Dallas Drive By, Stephen Fry

There I was, just a few hours back from Canada and enjoying a glass of wine at the Dallas "local" with my philisophical friend, GWB. Then bang! Six shots were fired, right outside the restaurant.

"Did you hear that?" asked my Wittgensteinian ally.

"I certainly did."

"Gunfire."

"Yes. Let's check it out."

So out we went and I noticed a punter taking cover behind a wall in the car park, so I walked over and asked what had happened. "They drove by, real slow," he said, "shooting that way. I figured I should get behind this wall." I asked him if there'd been any return fire and he said no, which was precipitate, because another shot was fired from a block or two away. Probably the enemies of the drive-by gang asserting themselves.

And that was that. Fortunate that the restaurant wasn't shot up and that no one was hurt.

In other news, the fruity old English thesp, Stephen Fry, has announced that he's going to "marry" some boy.

Try to keep your dinner down.

LSP

Wittgenstein, Mahler, Detroit

Farsighted readers will recall that my old friend "Red", who lives in Detroit near Wayne State, had an issue with a shotgun a couple of years back. He cranked off a few rounds in an empty house to celebrate Easter and, long story short, was let off with a warning by LE. 

Red's House

Now he's taken to listening to Mahler at the DSO and posting things like, "Mahler 3. Gonna try not to weep like a baby."

Wittgenstein Hated Mahler

Wittgenstein had this to say about Mahler.

If it is true that Mahler's music is worthless, as I believe to be the case, then the question is what I think he ought to have done with his talent. For quite obviously it took a set of very rare talents to produce this bad music. Should he have written his symphonies and then burnt them? Or should he have done violence to himself and not written them?
          Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value (67)

Detroit's population has declined from a peak of 2 million in 1950 to less than 700,000 today. Some 25% of its houses are derelict and awaiting demolition. Wild dogs roam its streets and empty highways.

I will visit the Motor City in August.

LSP