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Alan Colquhoun

@alancolquhoun

Pianist, philosopher, author, ethicist, metaphysician, moralist, aesthete...πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

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Latest posts by Alan Colquhoun @alancolquhoun

She cannot

Alas

11.03.2026 20:26 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

"My love for you is higher than the heavens, deeper than Hades, and broader than the earth

It has no limits, no bounds

Everything must have an ending except my love for you"

- Samuel M. Johnson

11.03.2026 17:51 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

"How much do I love you?

Count the stars in the sky

Measure the waters of the oceans with a teaspoon

Number the grains of sand on the sea shore

Impossible, you say

Yes and it is just as impossible for me to say how much I love you"

...

11.03.2026 17:50 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

That is a Yamaha NU1

11.03.2026 14:05 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This is what the innards of my hybrid piano look like (first time the cover's been off in 14 years)

Power inlet board (unplugged and missing from bottom right) failed and - worryingly - Yamaha don't make them any more

My repair man says he can mock up a Heath Robinson solution

Gulp

11.03.2026 13:29 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Been walking 10-12 miles a day

Got sore feet but at least I've been able to get fully acquainted with Glass's opera 'Einstein on the Beech's

(every cloud and all that)

11.03.2026 10:17 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you

I feel weirdly (but truly) irrelevant now

11.03.2026 09:54 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I thought that 'temporary respite care' (which began last Thursday) would have brought some relief for both of us

I had not anticipated how empty and valueless - purposeless, meaningless - my life would be disclosed as being

11.03.2026 09:17 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWe don't have tomorrow / But we had yesterday / wasn't it me who said that nothing good's gonna last forever”

Never imagined that lyric could carry so much (unintended) meaning

Gah! This is much harder than I thought it would be

Social services now trying to engineer permanent institutional care

11.03.2026 08:56 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0
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Rand Paul: "As far as reasons for the war, there have been many different ones floated, but none have been very convincing... we were told their nuclear weapons were obliterated, and now we're told their nuclear weapons are just moments away from being a bomb. I don't think the arguments are valid."

10.03.2026 12:55 πŸ‘ 11435 πŸ” 2964 πŸ’¬ 605 πŸ“Œ 234
so, is there a war or isn’t there a war? don’t ask Donny β€” because as always, you’re not going to get a coherent answer out of him. we’re dealing with SchrΓΆdinger’s Moron.

so, is there a war or isn’t there a war? don’t ask Donny β€” because as always, you’re not going to get a coherent answer out of him. we’re dealing with SchrΓΆdinger’s Moron.

so, are we at war with Iran, or are we not at war? is it going to be over soon, or are we just getting started? don't bother asking Mad King Donny, he's too fucked in the head to keep his story straight. thank you for reading my post in which I mock the shit out of it. link is here: bit.ly/3NpGqPv

10.03.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 404 πŸ” 85 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 5
Redirecting...

www.facebook.com/share/v/1J5K...

10.03.2026 17:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Too true

09.03.2026 13:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Just relaxing with a good book while my lunch is cooking...

09.03.2026 12:19 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The genuinely revelatory thing here is how sensitive nuclei are

Mo-84 and Mo-86 differ by just two neutrons

Yet the internal structure changes dramatically

(That’s a bit like adding two grains of sand to a sandcastle and watching the entire shape collapse and reform)

09.03.2026 04:50 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This kind of discovery matters because of how it tests nuclear force models

Nuclear interactions are extremely complicated and observations like this help to constrain the theory

09.03.2026 04:48 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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A perfectly balanced atom just broke one of nuclear physics’ biggest rules Physicists have discovered a surprising new β€œIsland of Inversion” in a place no one expected: among nuclei where the number of protons equals the number of neutrons. For decades, these strange regions...

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Contrary to the headline, nothing fundamental was violated

What changed is just where islands of inversion can appear

We previously believed they required large neutron excess

Now we know they can also occur at N = Z symmetry

An interesting result...

09.03.2026 04:46 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The Paradox of Respite Notes from the quiet house...

open.substack.com/pub/alancolq...

08.03.2026 16:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Exactly. And Trump can’t cope with Starmer’s probity because it makes it harder to hide his own culpability re the war in Iran.

08.03.2026 08:16 πŸ‘ 1038 πŸ” 184 πŸ’¬ 37 πŸ“Œ 2
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A very touristy shot but the truth is that unless you actually live here, and hence can get up and out before the city wakes, it's practically impossible to snap this good boy without either encroaching on or being encroached upon by others...

08.03.2026 07:58 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Currently strolling through Chambers Street...

08.03.2026 07:53 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Here's another 'prelude in the jazz style' by Ukrainian composer Kapustin...

19.03.2025 22:23 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Apologies for the poor quality recording... posting this just as a reminder to myself that I used to have Prokofiev's 'Visions Fugitives' in my repertoire

(I'm trying to encourage myself to return to the piano after a few weeks off)

09.06.2025 14:26 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Just enjoying going through some oldish video clips

This is an excerpt from Olivier Messiaen's epic 'Vingt regards sur l’Enfant JΓ©sus'

For the record: I am a staunch antitheist (I think religion is unethical) but even I am awed by the meaning of this work

06.07.2025 11:20 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Or, more precisely, it's at the end of Crawfurd Road and at the end of East Suffolk Road (the point at which those two streets meet)

07.03.2026 15:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you very much

07.03.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It's where St Margaret's girl's school used to be, tucked away behind dalkeith road commonwealth cemetery, between Cameron Toll and Newington

07.03.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm very happy that you like the photos

It's something Edinburgh does uniquely well: the contrast between austere stone and luminous sky

The Scott Monument especially - that great Gothic lattice - seems almost designed to catch the first glister of the day, the way it does in my shot

07.03.2026 14:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Meadows, Edinburgh, just now...

07.03.2026 07:46 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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St. Cuthbert's Church and graveyard (with Edinburgh Castle in the background) photographed from Lothian Road, just now...

07.03.2026 07:28 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0