Saturday, November 08, 2008
18/8
The mystery of the grass, first mentioned on 18 August continues. With meetings with two agricultural experts coming up, paid a return visit to the field with the mystery grass to see if there was any left. And there was: the crop had been harvested, leaving stubble of the usual sort but with a few stray plants around the edges. Took one home to be photographed and so better pictures than my DIY effort will be available just as soon as we have camera connectivity. In the meantime I forgot to take the plant to show agricultural expert No. 1 and agricultural expert No. 2 did not know what it was. Maybe the posting of pictures will produce some knowledge. Maybe I have to do a more careful trawl through Mr G.
Having been prompted to turn up the Koran the other day, found my Penguin copy a bit dry. Very little in the way of footnotes and explanatory material. Not even in the right order. The editor claimed that there was no canonical order and so he decided to do what he thought best. So the chapter of the cow, which I remember as being first, was relegated to somewhere in the second half. Then, while I was pondering where I might go for something better, just the thing turned up. A two volume Koran, with maps, family trees, footnotes, an index and a preliminary discourse (by someone described as George Sale, Gent.), as well as the text itself. Published in 1812, printed in Weybridge and published by what looks like a collective of publishers - if that is the right collective noun for the breed. I learn that the chapter of the cow is in fact chapter 2, after a very short chapter 1.
Most notable sentence so far, from the beginning of chapter 3 (presumably sura is a tranliteration of the Arabic word for chapter. I imagine that this would be the word used in a modern translation): 'It is he who hath sent down unto thee the book, wherein some verses are clear to be understood; they are the foundation of the book; and others are parabolical'. According to the footnote this translation rests on the exposition of al Zamakhshari and al Beidawi. And I thought that Muslims were a literal truth people. General tone seens to be very differant from that of our Bible, with heaven, resurrection, angels and code of behaviour getting a lot of air time.
And to close, a minor event on the road. For the first time in many years I was in a brush with the mirror of a moving van who overtook me a little to close. Another six inches and I should think I would have been brushed off, rather than just brushed. Don't recall whether I share the blame by swerving out - something which I seem to do quite often. So far without untoward effect.
Having been prompted to turn up the Koran the other day, found my Penguin copy a bit dry. Very little in the way of footnotes and explanatory material. Not even in the right order. The editor claimed that there was no canonical order and so he decided to do what he thought best. So the chapter of the cow, which I remember as being first, was relegated to somewhere in the second half. Then, while I was pondering where I might go for something better, just the thing turned up. A two volume Koran, with maps, family trees, footnotes, an index and a preliminary discourse (by someone described as George Sale, Gent.), as well as the text itself. Published in 1812, printed in Weybridge and published by what looks like a collective of publishers - if that is the right collective noun for the breed. I learn that the chapter of the cow is in fact chapter 2, after a very short chapter 1.
Most notable sentence so far, from the beginning of chapter 3 (presumably sura is a tranliteration of the Arabic word for chapter. I imagine that this would be the word used in a modern translation): 'It is he who hath sent down unto thee the book, wherein some verses are clear to be understood; they are the foundation of the book; and others are parabolical'. According to the footnote this translation rests on the exposition of al Zamakhshari and al Beidawi. And I thought that Muslims were a literal truth people. General tone seens to be very differant from that of our Bible, with heaven, resurrection, angels and code of behaviour getting a lot of air time.
And to close, a minor event on the road. For the first time in many years I was in a brush with the mirror of a moving van who overtook me a little to close. Another six inches and I should think I would have been brushed off, rather than just brushed. Don't recall whether I share the blame by swerving out - something which I seem to do quite often. So far without untoward effect.
# posted by Jim @ 8:56 AM 
