Among other things, yesterday was Beer Day Britain. Who knew? Certainly not I. Here’s something about that particular bit of nonsense:
“Beer Day Britain is an annual celebration on June 15th for all beer lovers and it celebrates all beer including traditional ales, mainstream lagers, and limited edition craft beer and everything in between no matter where it is brewed or who owns the brewing company.
June 15th is significant because that is also the date Magna Carta was sealed in 1215. The great charter mentions ale in Article 35.
‘Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for aleand a single measure for corn, namely 'the London quarter'.
Ale was so important in England in 1215 that it was cited in one of the most significant legal documents in history. Today beer and pubs are still central to British life and seven out of 10 drinks sold in a pub are beer.
There you go. Of course, in centuries past people drank ale because the water was not always very safe to drink. Just in case you think that Beer Day is an ancient tradition, it seems we have only been celebrating Beer Day Britain annually on June 15th since 2015. The main focus of the day is the National Cheers To Beer that takes place at 7 pm when people also sing the Cheers To Beer anthem co-written by Peyton.
I didn’t hear any singing from the pub next door at 7pm yesterday. Maybe nobody reminded them.
I came across this interesting photo, looking for all the world like the kind of thing you might find in a Barbara Hepworth exhibition. Apparently the large stone is a “hag stone”. Of course, I had to look it up:
“What Are Hag Stones?
A Hag Stone, often referred to as an Adder Stone, is a unique type of rock characterized by a naturally formed hole piercing straight through it. These stones have been shrouded in mystique for centuries, with many cultures attributing magical qualities to them. It’s said that possessing a Hag Stone could grant one the power to cure venomous snake bites or to peer through the veil of enchantment, revealing the true form of witches or fairies when gazed upon through the stone’s aperture.”
This one seems to have inspired the finder of the stone to make a work of art:
“Hard to not balance this very specific hagstone once it found me, as I’ve only seen one other like it in the world, 8 years ago on a karst mountain in rural China. I balanced that one then and felt a need to balance this one now, despite being nearly too heavy to place atop any complexity.. thus intuitively ended up keeping this one simple, both as a physical and design constraint, especially considering the round rocks below are soft sandstone, as well as building with collaborative intent, while here in Lancashire UK.
The curved side rock followed me from downstream for no apparent reason at the time, but became a perfect inclusion to amplify negative space. The round rock on top of it functions to counterbalance / lean it closer to the core, amplifying visual mass and dialogue of the parts.”
Unfortunately I don’t have a name for the artist, just this: # gravity glue.
On more serious matters, in the wider world the madness continues and now Israeli women and children are also being killed. Here’s a Michael Rosen comment on that, or rather on how that is being reported:
“The big moral question being sorted out in the newsrooms: Is a dead Israeli worth the same as a dead Palestinian or a dead Iranian? Mostly the answer is no, an Israeli is worth much more than a Palestinian or an Iranian.
This kind of non-equivalence is not known in maths where 1 = 1 = 1. But this isn't maths. This is the news.”
Meanwhile people are still starving in Gaza, but a lot of media attention has been drawn away from what is still going on there.
And Zarah Sultana MP has been reminding us about the state of things:
“The Iraq playbook is back & the media won’t question it.
Iran has no nuclear weapons. israel - on trial for genocide - does. Iran signed the NPT& allows IAEA inspections. Israel hasn’t - and its leaders face ICC arrest warrants.
Beware of politicians beating the drums of war”
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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