and alloys; one of the widest ranges one can find, anywhere in the world, in one and the same plant cf. Footnote 3 scroll down.

With no further a-do, here is my piece called "Market gits Spice", addressed to a fictious footballer "Mr. Foot-ham and friends - any likeness to specific persons is probably only a source of motivation to write and fired entirely by jealously or other low instincts and may be termed a Revised Version of Foot and Mouth Disease). Some explanation for native english & other foreigner english speakers still (TDB-to be done but adepts can read on.

Market gits(1) Spice.

Ye git’s! Ye bunch o’git’s, (2)

ye mak’ me mad, blin’ daft.
Market gits Spice.

Mr Boot-ham, or is it back’m?
No'(3) enough cash, I’d brand ‘im!
Tae squander on spice and the likes, I bluster!
The kind that wid gae the strangest(4) an ulcer.

I’m doubled up in shear pain.
‘Must be market’s shear strain.
The git’s, wid they feel ony shame?
We’ve heard how much he’s worth but to whae? (5)
But does ay ken hoo much ‘e-costs an’ to wham?(6)

REFRAIN: Ye git’s! …

The pair weans(7) the pair wee(8) weans.
Yur daddy ponded yur wee toy train
Y'ur(9) fired! Y'ur a’ damned fired by Goad! (10)
Naebuddy wi’ sense wid gae yeese a joab.
Is it Boab(11) or Alex that sets the wage?
The slate’s a nae Start, richt(12) Salty gage
Doon richt stupidity has nae boun’ or age
Busby’ s babbes must turn in their graves
A-spire,
Their weans waited near forty years save

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!

Fig’s guid, Zizou, and king ‘Enry too
Emperor Eric a’ways did his team true
Ryan presses the wick,(13) victory he riggs

Glides like the white ghost(14), a fine Gigg.
But a’ this dope, incense an’ spice? .
It’s lawfu’ but no’(3) quite nice.
I’ve got it, thanks tae a day’s thoucht(15)
That’s richt,(12) a chap broadcast oucht (16)
“In auld Britannia a man is mare concerned
Wi the inequalities in horsies, race banned

REFRAIN: (Ye git’s!…
Market gits Spice)

Than awe the inequalities in blessed mankind”
"A man’s a man fur a’ that an’ a’ that” (17)
So whit’s (18) the trouble, lay me alaine(19) ye top hat
Tae win the price o’ a packet a coffin nails
Or a pint o’ bitter tae pit(20) wind in ma' sails
Fur company, while a canter hame. (21)
Y'ur no' gonie put on me, ony blame?
"Fur ‘a that an’ a’ that it’s coming yet
That man to man the warld o’er
Shall brothers be for a’ that" (17)

So listen tae y'ur brither(22) noo

REFRAIN: Ye git’s!…
Market gits Spice

J A-No_Holds_Bard
(29/03/2001).

Footnote 1.
1. git's- USA for gets 2. gits- idiots 3. No-Not
4. wid gae the strangest-would give the strongest 5. whae- whom
6. ay ken hoo much ‘e-costs an’ to wham? does he know how much "he" costs and to whom - Double meaning : e-costs slash -(poetic licence svp, s'il vous plait-please)
7. weans - chidren 8. wee- tiny 9. Yur-you are & a' - all 10. goad! God!
11. Boab- Bob short for Robert 12. richt-right, truely
13. Ryan presses the wick -Homage also to Ryan Air which flies Beauvais Fr to Prestwick (Scotland)
14. Hommage to the late John White known as the of Spur’s & Scotland, nick-named the white ghost(premonition!)-sadly died young, on the golf couse, by a lightening strike
15. Thought for the day, BBC4 16. oucht - once
17. Taken from Robert Burns' Poem, "Auld lang Syne" sung the world over to ring out the old year (Hugmanay-NY eve- and herald in the New Year.
18. whit’s-what is 19. alaine- alone 20. tae pit- to put 21. canter hame- trot home
22. yu'r Brither noo-you brother now.

Footnote 2.
Some may have noticed, I decided to upload, today 27 Feb. 2008, this original little painting, which I like a lot, while I searched through my old files and CD back-up & old 3.5" floppies for this piece in order to review its relevance (from memory, my poem was an "angry reaction" one more sorry to say" to over paid sometimes over-rated footballers" and their paying supporters on the terraces who are often in shaky economic circumstances. Seems things have not changed, the wage gap has never been so wide, and spreading like gangrene, best expressed by such french commentators such as Jean-Francois Kahn (JFK) who points out, that a worker on minimum guaranteed wage in France (1280euros brute-1000euros net, 2007-08) would need to work for 15 Centuries, yes 15 000 years to obtain the annual salary of top managers -perks & gifted stocks. (called stock options) included. ie. from the time of the French King Clovis(485-511) to this day! as Kahn likes to add. Try the following link for more on the French History Time line[link]. JF Kahn,[link in French only,]
International Reporter, founder of the now failed"Les Jeudis de l'Informaton" & the sucessfull "Marianne", the only weekly information magazine financed uniquely by subscribers. JFK is the brother of famous medcine & genetician Axel Kahn and Biochemist Olivier Kahn)

Footnote 3.
Football, food wine... & culture in France and believe it or not metallurgy was part of this scheme. I discovered the world of special steels and alloys; one of the widest ranges one can find, anywhere in the world, in one and the same plant not to mention it’s own well equipped Research Centre and three big laboratories for product control:

Chemistry for raw materials and steel formulation process & product control,
Mechanical testing, destructive and non-destructive micro- and macro-graphic examination, and
Physical testing for cryogenic-dilatation and magnetic testing all in a little known village called Imphy, in France.

Such concentration, I believe, defies all management theory but one, seldom talked about by the Ivory Tower sad guy's; ie. "that, variety is the spice of life." Today if you are lucky you may find a similar set-up in a very few Big Outfits with Big R&D – Corporate Universities etc or techno-poles, innovation parks, centres of excellences, skunk-works, what have you.
For some, the working conditions, hot and difficult, danger never far-off, could border on "hell-on-earth." although pay was good for the period.

We metallurgical engineers (physicists & chemists) and managers, many renowned in there respective fields, fought hard to alleviate this. I wish we could have done more, for it was a metallurgist's paradise and probably still is despite the fall in popularity of these professions and trades.

The perks you may ask? As in all difficult & dangerous professions and trades there was a strong community spirit. Most management had a strong sense of their social responsibility as well as their scientific aims and economic and financial basics, in my experience.

This is not as unusual as it may appear for a plant, established by the famous and very able French Finance Minister Colbert (a protestant) on the banks of the Loire river, and run by the famous Henri Fayol, around the time of the 1st World War, both before & after.


The director of steel-making the three steel workshops (an ex-R&D man of course such was the technical level required) drove to the plant in his 2CV, lean on gas.

I and three other metallurgical engineers; the head of R&D, the manager of R&D for the Invar alloy family and the manager for powder metallurgy R&D and special powder manufacturing plant travelled the 15kms to the plant sharing the same car by rote.

No elderly men in Mercedes cars accompanied by younger platinum blonds, as I discovered later, around Aerospaciale & Airbus head office in Toulouse. I did hear that this may have changed by the more recent breed of visiters to the Cobert founded plant in Imphy.

Needless to say I am happily married, and still in France, a miracle?

LETTER in the SCOTTISH TRADITION

The Poet Robert Burns
portait by Alexander Muir

LETTER in the SCOTTISH TRADITION.

to an english("american") speaking french friend

"LE TRAVAIL C’EST LA SANTE…"

(a damned good job too!)

Too much welfare

Not enough work-fare -

Or is it work-fair,

Not to be confused with warfare?

Every man must ask,

When is workfare not welfare?

Or should I enquire,

When is a fair day's work, welfare?
I would like to reply that in the balance:

Quand bien est biens et biens est bien,

When goods "eez" good and good "eez" goods,

When mean, on average, is written with an "s",

(then neither Gâchi nor Gachette win the day)

Aye indeed, cast your minds eye* owre the latter

parent'thesis.

"Cause",when well is fare and fare is well,

Work-fair is welfare,

Neither deprivation, nor even starvation

But on a bad day, what is the option?

For on a bad day that is adoption.

But I truly feel that this may be;

The eternal Dilemma,

For which no doctor has yet the answer

But we can try; lets say, “Farewell”

Be fair, before degradation and stagnation,

For on a bad day, that is the adoption."

"Let not despair get it's grip,

But continue in good cheer.

"Quand bien est biens et biens est bien

And goods are good and good means goods,

For note here too, mean is written with an 's',

And neither (Gâchi nor Gachette) win the day,

Cause they have been put under parenthesis."

Now work is fair and fare is well

Work-fair is welfare for sure."

-Add On For Good Measure-

"A last one for the road?"

Drive safely, drive with care,
Drive smoothly, drive slowly

easy on the gas, by god!

& Revolution looses it's "R" me lad,

(Of Long John Silver black-spots beware,)

For then Revolution is Evolution & that too is true for sure.

Thus Nature's self is Satisfied.

Post Scriptum

Did I hear you say when cows can fly and elephants too?
Ever try the Beluga-Dirigeable-exUnlead Zeppelin*

Pan EU-rail better than road or boat?

SUN FLOWER on "ZEPPELIN" from BP-"OLEDs meditations"

on Sustainable Development (Sus Dev).

from a french tongue-in-cheek joke:
"Work is good for your health
The less one does the better one feels."

"Le travail, c'est la santé

Le moins on fait

Le mieux on se porte."

*due to the late Scots poet, Christopher Murray Grieve, alias Hugh Macdiarmid.

Footnote Sus Dev: ref. "Material Matters" & Letters to the Editor Materials World & following debate on HVDC:

HVDC should in no-way be confused with HIV.
Both refer to distributed energy, waste to flee!
HIV needs no explanation for today's generation
HVDC means High Voltage Direct Current, premption
Notice here that, "mean" takes an "s", giving "means"!

Both relie on the Material Sci, rubber(s) for insulation.

Let worldly saints see, lack of protection is sins temptation

Soon the world solar energy links,

May end the current energy jinks!

Let confort spread, instead of wild-fire

The latter is a climate change hard trier

Trust the solar-nuclear; Wind & water

Marine-Hydro, Fuel Cells & Geothermal

Decide on Solar source, dash...

Not just all that,trash & hash.